Essay by Eric Worrall
Nothing to do with Mad Miliband’s green energy policies.
UK growth forecast to slow sharply as Trump tariffs push confidence to record low
EY Item Club predicts GDP of only 0.8% this year as Ipsos poll shows three-quarters of Britons expect economy to get worse
Mark Sweney Mon 28 Apr 2025 09.01 AEST
The UK economy is set to slow sharply for the next two years as Donald Trump’s global tariff war weighs on consumer spending and business investment, a study by a leading forecaster has predicted.
The findings by EY Item Club, which is sponsored by the big four accountancy firm EY, come as a separate survey reported that confidence in Britain’s economy has fallen to the lowest level on record.
The latest poll by Ipsos, which has been tracking net economic optimism in Britain since 1978, found that three-quarters of Britons expect the economy to get worse over the next year. Just 7% of Britons think the economy will improve, while 13% thought it would stay the same, equating to a net score of -68.
EY’s forecast said it now expects UK gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 0.8% this year, down from a projection of 1% in February, and has cut its 2026 forecast from 1.6% to 0.9% as longer-term effects hit the UK.
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Back in the real world, Britain’s extreme green energy policies were doing harm well before President Trump won the election and threatened Britain with reciprocal tariffs.
At the end of 2024, before President Trump took office, the situation got so desperate the British PM started begging regulators to brainstorm new ideas to stimulate the British economy.
Starmer asks UK regulators for ideas to boost growth
29 December 2024ShareSave
Joe Pike
Politics investigations correspondent, BBC NewsPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the chancellor and business secretary have written to the UK’s main regulators asking them to come up with ideas for reform that could boost economic growth.
They contacted watchdogs, including energy regulator Ofgem and water regulator Ofwat, before Christmas asking them to submit proposals by mid-January.
This comes after figures published earlier this week indicated the UK economy had flatlined between July and September.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the letter “says all you need to know” about Sir Keir’s government, claiming he has to “beg his own government to create growth after Labour’s damaging Budget”.
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Obviously new tariffs on British exports to the USA are adding to pressure on the British economy. But trying to suggest President Trump is the main reason for the slump in the British economy in my opinion is an absurd fiction.
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