ECONOMY

House prices fell for the second month in a row in August, according to the latest Housing Market Survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

The Office for National Statistics has said that Consumer Price Index inflation was 3.1 per cent in August, flat from the previous month, when the figure fell for the third consecutive month.

The RMT union, which was jointly responsible for recent strikes on the London Underground, has called for the Trades Union Congress to call a summit at which union bosses will attempt to coordinate a wave of strikes to protest the coalition government's cuts.

The number of new car registrations fell by 17.5 per cent in August, compared with the same month the previous year, to 55,305.

London is set to be thrown into travel chaos once again as the RMT and TSSA unions prepare to launch a tube strike this evening.

Around six million people have paid the wrong amount of tax under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system, according to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The Bank of England's latest statistical release has shown flat mortgage approvals against a negative backdrop.

"Is Standard & Poor's being overly pessimistic in its view on the Irish economy?" The Irish Times asked its readership to poll and the voting was a fairly close 53 percent "Yes" to 47 percent "No" by the afternoon of Friday 27 August 2010.

Ed Balls, potential leader of the UK opposition, has dismissed potential growth in the UK as GDP figures released today show a 1.2 pct growth.

Britain's 'debt boom' is set to follow the credit crisis after banks began to offer families heavily in debt with cheaper and cheaper credit a survey has suggested.

With further revisions of UK Q2 GDP not out until out 23rd August, the Office of National Statistics continues to process emerging indicators with UK output, income and expenditure out this Friday along with Land Registry House Prices.

Interest rates could reach record highs adding up to £900 to the mortgage burden if Policy Exchange thinktank is correct in its thinking.

A-level results, released today, have improved for the 28th year in a row, with one in 12 exams being taken awarded with the new A* grade. The results are likely to fuel speculation that exams are not proving rigorous enough for the students who take them.

The latest Unemployment figures announced on 11 August 2010 did at least look good. The level reduced by 0.2 percent on the quarter to 7.8 percent, the same level as this time last year. Unemployment for the three months to June 2010 fell to 2.46 million, a fall of 49,000, the largest quarterly drop for three years. Mr Chris Grayling, Employment Minister, told the BBC that what he found encouraging was that "there had been one of the biggest jumps for a very long time in employment levels,...

In a media statement issued on 10 August 2010, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks' Chief Executive Officer, Lynne Peacock said: "We continue to follow a very steady and prudent course....our strategic direction is unchanged. Firmly focused on growing our existing business, we remain committed to supporting our existing customers and are on track to deliver £10 billion of gross new lending by October next year."

CML, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has downgraded its forecasts for the year by £10 bn to £140bn after finding less confidence in the second half of the year than previously thought.

Shares in British banks were broadly down in morning trading on the FTSE 100 after the Bank of England yesterday predicted a more "choppy" recovery than was previously hoped for.

Nationwide's consumer confidence fell for the third consecutive month today as the building society announced it now stands at similar levels to a year ago amidst the height of the recession.

The pound has lowered to a one week low versus the dollar today amidst further evidence that the Bank of England are to keep interest rates low. The signs of 'softening' confidence in the economy is leading the central bank to lower its forecasts for next year to 2.5 pct from 3.4 pct in May.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England lowered forecasts for economic growth in UK after high Inflation prospects rose. The Bank now forecasts 2.5 percent next year - down from its forecast in May of 3.4 percent growth.

Annual growth in the weekly pay and bonuses has decreased according to the Office of National Statistics.

July car sales declined by 13.2 per cent from the same month last year, thanks to weak consumer confidence, the World Cup and the end of the previous government's car scrappage scheme, the Retail Motor Industry has said.

The BBC has lost 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones, 17 Blackberry's as the corporation looks to cut 1,800 jobs.

UK Manufacturing and industrial data for June released today shows that the sectors did indeed grow following predictive data out this week that shows healthy performance continued throughout June into July.

The Bank of England has held interest rates in a widely expected move for the seventeenth consecutive month as spare capacity in the recovery is expected to bring inflation down.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) has reported a 13.2 pct drop in new car sales following 12 monthly successive rises, saying that 'it was expected' after scrappage fuelled months across the last year and a half."

Bank of England policymakers greeted the upcoming interest rate meeting with a view that rates will need to rise sooner than expected as economists show that the recovery has faltered.

The rising pound has showed no sign of abating after reaching a near-term high whilst construction failed to 'hold-up' as much as expected.

The Chartered Insititute of Purchasing and Supply released its latest PMI (Purchasing Manager's Index) in conjunction with Markit economics on manufacturing today which has slowed from 57.6 to 57.3.