Nick Clegg today sat shoulder-to-shoulder with George Osborne in defending the axing of the loan to Sheffield Forgemasters – in his constituency – forcing the plant to stop work on a new press for nuclear power plants which would have resulted in the creation of 200 jobs.
We heard the shriek of ‘Noooooooooo!’ in the North East. The Government’s ideological decision to renege on support for Forgemasters in Sheffield triggered anger but also bewilderment among people I know in Yorkshire.
The FT reports that the Government’s case for cancelling an £80m loan to a Sheffield engineering company has been undermined after it emerged that David Cameron and Nick Clegg wrongly accused its directors of being unwilling to dilute their shares.test
Labour leadership candidate Ed Miliband has challenged Chris Huhne to stand up against “free-market zealots”, accusing the climate change and energy secretary of “turning your back on green industry”.
Shadow business secretary Pat McFadden today made a speech to the Fabian society urging Labour not to retreat to default “opposition mode” in opposing all cuts.
Business investment is stagnating. Coalition policies look set to exacerbate the problem and will do little to help the economy meet OBR’s ambitious estimates.
Overall, this was a Budget that seems highly likely to lead to rising unemployment.
Cameron warned that every person is to be affected by the savage cuts over the next few years. The urgent task of all progressives today is to put in place the policies and alliances to create a counter consensus.
In the first of two new soon-to-be-published papers, ippr’s study ‘Green and Decent Jobs’ discusses how far the creation of new green jobs could counteract unemployment in the UK.
Sign up to receive this daily email by 9am every morning. Jon Cruddas has ruled himself out of the running for the Labour leadership. Writing in today’s Guardian, he says: “Hand on heart, I do not want to be leadertest
