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

The privatisation of Britain’s energy industry by the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major has come back to haunt the Tories as hard-pressed consumers turn against the companies they accuse of “extortion” in their pursuit of profit. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the Secretary of State for Energy, Chris Huhne, met representatives [...]

Demonisation of benefits recipients is not just grotesquely inaccurate and unfair but socially counter-productive, delegates to a TUC anti-poverty conference designed to dispel stereotypes and media myths were told earlier this week. The wide-ranging conference, “Challenging Myths and Stereotypes”, challenged head-on the populist, divisive language used not just by the current Conservative-led Government but also [...]

Soaring energy costs – they jumped by almost 10 per cent between August and September alone – pushed inflation to a record high as economic forecasters once again reduced Britain’s growth forecasts and predicted the economy would still be stagnant next year. Consumer Price Inflation rose from 4.5 per cent to 5.2 per cent, a [...]