Tag Archives for Osborne
Craig Berry on the tax credit U-turn, the OBR and Autumn Statement
Watch Craig Berry’s reaction to the Autumn Statement: Craig Berry has written the following blog for the PSA: Welfare strangeness and the 2015 Autumn Statement You can read more analysis on What the experts say. Craig Berry was also on BBC Radio Sheffield yesterday, 57 minutes into Toby Foster at breakfast programme.
Transport investment and the North’s development dilemmas
The gap between rhetoric and reality with regard to transport investment in the North of England encapsulates all the problems of Northern economic development In June 2014 George Osborne laid out his ‘Northern Powerhouse’ concept in a speech in Manchester. He set out the four ‘ingredients’ of his vision: By joining our northern cities together – not physically, or into … Continue reading
‘The Age of Irresponsibility’: Post-budget video and opinion piece by Craig Berry
Read Craig Berry’s reactions to the budget published in the Huffington post today: The Age of Irresponsibility. Watch our short post-budget video: For details on the failure of the Coalition government to rebalance the economy, see our latest brief: Has the UK economy been ‘rebalanced’? SPERI is hosting a workshop on the Political Economy of the Northern Powerhouse on the … Continue reading
What six public opinion graphs tell us about austerity
A majority of the British population has consistently expressed the belief over a period of several years that spending cuts to cut the government’s deficit are ‘necessary’ Austerity was meant to be over by now in the UK. The country living comfortably within its means. The books balanced. But, with the Coalition government consistently missing its deficit-reduction targets, this is … Continue reading
Rethinking Recovery V
Intergenerational and gender-based inequality: before and after the crisis The new Conservative government is persisting with billions of pounds of cuts despite rising evidence of poverty and inequality, particularly for young people, children and women. These cuts will only serve to reinforce generational and gender-based inequality. Just over a week ago on 20 June tens of thousands of people marched in … Continue reading
SPERI’s Deputy Director criticises Chancellor’s ‘budget surplus’ plans
Dr Craig Berry, SPERI’s Deputy Director, was one of 77 of the country’s ‘best known academic economists’, to sign a letter published in The Guardian last Saturday attacking George Osborne’s plans, as announced in his Mansion House speech, to achieve ‘permanent budget surpluses’ in Britain. The letter argues that these plans have ‘no basis in economics’, would unnecessarily tie the … Continue reading
Why the North, why now, and what’s new?: Part II
Osborne’s plans spell ‘devo-danger’ for the left in Northern England Devo-Manc, and its equivalents in the other regions of Northern England that will surely follow, is being sold as a key element in the creation of George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’. In the first of these posts, I argued that Labour’s future might depend on rekindling Northern England’s ‘inner powerhouse’. Here, … Continue reading
QE, labour market restructuring and the ‘regressive recovery’
Cameron’s continuing ‘two nations’ governing strategy prepares the way for a further economic crisis When David Cameron emerged from 10 Downing Street on the morning of the 8 May, he proclaimed that he would lead a ‘one nation’ government – one whose guiding aim would be to ensure that ‘the recovery reaches all parts of our country’. There was nothing … Continue reading
Job creation under the Coalition government
There is plenty of devil in the detail of its ‘1000 jobs a day’ claim Since George Osborne’s Autumn Statement in 2014, senior figures in the Coalition government (and particularly those from the Conservative Party) have repeatedly claimed that the government has created, on average, 1000 jobs for every day it has been in power. The statistic has been trotted … Continue reading
‘Osbornomics’: forever blowing bubbles?
How does the Chancellor succeed in telling such a positive story about his management of the British economy when it contradicts so much of the evidence? As the 2015 budget illustrated, George Osborne is undeniably one of the shrewdest politicians in Britain today. He is not, in my view, a very good Chancellor, though, and overall his stewardship of the … Continue reading
Craig Berry’s response to the budget 2015
Craig Berry, Deputy Director of SPERI responds to the budget in this short video. Download Craig Berry’s latest brief (pdf): The UK housing market and stamp duty.
Will the Budget reinforce Britain’s lopsided housing recovery?
Regional housing inequalities continue to widen – because the game is rigged Boosting the housing market has been central to the coalition government’s efforts to stimulate economic recovery. As such, the housing market now occupies a similar position in the post-crisis growth model that it occupied in the pre-crisis growth model. Rising property values are compensating for stagnating earnings in … Continue reading
Competence or chaos?
Cameron’s claim to be promoting sound finance is a pretence, a political game In a speech delivered at the end of last year David Cameron at last followed the advice which his election strategist Lynton Crosby has been urging and focused on the economy, seeking to build on the momentum of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement. He carefully repeated the attack … Continue reading
The problem with Osborne’s new annual tax summaries
They foster an imagined community of ‘taxpayers’ and subvert the collective identity that should underpin tax From late November onwards, the British weekday breakfast ritual faces yet another distraction. People up and down the country will get to enjoy their cornflakes alongside the arrival of a letter from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Rather than demanding more money or offering … Continue reading
Defending the market?
The free market is indeed under attack, but mostly from the self-serving ideology of the Right and its supporters in big business During the British Conservative Party conference, one pundit argued on BBC radio that the inheritance tax threshold should urgently be raised in order to stimulate ‘enterprise’, a long-held objective of the party. This followed George Osborne’s exasperated conference … Continue reading
Response to the budget: podcast & policy brief
SPERI Research Fellow Craig Berry responds to Osborne’s budget announcement in both the latest Policy Brief series and in the video below, arguing that changes to tax allowances will not help the lowest paid in Northern regions. Berry argues that the lowest-paid workers do not benefit at all from the Budget measure to increase the income tax personal allowance and … Continue reading
Child poverty and the unravelling of New Labour’s ‘hybrid’ political economy
Cameron claims to lead a ‘One Nation’ government, but pursues a ‘two nations’ governing strategy One of the headline social policy goals of the Blair and Brown governments was to eradicate child poverty in Britain by 2020. During New Labour’s thirteen years in power considerable progress was made in this regard: child poverty fell from 3.4 million in 1998 to … Continue reading →
12 August 2015 by Scott Lavery
Categories: British growth crisis, Debt, Politics and policy, SPERI Comment, Tax, Welfare | Tags: Blair, Brown, Cameron, Child poverty, DWP, New Labour, One Nation, Osborne, Scott Lavery, Tax credit | Leave a comment