Spending cuts

The chairman of HM Revenue & Customs apologises after a damning report by MPs warns that delays and unresponsiveness to queries by officials could undermine the tax system.

Thousands more civil servants are set to lose their jobs at the Ministry of Defence in a second wave of cuts that will reduce its workforce by 40 per cent.

The Government has scaled back plans for cuts to the coastguard service, but many centres will still close. One MP whose husband died at sea tells Channel 4 News the plans still leave her “horrified”.

Cuts to the police budget could compromise the safety of the public, warns the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde.

A top-level leak reveals deep concerns over Treasury plans to limit total household benefits to £500 a week. Ministers fear the move could force tens of thousands of people out of their homes.

Health Minister Paul Burstow says there are no easy answers to the funding of social care for the elderly.

Jonathan Rugman blogs from Athens, where a two-day strike against austerity measures needed to secure an EU/IMF bailout is beginning. One man tells him the crisis has been a “plague” for Greece.

As department store chain TJ Hughes teeters on the brink of administration, Channel 4 News learns two other fashion retailers are under threat in the slump on the British High Street.

The Prime Minister David Cameron is set to add his voice to calls for public sector workers to cancel this week’s mass strike over pensions.

As public sector workers prepare for walkouts across the country on 30 June, Education Secretary Michael Gove warns that teachers risk losing public respect if they engage in “militancy”.

Ahead of a confidence vote in Greece’s government, which is battling to save the country’s economy, a leading economist tells Channel 4 News a Greek debt default is “almost inevitable”.

Exclusive: As multi-million pound cuts to the legal aid bill are set out, Channel 4 News Home Affairs Correspondent Simon Israel learns attempts to make savings are creating huge backlogs.

High street sales fell 1.4 per cent in May, ending the boosting effect of the April Royal Wedding and the run of bank holidays.

The Greek Prime Minister offers to quit and make way for a national unity Government after protesters clash with police over austerity measures, as Jonathan Rugman reports.

Exclusive: A key Bank of England official tells Faisal Islam the bank would have “pressed the brakes” in 2004 before the credit crunch began.