{"id":5328,"date":"2022-04-13T13:14:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T12:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/04\/13\/news-in-review-51\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:09:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:09:48","slug":"news-in-review-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/04\/13\/news-in-review-51\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cThis will\nreduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices\nwe cannot control\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

During a week when the news\nagenda was again dominated by harrowing scenes from Ukraine, the government\nunveiled its long-awaited Energy Security Strategy. The new plan places renewed\nemphasis on nuclear power along with an increase in wind, hydrogen and solar\nproduction, and aims to boost UK energy independence and tackle rising prices.\nThe Prime Minister said the \u201cbold plans\u201d<\/em> would \u201cscale up and\naccelerate affordable, clean and secure energy made in Britain, for Britain\u201d<\/em>\nadding it \u201cwill reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile\ninternational prices we cannot control, so we can enjoy greater energy\nself-sufficiency with cheaper bills.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

The announcement, however,\nwas greeted with disbelief by environmentalists and many energy experts due to\nthe absence of new policies relating to energy efficiency. While welcoming some\nelements of the strategy, business groups also highlighted this omission along\nwith a lack of support for firms currently struggling with soaring energy\ncosts. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

British Chambers of Commerce\nDirector of Policy and Public Affairs, Alex Veitch said, \u201cThe first step in any energy security strategy must be to reduce\ndemand, yet this plan fails to bring forward support for energy efficiency\nmeasures. The transition to the cheaper, cleaner energy sources of tomorrow is\nvital, however prices are soaring today, and businesses need support now.\u201d <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

UK growth\nslows sharply<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

According to the latest\ngross domestic product statistics published on Monday, the UK economy grew by\n0.1% in February. This was significantly lower than January\u2019s 0.8% figure and\nbelow market expectations in a Reuters poll of economists which predicted 0.3%\ngrowth. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the slowdown primarily\nreflected a decline in manufacturing, with car production falling sharply due\nto component shortages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

State\npensions rise takes effect<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Monday\nalso saw implementation of the annual state pensions uplift. Due to suspension\nof the triple lock, this year\u2019s rise was determined by the prevailing rate of\ninflation last September, which was 3.1%. As a result, the full, new flat-rate\nState Pension has risen by \u00a35.55 a week to \u00a3185.15, while the full, old basic\nState Pension has increased by \u00a34.25 a week to \u00a3141.85. Charities, however,\nhave warned that the increase fails to tackle current cost-of-living pressures,\nwith official data showing prices now rising at over twice last September\u2019s\ninflation figure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Consumer confidence shaken<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Survey\ndata released during the past week also highlights the strain that the\ncost-of-living crisis is placing on household finances. The YouGov\/Cebr\nconsumer confidence index, for example, showed British households\u2019 confidence\nin their finances at its lowest level since January 2021, while a Scottish\nWidows survey found households\u2019 financial situation is the most precarious\nsince the depths of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020. The British\nRetail Consortium also said pressure on people\u2019s finances has \u2018shaken\nconsumer confidence\u2019<\/em> after publishing data showing sales growth in March\nrose by the smallest amount this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Wage growth\nlagging inflation<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

On Tuesday, ONS released the\nlatest labour market statistics which showed workers\u2019 pay failing to keep up\nwith the spiralling cost of living. Between December and February, real regular\npay fell by 1% from year earlier levels, leading ONS spokesperson Darren Morgan\nto conclude that, \u201cBasic pay is now falling noticeably in real terms.\u201d <\/em>The\ndata also revealed a further drop in the unemployment rate, while the number of\njob vacancies hit another new high. There were, however, early signs of a\npotential softening in labour demand, with the increase in vacancies the\nslowest for almost a year and employment growth coming in significantly below\nmarket expectations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Macron or Le Pen for French\npresidency<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Last weekend, Emmanuel\nMacron won a convincing first-round victory in the French presidential\nelection. Macron secured 27.84% of the vote, with far-right rival Marine Le Pen\nsecond on 23.15%, just ahead of far-left candidate Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon who\nreceived 21.95% of votes. The run-off between the two leading candidates is due\nto be held on 24 April and will be a replay of the 2017 election, which Macron\nwon by a decisive margin. Opinion polls, however, suggest the second round vote\nthis time around will be a much closer affair.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Markets<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

London stocks closed in negative territory on\nTuesday following news of a fresh 40-year high inflation in the US, with prices\nincreasing by 8.5% over the year to the end of\nMarch as the Ukraine crisis drove up gas prices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

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

\n

Financial advice is key, so\nplease do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions or concerns you may\nhave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

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

\u201cThis will reduce our dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices we cannot control\u201d During a week when the news agenda was again dominated by harrowing scenes from Ukraine, the government unveiled its long-awaited Energy Security Strategy. The new plan places renewed emphasis on nuclear power along with an increase in wind, hydrogen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328"}],"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=5328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5410,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5328\/revisions\/5410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5328"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=5328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}