Tag Archives: spending

The debate on the publication today of the statistics on the public sector finances for 2012/13 has focused mainly on whether the deficit is falling or not. The answer is no: the deficit in 2012/13 was broadly the same as … Continue reading

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The government’s announcement of new funding for childcare is a welcome step. Britain badly needs a better childcare system and any increases in funding for childcare are good news. Today’s announcement also tackles some of the unfairness of the current … Continue reading

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Sweden’s finance minister, Andreas Borg, cuts an impressive figure, and not just because he sports a ponytail and earring. He has steered the Swedish economy through troubled times in Europe, avoiding a double-dip recession while keeping its public finances in … Continue reading

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Newsnight recently reported that the government will announce a suite of childcare policies in the new year, as part of the Coalition’s mid-term review. Pressure has been building up for some time on the government to extend support for childcare … Continue reading

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In the run up to a budget or autumn statement, one piece of paper becomes the most important in Whitehall: the scorecard. This is the table which sets out the net effect of the government’s planned decisions: how much is … Continue reading

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In his speech to the Conservative party conference, chancellor George Osborne has said that it is fanciful to believe that the ‘wallets of the rich’ can bear the burden of fiscal consolidation alone. But he has also said that the … Continue reading

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Izabella Kaminska has posted this very interesting FT Alphaville blog on a recent Capital Economics report on the output gap (h/t Duncan Weldon). If – and it’s a very, very big if – the output gap is still about 6 … Continue reading

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The IFS and Nuffield Trust have a report out today on scenarios for health and social care spending over the next decade. This is a very important contribution to the debate on future fiscal pressures and priorities.

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As good civil servants observing the appropriate rules, the Downing Street press office issued a copy of the prime minister’s welfare reform speech with sections marked ‘political content excised’. In truth, if they’d applied that editing principle consistently, the whole … Continue reading

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The Institute of Directors and the Tax Payers’ Alliance, the free-market lobbying group, have today published their 2020 Tax Commission Report. Its recommendations – as you might expect from its membership – are the fairly standard neoliberal ones of cutting … Continue reading

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