Osborne’s budget gift to payday lenders

We’ve a gaffe-prone chancellor in George Osborne: before it was the 4×4 in the disabled parking space, then it was the fine for not having a first class ticket. Now he’s caught out by The Sun for eating a “posh burger”.

Jobseeker’s Allowance changes will not help more people into work

We were anticipating the announcement about a cap on Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) spending for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This accounts for a huge lump of government spending overall – much of the rest of the savings are tinkering by comparison.

Spending Review: Osborne to take 10 years to simply get back to 2007/08

Considering the government likes to throw every question they are asked in the chamber back at Labour – i.e. “we’re clearing up the mess left by the last government” – it’s strange how, going by the projections released along with today’s spending review, it’s going to take until 2017/18 for the Tories to be back where the Labour government was in 2007-2008.