They Blog For You

I set off last Sunday afternoon for a three day visit to Washington and New York. My main purpose in going to Washington was to talk to people in the Obama administration and in Congress about the Balkans (the USA maintains a strong interest in countries like Bosnia & Herzegovina, [...]

I am told that there is a new welcome emphasis on the public’s views at Downing Street. They are taking polling more seriously. It was worries by the public about the Health reforms that lies behind the recent decision to consult again and if necessary to change the plans. I trust [...]

Last night I was put through my paces by an audience in Oxford on BBC Question Time. I was quizzed on the NHS, social mobility, arts funding cuts and the AV referendum. You can watch the episode again here . We had a feisty debate on the NHS - unbelievable for [...]

Tory tax rise means thousands more families to lose their child benefit Up to an extra 750,000...

Tory tax rise means thousands more families to lose their child benefit   Up to an extra 750,000 people will become higher rate taxpayers tomorrow (Wednesday), meaning that thousands more families will lose their child benefit in 2013 Labour will warn today.   Following changes announced in last June’s Budget by George Osborne [...]

A £ multi million Eurofighter warplane destroyed a second-hand pick up truck in Libya today.  The air strike was called in using high tech smart bombs. "This shows the wisdom of using a £20 Billion weapon systems against [...]

                 The media and politicians concentrate on the coming squeeze on the public sector. It is struggling to live within an extra £485 billion overdraft to tide it over the next five years, and to live with an increase of just £93 billion a year by Year 5 for current [...]

Sombre news from the forgotten war in Afghanistan. Ten years of vast sacrifices in blood and treasure have achieved nothing. A mob is so anti-Western that peacemakers have been lynched. The Afghan Police were impotent spectators. Perhaps this will expose the foolish optimism of Liam Fox. He still believes that an [...]

  One day in parliament Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): To underline his claim that prisons are well run, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman remind the House of the precise number of prisons that are free of the use of illegal drugs? Mr Clarke: I would not like to guarantee that [...]

                  The Chancellor said in his budget the Revenue will study the effects of the 50% tax rate on tax revenues.                 The Adam Smith Institutue has already published some of the important findings. (In the Revenue and Growth effects of Britain’s high personal taxes)They show that the Howe Lawson income tax [...]

Another week, another transfer of power to Brussels. Today the House of Commons takes note of approves the "start of a new cycle of economic governance in the European Union .... designed to apply to the EU as a [...]

When 250,000 people march in Central London to complain about cuts the government should listen, and should engage with their leaders in a sensible dialogue. There are many things I felt I wanted to say had I been invited to talk to them as Mr Miliband was able to do. I would [...]

It emerged in the Budget debate which ended today in the Commons that the need for spending cuts is far from the inevitability that Osborne has always claimed.   The independent OBR estimates of growth for the next 5 years, albeit recently scaled down, are still 1.7% this year, 2.5% next year, [...]

You're no doubt sick of me going on about the Budget now, but I did want to draw attention to a small victory. Last Wednesday, the Chancellor announced that he would not abolish Community Investment Tax Relief, despite being advised by the Office of Tax Simplification to scrap it. I [...]

It's only after analysing the finer details of the full Budget report and all the changes that Chancellor George Osborne wasn't prepared to say when everyone was watching, but instead hid in a long written document (perhaps in that hope that nobody would notice), that we can see who's really [...]

                 I was surprised how the government handled media interviews about the TUC protest against the cuts. They could have used them to set out more of the detail of the difficult financial situaiton we find ourselves in. They could have used it to ask how come we are going [...]

I couldn't let the Budget debates pass without putting in a word for small businesses. I want the Government to look at ways to improve bank lending - it is the only real way that small businesses can achieve any sort of decent growth and transform into larger businesses. The [...]

No, it’s not about HS2, but I was pleased to get a letter from Philip Hammond the other day which told me how much Buckinghamshire was going to get from George Osborne’s £200 million pot-hole repair fund that he announced as part of his Budget Statement last week.   Bucks will be [...]

Today Danny Alexander, along with Christine Jardine the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Inverness & Nairn, met with Adrian Gray the Managing Director of AJG Parcels in Inverness to discuss the impact of the coalition government's action to cut fuel duty. The government announced in the budget its decision to cut fuel [...]

               I stand accused of being unclear on public spending. Let me try again. The quicker the government can cotnrol the excess of spending over income, the quicker the economy will perform better.               I do not set out alternative spending targets or numbers to the Chacenllor, as experience has taught me [...]

If there is one single indicator illustrating the political health as well as the economic health of a government, it is RPDI (real personal disposable income).   Year on year that tracks changes in the value of household income after taking account of inflation.   For 20 years till 2005 it rose [...]