Inflation tumbles faster than expected to its lowest level in over a year at 7.9 per cent July 19, 2023 Inflation has slimmed to its lowest level in over a year and is falling faster than expected, raising the chances of the Bank of England hiking interest rates at a slower pace next month, official figures out today reveal. The rate of price growth fell to 7.9 per cent in June, down from 8.7 per [...]
Representation in politics and media creates opportunities for a generation October 26, 2022 A few weeks ago, many of us were woken up by a curious occurrence: the presenters of BBC Radio 4 Today discussing their fellow presenter – Amol Rajan’s – challenge to the BBC Director General on accent bias among BBC News presenters. Whilst the conversation was all quite meta – with a small “m”- it [...]
Forget the pandemic: Brexit’s impact on UK economy will be much worse, warns fiscal chief October 28, 2021 The consequences of the UK leaving the European Union will be much more serious than the economic impact of the pandemic, the boss of the UK’s fiscal watchdog warns this morning. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had assumed leaving the EU would “reduce our long run gross domestic product by around 4 per cent”, [...]
Winter of discontent: Price cap to peak at over £2,800 next January May 26, 2022 Cornwall Insight has warned the price cap could rise to over £2,800 per year in January if the mechanism moves to a quarterly model.
Westminster committee sticks the boot into Ofgem as households suffer record energy bills July 26, 2022 MPs have raised doubts over Ofgem’s ability to clean up the energy market, following mass carnage which saw over 30 suppliers collapse.
Energy chiefs urge government to step in to cool cost of living crisis January 3, 2022 Energy chiefs have called on the government to step in and ease the cost of living crisis looming over British households. The chief executive of Octopus Energy told Times Radio that unless the government intervened in the market, soaring gas prices will hit consumers hard. Greg Jackson said: “Unless action is taken, we will start [...]
Ex-minister: Billions lost in Covid fraud ‘one of biggest cock-ups’ in recent history March 15, 2022 Billions of taxpayer money lost through Covid loan fraud is “one of the most colossal cock-ups in recent government management”, the ex-fraud minister has said. Lord Theodore Agnew told MPs on Westminster’s business committee that he was told to “butt out” by Treasury officials when he tried to crack down on fraudsters taking out Covid [...]
Sunak mulling emergency Covid-19 loan scheme extension October 3, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to extend the Covid-19 emergency loan scheme in a bid to support businesses amid intensifying cost pressures and severe worker shortages. Officials at the Treasury are reportedly mulling extending the Recovery Loan Scheme, which is set to end on December 31, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph. The extended [...]
Lack of support is untenable, and the Chancellor must know it December 17, 2021 The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has played a bad hand very well since taking the job in February 2020, just as news of a strange and mysterious virus was beginning to bother the front pages. It has helped that he has been playing with the equivalent of house money – borrowing huge sums in what became, [...]
Fish and chip shops struggle to keep heads above water as sector battered by price rises May 25, 2022 Some fish and chip shop owners could be driven to commit fraud in the absence of any further tax relief, one industry boss has warned. The words of warning came from president of the National Federation of Fish Friers, Andrew Crook, who told CityA.M. that the fish and chip industry had felt “abandoned” by the [...]