Category archives: News in Review

‘2022 will be defined as the year of the squeeze’ As wages stagnate, and energy bills and taxes rise, the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook released by the Resolution Foundation has warned that millions of families face a ‘year of the squeeze’ in 2022, potentially leaving the average household £1,200 worse off. The expected rise […]

“We’re concerned about inflation in the medium term” Last week the Bank of England (BoE) became the first major central bank to raise interest rates since the onset of the pandemic. At a meeting ending on 16 December, the Bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted by an 8-1 majority to raise rates to 0.25%, an […]

‘The global recovery is strong but imbalanced’ Last week saw the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publish its latest appraisal of world economic prospects. In a relatively upbeat assessment, the Paris-based soothsayer predicted that global growth will hit 5.6% this year before moderating to 4.5% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023. However, the […]

“We need to bolster our protections against this new variant” Following the discovery of the COVID-19 Omicron variant on UK shores, Boris Johnson took to the Downing Street podium on Saturday to announce “temporary and precautionary” measures to contain the spread of the variant. First detected in South Africa last Wednesday and labelled a ‘variant of concern’ […]

“If we are serious about going for growth, then 2022 has to be a year of detail and delivery” During a week which saw the government confirm it was cancelling the Leeds leg of the HS2 high-speed rail line, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said more needed to be done to end the North-South […]

“For all our disagreements, the world is undeniably heading in the right direction” At a Downing Street news conference on Sunday evening, following the conclusion of the COP26 Summit, Boris Johnson hailed the climate deal as “game-changing”, before adding that it sounds “the death knell for coal power.” Despite a late intervention by India and […]

“We think there will be some need to increase interest rates to bring inflation sustainably back to target” Following many hours of discussions, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to retain the Bank of England (BoE) base rate at its record low of 0.1% at its meeting last week. The decision was made despite predictions […]