Public spending· Fiscal policy They’ve only just begun… Government fires the starting gun on a Spending Review that must plot a path to prosperity 10 December 2024 by James Smith and Tom Clark Rachel Reeves certainly isn’t the first Chancellor to turn to financiers for line-by-line scrutiny of public expenditure, as she is reported to be doing, as she fires the starting gun on next Spring’s Spending Review. Back in 1931, Philip Snowden turned to Sir George May – a retired “man from the Pru” – to identify … Continued READ MORE
Big Budget breakdown Top of the charts 1 November 2024 Afternoon all, and happy Budget week to those who observe… This whole TOTC thing looks like fun (apart from anything, that strikethrough shortcut Torsten showed me will finally come in handy be massively overused). Although, I’m not sure how I feel about getting my hands on it the week I’ve decided to go without sleep… So there’s … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending Cutting back on the investment and delivery of public services is not what the economy needs – or what the electorate wants 27 February 2024 by James Smith and Tara Goatley The Government’s current plans for post-election cuts to public spending look undeliverable given rising prices and increasing demand on services. As discussed below, plans to cap day-to-day spending increases at 1 per cent (after allowing for inflation) imply very big cuts to departments not covered by existing spending commitments. This is particularly worrying given pre-existing … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Sunak’s crisis-fighting measures: time to scale up? The Chancellor’s policy announcements are generating wide discussion but are the sums commensurate with the depth of the downturn? 13 July 2020 by James Smith This week the Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his “Summer Economic Update.” In case it’s not clear, this wasn’t technically a Budget. That said, it still contained more policy than all but three of the fiscal events we’ve had since the onset of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. So, it was a big … Continued READ MORE
Fiscal policy· Economy and public finances· Macroeconomic policy· Political parties and elections Political leaders must set out credible plans to tackle the next downturn The time for action on macroeconomic policy is now 30 November 2019 by James Smith Okay, fair enough, there’s a lot going on right now. With a fraught election campaign in full flow, and our future relationship with the EU still up in the air, you can be forgiven for taking your eye off preparations for the next recession. But boom and bust hasn’t gone away. So while the sun … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Pessimism, Politics and Economics: the real Budget story 2 November 2018 by James Smith Debates following this week’s Budget have been dominated by political arguments about whether the Chancellor’s spending splurge means that austerity had been ended or lives on (our view: austerity was significantly eased but not ended). But another debate has been conspicuously absent this week, having dominated the UK’s political economy for the past eight years: … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances The OBR on Brexit: known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns cast shadow over the Budget 11 October 2018 by James Smith As if Philip Hammond’s job over the next few weeks wasn’t tough enough already, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) this morning has published its thinking on how Brexit will make his life harder for many years to come. Already charged with “ending austerity” (which, as Torsten pointed out last week, is a stretch to … Continued READ MORE
