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1 month ago | 
theconversation.com | Shampa Roy-Mukherjee |Jamie Gaskarth |Linda Yueh |Nicky Shaw |Simon Williams |Steve Schifferes | +1 more
Not even six months on from Labour’s first budget, and the world is a much-changed place. Geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, already high last year, have risen further, and with them the cost of the UK’s debt, while economic growth has stalled. As such, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confronted an array of unpalatable choices – notably cutting disability benefits – to enable her to increase defence spending and stabilise the public finances.
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1 month ago | 
theconversation.com | Shampa Roy-Mukherjee |Jamie Gaskarth |Linda Yueh |Nicky Shaw |Simon Williams |Steve Schifferes | +1 more
Not even six months on from Labour’s first budget, and the world is a much-changed place. Geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, already high last year, have risen further, and with them the cost of the UK’s debt, while economic growth has stalled. As such, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confronted an array of unpalatable choices – notably cutting disability benefits – to enable her to increase defence spending and stabilise the public finances.
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Feb 5, 2025 | 
cittimagazine.co.uk | Steve Schifferes |Reuben Henry-Fellows
Pay-offs from the ambitious plans might not be felt by the public for decades. After six months of talking down the economy and warning of tough times ahead, the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has changed her tune. She is now much more optimistic about Britain’s economic prospects and has announced a raft of measures including major pension reforms designed to unlock cash to boost growth and productivity.
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Jan 30, 2025 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
After six months of talking down the economy and warning of tough times ahead, the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has changed her tune. She is now much more optimistic about Britain’s economic prospects and has announced a raft of measures including major pension reforms designed to unlock cash to boost growth and productivity.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
Perhaps the most important long-term change announced in the first Labour budget are the new rules the government has set itself to fund the expansion of public services and increase public investment. These , which set out how much the government can borrow and spend, are seen as critical to reassuring the markets and the public that the government is sensibly managing the economy.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
Ahead of the new government’s first budget on October 30, chancellor Rachel Reeves has revealed her determination to change borrowing rules that will allow her to boost investment spending. The overriding goal of the government is to promote economic growth, after more than a decade of stagnation in living standards. In the long run, boosting growth will produce more money for the government to improve public services.
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Sep 2, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
Keir Starmer has warned that things will get worse for the UK before they get better. The prime minister asked the country to accept short-term pain for the long-term good and warned of a tough budget to come in October, blaming the Conservatives for leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.
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Jul 11, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
The new government has made boosting economic growth its central goal. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wasted no time in announcing changes to the planning system designed to encourage more housebuilding and infrastructure investment. And she has met business leaders to unlock more private capital, including through their contribution to a national wealth fund. But government also has a vital role in boosting growth through its own investment.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
Labour has come to power with a mandate for change and big ambitions to grow the economy and rebuild public services. It wants to move swiftly to implement its early pledges while keeping within its self-imposed spending limits. But in longer term, to achieve its broader goals Labour is going to have address four key issues that have bedevilled successive governments: social care, council housing, university funding, and poverty.
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Jun 17, 2024 | 
theconversation.com | Steve Schifferes
After weeks of controversy over Labour and Conservative costings – in which each side accused the other of dishonesty – the manifestos show that both parties had wildly exaggerated their rival’s plans. But there has been far less focus on their plans to fund the promises, which both parties claim are “fully costed”. This may be because, to a greater or lesser extent, they are both banking on income streams that may not materialise.
