Has Reeves realised she’s reached the limits of taxation?
Much of the economic damage has already been done, but in ruling out wealth taxes and further pay deals with doctors, at least the Chancellor is allowing a shimmer of light to peep through, says Paul Ormerod England’s cricketers narrowly failed to score the 374 runs needed to beat India in the final Test match […]
Enough with black-hole blaming, Reeves is ignoring low hanging fruit
Raising taxes and plugging black holes, Labour’s discourse ignores proven (and easier) methods to boost productivity, says Paul Ormerod The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has a major financial problem. Much of this is of her own making. Her relentlessly negative narrative about the UK economy has in itself created a stagnant economy. The issue she faces […]
To find out who’s to blame for economic uncertainty, reeves should look in the mirror
Household spending is down £50bn since last year. It’s hardly surprising there’s so much uncertainty in the economy given the relentless negativity of the Chancellor herself, says Paul Ormerod Households in Britain are still saving large chunks of their incomes. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed this week that the percentage of income saved […]
Farage has a point, the UK should stop subsidising Scotland
It may have lost him the byelection, but Nigel Farage has a point about Scottish spending, writes Paul Ormerod Last week, Nigel Farage created a bit of a storm north of the border when he suggested that the longstanding formula for calculating how much Scotland receives from the UK Treasury needed “looking at”. Some commentators […]
If the ONS can’t measure productivity, how are we meant to improve it?
The ONS’s shortcomings are far from trivial, its bad maths is holding back the UK economy, writes Paul Ormerod The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has come in for a lot of criticism for the accuracy of its labour market data. More specifically, its estimates of how many people there are in employment have become less […]
Reeves’ black hole alarmism is creating something scarier: A real one
Reeves’ fearmongering has scared Brits into saving. The consequences will be more frightening than Reeves’ ‘black hole’, writes Paul Ormerod A very bad piece of news for the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, slipped out last week with relatively little comment. The personal savings ratio – the proportion of incomes, net of borrowing, which individuals save – rose […]
If crises are the test of a nation, Western Europe is failing
The financial crisis and the pandemic have shown how Western Europe deals with crises. And it’s not pretty, writes Paul Ormerod Karl Marx certainly had the ability to encapsulate a complex phenomenon in a pithy and memorable paragraph. In a pamphlet on the Crimean War of the 1850s he wrote: “The redeeming feature of war […]
Reeves has placed an uncertainty premium on the British economy
Rachel Reeves promised to restore economic stability, but the outcome of her various actions has been to increase uncertainty, says Paul Ormerod Daniel Ellsberg, who died in 2023 in his 90s, was a true Renaissance Man. After a stellar career as an economics student at Harvard, he served in the Marines before working for the […]
It may already be too late for Labour
The popularity of the Labour party has plunged since the election, and history tells that once a certain narrative has taken hold, it’s very difficult to turn it around, says Paul Ormerod Since the general election in July, the popularity of both the Prime Minister and the Labour Party has fallen sharply. Labour’s share of […]
Investment can boost growth – if it comes with technological progress
The need to boost the UK’s rate of economic growth was a central theme of the first budget delivered by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor. Reeves emphasised the importance of increasing the amount of investment which takes place in the UK. She sees this as the key way to raise growth. To this end, she announced […]
