George Osborne’s fiscal straitjacket could do more harm than good
Placing fiscal policy in a straitjacket ignores what is going on in the rest of the economy
Tony Dolphin
Can David Cameron really create another two million jobs?
No one should imagine it will be easy to achieve
Why the Bank of England should not increase interest rates in 2015
The case for keeping interest rates at their current level is compelling.
Britain needs more women engineers
If Britain does not get more women engineers, parts of that industry will move overseas to where it can recruit the workers it needs.
Too few people in Britain have a private pension
Figures released today show that almost half the population aged below retirement age had no private pension savings in 2010-2012.
Cutting the top rate of tax won’t help Britain win ‘the global race’
It’s not clear how cutting the 45p tax rate to 40p, as suggested by Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne, would benefit Britain, writes Tony Dolphin.
Increasing the higher rate tax threshold does not help middle-income earners
By far the biggest gainers from an increase in the 40p threshold are families in the top income decile.
No need to increase interest rates while real earnings are falling
Any move now to increase interest rates might put the economic recovery at risk.
Ring-fencing the NHS and schools is no longer viable
The chancellor went on the Today programme this morning to trumpet his success in getting seven government departments to agree on their budgets for 2015-16 as part of the Spending Review that he will announce on 26 June. It is reported that they have all agreed to cuts of between 8 and 10 per cent.
December’s economic update
Tony Dolphin is the chief economist at the IPPR and a regular contributor to The Guardian and New Statesman. During the autumn statement last month, George Osborne claimed that the UK economy was slowly on the mend; however, the latest data indicates the opposite may betest