Latest news with #PPurchasingManagers'Index
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rachel Reeves's £39bn housing promise will condemn us all to tents
On paper, £39bn sounds a lot. Until you realise how little you get for that amount of money. Now, it may have escaped people's attention, but in the Spring Statement, Labour announced a £2bn investment in social and affordable housing that would fund the delivery of 18,000 new homes. I'll do the maths for you – £2bn for 18,000 homes works out at £111,111.11 each. Using that yardstick, when you tot it all up, £39bn will buy precisely 351,000 new homes. But there is a proverbial fly in the ointment with these figures – they are spread over 10 years. That means unless that number is inflation adjusted, what you'll be buying with £39bn a decade from now, or even five years, will be considerably less than right now. The other rhino in the room is immigration. These paltry figures are far short of the 1.5 million homes (by the end of Parliament) Labour promised us a year ago. Lest we forget, in the last decade alone, the UK has seen a net gain of 2.2 million people. And over the next 10 years, between mid-2022 and mid-2032, the population of the UK is projected to increase by 4.9 million. I wish I could feel more optimistic about Labour's housing plan, but I'm really struggling. Not only will the money not be enough to buy an already inadequate number of homes for the existing population, but we're facing a skills crisis. We need tens of thousands of tradesmen to build these homes, and we don't have them. To make things worse, according to the latest S&P Purchasing Managers' Index monthly survey of leading firms, UK construction firms shed staff at the fastest rate in March since the pandemic. This is against the backdrop of high profile names such as ISG, a major construction firm at the time, folding last year. Amongst all this bad news, you also have the ongoing farce of the social housing sector which is in a state of what the Housing Ombudsman generously called 'managed decline'. With a five-fold increase in complaints about substandard living conditions between 2019-20 and 2024-25, I don't see the social sector as the solution. This doesn't even take into account the continued impact of the Right to Buy scheme and the fact homes are still being sold in England every year despite Labour's plan to ban sales, as has happened in Scotland and Wales. I hate to be quite so pessimistic about the state of housing in this country, but I can at least share one bright spark with you. Angela Rayner has announced it will no longer be a criminal offence to sleep on a pavement – hurrah! In preparedness, I've hauled myself a few patio slabs into a wheelbarrow (you can't be too presumptuous about the availability of paving), and I've got myself a stockpile of tents from Argos on order before the panic buying begins. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
RTÉ News
06-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Services sector growth slows in April amid trade concerns, PMI shows
Growth in the country's services sector slowed in April to its lowest level in over a year as international trade tensions weighed on business sentiment, a survey shows today. The AIB Global S&P Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.8 in April from 55.3 in March, still above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction where it has continuously remained for just over four years. The survey highlighted unease at the impact of US tariffs, which contributed to the weakest business expectations in four-and-a-half years. The Finance Department has said that the tarrifs could disproportionately hit the fast growing economy. New business growth slowed markedly, recording the largest monthly fall since January 2021, while new orders from abroad rose at one of the slowest rates in the current 18-month growth sequence. Today's survey shows that demand rose only fractionally in Business Services and fell at the fastest rate in over two years in Transport, Tourism & Leisure. Despite the slowdown, employment growth remained robust, with service providers continuing to expand their workforces at a solid pace. The rate of job creation was the second-fastest in eight months following an even stronger March and driven by increased outstanding work, particularly in the Technology, Media & Telecoms sector. Input price inflation eased to its weakest rate in five months, driven mainly by wages, while charges also increased at a softer pace. The sector's performance still outpaced the euro zone, UK, and US flash PMIs for April, which stood at 49.7, 48.9, and 51.4, respectively.
Reuters
05-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Irish services growth eases slightly in February, PMI shows
DUBLIN, March 5 (Reuters) - Growth in Ireland's services sector eased slightly in February, with both total activity and new business expanding at the weakest rate for more than a year, a survey showed on Wednesday. The AIB Global S&P Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 53.2 from 53.4 in January. The index has been above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction since March 2021 but has slipped since recording a 19-month high of 58.3 in November. Despite the subdued growth, employment rebounded, and outstanding business increased. Average input prices increased at the strongest rate since last May, driven mainly by wages. All sub-sectors - technology, media & telecoms, financial services, transport, tourism & leisure, and business services - showed growth, with technology, media & telecoms leading the way. Confidence in future business activity remained bright, although slightly below the long-run average, the survey's authors added. Get a look at the day ahead in European and global markets with the Morning Bid Europe newsletter. Sign up here.
