Reeves appoints higher pay advocate to fight skills shortages as chief economic adviser
Rachel Reeves has appointed a labour market expert who has repeatedly called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, such as social care, to reduce the UK’s reliance on migrant workers as her new chief economic adviser,Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government, has been announced as the new chief economic adviser in the Treasury – a senior civil service role,He will take up the post just as the UK economy is adjusting to a plunge in net migration, which fell by more than two-thirds, to 204,000, in the year to June 2025,Some economists have predicted a further decline, towards zero net migration – but Bell rejects that forecast, expecting it to bounce back towards 300,000 a year by the end of the decade,A professor of economics at King’s College London, Bell has used his role on the MAC to make the point that the “skills shortages” bemoaned by UK employers may often reflect the failure to offer good enough terms and conditions to domestic workers.
In its 2024 annual report, after Labour came to power, the MAC welcomed the new government’s focus on skills policy as it sought to reduce net migration,But it also warned: “Many sectors exhibit high levels of immigration not just due to skills shortages but as a result of poor pay and working conditions which cause low engagement from the domestic workforce,”It added: “The domestic workforce with relevant skills may be unwilling to supply their labour for the wage and working conditions on offer from employers,”Bell has also argued stridently for better pay in social care,In an interview with the Guardian in 2023, when the Conservatives were still in power, he accused ministers of having “no interest” in the conditions faced by workers in the sector.
“They may not say it explicitly, but I think they basically believe that care workers should be paid less than people who stack shelves for Aldi – because that’s what their policy is,” he said, accusing the government of relying on immigration as a “crutch”,Bell added: “We’re not doing anything on the wages front, and until we do that, then we are accepting that exploitation as part of the way that we’re going to pay for social care: and that just seems appalling,”Labour is establishing a new negotiating body for social care, which aims to agree a fair pay agreement that will become the statutory minimum across the sector,But it is not due to come into force until 2028, and sector experts have said the £500m set aside to pay for it will not be sufficient,The wider issue of how to fund social care is being reviewed by the cross-bench peer Louise Casey, who is not expected to report until the run-up to the next general election.
Speaking on a panel at the Bristol festival of economics last year, Bell argued that rapid increases in the number of people coming into the country often reflect wider policy challenges.“It’s almost always that where there’s big immigration numbers, the problem is somewhere else in government not addressing an underlying problem,” he said.Bell’s appointment comes amid a wider refresh of the chancellor’s advisers.Neil Amin-Smith, once the violinist for the pop band Clean Bandit and now an economist, was recently made chair of her council of economic advisers, which is made up of political appointees rather than civil servants.Reeves said: “Through stability, investment and reform, this government has the right plan for our economy and the appointment of Prof Brian Bell will strengthen our economic leadership as we deliver for working people.
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Penalty notice: Euro Car Parks fined £473,000 for ignoring regulator
Euro Car Parks is infamous for dishing out fines but the private parking company has been hit with an almost £475,000 penalty of its own after it failed to hand over information to a regulator.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had imposed a £473,000 fine after the company did not respond for three months to seven requests for information, including by registered post, email and hand-delivered letter.It is the first time the CMA has issued a penalty under the new fining powers it was given in 2024.The regulator sends out “information notices” to companies when deciding whether to open an investigation, and businesses have a legal obligation to comply.The CMA said Euro Car Parks, which provides payment systems in car parks, only responded after it raised the spectre of a fine
US inflation falls to 2.4% in January after Trump’s tariffs led to price fluctuations
US inflation moderated in January to 2.4%, an easing after Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered price fluctuations last year.Prices rose 0.2% from December to January, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday measuring the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the price of a basket of goods and services. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy industries, went up 0
Bank bosses get huge pay rises in sign top City salaries back to pre-crash highs
A trio of bank bosses have been given huge pay packets in the latest sign that the vast salaries and bonuses handed to Wall Street and City of London executives in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis have started to return.NatWest on Friday revealed a £6.6m pay package for its boss Paul Thwaite, marking the largest payout for a chief executive of the banking group since his disgraced predecessor Fred Goodwin took home £7.7m in 2006.That was 33% higher than his £4
Shares in trucking and logistics firms plunge after AI freight tool launch
Shares in trucking and logistics companies have plunged as the sector became the latest to be targeted by investors fearful that new artificial intelligence tools could slash demand.A new tool launched by Algorhythm Holdings, a former maker of in-car karaoke systems turned AI company with a market capitalisation of just $6m (£4.4m), sparked a sell-off on Thursday that made the logistics industry the latest victim of AI jitters that have already rocked listed companies operating in the software and real estate sectors.The announcement about the performance capability of Algorhythm’s SemiCab platform, which it claimed was helping customers scale freight volumes by 300% to 400% without having to increase headcount, sparked an almost 30% surge in the company’s share price on Thursday.However, the impact of the announcement sent the Russell 3000 Trucking Index – which tracks shares in the US trucking sector – down 6
Tony Blair’s oil lobbying is a misleading rehash of fossil fuel industry spin
Ex-PM’s thinktank urges more drilling and fewer renewables, ignoring evidence that clean energy is cheaper and better for billsA thinktank with close ties to Saudi Arabia and substantial funding from a Donald Trump ally needs to present a particularly robust analysis to earn the right to be listened to on the climate crisis. On that measure, Tony Blair’s latest report fails on almost every point.The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) received money from the Saudi government, has advised the United Arab Emirates petrostate, and counts as a main donor Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, friend of Trump and advocate of AI.The latest TBI report calls for an expansion of oil and gas production in the North Sea, despite the additional greenhouse gas emissions this would generate, and abandoning the UK government’s target to largely decarbonise the electricity sector by 2030, arguing that doing so is necessary to power AI datacentres.The report claims renewable energy is too expensive
UK economy grows by only 0.1% amid falling business investment
The UK economy expanded by only 0.1% in the final three months of last year, according to official data, as falling business investment and weak consumer spending led to little momentum going into 2026.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy grew at the same rate of 0.1% as the previous three months. This was less than a 0
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