But that doesn't mean that Professor Paul Gregg's comments in the Times today should be ignored. Gregg is one of the architects of the current system for moving claimants off IB,... But regardless of what happens on 5 May 2011, it's clear that one... Interestingly, on this front, Francis Elliott reports in The Times today that Lord Ashcroft has nearly finished his review of the campaign and that an ‘early draft is said... Nicholas Macpherson, the permanent secretary at the Treasury, has sent an interesting letter to Michael Fallon about the leaked figures on public sector job losses that created such a political storm when The Guardian printed them on Wednesday. Macpherson states that the slide was incorrectly labeled; it was meant to represent job losses to 2014-15 not annually. One lesson of this row is the power of the Office of Budget Responsibility. Now that Labour have accepted it, it is very hard for it to quibble with its forecasts. So when on Wednesday, it announced—in response to the Guardian... Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson lists 190 Tory manifesto pledges that have been ditched. James Forsyth says that George Osborne’s plans for a Tory victory are in motion, and wonders if Cameron will soften his stance on AV for the sake of the coalition. Peter Hoskin scrutinises the Treasury’s leaked unemployment figures, and catches the Milibands up to no good. David Blackburn thinks that Osborne’s amateur days are over, and doubts that this government’s... Hague’s speech was dominated by the expression...Saturday, 3rd July 2010
Hague caught in the middle
PETER HOSKIN 6:43pm
When General Petraeus called for a "united effort" on Afghanistan earlier, he might as well have been addressing our government. Between David Cameron's and Liam Fox's recent statements, there's a clear sense that the coalition is pulling in two separate directions. And it's left William Hague explaining our Afghan strategy thus, to the Times today:"'The position on combat troops is as the Prime Minister set out last weekend. By the time of the next election, he hopes we won’t still be fighting on the ground. We are working
...The coalition's big choice on Incapacity Benefit
PETER HOSKIN 4:58pm
The coalition's plan for moving claimants off Incapacity Benefit and into work is, at heart, an admirable one. For too long, IB has been used a political implement for massaging the overall unemployment figures, and it has allowed thousands of people to wrongly stay unemployed at the taxpayers' expense. There is, quite simply, a moral and economic case for reform.The side effects of the AV debate
PETER HOSKIN 1:54pm
Ok, so the general public doesn't much care for this AV referendum – and understandably so. But at least it has added a good slug of uncertainty into the brew at Westminster. Already, curious alliances are emerging because of it – Exhibit A being Jack Straw and the 1922 Committee. And no-one's really sure about what the result of the vote will be, or whether it will deliver a killing blow to the coalition itself.The Ashcroft report
JAMES FORSYTH 10:36am
One thing that the AV referendum might do is revive the debate in Conservative circles about why the party did not win a majority in the general election. As the most striking example so far of the price of Coalition, it is likely to start off some grumbling about why the party is in position where it has to govern with the Lib Dems.Friday, 2nd July 2010
The leaked Treasury slide was wrongly labeled
JAMES FORSYTH 7:17pmThe week that was
6:03pmDavid Davis: the coalition hasn't got a way of negotiating with the Tory party
PETER HOSKIN 4:44pm
I doubt No.10 will be all that charmed by David Davis's comments on Straight Talk with Andrew Neil this weekend, but they should certainly take note of them. They contain some substantive points about the government's relationship with Tory backbenchers, and points which Davis is not alone in making. The key passage comes when he discusses the watered-down capital gains tax hike:"I don’t think a victory over [the Lib Dems], I mean, it’s quite interesting, we tried to design this, whatever you want to call it, I don’t know whether it’s
...Conquering the welfare Leviathan
PATRICK NOLAN 2:17pm
Among the biggest of challenges facing the new government is the need to make welfare more affordable while continuing to support people in need. There is a strong case for lowering the welfare bill. At around £200 billion the government spends more on welfare than anything else. Spending on pension benefits alone is £77 billion and forecast to grow to £240 billion (in today’s money) by 2050. As George Osborne has noted if the welfare bill is not cut then eliminating the deficit will mean that cuts to other departmental budgets will...
Sunday, 4 July 2010
For a man of such rhetorical talents, William Hague’s foreign policy speech was strikingly bland. His eloquence escaped him and he sounded like David Miliband - earnest, conscientious and often unintelligible. The similarity didn't end there. Hague was very pleased with his observation that a multi-lateral world requires bi-lateral relationships; but even David Miliband had grasped that – who could forget his stable shin-dig in India?
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