Sod the state: the middle-class race to go private
Postwar Britain can be defined by a bargain made with its middle class: pay for public services but benefit from…
Ten things to look out for in the Budget
It’s Budget day. The run-up to Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first fiscal event has been rather less eventful than…
Andy Haldane hits out at the Bank of England
The Bank of England’s former chief economist Andy Haldane has accused the Bank of being too slow to tackle the…
John Healey has been given a double whammy of bad news
The run of good economic news has come to an end. A double whammy of releases from the Office for…
Is the jobs collapse finally starting to slow?
Has the jobs market bottomed out? Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, unexpectedly, the…
Britain’s economy is growing – but Labour could soon stop that
Britain’s economy has surprised again. GDP grew 0.1 per cent in August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).…
The IMF has faith in Britain. Should it?
Britain’s economy has come out near top of the class in the latest report from the International Monetary Fund. Overnight…
Three ways to get Britain’s economy moving
There was a palpable frustration from the Prime Minister in his Labour conference speech this week. ‘I would love to…
Burnham calls time on the triple lock
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear black T-shirts. Andy Burnham has done what nearly every British politician knows needs…
John Healey’s ‘new age of industrialisation’ is a fantasy
The first half of John Healey’s first Labour conference speech as Chancellor reminded me of old men in a bowls…
The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain
Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate this month there were lots of nervous whispers. ‘Wealthy people we…
Can John Healey dodge another round of tax rises?
Ever since bond vigilantes around the world decided it was time to offload their holdings in sovereign debt, Westminster has…
The Bank holding interest rates will be of little relief for John Healey
The Bank of England has just voted six-three to hold interest rates at 3.75 per cent, a decision that makes…
Another cost of living crisis is coming
Britain is heading head first towards another cost of living crisis. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)…
Britian’s public sector wage spiral
Britain is in a wage spiral – though not a traditional one. Instead, job and wage growth is surging in the…
Labour must go further and faster in the North Sea
John Healey stood in front of two giant robotic arms this week and promised to ‘make Great Britain Growth Britain…
Britain is growing. Will Healey mess it up?
There are lots of reasons to seriously worry about the economy at the moment. The price of oil is surging,…
The SNP’s food price cap bill is stupid and cynical
If the first job of a government is national security the second probably ought to be food security. Odd, then,…
Jenny Gilruth was my teacher – the bullying claims don’t surprise me
When I heard that a civil service insider had made bullying allegations against Scotland’s deputy first minister, Jenny Gilruth, I…
Are tax rises coming?
Welcome to kite-flying season. With exactly two months to go until Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first Budget, we’re beginning…
Britain’s books are getting harder than ever to balance
There’s good and bad news in the public finance figures, released by the Office for National Statistics this morning. July…
Inflation hits Burnham’s cost of living pledge
This week, Andy Burnham, in an article about how much he loves buses, declared that he will lead a ‘cost…
Burnham’s jobs apocalypse
Is the Burnham bounce about to fizzle out? This morning has seen the first shaky set of economic figures since…
The wildfires phone notification was hysterical
It’s reassuring to know the government has the ability to live-tweet the slow decline of Britain. We won’t go out…
Britain’s economy is growing – but not enough
Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his Chancellor John Healey are not having a bad start. Sure, there’s trouble ahead: the…
