Latest editorial
George Osborne's “counterproductive” austerity measures have left Britain £10.7 billion further in the red than was expected, official figures showed yesterday.
Underlying public-sector debt was £1.27 trillion for the year to the end of March, ahead of the £1.26trn forecast last month by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
It meant that the sum owed by the public purse rose more steeply than predicted to 75.8 per cent of GDP, compared to the 74.5 per cent OBR forecast.
The BBC and OBR claim that failing to cut disability benefits could ‘destabilise the economy’ while ignoring the spendthrift approach to tens of billions on military spending that really spirals out of control, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Exempting military expenditure from austerity while slashing welfare represents a fundamental misallocation of resources that guarantees continued decline, argues MICHAEL BURKE
