So here’s the good news. We plucky Brits are getting on with life in the face of rising interest rates, inflation and other economic misery. You can almost hear one of those wartime newsreel presenters: ‘Yes, even at Buckingham Palace, their majesties are sharing a bath to economise, so best you follow in the wake of our royals, Mrs.’ Digging below the Bank of England’s report’s headlines, it’s the banks that it thinks are doing OK, or at least better than they did last time around because, so far, less businesses and households are going belly-up financially. However, around 2..5m fixed-rate mortgages will come up for renewal later this year or next, and that could be the rub for many. Just in time for the next election. Which might, if one was being at all cynical, give a glimmer of hope. Perhaps for the arrival some much-needed bribes.
“UK slips into recession as economy contracts 0.1% in December”
This week’s big economic and bad election news is that we are, or certainly have been, officially in a recession. You may not have thought you were, or you may have thought you have been for some time, as we and its effects are all different.