With RICS finding the housing market subdued, should we brace for falling house prices? March 10, 2017 Kay Neufeld, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), says Yes. With infallible regularity, every year a number of property market analysts predict that “this year prices surely must fall”. Most of the time, they are wrong. Looking at market fundamentals, not much has changed in 2017. The demand for housing [...]
Editor’s notes: Hammond falls down the cracks between politics and policy, the bigger threats to the media than Rupert Murdoch and why the UK needs a new army of trade negotiators March 10, 2017 There are plenty of people willing to defend the chancellor’s controversial raid on the self-employed, not least the chancellor himself who was out and about yesterday claiming that the government faced “some new challenges” and that it has “to pay for these things somehow”. As opposition to the move grows on his own backbenches, he [...]
Mario Draghi says Brexit has had no economic impact as the European Central Bank (ECB) holds interest rates steady March 9, 2017 European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said Brexit has so far not had a significant economic impact. Draghi said: "We haven't seen yet a consequence" or a "significant economic impact" from Brexit, despite the ECB's expectations. He also painted a more positive picture of the Eurozone economy as the bank held monetary policy steady, [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond unveils Midlands Engine strategy with £392m investment and plans to cut congestion March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled details of his Midlands Engine plans today, including £392m through the Local Growth fund to improve transport connections. This includes £151m for the West Midlands City region, the largest award for any area. There are also transport and infrastructure plans to improve the Midlands, including a commitment that by 2018, all [...]
Tax rise on national insurance “modest but welcome” says IFS on chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget March 9, 2017 Moves by chancellor Philip Hammond to increase national insurance tax on the self-employed are “modest but welcome”, according to an influential economics think tank. Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the tax increase will help “shore up the tax base and create a slightly less unequal playing field.” The increase [...]
Hammond will need legendary persistence to find the productivity Holy Grail March 9, 2017 Legend has it that the Holy Grail was the cup used during the Last Supper and by Joseph of Arimathea to collect Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion. Finding the Grail was the mission of the knights of King Arthur. They are still looking. King Arthur and the Grail rarely feature in the cast of Budget [...]
Q&A: How will Philip Hammond’s 2017 Budget affect your taxes? March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered several blows to the self-employed yesterday, but they're not the only group impacted. Here, we've laid out all the ways in which the Budget will affect your tax affairs: NATIONAL INSURANCE What’s happening to National Insurance? National Insurance contributions (NICs) for self-employed workers will be hiked over the next two years, [...]
Philip Hammond’s self-employment tax hike marred a refreshingly mundane Budget March 9, 2017 It took just a couple of hours for the chancellor’s Budget to come under heavy fire. He set out changes to Class Four National Insurance contributions, increasing them from 9 per cent to 11 per cent over a couple of years. This breaks a Conservative manifesto pledge ruling out VAT, income tax and NI increases, his [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond picks a self-employed pocket or two in his first (and last) Spring Budget March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond stands accused of breaking a key Conservative manifesto pledge after announcing a double-raid on Britain’s self-employed workers during yesterday’s Budget. Delivering the first of two Budgets this year, Hammond said he would raise the main rate of Class 4 National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed by one percentage point to 10 [...]
The chancellor needs more than a rainy day fund to help Britain weather Brexit March 8, 2017 In his final Spring Budget, the chancellor was already weaning his audience from this once important spring affair, with little of significant economic policy substance announced. He was handed a gift by the Office for Budget Responsibility in the form of an upgraded outlook for 2017, in anticipation of more resilient consumer spending, although expectations for [...]
