Economics
Number of workers on zero-hour increases 15%
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The number of UK workers on zero-hour contracts is now at 801,000 up 104,000 in only a year. The Labour party tried to outlaw these types of employment deals, but instead they have increased sharply. It could be seen as a blow to job recovery, as verging on a million people are on contracts that don’t necessarily guarantee even one hour’s work in any given week, and can have hours taken away or added at...
Top headhunters admit UK bosses pay is ‘absurdly high’
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A report says cutting huge salaries would not hurt the economy as analysis reveals top CEOs earn on average £4.6m per annum. The groundbreaking study by top headhunters has shown that Britain’s chief executives are grossly overpaid, and there would be little impact on the economy if their salaries were cut, which disproves the fear of a “brain drain,” if pay were to be slashed. The report by the London School of Economics report bring...
Housebuilding hits three-year low, in new blow to Chancellor Osborne
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor More economic gloom as housebuilding activity plunged to lowest level in almost three years. The depressing figures follow on from news in the manufacturing sector, reeling from poor global conditions and the looming EU referendum. Tuesday’s manufacturing index showed it had slipped to its worst month in almost three years in February. The housebuilding data comes from Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index growth in the building sector which sank to a 10 month low in...
10 poorest cities are in North making Northern Powerhouse look bleak
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The North of England is still the least economically active in the country, a study has shown. Towns and cities in this area are not keeping up with national trends and now have worse social and economic conditions than previously. Dundee, in Scotland, aside, the bottom ten places are all based in the North of England, making the Chancellor’s promise of a northern powerhouse seem a fantasy. The table, created by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,...
Can a Free Trade Commonwealth replace the EU?
By Dean Hochlaf New Zealand MP, Winston Peters has thrown his voice into the great EU referendum debate, by suggesting Britain leaves the EU, and “heal a rift” with the nations of the Commonwealth that emerged when Britain joined the EEC. He has even gone as far as suggesting a Commonwealth free trade area, which has been enthusiastically picked up by the UKIP Commonwealth spokesman. The concept of a Commonwealth free trade area pops up every now and then as...
Will the £30 per week cut to disability benefits help people into work?
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shockingly MPs have overturned a Lords decision to stop cuts to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) meaning disabled people will now be £30 a week worse off. It is hoped this cut would help people back into work, but it has even left some Tory backbenchers uneasy. The Government had previously been beaten by the Lords, over the reduction of the allowance for people in the work related activity group (WRAG), because they are...
Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse has failed, figures show
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It looks like the Chancellor’s much heralded “Northern Powerhouse,” is not quite going according to plan, which may come as not much of a surprise to people living there. Osborne will be saddened to hear that more start-ups were launched in a single London postcode than in every city and town in Yorkshire. The capital’s Silicon Roundabout, the UK’s tech hub, created 10,280 start-ups in 2014-15. Conversely, last year Yorkshire and Humberside saw 9,562 start-ups,...
The Next Financial Crisis will be caused by Central Bankers Not Investment Bankers
By Ben Ramanauskas On September 15th 2008, the global investment bank Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. It was- and still remains- the largest bankruptcy filing in the history of the United States and precipitated a global financial crisis that has had a devastating impact on the world economy. The conduct of many of the bankers at Lehman Brothers, and it’s subsequent fall, became emblematic of the culture of greed and excessive risk taking of the financial services industry. As the...
20 million pensions raided by Tories…with low-paid worst hit
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor People on less than £15k a year will be clobbered by the Tory government as increases under Labour are cancelled. Private sector workers, who are low-paid, will be the worst affected as twenty million people are hurt by Tory pension changes. George Osborne said his new flat rate £155.65-a-week pension is “simpler and fairer, and there is no doubt it is vastly larger than the current £115.95 rate. However, there will no longer be additional...