The Treasury minister who thought the housing crash was a joking matter
Vince Cable held a press conference this morning to outline various ways to ease the pain in the housing market. I’m not sure any of his suggestions will make a massive difference (they include letting housing associations borrow more to buy up empty homes***).
But credit to the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, who has long been alert on this issue. As he reminds us, Labour MPs were literally laughing at the idea of an imminent housing crash – as recently as the spring. Read more
“Old-fashioned socialist hatred”, the windfall tax and Ofgem’s investigation
You may or may not have noticed the Conservative silence during the ongoing debate about a windfall tax on energy companies. It’s not hard to imagine the internal debate at the top of the party on this one.
Attacking the idea would be sensible and confirm the party’s pro-business credentials. But supporting it could play well in Lower Middle England. Saying nothing would give the Tories the benefit of the doubt either way. Read more
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Jim Pickard is the FT's chief political correspondent, having joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the FT since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.
Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.
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