16 September 2022 - Unemployment lowest since 1974

Kwasi Kwarteng, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will deliver a mini-budget on September 23rd in which he will not only deliver the Government’s ideas on how it plans to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, but equally importantly, how it will fund them. This will be something of a baptism of fire for the new Chancellor, who has been rewarded for his unstinting support of new Prime Minister Liz Truss by being promoted into one of the top three jobs in the Cabinet. It is understood that the dual focus of the Budget will be on energy and tax cuts. He has also been in the news in the past twenty-four hours as it is rumoured that he is considering removing the cap on bankers’ bonuses which was introduced as part of a post-Brexit shake up in governance of the City of London. Several banks have relocated to the mainland, and this is designed to lure them back. It won’t be universally popular, since a number of banks are said to be considering cutting overall staff numbers to cut costs.