The UK’s ‘no mates’ economy is down, but not quite out The Sunday Times The sun may have been shining, but some of the lights have been going out all over the UK economy. There have been many falls from grace down the years, but the one that has occurred in the past few months has been particularly sharp. Not so long ago, around the turn of the year, the UK looked well set. The government, preening itself on getting through the Covid-19 crisis, boasted of the strength of the recovery, which was to be the strongest in the G7. That was the case last year, partly reflecting the UK’s bigger fall in 2020. Then, reality struck. The big inflation shock that was already building before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and which has been made worse by it, has exposed the UK’s vulnerabilities. The British economy is weak and skirting perilously close to recession. You can see it in the forecasts. Scary. Even last year’s strong growth story was not quite what it seemed. The economy has not been particularly strong since the middle of last year. The “oomph” it got from the lifting of Covid restrictions after the third lockdown in early 2021 did not follow through. Sterling, meanwhile, has become a “no mates” currency, trading at times below $1.20 in recent days, which is even weaker than the level to which it fell during its initial post-referendum slump in 2016 — the biggest of any big currency in the floating-rate era. Some of this is due to a strong dollar, but the pound — trading below €1.15 at times in recent days, before recovering some ground — has also been plumbing the depths against the euro. Foreign holidays beckon for many, but they will cost. A weak currency tells us something. Global investors do not like what they see of the UK economy or British politics. Breaking international law in a way that threatens a trade war with your biggest trading partners — to shore up a deeply flawed leader — is a “sell” signal. Whatever the results of confidence votes among Tory MPs, there is not much confidence out there in this government. Tony Danker, the CBI’s director- general, said that government “grandstanding” on the Northern Ireland Protocol was making international businesses think that now was maybe not the time to invest in the UK. The money flowing in may take the form of foreign buyers snapping up British firms at bargain prices as a result of low valuations and the weak pound (the irony ) What happens to the pound matters a lot, particularly at present. The weaker it is, the bigger will be the cost-of-living crisis and the pressure on business costs. Global oil prices have been higher in the past, but — priced in dollars as they are — the weaker the pound, the higher the sterling price, which has hit £100 a barrel in recent days. That is why petrol has been touching — and in some cases exceeding — £2 a litre. The UK is uncomfortably close to the top in one league table — that for the highest petrol and diesel prices in Europe. Some of the economy’s woes were brought out into the open by the latest monthly gross domestic product (GDP) figures, published a few days ago. An unexpected 0.3 per cent fall in GDP in April — with services, industrial production and construction all falling for the first time since the grim lockdown month of January 2021 — told of an economy struggling to stay afloat. Although the fall was distorted by an unwinding of NHS Test & Trace activity following the end of mass free testing, it still spoke of an economy that will stagnate, at best, for the rest of this year and most of next. please log in to view this image Damning
We'll be back in the EU before then. Probably on the status level, that Romania enjoys, but it's our own (stupid Brexiteers) fault.
Nice union statement that, my youngest is a nurse and neither her or any of her colleagues were consulted on this.
What a thick ****, just kept repeating himself with no actual answer. I half expected him to come out with something like "don't go out on your own son, the boys will be after ya".
Aye Of course what many warned them about before brexshit was classed as #projectfear. Now, those very same things they denied would happen, are being classed as '40 years'. Funny thing is apparently unravelling 40 years of all the things that made this country successful and turning it into a ****hole is somehow undoing something bad
You think we weren't successful before the EU? The common market was a great idea that went wrong when they realised we had milk/wine lakes and butter mountains and too much manufacturing, then things got shared out fairly and we lost out on manufacturing but got ok deals with farming and services. Then the EU evolved and went to ****. Long story cut short.
So now you're going on about before the 40 years Nah lets stick to what's happening based on current events and the repercussions of the self-inflicted mess placed upon the country now. No amount of deflection or wispy recollections of some fantasy bygone era 50 odd years ago which has no bearing on today is going to mask that mate.
It's how it all started and what it has led to, historical events affect future ones. Are you one of those that thought everything would change on day one, did you believe/not understand the big red bus?
