The new government must introduce deeper spending cuts and greater tax hikes to protect the UK economy from further financial crises but only when recovery is secured, a leading think-tank has warned
Public sector trade unions today challenged the three main political parties to ‘come clean’ on their plans for local government pay during the election campaign’s final week
Public sector employers are ‘waking up’ to the vast spending cuts needed, having embarked on ‘mistaken’ recruitment policies since the economic downturn began, experts have said
Over-centralised government is at the root of many problems. But all parties remain trapped in a mind-set that prevents public services from breaking free, argue Roger Latham and Malcolm Prowle. In...
All the major parties are promising big investment in infrastructure. But with private finance paralysed and cuts in public spending, where are they going to get the money from? Mark Hellowell...
Campaigners have called for the universal entitlement to benefits to be protected after figures revealed the full extent of spending cuts required over the next Parliament
Ministers’ swift handling of the financial crash was applauded at the time. But, with the latest economic data making unhappy reading, does this goodwill need revising, asks David Williams
The government has come under fire from a senior Labour politician for failing to tackle public sector fraud, which is costing taxpayers £38bn a year, according to experts
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has criticised all three major parties for failing to come clean on the full extent of public spending cuts that are being planned for the next Parliament
Public spending in Scotland might not return to pre-recession levels for another 15 years, the chief economic adviser to the Holyrood government has warned
Conservative figures on the number of people with drug and alcohol dependency claiming Incapacity Benefits are ‘misleading’ and risk ‘playing politics’ with a highly sensitive issue, experts have said
Campaigners have called for further taxes on banks to help plug the public deficit as it emerged that proposals from the International Monetary Fund would have little impact
The three main parties clashed over future health care funding at an election debate in London yesterday attended by representatives from across the NHS
Work and welfare policy took centre stage in the general election campaign this week, as official statistics showed that unemployment was on the rise again.
Significant cuts to frontline mental health services look inevitable as providers have been judged a soft target for NHS efficiency savings, Public Finance has learnt.
The NHS is a priority issue for voters in the general election. So how successful have the reforms and high levels of investment been over the past 13 years – and what challenges will a new...
Third sector leaders have appealed for protection from spending cuts as figures today revealed the increasingly central role voluntary bodies play in providing public services
All the main parties support independently run schools in some form. But there is no guarantee that they produce results for the pupils themselves, reports Lucy Phillips
