Category: Conservatives

No sign of end to political party funding impasse

November 22, 2011 8:00 am by Jim Pickard

Plans to reform the funding of political parties will be unveiled in a few hours’ time but already appear doomed amid continued infighting between Labour and the Tories.

Sir Christopher Kelly’s committee on standards in public life will hold a press conference setting out out proposals including a suggested £10,000 cap on donations, changes to union funding and £20m a year of state funding. It will also suggest that members of the public will be able to give up to £1,000 tax-free to political parties, just as they currently can with charities.

Yet dissent over the issue is reflected within the committee itself, which will produce two separate “notes of dissent” – effectively minority reports – at odds with the main recommendations.

Former minister Margaret Beckett, the Labour member, will argue against a proposal to

Continue reading: “No sign of end to political party funding impasse”

Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Labour, Lib Dems, UK politics | Permalink

Osborne could meet his target even with a £1 trillion deficit by 2015

November 17, 2011 2:18 pm by Kiran Stacey

The unemployment stats on Wednesday triggered a new round of speculation about whether George Osborne was likely to meet his two fiscal targets: balancing the structural current deficit and having debt falling as a ratio to GDP by the end of the parliament.

Neither target is quite as tough as you might think, however, as the Guardian has pointed out today. On the debt target, technically, the government could borrow billions more than it is currently planning and still not breach it, as long as it slowed borrowing towards the end of the parliament and showed debt was falling by 2015. This is unlikely to happen (partially because it could breach the other target), but it is possible.

Continue reading: “Osborne could meet his target even with a £1 trillion deficit by 2015″

Tags: Automatic stabilisers, George Osborne
Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, Deficit, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Cable: Benefits will rise in line with inflation

November 13, 2011 3:58 pm by Kiran Stacey

We revealed earlier this month that George Osborne was considering slashing the benefits bill by linking them to earnings (which are stagnant), rather than inflation (which is rising fast).

Since then, the chancellor has been locked in a battle, not only with Nick Clegg, but also Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory work and pensions secretary, about whether the government should do this, having previously said benefits would rise in line with CPI.

If Vince Cable is to be believed, it looks like IDS and his Lib Dem allies have won this one. The business secretary told the BBC’s Politics Show:

Continue reading: “Cable: Benefits will rise in line with inflation”

Tags: Benefits, Iain Duncan Smith, Inflation, Vince Cable
Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

It’s hard to draw up a growth review with no money

November 13, 2011 11:43 am by Kiran Stacey

We reported last week that George Osborne and Vince Cable were pushing for a new toll road scheme on the heavily congested A14 near Cambridge. Today, the Sunday Times suggests that road tolling will play a central role in the government’s growth review on November 29.

The paper says Osborne and Cable want £50bn from the private sector, mainly pension funds and insurance companies, to fund new infrastructure, including roads, homes and power stations. In return they will get a share of tolls, rents and energy bills.

The problem is that ministers can’t force private companies to spend their money on such schemes: all they can do is put the incentives in place for them to do so. But these carry their own risks.

Continue reading: “It’s hard to draw up a growth review with no money”

Tags: George Osborne, growth review, Vince Cable
Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, David Cameron, Deficit, Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

How much does each benefit cost?

November 7, 2011 1:13 pm by Kiran Stacey

UPDATE: I have now added in housing benefit – apologies for the omission, and thanks to Paul Treloar for pointing it out.

The brains over at the Treasury are currently trying to work out if there is a way to cut billions of pounds of public spending by freezing benefits in a way that would also be palatable to most voters. As we reported last week, it looks like pensions will be exempted from any freeze to avoid accusations of punishing older people. But what else is up for grabs, and how much could be saved?

Here is a table of each of the most significant benefits paid out by DWP and how much each one costs. I’ve done one column for how much was spent last year, one for how much is forecast to be spent next year, factoring in various policy changes, and one for how much they would cost next year if there were no spending cuts and they were allowed to rise with 5.2 per cent inflation.

Continue reading: “How much does each benefit cost?”

Tags: Benefits, DWP, Pensions
Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Labour attacks Osborne for hurting pensioners

November 3, 2011 12:50 pm by Kiran Stacey

Labour is in a slightly difficult position about how to respond to the news in the FT today that the Treasury is looking to slash benefits by linking them to earnings or even freezing them temporarily.

Although Cameron said he wouldn’t “balance the books on the back of the poor”, Labour knows that attacking the government for hypocrisy on this point could make it look like they are standing up for benefits’ claimants – or “scroungers” as they are thought of by many people.

Instead, the opposition will want to pick its battles. At the moment, the Treasury is still actively considering applying this change to all benefits and pensions, which would affect a lot of people who don’t fall into the “scrounger”.

Continue reading: “Labour attacks Osborne for hurting pensioners”

Tags: Benefits, George Osborne, Liam Byrne, Pensions
Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Is there any evidence for Cameron idea that more women execs would curb high pay?

November 3, 2011 12:20 pm by Jim Pickard

David Cameron made his claim again yesterday during PMQs that having more women on the boardroom would lead to more restraint.

He made a similar comment on Friday while in Australia, saying more female directors would have a “beneficial effect” on boards and lead to less disproportionate remuneration.

(Income Data Services found a 49 per cent jump in the total earnings of all FTSE 100 directors, taking their average package to just under £2.7m. This followed an increase of 55 per cent in the previous year.)

But the idea that a heavier female presence in the boardroom would act as a curb on lavish pay has been met with some scepticism from experts.

Deborah Hargreaves, chair of the independent High Pay Commission, told me

Continue reading: “Is there any evidence for Cameron idea that more women execs would curb high pay?”

Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Govt in a flap over health bill in the Lords

November 2, 2011 6:26 pm by Kiran Stacey

Last week, we were told that the government was going to support the Lord Mackay amendment to the health bill, which adds in a clause saying the health secretary “retains ultimate responsibility” for the health service.

This was supposed to have won the support of Baroness Williams and other rebellious Lib Dem peers who have been concerned about the fact that the bill as it stands removes the legal duty on the secretary of state to provide a health service free at the point of contact.

But today, Lord Howe, the government health minister in the Lords, asked Lord Mackay and all other peers to withdraw their amendements for further consideration. They want to reach a compromise that all sides can agree on.

Continue reading: “Govt in a flap over health bill in the Lords”

Tags: Health bill, NHS, Shirley Williams
Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, UK politics | Permalink

Lord Green’s matchmaking finally revealed

November 2, 2011 3:40 pm by Elizabeth Rigby

After painful months of matchmaking UKTI have officially announced which ministers will be paired with whom as the trade promotion body looks to inject a litle more commerical prowess into Whitehall.

The scheme pairs top exporters and inward investors with key ministers to make sure that special companies are well looked after. So far six ministers – spread between business, energy and media departments – have been appointed abassadorial roles with 38 companies between them. Jeremy Hunt is getting Microsoft, Google and Facebook, while Vince Cable with look after manufacturer Tata and the oil giants.

The scheme is designed to give key companies a “seamless ‘one-stop’ service in their dealings with Whitehall. It would well be worth an audit in a few months time to see if Lord Green’s scheme lives up to the billing. Expect more ministers and companies to get involved in the coming months as Lord Green extends the scheme.

Continue reading: “Lord Green’s matchmaking finally revealed”

Tags: Lord Green
Posted in Coalition, Conservatives, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

PMQs: Cameron forced to the left

November 2, 2011 1:29 pm by Kiran Stacey

It was an intriguing PMQs today. As I have previously noted, Ed Miliband has begun to find his feet on the economy, and once again used this as his main attack line.

As he has done at previous sessions he chose an obscure policy that has achieved little so far (this time the “business growth fund”, which was set up using money from the Merlin agreement), and used it to embarrass the PM.

As has happened before, Cameron didn’t know what the policy was (in fact at the end, he started talking about the Regional Growth Fund – a different fund altogether). So when asked how many businesses the fund had invested in, he was unable to answer.

Continue reading: “PMQs: Cameron forced to the left”

Tags: pmqs
Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Labour, Recession, Tax, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

BBC issues extraordinary apology to Andrew Tyrie

November 1, 2011 6:56 pm by Kiran Stacey

During party conferences, the BBC broadcast a piece of footage showing Andrew Tyrie, the chair of the Treasury select committee, talking in hushed tones to Steve Hilton and Craig Oliver before being interviewed by one of their reporters. The Beeb noted that after meeting the pair, Tyrie gave a much more positive assessment of George Osborne’s economic strategy than he had done just a few days before. We noted the encounter here on the blog, as did a number of other media outlets.

The coverage infuriated Tyrie, who says his independence was being called into question unfairly. Well now the BBC has issued a fairly extraordinary on-air apology, stating:

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Tags: Andrew Tyire, BBC
Posted in Conservatives, Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Lord Young was never properly sacked

October 31, 2011 3:39 pm by Kiran Stacey

Remember Lord Young? He is the former trade and industry secretary who was given the task of reviewing health and safety regulation for Number 10 last year. He was forced to resign last November, however, after telling a Telegraph journalist that many Britons had “never had it so good”, despite the economy being gripped by recession.

At the time, David Cameron said: