Uk politics

Tuesday

Jamie Thunder

The government will not snoop on your every move

Nick Cohen (‘Nowhere to hide’, 15 September) raises some interesting points about the double-edged nature of the internet. I agree with this sentiment, although not for the same reasons. Yes, the World Wide Web has brought about massive benefits, allowing people to communicate and connect in ways never before imagined. However it also has a down side. And this is that it affords criminals and those who wish to do us harm the same new ways to communicate and connect. It is this that concerns me, rather than Mr Cohen’s claim that it will allow, through our Communications Data Bill, the government to monitor your every move. This argument is

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dems play whac-a-mole on welfare cuts

The Liberal Democrats are playing a game of whac-a-mole on welfare at the moment: each time they think they’ve blocked one cut they don’t like, another one pops up. Last night a mole they’d already whacked a year ago appeared again: decoupling benefits from inflation. The Newsnight scoop is that Whitehall is considering ending inflation-linked rises for many benefit payments – although the word is that this would not include payments to those with disabilities. This would be part of efforts to cut a further £10 billion from the welfare bill, which the Lib Dems oppose overall. Last winter the Lib Dems blocked a similar move from the Treasury, which

Monday

Isabel Hardman

‘Denuded’ Work and Pensions committee sheds little light on Universal Credit

The Work and Pensions Select Committee was much denuded this evening, chair Anne Begg told the guests: its membership had either been promoted in the reshuffle or had personal crises to attend to. In the end Begg was joined by Andrew Bingham, Stephen Lloyd, Teresa Pearce and Glenda Jackson to interrogate Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Freud about the implementation of universal credit. Their questions seemed rather denuded, too: not of detail, for these MPs do truly know their stuff when it comes to welfare reform, but of a sense of the bigger picture. During the hearing, which lasted nearly three hours, the Work and Pensions Secretary and his Welfare

Sebastian Payne

Scottish independence referendum will be a single-question affair

‘I don’t think we can have a referendum on independence unless we have a single question’. Michael Moore was unequivocal this afternoon: the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence will be a single-question vote, or it won’t happen at all. The Scottish Secretary made his determination quite clear when he appeared before the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, bandying about phrases such as the referendum is of ‘huge political importance’, it has to be ‘fair and clear’ and both sides are ‘willing and able to come to an agreement’. He was upbeat about the progress of initial talks with Alex Salmond’s administration, telling the MPs that he believed a deal on the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The English Baccalaureate Certificate is coming regardless of what happens in 2015

There’s much speculation today that Labour’s decision to oppose the coalition’s GCSE replacement the EBC means that the new exams will never happen. The argument goes that if the Tories aren’t in government, Labour — or a Labour-led coalition — would simply keep GCSEs going. (This depends on Labour continuing to oppose the new exams which they may not if they prove to be as popular as some pollsters expect them to be). But keeping GCSEs going is nowhere near as simple as it sounds. The exam boards will now turn nearly all of their attention to winning the one available English Baccalaureate Certificate contract for each subject. Those boards

Kaldor Carlos

Keeping it simple: getting the Universal Credit back on track

Universal Credit, a giant effort to weave together all the fraying strands of welfare policy, is now unravelling fast. It all seemed so simple and intuitive when the idea was floated. Pay people more when in work than when on benefits, roll the myriad of benefits and tax credits into a single benefit, reduce the colossal claims process for individuals; and unearth some administrative efficiencies to boot. So intuitive, in fact, that the Opposition supported the underlying principles of the Universal Credit. Recent debate suggests that achieving this simplicity is proving ferociously complex. However, new Social Market Foundation research with low income families has found that while the Universal Credit

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Justine Greening is a reluctant contestant on Mitchell’s Millions

The reshuffle allowed David Cameron to place what many ministers (and sacked ministers in particular) are calling ‘Osborne’s spies’ in each government department to help the Chancellor rein in spending. Justine Greening wasn’t a typical spy when she arrived at the International Development department in a huff after being forced out of the Transport department, but as an ex-accountant, she was certainly appealing. Shortly after her appointment, Fraser speculated as to whether she would be quite so enthusiastic about playing ‘Mitchell’s Millions’, the game of spending £30 million a day on aid, regardless of how well-targeted that money is. Greening is clearly keen to show that she’s not as eager

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will Labour accept Gove-levels?

Nick Clegg and Michael Gove will announce their joint plans to reform GCSEs today, a day earlier than they had originally intended. The Deputy Prime Minister appeared alongside the Education Secretary this morning on a school visit, while Gove will make a statement in the Commons this afternoon to announce the changes, which Liberal Democrats are claiming as a victory after the initial row over a possible return to a two-tier system. Clegg told reporters this morning: ‘I think you can raise standards, increase rigour and confidence in our exam system, but still do so in a way which is a single-tier, which covers the vast majority of children in

Saturday

James Forsyth

Clegg mulls airport expansion

This country’s willingness to fritter away London’s hub airport status is an act of economic self-harm as the Conservative side of the government finally seems to have realised. But there’ll be no progress this side of the election as long as the Liberal Democrats remain wedded to their opposition to any new runways in the south east. So, the news in today’s Times that the Liberal Democrats are considering backing a new hub airport in exchange for the closure of other runways is to be welcomed. I understand that things may be even further on than the conference motion suggests. I’m informed that Nick Clegg has seen a Cabinet Office

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband defines socialism and capitalism

Ed Miliband has long made responsible capitalism a primary concern of his leadership, and in today’s Telegraph, the Labour leader has a stab at explaining a little more of what he wants it to look like. He has lately taken to pointing out that his speech to his party’s conference last autumn which so confused people with its talk of predators has come good following scandals such as Libor. MPs in his party hope that he will point this out once again when he gives his conference speech in just a few weeks’ time. But enlarging on this theme now, he tells Charles Moore this: ‘But I believe capitalism is the least

Hamish Macdonell

Alex Salmond booed by crowd in Glasgow

Roman emperors famously used to have a slave to ride behind them in their chariots during victory parades to remind them, by whispering in their ear, that they were only mortal. Alex Salmond must have experienced something of the same down-to-earth experience yesterday evening when he was booed by a crowd in Glasgow that had come to celebrate Britain’s Olympic success. The First Minister can’t have liked it very much. It can’t be a pleasant experience for anybody to get booed by a crowd but for Mr Salmond, it must have been galling. This was a Scottish crowd in Scotland’s biggest city, a country Mr Salmond regards as his fiefdom,

Friday

Sebastian Payne

What the BAE merger says about UK relations with the US and Europe

The merger of British BAE Systems with French giant EADS finds the government at a tricky crossroads for the future of the UK’s defence industry. Although merging with EADS threatens to rip the heart out of Britain’s largest defence firm, BAE has little choice. The firm has suffered from spending cuts on both sides of the Atlantic — 98 per cent of BAE’s business originates from the defence market and orders are in decline. Therefore a merger appears to be the obvious solution, allowing BAE to diversify and secure its future. But as the world’s third largest defence contractor, any kind of dilution of BAE has security and strategic implications.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Wanted: superhuman central banker

The race to replace Sir Mervyn King started today when an advert searching for the next Bank of England governor appeared in the Economist. It wasn’t a particularly exciting start to the race: William Hill has named Paul Tucker the favourite to succeed Sir Mervyn. He is currently 7/4 to get the job. Tucker is the deputy governor of the Bank currently, and based on his job title alone, the odds would hardly be surprising. But remember that this is the man who made a meal of his appearance before the Treasury Select Committee in July, uttering the strange phrase that ‘we thought it was a malfunctioning market, not a

Tim Wigmore

The quiet country lane hosting a schooling revolution

The location hardly suggests revolution. A few miles down a Somerset country lane, a new school opened this week. It will do so on the site of a tiny old primary school, buttressed by a couple of swiftly-erected buildings, before moving to its permanent site, currently occupied by the NHS, within two years. But the opening of the Steiner Academy Frome could one day be regarded as a seismic moment in British educational history. Steiner Academy Frome is the first state school for generations that could be said to have brought about the closure of a private school. The Meadow School shut just after the end of the 2011/12 academic

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Andrew Lansley: the Tories chose not to win

I’m at a YouGov conference in Cambridge where we’re just had a speech from Andrew Lansley, the new Leader of the House. He was speaking about the coalition, and gave a brief history of its inception. ‘None of us had, in truth, understood the nature of what a coalition government might be…I’m not even sure the Lib Dems had thought about what a coalition would look like. In normal circumstances, with that election result, there would not have been a coalition. We’d have formed a minority government, put forward a programme, challenged the House to support it or not and after a decent interview – probably a few months –

James Forsyth James Forsyth

MP calls for state funeral for Richard III

Chris Skidmore, the Tory MP and Tudor historian, has tabled an early day motion calling for a full state funeral for Richard III, if the skeleton found in Leicester does turn out to be him. The motion reads: ‘That this House notes the discovery of a skeleton beneath a car park in Leicester believed to be that of Richard III; praises the work of the archaeologists and historians responsible for the find; hopes that DNA evidence will prove the remains to be those of the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty; and calls upon the government to arrange a full state funeral for the deceased monarch, and for his remains

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Age of Ed Miliband

What more does Ed Miliband need to do to be taken seriously as the next Prime Minister of Britain? He has been ahead in the polls since the start of last year, and the bookies favourite for longer. A geek? Maybe, but one who has a personal approval rating higher than David Cameron. A leftie? Certainly, and that’s why the orphaned Lib Dem voters feel so at home with him. But his real secret is that no one has the faintest idea what Labour, if elected, would do. We may well be entering the Age of Ed and the terrifying thing is that no one, not even the party leader

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Vince Cable strives to show he is not obstacle to growth

Vince Cable is today announcing that the government will not be taking up Sir Adrian Beecroft’s ‘fire-at-will’ proposals to allow bosses to sack underperforming staff without risking unfair dismissal claims. There was no great appetite for the plan, the Business Secretary will say, arguing that 34 per cent of small businesses consulted by his department were in favour, with 32 per cent against and 30 per cent unsure. Though many Tory MPs embraced the idea of ‘fire-at-will’ as a means of encouraging firms to take on more employees without the fear of costly consequences if the arrangement did not work out, others within the party were uneasy that they might

Thursday

Matthew Sinclair

The problem with George Osborne’s debt target

Q: Why will George Osborne miss his debt target? A: The Government is spending a lot more money than it is taking in taxes. Q: Why is the Government spending a lot more than it is taking in taxes? A: Jonathan Jones answered this one yesterday. In short: disappointing growth means that debt needs to be lower to meet a Debt/GDP target, increases spending on benefits and reduces both direct and indirect tax receipts. Beyond that, things get a lot more complicated and controversial. I won’t get into the debate over supply-side reform versus Keynesian economic stimulus now. That debate has been covered at length elsewhere, particularly in the final

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What will happen to the NHS budget?

George Osborne has long regarded support for the NHS as the most important aspect of Tory modernisation. For this reason, I think it is highly unlikely that the ring-fence will be removed from around the NHS budget. But I suspect that the practical, as opposed to symbolic, importance of the ring-fence will be diluted by more and more things being classified as health spending. At a Quad meeting on the Dilnot proposals on social care, George Osborne told Andrew Lansley that the £1.7bn cost of them, which rises to £5bn within 3 years, should be met out of the NHS budget. Lansley resisted this idea. But I understand from senior