Across the nations the message is clear – It’s time for the chancellor to change course
Ahead of the chancellor publishing the Spending Review, the likes of which he never intended to make, across the nations the devolved governments are clear.
Green Politics
It’s not that the cuts aren’t deep enough already, it’s that the economy has barely grown
The chancellor will announce £11.5 billion pounds worth of cuts today because the UK economic recovery is the slowest for 100 years.
Public sector borrowing higher this year than last
The latest public sector finances data, released today by the Office for National Statistics, show that public sector borrowing in 2012/13 was £118.8 billion when you exclude Quantitative Easing and Royal Mail pensions. Higher than in 2011/12, when it was £118.5 billion.
The minimum wage at 15 – fully grown-up?
There is a strong consensus that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has been a success yet, quite rightly, we are still worried about low pay. Can we do more with the NMW, or should we be thinking about a whole platter of policies to bring about fairer pay?
How can a company go bust owing £58 million in tax?
How could that have happened? How could HMRC have reached the point where it cannot chase that much tax? How limited are resources is this is the case?
It’s time to consider introducing rent controls
“Build build build. We must build more homes.”
Any politician who came out with such a statement would be greeted with near universal applause. Build them and they will clap.
You do the crime, you do the time. It seems that’s the case everywhere but banking
Money laundering, forgery, fraud, corruption – if you do the crime, you do the time. It seems that’s the case everywhere but banking.
This is one conclusion arrived at after a year on the Parliamentary Banking Standards Commission (PBSC) examining the standards and culture of the industry. Why is it an off-shore island seemingly not subject to the normal rules of society?
European plans to regulate credit card transaction fees could hit poorest
The European Commission’s plans to regulate so-called ‘multilateral interchange fees’ could have major implications for the government’s ability to successfully implement welfare reform and will negatively impact on financial inclusion efforts in the UK.
Taxpayers are looking increasingly exposed on the back of Co-op downgrade
This morning credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the Co-operative bank to Caa1. However the bank is still, as far as I am aware, open for business, despite the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) being told about the downgrade before the start of business today.
The OECD says there are vast amounts offshore – and that can only be with the knowing assistance of the world’s big banks
The OECD issued a new report overnight for the G8. The subject is automatic information exchange – the theme of today’s G8 summit.