Trussonomics, one-year on...
The business news that matters
Hello and welcome to the latest Off to Lunch…
This week marks the first anniversary of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget last September. The shockwaves from that event, which took place on Friday September 23, 2022 are still being felt in politics, economics and business.
Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, referenced Truss’s brief tenure as prime minister in a speech over the weekend. “When the Brexiteers tried to deliver Singapore-on-Thames, the Truss government instead delivered Argentina-on-the-Channel,” he said. You can read more about that speech below…
Carney’s comments have attracted a lot of attention today, including from Truss, who has given her own speech this morning…
The former prime minister was speaking at an event held by the Institute for Government, a think tank. It is the first time she has spoken about the economy in any detail since she resigned as prime minister last October. Truss said that Rishi Sunak, her successor, should cut corporation tax, raise the retirement age, and delay the UK’s net-zero targets, such as the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars. On the mini-Budget of a year ago, she said:
“Some people said we were in too much of a rush. And it is certainly true that I didn't just try to fatten the pig on market day - I tried to rear the pig and slaughter it as well. I confess to that.
"But the reason we were in a rush was because voters wanted to see results.
"I knew with the level of resistance and the lack of preparation time that things weren't going to be perfect."
You can watch Truss’s speech via the Institute for Government’s livestream here. Truss has also laid out her arguments on social media…
Interestingly, it emerged over the weekend that the Truss government had considered even more radical policies than the ones they announced, including overhauling the tax system so that everyone paid income tax of 20 per cent. You can find out more about that in our Sunday press review here
Truss’s speech has attracted a mixed reaction, as you may expect…
I also recommend checking out Philip Collins’ latest column in The Times, in which he tries to lay-out an alternative economic approach for the Conservative government. He writes:
Working-class conservatism was not rooted in a world gone wrong; it was rooted in the aspiration for a better life.
The working-class conservatives who constructed the platform on which I stand wanted their children and grandchildren to become middle-class. They were unsentimental about the price of this aspiration. It meant a better job, a higher income, a nicer house in a more salubrious part of town or perhaps even a different and larger metropolis. If there was any prospect at all for their offspring to join the metropolitan elite, nobody would have been more delighted than those working-class conservatives.
You can read that column here
Other stories that matter…
1. The price of Brent crude oil is heading towards $95 per barrel for the first time since last November. The New York Times has done a useful analysis of what is going on with the oil price - production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia are a key factor, it says. You can find that analysis here. This is how the price of oil has moved over the last year…
2. The car dealer Pendragon has agreed to sell its UK brands Evans Halshaw, Stratstone and CarStore.com for £280 million. The company will be renamed Pinewood Technologies and instead focus on providing software to car dealers. You can find Pendragon’s statement here
3. The Czech investor Daniel Kretinsky is interested in buying The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine, the Financial Times reports. Story here
4. Handwriting instead of typing can help you remember ideas better and understand complicated concepts, according to new research. Piece by The Economist here
5. I enjoyed The Times interview with Tony Bloom, owner of Brighton & Hove Albion, over the weekend. Bloom’s data-focused approach helped him to make a fortune in betting and then transform Brighton into one of the best teams in the Premier League. He describes himself as an optimist and a risk-taker. Piece here
And finally…
A McDonald’s in Formby, Merseyside has been described as the “Disneyland of McDonald’s” and people are travelling from miles away to visit it. The McDonald’s has gone viral on social media, notably TikTok, thanks to its size, modern interior, soft play area for children and arts and crafts area. More from the Manchester Evening News below…
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Best
Graham