By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. A growing dataset has emerged over the last few months suggesting a rightwards shift among the young. Be it in the beliefs younger voters hold or the more modest shift in the party they support, it seems that Generation Y are striking out in a different direction to their parents. More […]
This isn’t exactly a boom time for that commodity called “government competence”. After the National Audit Office’s uncomplimentary prose about the delivery of Universal Credit, yesterday, it sounds as though the Public Accounts Committee is going to be similarly critical about the course of HS2. According to a report in today’s Daily Mail, the committee will next week “deliver its […]
By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter A difficult day for the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith with a critical report from the National Audit Office on the implementation of the Universal Credit leading the news bulletins. The Government is certainly being ambitious over the scale of the project and the timescale for implementing it. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. The formidable Conservative backbench support for transferable tax allowances shows how crucial marriage is to Tory thinking about social policy. It's often accompanied by a preoccupation with the position of one-earner couples within the tax and benefit system, and a certain sympathy for universalism and hostility to means-testing: hence […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. The latest labour market statistics from the ONS contains five key pieces of good news for the Government: The number of people in work in March-May 2013 rose by 16,000 on the previous quarter, and is up 336,000 on the same quarter last year – to 29.71 million Unemployment in March-May […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter And the word of the day is “cap”, as in “benefits cap”. You might have heard it during Iain Duncan Smith’s growling appearance on the Today Programme earlier, or read it in Grant Shapps’ article for the Daily Telegraph. For today’s the day when the Government extends what is effectively […]
By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter The Times journalist Daniel Finkelstein is a bright and engaging fellow. Reading his stuff is enjoyable as you follow his reasoning weighing the merit of an argument. He is open minded and interested in radical ideas – unlike so many of his fellow pundits who are sneeringly dismissive. However Mr […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. Iain Duncan Smith has received a special delivery: a big present, gift-wrapped in blue paper and yellow ribbon, sent direct from the EU Commission. The Eurocrats' latest wheeze is a legal case intended to strike down the restrictions used to prevent benefit tourists milking the British benefits system. Such a campaign […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. In "Yes Minister", Sir Humphrey is infinitely more intelligent than Jim Hacker, and invariably tries to frustrate whatever changes the politician wants to make to the system – but, if given an instruction, he follows it: it would be against his sense of his professional pride for him not […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The graph above comes from YouGov's Joe Twyman. It shows how supporters of ALL three parties agree that the benefit system needs "some significant" or "major" reforms. Overall, 70% of voters want changes. Five other YouGov findings (PDF) included: 63% thought the benefit system wasn't strict enough and is […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. It's characteristic of George Osborne, professional politician that he is, to have dodged the inevitable question this week on whether he could live on £53 a week, and also characteristic of Iain Duncan Smith, who is not a professional politician at all, to have confronted it. Andrew Pierce of […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. George Osborne is no less a pupil of Gordon Brown than Ed Balls, at least when it comes to moving pieces on the political chessboard. To change the image, Brown was a believer in "dividing lines" – gambits designed to throw his opponents on the defensive. "Labour Investment versus […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter First, George Osborne joined Twitter. Then there was his pub-ready Budget. Then there were tweets about football. And now, today, there’s a speech on jobs and welfare, delivered to the staff of a Morrisons depot in Kent. Not only is the Submarine Chancellor becoming more visible, but he’s also becoming […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Even though the Guardian and Mirror are overstating their collective case, today is still a day of momentous policy changes. You can see our quick checklist of the biggest – which includes a couple that didn’t make it into the Guardian’s main round-up – below. Although, before you do, it’s […]