Blog posts tagged "Labour"

January 18, 2012 12:36 pm 13 Comments

History shows that when unemployment reaches today's level it has always shot much higher, reports Economics Editor Faisal Islam.

September 1, 2010 5:20 pm 7 Comments

The Chancellor recently derided the Labour leadership candidates as ‘deficit-deniers’, an opinion with which Tony Blair appears to concur. The final chapter of his new book does place him closer to the Coalition Treasury than the economic policies outlined to date by the candidates. Ahead of our Labour leadership hustings on the economy, it’s worth [...]

April 27, 2010 1:13 pm 8 Comments

So there we have it. Clarity, honesty, and candour on Day 22 of the election campaign. Not at any of the party political press conferences. No, it’s been left to the trusty holders of the spending shield of truth: the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

April 15, 2010 5:15 pm No Comments

In the few hours before this seminal, historic, semi-colon in the 21st century story of Britain, I advise the three not-so-wise men who have come from afar to gather in Manchester to go on a last minute walk around the world’s greatest city.   My home town can illuminate the issues in this election.

April 9, 2010 8:09 pm No Comments

Faisal Islam blogs on how Conservative adviser Martin Read has revealed more of the Tories' spending cuts plans, but the party won't release the full calculations.

April 8, 2010 10:18 pm No Comments

Faisal Islam blogs on Labour's fightback against the Conservative's high profile election camapign against Labour's planned national insurance rise.

April 6, 2010 3:14 pm 10 Comments

Faisal Islam blogs on the stance of Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to cutting the UK's £167bn national debt.

April 1, 2010 8:37 pm No Comments

It is like the Conservatives have flicked a switch. Today, I got invited into the Conservative war-room and they seem a pretty euphoric lot following the apparent endorsement of their National Insurance plan from Britain’s business elite – George Osborne thinks it’s a “momentous” day in the campaign. And when I spoke to George Osborne, [...]

2:53 pm No Comments

“It’s April Fool’s Day,” is what I muttered to myself, when looking at the line of attack from Darling, Mandelson and Byrne in their extensive 180-page dossier on the “Conservative credibility gap”. Yes it outlines a £22bn gap from the Conservatives on tax and spending pledges, but that suggests that the Labour frontbench think that [...]

March 18, 2010 9:47 pm No Comments

This is the big dilemma that will decide the election. Spend the shock £5- £10bn undershoot on the deficit, or bank it and pay down the national debt. Darling would spend it all, and Osborne would save it all, right? Wrong. The day that February public borrowing was shown to have reached a record seems [...]