it’s about time many are still missing out and structural changes mean for many others work has become a much harsher ordeal there is room to do much better, but this is not permitted by government spending cuts the weakening of the economy remains a threat My post on today’s figures…Read more…
Redcar closure defines government industrial policy
The Chancellor’s industrial policy is defined by deeds not words. Defining moments since May 2015 include the closure of our last three coal mines (2,100 jobs), two of the UK’s largest solar power firms (1,100 jobs) and SSI’s steel plant at Redcar (2,100 jobs). One common thread is a will, or the…Read more…
Negative inflation + lower growth = the Treasury must to do more
Once more the monthly CPI shows negative inflation of -0.1% in September. On a quarterly basis, inflation has been zero for two consecutive quarters, unprecedented territory for the CPI as the chart shows. CPI annual inflation, quarters Inevitably the …Read more…
Government opposition to online balloting for unions is based on a misunderstanding
At the trade union bill’s second reading, BIS minister Nick Boles outlined his problems with online voting: My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) raised the question of e-balloting, and he is right that there is no in-principle objection to the idea of voting online. The…Read more…
New living wage figures show recovery not shared fairly
low wages are on the increase, the Office of National Statistics reported today. * The number of employees outside London paid below the living wage has risen by 2 percentage points since 2012, Reaching 23 per cent by 2014. The increase in London has been much sharper though, with the latest…Read more…
Government abandons unworkable plan to make unions give 14 days notice for a tweet
News just breaking (via the FT) that the government may have just dropped proposals under consultation as part of the trade union bill, requiring unions to give employers and the police two weeks’ notice of any social media plans around strikes and pickets. The idea had been that unions would need…Read more…
Thanks, George, for 900 solar energy redundancies
Solar energy firm Mark Group has announced over 900 redundancies, and it lays the blame on the doorstep of No. 11: “We are extremely disappointed that the draconian policy proposals made by the government in August will essentially eliminate the solar PV market in the UK and have made our plans…Read more…
We are the builders, Mr Chancellor
On Saturday in Hackney we celebrated the launch at Banister House of the largest community solar power scheme on a housing estate in the UK. But instead of a pathfinder, Banister House may be the last of its kind, because of the Chancellor’s planned 87% cut in support for renewable energy projects….Read more…
Working grandparents, shared parental leave and care
Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that the government will extend shared parental leave (SPL) and pay to working grandparents from 2018 – another policy stolen from Labour’s election manifesto. It is easy to envisage some of the benefits this increased flexibility will bring and political parties…Read more…
Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral nomination at #CPC15 exposes the hypocrisy in the trade union bill
Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith has caused his fair share of headaches for his party since he entered Parliament in 2010. He rebelled over the lobbying bill. He opposed the government’s plans to sell off England’s national forests. He took a leading role in the campaign against Heathrow…Read more…
Trans-Pacific Partnership good for workers? The big lie
As the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, passes its final round of negotiations, the White House is going all out to portray the deal as a great gain for working people. US unions don’t agree, and they’ll be fighting the new generation trade deal between twelve countries around the…Read more…
UN edges towards union calls for Just Transition in Paris deal
The UN has adopted union calls for a Just Transition in a new 20-page negotiating text released today for the climate conference scheduled for Paris in December. Unions will be pleased that the UN’s Draft Agreement commits nations to holding global temperature increases to below 2 °C (or possibly…Read more…
Tracking The Labour Market Recovery
Developing better economic and employment policies for the future depends critically on distinguishing between changes that are temporary and cyclical and those which are long term and structural. In a recent report for the TUC, Tracking the Labour Mar…Read more…
Andy Burnham’s call for local funding & workers rights to tackle migration concerns
This week Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham delivered a speech at the Labour Party conference which called for action on the cause of anxieties communities have about EU migration linked with local services and undercutting, rather than scapegoating migrant for social problems. This is a welcome…Read more…
LGB statistics confirm social change?
The Office for National Statistics has published the Integrated Household Survey with the findings for 2014 for sexual identity and (bizarrely), smoking. The headline figure suggested that there had been little change in the overall number of people id…Read more…
Digital Disruption or Digital Dividend?
It was a pleasure to speak at a fringe meeting on the digital economy, organised by Policy Network, at this year’s Labour Party Conference. I haven’t spoken or written on this subject before, so here are my slightly adapted comments to the meeting. “It is sometimes argued that the widespread…Read more…
Government holding back development of world leading low-carbon industrial zone
The great industrial and power centres in Yorkshire and the Humber’s Aire Valley have the potential to become Europe’s leading low-carbon industrial zone – but only if government unblocks its opposition to renewable energy and low carbon technologies. A new TUC report, Strategies for a…Read more…
Public services? “Shareholders first” say CBI
In one of his occasional speeches on public services last month, David Cameron eulogised the role that private companies play in revamping things: What energises many markets are new insurgent companies, who break monopolies and bring in new ways of do…Read more…
Home Office propose more powers for ‘Home Guard’ of police volunteers, amid cuts to police workforce
The Home Office has announced a consultation on ‘Reforming the Powers of Police Staff and Volunteers‘, aiming to give Chief Constables much greater flexibility in designating powers on police staff and volunteers. Crucially, the government propose enabling volunteers to be designated with powers in…Read more…
Government’s moment of truth: will it support UK steel industry?
Today’s disasterous announcement of the closure of SSI’s steel plant, Redcar, with the loss of 1,700 skilled jobs, will cause great hardship to the workers and their families, striking a blow to the heart of UK manufacturing. The government’s laissez faire attitude to industry is in meltdown, along…Read more…