Top economists back Darling in spending cuts row - papers

More than 60 leading economists have backed Alistair Darling’s decision to delay spending cuts until 2011, creating a dividing line within the profession on the crucial general election issue of how to tackle the UK’s huge public debt.

Two letters in Friday's Financial Times warn of the risks of damaging Britain's fragile recovery by "reckless" early cuts.

They are a riposte to the 20 economists who wrote to The Sunday Times last weekend supporting the Conservative Party's argument that fiscal tightening should start this year.

The sharp differences between economists emerged as official data showed the budget deficit surged in January as income tax receipts fell by a fifth, alarming the markets and pushing up yields on government debt. Full story...

FEARS OF A MASS exodus by London's financiers to the more favourable tax climate of Switzerland appear to have been exaggerated: fewer Britons applied for permits to work in the Swiss financial services sector last year than in 2008.

Research by Channel 4 News shows that, despite warnings by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, that 9,000 high-¬flying City workers would decamp to escape the windfall levy on bonuses and the 50p income tax rate, just 1,079 British citizens joined the financial sector in the Alpine state last year - and about two-thirds of those were applying for IT or other back-office jobs.

That represented a 7% decline on the number of Brits applying for a carte de séjour - work permit - in the financial services sector in 2008. Full story...