Image source, Simon Dewhurst

The European Commission has cancelled the UK's turn to host the European Capital of Culture after Brexit, disappointing the bidding cities.

Five places have already bid to hold the title in 2023 - Dundee, Nottingham, Leeds, Milton Keynes and Belfast/Derry.

But the commission has said the UK will no longer be eligible to have a host city after it leaves the EU in 2019.

The Creative Industries Federation said it was "gutted" and the UK Government said it "disagrees" with the move.

Image source, Thinkstock

Online real estate portal Rightmove has seen some interesting trends since the Chancellor announced that stamp duty would be cut in the Budget yesterday.

The website said there was a 20% rise nationally in searches by people stating a maximum budget of £300,000 on Wednesday, compared to the same day last week.

In London, there was a 91% increase in searches from users who stated that they had maximum budget of £500,000, compared to the same day a week ago.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

The Work and Pensions Secretary has confirmed the schedule for the rollout of Universal Credit has been amended and "people need to be reassured they do not have to wait five weeks to get support".

David Gauke also told the World at One new claimants in mid-December can get "an advance worth 50% to tide them through the Christmas period".

He added that "if resources allowed" the government would "want to consider" further reducing Universal Credit's taper rate - the amount that people will have to pay back if they work extra hours.

Image source, Getty Images

The pound is now down 0.15% against the dollar at $1.33050.

Sterling is also down 0.35% on the euro at €1.12340.

Business Live reader Tony Vincent writes:

The Department of Education has responded to the news that the introduction of the government's apprenticeship levy has seen apprenticeship numbers fall by 59%.

The department said that there have been over 1.1 million apprenticeship starts since May 2015 and it remains committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020.

"We are transforming the skills landscape and progress should not be judged on the basis of a few months’ worth of data," a Department of Education spokesperson said.

“We know that the last year has been a period of huge change for employers but it is right that employers are taking their time to plan ahead and maximise the opportunities the apprenticeship levy can bring.

"Feedback we have had from levy payers has shown they are doing this and they plan to increase their demand for apprenticeships.”

Kamal Ahmed
Economics editor

Image source, PA

What is the point of capitalism?

That might seem like a pretty big question, but one answer could be "to provide people the opportunity through work to become richer".

What, though, if the economy fails in that endeavour?

If the system leaves you - despite all your efforts - worse off in December than you were the previous January?

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

What do the measures introduced in the Budget mean to young people in the UK?

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the immediate abolition of stamp duty for properties up to £300,000 in England, Northern Ireland and, for a time, Wales.

Those aged 26 to 30 would also become eligible for a £30 railcard for discounted train travel, from the spring.

Simon Jack
BBC Business Editor

Image source, PA

Buy-to-let landlords holding properties through a company will begin to feel the impact of a tax hike from January.

Philip Hammond did not give the "indexation allowance freeze" a lot of welly in his speech and certainly didn't try very hard to explain its rather economicky sounding title.

But it's a tax rise the government hopes will raise half a billion pounds a year by the end of this parliament and could have important consequences - particularly for the buy-to-let market.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

"We're suffering from the aftermath of a financial crisis that's had a big effect on the UK economy," says Paul Johnson, the head of the economic think tank, Institute for Fiscal Studies.

That's one of the big reasons why people's wages are still lower on average than they were in 2008.

The UK was hit hard, partly because of its big reliance on financial services, he says. There have also been problems with under-investment, as well as inflation after the Brexit vote.

But the exact reason why we're having such a difficult decade "remains a bit of a puzzle", he adds.

Workers are facing the worst squeeze on pay since the mid-19th century, according to the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The squeeze on living standards over the 10 years since the financial crisis has already been one of the worst on record, says IFS director Paul Johnson.

"What's remarkable is it looks like we've got at least another five years to go before we get anywhere near to having earnings back to where they were in 2008.

"That's wholly unprecedented, and certainly the worst since the mid 19th century, and possibly worse since before then," he tells the BBC.

He estimates people will earn £1,400 a year less on average by the early 2020s than forecasts suggested last year.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, think the Resolution Foundation said that the UK is on course for its longest fall in living standards since records began over 60 years ago.

It also said government policies were disproportionately hitting lower income families by cutting benefits.

In response, the Treasury says:

"Over 3 million more people are in work, and we are helping everyone earn more and keep more of what they earn.

"We are increasing the National Living Wage by an inflation-busting 4.4%, freezing fuel duty and taking millions of people out of income tax altogether.

"The only way to increase pay in the long term is to improve our productivity, so we are investing over £30bn across the country to boost digital connectivity, improve skills and training, and build an economy that is fit for the future.”

It is "astonishing" that by 2022 average UK earnings could still be less than before the financial crisis, according to an economic think tank.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, made the comments in his review of the Budget and official economic forecasts.

He said the forecasts for productivity, earnings and economic growth made for "pretty grim reading".

House of Commons
Parliament

The government's outlined a series of changes to Universal Credit payments, after the chancellor promised an extra £1.5bn for the scheme.

Speaking in parliament, Work and pensions secretary David Gauke said the package would offer "significantly more support" by reducing the waiting time to one month.

People are currently waiting six weeks for the payment, which merges six benefits into one.

But Chancellor Philip Hammond said in his Budget speech that this would be reduced to five weeks.

Labour said the changes were not enough and "must be brought forward, amended and added to".

Image source, Getty Images

The chancellor loosens the public finances envelope as the economy stutters.

Much of the rest of the world is growing at a healthier clip.

For Britain it is a different story, writes BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed.

Why has the economic situation turned so gloomy? After all, the UK was one of the fastest growing of the major economies in 2016.

The answer hinges on productivity. The red line in the chart above shows how productivity in the UK has flatlined since the financial crisis.

We've lagged other major economies in the G7 (blue line) as well as the growth trend that the UK showed before 2008.

BBC Business Editor Simon Jack says a sharp drop in the number of people taking up apprenticeships will exacerbate the UK's productivity problems shown in the Budget.