Economics
No plan in Budget from Chancellor to relieve strain on workers, claims Union
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget Statement failed to relieve the strain on workers from a further squeeze on living standards as wage growth is on course fall, GMB trade union warned today. Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget statement, the union said he neglected to support workers facing a decade of pay and had failed to provide proper funding for public services or social care. Hammond also raised National Insurance for the self-employed, turning his back on a manifesto pledge to not...
“Worst salary squeeze on public sector since Thatcher must end,” demands Union
Public sector workers have been slapped with a decade long “pay pinch” and now inflation caused by Brexit has worsened the pay problems for midwives, teaching assistants and refuse collectors amongst others. The GMB union claims the public sector is now suffering from the worst salary squeeze since the Thatcher government The government cap on wages means that full-time workers, in the public sector, now actually face a real terms reduction in income. On average this will be a huge...
More Bregret! UK food inflation doubles in a month
Over the last month supermarket inflation has doubled, meaning customers are having to fork out more cash to buy staples such are butter and milk. This news means that pressure on household’s spare income will be reduced even more and Brexit is partly to blame. Some will see this has another indication that the economy is starting to struggle since the decision to leave the EU, and possibly some Leave voters might be feeling Bregret. The inflation growth indicates that...
Insecurity & instability: Record high of almost a million people on zero hours contracts
A record number of people in the UK are on zero hours contracts, which are very controversial as they offer no guarantee of work, leading to income instability. These contracts are widely used by retailers, restaurants, leisure companies and hotels. These worrying figures follow on form a report we covered yesterday that over 5 million children will suffer child poverty by 2022 as households face a squeeze on wages. Now the number of workers who are on zero hours contracts...
Shocking! Over 5 million children in poverty by 2022 due to wage squeeze
More worrying economic news has emerged, this time from The Institute for Fiscal Studies. They believe that child poverty will reach 5.1 million by 2022 as households face a squeeze on wages. The think-tank believes that average pay rate won’t grow over the next two years. The analysis says households are suffering the worst slowdown in incomes for 60 years and if planned benefit cuts go ahead, and earnings growth slow, inequality will start to rise over the next five...
The Eurozone economy is heating up – And Brits are getting worried
The Eurozone economy is expanding at the fastest pace since 2011 on the back of German manufacturing, showing clear signs that it is recovering from the sovereign debt crisis that swept through the region. According to the composite purchasing managers' index compiled by IHS Markit the expansion of industry reached an almost six-year high with German manufacturers reporting expansion at an astonishing 69-month high with the sector’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rising to 57 points. Quelle surprise, according to another related study the...
Thatcher’s homeowning dream has failed, Tory MP concedes
The dream of Thatcher’s government was a nation where everybody owned their own home. Council houses would not be needed, or at least only for the tiny minority who couldn’t afford it. Her huge sell-off of council houses in the 80s was supposed to eliminate the need for public housing, and create a new society, or indeed no society at all. This way of thinking has been the policy of every Conservative Government since Thatcher, and also under Tony Blair’s...
We are regressing to Thatcher era levels of inequality in UK, research reveals
The 80s were a boom time for many in the city of London and in the financial sector, but for huge swathes of the rest of the UK poverty prevailed, and the gap between the rich and the poor widened hugely, compared to the previous decade. Reagan’s and Thatcher’s free market capitalism, gave some people the chance to amass great wealth, however the decline of heavy industries left many without any form of income. Now a think tank, the Resolution...
“Strong political leadership needed at Davos to solve income inequality problem,” says leading academic
As world leaders gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Dr Richard Dodgson, Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University, is warning that the gap between rich and poor will only be reduced if political leaders are willing to challenge the status quo. He says: “As the World Economic Forum kicks off, the eyes of the world are on Davos. This gathering of the great and the good from across the globe is positioned as an opportunity for the world’s...