Sunak says he wants to reduce workers’ taxes this year and may cut benefits

PM sets up possibility of income tax coming down in March and says control of welfare is a priority

Dead letter office? Royal Mail wrestles with a difficult future

In private hands, the postal service has become a graveyard of management ambitions, beset by discontent and decline. Can yet another new boss save it?

Hunt issues tax warning as cut in national insurance takes effect

Chancellor says while reduction to 10% will bring ‘significant relief’ pre-pandemic levels of tax can’t be achieved in one go

‘Everyone cites Covid and Brexit’: number of UK businesses going bust rises 52% in two years

Interest rate rises, inflation and skills and labour shortages all contributed to sharp increase in company insolvencies in 2023

Starmer says Labour will ‘meet fire with fire’ if Tories resort to dirty tactics during election – as it happened

Labour leader says Conservatives will ‘go low’ in election this year and Labour are prepared to match them if they do

The world economy is in crisis again. If we look back 80 years, we might be able to fix it

The historic Bretton Woods summit shaped a golden era of growth. This year’s G20 could be our equivalent, says academic and economist Michael Jacobs

Investment, not austerity and pay cuts – that’s the only way out of the mess Britain is in

The crisis in our governance is the result of bad choices. We need to acknowledge the need for radical government intervention, says Unite general secretary Sharon Graham

Labour should make UK leader in wellbeing-informed policy, says peer

Call by economics of happiness expert Richard Layard comes as research agency set up under David Cameron is to be axed in Whitehall cuts

Tories have plenty of weak spots – and dislike years that end in four

Labour will be going on the attack, mindful of having come to power in 1924, 1964 and 1974

‘How can such a tiny woman drive a big truck?’ Japan’s labour shortage forces it to rethink gender stereotypes

Freight and logistics sector is turning to women to fill gap as demand for drivers grows alongside cap on overtime

Life is good for baby boomers. And Jeremy Hunt plans to make it even better

Over-60s are richer thanks to high interest rates and well-performing pension funds. And the Tory voters among them will look kindly on a chancellor who helps out by cutting inheritance tax

Why UK chancellor should avoid inheritance tax sugar rush in budget

Slashing the headline rate may offer short-term gains, but the responsible route may be better bet for Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt fuels election speculation as 6 March spring budget announced

Chancellor has asked the OBR to prepare forecasts for the economy and public finances to be presented to parliament

How a spring UK budget could fire the starting gun for an early election

UK economic prospects are bleak but an agenda-setting fiscal event such as sweeping tax cuts in March offers another roll of the dice

The Observer view on Tory economic policy: only active public investment will cure Britain’s ills

The government’s reliance on the private sector has led to a UK economy on the brink of recession and a crumbling state