Although IMF and OECD have yet, at the time of writing, to adjust their forecasts for the UK economy in 2024, the statistics from ONS depict stronger than expected growth in GDP in the first half of the year. The June achievement of CPI returning to 2% – the Bank of England’s target – has now been followed in the publication of July’s figures by a slight uplift to 2.2%.

The Bank acknowledged the persistence of inflationary pressures but noted that external pressures had abated somewhat. The ideal of high growth and low inflation may not have been quite achieved, but the current situation may engender more confidence in the economy’s performance generally.

While a shift to more positive outlook may be underway, there are still ongoing issues in relation to supply concerns in a prospectively burgeoning economy, together with yet-to-be-addressed issues of labour supply and a shrinking pool of both skilled and unskilled workers.

The new government’s aim to abbreviate the planning pathway, while useful in bringing projects to market more speedily, has the potential to encourage price inflation should excess workload appear in a restricted timeframe, particularly in the case of labour-intensive projects such as housing.