Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
There is still a great deal of heat and rather a little less light over George Osborne’s decision to ‘step in where government needs to step in’ and cap the cost of payday loans. Does this mean he’s actually a lefty? What is he up to? Writing for the Telegraph, David Skelton, founder of the
The Health department says there is a perfectly good explanation for a 29% rise in the number of excess winter deaths to 31,100 in 2012/13. It is pointing to research by Public Health England which linked the rise to a longer flu season and continuing cold weather late into the winter and early spring. But
Is today’s Scottish independence White Paper really an argument for independence? I ask only because the section on currency and monetary policy is essentially arguing for the union. It says: ‘The Commission’s analysis shows that it will not only be in Scotland’s interests to retain Sterling but that – post independence – this will also
The Scottish government will unveil its case for independence at 10am today. Already the Treasury is warning that voting ‘yes’ next autumn would cost the average basic rate tax payer an additional £1,000 in tax increases. Danny Alexander is also trying to undermine the SNP’s claim that fiscal problems initially experienced by a newly independent
The Commons was in congratulatory mode this afternoon when William Hague gave his statement on the deal with Iran. Baroness Ashton, not familiar with heaps of praise falling on her, came in for congratulations from across the House, particularly from Hague and Douglas Alexander. Both men also agreed that this deal is the first step
There are now 33 MPs backing Nigel Mills’s amendment to the Immigration Bill which calls for transitional controls on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to be extended until 2018. You can read the full list of names below – the amendment will be debated at the report stage of the bill, which is expected to take
Stella Creasy sees today’s announcement that the government does want to cap the cost of payday loan credit as a recognition that Labour was right to campaign on this issue and that consumers are suffering as a result of the current arrangements. But listen again to George Osborne’s Today interview and you’ll note another recognition:
MPs have just voted on the first set of amendments to James Wharton’s #LetBritainDecide bill. There is still a great deal more debate to be had in the Chamber, but based on this morning’s offering, it’s not worth clearing your diary for this report stage, unless you enjoy filibustering and mischievous use of obscure parliamentary
In just over half an hour, MPs will flock to the Chamber to watch the report stage and third reading of the Wharton Bill. I explained yesterday that there will be a chunk of Tories who find themselves forced to support Adam Afriyie’s call for an early referendum because it is a UKIP ‘red line’,
In case you’ve been wondering what that strange feeling of tension in the air across the country is, the #LetBritainDecide bill returns to the Commons tomorrow for its report stage and third reading. There is, actually, rather a lot of valid tension – in as much as a backbench bill that will never become law
Though the NHS made a welcome change from endless bickering about energy bills at today’s PMQs, the exchanges were just as unedifying. There is very little gain in the sort of fact war that David Cameron and Ed Miliband tried to indulge in, as there is no killer fact that can silence an opponent on
Mark Pritchard is vigorously denying the Telegraph splash this morning, which alleges that he boasted of being able to use his political contacts to set up meetings. He says he is consulting his lawyers. But aside from the eventual outcome of this row, it has allowed Labour to reignite the debate about whether MPs should
The allegations of a cover-up at Colchester General Hospital suggest something rotten in a culture, once again. The police have been called in by the Care Quality Commission to investigate claims that documents about patients’ care were falsified and that managers bullied staff into doing this so that cancer care at CGH could meet its
All the best apologies these days are celebrated with a nice autotune session on YouTube. But this afternoon’s apologies, if you can call them that, from Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton and Sergeant Chris Jones didn’t quite deserve that sort of treatment. In fact, the two men, appearing separately, had managed to tune their own evidence
I am delighted to reveal the first of our ‘Tea at 22’ films: a series of short video interviews with Westminster personalities in the Spectator’s 22 Old Queen Street offices. This week I spoke to Margot James, member of the Number 10 policy board and one of the stars of the gay marriage debate, about
Labour is standing firm over Falkirk, even though senior figures such as Johann Lamont and Alistair Darling are sufficiently worried by the allegations still emerging to call for a new investigation. This morning Caroline Flint was sent out in a stern mood to bat for the party, with the Shadow Energy Secretary telling Radio 4’s
‘Let’s have it every 90 seconds!’ shouted Boris to the CBI this afternoon as he played a series of clips of loud and quiet plane engines. He wanted to illustrate that ‘quiet’ planes would not make another runway at Heathrow palatable, and he used his customary strong language in attacking the government’s position on aviation
Aside from having to explain her government’s policy on clothing that might be used as a disguise, Theresa May did pull it out of the bag, again, in that statement on Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed’s TPIM. Her short speech at the start wasn’t anything to write home about, simply setting out the bare bones of what
When the Prime Minister’s spokesman said this morning that ‘we will look at whether there are lessons that we can learn from’ the disappearance of Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed, what he probably didn’t mean was that the Home Office should consider banning all things that can be worn as disguises. Sir Gerald Howarth clearly did, telling
Theresa May will give a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon on the disappearance of terror suspect Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed. The Home Secretary has earned a formidable reputation over the past few years for emerging unscathed from a variety of Home Office rows, and Labour has struggled to lay a finger on her.
