Britain: a beacon of economic stability?
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 October 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
The countdown is on: Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just six weeks to finalise her Autumn Budget before the November 26 deadline. This week, she was in Washington DC for the annual meeting of the IMF, where she hinted at tax rises for the rich, while pinning some blame for Britain’s economic problems on her predecessors. The British public are not likely to love the chancellor’s efforts to fill the projected £22bn hole, but who will they hold responsible?
Host George Parker is joined by deputy opinion editor Miranda Green, associate editor and columnist Stephen Bush, and the FT’s economics commentator Chris Giles for a deep dive into the UK’s public finances, and to explain why the China spy case roiling Westminster is all about economics.
Follow George on: @georgewparker.bsky.social or @GeorgeWParker; Chris on @chrisgiles.ft.com or @ChrisGiles_; Stephen on @stephenkb and Miranda on @greenmirandahere.bsky.social or @greenmiranda
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Join Chris Giles and FT colleagues Katie Martin and Claire Jones in conversation with former Fed vice-chair Lael Brainard and Fidelity’s Salman Ahmed on October 23 1200 GMT for an exclusive subscriber webinar Markets on edge: central banks, bonds and the risks ahead. Register now and put your questions directly to the panel at ft.com/edge
And click here to sign up for Chris Giles’ newsletter on Central Banks.
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Our email address is politicalfix@ft.com
Political Fix was presented by George Parker and produced by Ethan Plotkin. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Manuela Saragosa.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you're looking for a straight talking podcast about money and pensions, you've just found it. |
| 0:05.0 | On the Pension Confident podcast, we get into the personal finance questions that really matter. |
| 0:10.5 | Where is the best place to put your savings? |
| 0:13.1 | Why should you bother with a pension? |
| 0:15.4 | How can you improve your credit score? |
| 0:17.4 | Every month, we tackle a fresh topic with a panel of financial experts who really do speak |
| 0:22.0 | your language when it comes to money. Join me, Philippa Lam, for the Pension Confident podcast. |
| 0:27.6 | Find us wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:32.3 | Conference season is over and that leaves one big thing looming over the political calendar. Yes, it's the |
| 0:39.2 | autumn-ish budget, and the countdown is on. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just six weeks to fill |
| 0:45.3 | the gap before the big day on November the 26th. It was a week jam-packed with back-to-back |
| 0:52.2 | meetings and budgetary acronyms. |
| 0:54.8 | The IFS released its green budget. |
| 0:57.3 | The O&S published its beige figure for August GDP. |
| 1:01.5 | And rumours swirled about a potential productivity downgrade from the OBR. |
| 1:07.0 | For the most part, Reeves was in Washington for the annual IMF meetings, waving the flag for Britain as a beacon of stability, while pinning some blame for stagnation on her party's rivals. |
| 1:19.2 | Austerity, Brexit, and the ongoing impact of Liz Truss's mini-budget. All of those things have weighed heavily on the UK economy. |
| 1:27.9 | So who's really to blame for Britain's economic malaise? |
| 1:31.1 | And what options does the Chancellor have to get Britain booming again? |
| 1:34.9 | And is sucking up to China an important part of the mix? |
| 1:39.4 | Welcome to political fix from the Financial Times with me, George Parker. |
| 1:43.6 | I'm joined in the studio by columnist |
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