US first quarter growth revised down to 3.1 per cent May 30, 2019 US first quarter economic growth was revised down slightly to an annualised rate of 3.1 per cent, according to the second estimate released today by the country’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Read more: Global markets sink into the red as technology front opens up in trade war The annualised growth rate is nonetheless one of [...]
Interest rates would be hiked if Britain achieves orderly Brexit, says Bank of England May 30, 2019 Deputy governor of the Bank of England Dave Ramsden has said interest rates would need to be hiked if Britain leaves the European Union in an orderly manner with a transition deal. Read more: Hammond may topple new PM to prevent no-deal Brexit Ramsden, speaking in Inverness, Scotland, said although he expected growth to pick [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond vows to topple next Prime Minister to avert no-deal Brexit May 30, 2019 Chancellor Philip Hammond has hinted he could try to topple the next government if it meant averting a no-deal Brexit. Read more: Tory leadership race: Who are the leading candidates? Warning that “national interest trumps the party interest”, Hammond told Sky News he would back a no-confidence vote in the next Prime Minister to prevent [...]
Labour party to review decision to oust Alastair Campbell May 30, 2019 The Labour party is set to review its decision to expel Alastair Campbell, a senior MP said today. Read more: DEBATE: Was it right for Labour to expel Alastair Campbell? Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Now there will be a review, which is appropriate. “I don’t want to cut [...]
Post-Maybot, the Tories are on the hunt for a likeable leader May 30, 2019 Every Tory leadership election has a flavour. In 2016, after childishly airing our dirty laundry to our European neighbours during the bitter referendum, a sheepish UK was looking for a “grown-up”. Six years of boyish David Cameron making rash decisions on behalf of the country had taken its toll on the Conservative party, and the [...]
DEBATE: Was it right for Labour to expel Alastair Campbell because he voted for the Liberal Democrats? May 30, 2019 Was it right for Labour to expel Alastair Campbell because he voted for the Liberal Democrats? James A. Smith, author of Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism, says YES. In 2016, in an attempt to prevent Jeremy Corbyn from being re-elected, Labour party officials began invoking obscure rules about conduct deemed irreconcilable with party membership. [...]
The inflation target is just the start for the next ECB president May 30, 2019 With the EU elections out of the way, the horse-trading over a host of top EU jobs, including who replaces Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), will ratchet up. By the European Council meeting on 20-21 June, a successor to Draghi should become clear. The new president’s most urgent task is [...]
Keep your wits about you, it’s not easy to navigate this tyrannical political jungle May 30, 2019 Any country that forced its citizens to spend over 40 per cent of their time working for those in power would be roundly condemned as a slave state and the most appalling tyranny. Yet this is the effective reality in Britain. Just over two fifths – 40.94 per cent – of everything the nation earns is [...]
We turn politics into a deposition at our peril May 30, 2019 Politics is not known as one of the more truthful professions. Spin, exaggeration, and truth-stretching are all staples of the politician’s toolkit. We might prefer it to be otherwise, but the reality is that an astute public must take claims uttered by those in office with a healthy dose of salt. It is therefore worrying [...]
Britain’s tax bill at its highest since 1955 in comparison to earnings May 30, 2019 Tory heavyweights have taken aim at high taxes in the UK to mark what a think tank has dubbed Tax Freedom Day, a measure of when Brits stop paying tax and start pocketing their earnings. The Adam Smith Institute has estimated that every penny the average person earned for working up to and including 29 [...]