Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Isabel Hardman

The Tories launch a smart, upbeat manifesto

David Cameron has just presented a smart Conservative manifesto with a solid speech. He didn’t quite have as much fire in his belly as Ed Miliband did yesterday, but what he did have was a clear sense of purpose, articulated well within the speech and the document. The document opens by telling any voters who might be reading that the Tories have ‘a plan for every stage of your life’. This might sound a tad menacing, but it is also an attempt to show purpose and present the Tories as a party interested in all voters at every stage of their lives. The key announcements today were on housing – extending the right-to-buy

Ross Clark

If Cameron really wanted to encourage home-ownership, he would increase inheritance tax

‘The dream of a property-owning democracy is alive,’ David Cameron will say today as he launches the Conservative manifesto, promising to extend the right to buy to all 1.3 million housing association tenants. Why, then, if he wants to promote a property-owning democracy is he also proposing to raise allowances for inheritance tax, allowing people to inherit homes worth up to £1 million without paying a penny in tax? Inherited wealth is a huge factor in the concentration of property-wealth in ever fewer hands. This is what happens: middle-aged couple inherit large family home. They then sell it and reinvest the money in several buy-to-let properties, outbidding in the process

Steerpike

Has Lynton Crosby been taking ‘inspiration’ from the Australian Liberal Party again?

Earlier this year Lynton Crosby was accused of recycling a ten-year-old ‘attack ad’ the Liberal Party used in the 2004 Australian elections, to criticise Ed Miliband in the general election. At the time the advert was used in Australia, the Tory election strategist was helping to run the Liberal Party’s election campaign. Now it appears Crosby may have been ‘inspired’ once again by his former employer. Hugh Whitfeld, Europe Correspondent for the Australian Seven Network, has spotted a remarkable likeness between today’s Tory manifesto cover and one used by the Liberal Party of Australia as a cover to their policy book: Compared to: A Tory source denies they are in any way similar. At least there is

Exclusive: watch a preview of the Conservatives’ manifesto launch video

David Cameron will take to the stage in an hour to launch the Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto. Before he does, a short video will roll to introduce the themes of the document. We can bring you a teaser of that video now — watch above. The message in the short clip is based on how the Tories have turned around the economy over the last five years: ‘When Labour left power it left a note. It read: “there is no money”. ‘Five years on, notes of a different kind are turning people’s lives around. Job offers. Lower tax bills. Apprenticeship offers. Mortgage approval letters. Confirmation of school places. ‘These notes are

Fraser Nelson

At last, shopping is getting cheaper. Let’s not look this gift horse in the mouth

‘The economy has entered deflation,’ announces the BBC news presenter, as if this was a kind of recession. Au contraire. Shopping bills are shrinking, and this is unalloyed good news. The cost of living has been a problem in recent years, but now petrol prices are plunging and the cost of goods (i.e., shopping) is now 2.1 per cent lower than a year ago. The cost of services is up by 2.4 per cent, so technically that means zero inflation – contra the BBC headline. But the overall point holds: stuff is getting cheaper. [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/pICZY/index.html”] The prices of clothing is down month-on-month for the first time since the CPI inflation index was invented.

Campaign kick-off: 23 days to go

Today, it’s the Conservative Party’s turn to release its manifesto. Labour pushed out its own document ‘Britain can do better’ yesterday, so it’s Tories’ turn to try and better it. As with Labour’s manifesto, the big announcement has already been briefed out and has made the front pages of most newspapers: extending right to buy. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main election stories. 1. Thatcherism is back Unless the Tories have another big surprise in store, the centre piece of their 2015 manifesto is a pledge to extend right-to-buy for 1.3 million families in housing association homes. The Tories

James Forsyth

Cameron declares that the Tories are the ‘party of working people’ as he pledges to extend right to buy

Tomorrow’s Tory manifesto will contain the boldest policy proposal of this campaign so far. The party will promise to extend the right to buy to 1.3 million families living in housing association properties. This policy has the potential to create a new group of homeowners and to start the reversal of the decline in home ownership; even critics of the plan think that more than 150,000 families might take advantage of it. It helps to keep alive the idea of a property owning democracy which has been so crucial to the success of the centre-right in this country. It is worth remembering that the political genius of the right to

James Forsyth

Nick Clegg sets out red lines for coalition negotiations with Labour and the Tories

Nick Clegg produced Lib Dem red lines for any coalition with either Labour or the Tories in an interview with Evan Davis this evening. Clegg said that he wouldn’t go into Coalition with the Tories if they insisted on making £12 billion of cuts to welfare in the next two years. But he said that he also couldn’t recommend going into coalition with Labour until they were clearer about how they planned to deal with the deficit, making clear that what Labour said today was not sufficient. As Fraser says, this was an assured performance from Clegg who offered a robust defence of the government’s record. The Liberal Democrats would

Fraser Nelson

Nick Clegg on Lib Dem meltdown: ‘I put country before party’

‘Hell, yes, I am proud of this,’ said Nick Clegg in the first of the BBC’s leaders interviews, broadcast at 7.30pm this evening. He’s lucky to get such a slot to list his achievements: the Lib Dems are vying with the Greens for fifth place right now. And he performed pretty well, in my opinion, coming across as decent and reasonable guy, using humour – and even anger, what it was called for. Evan Davis seemed to be out to provoke him. He started by playing the Lib Dem election broadcast where Clegg piously said he was fed up with broken promises, then promised not to increase increase tuition fees. Yes, said Clegg, guilty as charged. Also,

Steerpike

Ed Miliband resorts to begging as Labour supporters hiss at hacks

As regular readers will be aware, Mr S has tracked the growing hostility toward the press at Labour Party events. Today’s manifesto launch was no different. The Labour leader took the extraordinary step of pre-butting jeers and boos from audience members toward journalists, by asking them to hear the media out: ‘Now, we’re going to take questions. I just want to say something in advance of these questions. I talked earlier about the kind of country we believe in. And what’s really important in the country we believe in is that we have a press that ask difficult questions and it’s really important that we hear these questions respectfully because

Tories six points ahead in new Guardian/ICM poll — but Ashcroft has the main parties tied

The Guardian declared last Friday was ‘the day the polls turned’ — but they have turned again, it seems. ICM has released a new poll today, which puts the Conservatives six points ahead. This pushes the Tories way past the margin of error to 39 per cent, while are Labour on 33 and the Liberal Democrats jump back into third place at eight per cent. Ukip and the Greens are both tied on seven per cent. It’s an extraordinary number that, if it was repeated across the country — particularly given the rise of the SNP in Scotland — it would put the Conservatives into majority territory for the first time. This

Steerpike

Exclusive: David Cameron’s official biographer responds to Lord Ashcroft

This morning Lord Ashcroft wrote a blog post for ConservativeHome detailing information regarding his upcoming biography of David Cameron, Call me Dave. Ashcroft, who is known to have a lukewarm relationship with the Prime Minister, said that the book will be published in the autumn, after the election. He went on to claim that Cameron’s official biography, which is being written by Sir Anthony Seldon, is to be ‘rushed’ out to ‘avoid a clash’ with his own: ‘Apparently he is being encouraged to do so by Number 10. Having originally planned to publish during party conference season, I am told that he now intends to publish at the end of July. Number 10

Ten things you need to know about Labour’s manifesto

Labour has launched its election manifesto in Manchester today, entitled ‘Britain can be better’. The document (pdf here) includes some new policies and others already announced. Here are ten key things you need to know, just in case you don’t have time to read all 86 pages: 1. Reducing deficit every year — but for how long? The centrepiece of the manifesto is the ‘budget responsibility lock’, which will ensure that a Labour government will cut the deficit every year. The commitment, which was reportedly added to the manifesto last Friday, doesn’t say by which point Labour will eliminate the deficit: ‘A Labour government will cut the deficit every year. The first line of

Steerpike

Did anyone proofread the Labour manifesto?

‘Do you mind not splitting your infinitives then. Dear me’, said Alastair Campbell to a Tory candidate on Twitter last night. After chastising Beth Prescott, who is standing against Yvette Cooper in Normanton, Campbell was given an earful: .@campbellclaret I’m a young, Northern, former apprentice trying to make a positive difference&best you can do is patronise me?@LouiseMensch — Beth Prescott (@Beth4Pontefract) April 13, 2015 Ouch. While we are on the topic of perfect grammar, shall we have a look at Labour’s manifesto? The one that Campbell has been spinning all day. ‘We are a great country’ says the foreword. Britain is a great country, yes. We are the people of

James Forsyth

Why Labour’s bold manifesto move won’t work

Labour’s manifesto is the most daring move of this campaign so far. The party has decided to try and address one of its biggest weaknesses on page 1 of the document. The decision to make Labour’s fiscal locks, its attempt to show that it is fiscally credible, the major story of the manifesto is a risk. It means that Labour is playing on Tory turf. The party’s hope is that these fiscal locks can reassure voters that Labour wouldn’t spend and borrow too much, removing one of the main obstacles to supporting them. Indeed, with Ed Miliband doing a far better job than expected of assuaging voters’ doubts about his

Isabel Hardman

Is Labour really wise to take on the Tories on the economy?

Ed Miliband gave a good, forceful, well-received speech at Labour’s manifesto launch this morning. It couldn’t have been anything else, given how close we are to polling day. There were some very well-delivered moments, particularly when it came to zero hours contracts and non-doms. The peroration was particularly energetic, with the Labour leader saying: ‘Over the last four and a half years, I have been tested. It is right that I have been. Tested for the privilege of leading this country. I am ready. Ready to put an end to the tired old idea that as long as we look after the rich and powerful we will all be OK.

Fraser Nelson

When will broadcasters challenge Ed Balls on his porkies about his deficit plans?

At Coffee House, we occasionally criticise George Osborne for stretching the truth when describing the deficit — but when it comes to hoodwinking broadcasters and deceiving voters, Ed Balls is the master. Three times on the radio today he lied about Labour’s plans, saying that he intends to have the national debt falling. He has no such plans: what he means is that he plans for the national debt to rise, but to rise more slowly than the economy is growing. What he means is that his plan is not for the debt to fall, but for a ratio to fall: the debt/GDP ratio. And it isn’t very ambitious, because that ratio already is falling. listen to ‘Today:

Campaign kick-off: 24 days to go

The third week of the campaign is going to be all about manifestos. Today, it’s Labour’s turn to launch its plan — while the Tories, Liberal Democrats, Ukip and Greens will take their turns in the coming days. But instead of the traditional strategy for government, folks in Westminster are describing the documents as ‘the opening salvo for coalition negotiations’. To help guide you through the melée of stories and spin, here is a summary of today’s main election stories. 1. The party of fiscal responsibility? There’s one big story to watch today: Labour’s manifesto. Many inhabitants of the Westminster bubble are currently en route to Manchester for the launch this