Lessons from Italy: What happens when businesses are forced to move abroad September 25, 2013 THE 42 employees of Firem, an Italian heating systems maker, returned from their August holidays to find the plant where they worked had relocated to Poland. Firem is not the only recent Italian escape act. Italy’s entrepreneurs, facing the second-to-worst business climate in the developed word, on World Bank figures, are leaving. And union power [...]
How Labour can deliver on its pledge and tackle London’s housing drought September 24, 2013 HAROLD Macmillan made his reputation – and became Prime Minister – after delivering on his pledge to build 300,000 houses a year in the early 1950s. As Ed Miliband made clear yesterday, when he promised that a Labour government would ensure that 200,000 new homes were built annually by 2020, we now need similar ambition. [...]
Ed Balls asks for audit of Labour spending plans September 22, 2013 ED BALLS yesterday asked the government’s budget watchdog to assess Labour’s spending plans – as the party hinted that it will shift the tax burden onto high earners if it wins the next election. The shadow chancellor has asked Robert Chote, head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to audit all of the party's spending [...]
Higher wage bill would hit small business September 22, 2013 NEARLY half of small firms already paying staff at or above the amount advocated by the living wage campaign, according to new research. A survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) suggests that 49 per cent of firms already pay their staff at or above the amount that the campaign is pushing for, but [...]
Lib Dem lines to take for interviews – in full September 19, 2013 The Lib Dems appear to have given journalists their full lines to take for every interview: Five things to remember for every interview This conference sees the party in a confident mood We have a strong record of achievement in Government Our priorities are jobs and easing the squeeze on household budgets Labour cannot be [...]
Anti-globalisation campaigners got it wrong: Trade is defeating poverty September 17, 2013 GLOBALISATION is likely to have cut the number of people in the world in poverty by three quarters by 2015. This remarkable trend was the reason I first became interested in economics. I was brought up in Malaysia, and could see that economic development was gradually wiping out poverty. It seemed almost miraculous, and I [...]
Nick Clegg’s ambition to lift the poor from tax is a lesson for Tories over low pay September 16, 2013 WHAT makes a popular policy that can capture the public imagination? Policy, like politics, is best when it provides a noble purpose. A fight against injustice. A sense of direction. Ideas brutally simple to understand. Take Margaret Thatcher’s “Right to Buy”. A noble purpose? Allowing council tenants to own their homes. A fight against injustice? [...]
Lib Dem lines to take for interviews – in full September 16, 2013 The Lib Dems appear to have given journalists their full lines to take for every interview: Five things to remember for every interview This conference sees the party in a confident mood We have a strong record of achievement in Government Our priorities are jobs and easing the squeeze on household budgets Labour cannot be [...]
The Bank’s low interest rates will block our path to sustainable recovery August 12, 2013 THE Bank of England wants to secure sustainable growth and reduce unemployment by promising to keep rates near zero for three more years. Its new “forward guidance” commits to maintain rates at current emergency levels, even in the face of economic growth and above-target inflation. The success of this strategy depends on encouraging more lending [...]
Mark Carney’s policy has amplified political opportunity for the Tories August 11, 2013 NO REAL rock star has ever received such rave reviews for promising to do nothing for three years. But Mark Carney breaks the mould. The new Bank of England governor has pledged to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent until 2016, unless the economy is threatened by “knockout” conditions. Keeping the taps of cheap [...]