The problematic fact at the heart of UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s “Budget for growth” is that the latest data shows Britain’s economy is still extremely sluggish. The average annual growth rate from the eve of the coronavirus pandemic was forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility fiscal watchdog at only 1 per cent. That expectation
News
British motorists will save £100 on average after the government retained a 5p per litre discount on fuel duty for a further year, prompting warnings from carmakers and public transport campaigners that the move would slow the uptake of electric vehicles. The measure, which was introduced last year to help offset the soaring cost of
Mayors of England’s two biggest city regions outside London have been granted greater financial flexibility in the Budget as well as new powers in sectors including transport, housing and skills. The deals follow months of negotiations between the central government and the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, following a commitment in last
Extra pension tax breaks for higher earners, more free childcare for working parents and all-around help with energy bills top the list of the chancellor’s measures for consumers, householders and savers. Pensions allowances for higher earners will rise in an effort to discourage early retirement. The £40,000 cap on tax-free annual pension contributions — frozen
Jeremy Hunt has claimed Britain will become the best place to invest of any advanced economy after the chancellor put £9bn of business tax breaks at the heart of his “Budget for growth”. His first Budget also contained two big measures intended to keep people in work: a £5bn extension of free childcare in England
The UK government will extend its energy price cap for households by an additional three months as it seeks to shield consumers during the cost of living crisis. The Energy Price Guarantee, which has capped typical annual energy bills at £2,500 this winter, will continue from April to June, saving a typical household £160 during
Credit Suisse shares tumbled more than 20 per cent to an all-time low on Wednesday following comments from its largest shareholder that it would not provide the bank with any more capital. Trading in Credit Suisse shares was halted after they sank as low as SFr1.73. The declines came after the chair of the Saudi
BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has raised the spectre of a “slow rolling crisis” in the US financial system following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, “with more seizures and shutdowns coming”. In his closely watched letter to investors and chief executives, the founder of the $8.6tn money manager said SVB’s collapse was an example
HSBC’s eleventh-hour decision to offer £1 for Silicon Valley Bank UK was driven as much by its inability to fully analyse 30 per cent of the target’s loan book as the opportunity to win a host of start-up clients. The bank’s executives had already determined that SVB UK and its customers were a good strategic fit,
Budget October 27 2021 Prime minister: Boris Johnson; Chancellor: Rishi Sunak. Rishi Sunak delivered a “tax, spend and save” Budget, his third and final as UK chancellor. He raised taxes to their highest level in 70 years on the back of forecasts that gave him a £35bn annual windfall and promised to pump more money
Technology start-ups are scrambling to deal with tighter regulation and the influence of larger banks that are set to replace the informal financial relationships and close personal connections that have characterised Silicon Valley Bank’s dealings with the sector. Young tech companies, which account for a large part of SVB’s deposits, were making plans to take
The writer is a science commentator The assertion that the UK is world-beating at science and technology is often repeated but rarely questioned. The government boasts of being a “global leader”; UK Research and Innovation, the national funding agency, talks of the “UK’s global leadership in transformative technologies”. The reality may be less rosy, according
Since Bob Iger’s second term as Disney chief executive started in November, some of America’s most prominent media executives have offered him advice on how to turn the world’s largest entertainment group round. One topic has dominated the conversations: what to do with Hulu, the popular but complicated streaming service in which Disney owns a
Equities in Asia rose on Wednesday following a rebound in US banking stocks, as measures from regulators boosted confidence in the financial sector after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Japan’s Topix added 0.8 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi added 1.5 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
The Federal Reserve’s dilemma over whether to press ahead with its campaign of raising interest rates after bank failures has been further complicated by the release of strong inflation data. Officials of the US central bank are set to gather next week for a two-day policy meeting at which they will decide how substantially to
Jeremy Hunt will on Wednesday announce billions of pounds to boost business investment and measures to bolster Britain’s workforce, including a big expansion in free childcare, in a “Budget for growth”. The chancellor has pledged that business will be the main beneficiary of any tax cuts in his Budget, but he is constrained by a
China’s economy showed signs of recovery in the first two months of the year, with consumer spending rising after Covid restrictions were lifted. Retail sales grew 3.5 per cent year-on-year in the first two months of the year, compared to declines in both December and November. Consumption remained weak throughout China’s three-year zero-Covid regime, which
Rishi Sunak was on Tuesday warned not to weaken City of London regulation, including plans to relax rules for smaller banks, following the collapse of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank. The prime minister and chancellor Jeremy Hunt have pushed for looser post-Brexit regulation of the City under the so-called Edinburgh reforms, but the
US prosecutors are investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank after a dramatic outflow of customer deposits from the Californian tech lender led to the biggest US bank failure since the global financial crisis, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also launched an investigation into the lender’s
Parents of one and two-year-olds in England will be entitled to 30 hours of free childcare a week, under a £4bn giveaway expected to be announced in Wednesday’s Budget. The significant expansion of early years entitlements is part of a series of childcare measures to be announced by chancellor Jeremy Hunt. He is also likely
The world’s largest private investment firms are exploring the purchase of loans from the remains of Silicon Valley Bank after the collapse of the tech-focused lender last week. Blackstone Group, Apollo Global Management, KKR, Ares Management and Carlyle Group are among the buyout groups examining SVB’s $74bn loan book for pieces that might fit into