Crypto News: Britain is open for business, apparently

Hi there, it's Helen Chandler-Wilde, a UK journalist and editor of the Readout. Hope you enjoy today's newsletter.

The shutters have been pulled up, the lights have been switched on and the sign on the door has been flipped over. Britain is, according to Rachel Reeves, "open for business once again."

In comments released ahead of a meeting of the G-20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro, Reeves will tell business leaders that "after years of uncertainty and instability" they should "take another look at Britain."

In a similar vein, the prime minister told a reception of FTSE 100 CEOs on Tuesday that he would be removing the economy's "brakes" – while putting on the stabilizers – to "create the conditions for success."

The Labour strategy on the economy so far seems to be to court as much business investment to the UK as physically possible to boost growth, which will hopefully make any tax rises or spending cuts less painful.

Growing incomes seems an especially good idea given higher interest rates have put 320,000 people into poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, defined as living in a household with disposable income below 60% of what the median household income was in 2010/11 when adjusted for inflation.

The Bank of England's most aggressive tightening cycle in decades has fed through into mortgage costs – and then into rents – putting more pressure on household budgets. Analysis by the Bank last month showed that monthly repayments will go up by around £180 for a typical mortgage holder renewing deals by the end of 2026, rising by more than a quarter. Things are particularly bad for some 400,000 households, who will have their payments go up by 50% or more.

But rather than focus on growing businesses to boost the economy, it might be better to consider breaking them up, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Adrian Wooldridge today. He quotes the author Ruchir Sharma who suggests that mass consolidation of businesses over the last few decades "may be leading to a general economic stagnation as companies content themselves with rent-seeking rather than innovation."

It also might not be a politically wise position to court, he says, given consolidation is "a big part of the answer" to "the surge in popular discontent on both the right and the left in recent years." Instead the answer might be to encourage entrepreneurial spirits and free markets over more industrial policy for big business, he argues.

Which could be something for Reeves to bear in mind.

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