The Greater Manchester mayor has shifted left over the years — but his record still shows a tendency to wobble when pressure comes from the right, says SOLOMON HUGHES
LAST week’s Budget was nothing less than a deliberate slap in the face to all those who were hoping for some relief from the austerity agenda, as the Chancellor added calculated insult to repeated injury.
It was widely trailed in the media that the Tories were going to lift the public-sector pay cap after pressure from all sides, including their backbenchers, but as it turned out there was nothing concrete on offer for working people, no real money on the table, only vagueness, evasion and endless reviews.
The only difference between this Chancellor and the previous one is that of style not substance. Where George Osborne could best be described as a tin of gloss — superficially painting over the cracks in our broken economy — Philip Hammond is the tin of matt, hoping to hide the worst lumps and bumps with repeated applications of more of the same.
Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS
As Scotland heads to the polls, the main parties offer variations on the same script, says MATT KERR
DYLAN MURPHY reports that far from helping people back into work, the sanctions regime is inflicting unnecessary trauma on working-class families
Almost half of universities face deficits, merger mania is taking hold, and massive fee hikes that will lock out working-class students are on the horizon, write RUBEN BRETT, PAUL WHITEHOUSE and DAN GRACE


