Gary Gibbon
‘Slow and sluggish’ recovery at OBR forecast
The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that the economic recovery will be the slowest we’ve known in post-war recoveries, as Gary Gibbon blogs.
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FactCheck: Do we only vote Labour when times are good?
Is it true that voters only side with Labour during the “good times” as Ed Miliband claims? FactCheck looks at the evidence.
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Gary Gibbon
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Faisal Islam
Ireland’s Budget vote remains perilous
Usually, a nation which has applied for a bailout will easily pass an austere Budget. But in Ireland, it’s rather more complicated, writes Faisal Islam from Dublin.
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FactCheck: is the NHS really healthy?
FactCheck analyses Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s commitment to “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.
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Coalition v Labour: fiscal fables?
FactCheck analyses Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson’s claim that Labour “paid down debt” and controlled borrowing.
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CutsCheck: capping benefits
CutsCheck looks at Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement that benefit claims will be capped
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CutsCheck: Blues in Birmingham
As the Conservatives gather in Birmingham for their conference, they’ll find themselves in a city which, like many others, has difficult financial decisions to make. But just how deep are Birmingham’s cuts likely to be?
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Faisal Islam
Budget: time to admit poorest hit hardest?
Whichever way you skin it, this budget is regressive and will hurt the poorest more, Faisal Islam writes.
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Faisal Islam
Serious questions for Messrs Clegg and Cable
I do have serious questions about one massive U-turn from Messrs Clegg and Cable – their adoption of the Conservative plan for £6bn of in-year cuts, writes economics editor Faisal Islam.
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UK deficit bigger than Greece? Not yet it’s not
There is more murky water between the UK deficit and that of Greece than Mr Cameron would have us believe.
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The national insurance hole in Osborne’s debt battle
Can the shadow Chancellor cut the deficit and cut taxes at one fell swoop? FactCheck checks it out.
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Faisal Islam
The Lib Dems, the deficit and a possible hung parliament
Nick Clegg may have blown open the key debate on the deficit in this election. In or out of government, he says, he will not back the “economic masochism” of starting fiscal retrenchment this year. This happens to be one of the few areas of clear blue water between Labour and Conservatives going in to…
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Tory budget cuts half amount promised
Channel 4 News FactCheck runs the rule over Philip Hammond’s claim that cutting Child Trust Funds and Child Tax Credits will save over £1bn.
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Gary Gibbon
And a very frugal Christmas from guess who?
So who would send a Christmas card without enough postage, asks political editor Gary Gibbon.