Even by its own high standards, the SNP touched fresh heights of intellectual dishonesty last week. Senior SNP politicians, at least some of whom might be expected to know better, rushed to their
Blackburn Universal Credit THE number of people claiming unemployment benefits at the end of last year was far above that seen at the start of the pandemic, figures show. Office for National Statistics data shows 7,535 people were claiming out-of-work benefits as of December 10, compared to just 4,550 in early March – an increase of 2,985. That is 8.1 per cent of the area s working-age population, up from 4.9 per cent. The figures include those aged 16 to 64 on Jobseeker’s Allowance and some Universal Credit claimants, who are unemployed and seeking work or employed but with low earnings. National figures, which are adjusted to account for seasonal changes, show around 2.64 million people across the UK were seeking help at the start of December – up from 1.24 million in March and 1.23 million a year earlier.
Independence would hit the Scottish economy harder than Brexit, and rejoining the EU would make little difference, a team of academics has said.Leaving both unions would cause an equivalent income