“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 George Osborne’s Budget speech reminded me of the old saying, an empty vessel makes the most noise. He … More

The funding of local government has been notoriously complicated, subject as it has been to constant changes by governments in … More

Interesting to see that David Renard has signed a joint letter to the Observer with other Council leaders from all … More

With the Chancellor’s autumn statement due next week, advance notice has been given of yet another political trick designed to … More

Yesterday’s lead article on the front page of the Financial Times was positively incendiary (“Osborne faces doubling austerity cuts to … More

In the first 6 months of the financial year, from April 2014, government borrowing was £58 billion. In September alone … More

There was an interesting Financial Times editorial today on “the central fact of British politics, the fiscal deficit”. It bemoans … More

Download a PDF of this document here autumnstatement2013 As with every budgetary statement by George Osborne, the use of statistics … More