By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter In the Sunday Times yesterday David Davis called for (£) a "psychologically inspiring budget." This morning in The Times he was rebuked by Lord Lamont who said (£): Perhaps he needs to discover opera. An amusing line, but Mr Davis is right and Lord Lamont is wrong. Even if we […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Hats off to the Liberal Democrats. They are showing us the way. We have six times as many MPs as they do, experience of government that they don't, and poll ratings three times higher than theirs. But while David Cameron has moved from one message to another, and his […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Ed Balls and George Osborne were just getting going at the end of this morning's Andrew Marr show when Jeremy Vine interrupted to end the programme with some Irish music for St Patrick's Day. Does anyone watch Marr for music rather than news and politics? Resonating with yesterday's 'Aspiration […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. George Osborne has fewer allies than he once did, and even fewer friends. Ed Balls wants to destroy him, and the feeling is mutual. Many Conservative backbenchers detest him. They see him as a political flyweight and strategic incompetent who messed up last year's budget and constantly meddles in matters […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Liam Fox and George Osborne have been united for years by a mutual love of America, excellent links with the Republicans, and neo-conservative foreign policy instincts – not to mention a shared sense of humour. After Fox left the Cabinet, word got around that the two were enjoying regular […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Just as this grey Friday afternoon was slumping into the weekend, Robert Chote has written a letter to David Cameron that has electrified everyone again. I’ve pasted a copy of that letter to the bottom of this post, but the basic point is that the head of the Office for […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Under the stark headline "George Osborne’s only plan is to pray for recovery", The Spectator has published a preview of Fraser Nelson's cover piece for this week's edition. He writes: "The plan he set out three years ago had the Olympics marked down as a turning point — assuming […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Tax cuts, secret courts and Nigel Farages have set the political pages ablaze – but there’s a more unassuming story that could actually turn out to be more significant than any of them. It concerns a new initiative, called the “What Works Network”, that Oliver Letwin and Danny Alexander are […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter George Osborne's meeting with Tory MPs went well yesterday evening according to all reports that I've received. No MPs objected to the central message of deficit reduction but there were a number of calls for tax cuts. Some wanted cuts in the air passenger duty, arguing that a boost […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter George Osborne is getting a very similar message from his Conservative and Liberal Democrat colleagues: Lift the ringfences. Liberal Democrats are telling the Chancellor that they won't accept further cuts to welfare if he isn't willing to cut richer pensioners' benefits and, potentially, also "gently trim" the budgets for […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In an address to the Centre for Policy Studies tonight the Business Minister Michael Fallon MP will launch a strong attack on the regulatory culture that grew up during Labour's years. He will attack Labour and the European Union for imposing social and environmental costs on business – via […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I don't know how many people have actually read the Moody's report from Friday but if it's uncomfortable reading for the Chancellor – and there's no denying that it is – it's even more uncomfortable reading for Her Majesty's Opposition which has taken such undisguised pleasure at Britain's downgrade. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Tony Lodge of the Centre for Policy Studies had a letter in this morning's Daily Telegraph about how to tackle "the looming energy crisis". One can't accuse Lodge, a regular contributor to this site, of shying away from the root of the problem, which in his view is the […]
Looking back on last week, it sure was a significant one for the debate about tax. On Wednesday, we saw David Cameron attacking Labour for abolishing the 10p tax rate – a hint, perhaps, that this coalition government would restore it. But then, on Thursday, when Ed Miliband backed the reinstatement of the 10p tax rate himself, CCHQ suddenly […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Some good news for George Osborne this morning. KPMG has completed its annual survey of "senior tax decision makers" from large global companies and Britain has risen to number one in the league table of competitive tax systems. It was placed fifth last year and the Chancellor sees the […]