The UK Government’s budget deficit for this year will reach 19 per cent of GDP for 2020/21, according to Chancellor Rishi Sunak. It’s worth reflecting on that figure in the context of the Scottish independence debate. For years, we have been told by opponents of independence that a prospective budget deficit in an independent Scotland […]
Bank of England
Lockdowns don’t hit all businesses equally. That’s a point that Andrew McRae, the Federation of Small Businesses policy chair, made following the latest announcement of tougher restrictions. He said that small businesses like retailers had to shut their doors for the next three weeks, “when many big businesses face few operating restrictions”. If you can […]
Small businesses are suffering – and it’s the banking system that’s the problem
There are two stories about austerity in the news this morning. First, NSPCC Scotland and Barnardo’s have published new research on the impact of austerity on families, looking at what’s changed since it last studied this issue in 2013. The report finds that poverty remains the core issue, but that there has been a marked increase in […]
Big in Japan: Why high public debt is not so scary
“In the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, the US is making a concerted effort to suffocate the revolution once and for all.”
Iain Bruce: The UK’s theft of Venezuelan gold endangers a successful fightback against the pandemic
Do you know about the Covid Corporate Financing Facility? Well, don’t beat yourself up if the answer’s ‘no’, very few do. You’ll find it scarcely reported in today’s papers. In fact, the Bank of England at first wanted no one to know about it – they sought to give out public money to corporations in […]