While the UK commits to increasing its defence and security expenditure, our chart this week looks at military spending around the world, which has reached $2.4trn.

The latest Business Confidence Monitor finds UK business confidence on the rise, signalling a rebound from pandemic lows

Net debt represents a growing fiscal mortgage of £92,000 per UK household as a difficult financial year comes to a close.

New policy solutions to problems facing the UK economy will be prosaic but important, Conservative Party Forum Chair John Penrose MP told a round table this week.

The first face-to-face meeting of the Strategic Finance Network Group tackled the fascinating subject of ‘Influencing Upwards’ at an event hosted by ICAEW at Chartered Accountants Hall.

Prior month revisions boost public finances despite worse than expected self assessment receipts, as a think tank says tax cuts in the Budget will be sandwiched between tax rises in the years before and after.

Two quarters of shallow negative GDP growth may be just enough for the UK to be in a mere ‘technical’ recession, but seven successive quarters of negative GDP growth per capita present a more worrying picture.

ICAEW has outlined the actions needed to boost productivity and ensure the UK economy is resilient in future. ICAEW’s Manifesto calls for the revitalisation of support for start-ups, improved access to labour and a simplified, digital tax system.

The Office for National Statistics has updated its national population projections, lifting its expectations for 2025 by one million to just under 70 million people living in the UK and for 2050 by four million to 78 million.

Year-to-date deficit of £119bn is £5bn lower than latest Office for Budget Responsibility forecast – but is still £11bn worse than this time last year.

The National Audit Office chief highlights areas of opportunity for government, but warns savings could only come from more innovation, better data and tighter governance.

The government is setting its sights on unincorporated businesses that fraudulently took out Bounce Back Loans during the pandemic.

ICAEW welcomes the publication of the Whole of Government Accounts for 2018-19, the UK Government’s annual financial report for the year ended 31 March 2019.

On 18 July 2019, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its second fiscal risks report. The fiscal risks report provides an analysis of the economic and policy risks facing the public finances, including a ‘fiscal stress test’, setting out how the fiscal numbers might react to a no-deal Brexit.

A collection of independent essays and an ICAEW/PwC call for EU reform.

Synopsis of the Global Financial Stability and Public Debt.

This survey provides a unique picture of the views of 10,000 Europeans on intergenerational fairness.

Ensuring intergenerational fairness is one of the biggest challenges facing European policymakers today. Citizens are increasingly worried that they and their children may end up worse off than previous generations, challenging a key premise that has long underpinned societies: each successive generation would become better off than the one before.

Download Sustainable Public Finances – EU Perspectives: 7 Key Insights.

Policy insight examining the view that infrastructure needs to be a central priority for policymakers given the increased economic uncertainty that has emerged following the decision of the British people to leave the EU.