On this month’s episode, editor Julian Bovill is joined by Ben Kumar, head of strategy for investment, wealth and public policy at 7IM, and Guy Opperman, former pensions minister, to discuss the forthcoming budget.
With John Healey increasingly boxed in by events, some out of his control, some within his remit, the panel discuss where he might be able to find some breathing room at next month’s fiscal event.
Opperman believes that he will raise taxes, though implores him not to do so. Meanwhile, Kumar says the country is crying out for long term investment and urges patience from the government and investors.
The podcast asks whether Healey is just Reeves-lite, and whether the bond markets are now too dangerous and precarious for anything drastic.
With the value for money framework consultation closing, the UK’s dearth of domestic private markets investment is gone over, with Kumar arguing that the problem is as much psychological as it is fiscal. ‘People need to be told a story that they can believe in,’ he said.
*Guy Opperman is a former pensions minister, and now a senior adviser and consultant to multiple organisations.*
*Ben Kumar is head of investment strategy for investment, wealth and public policy at 7IM. He regularly appears as a guest on LBC, and is an astute observer of the government’s direction on investment and fiscal affairs.*
