If you're interested in finding out how much is spent in your area and how it compares to spending needs assessments see our @theIFS tool designed by Kate Ogden & Max Warner. ifs.org.uk/calculators/ho…

My NEW @theIFS immediate response to Shona Robison MSP's Pre-Budget fiscal update. Ms Robison is right that HM Treasury hasn't fully funded pay & inflation pressures. But Scottish Government decisions have contributed to pressures too: CT freeze, benefits, pay etc. ifs.org.uk/articles/immed…

Pleased to see Jim McMahon MP, Local Government Minister highlight the need to account for revenue-raising capacity & spending needs in the council funding system. hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-0… A new system must be flexible, transparent & kept up-to-date. ifs.org.uk/articles/devol…

Two facts re winter fuel allowance: 1) At £200 it's same in cash terms as in 2000 - a real terms cut of 45%. Slow drift into irrelevance. 2) Pensioners much better off than they were then - poverty rate down from 26% to 16%, median income up 38% (only up 19% for non-pensioners)

A blast from my past. The figures are now somewhat out of date, but the questions discussed are still the vitally important ones to ask about the public finances of an independent Scotland. 💷High levels of public spending 🛢️Oil & gas 🇪🇺 Trade & EU membership 📈Role of growth

The public say they want politicians to be honest about challenges and make credible plans. But politicians know they reward short-termism, claims of easy solutions to knotty problems, and vague hopefulness. Politicians AND public need to change. ifs.org.uk/articles/its-t…