George Osborne is calling the Budget a "con." He is, of course, right. ConservativeHome may wish that Mr Osborne was much more committed to making the economic case for lower taxation but Mr Brown has zero credibility with us on tax. The 2p cut today had a lot more to do with yesterday’s 28% poll […]
Very difficult job for Cameron after Brown’s announcement of a 2p cut in income tax (from next April). Cameron responded by saying that the Chancellor had, after all, accepted the Tory idea that you could cut taxes and raise spending through the proceeds of growth. He said that Brown only normally cut taxes before an […]
12.30pm: And we’re off with a typically modest comparison with him and Gladstone – the last time a Chancellor delivered 12 budgets was when Gladstone combined the jobs of Chancellor and Prime Minister! 12.31pm: Joking reference to Lord Turnbull – this is the ‘new Brown’ who can take a joke! 12.32pm: Claiming credit for 59 […]
"Gordon Brown’s Budget Day report into town hall finances today dropped a tax bombshell on working families and pensioners across the country Conservatives have warned. The small print reveals: New home improvement tax: On top of new banding, the report recommends not just a council tax revaluation, but regular revaluations (p.240). The council tax revaluation […]
ConservativeHome published the headline results of the March members’ survey last Friday and over the next few days we’ll examine some of the findings in more detail. As promised there’ll also be a comparison of the data collected for members as against supporters. The table on the right summarises members’ reactions to the leadership’s controversial […]
This morning’s Financial Times leads on a Tory proposal to reduce corporation tax from 30% to 27%. The cut would be paid for by ending many of the reliefs that currently exist within the corporation tax system. “This is an entirely self-contained, and self-financing, simplification of the business tax system,” George Osborne told the newspaper. […]
"For every extra £100 that Brown has spent since 1997, only £30 has been used to improve frontline public services. Thanks to the way he has run the Treasury, the rest has gone on cost-inflation, bureaucracy and waste." – George Osborne writing in The Sunday Times
Both the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times have surveys on voter attitudes to green taxation. The idea of such taxation gets a big thumbs down but David Cameron is – overall – seen as greener than Gordon Brown and the headline Tory lead over Labour is intact at 6% (YouGov) and 7% (BPIX for […]
After a bad few days of press coverage for their airline tax proposals the front page of this morning’s Telegraph suggests that the Tories are prepared to use carrots as well as sticks to encourage the nation to ‘go green’: "In an attempt to swing more people behind his green crusade, [David Cameron’s] advisers are […]
From the man who has raised taxes eighty times and delivered a crude doubling of the air passenger duty, this is what Gordon Brown said on this morning’s GMTV sofa: "I am not going to penalise the holidaymaker and I am not going to penalise people who have got to travel for all sorts of […]
It’s not often that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic agree on anything but they are united in opposing Tory plans to raise taxes on air travel. Yesterday’s right-leaning Sunday newspapers were all deeply sceptical about the Tories’ green tax plans and today has given the dailies their first chance to comment. They don’t make comfortable […]
Last weekend we revealed John McCain’s dismay at David Cameron’s stance on Iraq. If the Tories’ bridges to the GOP are looking shakier the outreach to the Democrats is improving. Climate change evangelist Al Gore is to address the shadow cabinet this week, according to The Sunday Telegraph. The former US President’s hypocrisy on global […]
Tomorrow’s Sunday newspapers have been leaked details of Tory plans to increase taxation of air travel in a bid to reduce the industry’s (alleged) escalating contribution to climate change. The News of the World is apparently planning to talk of "four massive new taxes" when, according to CCHQ, the four tax options are only under […]
Last year we published The Machinery of Government (And How To Reform It), a special report by William Norton. William used his experience as a business consultant and frontbench policy adviser to present the first holistic analysis of the various arms of the UK Government, and outlined a plan to rescue the public services. Today […]