Labour Party

Chancellor’s ‘black hole’ claim ‘unnecessary and unhelpful’, says ex Bank of England economist

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https://news.sky.com/story/chancellors-black-hole-claim-unnecessary-and-unhelpful-says-ex-bank-of-england-economist-13213523

Andy Haldane

Former senior economist Andy Haldane told Sky News that Rachel Reeves’s comments earlier this summer had spooked consumers, businesses and investors.

The chancellor’s claim of a £22bn “black hole” in government finances was “unnecessary and probably unhelpful economically”, a former Bank of England chief economist has said.

Andy Haldane told Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that Rachel Reeves’s statement in July was a “bad idea” because it generated a sense of “fear and foreboding” just when there was a new-found confidence in the UK.

Ms Reeves made the claim within weeks of taking office in what was widely seen as a warning that her first budget in October would be a painful mix of spending cuts and tax rises.

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He said: “The black hole event was unnecessary and probably unhelpful economically.

“It’s one thing to reveal a black hole, if that indeed is what it is. But just leaving that to sit for three months I think was a bad idea.”

Asked what the government should have done, he said it was “much better to say nothing until you provide solutions”.

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https://news.sky.com/story/chancellors-black-hole-claim-unnecessary-and-unhelpful-says-ex-bank-of-england-economist-13213523

Continue ReadingChancellor’s ‘black hole’ claim ‘unnecessary and unhelpful’, says ex Bank of England economist

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YouTube censors EI programme examining UK role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Isreal. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide.
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Labour votes to plunge pensioners into poverty

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-votes-plunge-pensioners-poverty

SUPINE Labour MPs have voted to plunge pensioners into poverty, after approving winter fuel benefit cuts for millions of older people.

The Commons backed Sir Keir Starmer’s austerity move by 348 votes to 228, with many Labour MPs abstaining.

A larger-than-expected 53 Labour MPs seem to have not backed the government in the vote, although some may have had permission from the whips to skip the debate.

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John McDonnell, speaking in the brief debate which preceded the vote, said that the cut “flies against everything I believe in as a Labour MP about tackling inequality and poverty within our society.”

He slammed the government’s claim that those with the “broadest shoulders” should bear the burden of the crisis, saying that it was the poorest who have been hit hardest.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/labour-votes-plunge-pensioners-poverty

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue ReadingLabour votes to plunge pensioners into poverty

Morning Star Editorial: The labour movement should call out Chancellor Reeves’ economy con

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-labour-movement-should-call-out-chancellor-reeves-economy-con

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves during a press conference following her statement to the House of Commons on the findings of the Treasury audit into the state of the public finances, July 29, 2024.

RACHEL REEVES is having us on. She is not prolonging austerity for the reasons pretended.

The Chancellor claims that it is imperative to balance the books to avoid a collapse in international money market confidence in the British economy. The ghosts of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are conjured to underline the point.

It is for this reason that pensioners are to shiver in unheated homes this winter as their fuel allowance is cut, and it is for this that hundreds of thousands of children are to remain in poverty, thanks to the maintenance of the two-child benefit cap.

But even in its own terms — and this column would argue that the speculators should be faced down rather than pandered to under any circumstances — the argument is bogus.

The City itself, no less, has blown the whistle on Reeves and other Cabinet members who have echoed her line, including Commons leader Lucy Powell. Powell told the media that the new austerity was vital to stop a run on the pound.

A what? The Financial Times quotes a Paul Dale at Capital Economics as saying: “If there was a risk of a run on the pound I completely missed it.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-labour-movement-should-call-out-chancellor-reeves-economy-con

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: The labour movement should call out Chancellor Reeves’ economy con