Is the British Economy Just Eight Weeks From Disaster?
Can we tough it out — or are we facing a right, royal mess?
Today, just after midday, the BBC released two pieces of news that were, in my view, underreported.
At least, so far.
The first was that the Bank of England had raised central interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5%, the first back-to-back increase since 2004. In January, rates had finally been increased from their historic low of 0.1% where they’d been since March 2020.
The second was that Ofgem, the British energy regulator, quietly announced that the energy cap would be lifted on April 1, resulting in a very substantial increase (54%) in energy bills for, well, pretty much everyone. True, there may be a few on very long-term contracts who escape, but even they can’t run forever.
On their own, either of these things is a significant issue in an economy that has been weakened by COVID-19 and undergone enormous change as a result of Brexit. However, there’s more.
In fact there’s much, much more.
April Fool?
The first of April is also significant because on that date, something else takes effect that we have known about for some time — the increase in National Insurance…
