All posts tagged: UK economy

Oil tumbles as Trump says Iran war is in its ‘final stages’ – latest updates

Oil tumbles as Trump says Iran war is in its ‘final stages’ – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Inflation has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year after a drop in the energy price cap outweighed the oil shock from the Iran war. The consumer prices index (CPI) fell to 2.8pc in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), after Ofgem reduced annual household energy bills by £117. Economists fear the larger than expected fall in inflation is a false dawn before a surge in prices later this year linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Petrol prices on Tuesday hit their highest level since the start of the war, having risen by more than 25p a litre since February. Inflation accelerated to 3.3pc in March after the outbreak of the war, which has sent oil and gas prices soaring after exports through the Strait of Hormuz were effectively cut off. However, CPI slowed in April to its lowest level since March last year after the Chancellor took some green levies out of household bills, allowing Ofgem to reduce its price cap. Electricity …

GB News halted for bombshell announcement – and it’s bad news for Keir Starmer | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

GB News halted for bombshell announcement – and it’s bad news for Keir Starmer | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Published by Sam Flores

Presenters Alex Armstrong and Ellie Costello had to halt this morning’s instalment of GB News to deliver an update from the Office for National Statistics – and it’s a blow for Sir Keir Starmer. Armstrong began: “Some breaking news this morning, the Office for National Statistics have said the national regular earnings growth fell to 3.4% in the three months to March.” Costello added: “Well, that was 0.3% higher after taking consumer prices index inflation into account.” Their guest, Fraser Myers of Spiked Online, said: “Well, you have heard the government crowing about its economic success – Rachel Reeves says stick to the plan. But actually, people are struggling. Any increase in earnings is being eroded by inflation – inflation is higher.” “Growth feels like it is on a lower trajectory, people are struggling, and the current plan isn’t working,” he added. Armstrong claimed our nation “will have higher bills” and added: “The government will be wondering, ‘What are we going to do? We are going to have to raise taxes again.” The Office for …

No more growth for UK this year, warns US banking giant – latest updates

No more growth for UK this year, warns US banking giant – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Rachel Reeves faces a £12bn blow to the public finances over the leadership chaos surrounding Sir Keir Starmer, Goldman Sachs has warned. The Chancellor will see her fiscal headroom – the breathing space she has to balance the nation’s books – reduced after the recent sharp surge in government borrowing costs, according to the Wall Street bank. Borrowing costs have climbed around the world since the Iran war but the increases in Britain have been exacerbated by pressure on the Prime Minister to resign. The yield on 10-year, the return the Treasury offers when it borrows from financial markets, surged to the highest level since 2008 on Tuesday. The yield on 30-year gilts hit its highest point since 1998. Wes Streeting, a potential leadership challenger, will meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street for a showdown over Sir Keir’s plan to rescue the party after dire local election results and almost 100 calls from Labour MPs for him to resign. James Moberly, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: “We find that …

Rachel Reeves’s rubbish plan has just shattered – credibility is ruins | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves’s rubbish plan has just shattered – credibility is ruins | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

The Labour chancellor promised her “Plan for Change” would reboot growth, steady the public finances, restore confidence and put more money into working people’s pockets. Which only shows she hasn’t got a clue. In practice, it meant hiking taxes to fresh all-time highs, burying business in red tape, driving wealth creators overseas, and blowing a fortune on welfare, weakening the incentive to work. The result? The economy barely grew in the second half of last year and ground to a halt in January. Unemployment has surged. Almost a million young people can’t find a job. We all feel poorer. That’s some plan, chancellor. Yet for a brief moment at the start of the year, Reeves looked like she might get lucky. As inflation eased, markets expected interest rates to fall. Lower borrowing costs would ease pressure on households and firms and revive the housing market. Her plan still wasn’t up to much, but the economic cycle was in her favour. Not anymore. Donald Trump’s war on Iran has blown it to pieces. Today, oil prices …

Rachel Reeves makes disastrous move – Britain risks summer of violence | Personal Finance | Finance

Rachel Reeves makes disastrous move – Britain risks summer of violence | Personal Finance | Finance

Published by Sam Flores

Attacking the winter fuel payment within weeks of the election triggered a humiliating U-turn. Talking down the state of the UK economy to justify a brutal tax blitz in her maiden Budget was another disaster, crushing economic sentiment at a stroke. When it came, her Budget was a betrayal, hitting us with £40billion of taxes, far above the £8.5billion floated during the election. Reeves then faced another climbdown as her plan to trim the ballooning welfare bill was shot down by Labour backbenchers. Since then, the missteps have kept coming, including last year’s chaotic second Budget, which pushed the total tax take towards £70billion. Farmers, small businesses and working taxpayers have all taken a beating. Of all Reeves’s errors, I reckon the most damaging came in her first Budget. Loading an extra £25billion onto employers’ National Insurance costs has triggered a jobs bloodbath. The Chancellor saw it as an easy revenue grab, but her ‘jobs tax’ has triggered an economic and social disaster that could scar Britain for a generation. Reeves keeps claiming she’s “restored …

Rachel Reeves has just shown once again how out of touch she is | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves has just shown once again how out of touch she is | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Carole Malone Rachel Reeves (Image: -) Rachel Reeves is as transparent as a cheap roll of cling film. She reckons the answer to our flatlining economy – which she caused – is closer ties to the EU. And there’s a very good reason she’s saying that. It’s because she wants someone, somewhere else to make all the big decisions about Britain and then when it all goes wrong, she can say in that irritating adenoidal voice of hers: “Not my fault, guv.” Wrecker Reeves has spent the last year blaming Brexit for each and every one of her failures. Since day one in the job, she’s always sought to pin the blame for her incompetence, her disastrous mistakes and her cack handed management of the economy on everyone else – but herself. At a finance lecture this week (the very idea that Rachel from Customer Accounts can deliver a lecture on finance is beyond farce) she’s expected to say: “We can shape our own future.” Well, actually, no we can’t – not if we’re cuddling …

City slashes rate cut prediction after energy shock

City slashes rate cut prediction after energy shock

Published by Sam Flores

The missile strikes in the Middle East have raised doubts about how far the Bank of England will cut interest rates just as the latest data indicate that cracks have begun to appear in the mortgage market. Mortgage approvals fell to a two-year low in January in a fresh sign of shaky consumer confidence in the face of high taxes. The number of loans approved for home purchase dropped below 60,000 for the first time since January of 2024, according to the Bank of England. It came despite the average interest rate on new mortgages falling to 4.09pc, the lowest level since the start of 2023, when borrowing costs were spiralling upward in the wake of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget. The drop in mortgages, which indicates fewer households seeking to move, indicates the uncertainty cast by the Budget in November is lingering, said Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy. “We’re a long way from a boom in lending. Mortgage rates remain high relative to most of the past 15 years, unemployment is edging up, especially …

Rachel Reeves biggest blunder – new wave of voters may flock to Farage | Personal Finance | Finance

Rachel Reeves biggest blunder – new wave of voters may flock to Farage | Personal Finance | Finance

Published by Sam Flores

Rachel Reeves has blighted a generation and Nigel Farage may benefit (Image: Getty) Rachel Reeves has done so much damage to the UK, costing us tens of billions as the economy slows, businesses collapse, unemployment soars and wealthy Britons flee. The results are clear in the polling figures. She’s the most unpopular chancellor in history, while Sir Keir Starmer is the most unpopular prime minister. The chaos she’s caused isn’t just a disaster for the UK, it’s a disaster for the Labour Party, and one they thoroughly deserve. Labour was out of power for 14 years after Gordon Brown lost in 2010. Voters had simply had enough. The left should have learned a few hard lessons, but instead learned all the wrong ones. The big problem is that lefties only talk to themselves. Anyone who raises awkward truths is dismissed as an evil capitalist, racist, nationalist, or worse. When in power and forced to make tough decisions, they get a brutal reality check. Starmer’s Labour only won the 2024 election by pretending to be a …

Trump turning US into ‘banana republic’ with criminal probe against Fed chief – latest updates

Trump turning US into ‘banana republic’ with criminal probe against Fed chief – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Gold hit a record high and the dollar fell after the chairman of the US Federal Reserve said the Trump administration had launched a criminal investigation against him. Read on for what you need to get up to speed. 5 things to start your day 1) Miliband ‘to miss net zero targets by 15 years’ | Cornwall Insight, an energy consultancy, warned the Energy Secretary has little practical chance of achieving his goal of a 95pc decarbonised electricity grid by 2030. 2) Jobseekers flood the market as companies lay off staff | The number of people seeking permanent work rose at its fastest pace in four months in December, according to a survey by KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation. 3) Trump’s $200bn scramble to save America’s housing market | But analysts warn Trump’s bond-buying plan will deliver little more than a short-term sugar rush of housing demand. And his strategy is a risky one that could push up house prices and overall inflation. 4) Starmer fails to get Canada’s …

FTSE hits record high after Trump moves on Venezuela – latest update

FTSE hits record high after Trump moves on Venezuela – latest update

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Oil prices fell overnight as traders reacted for the first time to the removal of  Nicolas Maduro as leader of Venezuela in a strike by US forces. Here is what you need to know. 5 things to start your day 1) Shell eyes return to Venezuela to claim gas billions | Huge investment opportunity for British oil company and other majors 2) Venezuela becomes Trump’s energy superweapon against China | Beijing ‘is the biggest loser’ from Nicolás Maduro’s capture 3) Deaths to outnumber births from now on, Resolution Foundation warns | Shift prompts ‘hard questions about the future of our public services’ 4) Unemployment climbs close to EU levels for first time | Narrowing of the gap suggests Britain’s problems are largely home-grown 5) Collapsing birth rates may be the biggest challenge of our era | Governments are under pressure to increase the birth rate What happened overnight Oil prices fell back while the prices of precious metals surged after the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a weekend …