Gary Gibbon
Osborne marks GDP moment
George Osborne’s response to news that Britain has recovered all the ground lost in the recession of 2008-09 speaks volumes of a government that believes it can win the election.
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Benefits frozen in fresh attack on welfare spending
Working-age benefits will be frozen for two years, Chancellor George Osborne tells the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.
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Tory minister: ‘We won’t sign pact with Ukip’
Speaking at the Tory party conference, Culture Secretary Sajid Javid tells Channel 4 News that having a pact with Ukip “would be the wrong course of action … we dont need a pact with any party”.
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Unemployment falls but pay growth stutters
Unemployment falls by 146,000 to 2.02 million – with the latest official figures showing the largest annual drop in a quarter of a century.
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FactCheck Scotland: has the Scottish government protected the NHS?
The Scottish government says it’s protected Scotland’s NHS from Tory cuts. FactCheck gives the yes campaign’s claims a check-up.
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Independence vote goes down to the wire
A YouGov poll puts the yes and no camps almost neck and neck, as Chancellor George Osborne promises new powers if Scotland stays in the union.
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Fair fares? Cost of rail tickets rises as wages stagnate
Rail passengers will have to pay an extra 3.5 per cent for their season tickets in January on top of the big increases they have seen since the last election.
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Baroness Warsi: ‘Tories can’t win general election’
David Cameron won’t win a majority at the next election because he has failed to woo ethnic minorities, according to Baroness Warsi, Britain’s first female Muslim cabinet minister.
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Gary Gibbon
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Gary Gibbon
Cabinet reshuffle: Gove clipped, women in
Education Secretary Michael Gove is to become the new chief whip in the most wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle of David Cameron’s premiership.
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Michael Crick
Would elected mayors ‘put the rockets’ on northern cities?
George Osborne has returned to that old favourite – elected mayors. A Heseltine old favourite, to be precise, developed during his period in the political wilderness.
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Kylie Morris
What to do about the rise of Isis in Iraq?
The dramatic advance by Isis in Iraq has sparked a blame game in Washington – but it’s what Barack Obama does next is what really matters.
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Paul Mason
Economic recovery fuelled by cheap labour
Strong jobs growth continues as UK unemployment rate falls – but wage data show prices continue to rise much faster than pay packets.
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Paul Mason
Treasury excitement after IMF thumbs-up for UK austerity
The IMF’s annual MOT on the British economy concludes that the coalition’s austerity policies are justified – which has set Treasury officials leaping around like excited pixies.
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UK economy performing well but risks ahead – IMF
The International Monetary Fund says it “clearly under-estimated” the strength of Britain’s economic recovery, as Christine Lagarde plays down speculation about her leading the European Commission.
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Counting drugs and prostitutes – a political gift?
Britain’s economy will get a £10bn boost when prostitution and drugs are included in GDP figures. But is there a moral equivalence between such services and sectors like agriculture and publishing?
