Daily Archives: January 7, 2009

Jim Pickard Buy British – or perhaps not

January 7, 2009 6:25 pm by Jim Pickard

Hilary Benn was out and about yesterday urging people to “buy British” when choosing their food and drink. This made me vaguely wonder whether to expect calls for a more general campaign to help UK industry during the recession. Unions, bishops, Labour MPs, UKIP; that sort of thing.

And then I spotted this story in the Telegraph this morning about US Democrats insisting on a “Buy American” clause in Barack Obama’s $750bn fiscal package; the obvious implication being a lurch towards protectionism by the world’s biggest economy. Read more

Posted in Recession, UK economy, Unions |

Jim Pickard Stuart Rose: the VAT cut hasn’t made any difference

January 7, 2009 5:41 pm by Jim Pickard

First it was Simon Wolfson, head of Next (admittedly a Tory supporter) who said the cut in VAT had made no difference to consumer spending.

Now Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, has admitted that the cut from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent has “not made a material difference to our sales”. Coming from Rose – who is a member of Gordon Brown’s business council – this is rather damning. Read more

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Posted in Treasury, UK economy |