Economist, Visiting Professor, Lecturer, Writer, Public Speaker.
Rachel Reeves’s budget statement in response to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) update aligned with what was widely flagged ahead of the event. However, it highlighted just how little room there is for manoeuvre in the government’s fiscal projections and how vulnerable the plans are to unfolding events. Admittedly, huge geopolitical and geoeconomic changes …
Continue reading “UK Spring statement 2025: little room for manoeuvre”
Today’s UK budget is called ‘the budget for growth’ with the four E’s of enterprise, education, employment, and everywhere. Jeremy Hunt heavily trailed the latter in a speech he made at Bloomberg’s offices in January. Many of the proposals in the Budget were as expected and were known by the media. In other words, there …
Framed as a budget to shrink debt and control inflation, Jeremy Hunt’s statement in the fifth fiscal event of this year essentially left most of the heavy lifting to 2025 and beyond. Of the measures announced, some three quarters were spending cuts, and just one quarter were tax increases. Of the £61.7 billion fiscal tightening …
Continue reading “Has the Chancellor tightened policy too much?”