ShiftingGrounds

On this blog, Stewart Lansley has argued that Ed Miliband’s Bedford speech should be seen as ‘a key turning point in social democratic thinking’ about the economy.

For a speech that was billed as being about personality, I thought yesterday’s address from Ed Miliband was actually fairly policy heavy.
Claiming the mantle, or at least the rhetoric, of Disraeli the Labour Leader sought to frame his party as the true One Nation Party committed to a “One Nation economy”.

This week’s labour market statistics brought some welcome news – unemployment (on the broad ILO measure) fell by some 35,000 with the rate dropping from 8.4% to 8.3%, whilst employment rose by 53,000. But a look at the detail behind the headlines provides cause for caution.

The fallout from the Budget has focussed on the winners and losers – the stealth ‘Granny Tax’, the cutting of the 50p rate and the continuing debacle that is child benefit reform. The new growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility have received relatively little attention.