New reforms highlight pressing need to plan for childcare August 6, 2013 Saving early can help parents prepare for the pitter patter of tiny feet, says Liam Ward-Proud THE CHANCELLOR’S proposed reforms to the childcare voucher system this week are welcome news for families with both parents working. Parents earning less than £150,000 a year each will effectively be able to claim up to £1,200 back on [...]
Soaring services sector drives business activity to record high August 5, 2013 HOPES that the recovery is picking up steam were lifted further yesterday, after the UK’s businesses reported the strongest month of growth since records began. Markit’s surveys of the services, manufacturing and construction sectors in July got the most positive responses ever, bolstering recent signs that the economy is returning to sustained expansion. The unparalleled [...]
National Minimum Wage turns 15 – but it still fails to help those most in need August 1, 2013 YESTERDAY, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) celebrated its fifteenth birthday. It has not been the disaster some feared – largely because the Low Pay Commission set rates conservatively, taking ability to pay into account – but nor has it entirely helped those it was designed to. Today, there is pressure to push the minimum upwards. [...]
Osborne and Balls react to faster GDP growth – and both seem to miss the point July 25, 2013 Both chancellor George Osborne and shadow chancellor Ed Balls have weighed in on the second quarter GDP figures. If you have want some analyst reaction, we have that too. Chancellor George Osborne: Britain is holding its nerve, we are sticking to our plan, and the British economy is on the mend – but there is [...]
London has never been this important to the UK economy | City A.M. March 17, 2013 IT is an astonishing story. London’s share of the UK’s economic output has just reached an all-time high of 21.9 per cent. Yes, that’s right, despite the crisis, and the City’s woes, London accounts for more of Britain’s economy that at any time in recorded history. The last time it came close was in 1911, [...]
Time to take drastic action to reboot Britain’s feeble economy February 19, 2013 So what, exactly, could the chancellor do to boost growth? He is, of course, hamstrung by two conflicting realities: the fact that the budget deficit remains huge, and may even increase this year, as well as by the realities of coalition politics. But unless he changes course, and is willing to take a major risk, [...]
We don’t need to fear a Chinese slowdown – it’s real capitalism in action February 5, 2013 IT HAS suddenly become fashionable to be concerned about a slowdown in China’s growth rate. It’s not a matter of a short-run cyclical downturn, with normal service resumed shortly. It is a worry that there will be a permanent slowdown by the end of this decade. Instead of annual growth rates around 10 per cent [...]
Will 2012 be remembered by the public as a good year for the coalition government? December 20, 2012 YES David Skelton It’s been a tough year for so many people – the cost of living continues to rise and the economy continues to flat-line at best. Given that background, it might seem odd to argue that 2012 has been a good year for the coalition. But it has. Indeed, I would argue that [...]
The chancellor must stop tinkering and face up to his UK deficit failure December 4, 2012 TODAY is not going to be George Osborne’s finest day as chancellor – whatever he does and whatever he says. He is veering wildly off course in his plans to eliminate the deficit and to start to get our soaring national debt under some semblance of control. As always, the first step to addressing a [...]
High childcare costs needn’t give you a case of baby blues November 25, 2012 RISING childcare costs are deterring British mothers from returning to work. According to a 2011 Eurostat survey, 48.8 per cent of women with three or more children are in employment in the UK, compared with 71.3 per cent in the Netherlands and 68.2 in Finland. But family formation patterns have changed over the past few [...]