Weak EU growth reveals the price of austerity
Total GDP growth in both the EU and the eurozone was 1.7% – sluggish but not entirely unexpected, compared to 3.2% growth in the US and a 0.5% contraction in the UK.
Ben Fox
Ben works in the European Parliament and writes for Left Foot Forward on economics and the EU. He is the chairman of GMB Brussels.
Osborne’s bank levy: The desperate action of a desperate chancellor
George Osborne thought his failure to secure any agreement on bank bonuses and lending plus his cynical ruse to give banks a massive corporation tax cut had been missed.
Cameron’s ECR farce continues
The European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament has been struck another blow following the resignation of Michal Kaminski as leader.
Lib Dem ‘euro-bond’ idea makes sense but won’t please Tories
The ‘euro-bond’ and has much to recommend it. It reduces the risk of defaulting because a country can’t service its debt and increases the chances of it getting its house in order.
Government’s failure doesn’t mean we can’t get our money’s worth from banks
The government’s failure to take action over bankers’ bonuses does not mean that we can’t get our money’s worth from the banks, argues Ben Fox.
Osborne’s financial pain begins as VAT hike hits
Despite the patently dishonest claims by the Tories that the VAT rise is progressive, it will, as the IFS says, hit the poorest hardest – particularly families.
The government must invest in today’s youth to avoid a lost generation
Ben Fox argues the government must invest in the youth of today to avoid a lost generation.
London and Scotland lead the way as Britain’s jobless league soars
The GMB has uncovered shocking evidence of the damage caused by the coalition’s cuts, with a national average of 2.6 claimants for every job vacancy. This is a situation that is likely to get worse as the sacking of 500,000 public sector workers begins to bite harder in 2011.
Kaminski’s resignation leaves Cameron’s EU group on verge of collapse
Polish extremist Michal Kaminski’s resignation from the Law and Justice Party has opened up a power vacuum in the ECR, David Cameron’s far-right European Parliament grouping, reports Left Foot Forward’s man in the corridors of power in Brussels, Ben Fox.
Now the coalition wants to cut its meagre bank levy
So much remains in doubt on bonuses. But what we know for sure is that the Treasury’s entire bank levy revenue estimates between 2011-2014 were made when bonus payments were anticipated to be higher than they had been in 2008. And the idea that the banks should be offered another sop when they should be paying for the mess they created simply demonstrates where this conservative coalition’s priorities lie.