020 7898 0500The Foreign Secretary was wheeled out yesterday to deliver a speech in which he urged remainers to see the benefits of the UK withdrawing from the European Union. Johnson – who famously voted against giving the NHS £350 million per week after the Vote Leave campaign used the figure as a central pledge – said he detected ‘a feeling of grief and alienation’ and suggested we would all continue to go on ‘cheapo flights to stag parties in ancient cities’ after we withdrew.
We also learned that according to a new survey by the Bank of England, UK wages will soon catch up with inflation. British companies expect to increase pay by 3.1% in 2018 (they grew by 2.6% in 2017).
There’s no economic data set for release in the UK today, but tomorrow we will see the retail sales data for January. December 2017 saw the sharpest decline in retail trade since June 2016 so it will be interesting to see whether there is significant improvement.
