They Blog For You

Notice how as you get older, the currency seems to get smaller and coins more tiddly?  A sign of impending middle age and excessive nostalgia?  Or is something else going on? First, £1 notes were replaced with coins.  Then a slimmed down version of the once chunky 50 pence piece [...]

Rogue car clampers are a real menace. Hardly a week goes by without a constituent complaining that they’ve been forced to pay £ hundreds for momentarily pulling onto a bit of pavement outside an empty shop.  It’s also driving trade [...]

Maria would like to let all constituents know that the first online Water Energy Calculator has been launched by the Energy Saving Trust. Nearly a quarter of domestic CO2 emissions are as result of our water use – and 89 percent of all UK emissions from water come from activities [...]

WHAT most people forget about MPs’ expenses was the year between the scandal and the general election. During that year the House of Commons fees office processed all claims and published them online. Every penny was accounted for. There was no fiddling, it was completely transparent and the whole thing was [...]

There’s been a lot of noise for some years about the high cost of public sector pensions. The last government talked a little about it, but tried to ignore it. Indeed, most of their actions led to a large [...]

I sit on the Department of Culture Media and Sport Select committee. We’ve just announced a new inquiry and have issued  a call for evidence on Funding of the Arts and Heritage. We’re inviting written submissions and requesting views on the following issues: What impact recent, and future, spending cuts from central and local Government will [...]

“Me and my partner together work over 80 hours each week. We pay the council tax, bills and all the rent ourselves” explains a despairing constituent the other day.  “But in the house next door, they get it all for free” he adds.  "Where's [...]

I promised David Willetts I would review his book “The Pinch” . The sub title tells the story – “How the baby boomers took their childrens future – and why they should give it back”. My first [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I remind the House that, in the declaration of Members’ interests, I have revealed that I offer business advice to a global industrial company and an investment company. In her response to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor’s Budget, the Leader of the Opposition gave one [...]

The surprises in the budget were the big increase in VAT for next year, and the decision to continue with large cash increases in total public spending over the five year period. The Chancellor, who had said that [...]

I LISTENED to Vince Cable on the PM programme tonight. Oh, how the mighty are fallen! From the nation’s “favourite” and most trusted politician to a dissembler of the first order. Since it was radio, I couldn’t tell if he was wearing a straight face when he tried to suggest that [...]

We do make heavy weather of controlling public spending in this country. The £6 billion of cuts which caused such anguish in the Election debates represented less than 1% of total public spending. Tomorrow’s budget will probably be proposing cuts of less than 10% over the [...]

Last night BBC’s Newsnight created a TV Star Chamber to examine three areas of public spending. Two of the areas they raised are large and central to the task of reducing spending. They asked a panel of 3 including myself [...]

George Osborne has called for a debate on the limits to what the state should do. I hope he will be inundated with people’s views on all the needless interventions, meddlesome actions and over the top spending which [...]

I’M TAKING a break from writing a speech in order to write this blogpost instead. Today at some point I’m hoping to be called by Mr Speaker (or one of his deputies) to contribute to the continuing debate on the Queen’s Speech. Today’s subject is home affairs and [...]

In 1999 a Euro was worth 71p. Between 2000 and 2002 it was around 60p. From 2003 to 2008 it fluctuated around 65-70p, just a bit below its first issue price. From 2008 the Euro took off against a falling pound, going above 90p. Since March 10th 2010 the Euro [...]

I was saddened to read in this morning’s Guardian that one in five children have never received a letter. I tweeted a link and a comment that it was sad. When I was a kid, I used to love letters arriving in the post. I remember the local Conservative MP writing [...]

AS PLANNED, the new body overseeing MPs’ expenses is going the extra mile to make it as difficult as possible for us to do our job. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has introduced yet another new rule which is so mind-bogglingly unfair and ridiculous, you get the impression that Ian [...]

CONGRATULATIONS to Iain Dale for being one of the first in the country to highlight some of the concerns MPs are having over the new expenses regime presided over by the Independent Parliamenary Standards Authority (Ipsa). Not that anyone is listening to MPs on this issue, and the lack of sympathy [...]

Local MP and Secretary of State for Scotland Danny Alexander has today highlighted the real benefits the new Coalition government will bring to the Highlands. In the new Coalition's ‘Programme for Government' launched today, for which Mr Alexander led the talks, there are big steps forward on broadband, on energy [...]