New ONS figures show government borrowing hit a whopping £14.3 billion in February. More than double the forecasts, and the second-highest level for February since records began. Far above the £7.4 billion predicted by the OBR…
All this is before the Iran war started. Look at the ten-year bond yield since March…
Uh-oh…
Read the full 7563-word lecture by going to the bottom of this page. Here’s the summary for those afraid of falling asleep at the desk:
Brexit
- Said Brexit “did deep damage”, citing GDP impacts of “up to 8%“.
- Regulatory independence should be “the exception, not the norm” when it comes to playing by Brussels’ rules. So get used to abiding by EU red tape…
- ‘National Interest Principles’ to guide alignment, but explicitly ruled out free movement.
- Said no trade deal with any individual nation can outweigh the EU.
Tax
- Defended tax rises as preventing higher inflation, interest rates, borrowing and collapsing public services. She achieved all four anyway…
- Announced roadmap for fiscal devolution at Autumn Budget, including devolving a share of income tax to metro mayors. Insisted this means no new taxes, just local retention of existing revenues. She actually said “I will not ask taxpayers to pay more”. Really.
- Threatened CMA action against companies making “excessive profits” from the Iran crisis on fuel and heating oil.
Spending
- £2.3bn City Investment Funds for northern and Midlands mayors (scored at Autumn Budget, not yet in the books).
- Oxford-Cambridge funding doubled to £800m.
- £500m Sovereign AI Unit launching April.
- Up to £2bn for quantum computing over a decade.
- Manchester Digital Campus confirmed, framed as “moving power and people outside of London“.
She also admitted youth unemployment was “far too high” and the student loan system is “broken“. And then said fixing it wasn’t “front of the queue”…
Read the full speech below:
Continue reading “READ IN FULL: Rachel Reeves’ Brexit-Bashing Mais Lecture”
Rachel Reeves has just claimed in her Mais lecture she had to raise taxes in both her car-crash Budgets because not doing so would have led to “higher inflation, higher interest rates, higher borrowing… or collapsing public services“. Admitting these choices were “unpopular” with some, which is the understatement of the millennium…
Here is what the Office for Budget Responsibility said when Reeves hiked employers’ NI contributions in her first Budget:
“The OBR also expect that in the near-term the measure will add 0.2% to the level of the CPI as a result of firms passing on part of the cost of the measure to consumer prices.”
Not to mention the inflationary public sector pay rises…
There was a time when Reeves held up the OBR as the paragons of virtue. Then she got into government and obviously had second thoughts. Even before they accidentally leaked her entire Budget last year…
Rachel Reeves is set to beat the drum for even closer ties to Brussels in her Mais lecture this afternoon. Here is what she’ll say, for those who can’t bear to listen:
“In this changing world, Britain is not powerless. We can shape our own future. Our method is stability, investment and reform — through an active and strategic state. Today, I am making three big choices on the greatest growth opportunities for Britain in the decade to come: growth in every part of Britain, AI and innovation, and a deeper relationship with the EU.”
The government is planning a sector-by-sector audit to align UK regulations with the EU, starting with food standards, chemicals, and aerospace. There’s also a ‘youth mobility deal’ and a push to have British components counted as European under new EU content rules. Negotiations (terms of surrender) are expected to begin at a summit this summer. Any hope of achieving real growth has gone down the plumbing, so they are pulling the emergency EU lever…
UPDATE: The meeting is now back on. Shambles…
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) has pulled out of a scheduled meeting with Rachel Reeves in Number 11 today over “inflammatory language by Government Ministers“, which it claims has led members of the public to verbally ‘abuse’ its staff. That helpful language being “price gouging” and “profiteering”…
Gordon Balmer, executive director of the PRA, said he wrote to Reeves this morning asking for the meeting to be being closed doors without the media glare “to allow a conversation to explain how the fuel market works”. Ouch…
“Recently I have heard of incidents from some of our members of retail staff being abused by members of the public, who may have been provoked by the incorrect and inflammatory language emanating from some commentators for example use of the terms ‘rip offs’ and ‘profiteering’.
“Our members are working hard in difficult circumstances making sure that motorists and businesses are getting the fuel they need, at prices that are very competitive, on razor thin or in some cases negative margins which means they are losing money. Our job is to serve the public keeping motorists and businesses on the road”.
“Petrol retailers have been working closely and productively with the CMA and DESNZ to put in place the “Fuel Finder scheme” which will help motorists find the best value petrol and diesel. There is clearly still a lot of work to do to help politicians and commentators to understand how the fuel market works and our door is always open for constructive dialogue.”
Pumping the brakes…
There is a whole section in the latest ‘The Labour Rosette’ newsletter to party members, published at 6.31pm last night, dedicated to the government’s ‘right economic plan’. Apparently Labour has “restored stability to our public finances” and the economy is “resilient”. It even reheats the closer to Reeves’ snooze-fest of a Spring Statement:
“My plan is the right one. I am in no doubt about how great the rewards can be if we stay the course.
“The forecasts confirm that the choices this government has made are the right ones. Stability in our public finances. Interest rates and inflation falling. Living standards rising. More children lifted out of poverty, more appointments in our NHS, more investment in our infrastructure.
“A growing economy, and more money in the pockets of working people.”
This morning’s figures show the economy flatlined to 0% growth in January. So it goes…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”
