Highlights of George Osborne’s speech to the Cheltenham Spring Forum

Labour has run out of ideas: "They have run out of ideas. The economy is on its knees, enterprise is… Read more »

George Osborne wants mandate from voters for specific spending cuts

PoliticsHome has recorded his words as delivered to Sky News: "I have always been under pressure to set out my… Read more »

Let’s hope there’s a secret plan

A year ago the Conservative Spring Forum was in Gateshead.  I urged the Tory leader to give a speech that… Read more »

David Cameron agrees public has a right to know Tory spending plans… but is the party waiting on the IMF to order austerity?

Amidst reports that David Cameron "has effectively taken over the party's economic policy" (Iain Martin) the Tory leader was on… Read more »

Three priorities for George Osborne’s first budget

We mustn't get ahead of ourselves but… Priority one: Repairing the public finances by focusing on reducing spending. Tax rises… Read more »

New Labour is D.E.A.D.

D is for debt. Britain is drowning in Brown's borrowings. As the BBC's Robert Peston said, this was a truly… Read more »

Live blog of Alistair Darling’s Budget statement

1.21pm Alistair Darling sits down. 1.20pm ISA limits to be increased. 1.19pm Increase in statutory redundancy pay from £350 to… Read more »

Tories urge £600m investment in a new generation of scientists and engineers

The Conservatives have today urged Alistair Darling to adopt a £600m package to provide more science and training courses for… Read more »

Darling may be about to set second supertax trap for Tories

Jonathan Oliver and David Smith report that Alistair Darling may use this week's Budget to beef up the planned supertax… Read more »

George Osborne will only guarantee that hospitals and overseas aid are protected from spending cuts

1pm Update: In response to this, a Conservative spokesman has just emailed me to say: "Our position on protected areas… Read more »

Does the Government now have “a moral duty” to cut public expenditure?

The hare has been set running on the above question today not by a Conservative politician, but by a Labour… Read more »

Should the Conservatives abandon the inheritance tax cut? Should the upgrade of Trident be scrapped? Can we afford National Citizen Service?

Big cuts in public spending are going to be necessary to restore order to Britain’s public finances (and to avoid… Read more »

Peter Oborne asks the big question…

That is essentially the question posed by Peter Oborne during a lecture he gave to the Centre for Policy Studies… Read more »

Ed Vaizey questions future of ministerial car

This comes from Ed Vaizey MP’s blog: "I am guessing the annual cost today [of a ministerial car] is at… Read more »

Tories launch campaign to save British pubs from their biggest ever crisis

(Video features Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport). The crisis facing the British pub is… Read more »