Pay increases by just 2.3 per cent in the last three months
Tony Burke runs over the numbers for pay inflation and finds that they are grim.
Green Politics
The £150 million hole in Osborne’s Virgin/Northern Rock deal
George Osborne didn’t sell Northern Rock at 80% of book value, but at 66% of book value, reports Cormac Hollingsworth.
Shapps’s subprime stimulus is a bailout for housebuilders
Kevin Gulliver details the flawed concept and execution behind the government’s new housing strategy, but welcomes the desire for stimulus which lies behind it.
When does economic growth benefit people on low to middle incomes – and why?
The Resolution Foundation today published a new paper by Professor Lane Kenworthy of the University of Arizona; James Plunkett reports.
Expensive and ineffective: Boris Johnson’s island airport (even Tories think so)
John Stewart of AirportWatch explains why even other Tories, from Gideon Osborne down, are privately briefing against Boris Island: it’s a ridiculous idea.
Welsh Labour has big decisions to make in face of budget gridlock
The current impasse over the passage of a budget in Wales, triggered by last week’s vote, was in hindsight always likely, writes Ed Jacobs.
Crazy May’s immigration policy will make us all poorer
Alex Hern covers the claim by 15 leading economists in the FT that the Home Office plans to send home poor migrants will cut 0.29% from growth over five years.
Swinney calls on Osborne to “change course” on Scottish investment
Ed Jacobs covers the SNPs calls for Osborne to move away from strict austerity, both for Scotland and nationwide.
New student visa system turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK
The UK’s student visa system is turning prospective entrepreneurs away from the UK, according to a leading Indian newspaper, reports Will Straw from India.
Northern Rock sale shows Osborne’s failure of ambition on real bank reform
The Tories’ and Lib Dems’ warm words on co-operatives are hollow; the resurrection of Northern Rock’s failed ownership model underlines that point.