Spending cuts

The government’s controversial new “bedroom tax” will cost rather than save money in parts of the country, it has been claimed. Reporter Ciaran Jenkins explains.

MP Mark Field says the reforms to housing benefit which will cut the income of social housing tenants deemed to have spare rooms is necessary to ease overcrowding for other families.

Britain is on course for a triple dip recession after new figures revealed that the service sector – which makes up the bulk of the economy – fell last month.

As the coalition government wrestles with an £83bn round of spending cuts to get the UK economy back on track, Channel 4 News looks at cuts to benefits coming into force this year.

Months of brinkmanship, weeks of infighting, and the spectre of economic disaster. A deal to avoid the US falling off the fiscal cliff has finally been agreed. But the battle certainly isn’t over yet.

David Cameron has used his New Year message to insist Britain’s economy is on the right track, but declined to raise controversial issues such as gay marriage, EU, or even the horse, Raisa.

Retailers predict shoppers will spend £5bn this weekend ahead of Christmas. But after a bleak year for the economy, is this a touch of wishful thinking? James Blake reports.

It is a looming deadline which will trigger sweeping tax hikes for most Americans and deep spending cuts, possibly plunging the country into another recession. We sort out the facts – and the figures.

In a gloomy autumn statement, Chancellor George Osborne is set to warn there are no “miracle cures” for Britain as he looks for £5bn more cuts and signals austerity is here to stay.

As Chancellor George Osborne delivers his autumn statement on the economy and spending, we gather some alternative suggestions on to how to tackle the country’s fiscal woes.

Government plans to cut spending in Whitehall departments and invest an extra £5bn in schools and other capital projects will “make our country work better”, says David Cameron.

Students and single mothers are increasingly turning to prostitution as government cuts impact on women who are struggling to make ends meet.

So much for those post-election hopes that the parties would reach a deal to avoid the looming fiscal cliff. Leading Republicans have trashed Obama’s plan as “totally inadequate” and a “non-starter”.

One in five domestic violence centres has cut services in the last year due to funding problems – despite many refuges already having to turn women away because they are full, Channel 4 News learns.