Rishi Sunak's plans rely on an optimistic vision of the future and implausible spending targets, say Institute for Fiscal Studies research economists Ben Zaranko and Isabel Stockton.
Budget measures imply the government will have borrowed an ‘unprecedented’ £570bn over this financial year and next, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Council estimates for 2020-21 cost pressures resulting from Covid-19 have risen by 3.5% over the past month, according to statistics from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The Treasury has completed the sale of Bradford and Bingley and NRAM, formerly Northern Rock, for £5bn, after the banks were brought under government control during the financial crisis.
Leeds City Council has approved its budget for 2021-22, which will usher in £87.5m worth of budget reductions alongside redundancies and a 4.99% rise in council tax.
A High Court judge has thrown-out a legal challenge tabled by eight local authorities against lender Barclays Bank over historic Lender Option Borrower Option loans.
The UK government refused a request from Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes for £1.7bn of additional funding to support the Holyrood administration’s Budget for 2021-22, it has emerged.
Torbay Council has become the latest authority to shelve its planned commercial investment following PWLB rules changes – scrapping £68m of its planned programme.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was unable to provide evidence that the value of flood barriers and other infrastructure was not misstated in its 2019-20 accounts, according to...
The University of Stirling is launching a major new research project examining how local authorities procured goods, works and services during Covid-19.
The value of two retail investment properties purchased by North Somerset Council has dropped by more than £26m in the three years since they were purchased due to Covid-19.
Councils in England face setting aside an additional £2bn to help cover business rates appeals over the next two financial years due to Covid-19, unless central government support is forthcoming.
Woking Borough Council will borrow an additional £130m to cover increased costs resulting from Covid-19 and Brexit on a flagship mixed-use regeneration project.
Covid-19 has left councils more than £1bn short of their expected council tax revenues. But what explains the wide variation among collection levels between different authorities? Kate Ogden, local...
Leicestershire County Council says it could raise £18m of revenue each year to fund services after agreeing an £89m expansion of its commercial property portfolio.
The government is close to approving two capitalisation directions worth £12.8m to help Eastbourne Borough Council meet funding gaps caused by Covid-19.
Local authorities lack the expertise to manage the wind-down of private finance initiative deals as contracts begin to come to an end, a civil servant warned this week.
Government plans to procure personal protective equipment before Covid-19 were inadequate, leading to hundreds of millions of pounds being wasted on PPE not fit for purpose, according to a group of...
