Failure to cut deficit poses challenge to Treasury as George Osborne struggles to meet fiscal targets July 22, 2014 The economic recovery is still failing to cut the government’s huge budget deficit, with analysts yesterday suggesting that chancellor George Osborne might not be on course to reach his own fiscal targets. The UK borrowed £11.37bn excluding one-off interventions in June, barely less than in the same month last year. In June 2013, public borrowing [...]
George Osborne tells India: The good days are coming July 7, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne has hailed Narendra Modi’s new administration in India for working to attract investment into the country, telling an audience in Mumbai that “good days are coming”. In a speech in which he announced a number of new trade deals between the UK and India, the chancellor praised the close ties between the [...]
George Osborne’s HS3 high speed rail link criticised as vanity project June 23, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne’s plan for a High Speed 3 rail link between Manchester and Leeds in the north of the country has been dubbed a “costly vanity project” by a leading economic think tank. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) yesterday accused the chancellor of “concocting” a headline-grabbing plan ahead of the election in 2015, [...]
George Osborne has been picking up bad habits March 20, 2014 The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has given its assessment on the chancellor's Budget. The think tank says that George Osborne has become increasingly reliant on short-term revenue raising wheezes to pay for permanent tax cuts and spending commitments. For example, the changes announced yesterday on the abolition of taxing pension pot withdrawals, and accelerated [...]
Is the Indian government copying George Osborne? February 18, 2014 A beleaguered finance minister announces his budget to his country’s parliament, trying to reduce his country’s budget deficit in the face of above-average inflation and dreary growth prospects. The scene might sound familiar to followers of British politics, but yesterday it was Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram’s turn. The situation is hardly unique in [...]
George Osborne to say Britain’s burgeoning recovery proves austerity was the right policy September 8, 2013 THE CHANCELLOR will today argue that spending cuts were the right policy and have helped get the UK back on the right track. George Osborne faced criticism for his plan to reduce the budget deficit, and argues the latest economic figures vindicate his approach. “The pace of fiscal consolidation has not changed, government spending cuts [...]