IFS: Northern Ireland faces being hit hard by tax and benefit changes
Northern Ireland faces being hit harder by changes announced to the tax and benefit systems due to come into force between Jan 2011 and Apr 2014, the IFS says.
Green Politics
Low-to-middle earners suffer 5.4 per cent drop in average salaries
The 2010 ‘Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings’ data released today by the ONS shows that the median annual salary earned by all workers fell by 0.4 per cent in nominal terms from £21,310 in 2009 to £21,221 in 2010. Once inflation is taken into account (RPI increased by 5.3 per cent between April 2009 and April 2010, which is the date the ASHE survey relates to), stagnation turns to significant contraction, with the median salary falling by a sizeable 5.4 per cent.
Good news on jobs could be threatened by cuts
Good news on jobs could be threatened by cuts, a new report from KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation; but will the private sector fill the void?
Chris Huhne must stay in Cancun
Chris Huhne has been doing a brilliant job at the UN climate negotiations in Cancun this week; he should stay there and not come back for the tuition fees vote.
Tackling climate change requires a just transition to a low carbon economy
When he was environment secretary, David Miliband asserted that only Labour could tackle climate change. He argued that this was because only Labour recognised the need to intervene in markets. The Conservatives’ instincts, he said, would always pre-dispose them to solutions that stopped short of the measures necessary to set our economy on the route towards a low carbon, sustainable future. This, of course, was after the Stern report which had said that climate change was the greatest market failure the world had ever seen.
Two nation Conservatism: VAT rise hits North harder than South
A new report shows the Governments rise in VAT could hit not only the poor, but also the middle class heavily, with some areas being particularly drastically hit.
Economic forecasts reveal high degree of uncertainty
Worries about a ‘double dip’ recession in the UK have faded in recent weeks. But recent forecasts reveal how much uncertainty there is about the economic outlook right now.
Daily Mail echoes UK Uncut campaign against tax avoidance
Following a successful weekend of demonstrations, the Daily Mail has joined the UK Uncut tax avoidance campaign. Alex Brummer writes today about the “exploitation of rules” by corporations.
Labour must speak out against discriminatory pay for foreign seafarers
Ruwan Subasinghe, a lawyer at the International Transport Workers’ Federation, on the need for Labour to speak out to end discriminatory pay for seafarers.
Creative destruction – a 21st century progressive growth story
What will drive long-term growth in the UK economy? With the growth White Paper now kicked into the long grass, it looks as if the Government doesn’t have an answer to this question, at least not now. At the same time, since the New Labour boom years ended in financial bust, the centre-left also needs a new story. There is much talk of the need for green growth, and ‘rebalancing’ the economy away from finance, often towards manufacturing, but no overall narrative on what will be the motor of growth after the crisis.