What was interesting about Chancellor George Osborne's speech was he hardly mentioned public spending plans at all. The Red Book also seems to contain much less information than usual about the...
The 'Firstbuy' programme in the Budget might sound like welcome support for would-be home-owners, but the measure is bad news for both buyers and taxpayers.
Today’s Budget is partisan from start to finish. It is a Budget inflected by focus groups and Lord Ashcroft’s huge spending on Tory polling. It is a Budget designed for Tory campaigners and...
It's Budget day tomorrow, and we're all allowed a wish. Most want the chancellor to lay off booze, fags, income tax, or something as personal as that. I want something quite different.
Once the accrual rate and level of employee contributions is known, we will be able to assess whether Lord Hutton's pension reforms will reduce the generosity of public sector pensions, or benefit...
The latest wave of labour market figures released by the Office for National Statistics reveal that 111,000 'general government' jobs were lost in 2010, Even more concerning, 66,000 of these were in...
There may still be General Power of Competence doubters, but we have just witnessed a government return more powers to local authorities than has happened in many generations.
Nick Clegg has championed the cause of 'alarm clock Britain', the people who want to get up and get on. But changes to the childcare tax credit due to come into force next month will leave these very...
Will Hutton is not a simple bloke. Working with him on the expert group to the Fair Pay Review, you realise that his brain is enormous. His final report brilliantly highlights why top pay has taken...
The UK public sector is much like the British film industry. We always fit type - we can't help it. What we don't see is many examples of originality or innovation
Countries with low standards of living need financial assistance as well as better and more efficient systems to keep track of the money that flows into their exchequers.
The Howard League for Penal Reform has serious reservations about 'payment by results', particularly in criminal justice, where it has no track record of success
We all know the usual story on social mobility. It's been falling steadily for ages and continued to fall during the Labour years.
It sounds like a compelling story - the problem is, it's not clear...
If the government implements Lord Hutton's recommendations, it will want to make sure that pensions remain competitive for high-flyers and that these valuable future leaders do not decide to leave...
Local authorities haven't frozen council tax out of the goodness of their hearts. It's rather as a result of the particular form of persuasion adopted by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles
Central government has been quick to criticise councils for the way they have cut funds to the voluntary sector. But has Whitehall performed any better itself? Let's take a look
Bureaucrat bashing is, for many, an attractive and enjoyable blood sport. It is built into the DNA of certain parts of Fleet Street, providing easy targets as the hapless bureaucrats have no real...
Following the referendum result, Welsh politicians have called for the abolition of the Wales Office. But this isn't necessary - it's more important to decide what role the Office should have
When various factors combined unexpectedly to hold up rubbish collections early this year, councils were pilloried. But such risks should be prepared for
Most members of the local government finance community have been expecting and planning for big cuts for a couple of years, even if they mentally labelled the changes 'Operation Hope Not' ('Honey, I...
Poor Bob Neill. It must be hard enough being local government minister without being subject to attacks that he is a centrist disguised as a localist ('Neil hits back at criticisms of Localism Bill...
The coalition government has reversed the progress made by New Labour on evidence-based policy. Both data and analytical capacity are being stripped away from Whitehall
