The Conservative Party “will always protect public services”, the chancellor insisted as he announced his ambition to cut civil service numbers back to their pre-pandemic level.
Cutting the aid budget during the Covid-19 pandemic was “not a good signal” to the UK’s partners around the world, the Conservative Party conference was told.
Levelling up secretary Simon Clarke has fired a warning signal to councils that there will be “consequences” for perceived mismanagement following a series of high-profile government interventions.
The government’s 'levelling-up' agenda aims to invest in new houses, retrofitting of old homes and more powers to local government, according to senior ministers.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak signalled that plans for the government to get debt back under control will be pushed into the medium term, following this year’s record borrowing.
Fiscal devolution and a reconfiguration of political economy in localities will become the battleground of domestic policy in the post-Brexit general election, argues Jonathan Werran.
Right to buy is costing English councils £1bn - £300m net - a year and cutting the discounts could lead to an extra 12,000 homes being built every year, a trade body has said.
