Figures released today by the Bank of England suggest households’ demand for borrowing remained weak in September. Net lending secured on dwellings (i.e. mortgage borrowing) increased by only £0.1 billion in the month and was just 0.8 per cent higher than in September 2009.
This afternoon the government confirmed the first trickle of successful Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the bodies designed to replace the eight regional development agencies in England.
The UK economy grew far more rapidly than expected in the third quarter. Real GDP (the total output of the economy) increased by 0.8 per cent and was 2.9 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2009, according to figures released today by the Office for National Statistics. Economists had expected an increase of just 0.4 per cent.
The latest YouGov poll, commissioned by The Sun newspaper, paints a mixed picture of how the cuts have been received by voters – however the poll data does not represent a conclusive endorsement of the Coalition Government’s, which The Sun would have you believe.
Alan Johnson yesterday set out plans for taxes on banks & banking which he says will raise £7.5bn by the end of the Parliament, but what should he spend it on?
The Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson today attacked the Coalition Government’s plan, arguing that it risked jobs and growth, and set out Labour’s alternative.
Free-market think tank the Adam Smith Institute today published a report advocating the privatisation of, well, practically everything, reports Liam Thompson.
Gordon Brown made a rare, unexpected and little noticed intervention on climate change over the weekend when he penned an article for the Huffington Post.
A group of six of our most prominent high street banks have got the begging bowl out again and headed for the Treasury, reports Ben Fox.
Britain should heed the lessons of the US when understanding what has gone wrong for the ‘squeezed middle’, argues Harvard research associate Sophia Parker.
