We are waiting for Labour to deliver their proposals. Because this should be too important an issue to become a political football.
Its awards consume roughly a quarter of public spending. It is hard to see where the tax hikes or spending scaleback to fund them will come from if the Chancellor sticks to his guns.
The first article in a five-piece series by the author on how Britain must prepare for March 31 2019 – and has less than 600 days to get it right.
“We’re badly trailing in the polls. Corbyn’s up and you’re down. You hired me to get things done and tell you how I see it. Here goes.”
The next manifesto might propose breaking the link between student maintenance costs and parental income by introducing a universal loan.
With seven of their nine seats in England now held with majorities of less than eight per cent of the vote, the next election offers a chance to take them out for good.
I strongly believe that the region is poised at one of the most exciting and opportunity-rich junctures of its post-modern history.
If the parties support campaigners appropriately, then there will be good to be gained from this election.
Party members are united in their expectation that every Conservative MP must back the boundary reform proposals when they come to Parliament.
Voters in seats outside London and the South-East need to be forced to think about the Tories in a different way.
The harsh truth is that, nearly seven years into Conservative-led Government, we are still living beyond our means.
In my area, transport, there will be better jobs on the roads, at the airports and on rail, and more business success elsewhere.
The logic of her view that no deal is better than a bad one suggests that, like Thatcher at Fontainebleau, she is prepared to walk away if necessary.
George Osborne’s project, though mocked by some, is already changing the politics of the North, by recruiting influential Labour politicians.
Meanwhile, the North East’s score is 2.