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…
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…
Government investment still way down on the last parliament #SpendingReview
Some rabbits came from the hat today. New spending announcements, departmental cuts allegedly eased (others are looking at the potential horrors of the local authority position), and the tax credit U-turn. One area of some emphasis was investment spend…Read more…
Varoufakis on Osborne’s austerity
In comparison to Greece, cuts in the UK must undoubtedly look like a picnic. But Yanis Varoufakis overplayed the lack of austerity here (on BBC Question Time last night). Both at an individual level and in terms of the macroeconomy, UK cuts have been h…Read more…
#Budget2015: A review of how the Chancellor manipulated the figures to political ends
At the Autumn Statement in December last year, the extent of the failure to reduce the deficit was laid bare. The Chancellor took a political hammering for the extent of future cuts that he had planned to set matters right (leaving aside the implausibi…Read more…
Further Education budget: slashed by 24%
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) recently announced the 2015/16 funding settlement for adult skills in England. While funding for apprenticeships was largely protected, the adult further education (FE) budget is to be cut by 24%. This is an act of wilful vandalism against the principle of lifelong…Read more…