New figures from the Office For National Statistics will make happy reading for Rachel Reeves. After no growth at all in April, GDP ticked up by 0.4% in May, and 0.9% in the three months to May. Alive and kicking construction output is driving the increase, with production and services in the green as well…
Don’t expect to hear Reeves thanking the last government for this one today. A new edition in the “Why Didn’t Sunak Wait To Call The Election” series…
Finally some good news for Rishi Sunak. Inflation fell to the Bank of England’s official target of 2% for the first time in three years in May. According to the ONS, it’s down from the 2.3% figure in April – a figure Rishi thought was good enough to call the election on that day. Meanwhile, core inflation slowed to 3.5%. Rishi’s already jumping on this to show that his “plan is working”, though it might be a bit late…
The fall is mainly thanks to food price rises easing to 1.7%, down from 2.9% in April. Still, the battle isn’t over yet. Should prices keep climbing at this month’s pace (0.3%), inflation will breach the 2% target again next month, hitting 2.1%. Though the fall in inflation was largely expected, the Bank of England still doesn’t look set to lower interest rates this month, it’s more likely to see cuts in August instead. Things can only get better…?
Inflation has nosedived to its lowest point in nearly three years, offering a welcome reprieve for the Prime Minister and mortgage holders yearning for interest rate cuts. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the consumer prices index plummeted from 3.2% in April to 2.3%. Economists are thanking the unprecedented decline in typical energy bills last month…
Increases in food prices are also falling with food inflation dropping to 2.9%. This plunge marks the slowest pace of price growth since July 2021, although it wasn’t quite as low as the Bank of England expected – 2.1%. All eyes will be on whether the BoE will begin to cut interest rates in June or August. City traders are hoping it’ll be the former…
This morning the ONS 2022 baby names data was published. Guido has been enjoying the annual tradition of seeing whether any politicians have inspired parents so much as to influence their naming decisions. The main bad news comes for Sir Keir, whose is now truly hanging off the precipice of extinction. In 2019, there were 15 baby Keirs. In 2020 that fell to nine. In 2021, a year into his leadership of The Labour Party it was six. In 2022 – with a few relaunches to his name – only three children were named Keir. That’s at 4,789th place and well below his moniker among left-wing critics, Keith, which stands at 2,755th…
There were a respectable 28 new Borises, only 11 below the ex-PM’s 2019 level of 39. Rishi sits at 862nd place with 36 children – down from his dishy high of 41 the year before. Guido notes that, of party leaders’ names in the last five years, Elizabeths are blowing the competition out of the water with a whopping 795 new kids – 60th in Britain (Jeremy is in 727th place). In Liz we Truss?
It’s happy news for Sunak and Hunt as new figures from the Office for National Statistics show that GDP grew by 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, after two quarterly contractions. Confirming the recession was short…
Hunt is on the airwaves this morning celebrating the news and touts that UK growth is predicted by the IMF to beat France, Italy, Germany, and Japan. What the Tories need now is an interest rate cut…
