New mayors will be elected on 4 May in England. But what good are they in the face of chronic local government cuts?City parks lie overgrown and abandoned; swimming pools and leisure centres shuttered; libraries locked up; local bus services axed; youth services scrapped; roads so badly potholed that hundreds of miles face closure. If the list of cutbacks is endless across the country, you can be sure of one thing. There’s worse to come.Related: England's new metro mayors will have influential role in NHS | Richard Vize Continue reading...

How has the economy reacted to the vote to leave the EU on 23 June? Each month we look at key indicators to see what effect the Brexit process has on growth, prosperity and trade in the UK Continue reading...

The latest monthly Guardian analysis finds rising prices, sluggish wage growth and a mood of uncertainty among employers as the UK heads to the pollsThe pound’s sharp fall since the Brexit vote and a mood of uncertainty among employers has hit household budgets, creating a tough economic backdrop for Theresa May’s snap election, a Guardian analysis shows.The prime minister will be hoping the resilience seen in the UK economy will hold over the coming months now that she has called an election for this June. But the Guardian’s monthly tracker of economic news shows living standards are already falling as rising prices outpace meagre pay growth.Related: How has the Brexit vote affected the UK economy? April verdict Continue reading...

With its modestly paid bosses and impressive health statistics, Japan is widely hailed as the most equal major economy in the world. But, reports Justin McCurry, this edifice of egalitarianism is beginning to crumble

Polling days as public holidays | Wales coverage | Redundant machines | Toasting the mole | Cemetery dangersInstead of new bank holidays for each of the nations of the UK to coincide with saints’ days (as proposed by Labour), why not make national elections a public holiday as in many other countries? This would help to make it as easy for many people in employment to vote, as it is for people who are retired or not in work. Alternatively, voting should take place at weekends, thereby avoiding disruption to schools. Improving turnout and making the voting process just as convenient for everyone would be a step towards a healthier democracy.

We import poor countries’ health workers, we extract their raw materials on unfair terms, and we exploit their cut-price labour, writes Richard MiddletonMost defences of development aid are, well, too defensive (Editorial, 21 April). What is classed as “aid” is more properly described as a small repayment towards the much greater sums we extract from poor countries. We free-ride on their education systems, especially by importing health workers. We extract raw materials under trade terms that systematically disadvantage them. We boost our corporate profits (some of which find their way into tax revenues) by exploiting their cut-price labour, exporting carbon emissions as a bonus. Our banks launder the proceeds of corruption among their elites (and again our treasuries benefit – at least some of the time). Our industrial fishing fleets decimate their waters. The list is endless. And all this before even considering historical factors such as colonial looting, slavery and past greenhouse gas emissions (now contributing to the very environmental and food crises which some of our “aid” then attempts to ameliorate). It’s not a question of “generosity”; it’s a question of justice.

Amid the rise of populism and nationalism, some are asking if revamping the SDR could re-energise multilateralismThe rise of anti-globalisation political movements and the threat of trade protectionism have led some people to wonder whether a stronger multilateral core for the world economy would reduce the risk of damaging fragmentation. After all, lest we forget, the current arrangements – as pressured as they are – reflected our post-world war two forebears’ strong desire to minimise the risk of “beggar-thy-neighbour” national policies, which had crippled growth, prosperity and global stability in the 1930s.Similar considerations fuelled the launch, nearly 50 years ago, of the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing right as the precursor to a global currency. And with renewed interest in the stability of the international monetary system, some are asking – including within the IMF – whether revamping the SDR could be part of an effective effort to re-energise multilateralism.Related: Whatever the IMF thinks, we are a long way from the boom time of 2007 | Larry Elliott Continue reading...

The presidential candidate has taken risks on many issues, not least by being proudly pro-EU. We must ensure that it is his vision that triumphs on 7 MaySunday 23 April was a historic day for France. Neither the main rightwing party (Les Républicains) nor the leftwing Parti Socialiste are through to the second round of the presidential election, which takes place on 7 May. It is also historic because the lead candidate going into the second round is the young head of a groundbreaking new political movement, En Marche! (Onwards!), which was launched only a year ago.Emmanuel Macron and En Marche! have made it to the second round because over the past year they have been bold enough to take risks on many issues. Macron has dared to challenge the established French party-political system in order to find ways of meeting citizens’ expectations in a globalised 21st century.Related: 10 things we’ve learned from the French presidential elections | Suzanne Moore Continue reading...

First-round victory by ex-banker Emmanuel Macron powers French index to nine-year high as global markets gainStock markets surged and the euro jumped sharply after centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the weekend’s French presidential election, easing fears of a victory by the far-right Front National.France’s Cac index climbed more than 4% to a nine-year high, its best daily performance since August 2015, as investors bet that Macron would defeat the other runoff candidate, the FN’s Marine Le Pen on 7 May. The first vote put Macron on 23.75% with Le Pen on 21.53%. The result was seen as the most market-friendly outcome, putting the independent former investment banker in pole position to fend off the anti-EU Le Pen.Related: France's stock market hits nine-year high as election cheers investors - business live Continue reading...

Older generations complain of interest rates that reached 17%. But today’s record lows have contributed to house prices soaring out of reach of the youngIf you’ve ever made the mistake of trying to debate generational inequality with a baby boomer – by pointing out, say, that they benefited from cheap housing, generous welfare and free university places, before voting consistently for governments that have denied those things to their children, all the while calling millennials lazy and entitled in an infuriatingly faux-indulgent way, as if their kids’ requests that their salaries bear some sort of relation to their actual living costs makes them the sort of spoiled divas who’d call a gold-plated Uber to take them to the lavatory ...Anyway. If you’ve ever had this annoying row with an ageing relative, then you’ll know that they have one last trump card, one last line of defence for their privileges. Interest rates, they’ll say. None of this 0.25% Bank of England rate in our day. We had proper interest rates. You don’t know you’re born.Related: Higher interest rates. Great idea. Here’s why it won’t happenBubbles tend to burst. Prices can’t rise forever: one day, interest rates must surely rise Continue reading...

Amounts demanded by sellers are up by 2.2% year-on-year across England and Wales, according to RightmoveThe housing market continues to defy fears of a post-referendum slump after sellers’ asking prices hit a new record high of more than £313,000 on average in April.Across England and Wales, the average price tag on a property being put on the market increased by £3,547 – or 1.1% month-on-month – to reach £313,655.Related: Estate agents struggling to find homes to sell, says reportRelated: The Guardian view on house prices: the government lacks the political will to fix the broken market | Editorial Continue reading...

Official GDP estimate – due on Friday – will reflect how weaker pound has pushed up the cost of imported goods

Christine Lagarde may be optimistic about the global economy but there are good reasons why the heady growth seen before the financial crisis won’t come backWhen the International Monetary Fund met for its spring meeting in Washington 10 years ago the global economy was booming. The world was experiencing the strongest period of sustained growth since the late 1960s and early 1970s and the fund thought the good times would continue.There was a bit of concern about the rip-roaring US housing market, but no suggestion that a crisis in the sub-prime mortgage market would be the catalyst for the biggest recession since the 1930s. Even when the trickle of foreclosures turned into a flood the assumption was that it was merely a localised problem that would soon be sorted out. Only when the entire global financial system froze up a year later did everything become horribly clear.Related: The Guardian view on the IMF: a global institution in an age of protection | Editorial Continue reading...

Of all the reasons for Theresa May to go for an immediate vote, the clearest is that the future prospects for Britain are darkening all the timeMy friend Paul Whitehouse told me the news in my local cafe. At first I thought he was practising a sketch for a re-run of the much-missed Fast Show.Sadly, he wasn’t. Theresa May’s repeated denials of an intention to call a snap election had gone the way of so many of her inconsistent and often fatuous pronouncements. There was going to be an election after all.If she ploughs on, she could end up by 2020 as the most unpopular prime minister since records began Continue reading...

Talks with IMF and eurozone have dragged on for months, but fresh funds needed so Greece can pay debt due in JulyIt is “urgent” to reach an agreement on a loan program for Greece but a commitment is still required from Athens on reforms and from Europe on debt relief, a senior IMF official said on Friday.

When the IMF and World Bank meet this week, they must work to restore faith in globalization – or risk that it falls prey to isolationistsGlobalization and the international rules-based order that underpins it are under siege. Bunkering down and hoping the flames of populism burn out as economic growth picks up is not a winning strategy. The crisis of confidence in the benefits of globalization and multilateralism likely will persist as long as rates of social and economic inequality remain stubbornly high.The best defense of multilateralism and the rules-based order is a good offense. Addressing inequality and updating the rules of the global economy to reflect the needs of the 21st century must guide the agenda for this week’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings. Continue reading...

The International Monetary Fund’s boss, Christine Lagarde, needs an answer for the car worker in MichiganAfter the most difficult decade in its history, life should be looking up for the International Monetary Fund as it hosts the world’s finance ministers and central bankers in Washington DC this week. The global economy is at last picking up speed. Financial markets look more stable. The US is running at full employment, China is expanding strongly, and the eurozone is going through one of its better periods. Spring is in the air, according to the Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde.Privately, the mood in Washington is less ebullient. The IMF has its doubts about whether the pick-up in activity – which has only been possible because central banks have kept interest rates at record lows since the deep slump of 2008-09 – will endure. It points to the vulnerability of debt-laden American companies to rising borrowing costs, to the credit bubble that has kept China’s economy booming, and to the €1tn of non-performing loans weighing down banks in the eurozone.The IMF exemplifies the sort of elitist global organisation that Trump has railed against on the campaign stump Continue reading...

Rumours abound that the Tories will abandon the UK’s aid target. It would come at a heavy costOne of the real achievements of the coalition government was setting and reaching the target of spending 0.7% of GDP on development aid. UK aid spending has played a significant role in halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and delivering the great improvements in global health and education that have been achieved over the past decade.Britain’s lead has encouraged others to follow: earlier this year, Germany joined the elite club of countries that had reached the UN-set target. It has enhanced British status and influence across the world. In a report earlier this month, MPs on the cross-party committee on international development concluded, after a lengthy inquiry, that “ODA [official development assistance] spending is in the national interest and is a strong investment contributing to create a more prosperous world, which pays far-reaching dividends including to UK taxpayers at home”. Continue reading...

Jim Yong Kim says reneging on UK commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on aid could lead to rise in conflict and migrationThe president of the World Bank has told Theresa May that cutting the UK’s aid budget could lead to an increase in conflict, terrorism and migration and would damage Britain’s international reputation.In a strongly worded response to reports that the government was considering dropping its commitment to devote 0.7% of national income to aid each year, Jim Yong Kim said the money the UK provided was vital not just for developing countries but for the future of the world.Related: Lives at risk if Tories choose to ditch UK foreign aid pledge, says Bill GatesRelated: Everything you need to know about UK aid and the 0.7% spending pledge Continue reading...

All the day’s economic and financial news, as political events continue to dominate the markets

There is no greater indictment of British society than soaring rates of mental distress in children. No wonder politicians cling to a simplistic ‘illness’ modelThe public profile of mental health experienced another boost this week, thanks to some moving comments made by Prince Harry and the Duke of Cambridge about the impact of their mother’s death, nearly 20 years ago. The two royals are working for the Heads Together campaign, which seeks to combat the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and to encourage people to speak more openly about their difficulties.Harry’s admission that he had ignored his own emotional distress for several years before eventually having counselling was a valuable contribution, from a figure more commonly associated with laddish machismo. William’s focus on male suicide statistics was also a good use of his celebrity.There is no more damning indictment on British society in 2017 than the prevalence of mental distress among childrenRelated: The stiff upper lip: why the royal health warning matters Continue reading...

Devious, cunning and cruel, as Tory chancellor he imposed his mendacious mantras on the national psyche. His legacy is a poisoned political landscapeMost politicians intend to do good, as they see it. It’s an odd quirk in public attitudes that the idea of democracy is revered but its practitioners are, mostly, reviled: from graffiti in ancient Rome, it was ever thus. Political commentators need to appreciate the practitioners, however opposing their views.Related: George Osborne: history will not be kind to a man whose flaws led to BrexitRelated: George Osborne is laughing at us as he takes his Evening Standard job | Aditya Chakrabortty Continue reading...

Latest IMF world outlook is most positive in years – although that’s not saying much – and it’s looking closely at falling shares of income to labourThe latest IMF world economic outlook released on Tuesday is the most positive for years, but it also highlights the continued risks from nationalistic and protectionist policies and the impact of policies and technology changes that reduce the share of income going to workers.For the past eight or nine years, the IMF world economic outlook has been pretty soul crushing. Dismal doesn’t begin to convey the mood. Consider that the titles for the outlook have been such joyous reads as “Financial Stress, Downturns, and Recoveries”, “Crisis and Recovery”, “Slowing Growth, Rising Risks”, “Legacies, Clouds, Uncertainties” and the one from April last year, “Too Slow for Too Long”. So it is with some relief to see a bit of positivity infect the IMF. The most recent update, is titled, “Gaining Momentum?”Related: Malcolm Turnbull's myth of 'middle Australia' ignores both gender and reality | Greg JerichoRelated: Does earning $180,000 make you rich? Let's not pretend about who's rich and who's poor | Greg Jericho Continue reading...

Britain’s blue-chip stock index has fallen for the second day running, and sterling is dipping too

Organisation also says financial stability is threatened by US corporate debt, China’s credit bubble and weak EU banksThe International Monetary Fund has warned that Brexit’s unpredictable outcome poses a risk to global financial stability at a time when it is already challenged by heavily-indebted US corporations, China’s credit bubble and weak European banks.Warning that banks were likely to be the sector of the City hardest hit by Britain’s departure from the European Union, the IMF said the costs of doing business would rise and regulation would become more complex.Related: IMF ratchets up UK economic growth forecast to 2% Continue reading...

The world recovery is gaining momentum which is a bonus for Australia as a commodity exporterThe global economy is gaining momentum which should be good news for Australia’s commodities-based economy.But the International Monetary Fund has again raised concerns about a growing shift towards trade protectionism and a breakdown of international economic collaboration which took root after the second world war.Related: America owes China $1tn. That’s a problem for Beijing, and Trump knows it Continue reading...

Theresa May may have won herself room to compromise on the UK’s exit from the EU – but don’t get too carried awayIgnore the 180-point fall in the FTSE 100 index. Part of the decline occurred before the lectern had even been placed in Downing Street. Part of the rest can be explained by a stronger pound, which tends to depresses the value of the many big dollar-earners in the index. The real question is why sterling, which hit a six-month high, reacted so strongly to an early general election.It was because investors calculated – counter-intuitively at first glance – that a bigger Tory majority in the Commons, if that’s what follows, will mean a softer form of Brexit. This argument was best expressed by Deutsche Bank’s analysts, who reckon the election is “a game-changer” for the pound and the Brexit negotiations. A bigger majority would set Theresa May free from the “unrealistic timetable” set by the eurosceptics in her party, they argue.Related: FTSE 100 suffers worst day since Brexit vote after May calls election Continue reading...

Sterling has rallied strongly as analysts predict Theresa May will secure a larger majority in the June 8 general election

Fund notes stronger-than-expected performance since Brexit vote but warns protectionism may hold back growthThe International Monetary Fund has revised up its UK growth forecast for the second time in three months after admitting that the performance of the economy since the Brexit vote last year had been stronger than expected.In its half-yearly World Economic Outlook, the IMF said it now envisaged the British economy expanding by 2% in 2017 – making it the second fastest-growing advanced economy after the US..Related: IMF chief warns that euro stability is threatened by French election – business liveRelated: Trump, trade, interest and aid make for a challenging IMF summit Continue reading...

Frances O’Grady says Brexit talks can stop EU’s arbitration court treating workers and consumers as second-class citizensA post-Brexit trade deal should be governed by a new court system that is fairer to workers, the TUC’s general secretary has said.Frances O’Grady said Britain and the EU had a chance to take a different approach to arbitration courts that make judgments on trade disputes.

The UK has had three grand plans in 10 years. It’s time to get everyone to agree on the targets and stick to themFor many years, the idea that a government of the right should have an industrial policy was heresy. The state’s role was to keep inflation and taxes low, then stay out of the way so that market forces could operate. Ronald Reagan summed up the philosophy when he said the nine most dangerous words in politics were: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”The idea that Reagan pursued a form of pure laissez-faire is, of course, nonsense. Plenty of US firms reaped the benefits of vastly increased defence spending in the 1980s, a form of military Keynesianism, that had plenty of technological spin-offs.Related: Theresa May's industrial strategy: what took them so long?Related: The Guardian view on industrial strategy: hot air but no liftoff | EditorialRelated: Beware the unintended consequences of a robot revolution Continue reading...

Trump has promised a ‘phenomenal’ plan to reform America’s labyrinthine tax system, but it’s a feat no president has achieved since Reagan

The Bank of England, IMF and other policymakers see ongoing low rates as dangerous but can’t see how to change things. There is a way, of course …For some time now savers have campaigned for a return to normal interest rates, by which they mean central bank rates more like 4%-5%. And it’s not just about earning more on their savings. This protest against the current 0.25% base rate also has a broader, altruistic bent. At least that is what they honestly believe.They argue that higher interest rates will restore a lost balance in the economy – taking it back to the way it was before the financial crisis, when things were so much better. Continue reading...

With world tensions rising and globalisation in retreat, ministers and business leaders have much to discuss this week in WashingtonGeopolitical tensions, uncertainty about the future of the EU and an increasingly unpredictable US president form the fraught backdrop to this year’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank this week.The prospect of rising protectionism also looms large for the IMF, a multilateral organisation set up during the second world war to foster cooperation between economies. Its co-host, the World Bank, faces similarly daunting challenges to its mission to cut poverty and inequality. Continue reading...

Investment in education and retraining is needed to equip people to adapt as automation shakes up their workplacesAsk an economist or a technology expert and they will happily tell you that decades of data reliably show automation has created more jobs than it has destroyed.Far fewer of us now work on farms, for example, thanks to super-efficient machines that do the bulk of the work. Such technology has boosted productivity and, with it, living standards. As a result, more people work in leisure industries such as hospitality or hairdressing, serving all those people with higher disposable incomes and more free time.Related: The Guardian view on the automated future: fewer shops and fewer people | EditorialRelated: The robots are coming. Will they bring wealth or a divided society? Continue reading...

The reasons for knife crime are complex, but it’s wrong to ignore the impact of cuts to youth fundingOn Monday Cedric Anderson, the estranged husband of a special education teacher, Karen Smith, walked into her primary school classroom in San Bernardino, California, and shot dead both her and eight-year-old Jonathan Martinez; injured two other children; and then fatally shot himself. Martinez was the 67th child under the age of 11 to be shot dead in America this year. (Four more have been killed since then.) Smith, who had married Anderson just a few months earlier, was just one of the estimated 50 women in the US to be shot dead by a current or former partner each month. Of the 91 mass shootings so far this year, almost one a day, all of those where the identity of the shooter is known were committed by men.Every day in America, on average, seven children and teens are shot dead. While writing a book exploring the gun fatalities on one random day, I asked every family who I reached an open-ended question about what they thought was driving such shootings. Not a single one volunteered the answer “guns”. I concluded that many I spoke to regarded guns as one might regard traffic, if your child were knocked down – as the regrettable, tragic price one pays for living in modern society, about which little can be done. Similarly, when mass shootings take place commentators will discuss a range of issues – religion, gang affiliation, mental health and race – but masculinity rarely comes up. It’s simply been so factored in to our understanding of how the world works that it escapes scrutiny.Related: Beyond the blade: marking the death of every child and teen by a knife in 2017Related: Beyond the blade: the truth about knife crime in Britain Continue reading...

Alternative economics | ‘Bubble’ laces | Dear Dr Banana | Rebranding bank holidays | TV juxtapositionsI still recall a comment in my first economics lesson that there is no obvious limit to human wants. Lugubrious US comic Steve Wright provided a perfect retort: “You can’t have everything; where would you put it?” It is encouraging to see that more economists (Finally, a breakthrough alternative to growth economics – the doughnut, 12 April) are realising that a system which boils down to everyone making more money and buying more stuff will ultimately collapse in a heap.

Indications that US economy has slowed in recent months will give policymakers plenty to debate as they decide when to next to raise ratesFalling retail sales and lower inflation in the US have added to signs that the world’s biggest economy has lost momentum in recent months, casting doubt over how many more times the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.Stronger takings at clothing and electronics stores in March were not enough to offset a continued drop in demand for cars, according to figures from the US government (pdf). As a result, retail sales fell for the second month running.Related: Is business starting to get spooked about Donald Trump? | Larry Elliott Continue reading...

Your editorial on the French elections (11 April), with its encouraging mention of the rise of the higher tax and spend candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, failed to mention possibly his biggest electoral draw: the fact that he is a leftwing protectionist. Prior to the 2012 election, polls showed that over 80% of French across the political spectrum thought that free trade had a negative impact on employment. So it’s not just immigration that is fuelling ever-broadening support for Marine Le Pen, it is also the fact that she too is an overt protectionist.These trends have obviously not been lost on the unholy trinity of free trade pushers the IMF, WTO, and the World Bank (Report, 11 April). Having forced nations across the world to accept their open-borders, export-led growth mantra they are now busy crying crocodile tears for the “left behind”, the inevitable result of their policies. They still rail against protectionism, despite the fact that if it has a progressive end goal, it could enhance the economic and social conditions of the globally disadvantaged. Continue reading...

The pound rose above $1.25 on Thursday after President Trump said the dollar was ‘getting too strong’

Bank of England has voiced concern over rising consumer debt, including credit cards, car loans and second mortgagesWorried lenders are starting to put the brakes on Britain’s consumer borrowing binge and plan to get tougher on credit card users, according to a Bank of England survey.Its poll of all the main high street lenders showed they had cut access to credit in the opening months of this year and plan to limit it further. The proportion of lenders expecting to restrict access to credit between April and June was the highest since the financial crisis in 2008.Related: UK's borrowing binge is worrying the Bank of England Continue reading...

After his U-turns at home and Dr Strangelove-style antics abroad, markets and investors are supposing that the president is making it up as he goes alongFinancial markets are starting to have doubts about Donald Trump. The euphoria that sent share prices on Wall Street to record levels has quickly dissipated amid fears that the new president is dangerously unpredictable.Evidence that Trump does not really have a clue about what he is doing is mounting by the day. The failure to get Congress to agree to a repeal of Obamacare was the first sign of trouble, since it raised questions about whether the White House would be able to pass an economic stimulus package.Related: Bank of England sounds new alarm over consumer credit binge Continue reading...

People feel they have permission to abuse us, because austerity has rendered us second-class citizens, excluded from society. This has to be addressedThe bullying of disabled people can often be subtle. Over time, I’ve become immune and also cynical. You filter out a lot of the abuse in order to get on with your life.But last week, I was at a pedestrian crossing in north London, and here’s the question: am I being oversensitive if I react to a cyclist speeding towards me shouting abuse? He didn’t stop and neither did I, meaning the poor dear in his black storm trooper helmet had to swerve to avoid me because I dared to be on the crossing. He did shout “Fucking spastic!” – which I suppose means he fine-tuned his abuse to include a repellent reference to impairment. I didn’t respond. What would be the point?If you can’t get to a pub or your favourite shop, then your visibility in your community decreases exponentiallyRelated: Turning Paralympians into ‘superhumans’ is no help to disabled people | Penny Pepper Continue reading...

Once known for bucket-and-spade holidays, Rhyl has since seen high unemployment. But a £33m regeneration of the Welsh town is underwayIt was summertime when Katey Howell, 34, first visited Rhyl, and she was bowled over by a town where everyone “seemed really happy”. The north Wales seaside resort was “full of holidaymakers, had a beach you could walk to and a good range of shops”. In 2004, Howell moved from Manchester to be with her future husband. “It seemed like a nice thing to do, to get away from city life and move down here.”

In defence of large companies named and shamed by Corbyn (Corbyn declares war on M&S – but retailer ‘does not recognise figures’, 12 April), Experian said that the data taken from its report showing very late payment of invoices do not apply to the majority of invoices. Capita said that only 10% of its payments are made later than 30 days of receipt. But even such a small percentage of late payment by a large company can cause huge pressures down the supply chain, and it invites questions about corporate ethics. Jeremy Corbyn raises a valid alarm about a potential national scandal.

Supermarkets know consumers are sensitive to price rises of staple items such as milk. So they have increased the cost of less regular items in the hope that people won’t noticeIf your weekly shopping bills seem to be going up, even though the price of a pint of milk is holding steady, there is a good reason for that. According to industry watchdogs, British supermarkets have responded to Brexit-induced inflation and the weaker pound by quietly hiking the cost of less regular purchases such as light bulbs, water filters and dental floss.According to the Office of National Statistics, food prices rose in annual terms for the first time in almost three years. Comparison website MySupermarket.co.uk compiled data from Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Ocado and Morrisons and found that, while milk stood still at £1 for four pints everywhere, the cost of an exotic fish supper has increased markedly since last October.Related: Rising food and fuel prices hoist UK inflation rate to 2.3% Continue reading...

Pay growth was weaker than inflation in February, official figures show, signalling a return to falling real pay and a squeeze in living standards

UK living standards seem to be declining, as they did in the coalition years – but in very different economic circumstancesLooking back, the spring of 2015 was the perfect time for David Cameron to fight a general election. Tumbling oil prices had left inflation at zero and after a couple of years of falling unemployment, annual wage growth was nudging 3%. Rising real earnings translated into a feel-good factor that delivered a political dividend for the Conservatives.Two years on, the real surprise is not the bounce-back in inflation, which at 2.3% remains modest by Britain’s recent standards, but the renewed slowdown in wage growth. Unemployment has continued to fall since the general election and the jobless rate has not been lower since the 1970s. Continue reading...

Despite another fall in unemployment and a rise in vacancies, inflation outstripped pay growth in FebruaryRising prices and stagnant wage growth have resulted in the first fall in living standards in two and a half years, according to official figures.Labour market data from the Office for National Statistics showed that regular pay in the UK in February was 1.9% higher than a year earlier and is running below the 2.3% increase in prices. Continue reading...

Christine Lagarde claims ‘sword of protectionism’ hangs over global economy and international cooperation is vitalThe managing director of the International Monetary Fund has delivered one of her strongest condemnations of the protectionist policies of Donald Trump, warning that putting up barriers to trade would be a “self-inflicted wound” to an improving global economy.Christine Lagarde used a speech in Brussels to launch a strong attack on the go-it-alone approach championed by the US president during his election battle with Hillary Clinton.Related: Global productivity slowdown risks creating instability, warns IMF Continue reading...