Kate Andrews is economics editor of The Spectator
Rishi Sunak stood glowering over a school table and listed, with disdain, the flavours of the vapes that lay on the table in front of him. ‘Grapefruit,’ the Prime Minister declared. ‘Bubblegum. Strawberry. Berry Burst.’ Pupils at Haughton Academy were then invited to express their own disgust: ‘Bright colours,’ observed one student. ‘Appealing to younger
11 min listen
Rishi Sunak has outlined plans to ban disposable vapes, and is hoping to change vape packaging to make it less appealing to children. Why? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.
16 min listen
NHS consultants have (narrowly) rejected another pay increase offered to them by the government. They will not immediately go back on strike, and will instead negotiate further with the government. Kate Andrews takes us through the details. Also on the podcast, Fraser Nelson responds to Spectator chairman Andrew Neil’s comments on BBC’s Newsnight last night, on the
On the face of it, this morning’s public sector finance update is good news. The government borrowed £7.8 billion in December last year. This is well below the £11 billion that economists had expected and almost half the £14 billion last forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). These are the lowest borrowing figures for December
14 min listen
Jeremy Hunt said he would look to cut taxes in the March budget. In the Mail on Sunday, he said he would look to emulate the late Nigel Lawson, who as Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor slashed rates. But Hunt has been promising tax cuts, and hardly delivering, for a while. Will this time be any different?
More tax cuts are on their way, according to the both the Prime Minister and Chancellor who have written comment pieces in The Sun on Sunday and The Mail on Sunday respectively to indicate their intentions ahead of the upcoming March Budget. This is interesting because their published plans suggest a rise in taxes, to levels not seen in
The Tory party’s plan to further cut taxes in the Spring Budget is not exactly a secret. Still, Jeremy Hunt’s suggestion at Davos that they are indeed coming has sparked imaginations – while his party continues to debate internally where these tax cuts should land. Speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum’s conference
Each year the World Economic Forum’s conference in Davos, Switzerland draws the attention of conspiracy theorists. In truth, nothing is happening in the ski town that doesn’t happen every other day of the year: it’s the world’s most senior politicians and biggest business leaders working together to implement their vision for the future. The only
Inflation rose to 4 per cent on the year to December, up slightly from 3.9 per cent the previous month. It’s the first time the inflation rate has increased for almost a year – an unexpected uptick, as the consensus was for the rate to slow once more, down to 3.8 per cent. This is not the
The Iowa contest tends not to select the Republican nominee. In 2016 Texas Senator Ted Cruz denied Donald Trump his first win by taking home the caucus prize with 28 per cent of the vote. In 2012, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum just edged out eventual nominee Mitt Romney. In 2008, presidential nominee John McCain didn’t
November is proving to have been a lucky month in Britain. Inflation slowed significantly: from 4.6 per cent on the year in October down to 3.9 per cent on the year in November (a bigger fall than anyone predicted). Not only that: this morning we learned from the Office for National Statistics that the economy
11 min listen
James Heale speaks to Kate Andrews and Katy Balls about Rishi Sunak’s new strategy to focus more on the economy as the election year kicks off. Can Rishi Sunak convince the public that he is the best man for the job? And how much control does the government really have when it comes tackling the economy?
When will inflation return to the target rate? According to its latest forecasts, the Bank of England isn’t expecting inflation to slow to 2 per cent until 2025. But could this happen much sooner? Several independent forecasters are growing in confidence that inflation could get down to 2 per cent this spring, rather than next
Any remaining question about who NHS strikes are supposed to benefit has been put to rest this week. Industrial action is needed, the British Medical Association’s website reads, ‘For the benefit of all junior doctors and for the benefit of all patients’ – and also, of course, to ‘protect the NHS’. Yet the union has selected the
15 min listen
As junior doctors begin the longest strike in history, Lucy Dunn speaks to Isabel Hardman and Kate Andrews about whether public support for industrial action is starting to wane, and how talks might be different under Labour.
Has the immigration U-turn already begun? When Home Secretary James Cleverly announced his overhaul of the legal migration system at the start of the month, it included a big crackdown on the family visa route into the UK. The Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) for a British citizen wanting to bring their foreign spouse to the UK was
10 min listen
The big economic news of the week was that the Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5
When I go home to America next week for Christmas, I’ll go to church – the one my family and I used to attend every Sunday, a few towns over. I visit intermittently throughout the year when I’m back home, but I always go on Christmas Eve. The routine is the same: I sit quietly
The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25 per cent for the third consecutive time. This was the expected outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest vote, but it wasn’t unanimous. There were six MPC votes to hold rates but three to raise it to 5.5 per cent. No one voted to cut. This speaks to
13 min listen
The Tories are reeling from a week of painful infighting over Rwanda. Who are the ‘five families’ of Conservative dissenters? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.
