Why it’s no time to be complacent about the UK’s inflation problem November 12, 2013 THE SURPRISE fall in the annual inflation rate in October to 2.2 per cent on the consumer price index and 2.6 per cent on the retail price index is obviously welcome news. However, it’s too soon to be complacent. It also reminds us that inflation has been consistently above the Bank of England’s 2 per [...]
We need to judge policies by good outcomes not just on good intentions November 11, 2013 OVER the past week, two aspects of our public debate have become noticeable. First, many judge policies by their intentions, not their effects. This often leads to policymaking that seeks fairness, but actually eliminates opportunity. The second is that unequal outcomes are often just assumed to indicate institutional bias or injustice. Both result in do-gooders [...]
Beware the unintended consequences of making a Living Wage mandatory November 4, 2013 IT’S LIVING Wage week, and many are endorsing the principle of raising low pay, whether by boosting the minimum wage, or by forcing local authorities and pressuring other private employers to pay the Living Wage. It’s an attractive proposition, advocated by politicians as varied as Ed Miliband and Boris Johnson. But it is worth pausing [...]
Letters to the Editor – 05/11 – Minimum wages, Startup lending, Best of Twitter November 4, 2013 Minimum wages [Re: Help the low-paid by slashing their tax and boosting education, yesterday] I agree the best way of boosting low-paid income is to increase the tax threshold to, say, £12,000. A minimum wage increase would only lead to more outsourcing and automation. Chris Hobson As the economist Paul Krugman said in 1998, “the higher [...]
Labour makes new push for higher wages November 4, 2013 LABOUR leader Ed Miliband has pledged to offer tax breaks of up to £1,000 per worker for companies that move low-paid staff onto the living wage. Miliband said the scheme would cut poverty while saving money on benefit payments – but the Conservatives and some business groups said the plan was impractical. More than 400 [...]
Help the low-paid by slashing their tax and boosting education November 4, 2013 IT is clear that the working poor desperately need help. With the cost of living rocketing, they are being hammered. The situation in many cases is heart-breaking; the cost to taxpayers in terms of in-work and other benefits is large; but the solutions are hard to get right. One option would be to hike the [...]
Financial services are vital to the UK economy November 3, 2013 AT THE CBI conference today, my message will be that Britain can only succeed in the future as an open, internationalist and outward-facing trading nation, with enterprise, risk and innovation valued and rewarded. But when, after years of stagnation, most people are still seeing their living standards falling, we cannot take public support for this [...]
Almost a third of Londoners in poverty according to think tank October 14, 2013 Almost one third of Londoners are living in poverty, according to new research conducted by the New Policy Institute. The study shows that 28 per cent of all Londoners are living in poverty, seven percentage points above the national average. The survey commissioned by Trust for London uses the official definition of poverty, a household [...]
Tory chair Shapps wants to make the UK love capitalism October 13, 2013 Cutting the jobs tax will help UK Plc WHEN Grant Shapps was appointed Conservative party chairman last autumn, one of his first acts was to install a giant clock counting down to the 2015 general election. He wanted to focus party workers on the challenge ahead and now – with polling stations opening in just 18 [...]
Cable: Tax threshold helps poor more than Labour’s wage plans October 9, 2013 THE COALITION has helped shore up living standards by raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, Vince Cable will say this morning. The business secretary is hitting back at Ed Miliband’s claims the government has hit living standards. The Labour leader has struck a chord with voters by promising to freeze energy bills if he is [...]