Communities and Local Government will reveal before 21 July which of its programmes’ budgets are to be cut to help fund the £1.5 billion housing package, and has suggested the Homes and Communities Agency may bear the brunt. Director-general of housing and planning at the department has insisted that reports that the Decent Homes programme
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK economy shrank by 2.44 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 â the fastest rate in more than 50 years, and much worse than expected. Gross domestic product has fallen 4.9 per cent in year on year figures â the largest drop on record.
Housing and mortgage groups, including chairman of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association John Heron and chief executive of the National Housing Federation David Orr, spoke before a Communities and Local Government select committee on the effect of the credit crisis on the mortgage market, and said the government had missed an opportunity to boost house
The rising cost of fuel, food and public transport has hit the poor hardest. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation calculates that the cost of living for those on a minimum household budget is rising faster than inflation. The costs for a single household on a low-income budget were up 5.3 per cent this year, followed by
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that Britain faced ‘two parliaments of pain’ as it calculated a £45 billion ‘black hole’ in the government finances following the Budget, requiring either a tax rise of £1,430 per family or massive spending cuts. When the effect of the 8 per cent annual growth in debt interest
The Chancellor has said the economy will shrink by the biggest amount in modern times – down 3.5 per cent in 2009 – before recovering slightly to grow by 1.25 per cent in 2010 and 3.5 per cent by 2010. He has extended the stamp duty holiday until the end of the year for houses