Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

The Home Office paid out “undisclosed” compensation and damages to a young Moldovan woman it returned to sex traffickers.

Following a few days of unseasonally cheery sunshine and high temperatures, consumers heard some good economic headlines on jobs and inflation for a change, although many economists fear they may yet be as elusive as the good weather.

Nicky Gavron, who speaks for Labour on housing in the London Assembly, has accused Boris Johnson of misleading Londoners after figures from the Conservative-led government contradicted key housing claims made by the London Mayor.

Paris-based supranational economic watchdog the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development has called on David Cameron’s Government to restore the Education Maintenance Allowance it scrapped as part of its cuts programme.

Private finance initiatives – originally introduced by John Major’s Government, embraced by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and retained by Chancellor George Osborne’s Treasury – have been called into question after a series of revelations about the true cost of some projects to taxpayers and the National Health Service.