In the wake of the Brexit vote, 2016 Q3 quarterly GDP growth of 0.5% (down from 0.7% in Q2) is regarded as a ‘result’. Growth compared with the same quarter a year ago is 2.3%, the highest since 2015 Q2 (when 2.4%). In the industry detail, however, it’s business as usual. Contributions to quarterly growth,…
Earnings figures put any economic ‘recovery’ into perspective. There has now been a two-year real wage revival (i.e. with earnings growth outstripping inflation), and in 2016 median UK full time earnings were up nearly 4 per cent on the low point in 2014. But that low point was nearly 10 per cent down on the…
Today – ASHE Wednesday in our office – saw the publication of the annual figures on pay across the UK (ASHE is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings). Here’s five things we’ve learnt: The National Living Wage is making a difference The introduction of the National Living Wage in April this year raised the…
According to yesterday’s Financial Times (£) last year saw something of an environmental milestone, as renewables overtook coal as the world’s largest source of installed power capacity. The FT reported that around 500,000 solar panels were installed every day of 2015, while wind turbines were erected at a pace of two every hour in countries…
Last Thursday (20 October) saw a backbench Commons debate on industrial strategy. This debate coincides with, but is distinct from, an inquiry by the BEIS Select Committee into industrial strategy, to which the TUC gave evidence. Jo Johnson, the Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Minister, and Chi Onwurah, the Shadow Minister for Industrial Strategy, spoke…
Today, pro-Brexit think tank Civitas has released a report saying that the EU will lose out from the increases in trade tariffs likely to result from Brexit. Even from the campaign that brought you £350m a week to spend on the NHS, this is a quite remarkably bad argument. As their own figures show, the main…
When is a promise not a promise? In my household, safeguarding of confectionary and sharing of toys are both subject to frequent exemptions. But beyond domestic squabbles, the subject is getting an airing in the pensions world. In the firing line is the defined benefit pension. This is the kind that gives retirees an income…
Government proposals for tax reforms may sound very technical, but they have huge implications for self-employed workers. Back in August the government published a set of Consultation Documents on their proposed reforms to the UK tax system under the rubric Making Tax Digital. These reforms have huge implications for all self-employed workers with a projected…
Yes, unemployment went up in the latest figures. Yes, I fear unemployment is going to rise significantly over the next 18 months. But today’s jobs figures don’t give us grounds for claiming it’s already started. The headline unemployment figure in June – August was 1,656,000 up from 1,646,000 in March – May, but that 10,000…
Our system of justice has become unaffordable to most. This sentence isn’t an exaggeration, placed at the beginning of this post just to get your attention. It is in fact a direct quote from Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, aka the head of our judiciary and president of our courts. A new report…
Tomorrow trade ministers from EU countries will meet in Luxembourg at the Foreign Affairs Council where they are due to decide whether to approve the EU-Canada trade deal known as CETA. The TUC and unions across the EU and Canada are calling for governments to oppose the deal. A ‘joint declaration’ (that has been hastily rewritten…
