Kate Andrews is deputy editor of The Spectator’s World edition.
From our UK edition
This morning’s economic update from the Confederation of British Industry doesn’t make for cheery reading – but it could be worse. The organisation forecasts that the combination of high prices and low business investment will see the UK in recession throughout next year. Having previously predicted a 1 per cent rise in GDP next year,
From our UK edition
And so it begins. French energy company TotalEnergies SE has become the first out of the gate to announce a change of plans for investment directly linked to the energy profits levy brought in by Rishi Sunak this spring, and expanded by Jeremy Hunt. The company says it will cut back its investment plan by
From our UK edition
Andrew Bailey this afternoon showed that those who start fights don’t necessarily finish them. Speaking as the only witness at the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee today, the Governor of the Bank of England landed some rather extraordinary accusations against Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, suggesting that he was not informed of the details
From our UK edition
Will NHS Scotland withstand the winter? According to draft minutes of a meeting of CEOs from each health board in September, there is growing concern the health service will not be able to operate normally over the winter months. It ‘is not possible to continue to run the range of programmes’ it reads, before stating
From our UK edition
34 min listen
It’s no doubt a depressing time for the British economy, but how much that is the fault of the government, either for getting us to this stage and/or for not setting out a more optimistic exit route? On this episode, Cindy Yu moderates a debate between Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Kate Andrews who battle
From our UK edition
40 min listen
This week: How long will the pain last? The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews asks this in her cover piece this week, reflecting on Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement. She joins the podcast with Professor David Miles, economy expert at the Office for Budget Responsibility, to discuss the new age of austerity (00:58). Also
From our UK edition
Jeremy Hunt has just announced the most austere fiscal statement since 2010. The Chancellor’s plan to plug the £55 billion black hole in public finances will be achieved with £25 billion in tax hikes and £30 billion worth of spending cuts by 2027-8, taking the tax burden to a post-war high. The economic forecast from
From our UK edition
Rishi Sunak has ushered in a new era of austerity, not just Osborne-style spending cuts, but tax hikes as well. His Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, says the plan is not just to balance the books but to control inflation, and so this will be the theme of the Sunak years: Austerity 2.0. Throughout the leadership campaign,
From our UK edition
There had been quiet but growing optimism from some economists that inflation in Britain was nearing its peak as the CPI headline rate had fluctuated slightly – in and out of double digits – over the past few months. But that optimism was put on pause this morning when the Office for National Statistic revealed
From our UK edition
The workforce has not sprung back. According to the latest labour market figures, released by the Office for National Statistics today, the UK workforce is falling, not rising. Employers may be crying out for workers but the number in employment fell by 52,000 in the three months to September, twice what was expected. This was
From our UK edition
There is a conundrum at the heart of Jeremy Hunt’s comments leading up to the Autumn Statement. Hunt describes inflation as an ‘evil’ that ‘erodes the pound in your pocket’: uncontroversial. So Autumn Statement, he says, has been designed by his Treasury to ‘help the Bank of England bring down inflation.’ But controlling inflation is
From our UK edition
26 min listen
Natasha Feroze hosts as Fraser Nelson and Kate Andrews debate Lord Wolfson’s recent BBC interview in which he called for the UK to import more low skilled workers in order to fill the country’s job vacancies.
From our UK edition
11 min listen
The ONS forecasts reveal that UK output fell by 0.2 per cent between July-September. Whilst not a recession yet, it is increasingly likely the next quarter will see another dip following a surge in interest rates. Will the government’s messaging change ahead of the Autumn Statement next week? Also on the podcast, Kate and James
From our UK edition
September was always going to be a tough month for economic growth. The additional bank holiday added for the Queen’s funeral, combined with much displaced activity for the days around it, created a consensus amongst economists that we’d see economic contraction that month. And indeed, we have. New figures published by the Office for National
From our UK edition
37 min listen
On the podcast: In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray says the only clear winner from the US midterms is paranoia. He is joined by The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews to discuss whether the American political system is broken (00:52). Also this week: Isabel Hardman writes that Ed Miliband is the power
From our UK edition
There was no ‘red wave’ in America last night. This became obvious fairly early on, when congressional seats the Republicans hoped to pick up in New England failed to flip. Many on the American right had made the assumption that seats won by Democrats by a few percentage points in 2020 would easily turn red.
From our UK edition
11 min listen
Alongside an interest rate hike of 3 per cent, the Bank of England have today warned the economy will ‘be in recession for a long period’. How much of the blame can we place on Truss’s economic policy? What will this recession look like? Also on the podcast, Rishi Sunak plans to remove the ‘legal
From our UK edition
Alongside a rather defensive interest rate hike today, the Bank of England unveiled some alarming forecasts for economic growth. The BoE predicts the economy will be in ‘recession for a long period’ – until mid-2024 – with inflation peaking around 11 per cent. While the Bank is predicting that the recession will be shallower than
From our UK edition
After yesterday’s fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point interest rate rise from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England has finally decided to follow suit. This afternoon the BoE announced a rate hike of 0.75 points too, the first rise of this size in 33 years. This takes UK interest rates from 2.25 per cent up to 3
From our UK edition
There is no such thing as free money. This was learned the hard way last month, when investors made clear after Liz Truss’s mini-Budget that the era of cheap money was over. Mass borrowing for day-to-day spending was going to have a big premium attached: a bill so large that no government would want to
