Reshoring could bring £15bn lift to UK economy February 15, 2015 BRINGING the manufacturing of goods back to the UK, or reshoring, could add £15.3bn of GDP to the economy by 2025 as the advantages of the developing world lessen. Over 315,000 new jobs could be created for the country as the labour, transport and regulatory costs of producing goods in places like China and Thailand [...]
Kiev’s tough finance chief Natalie Jaresko puts her case to the world March 24, 2015 “I am facing very different challenges to those he faces,” says the Ukrainian finance minister hours after meeting George Osborne, the UK chancellor. Natalie Jaresko is in the middle of a whistlestop tour of London and New York, during which she hopes to put her case to her war-torn country’s creditors and also to enlist [...]
Germany warns Syriza to stick with debt reduction and structural reform January 26, 2015 Germany has warned Greece's new government that it must abide by the country's commitments to its creditors. Radical left wing party Syriza triumphed in last night's election standing on a platform of writing off a large part of Greece's debt and reversing many structural reforms. Steffan Seibert, a spokesman for the German government, said Greece [...]
Why government must stop treating medium-sized firms like corporates February 11, 2015 Speaking to business leaders earlier this week, David Cameron unveiled a British version of Germany’s Mittelstand scheme. Help to Grow will see £1bn of funding ploughed into medium-sized businesses across the country, bridging the “valley of death” funding gap that hampers our most promising scale-ups. But while there have been several high-profile and encouraging moves [...]
Budget 2015 summary: Analysts, economists and think tanks give their verdict on Osborne March 18, 2015 George Osborne delivered a Budget stacked with facts, figures and policies intended to ward off Labour's cost of living offensive and get the electorate on side before May the reactions are already flooding in. Here is a sampling of analysts' reactions to the final set-piece event of the coalition government. BNP Paribas' Dominic Bryant gives [...]
Eurozone manufacturing sector is growing at its fastest rate for six months February 2, 2015 As many headline stats for the Eurozone continue to cause headaches for markets and governments alike, there was a tiny spark of good news from the bloc‘s manufacturers. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by Markit Economics, showed that the manufacturing sector’s rate of growth rose by 0.4 percentage points in January, to 51. Any [...]
Celebrity historians launch campaign for EU referendum and claim there is no “European Demos” February 26, 2015 Some of Britain's leading historians have pledged their support for a new campaign to fight for a referendum on Britain's EU membership. Historians for Britain (HfB) is the sister organisation of Business for Britain (BfB), led by the distinguished campaigner Matthew Elliot. While BfB has sought to make the case for a different relationship with [...]
Creativity makes a vast contribution to business: We ignore it at our peril February 25, 2015 The Academy Awards have become a (not especially accurate) measure of the UK’s cultural standing in the world. Thanks to Eddie and co, the Brits officially had a good Oscars, with four wins from nearly 40 nominations, but we need not obsess over the results of this dubious annual assessment. Our film stars are just [...]
IFS: Expect tax rises after the General Election February 4, 2015 Voters should expect tax rises after the General Election in May, as whichever party (or parties) forms government will have to deal with a fiscal headache, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The independent think-tank, which released its annual pre-budget analysis, said whoever forms the next government will have to cut spending or [...]
Entrepreneurs aren’t lone wolves: Labour will back them for the good of all January 28, 2015 Paul Lindley looked at the range of baby food at the supermarket and thought his daughter’s generation deserved better. So in 2006 he founded Ella’s Kitchen, to create food for kids that appealed to all the senses. Since then, his daughter Ella has grown – but Ella’s Kitchen has grown much faster. It has a [...]