PoliticsHome has recorded his words as delivered to Sky News: "I have always been under pressure to set out my budget for 2010. We will provide the country with specifics – we are looking for a mandate at this election for the decisions we need to make. But we will do it at the right […]
A year ago the Conservative Spring Forum was in Gateshead. I urged the Tory leader to give a speech that levelled with the British people: "It's time for David Cameron to tell the British people that Britain is going in the wrong direction. He needs to say that we're living beyond our means. We're spending […]
Amidst reports that David Cameron "has effectively taken over the party's economic policy" (Iain Martin) the Tory leader was on the Today programme at 8.10am to answer questions on how he would restore order to Britain's public finances (listen again). A member of the shadow cabinet told ConservativeHome yesterday that the Tory leadership half expects […]
We mustn't get ahead of ourselves but… Priority one: Repairing the public finances by focusing on reducing spending. Tax rises should not even be contemplated until possibilities for reductions in the size of the state have been exhausted. Priority two: Defending the wealth creators. Without growth we are never going to get out of Labour's […]
D is for debt. Britain is drowning in Brown's borrowings. As the BBC's Robert Peston said, this was a truly historic budget. Historic because debt of £200bn per year will handicap Britain for a generation. The causes are many… A failure to put money aside in the good times… A banking system that lost all […]
1.21pm Alistair Darling sits down. 1.20pm ISA limits to be increased. 1.19pm Increase in statutory redundancy pay from £350 to £380 a week. Promise that pensions will rise in real terms. Winter fuel allowance to be maintained at higher level. 1.16pm Child element of child tax credit to increase by £20. Extra money in child […]
The Conservatives have today urged Alistair Darling to adopt a £600m package to provide more science and training courses for what otherwise could be a lost generation of scientists and engineers. The package which, the Tories say, will be financed by spending restraint in 2009/10* communicates (1) a concern for potentially unemployed young graduates and […]
Jonathan Oliver and David Smith report that Alistair Darling may use this week's Budget to beef up the planned supertax on higher earners: "Last year the Chancellor announced the introduction in 2011 of a 45% top rate of income tax for people earning more than £150,000. Darling has come under pressure from Labour colleagues to […]
1pm Update: In response to this, a Conservative spokesman has just emailed me to say: "Our position on protected areas of spending for 2009-10 is the same – we have ring fenced the health, education, defence and aid departmental budgets, but would spend £5bn less than Labour on other things." — Yesterday it was Frank […]
The hare has been set running on the above question today not by a Conservative politician, but by a Labour MP who is pressing for such cuts. In the latest ConservativeHome survey of Tory members, no fewer than 94% took the view that significant cuts in public expenditure would be necessary to restore order to […]
Big cuts in public spending are going to be necessary to restore order to Britain’s public finances (and to avoid large tax increases). It is politically essential that Cameron-Osborne show that they aren’t just prepared to cut things that hurt others but that they are prepared to cut things that will be seen to be […]
That is essentially the question posed by Peter Oborne during a lecture he gave to the Centre for Policy Studies last night (PDF here). Drawing "lessons we can learn from the heroic example of Sir Keith Joseph" the Daily Mail journalists concludes with these words: "I want to bring my speech to an end by […]
This comes from Ed Vaizey MP’s blog: "I am guessing the annual cost today [of a ministerial car] is at least £100,000 – that’s almost £10 million a year for ministers’ cars. I suspect it is much higher overall – most senior officials have them as well as the heads of the major quangos. It […]
(Video features Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport). The crisis facing the British pub is indeed serious. Six pubs are closing on average every day of the week. Conservatives are right to draw attention to the problem and you can sign up to the ‘Save The Great British Pub’ petition. […]
It was a significant weekend. Polls confirmed the likelihood of Tory victory. David Cameron abandoned his support for extra state funding of political parties. The Tory leader also announced a hardline on bank bonuses. The biggest political news of all, however, was the defection of David Freud to the Conservatives. It was welcome for two […]