This week saw the UK’s darkest day so far for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). At the CCSA, we and our members in the industry are still in shock. The same words keep repeating themselves; devastated, sad, bewildered. The question; Why? And why now? Amazingly, two days on the silence from…Read more…
How legal challenges and green workplaces can tackle climate change
Canada is tapping the expertise of UK unions in a project that will put unions at the heart of efforts to green workplaces. Earlier this month, I was invited to spend a weekend in Toronto to share my UK experiences with a Canadian green workplace proje…Read more…
Why no fanfare to the end of workfare?
Compulsory unpaid work experience (‘workfare’) has long and rightly been criticised by by the TUC and others. Yet it now looks like the government may be planning to quietly end it. Buried in the Comprehensive Spending Review document, on page 89 to be precise, is this little nugget:…Read more…
Defending manufacturing from Chinese dumping: #SaveOurSteel
Today, Trade Ministers from across the EU will gather in Brussels to discuss the threat posed to manufacturing by the dumping of products like steel and tyres on Europe by the Chinese. As part of the #SaveOurSteel campaign, the TUC has urged UK Trade Minister Lord Maude to reverse the…Read more…
Osborne’s new (very modest) ‘Keynesian’ clothes
Paul Johnson of the IFS has rightly put a stop to the idea that the Spending Review (SR) signalled the end of austerity. But in a very modest way this event continued a ‘Keynesian’* turn. Yesterday I set out the accounting logic (here); the underlying macroeconomic logic could easily be regarded as…Read more…
Next step towards low-carbon UK requires 57% emissions reduction by 2030
As the Prime Minister heads off to Paris for the UN talks on climate change, the government’s independent advisers say that “new energy policies” are required to meet the UK’s carbon emissions targets. By the government’s own admission, the UK is 10% over its fourth carbon budget (4CB on our…Read more…
Are young people really just scroungers?
There is a growing rhetoric that young people are lazy, work-shy and have an astonishing sense of entitlement. Such smears have been stated by employers, have saturated the media and are echoed by eminent politicians. For example in 2014 David Cameron said: “I want us to end the idea that aged 18…Read more…
Defending the European Social Model in the Netherlands
Today, British Minister for Europe David Lidington MP is in the Netherlands to meet Foreign Minister Bert Koenders. The Dutch take over the Presidency of the EU on 1 January, so they will play a crucial role in orchestrating the EU’s response to David Cameron’s pre-referendum…Read more…
#SpendingReview 2015 – the Touchstone blog round up
George Osborne’s first Spending Review of the new parliament has hit the headlines for his spectacular U-turn over drastic cuts to tax credits. It avoids the hardship it would have inflicted on millions of low-paid families, though as Richard Exell points out, the cuts to Universal Credit are…Read more…
Just two cheers for the #spendingreview tax credit U-turn
The headline news in today’s Spending Review and Autumn Statement is the decision not to go ahead with the cuts to tax credits that were due to take place next April. So let’s remember the cuts that were due to come into effect next April, with no protection for the tax credit claimants who…Read more…
Has the #SpendingReview fully funded the NHS?
There are two competing but related health service ‘narratives’ being promoted in the immediate aftermath of the spending review. The first is that George Osborne has listened and delivered the “biggest ever commitment to the NHS since its creation”. The second is that Simon Stevens, head of NHS…Read more…
Adult skills and apprenticeships in the #SpendingReview
In one respect the Chancellor’s announcements on skills and apprenticeships in the Spending Review has been viewed as another u-turn with the welcome news that there will not be the degree of cuts to FE colleges and the adult skills budget that was widely anticipated. In addition the Apprenticeship…Read more…
Local government funding slashed by half in #SpendingReview
George Osborne made the announcements that business rates will be localised and local councils will be able to add 2 per cent to council tax to fund social care with some fanfare. Both of those are questionable decisions to say the least – more of which later. But in a matter of a couple…Read more…
The #SpendingReview arithmetic made simple
The Chancellor’s rabbits from the hat were mainly permitted by changes to the economic forecast. In general these were more eye-catching than material, excepting his U-turn on welfare. The OBR continue to stress the severity of the cuts. It is worth looking at how the arithmetic works out –…Read more…
Pensions round-up in #SpendingReview 2015
In contrast to recent budget speeches, which have included significant changes to pensions policy, the pensions announcements in this spending review do not herald any major new policy developments. However, the government has moved forwards on its pla…Read more…
It will take more than tampons to plug the gap in women’s sector funding #SpendingReview
It’s not often the TUC talks about tampons but I feel compelled to say a few words about today’s announcement that funds raised via the “tampon tax” will be spent on women’s charities. This morning I wrote about how spending cuts are decimating the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) charity…Read more…
Trade unions campaign to eliminate violence against women
Today (25 November) is the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of the #16DaysofActivism (to 10 December’s Human Rights Day) of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. According to the World Health Organisation, 1 in 3 women around the world…Read more…
Chancellor devastates carbon capture industry with £1billion funding cut
Without informing Parliament today, the Chancellor has cut the entire £1 billion funding for the UK’s Carbon Capture and Storage programme, leaving the power and industrial sectors in a state of shock. The Prime Minister will go to the Paris climate change treaty talks next Monday first having…Read more…
More funding for home-ownership but nothing for social housing #SpendingReview
The commitments on housing in the Chancellor’s autumn statement have now been “marked” by the TUC. The government is vulnerable on a number of aspects of their record in this key area and this was their chance to put it right. In practice, they probably scored 5 out of 10 at best….Read more…
Osborne commits to industrial strategy #SpendingReview
In his speech to Parliament today, the Chancellor, George Osborne said: “Businesses also need an active and sustained industrial strategy. That strategy launched in the last parliament continues in this one.” To be truly accurate, the strategy was launched in the parliament before last, with Peter…Read more…