Sunak’s magic money tree
A lot could still go wrong, but this an opportunity to do the right thing with more honesty, transparency and attention to detail. It remains to be seen whether Sunak will grasp this opportunity.
Tag: Economy
Chancellor’s employment support programme is not enough
This weekend’s briefings by the chancellor in relation to Wednesday’s mini-budget were a welcome response to cross-sector demands for employment support. But the proposed support programme could work so much better if accompanied by regional economic strategies designed by metropolitan mayors who are in touch with business leaders and the needs of their local economies, […]
How to dig ourselves out of an enormous economic hole
Few people are fascinated by the intricacies of quantitative easing. Which is a shame because how it is done is going to have an enormous influence over everyone’s lives for at least the next decade. As I write, the Bank of England has just announced that it will operate another programme of £100bn of it. […]
Bxllocks to the red, white and blue
It’s very tempting to ask Antony Gormley how much paint would be needed to cover his 65-foot tall Angel of the North with its wingspan as wide as a Boeing 767. And how much it’d cost to slap red, white and blue on it. No doubt a lot less than the £900,000 for tarting-up the […]
UK economy takes a massive dive
Figures from today’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) report make grim reading and show that economic recovery for the country is going to be a long, slow haul. The 20.4 per cent fall in the UK economy in April is the largest since records began. All sectors have experienced historic falls, with manufacturing and the […]
Farmers uncertain of their future as the agricultural bill passes through to House of Lords
Behind the scenes of this global pandemic, the tidying-up of Brexit and trade negotiations continue. The agricultural bill was passed through its third reading at the House of Commons on 13 May. It was the first to be voted on electronically by MPs, to comply with the Covid-19 social distancing measures. The bill had amendments […]
Leeds Bradford airport’s expansion plans were a bad idea before. Now they’re ridiculous.
On Monday 4 May, Australian company AMP Capital submitted their planning application to Leeds City Council which, if approved, would allow them to more than double the passenger capacity of the airport and reduce restrictions on the times of day planes are allowed to take off and land. In March 2019, Leeds City Council followed […]
Fuelling the recovery: the case for raising fuel duty
With a £337 billion hole in Britain’s finances, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak is urgently looking for ways to plug it. In a time of plummeting petrol prices, Helen Davidson examines how increasing fuel tax could help fund the coronavirus debt, assist the government’s gradual easing of lockdown and have only a marginal impact on consumers. […]
Treasury warns of “sovereign debt crisis” caused by Covid-19
The Telegraph has got hold of a leaked Treasury document warning of a “sovereign debt crisis” unless the economy soon begins to recover from the seven-week coronavirus lock down. On 1 April, a week after the lockdown was announced, Yorkshire Bylines ran an article: Coronavirus and Brexit: double austerity on steroids is coming up which now […]
The Yorkshire economy after COVID-19 – what should it look like?
It is difficult, at this stage, to get a handle on how much the COVID-19 pandemic might actually cost us. We face, what could possibly morph into, the worst recession since the Second World War. The lockdown is leading to a fall in the UK’s economic output of approximately 31 per cent according to the […]
Coronavirus and Brexit: double austerity on steroids is coming up
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently warned that the economic shock from the present coronavirus pandemic was already bigger than the financial crash of 2008–09. It means we are almost certain to be looking at another ten years of austerity at least, but this time on steroids. Angel Gurría, OECD secretary general, […]