The evidence from the local elections is not that the voters are abandoning the Tories to back Reform or Ukip , but parties of the centre and the left. Their situation is bad, but it can be made worse.
In terms of fiscal policy, if the wider economic picture does not allow the debt to GDP ratio to fall, then the focus of the markets will be on the need to keep the public finances in shape.
My argument is simply one of affordability (including, by the way, by dropping the triple lock) if our public finances are going to be sustainable.
Ministers have protected some of the most vulnerable people in society, during some of the most challenging times the country has faced. They should now adapt the Social Metric Commission’s measure of poverty as a national statistic.
Universal Support was always meant to sit alongside Universal Credit, specifically focused on helping written-off groups. But it was cut by an impecunious Treasury.
A collection of responses to today’s statement from the CPS, IEA, ASI and others.
Over this speech hung a sense that the Chancellor was with impeccable dutifulness making the best of a bad job.
“Long term, sustainable, healthy growth that pays for our NHS and schools, finds jobs for young people, and provides a safety net for older people all whilst making our country one of the most prosperous in the world.”
Jeremy Hunt presents to Parliament the Government’s plan centred on his so-called Four Es: Enterprise, Education, Employment and Everywhere.
Tax incentives are all well and good, but the Government also needs to tackle the discrimination faced by too many older people in the workplace.
A shallow fixation on salaries ignores or disguises the much more challenging economic circumstances of many entrepreneurs and small business-owners.
One ex-minister described the corporation tax rise to me as “categorically the wrong decision”. But the same old question for backbenchers remains: what will you sacrifice for tax cuts?
Jeremy Hunt should be finding ways to encourage businesses to launch and grow in the United Kingdom, not squeezing them out.
Investors in science and technology need to be able to rely on the assurance that we will not fall behind nations such as the US, Israel, Germany and South Korea in our investment to science.
Combined with windfall taxes on both fossil fuel and renewable energy generation, Britain’s business tax regime is getting less, not more, competitive.