Rachel from Accounts is set to deliver her Mansion House ‘big bang’ speech tonight at 9 p.m., with the Treasury touting her “Leeds reforms” as the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 2008 crash. Expect more mortgages available at over 4.5 times a buyer’s income, plus a permanent government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme. Reeves is banking on this helping 10,000 first-time buyers every year…
She’s also ditching the much-hated plan to cut the cash ISA allowance. Reeves claims these tweaks to financial regulation will create “a ripple effect that will drive investment in all sectors of our economy and put pounds in the pockets of working people.” With the government ruled by backbenchers and these reforms being relatively modest, don’t expect them to cause much of an impact…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”