Hammond has taken the first tentative steps towards fixing the housing crisis October 31, 2018 How do you solve the housing crisis in a single Budget? You can’t, of course – not with Brexit looming and a Prime Minister demanding that you both signal the end of austerity and reduce the UK’s national debt at the same time. But housing policy is the one single issue that personally and radically [...]
UK and Norway will give each other’s citizens the right to remain after Brexit October 30, 2018 British citizens in Norway and Norwegian citizens in the UK will have the right to remain post-Brexit, their governments said today. Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, said: “Prime Minister May and I agreed that Norway and UK will put in place a comprehensive citizens rights’ agreement. We will treat all UK citizens living in Norway [...]
Prime Minister rules out another general election after ‘giveaway’ Budget October 30, 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May and chancellor Philip Hammond today ruled out another UK general election a day after revealing what has been dubbed a "giveaway" Budget. May told a press conference in Oslo: "No. We are not preparing for another general election. That would not be in the national interest." Being interviewed on Good Morning [...]
This Budget balancing act was Hammond’s mission impossible October 30, 2018 As he stood up to deliver his Autumn Budget yesterday, the chancellor was to fulfil two promises which the Prime Minister had made at the Conservative party conference earlier this month: end austerity, while still reducing public debt as a share of GDP. Fulfilling these pledges will take time, and more details will be unveiled [...]
Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
Property in the Budget: First-time buyers to benefit from shared ownership stamp duty relief as Help to Buy extended October 29, 2018 The Chancellor unveiled a raft of new property measures today, including a further £500m for the housing infrastructure fund and stamp duty relief for first-time buyers that is extended to shared ownership homes worth up to £500,000. The government will also extend a revised version of its Help to Buy scheme until 2023, but for first-time [...]
Philip Hammond should be unashamed to show he is a true blue in the Budget October 25, 2018 With extra funding for the NHS and an end to austerity already announced, Philip Hammond must be wondering if it is him or John McDonnell delivering next week's Budget. While the cash boost for the health service is welcome, and the narrative of ending austerity popular with certain commentators, Hammond must use the Budget to [...]
Calls for a second referendum are unwise, undemocratic, and playing with dynamite October 25, 2018 “I want to be absolutely clear, this government will never accept a second referendum.” This statement from the Prime Minister in September should have been the end of the matter. Alas, it wasn’t. The so-called “people’s vote” scenario runs something like this. Enough Conservative MPs vote with Labour against any final EU agreement, defeating it [...]
Theresa May does little to reassure her Brexit critics at crunch backbenchers meeting October 24, 2018 Theresa May faced down her fractious party this evening but offered no new reassurances to the many critics of her beleaguered Brexit policy. The Prime Minister spoke to a meeting of backbench Conservative MPs – known as the 1922 committee – for just under an hour in a bid to win support for her negotiating stance with the [...]
Sterling could certainly tank, but it won’t be due to Brexit October 23, 2018 Surely here’s only one way the British pound can trade in the coming months. Currency experts are anxiously fixated on what the final details for Brexit will look like. But it seems simple to me: if it’s good, it’s good – and if it’s bad, the country will soon make it better. What does this [...]
