Labour hopes the gathering will encourage a fresh injection of private money to drive its growth agendaThe former Google boss Eric Schmidt has been named as one of the high-profile executives attending the Labour government's first international investment summit.Schmidt, who was Google's chief executive from 2001 to 2011, is expected to play a prominent role at the summit in central London on 14 October, where he will take the stage in conversation with Keir Starmer. Continue reading...
Regeneration efforts in former coalmining communities have not led to enough job creationPolitics is hard because it invariably involves making choices between conflicting objectives. As Keir Starmer is discovering, the need to prioritise means you can't please all of the people all of the time.Labour wants faster growth, sounder public finances, decarbonisation, prosperity to be shared more evenly between the regions, tougher controls on migration and a reset of Britain's relationship with the EU. Doing all these things simultaneously is near to impossible. Continue reading...
Liam Byrne has warned the chancellor that extra levies on the rich are needed to halt the rise of the populist rightA failure by Rachel Reeves to back a windfall of wealth taxes" in her budget risks fuelling the rise of the populist right, a former Labour cabinet minister has warned.Liam Byrne, a senior figure in the New Labour government and chair of the Commons business and trade committee, said that the rise of Reform UK at the last election meant the chancellor and Keir Starmer must urgently consider raising funds to deal with inequality. Continue reading...
Rebuilding existing infrastructure is key for the government rather than rushed policymaking for new projectsThere is an air of panic about how to fix Britain. We need to move quickly, shift the dial and jump up the rankings of rich countries. Investment is needed in new stuff to make the UK modern and its services delivered on time.It's a political imperative that galvanised Boris Johnson and then propelled Liz Truss from obscurity to becoming an almost revolutionary prime minister. Continue reading...
Swansea West MP Torsten Bell says such a tax would not raise significant revenues'One of Labour's new MPs has defended the decision by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to rule out a wealth tax, claiming it would not have much of an impact.Reeves has previously rejected calls for the tax as a solution to what she says is the 22bn shortfall that is blighting public finances. Continue reading...
Job creation unexpectedly accelerated in September as unemployment rate slipped to 4.1%American employers added 254,000 jobs last month in the penultimate jobs report before the US election, defying fears of a slowdown in the labor market.Job creation unexpectedly accelerated in September, while the headline unemployment rate slipped to 4.1% from 4.2% in August. Continue reading...
by Jack Simpson, Phillip Inman and Jillian Ambrose on (#6R682)
Conflict in the Middle East, a strike at US ports, problems at the Panama Canal ... a rush of problems could create a crisis for exportersWith a pandemic that upended global trade through lockdowns and travel restrictions still fresh in managers' minds, international supply chains are again under pressure.Shippers are facing myriad issues, from the conflict in the Middle East and drought in Central America to strike action in the US, and companies are finding it more difficult - and more expensive - to transport supplies. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington and Jillian Ambrose on (#6R590)
Oil prices rose by more than 4% as Israeli troops moved into Lebanon and Iran launched missiles on IsraelAs Israeli troops moved into Lebanon and Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, the risk of a jump in oil prices that could trigger another global inflation shock appeared to be materialising.Oil prices rose by more than 4% to about $75 a barrel on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Former home secretary says the phrase stop the boats' was an error' and it was too complicated a problem to distil into a soundbite. This live blog is closedRobert Jenrick has used a campaign rally just outside the Conservative conference to paint the issue of migration in highly stark terms, saying his party will die" if it does not commit to quitting the European convention on human rights. (See 8.23am.)Speaking to supporters in a studio theatre at Birmingham Rep, Jenrick repeated his styling of the issue in Brexit terms, saying the choice was between the leave" of leaving the ECHR or remain" of staying in it, and that this was a chance to get migration done".This is more than just, leave or amend' - frankly, our party doesn't have a future unless we take a stand and fix this problem. It's leave or die for our party - I'm for leave.Foreign national offenders in our country,who we have struggled to deport because of our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights - that's the issue I was raising.What is the biggest challenge we face as a party?Our biggest strategic challenge is the fact that the average age above which you are more likely to vote Conservative than Labour is now over 60. Continue reading...
Research concludes Labour warnings of tough budget may have sapped optimism about the economyUK business confidence has dropped to its lowest level since the general election, as firms grow more pessimistic about the economic outlook.Amid fears that the Labour government's warnings of a tough budget in October have hurt the economy, the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer has found that business optimism weakened this month to its lowest level since June. Continue reading...
The renewal Britain desperately needs requires borrowing and optimism. Isn't that what we voted for?John le Carre, who taught at Eton for a time, once said the trouble with that school was that it taught people to win, but not to rule.Now, as my Greek master used to say, one should beware of generalisations. Nevertheless, in the case of two recent Old Etonian prime ministers, I think le Carre's observation was spot on. I refer, of course, to David Cameron's monumental misjudgment in calling the 2016 referendum that landed us with the mounting cost of Brexit. And to Boris Johnson's role in that fiasco, not least in wrecking Theresa May's attempt to save something from the ruins by staying in the customs union, if not the full works of the single market. Continue reading...
Anura Kumara Dissanayake wants a better deal from the IMF to reduce suffering during the country's punishing debt crisisSri Lanka is at a historic juncture. Faced with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and having defaulted on its external debt for the first time, the country recently saw unprecedented protests demanding systemic change. The former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was literally chased away in 2022, as protesters stormed his residence and swam in his pool. The political parties and their offshoots that have ruled the country since independence are unravelling. Take Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He polled just 3.8% of the vote during the previous presidential election in 2019. This week, he was sworn in as president.The new president belongs to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party and leads the new centre-left National People's Power (NPP) coalition. The JVP engaged in two major insurrections in the early 1970s and late 1980s, which resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of lives - mass violence was committed by both the JVP and the state. But the party has come a long way from its mix of revolutionary Marxist-Leninism and Sinhala ethno-nationalism, having moved into the centrist mainstream. From its roots in the rural south of the country, the party remoulded its base in the suburbs and small towns and even wooed the middle classes by taking up the issue of corruption. Its electoral capture of state power was contingent on the unprecedented economic crisis, as it waited patiently for the political winds to turn. Continue reading...
S&P 500 index of major US companies registers near 34% gain on year ago amid expectation of interest rate cutsA fall in US inflation expected to pave the way for further cuts in interest rates pushed stock markets to record highs on Friday.Ending a week of gains that began when the Chinese authorities approved a huge economic stimulus package, the S&P 500 index of major US companies soared above 5,750 to register a near 34% gain on a year ago. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington and Kiran Stacey on (#6R3RS)
The chancellor has signalled that she may change some of the government's fiscal rules in her speech. What are they - and what could that mean?Rachel Reeves is considering changes in next month's budget to the government's so-called fiscal rules, which govern how much it can spend.The changes are aimed at paving the way for billions of pounds more investment in the UK economy, to help decarbonise the economy and reboot growth. Continue reading...
Readers respond to an editorial about the chancellor dismissing a return to austerity in her speech to Labour conferenceYour leading article was right to highlight the challenge that the chancellor faces in demonstrating fiscal responsibility while reviving the economy (23 September). As it pointed out, the London School of Economics published a report in January - of which I was a co-author - that made a compelling case for an increase in annual public investment of about 26bn per year, equivalent to 1% of GDP, to jolt UK productivity and economic growth out of its rut. This would pull the UK out of bottom place in the G7 league table for public investment, and would promote confidence in private investors that having skin in the game would mean the government would provide supportive policies to ensure healthy long-term returns.Our report made a further case that the strongest returns would be secured from green investment that accelerates the transition to a sustainable, inclusive and resilient economy by tackling even more effectively damage from climate change, biodiversity loss and other environmental degradation, including air and water pollution. Continue reading...
Welfare politics | Economic growth | Jam tomorrow | Cleo Sylvestre | Class sizesOnly toffs can afford nannies (The right calls it the nanny state'..., 23 September). So for the rest of us the jibe nanny state" is irrelevant and should be barred. What we need are supportive parents, and many are insufficiently resourced to provide fully for their children. So we need the maternal" - alias welfare - state rather than the current Thatcherite austerity ill-fare one.
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#6R0XG)
Chancellor hopes to open up more spending headroom in budget by arguing changes could drive up growthRachel Reeves is pushing for the UK's tax and spending watchdog to upgrade its national growth forecasts to reflect the economic boost Labour says can be achieved from its blitz of planning reforms.In a development that could open up additional spending headroom for the chancellor before next month's budget, the Treasury has held talks with the Office for Budget Responsibility to try to persuade its officials that unblocking the planning system could drive up growth. Continue reading...
Democratic nominee says she is better equipped to manage US economy and says rival made promises he did not meet'Kamala Harris sat for her first solo interview as the Democratic presidential nominee on Wednesday, laying out her plan to boost the middle class and condemning her rival, Donald Trump, on his comments over abortion.During the interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle, which was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the vice-president painted Trump as a candidate focused on the rich at the expense of the middle class, and herself as better equipped to handle the economy. Continue reading...
Democratic presidential nominee fleshed out economic vision for middle class and small businessesMillions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris has said, as the Democratic presidential candidate fleshed out the economic agenda she hopes to adopt in the White House.Conceding that the cost of living in America is still just too high", the vice-president argued this was true long before" the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the global economy, and she took office with the president, Joe Biden. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Watchdog may conclude that emigration of wealthy individuals could actually cost Treasury revenueKeir Starmer's promised tax crackdown on non-doms could yield no extra funds for the Treasury, leaving a 1bn hole in the government's planned spending for schools and hospitals.
Stephen Timms, DWP minister, says cut to winter fuel payments could encourage more pensioners to claim pension creditIn an interview with Sky News, Wes Streeting said waiting lists would be demonstrably lower" than they are now. He said:By the next general election, waiting lists will be demonstrably lower because I know that's how I will be judged, how the prime minister will be judged, how the government will be judged - people will judge us by our actions, not just our words ultimately.Advances in genomics and data mean the healthcare of the future will be more predictive, more preventative and more personalised than ever before.Detecting from birth a child's risk of disease so we can act to keep them well; spotting cancer earlier, saving countless lives; treating patients with targeted medicines.If the wealthy are told to wait months for treatment, they can shop around. But working people can't.And if they pay top dollar, the wealthy can be treated with cutting-edge equipment and technology. But working people can't. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#6R02B)
As the budget looms, where the party stands on investment in the UK economy, workers' rights and moreFor a second year running, corporate Britain descended on Liverpool for Labour's annual conference, in an event so packed with executives that some insiders joke the socialist gathering has developed into a full-blown Davos on the Mersey".Like last year, the exhibition and conference fringe had sponsored events, lounge areas and advertising from exhibitors including Gatwick, National Grid, Ikea and Specsavers. This year, however, business leaders were looking for clues about how Labour will govern after July's election landslide. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsUK mortgage rates continue to fall, even though the BoE left Bank rate on hold last week.Data provider Moneyfacts has reported that the average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.43%, down from 5.45% yesterday Continue reading...
Trading relationships at breaking point' because of delays and costs, garden centres and nurseries warnExporters of plants and flowers from mainland Europe are turning their backs on supplying Britain as painful" new Brexit border checks are putting some trading relationships at breaking point", garden centres and nurseries have warned.The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), which represents garden retailers and growers, said long-held links between British nurseries and EU suppliers were now being put under strain because of the delays and costs associated with the new border processes. Continue reading...
The People's Bank of China announces a host of policy support measures but some experts fear they may not be enoughChina's central bank unveiled its strongest suite of economic stimulus measures since the start of the Covid pandemic, underlining the difficulty it faces in reviving an economy grappling with a prolonged property crisis and strong deflationary pressures.Governor Pan Gongsheng said the People's Bank of China will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves - known as reserve requirement ratios (RRR) - by 50 basis points. The People's Bank of China will also cut a key policy rate by 0.2 percentage points to 1.5%. Continue reading...
The chancellor suggested that she might need to rewrite her fiscal rules. That would be a good thingThere was no screeching U-turn in Rachel Reeves' speech to delegates at the Labour party conference. Butmake no mistake, the chancellor is changing course. Earlier this month she had warned of a painful" budget. In Liverpool, Rachel Reeves said her optimism for Britain burns brighter than ever". In a matter of weeks, the tone has gone from doom to dreaming. This was necessary because Ms Reeves had, as the former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane noted, erred by creating a sense of fear and foreboding" which threatened to undermine a potential economic recovery. Consumer confidence was sinking. Labour's poll lead over the Tories on the economy disappeared. Something had to be done.But it is unclear whether Ms Reeves has done enough. She did reiterate that Tory overspending meant tough decisions" lay ahead. It appears a selffulfilling prophecy is at play here. When people hear that economic conditions are expected to worsen, they may delay activities that stimulate the economy. While the nuances in the chancellor's speech might be missed, Ms Reeves must hope that voters hear her promise of no return to austerity".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Chancellor says 22bn gap in current spending budget and state pension rise meant she had to make decision on means-testing fuel paymentsIn interview this morning Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, defended her own decision to accept clothing donations worth 7,500 when she was in opposition.Speaking on the Today programme, she said:I can understand why people find it a little bit odd that politicians get support for things like buying clothes.Now, when I was an opposition MP, when I was shadow chancellor of the exchequer, a friend of mine who I've known for years [Juliet Rosenfeld] - she's a good personal friend - wanted to support me as shadow chancellor and the way she wanted to support me was to finance my office to be able to buy clothes for the campaign trail and for big events and speeches that I made as shadow chancellor.It's never something that I planned to do as a government minister, but it did help me in opposition.It's rightly the case that we don't ask taxpayers to fund the bulk of the campaigning work and the research work that politicians do, but that does require, then, donations - from small donations, from party members and supporters, from larger contributions, from people who have been very successful in life and want to give something back.We appreciate that support. It's part of the reason why we are in government today, because we were able to do that research work, and we were able to do that campaigning.Unite and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have put forward motions which were due to be debated on Monday afternoon, with strong support expected from other unions.Sources said unions were told late on Sunday that the debate is being moved to Wednesday morning. Continue reading...
Fiscal policy uncertainty ahead of the Autumn Budget is biggest fear for companies, survey finds, while Germany's malaise continuesNewsflash: Rightmove has said it will carefully consider" the new, inproved, takeover offer from REA Group, and respond in due course".In a statement to the City, Rightmove confirms it has received a third proposal from REA, which it dubs unsolicited, non-binding and highly conditional".Rightmove is an exceptional company with a very clear strategy, a consistent track record of delivery and a strong management team. The Board is confident in the Company's short and long term prospects, and sees a long runway for continued shareholder value creation.Based on the implied value and structure of REA's first and second indicative non-binding proposals, we considered these proposals to be uncertain, highly opportunistic and unattractive. Accordingly, the Board unanimously rejected them. Continue reading...
by Callum Jones in Racine county, Wisconsin on (#6QY9S)
Trump predicted the Eighth Wonder of the World' for Wisconsin but the promised jobs bonanza never came about and Democrats say they are the ones who deliverLess than 30 miles south of the Fiserv Forum, the Wisconsin convention center where Republicans confirmed Donald Trump as their nominee for president for the third time, lies the site of a project Trump predicted would become the Eighth Wonder of the World".While still in office, the then president traveled to Mount Pleasant in Racine county to break ground on a sprawling facility that the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn had agreed to build - in exchange for billions of dollars' worth of subsidies. Continue reading...
Tributes paid to one of the UK's foremost economics commentators who was also ambassador to WashingtonPeter Jay, the former BBC economics journalist and diplomat, has died at the age of 87, his family has announced.Colleagues in the political and media world paid tributes after he died peacefully at home" on Sunday. Jay was one of the country's foremost economics commentators of his time, spending time as the economics editor for the BBC and the Times.Additional reporting by PA Media Continue reading...