The Sun reports a 5 point poll drop for the Conservatives which gives Labour a general election winning lead, were ballot held today. The short term cause of this is the banker and private sector/wealth creation bashing that master RedEd Miliband has been engaging in. You see he's getting the credit because instead of standing against him the Conservatives have tried to pretend they agree. Th...

Italian government blames media reports after S&P???s credit rating cut

Andrew Lansley should be grateful for small mercies. Rachel Sylvester's column (£) today may quote a Downing Street source to the effect that ‘Lansley should be taken out and shot’, but there is yet no sign that a hundred Conservative MPs will write to the Prime Minister to say that the Health Secretary's reforms have to stop. We've had such a letter for wind farms ...

Europe faces a difficult challenge of reducing its dependence on credit rating agencies, while there may be no immediate solution, there are some interesting avenues for reform, says Marie-France Baud. More »

New financial policy committee would be set up at the Bank to watch out for asset bubbles

An independent Scotland would not receive the highest credit rating in the event a referendum on independence from Britain was successful, economists warned.

Benefits are not an easy subject to get your head around: we have a benefits system with enough acronyms, assessments, taper rates and tax credits to make your head spin. That’s why this Government is finally undertaking a hugely important and long-overdue reform of benefits. Universal Credit will replace the complicated mix of tax credits,

Mr Goodwin may have been an egregious example of bad bankingbut he was hardly alone in causing the credit crunch, writes Martin Dickson

Telegraph View: It is to the credit of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that some 80 councils will revert to weekly collections.

The eurozone debt crisis has triggered a severe credit squeeze across the region with banks imposing significantly harsher loan terms