The House of Commons Library has just produced a briefing note, “Government borrowing, debt and debt interest: historical statistics and … More
Category: Austerity
“Cash strapped Councils struggle to cope as Osborne’s austerity cuts bite”
Research by the Financial Times shows the extent to which local authorities are struggling to cope with the cuts in … More
What happened and why?
These are some brief initial observations on the outcome of the General Election. Understanding exactly what happened in the General … More
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island George Osborne’s Budget speech reminded me of the old saying, an empty vessel makes the most noise. He … More
Breaking the link between funding and social needs – local government finance
The funding of local government has been notoriously complicated, subject as it has been to constant changes by governments in … More
Failure of ‘austerity’
Interesting to see that David Renard has signed a joint letter to the Observer with other Council leaders from all … More
Osborne’s “pointless machismo”
With the Chancellor’s autumn statement due next week, advance notice has been given of yet another political trick designed to … More
The FT throws a grenade at Osborne (and Balls)
Yesterday’s lead article on the front page of the Financial Times was positively incendiary (“Osborne faces doubling austerity cuts to … More
Government ‘economic fairytale’ unravels
In the first 6 months of the financial year, from April 2014, government borrowing was £58 billion. In September alone … More
The Financial Times is worried by “a conspiracy of obfuscation”
There was an interesting Financial Times editorial today on “the central fact of British politics, the fiscal deficit”. It bemoans … More