Retail sales have seen their worst decline since 2010. But rising consumer credit figures suggest we’re not at the end of the consumer spending boom just yet. Retail sales volumes declined by -1.4% in the first quarter of 2017, the worse quarterly decline since the first quarter of 2010 (itself the worst quarterly decline on…
The rubber has hardly hit the road on the June General Election. But important elections are also happening closer to home. Local and metro mayoral elections are happening on 4 May, and there are some big opportunities for parts of the country to make their voices heard. The mayoral elections stem from devolution deals that…
The Financial Times has a story today (behind the paywall) suggesting that the government’s new visa system for EU migrants will have to be enforced not by the Home Office or the Borders Agency but by employers, landlords and universities, because of cuts to the civil service. That would, indeed, build on the government’s existing…
In three weeks’ time, six regions across the UK will be electing their new Metro Mayors. Devolution has the potential to radically empower local communities. But several quarters have voiced the same message that on its current track devolution will only serve to further entrench power in the hands of an elected few: the male,…
The government’s Local Government Finance Bill 2016-17 is set to make some radical changes to the way local government will be financed through local business rates (BRs) within England. At present, local government can retain 50% of business rates (BRs), which are essentially a tax on non-residential property (such as shops, offices, pubs, warehouses, factories…
8 March 2017, Philip Hammond’s Budget Speech: And most importantly, Mr Deputy Speaker, despite higher-than-target inflation, real wages continue to rise in every year of the forecast. [my emphasis] 12 April 2017, only five weeks later, statistics from ONS Labour Market statistics release show: on the single month measure, real wages in decline by -0.4%,…
“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people” FDR accepting his nomination as presidential candidate, 2 July 1932 Every two years an International Trade Union Confederation delegation from across the world meets with officials and governors from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, including Managing Director Christine Lagarde…
Yesterday I attended a lecture by the economist Andrew Dilnot, hosted by the Resolution Foundation. The lecture was called “A lasting solution to the social care crisis”; it was effectively a relaunch of the proposals of the Dilnot Review. The Dilnot Review published its proposals in June of 2011, and they formed the basis of…
This post is brief background to a longer piece that views Roosevelt’s economics through his impact on Washington D.C. The economic statistics show his initiatives brought the US great depression to a decisive end; they also stabilised the deterioration in the public sector finances. Yet the efforts can be dismissed as trivial. A former Chair…
The UK’s gender pay gap stands at 18.1% and at the current rate this gap will not close for at least another 40 years. This means that the average woman has to wait nearly a fifth of a year (66 days) before she starts to get paid, compared to the average man. Today the government…
The European Parliament decided today by an overwhelming 516 to 133 votes (nearly four to one) what it thought should be in the eventual EU-UK Brexit deal. And after lobbying from the European trade union movement, MEPs made it crystal clear that any future deal should be conditional on “continued adherence” by the UK to the EU…