Editor’s Notes: Business chiefs can do great things in politics, but what about the pay cut? November 2, 2018 Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has raised the prospect of senior business figures giving up the boardroom and joining the Foreign Office in the service of their country. When I asked a former senior diplomat, with an alphabet of letters after his name, what he made of this proposal he slapped his hands on his head [...]
Budget 2018: Austerity killed off – if a Brexit horror show is avoided October 31, 2018 | City Talk The 2018 Budget was brought forward this year to avoid a nightmare clash with the Brexit negotiations. It was clear from the Chancellor’s speech that he was keen to avoid a ghoulish backlash from any controversial announcements. Indeed, the majority of policy measures unearthed had been leaked to the press beforehand, leaving Philip Hammond with [...]
Long-term economic growth is a prize both parties should be fighting for October 30, 2018 Ah yes, post-Budget week. That time when a modest tax change here or a spending announcement there generates reams of analysis about who’s been made “better off” or “worse off” at the stroke of the chancellor’s pen. When, for a second, the decision to try to implement VAT on warm takeaway foods or announce a [...]
This Budget balancing act was Hammond’s mission impossible October 30, 2018 As he stood up to deliver his Autumn Budget yesterday, the chancellor was to fulfil two promises which the Prime Minister had made at the Conservative party conference earlier this month: end austerity, while still reducing public debt as a share of GDP. Fulfilling these pledges will take time, and more details will be unveiled [...]
It’s time to get serious about closing London’s disability employment gap October 30, 2018 It is widely acknowledged that the employment opportunities on offer in London are unmatched by any other major city in the UK. Yet for disabled people, this buoyant jobs market is all too often entirely inaccessible. The disability employment gap – the difference in the employment rate between non-disabled people and disabled people of working [...]
Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
New NHS service to include mental health ambulances and a hotline for sufferers October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond has reiterated the government’s promise for an extra £20.5bn in funds for the NHS, including a new mental health crisis service, as he committed to end austerity. “We made out choice for this budget four months before it was delivered,” the chancellor said. “Our NHS is the number one priority of the [...]
Today’s Budget is a chance to reinvigorate domestic policy October 29, 2018 It has been a year of momentous change for department titles. The Department for Health has added Social Care to its name, while the Department for Communities and Local Government has recently become a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. So far, those changes have not been accompanied by a new and much-needed domestic [...]
Philip Hammond should be unashamed to show he is a true blue in the Budget October 25, 2018 With extra funding for the NHS and an end to austerity already announced, Philip Hammond must be wondering if it is him or John McDonnell delivering next week's Budget. While the cash boost for the health service is welcome, and the narrative of ending austerity popular with certain commentators, Hammond must use the Budget to [...]
This Budget, I’m dreaming of a tax system fit for the future October 24, 2018 The announcement that the Autumn Budget would take place in October – almost a month earlier than we’ve become accustomed to – surprised a fair few people. It probably shouldn’t have. Philip Hammond understandably wants his finance bill passed safely through the Commons without it getting caught in the crosshairs of ongoing Brexit negotiations and the [...]