The Spectator’s war on government waste

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s a double celebration for Rachel Reeves today. Not only is it her birthday, but the UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the last three months of 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics’ latest report. December, when the economy expanded by 0.4 per cent (the market consensus had been 0.1 per cent), was the saving grace. This helped tip the final quarter of 2024 onto the right side of positive growth.

But it’s not all rosy for the Chancellor. This morning’s update won’t take anyone in the Treasury off high alert, and there has been a development in the story about her CV. The BBC has been looking into her expenses during her time at Halifax bank. The Chancellor’s response is that she had no knowledge that there was an investigation into wrongdoing. Will it be a happy birthday after all?

Elsewhere, it’s a big day at The Spectator. In this week’s issue, we have launched The Spectator Project Against Frivolous Funding (SPAFF). This online tool lets readers explore the wastelands of government procurement contracts, reckless credit card splurges and absurd research grants. Spoiler alert: there’s no shortage of material. Can you find more wasteful funding? Go to: spectator.co.uk/spaff

Oscar Edmondson speaks to Kate Andrews and Michael Simmons.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're hosting our first Coffee House Shots live event of 2025 on the 26th of February at the
0:04.8	Emmanuel Centre in Westminster. Join Michael Gove, Katie Bulls, Kate Andrews and very special guests,
0:10.7	Jonathan Ashworth and Robert Jenrick for a look to the year ahead. They'll be tackling such
0:15.3	questions as, can the Chancellor reframe the budget in her first spring statement? What will
0:19.8	Trump's first 100 days look like? And will reform cause and upset at the local elections? For tickets,
0:25.4	go to spectator.co.com.uk forward slash coffeehouse live.
0:33.5	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Oskredminton
0:38.8	and I'm joined today by Michael Simmons and Kate Andrews. And today is the Chancellor Rachel
0:44.2	Reeves's birthday. But Kate, is there much cause for celebration? Well, I personally hope
0:50.0	she's having a nice day celebrating her birthday. The economic news today won't make her cheer.
0:57.2	Look, it's better than it could have been. The economy grew, it did not contract, in the fourth
1:02.6	quarter of last year, by 0.1%. And that is thanks to the December figures, which were higher than
1:09.9	expected. Market consensus is that the economy
1:13.0	would grow by 0.1% in December and it actually grew by 0.4%. That is where the good news stops,
1:19.9	because this is the first estimate. It is possible that in the coming months, we find out that
1:26.3	the UK actually had no growth or even had a small
1:29.3	contraction in Q4. The government will be hoping that there is no revision. Sometimes there
1:34.7	isn't. But either way, you look at this 0.1% increase or contraction. This is a stagnant economy.
1:41.7	And nothing is really changing. And it reminds me of 2023 when the government just could not get growth going. I think one of the difficulties
1:49.6	for this government is that we did start to see some improvement in the first half of 2024.
1:54.4	And after they took over, that is when things really started to stagnate again.
1:59.7	Whether or not you meet the technical definition of recession.
	...

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