The economy

The government should consider a rise in the rate of VAT as a way of closing the gap in public finances.

Over the past weeks, business organisations have been submitting their recommendations to the Chancellor ahead of the pre-Budget Report.

The Chancellor should use the pre-Budget Report to provide firms with the sort of financial environment necessary for progressive investment.

The UK economy is still shrinking but at a more moderate rate.

Increasing numbers of small and medium-sized businesses are struggling to access the finance they need in order to grow.

The UK is entering the early stages of its recovery from recession but still faces many challenges, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England has said.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, will deliver his pre-Budget Report for 2009 on Wednesday 9 December.

Employers look set to shed more jobs in the final quarter of the year, suggesting that the UK labour market will remain under pressure even as the economy emerges from the downturn.

Both permanent and temporary job vacancies showed a rise last month.

The UK’s services industry has posted its best growth figures since the end of the summer of 2007, a new survey has claimed.