ConservativeHome today publishes a report entitled "Bankrupt Britain". The report by Malcolm Offord – a City fund manager with 21 years experience and an adviser to the Centre for Social Justice – paints a devastating picture of the UK government’s finances. The Sunday Times covers the report – Britain faces £100bn cut in spending according […]
Where are the politicians who are telling us the truth about the depth of the economic and social challenges facing Britain? In an occasional series we’ll highlight those big beasts who stand up and tell the truth. Honoured today is Boris Johnson for this observation in his weekly Telegraph column: "It is incredible but true […]
Good piece by Policy Exchange’s Neil O’Brien in The Sunday Times. He advocates "blue collar conservatism". I’ve had similar thoughts myself in the past. One paragraph stood out from Neil’s piece: "The first priority [of a Conservative government] must be to reduce unemployment. Cutting employers’ National Insurance is probably the most effective way to get […]
It was Cameron-Osborne’s biggest and loneliest decision: The decision to oppose Labour’s plans to borrow and spend Britain’s way out of recession. When the Tory leadership team took the decision they were first big political party in the world to step away from the herd. It’s a decision that doesn’t look so lonely today. America’s […]
David Cameron is about to get to his feet and announce the beginning of what is expected to be three Tory tax cuts. By reducing public spending growth to +1% in 2009/10 (excepting the four protected priorities of health, education, international development and defence) the Conservatives believe they can save £5bn compared to Labour’s spending […]
From 22nd to 28th December 1,816 Tory members told us their highest and lowest priorities for twelve calls on public spending identified by ConservativeHome. The two graphics below summarise the findings (click on either to enlarge): HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR PUBLIC SPENDING LOWEST PRIORITY FOR PUBLIC SPENDING We asked the two relevant shadow cabinet members – […]
It’s funny really. Just as I’d given up any expectation of lower taxation from the Conservatives, George Osborne hints at a trio of "funded" tax reliefs. I’m clearly not the only Tory member who had come to believe that the scale of Labour’s borrowings meant that early hopes for tax relief were over. These are […]
Within an interview for The Sunday Times George Osborne hints at a trio of tax cut pledges in the new year. The Sunday Times’ Jonathan Oliver summarises them here but they appear to be tax measures for pensioners (the subject of a Telegraph campaign), savers and also a commitment to reverse Labour’s 1% NI increase. […]
Yesterday evening we blogged the latest ComRes poll and its finding that the Tory lead had grown to 5%. Within the detail of its poll The Independent finds that the Conservative lead would grow markedly if voters focused on the Tory policy of using public expenditure restraint to try and avoid higher taxes: "Asked how […]
At his press conference this morning David Cameron confirmed that the Tories would not cut public spending but would restrain its growth. Given that Brown-Darling intend to limit spending to 1.1% from 2011 the difference between the parties is no more than about £6bn pa. Fraser Nelson describes this as a difference "between nothing and […]
Speaking at Nottingham University on Friday, as part of a gathering of academics to discuss "Cameron’s Conservatives", Ken Clarke warned that the level of debt awaiting the next government would be a "nightmare" compared to the borrowing he had to manage as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the early 1990s. He said that public expenditure […]
Update: The report on the BBC website includes extensive quotes and has a video of the interview. — Sir John Major joined the attack on the Government’s handling of the economy this morning, in an interview with Andrew Marr. He said that we were facing the worst economic situation since the Second Word War and […]
First Canada, now Manchester. 78.8% said no to the proposed congestion charge which would have funded greater investment in public transport.
I am told that last evening’s gathering of the shadow cabinet was "sobre" as the implications of David Cameron’s message on public spending sank in. The FT reports that David Cameron has launched a "tough" review of public spending as part of a hardening of overall economic policy. The Times publishes an insidery story of […]
Last week ConHome wrote: "Before we’re willing to accept tax rises from an incoming Tory government we need to be convinced that everything possible has been done to end the misspending of this incompetent Labour government." There may be no ‘Letwin review of waste’ but speaking to the LSE this morning, David Cameron signalled – […]