AUSTELL, England (Reuters) – When Dee Prior lost her job in customer services last year, she was confident something else would come along quickly to keep her afloat. Within weeks she was penniless, evicted from her home in western England and battling a nervous breakdown.

Welcome to post-recession Britain where, for so many at the bottom of the ladder, it still feels like a depression.

“The only difference between me and you,” she said, leaning over a table in a community food bank in the old Cornish mining town of St. Austell, “could be just two pay checks.”

“I have worked my whole life. I have always supported myself, but at 48 I found myself homeless.”

Britain, like so many other powerful but heavily-indebted European nations in the post-financial crisis era, is teetering precariously between economic malaise and a return to recession.

There is little the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government can do to spark demand without abandoning its austerity plans. To do that, ministers say, would put Britain at the mercy of the financial markets currently wreaking havoc on the euro zone.

Scenic Cornwall on England’s western tip – remote, underdeveloped and dependent on a handful of vulnerable industries – is at the sharp end of Britain’s struggles.

AUSTELL, England, Sept 27 (Reuters) – When Dee Prior lost her job in customer services last year, she was confident something else would come along quickly to keep her afloat. Within weeks she was penniless, evicted from her home in western England and battling a nervous breakdown.

Welcome to post-recession Britain where, for so many at the bottom of the ladder, it still feels like a depression.

“The only difference between me and you,” she said, leaning over a table in a community food bank in the old Cornish mining town of St. Austell, “could be just two pay cheques.”

“I have worked my whole life. I have always supported myself, but at 48 I found myself homeless.”

Britain, like so many other powerful but heavily-indebted European nations in the post-financial crisis era, is teetering precariously between economic malaise and a return to recession.

There is little the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government can do to spark demand without abandoning its austerity plans. To do that, ministers say, would put Britain at the mercy of the financial markets currently wreaking havoc on the euro zone.

Scenic Cornwall on England’s western tip – remote, underdeveloped and dependent on a handful of vulnerable industries – is at the sharp end of Britain’s struggles.

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband will say on Tuesday that companies should be regulated and taxed partly based on their contribution to society, as the party tries to re-define itself before the next election.

Party officials say Miliband, in charge of Labour for one year, will give the electorate a sense of the direction Labour is heading in, without focussing on specifics at the party’s annual conference.

Miliband must persuade his party that he has what it takes to win the next election, due by 2015, after so far failing to strike a chord with voters despite signs that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government’s austerity drive is damaging the economy.

Analysts say Labour, which lost power last year after 13 years in government, must work hard to rebuild its economic credibility after presiding over the 2008-9 financial crisis and subsequent recession.

“We need a new bargain, based on a different set of values,” Miliband will say at the conference in the northern English city of Liverpool, according to extracts from his speech released in advance. “We will challenge the vested interests that benefit when the wrong values are rewarded.”

Labour will call for businesses to be rewarded depending on the long-term value and wealth they create in the economy.

“Are you on the side of the wealth creators or the asset strippers?” Miliband will ask. “For years as a country we have been neutral in that battle. They’ve been taxed the same. Regulated the same. Treated the same. Celebrated the same. They won’t be by me.”

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Trade unions across Europe could take coordinated action if governments persist with slashing public services, the leader of Britain’s biggest public sector union said on Monday.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of the 1.4-million-member Unison, told Reuters in an interview that more than four million workers may take part in strikes and rallies against public sector pension reforms on November 30 and further industrial action could follow.

Trade unions are flexing their muscles over cuts in public services driven through by the coalition government to curb a budget deficit of around 10 percent of economic output.

Prentis said the cuts were having “disastrous effects” on communities and could lead to one million job losses in the public and private sectors.

Prentis said he was working closely with a number of unions elsewhere in Europe, where many governments are taking austerity measures as they wrestle with an economic slowdown or debt crises.

“We are already coordinating demonstrations … and I’m sure that there will become a stage, if this continues and if the economy does get worse, that we could well see coordinated action across Europe,” he said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference of the Labour Party.

Prentis said he had held a meeting this week with CGIL, Italy’s biggest trade union, about how they could cooperate.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain faces a concoction of deteriorating global economic conditions that leaves its cash-strapped government little room for policy error, Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will say on Wednesday.

Clegg will say in a speech in London that, while the Conservative-led coalition government will “stay firm” on reducing Britain’s record budget deficit, more can be done to encourage economic growth as government spending is slashed.

There are concerns at the top on both sides of the coalition about the lack of growth in Britain’s economy this year, with opposition politicians and analysts blaming the lack of activity in part on austerity.

“The situation has changed dramatically, worse even than just six months ago,” Clegg will say, according to extracts from his speech.

“A huge rise in oil and food prices. A slowdown in overseas markets. Continued turmoil in the euro zone. Ongoing uncertainty in the U.S.”

A much-vaunted, private sector-driven recovery has yet to materialise in Britain, lending conditions remain constrained, and there is no room within fiscal policy to fund any immediate boost to growth.

The Bank of England has come under increasing pressure to come to the rescue and fund another round of asset purchases, with the government arguing that monetary levers are the most effective weapon to boost growth.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain faces a concoction of deteriorating global economic conditions that leaves its cash-strapped government little room for policy error, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will say on Wednesday.

Clegg will say in a speech in London that, while the coalition government will “stay firm” on reducing Britain’s record budget deficit, more can be done to encourage economic growth as government spending is slashed.

There are concerns at the top on both sides of the coalition about the lack of growth in Britain’s economy this year, with opposition politicians and analysts blaming the lack of activity in part on austerity.

“The situation has changed dramatically, worse even than just six months ago,” Clegg will say, according to extracts from his speech.

“A huge rise in oil and food prices. A slowdown in overseas markets. Continued turmoil in the euro zone. Ongoing uncertainty in the U.S.”

A much-vaunted, private sector-driven recovery has yet to materialise in Britain, lending conditions remain constrained, and there is no room within fiscal policy to fund any immediate boost to growth.

The Bank of England has come under increasing pressure to come to the rescue and fund another round of asset purchases, with the government arguing that monetary levers are the most effective weapon to boost growth.

LONDON (Reuters) – Policymakers in advanced economies should use all available tools to boost growth, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Friday, calling for bold action to weather a “dangerous new phase” of recovery.

Speaking in London, Lagarde also welcomed a $447 billion plan presented by U.S. President Barack Obama to boost a sluggish economy and create jobs.

Lagarde said countries facing market pressures must press ahead with urgent fiscal consolidation, while there was scope for slower action in other countries not at the mercy of market forces.

Economic policymakers had to act with “conviction and urgency” in supporting a faltering global economy, she said, giving her blessing to further quantitative easing.

“Policymakers should stand ready, as needed, to take more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures,” Lagarde said.

Financial markets are watching major central banks keenly for signs they are ready to embark on more stimulus and a Morgan Stanley research note ahead of a G7 meeting speculated bankers could announce some kind of coordinated monetary easing.

But while decisions by the European and British central banks on Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged accentuated the gloom in Europe, neither indicated that a move was imminent.

LONDON (Reuters) – Policymakers in advanced economies should use all available tools to boost growth, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Friday, calling for bold action to weather a “dangerous new phase” of recovery.

Speaking in London, Lagarde also welcomed a $447 billion plan presented by President Barack Obama to boost a sluggish economy and create jobs.

Lagarde said countries facing market pressures must press ahead with urgent fiscal consolidation, while there was scope for slower action in other countries not at the mercy of market forces.

Economic policymakers had to act with “conviction and urgency” in supporting a faltering global economy, she said, giving her blessing to further quantitative easing.

“Policymakers should stand ready, as needed, to take more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures,” Lagarde said.

Financial markets are watching major central banks keenly for signs they are ready to embark on more stimulus and a Morgan Stanley research note ahead of a G7 meeting speculated bankers could announce some kind of coordinated monetary easing.

But while decisions by the European and British central banks on Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged accentuated the gloom in Europe, neither indicated that a move was imminent.

LONDON (Reuters) – Tensions over how to make banks safer are set to flare within the Conservative-led coalition government this year, with the smaller Lib Dem partners eager to push for a tougher approach in an effort to rebuild their popularity.

Any serious rift may force the Conservatives to agree to stricter reform or face the outside possibility of an embarrassing defeat in parliament when any proposed legislation goes to the vote.

The publication of the Independent Commission on Banking’s final report next Monday will kick off the political wrangling, with the government expected to come up with proposals for legislation by the end of the year.

Both parties will want to avoid the tag of being too soft, with public resentment still lingering over the role of the banks in the 2008-9 financial crisis, although the technical nature of any reforms will make it easier to fudge a response.

And the Conservatives, who favour light-touch regulation and have close links to the financial sector, may be prepared to take a short-term hit in popularity if it keeps the City of London — and the party faithful — on side.

“They are neo-liberals,” said Steven Fielding, a political history professor at the University of Nottingham.

“They probably genuinely feel that, apart from a little bit of tweaking, there really isn’t anything much that needs to be done. Maybe they will take a short-term hit because they won’t be seen to be banker bashing but in the longer term, so long as it all works out and the economy grows, most people won’t remember.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Tensions over how to make banks safer are set to flare within the Conservative-led coalition government this year, with the smaller Lib Dem partners eager to push for a tougher approach in an effort to rebuild their popularity.

Any serious rift may force the centre-right Conservatives to agree to stricter reform or face the outside possibility of an embarrassing defeat in parliament when any proposed legislation goes to the vote.

The publication of the Independent Commission on Banking’s final report next Monday will kick off the political wrangling, with the government expected to come up with proposals for legislation by the end of the year.

Both parties will want to avoid the tag of being too soft, with public resentment still lingering over the role of the banks in the 2008-9 financial crisis, although the technical nature of any reforms will make it easier to fudge a response.

And the Conservatives, who favour light-touch regulation and have close links to the financial sector, may be prepared to take a short-term hit in popularity if it keeps the City of London — and the party faithful — on side.

“They are neo-liberals,” said Steven Fielding, a political history professor at the University of Nottingham.

“They probably genuinely feel that, apart from a little bit of tweaking, there really isn’t anything much that needs to be done. Maybe they will take a short-term hit because they won’t be seen to be banker bashing but in the longer term, so long as it all works out and the economy grows, most people won’t remember.”