The two papers below take a longer-term view of the UK fiscal stance and of trends in taxation and spending. They involve a historical perspective, so will not be updated on a regular basis.

• Measuring UK fiscal stance since the Second World War
  June 2002
  In this note, the authors examine how we might measure the fiscal stance in terms of the scale of the public deficit. The paper also tries to isolate the effects of government policy as opposed to the economic cycle.
• Long-term trends in British taxation and spending
  June 2002
  This briefing note looks at changes in levels of public spending since 1948, outlining where and in what ways the money has been spent. It also charts the levels and sources of tax revenue.