11 ordspråk av Peter Spencer
Peter Spencer
[Immigration] has been an elixir for the economy. They have rejuvenated our workforce and made it much more mobile.
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But a prudent chancellor would keep some money in the bank so that he could do something about it.
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On this basis, the doubling in the oil price since 2003 will have knocked something like three quarters of a percentage point off GDP growth during this year alone.
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The Chancellor is blaming the UK economic slowdown on the recent spike in oil prices and the weakness of the European economy, but this is unrealistic,
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The problems were plain to see at the time of last year's pre-Budget report in December, but instead of addressing them then, the Treasury chose to dress up the UK finances for the election.
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The simple fact is that he'd already run out of money this time last year,
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The Treasury can't have it both ways. They can't expect us to pay higher tax, fuel and utility bills while keeping the economy afloat by shopping in the high street.
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We are certainly not out of the woods yet. Growth is still well below par - just hitting the euro-zone average - and with consumer spending dropping and the pressure piling on exports to take up the slack, we could be in for a bumpy 2006.
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We are certainly not out of the woods yet. Growth is still well below par -- just hitting the euro-zone average -- and with consumer spending dropping and the pressure piling on exports to take up the slack, we could be in for a bumpy 2006.
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We expect interest rates to remain at 4.5 percent until the end of the year, but another rate cut cannot be ruled out.
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With the election well out of the way, the chancellor's forecasts have taken a step back towards reality.
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