Chancellor unveils £4.5bn extra savings including Royal Mail stake sell-off
George Osborne plans to raise £1.5bn from Royal Mail sale and £3bn in government department savings, prompting IFS warningGeorge Osborne has taken an early swipe at departmental budgets, announcing...
View ArticleOsborne announces plans to raise £1.5bn by selling remaining stake in Royal...
Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happenNo 10 to write to Ipsa demanding rethink on MPs’ 10% pay riseDavid Miliband to speak at IoD conference in London IFS accuses...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne announces Royal Mail sell-off - video
George Osborne announces £4.5bn worth of savings in this financial year through a sell-off of national assets – including the remaining stake in Royal Mail – and spending cuts. Departments have been...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on George Osborne: free and frightening | Editorial
The election leaves a chancellor unbound. He is using the opportunity not to grant himself more financial slack, but instead to pursue deeper cuts, ideological zeal and political cunningGeorge Osborne...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on paying tax: a contribution to the common good | Editorial
Charlotte Church is right to say she would pay more to protect public services – and a new current in economics is providing heavyweight support for her viewCharlotte Church says she would happily pay...
View ArticleWarning from Europe: you can’t always get what you want
The rest of Europe is braced for bruising negotiations with David Cameron over reform of the EU. In capitals such as Warsaw, there is bemusement at the idea of ‘Brexit’Eleven years ago Poland threw in...
View ArticleChickens come home to roost for David Cameron
Chris Riddell on the problems besetting the prime ministerContinue reading...
View ArticleTen ways in which life could change if the UK left the EU
Holidays could be trickier, beaches dirtier, and some jobs would be at risk1. Travelling in the EUBritish visitors to mainland Europe would no longer be “fast-tracked” through the EU lines at passport...
View ArticleAusterity isn’t ‘good housekeeping’: it’s dogmatic, risky and unjust
Economists are starting to line up to warn of the danger behind the chancellor’s £25bn onslaught on public servicesIt’s a measure of the triumph of the pro-austerity argument in Britain that George...
View ArticleHarriet Harman casts doubt over Ed Miliband's economic credibility
Labour’s acting leader gives blunt assessment of election campaign, saying many were relieved that party lostMany Labour supporters feel relieved the party is not in power under Ed Miliband, the acting...
View ArticleDavid Cameron, a champion of disabled people? Try telling Paula Peters |...
A prime minister who talks about caring for his disabled son is about to unleash a new wave of benefit cuts on Britain’s most vulnerable people. People like PaulaGeorge Osborne won’t have a clue who...
View ArticleThe reality of Tory cuts is wicked and wrong | Letters
The morning after the general election I was awoken by mocking texts from a Tory-voting family member and was informed by email of the cancellation of future work due to expected cuts in arts funding....
View ArticleWe don’t live to work, we work to live. Why don’t we say so? | Zoe Williams
Even in this supposed era of self-interest, admitting that there’s more to life than your job is still taboo“Hardworking” is the ubiquitous political denominator of our age, source of morality,...
View ArticleNature gives us everything free – let's put it at the heart of everyday...
With a population increase of 10m predicted in the UK alone, natural capital faces challenges as never before. This is what to do to compensate Related: Companies cannot keep shying away from setting...
View ArticleGrowth, what growth? Thatcherism fails to produce the goods
Cambridge University analysis casts doubt on free market economics showing GDP and productivity grew faster before 1979Margaret Thatcher’s policies of privatisation, light-touch regulation and low...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on HSBC: a bank beyond shame | Editorial
It has multiple specific failings within a sector whose failure has cost the economy dear. And yet HSBC effectively used the eve of the Mansion House speech to threaten the chancellorOn banking, the...
View ArticleWe must fight to make our cities healthy places to live | Owen Jones
Cutting back on parks, cycling infrastructure and leisure budgets will prove to be a false economy. There are huge financial benefits to having a healthy populaceCities fit for people, rather than...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne moves to peg public finances to Victorian values
Chancellor will use Mansion House speech to outline new fiscal framework with aim of permanent budget surpluses and only ‘exceptional’ borrowingGeorge Osborne is to announce a return to the public...
View ArticleDavid Miliband says Labour turned 'backwards' under his brother - reaction:...
Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Harriet Harman at PMQs and Cameron’s Commons statement on the G7 summitToday’s agendaDavid...
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