{"id":1129,"date":"2021-07-14T11:57:56","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T10:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:11:07","slug":"news-in-review-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2021\/07\/14\/news-in-review-3\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWe think now\nis the right moment to proceed\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In Monday\u2019s Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris\nJohnson confirmed that almost all remaining coronavirus restrictions will lift\non Monday 19 July, despite cases and hospital admissions rising, as it was felt\nthat a further delay could risk a bigger surge in the autumn. Although stating\n\u201cWe think now is the right moment to proceed<\/em>\u201d, he added that life will\nnot \u201crevert instantly<\/em>\u201d to normal, urging that we must proceed \u201cwith\ncaution.<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> The government continues to \u2018expect and recommend\u2019<\/em> the\nwearing of face masks in crowded indoor places and guidance will be provided on\na gradual return to offices and workplaces. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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First\nMinister Nicola Sturgeon, announced on Tuesday that Scotland will proceed to\nlevel 0 of the five-tier system next week, adding, \u201cWe are easing\nrestrictions next week, but we are not abandoning them.\u201d <\/em>In Wales, Ministers\nwill announce any changes to restrictions on 14 July. The Northern Ireland\nExecutive has agreed that more restrictions are likely to be lifted on 26 July,\nsubject to ratification by Ministers on 22 July. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Economic\ngrowth slows in May<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Data\nreleased last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows that the\neconomy grew at a slower pace than anticipated during May, expanding by just\n0.8%. Disruptions to car\nproduction offset a rebound in the hospitality sector as restrictions eased, allowing\nrestaurants and pubs to serve indoors. The service sector grew by 0.9% in\nthe month; food service and accommodation activities, including hotels, grew by\njust over 37%. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Despite being the fourth\nconsecutive month of growth, it was a slowdown from the growth of 2% in April. Some of the sectors particularly\nweighing on growth include carmakers and construction firms. Shortages of\nmicrochips have proved problematic for car production and the manufacture of\ntransport equipment fell by 16.5%.<\/strong> The wet weather in\nMay adversely impacted construction firms, who lost working days. The economy is currently 3.1%\nbelow pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Sunak urging younger workers back to the office<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, spoke last week about the\nimpact of remote working on those in the early stages of their careers,\ndescribing it as \u201cnot great\u201d<\/em> because\nface-to-face interactions for this group are particularly \u201cvaluable.\u201d<\/em>\nAs the economy reopens and people are encouraged to return to their offices as\nrestrictions ease, he said it\u2019s \u201creally important\u201d<\/em> especially for younger\nstaff to return. Optimistic about the prospects of recovery over the coming\nmonths, the Chancellor said that as restrictions lift, the economy\u2019s \u201cengine\nis roaring\u201d<\/em> and \u201cmoving up a gear.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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His\nvaluation came amid various expectations of a summer consumer spending boom. In\nfact, in the Institute for Fiscal Studies recent living standards report, the \u2018astonishing\u2019<\/em>\nreturn of real earnings growth and unemployment to pre-pandemic levels in the\nwake of major economic disruption, was highlighted. Focusing on UK labour\nmarket conditions, the report deduced, \u2018Overall, given the huge changes to\nthe economy and the labour market in 2020\u201321, it may be considered remarkable\nhow little change there was in many labour market indicators. While there were\nlarge increases in the proportion of people not working, the existence of the\nfurlough scheme means that the proportion of people unemployed or inactive, and\ntherefore completely without a job, has risen only modestly. Of course, this\nmay change in the autumn of 2021, when the furlough scheme comes to an end and\nwhen unemployment is expected to rise.\u2019<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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High\nstreet recovery<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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According\nto the British Retail Consortium (BRC), high street sales in Q2 were up by 28.4%\ncompared to a year ago and were 10.4% up from 2019. BRC attributed the best\nthree months on record to good weather in June and the Euro 2020\ntournament. The report also found that online sales remained much higher than\ntheir pre-pandemic levels, suggesting the shift to online is \u2018here to stay<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Here to\nhelp<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Financial\nadvice is key, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions\nor concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The value of investments can go down as well\nas up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not a\nguide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be\nrepeated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe think now is the right moment to proceed\u201d In Monday\u2019s Downing Street briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that almost all remaining coronavirus restrictions will lift on Monday 19 July, despite cases and hospital admissions rising, as it was felt that a further delay could risk a bigger surge in the autumn. Although stating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}