Philip Hammond attempted to mask the Tories’ dismal economic record and lack of direction with jokes during his outline of the Budget today (November 22), even as he admitted official growth…Read more…
Tory failure continues
Certain phrases enter the political lexicon. Unemployment is a price worth paying – Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont. In office but not in power that too was Norman Lamont following his sacking…Read more…
Not ‘game changer’ we need
Today’s (November 22) budget is far from the ‘game-changer’ the country needs and will do little to ease the biggest squeeze in living standards the country has ever seen, Unite warned. …Read more…
Enough is enough, Hammond
Gaffe-prone chancellor Philip Hammond has been urged to give public sector workers, battered by pay austerity since 2010, a generous pay rise in Wednesday’s budget. “Since the Tories came to…Read more…
Hammond’s choice
Driverless cars are on Philip Hammond’s mind. In tomorrow’s budget the Chancellor will announce changes designed to make testing the new technology easier on British roads. Perhaps he…Read more…
‘The insulting Budget’
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn summed up Philip Hammond, the Chancellor’s first and last spring budget – it was a budget that was complacent and out of touch he said. He could also have…Read more…
The ‘failure Budget’
Chancellor Philip Hammond brushed Brexit under the carpet as he laid out the last Spring Budget today, delivering paltry policies that will do nothing to alleviate austerity, low wages or job…Read more…
#Budget2017: Boost for technical skills funding
As with much of the Budget, the package of skills measures contained few surprises as the various announcements had been trailed extensively beforehand. Nevertheless, there is much to welcome in the Budget on technical education and skills, in particul…Read more…
#Budget2017: Self-employment tax changes
Increases in taxation of self-employment may raise more money for the exchequer but will do little to clamp down on bad employers who force staff into bogus self-employment to lower their tax bill Today’s standout Budget measure was the increase in the tax paid by the self-employed, with the rate…Read more…
#Budget2017: Zero out of four
Yesterday we set the Chancellor four tests for whether his Budget would deliver for working people. Today we have no good news to report. This wasn’t a budget for living standards, it didn’t give the British economy the investment it needs to see us through the uncertainty of Brexit, and public…Read more…
An ‘extraordinary Budget’
The budget lacked the ambition and action to equip the nation for the challenges of Brexit, Unite said today (Wednesday March 8). Responding to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget, Unite…Read more…
#Budget2017: Pensions freedom liberates cash straight into the Treasury
Paperwork released with the Budget has revealed what an astonishing short-term money spinner so-called “pensions freedom” has been for the Treasury – and hinted at what a disaster it might prove for our ability to provide for old age. Originally announced in Budget 2014, pensions…Read more…
Wake up to what women need
As the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, gets ready to deliver his Budget today, he would do well to remember the 47 per cent. That’s the proportion of women in the UK workforce. With this year’s…Read more…
The crisis that can’t be contained
The omens ahead of tomorrow’s Budget are not good. Last week the business select committee warned that the much-heralded industrial strategy was welcome in intent but absent of strategy….Read more…
‘The forgotten cousin’
Local authorities are ‘the forgotten cousins’ of public expenditure, as the financial crisis facing social care gathers pace, Unite has said. Unite, which has 80,000 members in local…Read more…
‘Sixty billion pound’ man
Chancellor Philip Hammond will set aside £60bn in preparation for a Brexit crisis in tomorrow’s Budget, but will not spend any extra cash to alleviate the meltdown of the UK’s health services. …Read more…
Budget blogs: The fiscal cost of insecure work
Yesterday’s Budget blog focused on challenges facing the Chancellor as he prepares for the last Spring Budget. New TUC research out today shows why tackling the rise of insecure work should be high on the Chancellor’s agenda, revealing the £4bn a year cost of the rise in low-paid self employment…Read more…
Budget blogs: Springing into action…
The new(ish) Chancellor’s first Budget, due on 7th March, would normally be seen as a key political moments in the year. It’s an opportunity for Government to dominate the headlines and give a cash based indication of their priorities. But with Brexit hoovering up political attention, not to…Read more…