We need an economic plan that mutates like the virus
Four key elements must underpin a new strategy to survive and one day thrive - and it means ripping up our current rules
23 December 2020 • 6:00am
It is more infectious, spreads more easily, and will inevitably hit more people. Covid-19 has done what viruses often do. It has mutated into a new, although hopefully no more deadly, form.
Over the next few days, the epidemiologists can debate on how to control that, if it can be controlled at all. And yet we will also need an economic plan that mutates, or the very least adapts, alongside the virus. After all, support packages that were in place even last week may not work for the couple of months ahead.
According to IW Capital, investors are choosing to put money into UK SMEs rather than global firms. In your view, what do you think investors see in SMEs that makes them viable right now?
RC: SMEs have always been resilient and, now more than ever, this is a much sought-after commodity. A lot of the businesses will also be owner-managed so have a strong financial base and manageable debt. With additional backing from investors, a steady company could become a fast-growth one over a short period of time.
NC: The advantage of most SMEs is that we are able to adapt and change approach a lot quicker than larger rivals. At a time when Covid-19 and Brexit are delivering daily challenges, the ability to make changes to your business, whether that is investment or cutting costs, means agile businesses are very attractive at present. In Cube Precision’s case, we have managed to pick up more than £675,000 of orders from prime and tier 1 aerospace customers over the last three months despi
12/22/2020 12:48:36 PM GMT
With Brexit talks out of the way, markets can focus on the consequences of this historic change
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The economic calendar is set for a comeback in influencing cable.
A traumatic 2020? Not for those cable traders looking for volatility. GBP/USD hit historic lows in response to the coronavirus crisis, changed its reaction function to printing money, and provided endless Brexit-related movements.
With Trump, Brexit – and eventually coronavirus out of the door – will things calm down 2021? The fading out of these three factors will likely lead to a calendar comeback – serving as the judge of the vaccine’s impact, Brexit, and government policies on both sides of the Atlantic.
21st December 2020 10:31 am
Dire predictions for the economy could be offset by the UK’s agile SMEs writes Jason Ford
Former PM Theresa May denied the existence of a ‘Magic Money Tree’ in 2017 but her successor Boris Johnson and his chancellor Rishi Sunak knew exactly where to find it in 2020.
Forced into unplanned spending to cope with the Covid-19 crisis, the government was estimated by the National Audit Office to have spent £210bn during the first six months of the pandemic.
Out of necessity, funds were released for a raft of measures including the procurement of PPE for front line healthcare workers, the design and build of new ventilators, the much-criticised NHS Test and Trace programme, furlough and funding to support the self-employed and businesses struggling to cope with government-imposed lockdown conditions.
Police to receive more than £15 billion to fight crime and recruit more officers
The funding package for 2021 to 2022 will include more than £400 million to continue recruitment of 20,000 extra officers.
From:
Policing will receive up to £15.8 billion to build back safer and cut crime, the government will announce today.
The 2021 to 2022 funding package will include over £400 million to recruit 20,000 extra officers by 2023, building on the success of the first year of the recruitment campaign – which has already delivered almost 6,000 additional police officers.
Alongside getting more officers out on the street, the funding settlement will enable policing to tackle serious violence and increase the number of specialist officers tackling terrorism and serious organised crime, including child sexual abuse and drug trafficking.