Cloud on the horizon

The structural deficit may be larger than was thought, writes Alison Goddard.

George Osborne is likely to be forced to announce yet more bad news on the public finances in his last autumn statement before the general election, according to a report in today’s Financial Times. It states that the Office for Budget Responsibility is probably going to (£) revise its estimate of the size of the budgetary black hole upwards, strangling the capacity for the chancellor of the exchequer to behave generously on 3 December. Mr Osborne is due to announce his science and innovation strategy as part of the autumn statement and is also expected to support state-backed loans for postgraduate taught students. The results of the Research Excellence Framework are also due to be published in December. Assuming the Financial Times is correct, it may be tricky to find the money.

The Daily Telegraph has a considered blog post from Maurits van Rooijen, rector of the London School of Business and Finance, a private provider of higher education, which examines the fee regimes that operate in different parts of the world and comes down broadly in favour of the English system.