For George Osborne, economics is always an extension of politics by other means. The budget on Wednesday was predictably entirely about next year’s election and, given his limited room to manoeuvre, adept. With Labour still failing to provide a credible...
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13.47: The Budget announcement has wound down now so too is the blog. Thanks
13.45: Michael Gove (who made remarks about the number of Old Etonians in the Government in an interview with the FT over the weekend) has been banished...
As the parliament has worn on the language of ‘rebalancing’ has faded from the Chancellor’s speeches. The reasons are easy to see. Rapid improvements in GDP last year have focused minds on who is benefiting from growth, not just how...
The global financial crisis of 2008 did not just reveal the structural defects in our economy. It also laid bare the total inadequacy of how government measured success.
Even as bankers at some of the world’s leading financial institutions were clearing...
Conservatives claim “helping all Britain’s hard working businesses” is their essential rationale. In contrast, Labour is then portrayed as by definition anti-business.
But, heavily favouring the City, ‘big business’ and international capital, Conservative policies have in reality been unsupportive, even detrimental...
The restraint shown by the Low Pay Commission recently in recommending a three per cent rise in the national minimum wage is justifiable. The LPC has responsibility over a very successful instrument for attacking serious deprivation in the UK: it has almost...