26 February 2025
NEU members are taking part in a preliminary ballot to ask if they will strike over pay and funding. The union is challenging a below inflation rise in English schools, with no increased funding.
A government with no idea about tackling Britain’s financial problems has latched on to the expansion of the country’s airports as the transport answer to promoting growth. The outcome might not be as positive as promised.
Farmers are not giving up on their struggle against inheritance tax changes and other attacks on their industry.
Workers in the arts continue their fight to reverse decades of cuts in government funding. The Arts and Minds Campaign wants the arts and literature to be restored to the schools core curriculum.
The Starmer government intends to offer EU member countries a youth mobility scheme as part of its “reset” with the EU.
On 22 January, Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, gave a speech in Glasgow at the Scottish headquarters of multinational financial services firm JP Morgan Chase.
Thames Water continues to be a burden on its customers and the public purse. Its latest financial plan agreed in the High Court is just the most recent step in a catalogue of failure.
25 February 2025
Farmers are not giving up on their struggle against inheritance tax changes and other attacks on their industry. Thay are organising widespread protests and are now signing up supermarkets to their cause.
25 February 2025
Workers in the arts continue their fight to reverse decades of cuts in government funding. The Arts and Minds Campaign is calling for arts and literature to be restored to the schools core curriculum, and fully funded.
25 February 2025
The government plans to offer a youth mobility scheme for young EU students and workers. This is one of several policy initiatives attempting to realign Britain with the EU.
25 February 2025
Thames Water continues to be a burden on its customers and the public purse. Its latest financial plan agreed in the High Court drew criticism from water campaigners and trade unions.
25 February 2025
Despite having no power to alter UK immigration policy, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has called for a visa scheme to let foreign students work in Scotland after they graduate from a Scottish college or university.
25 February 2025
The government has launched yet another review into social care provision. It won’t even report for three years – a disgrace after decades of indecision. The crisis in providing care needs urgent action.
25 February 2025
Rachel Reeves is trying to shield banks from paying compensation for mis-selling car finance. She talks about “growth”, but what we see is disregard for the needs of British people.
25 February 2025
Energy efficiency schemes launched in the name of the drive to net zero are creating health problems. The government has now acknowledged the wide-scale issues after complaints and media reports.
25 February 2025
Workers must be prepared to fight for their own safety, not least in housing. Predictable risks of flooding and fire have been ignored too often.
25 February 2025
The negative impact of migration is a topic that seemingly can’t be discussed. Yet there’s a pressing need to do so, not least in relation to doctors and healthcare workers.
25 February 2025
Hammersmith Bridge in London has been closed to vehicles for six years. The latest delay is blamed on steel shortages.
Hundreds of oil workers from the threatened Grangemouth refinery, delegations from other refineries around the country, and their supporters, marched on Holyrood in Edinburgh on 28 November.
The campaign against the return of US nuclear weapons to British soil after a 15-year absence is gathering pace.
On 3 November, over 15,000 protesters gathered in central London for the National March for Clean Water. There were simultaneous demonstrations in Glasgow and Belfast.
In mid-December the government announced that the review bodies for public sector workers are awarding rises of 2.8 per cent for 2025.
Rolls-Royce engineering workers have finally settled their pay fight in a multi-year agreement.
The Labour government proposes to return most of Britain’s passenger rail services to public ownership. This will not of itself bring about changes and improvement to those services
19 December 2024
Water bills will rise by more than one-third over the next five years, much of it in 2025. The regulator, Ofwat, previously said that that the price rises would far less. Unions and campaign groups have condemned the move.
19 December 2024
The number of British companies sold to foreign investors continues to rise, up sharply on last year. This is not “investment” but amounts to selling British industry on the cheap.
18 December 2024
The government proposes to return most passenger rail services to public ownership. This will not necessarily improve services. Key areas are left out, so the industry will remain fragmented.
18 December 2024
Rolls-Royce aerospace workers have eventually settled a multi-year pay agreement after prolonged negotiations. The industry has often led the way on pay levels, but that may change with the employers exploiting fragmentation and outsourcing.
17 December 2024
The government has announced a public sector pay rise of 2.8 per cent for 2025. Unions have denounced this as a cut in real pay. They are gearing up for a fight on pay again.
16 November 2024
The government is delaying the use of small modular nuclear reactors in Britain. And it is not committed to support Rolls-Royce as a provider, although it is a world leader in the technology.
