“George Osborne brought an early end to austerity yesterday – using a surprise £27billion windfall to go on a spending spree. Despite weeks of warnings of savage cuts, the Chancellor ditched plans to slash the £30billion tax credits bill. He will now even breach his self-imposed cap on welfare payments.” – Daily Mail
Who’s paying for it?
Tax Credits:
Students:
Devolution:
NHS:
Pensions:
“As we were reminded time and again, he is happy to tell people and companies what to do and has a penchant for grands projets and an activist industrial policy, with subsidies directed to parts of the economy that he wants to develop… In a remarkable sign of the times, the Institute for Public Policy Research, one of the think tanks that helped invent New Labour in the Nineties, welcomed Mr Osborne’s announcements, judging them to be broadly compatible with social-democratic thinking.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
Editorial:
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, plunged senior Labour figures into despair yesterday by quoting from the Little Red Book of the former Chinese communist leader Chairman Mao in his response to George Osborne’s spending review. In a move condemned by Chris Leslie, his predecessor, as a “misjudged stunt”, Mr McDonnell produced a copy of the book and attempted to embarrass Mr Osborne over his attempts to woo the Chinese.” – The Times (£)
Sketches:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
“The Conservative party ignored a written allegation of bullying and intimidation against a senior Tory activist more than a year before he was expelled from the party, leaked emails have revealed. Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) was sent a detailed complaint about Mark Clarke in July last year by a student activist. Despite an official promising to act on the matter, the student heard nothing more and no action was taken against Mr Clarke.” – The Times (£)
“David Cameron will reassure the Commons that British air strikes in Syria are unlikely to lead to civilian casualties as he makes the case for military intervention. The Prime Minister will set out his seven point response to concerns raised by the Foreign Affairs select committee as he seeks to allay concerns over Syria.” – Daily Telegraph
>Today: Daniel Hannan MEP in Comment: Why we must back Turkey against Putin
“David Cameron is set to ditch his controversial demand to make EU migrants wait four years before they can claim in-work benefits, officials in Brussels have said. The move would cause uproar with some of his backbench MPs, who had already poured scorn on the proposals and eurosceptics will seize on the reports as further proof that Britain should quit the EU to take back control of immigration.” – The Guardian
“Philip Hammond has warned Europe that British voters will force the UK out of the European Union in the forthcoming referendum unless there is a clampdown on benefits to EU migrants in Britain. In a speech in Rome, the foreign secretary also said that a majority of British voters now favoured leaving the EU amid fears that Europe is being engulfed by “what appears to many people to be an uncontrollable wave of migration”.” – The Times (£)
>Today: Profiles: France – and its future relationship with the EU
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: The main obstacle to a deal between the rival Leave campaigns is Arron Banks himself
“Officials are to sit down for talks with doctors’ leaders in a last-ditch bid to avert strike action, the Health Secretary has announced. In a significant climbdown, Jeremy Hunt agreed to start conciliatory talks with arbitration service Acas, just days before 37,000 junior doctors take action next Tuesday.” – Daily Mail
“Atheism will go on the school syllabus for RE lessons after the High Court ruled Education Secretary Nicky Morgan’s move to omit non-religious views from lessons was unlawful. The ruling in London was a victory for three families, supported by the British Humanist Association, who claimed Nicky Morgan had taken a ‘skewed’ approach and was failing to reflect the diverse nature of the UK in schools.” – Daily Mail