First, the good news (and the news is mainly good today). The unexpectedly large 0.6% bounce in GDP in the first quarter of the year means that the UK economy has officially exited ‘recession’, after declines of 0.1% in Q3 and 0.3% in Q4 2023. This has already led to some more positive headlines, which … Continue reading UK economy ‘turns the corner’
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Bank of England tees up rate cuts – at last
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left its key interest rate on hold at 5¼% this week, as expected, but there are some clear signals that cuts are coming soon. For a start, Dave Ramsden (Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking) joined Swati Dhingra in voting for an immediate reduction to 5%. This … Continue reading Bank of England tees up rate cuts – at last
How the Remainer media get Brexit wrong – and why this matters
It has taken six years since the vote to the leave the EU, but I have finally lost the last of my patience with how (most of) the press is covering the economic impact of Brexit. Here are three of many examples from the last few days alone. First, on Thursday the ONS published new … Continue reading How the Remainer media get Brexit wrong – and why this matters
The economy could pleasantly surprise us at how fast it recovers
The focus of economic policy is starting to shift from protecting businesses, jobs and incomes during the lockdown towards supporting the recovery. Business lobbies, ‘big state’ think tanks, academics and the TUC are all lining up to call for a huge fiscal stimulus. However, more intervention now could be exactly the wrong choice. Instead, we … Continue reading The economy could pleasantly surprise us at how fast it recovers
Plain-speaking Economics 