Economics

As they say in capitalist economic theory there's only one thing worse than beating up a customer and killing a beloved bunny rabbit - and that's upping your staff's wages. Last week following the announcement by American Airlines that they are offering its pilots and flight attendants an increase in pay their share price dropped significantly more than their Chicago-based counterpart, hitting turbulence after confirming it would give its pilots an eight per cent raise and its flight attendants a five...

Brexit may be a topic that everybody has a strong opinion about right now, but with both major parties announcing that Brexit and an exit from the single market will take place if they win the newly announced June general election, it looks like the UK will definitely be leaving the EU and negotiating new trade agreements with other countries. Brexit is a difficult thing to predict the economic outcomes of, until we know exactly what the terms under which...

GMB has criticised the Conservative Government for being ‘asleep at the wheel’ as worrying new figures show UK economy slowing down. The latest GDP figures released today show growth in the first quarter was down to 0.3 per cent - from 0.7 per cent in the last quarter of 2016. The service, retail and manufacturing suffered saw a particular sharp slow down. Meanwhile energy costs are driving up inflation - in March the energy component of CPIH was up 8.7...

Public services provide for the welfare and wellbeing of the UK’s residents. Police and court services, medical care and the NHS, housing provision and local government administration are all vital resources, but some UK residents are being excluded from this support because of the language they speak. While there is a national requirement for public sector workers in the UK to possess English (or Welsh) language fluency, there is no explicit stipend to cater to foreign language speakers. Provision is...

State of the Nation   Theresa May sparked a sense of surprise across the country last week as she called a snap general election to be held on 8 June. Many have since drawn comparisons between the British zeitgeist with a Bristolian lady's reaction to the news which quickly went viral online. The announcement followed several statements by the prime minster that she would not be seeking a general election. However, in terms of shock factor, the news of a...

Malta will benefit more than any other financial centre in Europe from Brexit, according to an international asset management group. As Paris and Frankfurt battle over “Brefugees” more companies could actually choose to move to Malta's shores because it offers significantly fewer drawbacks than its European Union counterparts. Jeremy Leach, Chief Executive Officer at MPG, said: “Malta will be the biggest beneficiary following Brexit. After London, it should be the first choice for a financial firm to establish a branch or secondary office...

The day after Theresa May announced that she would trigger Article 50, on 29th March, inflation has leapt up. Due to increasing fuel and food costs inflation is now at the highest rate since Sept 2013. Economists had expected CPI inflation of 2.1% for February, so the extra increase is cause for concern across the nation. There are fears that inflation will continue to rise as the UK prepares to cut itself off from the other EU member states. The...

The Office for National Statistics reveals 440% increase in number of people on zero-hours contracts since 2010. People across the UK are living in totally unstable situations, where they don't know if they will be able to pay the rent at the end of the month. No guarantee of paid work is living people on a knife edge. GMB union today commented on new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing the number of people on zero hours...

The dead money economy is worth an eye-watering £721 billion, new research has found, with a staggering amount of cash laying dormant and unused in pensions, bank accounts and ISAs. With levels of consumer spending expected to be slashed in the coming months as the reality of the falling pound hits home, the UK could be caught between a rock and a hard place with many well-off people sitting on cash they have no intention of using. Close to a...