
Robert Halfon: There must be no tax rises for lower income voters to help meet the costs of the virus
No fuel duty rises, self-employed taxes, income tax rises, more taxes on food and drink – and the like.
No fuel duty rises, self-employed taxes, income tax rises, more taxes on food and drink – and the like.
The Government can avoid worsening it. But that requires as bold a deviation from ordinary policy as the extraordinary relief efforts we saw before.
Measuring people’s incomes needs to be part of measuring progress – but we need to be careful, because different measures give different results.
As the Prime Minister said, many people have lent us their vote, and they won’t be so generous next time if we get it wrong.
A new Conservative Government will need to transform the economy. It remains to be seen whether this be done with a majority based on northern, post-industrial Britain.
“Now I want a nice clean game from all of you” – so said Madam Hooch in Harry Potter. The reality is, it’s not going to happen.
It’s a bit like the roof of Parliament’s Westminster Hall: which is held up by a lot of huge, ancient beams all resting on each other.
Bowman and Westlake’s policy ideas are perfectly compatible with this end, but pitching them as a city and town agenda risks creating a false impression.
The Conservative Party could become the natural home for the urban working class if it revived these towns, David Skelton argues in his new book.
In his eyes, you have them only as long as the Government suffers you to have them, and they can be retrospectively taken away if he sees fit.
Raising national insurance, fewer “sin taxes”, public sector pay rises, more schools spending – all are part of his programme.
We must tackle causes of poverty, not symptoms: educational failure, worklessness, family breakdown, debt, addiction, disability, exposure to crime, poor housing.
The Labour leader presses the Government on food banks and social care, and the Prime Minister touts tax cuts and boosts to incomes.
There are benefits all round when employers adopt the higher, voluntary rate, and the public sector ought to be setting an example.
It’s not hard to find reasons to be frustrated with the Government, but we are still delivering for the British people.