Politics

When all else fails, I suppose, you can just plead for mercy. That appears to be the message emanating from the Scottish Labour party’s conference in Perth this weekend. The theme, Kezia Dugdale says, is “Take a fresh look” at Labour. OK. [Awkward silence.] Now what? The thing is, you see, that “Take a fresh look” has been the unofficial theme of every meeting of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party since, oh, at least 1997. When you are reduced to pinching lines from the Scottish Tories you are probably in a position similar to the lost traveller seeking directions to Limerick who was told “Well, I wouldn’t start from here”. Here is where Labour

One of the few interesting questions from a Tory backbencher at PMQs this week was one from Michelle Donelan about children in care, particularly residential care. It may well have been planted, as it allowed the Prime Minister to announce a review of residential care, to coincide with Care Leavers Week. Today, as part of that week, the Public Accounts Committee found ‘systematic weaknesses’ in the support for care leavers, arguing that ‘central and local government must both take more responsibility for improving outcomes. One of the PAC’s recommendations was that children leaving care need better support from personal advisers, as currently many of those young people receive ‘too patchy’ a

The government’s reaction to Monday night’s vote on tax credits was to institute a review of the Lords’ powers. The temptation to take a swipe at those who had thwarted them is understandable. But the real problems lies less with the Lords than the way we make budgets. The day after his July budget, the Chancellor was lauded by many. Not only had he pulled off an unlikely election victory, he had produced a budget which delivered a surplus, introduced a living wage, met the manifesto commitment to cut inheritance tax, raised tax thresholds and the 40 per cent starting rate – all with seemingly little pain. This was a

An enjoyable aspect of parliamentary rules and conventions is that almost no one understands them. This has become acutely true in an age when the media no longer regularly reports proceedings in Parliament. So when the House of Lords threatened to derail the government tax credit cuts this week, no one, that I spotted, foresaw what actually happened. Knowing that the measure came forward as a statutory instrument, not a Bill, and was therefore (in both Houses) unamendable, its opponents in the Lords voted not to reject it but to delay considering it. They set conditions which had to be met before they would do so. Thus they defied the government

As stormclouds gathered over London, the most politically connected pooches in the country assembled by the House of Lords for the most eagerly anticipated event of the year – the Westminster Dog of the Year competition. Among the familiar faces – including Alec Shelbrooke’s Maggie and Boris, and David Burrowes’ Chomeley, Steerpike spotted a number of novice entrants. Baroness Masham had left her pack of seven dachshunds at home in Yorkshire, and had instead brought with her the soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, Theodora (aka Teddy). Having bonded with her lookalike, Hugo Swire’s cockapoo Rocco, the pair made firm friends, and proved that cooperation between the Commons and the Lords is actually possible. After Monday’s embarrassment

The government needs to get thinking quickly about a new tax credits proposal that is acceptable to the Commons and the Lords. George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement in four weeks’ time and he has promised to outline the results of his ‘listening’ exercise. This afternoon’s debate on a backbench motion about the cuts showed that Conservatives support phasing out tax credits, but the main concerns expressed were over the speed of the transition. Notably, 20 Tory MPs supported the Labour motion criticising the cuts — including Bernard Jenkin, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Heidi Allen. According to a report in the Guardian, Osborne has given himself ‘wiggle room’ in his deficit reduction plan