Economics

Philip Hammond will present the Budget next week amidst new global figures that show the UK is now bottom of the growth league among major economies in Europe and North America. The data on GDP up to Q3 2017 puts Britain significantly behind its peers, dropping below Belgium, Italy and France. The UK economy expanded by just 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year, new early estimates from the Office for National Statistics show, which brings the year-on-year...

Shanker Singham an acclaimed financial analyst wrote an op-ed for The Times in which he extolled the virtues of a Brexit vis-à-vis the UK’s trading possibilities with the rest of the world. The rising problems associated with regulation in the global economy are having far-reaching implications on trading activity. The Brexit referendum on June 23, 2016 did not precipitate the decline in global economic activity – it was a symptom of it. The global financial crisis of 2008/2009 was associated...

No one in Britain voted for their jobs, public and health services, employment and environmental protections to be sold down the river to the lowest bidder, says union GMB, the UK’s general union, says claims Brexit means 'taking back control' have been exposed as a myth by the Government’s new trade white paper. Liam Fox’s paper, released on the eve of the next round of Brexit talks which begin tomorrow, exposes the Conservative’s obsession with deregulation and failed neoliberal proposals...

Fears of Britain's exit from the EU is introducing a worrying investment setback as companies and investors keep stalling on investment plans so as not to be caught up in the uncertainty that continues to loom over the economy since the referendum, studies have revealed. Firms, manufacturers, and both domestic and international investors are either pulling back or pressing the pause button on already laid out investment plans. Some businesses are holding back on planning at all until the uncertainties...

A damning study has today revealed one in five Brits are now trapped in working poverty as inflation continues to outpace wage growth. Ahead of Living Wage week (6-12 November), KPMG’s annual Living Wage report reveals 21 per cent of people in the UK are still earning below the real Living Wage, meaning that an estimated 5.5 million employees are struggling to get out of in-work poverty. Around 59 percent of those earning below the real Living Wage indicated a sharp...

The Bank of England has raised interest rates today for the first time in more than ten years. The official bank rate has been lifted from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent, the first increase since July 2007. Almost four million households face higher mortgage interest payments after the rise, raising concerns as families struggle to battle rising inflation and stagnant wages. Of the 8.1 million households with a mortgage, 3.7 million, or 46 per cent, are on either...

As we all know Brexit has not happened yet, however the UK economy already appears to be straining under the uncertainty of our withdrawal from the EU. Food prices are rising, property prices in London are falling, sterling has dropped against other currencies and large sections banking sector appears to be planning to shift operations to Frankfurt. Now the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) have said that as sterling has plummeted since the vote back in June...

Populist politicians are weaponizing trade to the determent of the global economy, a new book has claimed. As politicians on both sides of the Atlantic raise the stakes, trade is increasingly becoming a tool of coercion to achieve strategic influence. Although trade, wars and foreign policy have been interwoven throughout history, the belligerence of the language today means trade is becoming predominantly political and strategic, rather than economic. Politicians have resorted to economic nationalism, using the rhetoric of conflict to...

Economic experts have today suggested the UK should reverse Brexit in order to avoid the severe consequences of a messy breakup. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report that puts forward the case for a dramatic rethink on the agenda. Its findings have already been hailed as the “final nail in the coffin for the already long-buried notion that Brexit will benefit our economy”. But even with EU negotiations stalled there are growing signs that the UK economy...