More support for people in ill health to stay in work ‘could save UK £1bn’

Commission for Healthier Working Lives warns against cutting benefits and calls for proactive route for 8m affected

‘If you fall into the dialogue of the far right, the far right wins’: Spain’s deputy PM on the need for workers’ rights

Yolanda Díaz Pérez’s leftwing government has championed employment reform similar to Labour’s proposals – and she tells British business there is nothing to fear

Postcode electricity pricing is a minefield for Ed Miliband

There is little middle ground in the battle over zonal pricing – and the energy secretary has only months to settle dispute

‘Military Keynesianism’? Reeves faces British defence dilemma after EU spending surge

Even Berlin and Brussels are bending fiscal rules in the face of Russia’s threat. Will the chancellor still stick to hers?

Buy British: it will help defend the UK against Trump

UK manufacturing is unloved and underinvested – but the defence industry is more essential than ever in a changing political age

‘Don’t punish the vulnerable’: Labour MPs uneasy over planned welfare cuts

Ministers say ‘unsustainable’ rise in spending must be tackled but many backbenchers fear changes will not work

UK Treasury ‘weighs up funding cuts at GB Energy’ in blow to Ed Miliband

Government considering such a move over state-owned firm set up by Labour in June’s spending review, say reports

Military spending is touted as a remedy for Britain’s ailing economy. Here’s why it won’t work

Since the 1980s Britain’s military spending has grown in real terms, yet more than half of military jobs have been lost. The sector is hi-tech and low labour, says Khem Rogaly, a senior research fellow at the thinktank Common Wealth

Council tax in Scotland to reach record high with 15% rise in some areas

Levies on tourists and cruise ships considered by some local authorities in attempt to plug funding gaps

Treat weapons investments as ‘ethical’ to help arm Ukraine and UK, MPs urge

More than 100 Labour MPs and peers sign open letter saying ESG policies are holding back defence spending

Britain is now following a developing country economic model – and we know where that leads

Selling off assets to foreign owners, deregulating markets, and liberalising financial services only leads to inequality and instability, says Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation

Bank and building society users hit by 33 days of outages in two years, say MPs

Treasury committee finds disruption a result of 158 IT incidents affecting millions of customers

European markets soar as Germany moves to lift ‘debt brake’ and raise defence spending

Berlin’s ‘big bazooka’ proposal sends industrial stocks surging but fiscal sea change also hikes borrowing costs

Trump’s trade war could pose ‘substantial’ threat to UK economy, says Bank

Although UK may avoid tariffs, overall productivity could be impacted by tit-for-tat tariffs between economies

Ban on new drilling confirmed as ministers consult on North Sea’s ‘clean energy future’

Gas and oil industry cautiously welcomes government proposals that could ease tax burden on sector