• Today’s decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to leave interest rates on hold at 5.25% shows how the Committee’s inflation fears are limiting its ability to respond to the economic slowdown. While interest rates will be cut further, the slow pace at which they are falling will make the economic downturn that much sharper and that much longer. The result will eventually be even lower rates than otherwise. 4% is not a silly figure.
• It has become clearer that the economy needs a further dose of policy medicine. With the Nationwide recording the fourth fall in house prices in as many months...

Deloitte’s Quarterly Legal Sector Survey found that fee income growth in Q3 was 10.6% compared with growth rates of 12.5% and 15.1% in Q2 and Q1 respectively.  However, average chargeable hours per fee earner have fallen across all firms within the sector, indicating firms do have capacity to take on more work.

Jeremy Black, associate partner in Deloitte’s Professional...

Lord Norman Warner of Brockley is a Labour Peer. He was Minister of State for Reform in the Department of Health from May 2005 until December 2006.

Mike Turley, head of Deloitte’s public sector practice, commented “Lord Warner’s wealth of experience in formulating and delivering successful health and social care policies will be invaluable to our clients. His insights will...

More then 1,000 Deloitte employees in the UK have already joined the internal community, which provides women across the firm with access to role models and a forum through which they can raise and discuss issues relevant to women in the work place. The network also aims to help Deloitte recruit and retain women.

Sharon Fraser, Managing Partner for Talent at Deloitte said; “The network is a great development for us and reflects our commitment to creating an environment where...

• Alistair Darling presents his first Budget at a time when the apparent needs of the economy and the public finances could hardly be further apart. His room for manoeuvre is pretty tight, but he should be able to afford a small tax giveaway to help to support the economy.
• Mr Darling will be forced to acknowledge that the outlook for the economy has weakened since October’s Pre-Budget Report. Although he predicted that GDP growth would slow sharply this year, the risks have shifted firmly to the downside....

Fenton Burgin, debt advisory partner at Deloitte, responded: “Three different factors are at work in changing the current lending situation.  The credit crunch has resulted in fewer banks with capital to lend; a number of banks are effectively shut to new business at the present time.  The implementation of Basel capital requirements means that banks will have to allocate a higher degree of capital to loans, which has further reduced liquidity.  The final layer is that the CDO market has largely evaporated.   The net effect of all these factors is...