Some thoughts on why contagion from France should be limited, what businesses really think about Brexit, and the latest on the UK labour market, inflation, consumer confidence and the public finances... Theme of the Week I’m recently back from a lovely break in southern France, where we experienced all the culture the region has to … Continue reading Weekly wrap – A letter from France
Category: UK economy
The ‘missing’ trillion-pound UK sovereign wealth fund is pure fantasy
Hopefully, whoever suggested the line about a ‘trillion-pound wealth fund’ to the person in charge of the UK's public finances will be suitably embarrassed by now. But I suspect not. One of the Burnham government’s most rational decisions so far has been to green light production from the Jackdaw gas field. The UK will need … Continue reading The ‘missing’ trillion-pound UK sovereign wealth fund is pure fantasy
Weekly wrap – ‘clear blue water’
Including more on inheritance tax, the latest mixed signals on the health of the UK economy, the state of the labour and rental markets, and why rejoining the EU would need another referendum... Theme of the Week Few will be reading this for my political views, but I believe this was a good week for … Continue reading Weekly wrap – ‘clear blue water’
Two cheers for Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax plans
Inheritance tax is a fundamentally bad tax and raising its threshold makes economic as well as political sense. But exempting “family homes” entirely is more problematic and potentially distortionary. Kemi Badenoch announced today that the Conservative Party “would abolish Inheritance Tax on the family home and raise the individual threshold to £500,000. This will mean … Continue reading Two cheers for Kemi Badenoch’s inheritance tax plans
