“Giving workers the freedom to spend their retirement savings as they choose is backed by two thirds of voters, a new poll shows in a big boost for George Osborne. The Chancellor’s dramatic announcement in Wednesday’s Budget is supported by 66 per cent in the YouGov survey published today in The Sun. The poll also shows strong backing for his other measures to support savers hit by low interest rates.” – The Times (£)
> Yesterday:
“The government has defended a minister who said pensioners would be free to spend their savings on a Lamborghini following a rule change in the Budget. Pensions minister Steve Webb said it was people’s “choice” whether to buy Italian Lamborghini sports cars. No 10 said people were free to spend money in their own way.” – BBC
“More than two million additional middle-income earners will have been dragged into the 40p rate of income tax under the Coalition, independent economists have said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies suggested that higher-rate taxpayers will be £546 a year worse off after Mr Osborne ignored calls to raise the 40p threshold in his Budget. It currently stands at £41,450.” – Daily Telegraph
“Tory chairman Grant Shapps came under fire from his own party last night over a ‘patronising’ advert highlighting Budget cuts to bingo and beer duty. Mr Shapps suffered a ferocious backlash on Twitter after posting the advert in an apparent bid to woo working-class voters.” – Daily Mail
“Up to a quarter of a million savers began a desperate stampede yesterday to escape being locked into poor value pensions. Retirees poised to turn their pension pot into an income for life using an annuity deluged providers with panicked calls fearing they would be trapped in shoddy deals. It follows the Chancellor’s Budget announcement that from next year no one will be forced to take an annuity when they retire.” – Daily Mail
“He loved this place,” Hilary Benn told MPs. “He loved the people who built it, those who help us in our work, he loved the debate and the argument. “But he did not idealise Parliament. He saw it as the means to an end, to be a voice for the movements outside these walls who seek to change the world for the better, as well as being a voice for the people who send us here. That was the essence of his character.” – BBC
“Sun guest editor James Corden this week gave Prime Minister the toughest verbal grilling he has ever had in No10. David Cameron agreed to the ordeal to help raise money for Sport Relief. And he was forced by the cheeky TV funnyman to confess secrets about Boris Johnson, Euro 2020, England’s aborted World Cup bid, and even the SAS.” – The Sun (£)
> Today:ToryDiary: Cameron adds to chorus urging Boris to stand for the Commons in 2015
“A minister leapt to the defence of the apostrophe on Thursday, insisting that if humanity can put a man on the Moon and split the atom it can build a satnav that understands punctuation. Brandon Lewis, a communities minister, said if the apostrophe is “good enough for Her Majesty’s Government, so should it be for local councils”. He was replying to a parliamentary question on the guidance Government has issued to councils about the use of the apostrophe on street signs.” – Daily Telegraph
“The government “increased anti-immigrant prejudice” by not getting an estimate of the number of Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK ahead of restrictions ending, MPs have said. Both nationalities gained full rights to work in the UK on 1 January. The Commons Home Affairs Committee said a lack of data would allow tensions to be inflamed, although numbers coming seemed a “trickle rather than a flood”. The Home Office said it “totally” rejected the MPs’ claims.” – BBC
“People use food banks to get basic items free and spend their remaining cash on junk food, Lord Tebbit claimed yesterday. The former Cabinet minister said there was a ‘near infinite demand’ for anything free.” – Daily Mail
“Limiting child benefit to two children per family is “enormously popular” and could be included in Conservative plans, Iain Duncan Smith has said. The former party leader also confirmed that pensioner perks such as free TV licences and the winter fuel allowance would be included in the Government’s new welfare cap, meaning they will be considered for cuts after the election.” – The Times (£)
“Labour is to target the UK Independence Party for the first time after growing complaints from MPs, candidates and activists that it is not taking the threat from Nigel Farage’s party seriously enough. In a recognition that Britain is now in an era of four-party politics, a team of officials at Labour’s national HQ in Westminster will monitor the anti-EU party. A leaflet attacking Ukip will be issued by Labour shortly.” – The Independent
“Scottish independence and a Tory win at the next UK election would force the country into a “race to the bottom”, Labour leader Ed Miliband will say. Mr Miliband will argue such an outcome would leave Scotland and the rest of the UK having to compete on cutting taxes and wages to compete globally.” – BBC
“Liberal Democrat concerns over the impact of the Help to Buy scheme have been intensified by new figures from the Office of Budget Responsibility showing house price inflation is continuing to soar. The increase is likely to peak in the third quarter of this year at an annualised rate of 9.2%, the official forecaster said. That figure is substantially higher than the OBR was forecasting only four months ago, and means house prices are on course to reach pre-crash levels.” – The Guardian
“Allowing super wealthy migrants to buy their way in to the UK in a visa auction would be a “recipe for disaster”, MPs have warned. Proposals to offer “gilts for citizenship” were alarming and risked allowing the rich to sidestep immigration controls, a report by the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee said.” – Daily Telegraph
“A new vaccine against meningitis B – one of the most feared diseases, which can quickly kill children or leave them needing limb amputations – is to be made available free on the NHS, The Independent has learnt.” – The Independent
“Alex Salmond has argued that disclosing how much he spent at a five-star hotel in Chicago during his trip to the Ryder Cup would jeopardise his safety. The First Minister’s made the extraordinary claim in the latest stage of his battle with the Telegraph to keep secret the cost to the taxpayer of his September 2012 stay. In a submission to Scotland’s Freedom of Information (FOI) commissioner, who is deciding whether the cost should be released to this newspaper, his civil servants cited security concerns and said he “does not wish to increase the level of risk by divulging hotel names”.” – Daily Telegraph