David Laws has put the pressure on George Osborne to raise personal tax allowances in next month's Budget, saying such a move could “end the austerity on household budgets”.

In an interview with Newsnight, the Lib Dem MP followed Simon Hughes and Ed Balls in calling for the tax cuts:

“We have to distinguish between the period of austerity for public spending and for public services, which is clearly going to go on for a period of time, from the austerity that we’ve seen in household budgets… now that we have completed most of the tax increases, now that we’re seeing inflation this year on a firm downward track, that gives us the opportunity, if we can make these other reductions in taxation by increasing the income tax thresholds - as Nick Clegg has suggested - that gives us the opportunity of ending the austerity on households budgets.”

Small businesses should have more freedom to fire employees, a group of Conservative MPs will say today. The Free Enterprise group will urge George Osborne to follow the example of Germany in exempting the smallest business from dismissal rules. The idea will be included in a pamphlet praising the measures Germany has taken to encourage flexible working and making it easier for mothers to go back to work.

Lloyds Banking Group says it intends to "claw back" bonuses from as many as ten senior bankers after the bank lost £3.2bn last year from compensating customers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance. Somewhere between 40% and 50% of the bonus pot is thought to be at risk, although details are still being finalised.

The Government wants to see all councils agree to freeze their council tax. Writing exclusively for PoliticsHome Chloe Smith, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the Conservatives had "delivered" on their election pledge to freeze the tax, which doubled under Labour. She added that there was a "strong moral case" for the tax freeze as well, and urged those councils which have currently not frozen council tax to do so.

Chris Grayling has come out in defence of the Government’s work experience programme, saying the criticism of it is “absurd” and the work of “job-snobs”.

Speaking on Murnaghan this morning, the Employment Minister said: "I think that the accusations about this scheme are absurd, and those that are particularly targeting the supermarkets, who have been very helpful to us in supporting this scheme, are frankly job-snobs about the nature of the work those supermarkets are doing.”

Mr Grayling also called on employers to favour young British workers over people coming from overseas. He said the current situation is “not one that we should tolerate”.

He also played down the importance the impact of a police investigation into a back-to-work company run by the Government's 'back to work tsar' Emma Harrison. Mr Grayling emphasised that the allegations around A4e dated back two years to a scheme run by the last government.

The Mail on Sunday reports that the police are investigating claims that A4e took government funding for putting people into jobs for just one day.

Disabled people may lose money they rely on to live if the Government does not make sure its reforms to disability benefit are "fair and accurate", MPs have warned. Dame Anne Begg, who chairs the Work and Pensions Select Committee which published the report, said the plan to  introduce the Personal Independence Payment in place of Disability Living Allowance was making disabled people "very anxious".

Ed Balls has urged the Chancellor to slash taxes in his Budget in a bid to kickstart growth and avoid '1930s'-style depression. Mr Balls called for a VAT cut and a one-year 3p cut in income tax as he warned that Europe risked repeating the mistakes of the past if it continued with austerity programmes.

The Shadow Chancellor also ruled out a Labour government joining the euro as "inconceivable" and said "I don't think in my political lifetime there is any possibility" of dumping the pound. He said that George Osborne had been "trapped by the credit ratings agencies" into only focusing on cutting spending.

But Tory party deputy chairman Michael Fallon said that Mr Balls' plans would add £12bn to the national debt every year. "Ed Balls has clearly learned nothing from his time as Gordon Brown's right hand man," he said.

Mr Balls told the Andrew Marr programme: "I think it’s a very dangerous situation. We’ve been here before. Countries locked together in a deflationary environment, years of low growth and high unemployment. We saw it in the 1930s, think we are seeing history repeat itself. I think it’s important to learn lessons here in Britain, but also in the euro area."

Mr Balls' remarks came as he called for cuts in VAT and income tax in next month's budget. Writing in the Sunday Times, the Shadow Chancellor echoed Nick Clegg's suggestion that the rise in the personal allowance to £10,000 be brought forward. Mr Balls says that "without that decisive action in the Budget to boost growth, I fear we are in for a lost decade of slow growth and high unemployment".

In a move likely to cause Coalition tension, Liberal Democrat members are reportedly seeking a £16bn package of tax rises on the rich, including a 'mansions tax' on expensive houses, to help facilitate an accelerated increase of the income tax threshold. An emergency resolution will reportedly be put forward at the party's spring conference.

Labour has made childcare an "early priority" for its next manifesto, according to two shadow cabinet members. Writing in the Observer, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne and Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg point to Norway and Denmark, where the poorest receive free childcare, as possible models for the UK.

Home ownership is at its lowest level since 1988, according to a new government. report. The English Housing Survey reveas that only 66% of homes are now owner-occupied, with the number of renters up for 12th year in a row.

Companies should look at offering Dutch-style 'defined ambition' pensions, according to Pensions Minister Steve Webb. Under the proposal, companies would offer employees a measure of assurance about the size of their final pension, albeit not with the same degree of certainty as under a final salary scheme.

The Mail on Sunday reports that Tory MPs on the 1922 Committee angrily confronted Sir George Young, accusing him of 'colluding' to ensure Parliamentarians paid more into their pension schemes.

Ed Miliband has attacked the Government's changes to the tax and benefits system, which he says make average families £580 poorer.

Speaking at his party's Welsh Conference, the Labour leader cited figures published the Institute for Fiscal Studies which suggested that Coalition changes to tax and benefits including the working tax credit, the child tax credit, the pension credit and fuel duty would leave many families significantly worse off.

"On current forecasts, the average worker will be earning the same in three years' time as they were 10 years ago, but the weekly shop costs more," he said.

RBS chief executive Stephen Hester is set to receive £600,000 in shares next month, weeks after he turned down a £1m bonus.

Mr Hester and other RBS executives will receive a combined £11m over the coming months when bonuses awarded up to three years ago pay out.

A think-tank has called for the Chancellor to implement the Conservative policy of a tax break for married couples.

The Centre for Social Justice said it was important the break was included in the upcoming budget.

The Greek government is close to reaching a deal on the £110bn rescue package that would enable to pay its creditors and avoid default. There has been widespread anger at the package inside Greece, which includes conditions that put large sections of Greece's economic policy under the control of Europe in return for the cash.

Edwina Currie has been criticised for telling a mother she had "only herself to blame" for her family's poverty. Ms Currie was heard to aggressively question a caller on BBC Radio 5Live, who was reduced to tears by the former Conservative MP's line of questioning, made in response to being told people on low incomes sometimes had to skip meals because of financial difficulties.

Major employers have begun abandoning the Government's new Work Programme due to public anger over its terms. Retailers such as Sainsbury's, Waterstones and Matalan announced they were withdrawing from the scheme because of bad publicity. The scheme sees unemployed and disabled people compelled to take full time jobs and work for no wages in order to continue to receive their Jobseekers' Allowance.

The Government has received some much-needed good economic news with figures released today showing a rise in retail sales in January.

The Office for National Statistics revealed a 0.9% rise in sales on the British high street, 4.4% more than in 2011. The news will come as a surprise to some forecasters who had predicted a drop in sales.

However, the picture for traditional high street shops is bleak, with new research showing that on average 14 shops a day closed in 2011.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps told the Today programme this morning the UK "can't go back to some golden 1950s era of the high street" and said there had to be "new ways forward" for retailing.

The Treasury has launched a review into the extent to which civil servants channel salaries into tax-efficient private firms. The assessment will look at 4,000 positions across Whitehall and in quangos, and is expected to conclude that the schemes must end for full-time staff, even if it leads to a financial gain for government departments.

Ken Livingstone has caused outrage after he told an audience he wanted to "hang a banker a week until the others improve".

The Sun reports that Mr Livingstone, Labour's candidate for London Mayor, told the after-dinner audience that bankers had contributed "nothing" to help secure Britain's future.

The average retirement age is rapidly rising as many Britons work longer to fund their old age. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the average retirement age increased from 63.8 years to 64.6 years for men and 61.2 years to 62.3 years for women between 2004 and 2010.

The long-term sick and disabled face having to work unpaid for an unlimited amount of time or have their benefits cut under new plans from the Department for Work and Pensions. Charities have warned they are worried those able to do limited amounts of work under the controversial assessment process will suffer further harm to their health if the proposals go ahead.

Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King has said he wants the Government to apply pressure on Lloyds and RBS to start lending as they are ‘two of the four biggest lenders’. Lord Oakeshott, the former Lib Dem Treasury said that ‘it was time to set new lending targets for the nationalised banks’. The calls came as figures showed bank net lending fell by £10.7bn.