The ONS has today published a new report on industrial disputes*. This confirms that they are at a historically low level. Ironically this comes one day after the government published plans to legislate to squeeze strikes. In fact, in the current decade less than a tenth as many days are being lost…Read more…
ISDS-lite could yet scupper the EU-Canada trade deal
The TUC is no fan of the revised Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process that EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom has persuaded the European Parliament to back in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US…Read more…
Today’s employment statistics
I have a post at Left Foot Forward looking at today’s labour market figures. I argue that it’s important not to read too much into one month’s figures, but it is worrying if this country can achieve decent jobs growth or adequate earnings but never both.
The post Today’s…Read more…
Trade Unions Bill: Unfair, unnecessary and undemocratic
Today the government will publish its Trade Unions Bill – a grossly unfair package of measures that will tip the balance of power in the workplace. The proposals will make getting a much-needed pay rise, stopping job losses or negotiating better conditions at work much more difficult. They’ll make…Read more…
Half the CPI shopping basket is now showing price falls
June 2015 CPI inflation was back at zero, from 0.1% in May. Likewise core inflation (excluding energy, food, alcohol & tobacco ) was back at 0.8% from 0.9% in May. Falling prices are now seen throughout the index. ONS publish CPI figures broken down into some 85 non-overlapping categories (e.g….Read more…
Mayday! The helmsman of the green economy is way off course
The Conservative manifesto 2015 said nothing about increasing road taxes. If anything, it implied the opposite: “We will make motoring greener … to protect your environment.” But the Chancellor’s Budgets changes mean that from 2017 a new greener car will cost nearly £1,000 more….Read more…
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda”: yet more evidence suggests income beats choice in retirement
Beverley Knight is a woman well aware of the consequences of poor decision-making. “Now ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’ means I’m out of time, “Coz ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’, can’t change your mind.” Inexplicably, popular music tends to gives more attention to matters of the heart than it…Read more…
Of course I’ll defend the rights Europe has delivered. But we want better, not just more of the same!
David Cameron is touring national capitals around Europe garnering support for his pre-referendum EU renegotiation strategy. And because his strategy seems to be bad news for British workers, he sometimes finds we’ve been there first. Today, for example, I’ll be travelling to Luxembourg…Read more…
Apprentices levy: government skills policy paradigm shift
It’s a game changer – that is the general reaction to the news of a levy on large employers to pay for apprentices. It has met with much surprise too. Is this really what we expect from a Conservative government? Something that three successive Labour governments felt was a step too far?…Read more…
Cameron playing with fire on workers’ rights
The TUC has been criticised for crying wolf over the Prime Minister’s plans to use the EU renegotiation phase of the referendum strategy to attack workers’ rights. But today’s media stories suggest we are spot on the money on both working time and temporary agency workers. The…Read more…
Construction failure reflects neglect and recklessness under the coalition
Latest ONS figures show construction falling by -1.3 per cent into May; this follows a Q1 growth figure that was the slowest for two years. The chart below shows the longer view. Construction output caved-in in the early years of the coalition; from ar…Read more…
George Osborne: British Conservative or German-style Christian Democrat?
My former TUC colleague Duncan Weldon, who is now the Newsnight economics correspondent, has written an interesting post for his BBC web page today under the headline ‘Osborne’s “Christian Democrat Budget”? Duncan knows that I’ve long taken an interest in the German economic model and, accordingly,…Read more…
Budget aftershock: Osborne’s £3.9 billion tax on green power
The Chancellor’s £3.9 billion tax on renewable energy generators “is a punitive measure for the clean energy sector…another example of this Government’s unfair, illogical and obsessive attacks on renewables.” Renewable electricity will no longer be exempt from the Climate Change Levy…Read more…
European Parliament view on EU-US trade deal
The European Parliament has finally voted on its resolution about the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership, or TTIP, the EU-US trade deal being negotiated by Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and US Trade Representative Mike Froman. Most of the news yesterday was about a compromise over…Read more…
Where were the measures to address the continuing housing shortage?
Today the Chancellor made a number of announcements in relation to housing, primarily in relation to people claiming benefits for social housing. Young people in particular will suffer as the government are abolishing the automatic entitlement for youn…Read more…
The poison politics of failed deficit reduction #summerbudget2015
Five years ago, the Chancellor set out policies to bring the public finances back under control. On the basis of any definition, these policies failed. Deficit reduction proceeded greatly slower than planned; public sector debt rose even higher than ex…Read more…
Not a workers’ budget
Massive and unfair cuts in tax credits and benefits are going to hit low-paid workers. Can the Chancellor hope to justify his claim that this is a “one nation Budget”? The key to any Budget is how it answers the question who gains and who loses? The big picture is explained well in the…Read more…
Born in the 90s? Then this Budget is not for you
“This is a one nation Budget,” announced the Chancellor in his introduction to today’s Budget, before announcing reforms that exclude under 25s from higher pay and 18-21 year olds from housing benefit, scrapping maintenance grants for students, and permitting elite (“high-quality teaching”)…Read more…
Annuity resales – at last someone in government has found the brake pedal
After a headlong rush into so-called pensions freedom, someone responsible for pensions policy in government appears to have found the brake pedal. Tucked away in the Budget announcements was the news that attempts to launch a secondary annuity market …Read more…
Northern Puzzlehouse: how exactly will it drive up productivity?
Although the Chancellor said today, “We will be bold in delivering the Northern Powerhouse,” he had little to add on his big, unifying idea of “connectivity.” The theory (that I’ve not been able to track down to its evidence base) is that “a transformation in connections between the great cities of…Read more…