Is this Clegg’s “green shoots of recovery” moment?  I’m sure he will not be allowed now to forget Norman Lamont’s infamous phrase nor the fact that the Conservatives laid in to Shriti Vadera when she used the phrase herself.  It does look rather odd following so closely on the heels of a very worrying Nationwide [...]

Filed under: Recession | No Comments »

So common has it become for the White House to blame all bad news on the last administration that a Washington joke claims that Obama is planning to name a newly discovered trench deep under the US, “Bush’s Fault”. Much more of this sort of stuff from the Coalition and maybe we’ll soon see Gordon’s Fault opening up somewhere [...]

Filed under: Politics | 2 Comments »

I posted last week on how the OBR’s forecasts for jobs growth in the next five years could be seen as a tad optimistic.  Now Brian Green at Brickonomics thinks the OBR might also be looking on the sunny side when it comes to the likely tax revenues that house sales will generate  – a full [...]

Filed under: Budget | 1 Comment »

Reports are emerging of the first Government Department likely to lose jobs in the cuts.  Rumours are that some Department for Business operations could lose 25% staff.  Although claims that 25% of all staff in the 3,000 strong Department might go have been denied.  The redundancy scheme which starts next week will be voluntary.

Filed under: Cuts Watch | 1 Comment »

There has been a lot of debate this week about the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts for employment over the next five years.  The debate has been compounded by the leak of Treasury documents dealing with the same issue. There is also some confusion about whether the OBR is predicting jobs growth of 2 million [...]

Filed under: Forecasts, Labour market | 4 Comments »

The Chancellor claimed his Budget was fair and it turns out not to be the case.  Now his claim that it will benefit the economy is looking equally ropey.  The admission comes not from a think tank but from the Treasury itself.  Larry Elliott of The Guardian has seen a leaked presentation by Treasury officials which [...]

Filed under: Budget | 9 Comments »

Drawing on a wealth of data sources, Landman Economics and the Fabian Society, have been building a statistical model for the TUC and Unison over the last few months which shows how public spending affects different households and income groups. Don’t Forget the Spending Cuts! is the first study based on the model and it reveals [...]

Filed under: Budget, Public spending | 8 Comments »

In an early indication of how the cuts announced in the Budget are going to cause trouble in the private as well as the public sector, a social housing maintenance company, Connaught, has issued a profits warning which led to a severe drop in its share price.  A similar company, Mears, also saw its share [...]

Filed under: Housing | 4 Comments »

The IFS Budget analysis concludes that, contrary to George Osborne’s claim, this was not a Budget that protected the poorest.  It also concludes that the evidence for progressivity presented in the Budget was misleading because it only looks at reforms planned to 2012-13. 

Filed under: Budget | 2 Comments »

Figures out today show that public sector borrowing in May was £2 billion lower than expected because of rising incomes and higher spending which are both generating bigger income tax and VAT revenues. So why, a casual observer might ask, is George Osborne about to slash spending and raise VAT – measures which will damage [...]

Filed under: Budget, Public spending | 1 Comment »

That’s the German one, by the way.  But as the Guardian report makes clear, the big issue is the rising unpopularity and perceived unfairness of Merkel’s austerity package.  Draw your own conclusions.

Filed under: Europe, Politics, Public spending | 1 Comment »

Some good(ish) news at last.  The FT reports (registration required) that the Treasury review of private sector contracts will probably let most go ahead.  It says that the bulk of loans and guarantees for the car industry and offshore wind will continue.  Cameron has already confirmed that a £21 million grant to Nissan to produce the [...]

Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Environment, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Transport | 1 Comment »