Up to 28,000 fewer EEA care workers in five years, says Department of Health reportWomen will be forced to quit their jobs to look after ill or ageing relatives if the supply of EU care workers is severed after Brexit, the Department of Health has warned.In a worst-case scenario, there could be 28,000 fewer workers in the care sector in England five years after leaving the European Union if employers were no longer able to recruit European Economic Area (EEA) staff, it says.Related: Too many carers feel alone, invisible and unsupported | Heléna Herklots Continue reading...

Government and trade unions urged to do more for those at risk from new technologiesMore than six million workers are worried their jobs could be replaced by machines over the next decade, according to a report urging trade unions and the government to provide more support for those at risk.The findings come as Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, launches a commission on workers and technology for the Fabian Society and the Community trade union.Related: Cleaners to strike in first action by UK’s low-paid ‘army’ Continue reading...

After the 2008 meltdown, there is limited scope for monetary policy, nations are divided and populism is on the riseNobody really knew it at the time but 10 years ago the world was sitting on the edge of the precipice. It seemed like a normal sleepy August but the calm was illusory. The global financial system was seizing up. The collapse of Lehman Brothers was but a month away.Eventually policy makers finally understood the enormity of what was happening. They responded swiftly and decisively as the crisis spread from the banks to the rest of the economy. They needed to. During the winter of 2008-09, trade and industrial production were collapsing more quickly than they had during the Great Depression.Related: Interest rate rise: lack of dissenting voices came as a surpriseOne of the small comforts from the crisis of 2008-09 was that it generated a sense of international solidarity Continue reading...

The Bank of England governor’s slow and steady approach failed to stop the pound falling further against the dollarThere may be times when Mark Carney regrets extending his stint at the Bank of England by an extra year. Had things gone as originally planned, Carney would have handed over the keys to Threadneedle Street a month ago and someone else would have had the task of steering the economy through what is certain to be a fiendishly tricky period.That would be the case even without Brexit. The UK economy has recovered more slowly and more unevenly than Carney envisaged when he took over at the Bank from Mervyn King in 2013. It was only last week that the Bank’s monetary policy committee felt confident enough to raise interest rates above the 0.5% emergency level that they reached in March 2009.There was a time when plain speaking from the Bank of England would have raised eyebrows in Downing Street Continue reading...

Universities that only train young people to be City analysts leave us unable to learn from the past or predict the futureLast year the chief economist at the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, gave a fear-inducing speech that warned of Armageddon in the jobs market. Robots threatened 15 million UK jobs, he said.This dystopian picture of busy machines and queues of jobless Britons was replaced this month by a rosier view from PwC, which made the opposite claim: robots and artificial intelligence could create as many jobs as they destroy, which happens to be around 7 million.It seems it is still seen as radical to analyse the flows of money in the world as if much of it was stolen Continue reading...

Beijing retaliates against Trump’s threatened tariffs on $200bn of Chinese importsChina has unveiled plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on US imports worth $60bn (£46bn), firing the latest volley in the mounting trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies – which are currently conducting “zero” dialogue on trade, according to reports.Signalling the nation’s readiness to respond to the higher tariffs threatened by Donald Trump on $200bn of Chinese imports, officials in Beijing said countermeasures were ready and waiting for the next move from Washington. Continue reading...

Readers respond to education secretary Damian Hinds’ proposals to improve social mobilityDamien Hinds’ reported proposal for early years education (Children starting school ‘cannot communicate in full sentences’, 31 July) reflects a lack of knowledge about how language works. Firstly, the proposal conflates school-based literacy norms with the everyday speaking and communication skills that children from all social backgrounds are generally equally proficient in. The main assumption is that communication necessarily involves “speaking in sentences”. It does not. Spoken language works to a communicational design that does not fit into the structures of the written language “sentence”. Listen to any conversation between communicatively competent adults and you will find very few “complete sentences”. Being able to write in “sentences” is necessary for school literacy but this is something that school is supposed to teach.The report also alleges that more than a quarter of children are starting school without the “required level of speaking or reading skills”. Again, speaking and reading are very different skills learned in different contexts for different purposes – so what exactly is this “required level” and who is requiring it? We suspect that Hinds is following an agenda set by middle-class speakers of standard English who assume that their linguistic conventions are the only ones worth knowing and must therefore be required of all children. This proposal for intervention in early years education will therefore very likely be based on nothing more than prejudice, dressed up as concern for social mobility. Instead of a divisive educational policy based on stigmatising the linguistic skills of some children, we need an inclusive one in which the role of the school is to value and positively build on the communicational proficiencies that all children develop in their families and communities.

The gain, below the 190,000 anticipated, was the lowest since March, as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%After two months of dependable US jobs growth, the labor department reported a touch of lethargy in the economy on Friday, with jobs increasing to 157,000 in July – below the 190,000 economists had expected.The gain was the lowest since March, though it still dropped the unemployment rate to 3.9% from 4%, or roughly the lowest in half a century.Related: US economy growing at annual rate of 4.1%, fastest pace in four years Continue reading...

The MPC has made this decision on the basis that wage growth is about to finally skyrocket. It isn’tUK interest rates have risen from 0.5% to 0.75% because the monetary policy committee (MPC) believes the labour market is at full employment and wage growth is set to explode. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on. I don’t buy it.The pound initially rose on the news and then fell back by more than a cent against the US dollar in a sign that the markets didn’t like what they heard and didn’t believe the MPC’s claims either. The Institute of Directors came out against the increase, as have many economists who see no basis for a rise that lowers spending power. This in the same week when the Bank of Japan said it would loosen monetary policy further. Along with the European central bank it has negative rates and is still operating quantitative easing programmes. Continue reading...

China already accounts for 46% of Pakistan’s trade deficit – yet few have questioned acceptance of huge loans as part of a new economic allianceChen Zhu, a 46-year-old director of a Chinese shipping company in Karachi, Pakistan, was sitting in his car after finishing lunch. He had dispensed with his normal security since it was a public holiday, and his next task for the day was to buy some groceries.An unknown assailant crossed the road, approached Chen’s car and shot him nine times. He was declared dead soon after reaching hospital.China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a huge, $1tn infrastructure project to better connect China – and Chinese goods – with the rest of the world. It is meant to be a 21st-century "silk road", made up of a "belt" of overland corridors (including roads, bridges and railways) and a maritime "road" of shipping lanes.Related: What is China's Belt and Road Initiative?Related: Follow the New Silk Road Continue reading...

Northamptonshire county council is preparing to impose unheard-of levels of cuts. But the underlying problems are nationwide and require big solutionsWhen political fixations are imposed on basic practical needs, the results are rarely pretty. In Britain today they look downright disastrous. The resolutely unglamorous but essential business of local government – emptying our bins; helping the elderly wash – is in crisis. In Northamptonshire, the situation is downright disastrous. The council is effectively bankrupt. The years of austerity, which will have seen £16bn slashed from council budgets nationwide by 2020 – 60p in every pound of core funding – have been compounded in Northamptonshire by the Conservative council’s obsession with low then frozen rates of council tax and a radical plan for the outsourcing of almost all services. This was sold as a distinctively Conservative approach.With grotesque mismanagement added to the equation, the result is the £70m hole in its finances which has not only led to the slashing of services such as buses and libraries but now to warnings that even essential services such as those for vulnerable children can no longer be protected. Its legal obligations to its residents clash with its legal obligation to balance its budget; court challenges have already begun. This is certainly distinctive. But numerous other local authorities are edging close to this territory. While their funding from the centre plummets, the demand for social care for an ageing population and child protection soars. And the consequences of early and supposedly “easier” cuts are now coming home to roost. Slashing preventative services has spawned an increase in damaging (and much more expensive) emergency interventions. The Tory MP Tim Loughton, a former children’s minister, has said the “woeful underfunding” of children’s services is leaving social workers feeling they have no way to keep children safe but by taking them into care, instead of supporting their families. Continue reading...

Monetary policy committee lifts cost of borrowing to highest level since 2009

Bank had been poised to act for some time but the unanimous vote should raise eyebrowsIn the end, there were no doubters. Despite some markedly mixed signals from the economy in recent months, the nine members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to raise interest rates by a quarter point to 0.75%. The decision to lift official borrowing costs above 0.5% for the first time in almost a decade came as no surprise, but the lack of any dissenting voices certainly did.The Bank’s latest quarterly health check on the economy is almost identical to the one it produced in May. Back then, the MPC had been gearing up for a rate rise but put the move on hold because it wanted to make sure that the weakness of the data for the first three months of 2018 reflected only temporary weather-related effects linked to the “beast from the east” storm.Related: Bank of England raises interest rates to 0.75%Related: How will interest rate rise affect mortgages, savings and property? Continue reading...

Impact of Bank of England’s decision to lift base rate for only second time in a decade

Markets suggest a 91% chance of rates returning to levels unseen since March 2009The Bank of England is poised to raise interest rates above the level set since the aftermath of the financial crisis for the first time, despite a weakening outlook for the British economy and growing risks from Brexit.Related: Interest rates raised to 0.75% by Bank of England - business live Continue reading...

The time has come for a land value tax to redistribute wealth and help fix our broken housing marketThe government is short of money. The Treasury is scrabbling around looking for ways to fund Theresa May’s pledge to spend an extra £20bn a year on the NHS. Pressures on the public finances are bound to continue increasing because the population is ageing and older people need more health and social care. The way to square the circle is obvious. Philip Hammond should use his autumn budget to announce the abolition of council tax and its replacement with a fairer system of property taxation. That means a land value tax, an idea whose time has come.Council tax is 25 years old this year, even though it was a quick-fix solution to the mess the Conservative party found itself in as a result of Margaret Thatcher’s determination to replace domestic rates with the poll tax.Related: Could we build a better future on a land value tax?Related: Richest UK households 'should pay more to fund clean energy' Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

UK and eurozone manufacturing sectors show sluggish progress, while Apple shares jump 4% after stellar results2.59pm BSTA host of manufacturing surveys for July showed a disappointing outcome for the UK, while eurozone growth was also sluggish.

Prime minister urged to offer more concessions to EU to minimise economic damageTheresa May will be forced to offer further politically difficult concessions to the EU to minimise damage to the economy caused by Brexit, said one of the UK’s leading economic thinktanks.The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said Britain was gripped by an epidemic of uncertainty about the terms of its EU departure, and warned that the government would have to pay a bigger financial contribution or accept higher migration to get the deal it wanted. Continue reading...

Lack of power to act will feed belief that those who caused crash have escaped punishmentThe Financial Conduct Authority is usually described as the City’s watchdog. In the case of the disgraceful treatment of small businesses by the Royal Bank of Scotland’s global restructuring group the FCA has proved to be a paper tiger.Let’s be clear. Businesses were badly and systematically let down by GRG, a unit that was specifically created by RBS to help customers cope with the tough business conditions created by the financial crisis of a decade ago. Continue reading...

Almost 20 years on, the single currency experiment has gone from party mood to hangoverIn May 1998, irrevocable conversion rates for the currencies that would be merged into the euro were implemented. In a sense, this makes the single currency just over 20 years old. The first decade of its life had the feeling of a party, particularly in southern Europe; but the second decade brought the inevitable hangover. Now, as we enter the third decade, the prevailing mood seems to be one of increasing political radicalisation.The original party was a cornucopia of cheap credit, which capital markets happily issued to the countries of southern Europe under the protection of the euro. For a while, these countries finally had enough money to increase public-sector salaries and pensions, as well as spur private consumption and investment. Continue reading...

GDP growth slows in eurozone. Dixons Carphone says 10m accounts accessed in breach. City watchdog report on RBS’s GRG business2.52pm BSTIt’s been a busy day for economic and corporate news.And a good one for relieved executives at Royal Bank of Scotland, who have been told that the City watchdog does not have the powers to take action against them over the mistreatment of business customers by the bank’s GRG division. The chair of the Treasury Select Committee said it was bewildering the Financial Conduct Authority could not act.2.38pm BSTUS markets have made a positive start to the trading day, helped by a rebound in technology stocks and the upbeat consumer spending figures. Shares were also supported by talk that the US and China were looking to re-start discussions about the current trade dispute.The Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently up 95 points or 0.36% while the S&P 500 opened up 0.33% and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.37%.2.05pm BSTUS consumers are continuing to spend, especially on restaurants and accommodation.The commerce department said consumer spending rose by 0.4% in June, in line with expectations. The May increase was revised upwards from 0.2% to 0.5%. The personal consumption expenditures price index - excluding food and energy - rose by 0.1%, compared to a 0.2% rise in May.1.26pm BSTAnother call for the Financial Conduct Authority to publish its full report on the Royal Bank of Scotland/GRG scandal, this time from the Federation of Small Businesses. Its chairman Mike Cherry said:There’s nothing in the current legislative framework to stop another GRG-type scenario. As long as commercial lending remains unregulated, small firms will be vulnerable. The hope is that – as the FCA claims – the new Senior Managers Regime will lead to a more responsible lending climate in future.Too often, the regulator doesn’t recognise that small business owners have far more in common with consumers than big corporations. Where you have personal guarantees for example – small business owners putting personal assets on the line to secure a loan – then surely that should be deemed consumer, regulated lending.12.32pm BSTThe All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, which includes members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, said the City watchdog should release all its information about the GRG case. In a statement, the group said:At the APPG we are extremely disappointed, but largely unsurprised, by [the FCA] announcement. It is simply not good enough from a regulatory perspective to say that the powers to hold individuals to account simply do not exist.Kevin Hollinrake MP, Co-Chair of the APPG, said: “The FCA should release all findings and evidence they have obtained in their investigation of RBS GRG, unredacted so that the individuals who are responsible for this misconduct are in the public domain. The FCA have an obligation to release this information so that politicians can have a say in whether it is truly the case that no further actions can be applied. As lawmakers we have an obligation to the public to ensure that those who are responsible are accountable and not untouchable, as indeed is the case now where the individuals responsible are protected by the regulatory inadequacy of our current system”.11.39am BSTIn the wake of the Financial Conduct Authority saying it does not have sufficient powers to disciple Royal Bank of Scotland executives over the GRG scandal, the head of the Treasury Select Committee has called for a review into whether new legislation is needed. MP Nicky Morgan MP said:It will be disappointing and bewildering for those who got caught up in GRG’s actions that the FCA is not able to act. This demonstrates the need for a change in how lending for SMEs is regulated. The Government should stand ready to introduce any legislation required when it sees the outcome of current reports on redress and should also urgently consider what additional powers the FCA requires to act in cases such as GRG.11.09am BSTHere’s Reuters wrapping up the day’s eurozone economic news:The euro zone economy grew more slowly than expected in the second quarter, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, but headline and core inflation accelerated with unemployment stabilizing at a lower level.The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat estimated that gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro expanded 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period and was 2.1 percent higher against the same period of 2017.Core inflation, which excludes energy costs as well as unprocessed food and which the European Central Bank looks at in policy decisions, also rose to 1.3 percent year-on-year from 1.2 percent in June, beating economists expectations.An even narrower core inflation measure that economists pay attention to, which excludes also the costs of alcohol and tobacco, also rose to 1.1 percent from 0.9 percent in July — again, above expectations.Euro zone economic growth slows in second quarter, inflation accelerates https://t.co/GAMqoRy5fi via @Reuters pic.twitter.com/hHORuU5lCT10.41am BSTCommenting on the eurozone inflation figures, Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG said:

The tiny fishing village of Bagamoyo is set to become Africa’s largest port in a $10bn Chinese development. Are locals right to be optimistic?As their hand-built wooden dhow approaches the shore, Ibrahim Chamume and his fellow fishermen take in the sail and prepare to sell their catch to the small huddle of villagers waiting on the white sand. He has been making a living like this on the Indian Ocean since he was 14. His father was a fisherman, too.Now in his 30s, Ibrahim says earning enough from traditional fishing is tough, but has its compensations. There is the view across the tranquil lagoon to the mangrove swamps; the unspoiled beaches and bays; the lush vegetation and smallholdings growing maize, cassava, cashews and mango. Such scenes must have played out in the tiny Tanzanian village of Mlingotini for centuries.China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a huge, $1tn infrastructure project to better connect China – and Chinese goods – with the rest of the world. It is meant to be a 21st-century "silk road", made up of a "belt" of overland corridors (including roads, bridges and railways) and a maritime "road" of shipping lanes.Related: What is China's Belt and Road Initiative?Related: Follow the New Silk Road Continue reading...

MPC will go out of its way to reassure consumers and businesses but it is riskyThe Bank of England has boxed itself into a corner. It has led the City to believe that interest rates will rise later this week and will pay a price if expectations are not met. Sterling, which has been looking sickly in recent weeks, will get a real thumping on the foreign exchanges if official borrowing costs remain at 0.5%.In truth, there is no real reason to push up interest rates to 0.75%. The recent official figures for earnings, which some monetary policy committee members have been citing as a reason to act, have shown pay growth decelerating. Inflation is lower than the Bank thought it would be three months ago and the latest set of retail sales figures were weak. Continue reading...

Investors nervous after Facebook and Twitter declines and await interest rate news this week from UK, US and Japan2.58pm BSTMarkets remain edgy after technology shares remain unloved in the wake of disappointing updates last week from Facebook and Twitter.Investors are also cautious ahead of a raft of central bank meetings this week, including the Bank of Japan, the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.2.40pm BSTBetter than expected second quarter earnings from industrial giant Caterpillar have given some support to struggling US markets.The heavy equipment maker raised its outlook for the full year, easing fears that the continuing trade dispute between the US and China would badly damage corporate profits.1.40pm BSTGermany’s inflation rate remained steady in July, above the European Central Bank’s target of 2%.Consumer prices rose 2.1% year on year, the same as the previous month, according to the Federal Statistics Office. That was the figure harmonised with the rest of the European Union - without that it was within the 2% target and down from 2.1% the previous month.Based on the results of seven regional states, German headline inflation recorded another marginal drop and slowed down to 2.0% year on year in July, from 2.1.% YoY in June and 2.2% YoY in May. Measured by the harmonized European consumer price index, headline inflation remained unchanged at 2.1%, suggesting that headline inflation in the entire Eurozone (to be released tomorrow) could have hit the 2%-mark for the fourth time in the last five years.

The project is often described as a 21st century Silk Road, made up of a ‘belt’ of overland corridors and a maritime ‘road’ of shipping lanes Continue reading...

Move by bank to divert business away from UK since Brexit vote is ‘largely symbolic’Deutsche Bank has moved a “large part” of its euro clearing activity to Frankfurt from London in a boost to the efforts of the eurozone’s top financial centre to lure business away from the City before Brexit.Germany’s biggest bank said its decision would not affect jobs because it would simply involve pushing a different button to route clearing to Eurex, the clearing division of the German exchange Deutsche Börse.Related: Brexit: UK warns EU of tit-for-tat measures over financial services Continue reading...

In the first part of a week-long series revealing the effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on cities around the world,Jon Watts journeys from the steppes of Central Asia to the Black Sea and into Europe,as Beijing’s grand plan radically remakes the lives of people in its path Continue reading...

Incomes in inner London are five times as high as in the Welsh valleys or CornwallAll countries have their regional differences. States in the American Deep South are poorer than those in New England. In Germany, Bavaria is richer than Brandenburg. The struggling parts of Italy are south of Rome.But Britain is in a class of its own. The gap between the richest and poorest parts is wider than in any EU country. Incomes per head in inner London are five times as high as in the Welsh valleys or Cornwall.Related: What to do about our ageing population? Give ’em all a job Continue reading...

Politics don’t matter; market forces shape our world. So ran the dominant ethos before 2008. Adam Tooze, the author of a landmark book, says it was always an illusion‘I hear people say we have to stop and debate globalisation. You might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer.” That was Tony Blair, Britain’s prime minister, in October 2005.Two years later, in the autumn of 2007, Alan Greenspan, the former chair of the US Federal Reserve, was asked by a Swiss newspaper which candidate he was supporting in the forthcoming US presidential election. His response was striking. How he voted did not matter, Greenspan declared, because “[we] are fortunate that, thanks to globalisation, policy decisions in the US have been largely replaced by global market forces. National security aside, it hardly makes any difference who will be the next president. The world is governed by market forces.” Continue reading...

America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paidThe official rate of unemployment in America has plunged to a remarkably low 3.8%. The Federal Reserve forecasts that the unemployment rate will reach 3.5% by the end of the year.But the official rate hides more troubling realities: legions of college grads overqualified for their jobs, a growing number of contract workers with no job security, and an army of part-time workers desperate for full-time jobs. Almost 80% of Americans say they live from paycheck to paycheck, many not knowing how big their next one will be.Starting in the 1980s and with increasing ferocity since then, private-sector employers have fought against unionsRelated: Trump-Juncker 'talks about talks' met with scepticism Continue reading...

It would be better that MPs spoke up about the folly of leaving. But if none of them will, a second referendum is requiredI recently met several people who said they were beginning to feel sorry for Theresa May. Well, up to a point, I should have thought. She apparently wanted to be prime minister from an early age, and is now a victim of what her predecessor from the late 1950s and early 1960s, Harold Macmillan, referred to as “events”.Macmillan’s celebrated remark about “events” has gone down in political history. But, as with so many famous sayings, its full meaning has been lost. When asked what he feared most, he replied “the opposition of events, dear boy”. This was a clever dig at the weakness of the Labour party in the 1950s, which was riven with deep resentment between the Gaitskellites and the Bevanites. Macmillan was not fearful of Her Majesty’s Opposition.The apparent agreement between the US and EU to defuse Trump’s tariff wars shows the benefit of being part of a bloc Continue reading...

The Bank of England cut borrowing costs hard in 2008 and left them low. Now, after some false dawns, that might be changingThe Bank of England’s interest-rate setters are expected to vote on Thursday to raise the cost of borrowing for only the second time since the 2008 crash. Most City analysts agree: the Bank’s base rate will rise from 0.5% to 0.75%.That said, we’ve been here before. Mortgage borrowers were told in February that a rate rise was imminent and were guided by governor Mark Carney to pencil in the May meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) as decision day. Continue reading...

Never mind millennials. The real economic debate needs to focus on the role of over-50s in the workplaceRetirement is a dirty word for Barbara French, who at 75 still gets up before 6am on weekdays to clean the Co-op’s Plymouth groceries depot where she has worked for almost 40 years. “I enjoy coming to work,” she says. “It gives me a purpose. I think it’s wonderful if companies give us golden oldies work for as long as we want.”Much has changed in her four decades at the Co-op, not least the arrival of exotic fruits and avocados as some of Britain’s favourite foods. One certain change in the decades to come, is that more people will, like Barbara, be working for longer. Continue reading...

Expect the US economy to slow in 2019 as tariffs start to bite and higher interest rates take effectFor once there can be no dispute about what Donald Trump says. The president has been boasting for months about how well the economy is doing and the latest set of official figures show that the president is absolutely right. The US is booming.It was not just that headline growth – American GDP was expanding at an annualised rate of 4.1% in the second quarter – that was strong. All the important components of growth were up too: consumer spending by 4%, business investment by 7.3%, exports by 9.3%, federal government spending by 5.3%. Continue reading...

All the day’s economic and financial news, including growth figures from two of the world’s largest economies

Growth is major boon for Trump administration after $1.5tn in tax cuts earlier this year but economists warn it may unsustainableThe US economy roared ahead in the second quarter of 2018, growing at an annual rate of 4.1%, its fastest pace in four years, the commerce department announced on Friday.The growth will be a major boon for the Trump administration, which pushed through $1.5tn in tax cuts at the start of the year with a promise that they would be paid for by economic growth.Related: 'We need a call to action': Stacey Cunningham, the NYSE's first female presidentRelated: Sign up for the Guardian's US daily email Continue reading...

Investors desert Facebook after it missed revenue targets as the cost of the Cambridge Analytica scandal bites

British household finances among most indebted in major western countries, ONS saysBritish households spent around £900 more on average than they received in income during 2017, pushing their finances into deficit for the first time since the credit boom of the 1980s.The Office for National Statistics said the shortfall amounted to nearly £25bn – equal to almost a quarter of the NHS budget – and the overspend was mostly paid for with borrowed money, though households also ran down savings. Continue reading...

Despite their urban image, millennials are looking to suburbs and the country for a quieter, and cheaper, lifestyle

Rightwingers point out the horrors of Stalinism, yet forget the human misery their favoured economic model was built onA spectre is haunting the British media: the spectre of negative takes on capitalism. Ever since the academic and writer Ash Sarkar uttered the words “I’m a communist, you idiot” on national television, the right has recoiled in horror. The alacrity with which commentators jumped on Sarkar’s off-the-cuff comment to relitigate the cold war is deeply revealing.The right has been terrified that it is losing the war of ideas to the left ever since Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour deprived the Tories of a majority a year ago. Sarkar’s unintentional rescue of Marx’s vision of communism – as a stateless, classless society in which humanity is liberated from wage labour – from the Stalinist totalitarianism that followed led the magazine Elle to declare she was “literally a communist and literally our hero”. The Telegraph reflected: “Communism sent millions to their deaths – so why is it cool to wear it on your T-shirt?” As far as Douglas Murray of the Spectator is concerned, meanwhile, Sarkar is no better than a fascist.Related: ‘That’s when I lost my temper’: Ash Sarkar on her clash with Piers Morgan Continue reading...

Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker have agreed to work together to lower trade barriers, in an apparent breakthrough in the trade dispute

Trump and Juncker’s remarks represent a step back from potential trade war after weeks of stalemate, but were short of detailDonald Trump and European Union officials on Wednesday stepped back from a trade war as they struck a deal to work towards “zero” tariffs, barriers and subsidies.The EU also agreed to buy billions of dollars worth of American exports, including soya beans and natural gas, and work to reform international trade rules.Related: Trump and Juncker appear amiable at meeting aimed to avert trade warRelated: Made in China: Trump re-election flags may get burned by his tariffs Continue reading...

US president and European commission president agreed they want to reduce tariffs, before heading into talks in WashingtonDonald Trump has begun trade talks with top European Union officials at the White House, suggesting that the US would be “pleased” if all tariffs, barriers and subsidies could be scrapped.The US president sat in the Oval Office alongside Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president who is hoping to persuade him not to impose punishing tariffs on car imports and risk an all-out trade war.Related: Trump defends tariffs despite signs of trouble in global markets Continue reading...

Nearly 90% of people feel bored or confused when politicians use jargon to talk about economics, according to the charity Economy, which holds free classes across the country to help take away the barriers to understanding and change how people think Continue reading...

‘Value for money’ for public contracts is a colossal failure. Labour’s leader is right: the state should support manufacturingJeremy Corbyn wants new support ships for the Royal Navy to be built in British shipyards. He thinks it is wrong for the production of the UK’s post-Brexit passports to go to a French firm. Under a future Labour government, the state would use its buying power to support manufacturing.Related: Public contracts should go to UK firms, says Jeremy Corbyn Continue reading...

In two letters, hundreds of academics call for Goldsmiths to bring its cleaners back in house, and for James Newell to be reinstated as professor of politics at Salford UniversityWe write as staff at Goldsmiths, University of London, in support of our cleaning colleagues, and their union Unison, who are campaigning to be brought in-house (The cleaners who won fair wages, 18 July). Currently outsourced to ISS, our cleaners already face unacceptable working conditions, receiving no sick pay, holiday pay or pension entitlement.ISS is now imposing a restructure that will only entrench the existence of a two-tier workforce. In testimonials collected by Unison, cleaning staff expressed fears of losing their homes, having to miss meals in order to feed their families, and being forced to choose between unmanageable childcare costs or leaving their children home alone. Women in particular said the prospect of new shifts ending after midnight made them anxious for their safety as they have to travel long distances to get to work. Despite this, ISS is pushing ahead with these changes. Continue reading...

The rightwinger has admitted any ‘Brexit dividend’ may take 50 years. Is his hardline position linked to personal gain?In line with other Brexiters, Jacob Rees-Mogg seems to have abandoned any notion of the UK being better off after Brexit. Of course he still spouts verbiage about Brexit providing a great economic opportunity for the country, but when pushed, as he was recently, it seems clear that he no longer believes leaving the EU will bring us economic benefit, and says we may be waiting 50 years for the “Brexit dividend”, if it ever arrives at all.Related: 'We're the opposition': Rees-Mogg and his European Research Group Continue reading...

Each month we look at key indicators to see what effect the Brexit process has on growth, prosperity and trade