The Pound is Back! Panic Over

Our political editor highlights the importance of context in relation to the pound drop

Despite panic when the pound appeared to crash it has now returned to its pre-budget level. The UK has avoided recession much to the relief of West Midland residents.

Credit: Economic Times

Early last week the pound fell to a record low against the dollar meaning people’s mortgage interest rates increased much to the dismay of homeowners.

Many media outlets went into panic mode and people believed the economy had crashed with Liz Truss and the Conservatives taking massive hits in the polls.

However, with the pound back to where it was, has mainstream media created undue panic, again, and do they now have a duty to calm down the public? The pound has returned but very few media platforms, that created panic, have reported about it- with many still indicating it is in freefall.

Also, why isn’t the context around our economic situation being considered?

Inflation in the UK is lower than Germany and the Netherlands and many other European countries and our borrowing is the second lowest in the G7. We had a pandemic with national lockdowns which has now left us residual economic pain.

Something had to be done on energy bills and borrowing to help people through the cost of living crisis was unfortunately one of very few options.

However, if Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget was the reason for the pound’s crash it can’t be that big of a factor because now it has returned to pre-budget levels despite him still continuing with his energy and tax cutting plans.

Written By Jack Dixon, Political Editor