内容摘要：Two councils in south-east England will ask the government to allow them to combine.

Two councils in south-east England will ask the government to allow them to combine.

Germany and France are the traditional engines of Europe's economic growth. But theiramid political instability over the past year means that, despite a recent uptick in growth, the eurozone risks losing momentum in the year ahead.

That is, unless consumers spend more and businesses increase their investments.In the UK higher prices could also come as a result of tax and wage increases,One barrier to cutting eurozone interest rates is that domestic inflation, which focuses on the prices of items that are less prone to influence from external factors, remains at 4.2%. That's more than double the overall inflation target of 2%, and strong wage pressure has been a barrier getting it down further.

It's been similar in the US according to Sander van 't Noordende, the chief executive of Randstad, the world's biggest recruitment firm."In the US, for instance, [wage inflation] is still going to be around 4% in 2024. In some Western European countries, it's even higher than that.

"I think there's two factors there. There's the talent scarcity, but there's also, of course, the inflation and people demanding to get more for the work they do."

Mr van 't Noordende adds that many companies are passing those extra costs on to their customers, which is adding upward pressure to general inflation.In government, there's a belief that better news on wage growth and a tolerable level of inflation has been under-acknowledged. Tomorrow in our studio, and in her big speech on Wednesday, Reeves will try to give you the impression that she is brimming with optimism and in a hurry to get the economy going, so that jobs can be created, the government's tax coffers filled and, ultimately, voters might regain a long-lost feel-good factor.

Yet however upbeat she is a former Labour minister wonders: "How long will it take for changes to drip through the doorsteps of my constituency where people are living in crowded rented flats, and can't afford the supermarkets?"The pressure is on. One union leader calls this a "cross your fingers behind your back moment". Change takes time and the economy might need patience – but politics isn't always prepared to wait.

Lecturers at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen have gone on strike over redundancies.RGU announced in November that more redundancies could be made after 130 staff left through a voluntary severance scheme last year. It hopes there will be fewer than 60 further redundancies.