The 2024 Budget: What it Means for the South-East Region

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, have both signalled that the UK faces difficult policy decisions in order to achieve long term growth and prosperity. The new government will outline their economic strategy and spending plans in detail during the October budget.

To get a better idea of where we are headed following this historic event, please join the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance for a public lecture to be delivered by Professor Stephen Millard, Deputy Director (Macroeconomic Modelling and Forecasting) at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Professor Millard will present NIESR’s latest view on the economic outlook for the United Kingdom. He will share an expert analysis of the impact of the October budget and the policy priorities outlined by the new Labour government. As part of his presentation, Professor Millard will also provide his view on the economic prospects for the South-East region.

Richmond Building Portland Street Portsmouth PO1 3DE

Find out how to get here by checking our maps and directions. Free parking is available in University car-parks, but we encourage you to use the train, bus, cycle routes, or the city’s Park ‘n’ Ride facility.

5:30pm - Registration

6:00pm - Welcome & Introductions

6:15pm - Professor Stephen Millard’s Lecture

7:05pm - Q&A

7:25pm - Conclusion & Thanks

7:30pm - Reception

8:00pm - Finish

Stephen was born and raised in Portsmouth, and read economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1987-90. He then studied at Northwestern University (1990-95) where he obtained a PhD under the supervision of the late Nobel Laureate Dale Mortensen.

Prior to becoming Deputy Director at NIESR, Stephen had a long career of over 26 years at the Bank of England where he worked in a number of Research and Managerial positions. He left the Bank of England as a Senior Research Manager in the Structural Economics Division in 2022 to take up his new position at NIESR in February. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Durham University Business School since 2011 and the University of Portsmouth since October 2021. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Department of Economics and Finance at Brunel University.

Stephen’s research interests are centred around macroeconomics in general and central banking in particular. They include monetary and macroprudential policy; labour, employment and wages; inflation dynamics; and the implications of climate change and climate policy for monetary policy and the macroeconomy. He has published papers in the Economic Journal, the Journal of the European Economic Association, the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Applied Economics, Economics Letters, the International Journal of Central Banking, the Oxford Review of Economic Policy and Oxford Economic Papers.

The School of Accounting, Economics and Finance is one of the four Schools within the Faculty of Business and Law. The School was formed in August 2022, bringing together two disciplinary groups – Accounting & Financial Management and Economics & Finance. Academic staff in the School produce outstanding research that is pertinent to contemporary accounting, economics and finance matters and also informs both policy and practice. Our academic staff have previously won research funding from the British Academy, British Council, DEFRA, Financial Reporting Council, European Regional Development Fund, EU Horizon 2020, Leverhulme Trust, amongst others.

The School emphasises working across disciplinary boundaries through the Faculty’s inter-disciplinary centres of excellence – the Centre for Innovative and Sustainable Finance and the Centre for Blue Governance. Our research centres deliver outcomes that have a significant impact on addressing global sustainability issues. The School has a regular research seminar series and its staff have been involved in organising and hosting academic workshops and international conferences. Recent events include the 54th Annual Conference of the Money, Macro and Finance Society and the Annual Conference of the British Accounting and Finance Association. In December 2024, the School will host the Royal Economics Society Annual PhD Conference.

The School’s staff significantly contribute to the Faculty of Business and Law’s track record of sustained excellence in teaching and research, as evidenced by the consistently very high student satisfaction scores in the national student survey, the excellent employability record of our graduates and the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. The breadth and depth of our business and management research was viewed by the REF2021 panel as having an outstanding and very significant impact on economic, social and policy making terms, with 65.8% of our research outputs judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent, and 100% of our research environment seen as having the vitality and sustainability to produce internationally excellent or world-leading research.

The School offers a diverse and modern portfolio of both undergraduate and postgraduate-taught degrees in accounting, economics and finance and is currently in the process of expanding its portfolio to develop innovative curricula in a number of emerging and contemporary areas, including Financial Technology and Digital Economy.

NIESR aims to understand the economic and social issues that most affect people’s lives and to propose better policy responses.

Founded in 1938 by a group of major social and economic reformers, including John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge, NIESR is Britain’s longest established independent research institute. The Institute operates as a charity, independent of all party-political interests and receives no core funding from government or other sources.

Host or Publisher University of Portsmouth