If the government is indeed going to announce restrictions on ‘universal’ benefits it won’t come as a bolt out of the blue. The Budget froze Child Benefit for three years and the re-testing of Disability Living Allowance claims is supposed to cut back the number of people receiving the benefit by one fifth. The leaks [...]

Filed under: Welfare | 2 Comments »

In most parts of England and Wales young people’s A level results will be published tomorrow. Around the country they will be turning to their local Connexions service for advice; local news services are pointing teenagers with worse (or better) results than they expected to Connexions in Bakewell, Barrow, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Haringey, Islington, Milton [...]

Filed under: Public services | 1 Comment »

Senior management at the UK Film Council have been summonsed to a meeting with Ed Vaizey, where they will be told off for lobbying too effectively against their abolition.

Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Culture | 2 Comments »

In recent Cuts Watch postings we’ve reported on the rapid disappearance of road safety cameras. Figures out today reveal that the price in extra deaths and injuries will be more likely to be paid by the poor. Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Transport has said that the decision to stop funding local authorities’ [...]

Filed under: Inequality, Transport | 1 Comment »

Well, not the individuals, but their armed guards. According to yesterday’s News of the World, the government has decided on a £50 million cut from the £150 million p.a. cost of providing police guards for the royal family that would remove protection from less well-known members.

Filed under: Cuts Watch | 1 Comment »

It looks as though cuts in the Comprehensive Spending Review will hit the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs particularly hard, threatening key conservation agencies and the public stake in nature reserves. Dozens of conservation charities and campaigns have united to write to DEFRA to demand “Don’t cut the Countryside”!

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

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has called for massive reductions in police pay to achieve the cuts demanded by the government. In a move that proves that no-one is safe from the monstering facing any group of public sector workers whose pay and conditions are being cut, the call was accompanied by pay figures [...]

Filed under: Cuts Watch | 2 Comments »

Stephen Spielberg’s production company DreamWorks is the latest name to join the campaign save the UK Film Council.

Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Culture | No Comments »

Plans for a zero-carbon development at Shoreham are to go ahead, but the future of other planned eco-towns remains in the balance.

Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Environment | No Comments »

According to the Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index, consumer confidence fell for the third month in a row in July, it now stands at 56, having reached 84 in February (the average during the recession is 63). The Expectations Index, which measures consumers’ beliefs about how things will stand in 6 months’ time has also been [...]

Filed under: Economics | 2 Comments »

Yesterday the quarterly statistics for the Young Person’s Guarantee underlined its tremendous promise.

Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Welfare | 1 Comment »

Today’s employment figures confirm the problems facing older unemployed people. In the first two years of the recession, it was clear that young people were being hit harder than any other group, and I argued that they should be the primary target for government support. I still think that we have to pull all the [...]

Filed under: Equality, Recession | 3 Comments »