In Box 4.5 of their Economic and Fiscal forecast the OBR set out a few helpful home truths about the UK’s deficit reduction plan compared to competitor economies over 2009 to 2014. Their conclusions are striking: The UK was the only country where the deficit has not been reduced by having…Read more…
Stop attacking workers
Among the few winners in yesterday’s budget was the North Sea oil industry, which was handed over a £1.3bn tax cut to combat a slump in oil prices. The industry responded to the initial New Year slump, which saw the global price of crude plummet to below $50 a barrel, by attacking workers’ pay […]
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We’re not a soft option
An inspiring tale of worker solidarity and canny campaigning had women on their feet and clapping on the first day (March 18) of the Unite women’s conference in the Floral Hall, Eastbourne. They rose from their chairs after delegate Sara Kasab told how worker solidarity triumphed over zero hours contracts – when Unite […]
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Hinchingbrooke: Stark warning
That Hinchingbrooke Hospital – the first privately run NHS hospital in history—was a complete disaster was further proved today (March 18) after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concluded the experiment put the taxpayer at grave risk. Private operator Circle won a contract to run the hospital for 10 years, but pulled out in January, […]
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The Budget changes nothing: the road from austerity has led only to more austerity, not to prosperity
My budget reaction has been published on Left Foot Forward. I take issue with the Chancellor’s statement: “This is a Budget that takes Britain one more big step on the road from austerity to prosperity” (Chancellor’s Budget Speech) Austerity has not led to prosperity; it has led only to more…Read more…
#Budget2015: Osborne’s ‘savings culture’ provides more bonuses for the already wealthy
George Osborne concluded his Budget speech today with a crescendo: the Chancellor aims to create a “savings culture”, and announced four major new steps in “our savings revolution”. However this rhetoric will not mean much at all to so many of the population for whom the concept of saving is simply…Read more…
But what benefits are they planning to cut?
In his Budget Speech George Osborne repeated that he intends, if re-elected, to cut £12 billion in benefits (plans first announced in January of last year), but you’ll search the Budget documents in vain for any indication of just how he plans to go about this. These cuts have to be implemented,…Read more…
Total spending set to fall MORE in years ahead than Chancellor previously planned
Hidden away in the OBR’s charts are some important figures on ‘Total Managed Expenditure’ – essentially all of the money government spends on services, pensions, help for low income workers and capital investment. These data show that in the years immediately after the…Read more…
Housing: #Budget2015 spins “signs of normalisation”
“There continue to be signs of normalisation in the housing market” says the government (Budget Report 2015, 915, para 124). With home ownership in retreat, rents rising and 1.3 million on the social housing waiting lists, the situation seems much more like an entrenched crisis than…Read more…
#Budget2015: Growth of good jobs? Good luck!
When it comes to jobs growth figures, one would expect the Chancellor to, at minimum, get his speech to agree with his own analysis, better still for that analysis to be accurate. When presenting at the despatch box this afternoon, Mr Osborne stated: “Today’s figures show that since 2010, 1000 more…Read more…
#Budget2015: No Budget for a sustainable industrial future
A classic Osborne Budget: a further £1.3 billion in tax breaks for North Sea oil and gas (and presumably onshore shale) but precious little of substance for the green economy. Measures to welcome include the £25m compensation scheme for energy intensive industries, brought forward to this October….Read more…
Don’t mention the cuts
This year’s budget showed the two faces of George Osborne. Within three months he’s come up with two different sets of figures for public spending plans over the next five years. The autumn statement in December showed a true Tory Chancellor wanting to force through colossal cuts. It was a bleak future of near-permanent […]
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#Budget2015: The worst public spending cuts are still to come
There was much pre-Budget speculation that the Chancellor was going to use today’s Budget to ease off on austerity and reduce the scale of planned public service cuts in the year ahead. But although he’s made some minor changes to his future forecasts, the scale of spending reductions…Read more…
#Budget2015: Did it lay the foundations for longer term growth?
Today’s Budget contained a range of measures to support industry, infrastructure and science. Among the highlights were: £400m up to 2020-21 for the funding of cutting-edge scientific infrastructure. The government will also provide further strategic science and innovation investments to make the…Read more…
Today’s Labour Market Statistics
My post on today’s labour market statistics is up at Left Foot Forward – Once again we are remined this will not feel like a recovery for everyone
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Wages still won’t last the month
Chancellor George Osborne today (March 18) unveiled the government’s pre-election budget, calling it a triumph for working people. In an obvious attempt to pander to the electorate, with the general election being less than seven weeks away, Osborne has raised the tax-free personal allowance threshold to £10,800 to go into effect next year after […]
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The lowest gain in living standards in post-war history
According to the Chancellor today: To the question of whether people are better off at the end of this Parliament than they were five years ago we can give the resounding answer “yes” This is certainly questionable use of the word ‘resounding’. Real household disposable income per head…Read more…
After the Israeli election
We now know that despite the polls, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right wing Likud party has won the largest number of seats in the Knesset. As is the way in Israeli politics fragmented by proportional representation, he now has to put together a workable coalition. Given the political complexion of…Read more…
Unsustainable budget cuts leading to self-service policing
By imposing swingeing cuts to the budgets of police forces across the UK, the government has put policing in crisis and placed neighbourhoods and communities at risk. The growing, and increasingly public furor over the impact of spending cuts to police…Read more…
Good bosses want justice access
New research shows deep unease among employers over controversial tribunal fees brought in by the government just over a year ago. In the face of trade union protests ministers pressed ahead with prohibitive employment tribunal fees, effectively denying workplace justice to millions. The fees are set at £250 to issue a claim and £950 […]
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