It is good to start for once with some praise for the Bank of England. After the Halloween Budget in the UK and the fireworks of election night in the US, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee helped to calm the nerves by delivering the expected quarter point cut in interest rates (to 4.75pc) on Thursday. … Continue reading The Budget has just made the Bank’s job even harder
Tag: Budget
Five ways in which the Budget could unravel
Rachel Reeves’ first Budget was not all bad (see my response on the day here). For a start, the new fiscal rules, while still flawed, are an improvement on what went before. Balancing day-to-day spending with current tax revenue makes good economic sense, as does tweaking the targeted measure of debt to take more account … Continue reading Five ways in which the Budget could unravel
First thoughts on the Budget
Above all, this was a Budget for a bigger state. Public spending will be even higher, financed by large increases both in taxation and in government borrowing. In addition, the Budget continues the steady ratcheting up of state intervention and regulation, including another large increase in minimum wages. This is very hard to square with … Continue reading First thoughts on the Budget
False economies on spending could be just as damaging as tax hikes
So far, the speculation ahead of the Budget on 30 October has focused on the scramble to find tax increases that might not breach Labour’s manifesto commitments, while still having some chance of actually raising some money. This is clearly not going well. Rachel Reeves may end up as the only economist in the country … Continue reading False economies on spending could be just as damaging as tax hikes
Plain-speaking Economics 