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By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Yesterday Osborne sent his deputy David Gauke to take the hits from the House of his Budget statement. Cowardly George didn’t fancy facing any dissent. Gauke failed to give an answer to how the black hole left by the scrapping of disability benefit cuts would be filled, under sustained attack from opposition MPs. There is now a £4.4bn black hole to fill. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was on fine form as he laid into the...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Dennis Skinner demolished the Chancellor in the Commons with one of his classic one-liners. The 84-year-old  MP let nobody down with his latest attack on the Tories. He ended with the classic line: "It’s 8 budgets for Osborne already, only cats have 9 lives." Even the PM chortled. Thanks to Cameron, Skinner is still going strong in parliament. When asked why he hasn’t thrown in the towel, Skinner said: "Mainly because Cameron told me to retire." Watch...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Europe was rocked again this morning after a series of explosions across the Belgian capital Brussels. There were two explosions at around 08:00 (07:00 GMT) at Zaventem airport as people queued to check in. Belgian broadcaster VRT says at least 13 people were killed and 35 were wounded at the airport Shots were heard before the explosions, and shouts in Arabic, which appear to have struck near the American Airlines and Brussels Airline check in...

By Oli Ward @oli_ward_1 Obama arrived in Havana on Sunday for the beginning of historic talks with Cuban President Raul Castro. One issue certain to be on the discussion table will be the territorial handover of Guantanamo Bay, the correctional U.S. facility on the South-East of the island. While the U.S has an indefinite lease on the territory, paying Cuba $4,000 a year in rent, thawing US-Cuban relations and Obama's final attempts to close the facility mean the handover of Guantanamo...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor An “alarming” and “unprecedented” rate of climate change taking places across the planet, the World Meteorological Organisation has warned. The WMO, which is a United Nations body, reported on a number of climate and weather records that were broken last year. These included increased rainfall, droughts, unusual cyclone activities, heatwaves and global temperature highs. WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas wrote: “The year 2015 will stand out in the historical record of the global climate in many...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Chancellor is going to dodge questions in the Commons over his Budget, which has increasingly turned into a farce. Some Labour members have branded Osborne a “chicken” and even compared him to the cowardly lion, that features in The Wizard of Oz. John McDonnell the Shadow Chancellor plans to lay into the Chancellor for telling Tory MPs to back I his statement, even though it has a £4.4bn black hole. However, Osborne will not...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Stephen Crabb the newly appointed Work and Pensions Secretary, following Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation, has been crticised for links to a gay cure group. Back in 2012 it was reported by Pink News that he employed interns via a religious fundamentalist group, who held these controversial views. Crabb was also himself reportedly an intern in the scheme in the 1990s. David Cameron recently announced that Mr Crabb; he is Welsh and working class, which breathes...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A recent report for PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) for the CBI claims that the economy faces serious damage if the UK opts for Brexit. If the UK moved out of the EU it would shock the UK economy, which could see up to 950,000 job losses and make the average household £3,700 worse of by 2020, the report warns. The analysis by PWC also said Leaving the EU could cost the UK economy £100bn (equivalent of 5%...

New research has revealed Brits don't panic about debt until they're over £45,000 in the red. A study into the financial behaviour of 2,000 adults found that 37 per cent say if they can’t afford to buy something, they usually find a way of getting it anyway, either by sticking the balance on a credit card, taking out a loan or dipping into the overdraft. Four in 10 people polled admit they rely on their credit cards to see them through the...