Spending cuts
The report the Department for Education does NOT want you to read
One of the better policies of this government is its offering massive databases up for public scrutiny. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, argues David Cameron, and outsiders can scrutinise what… Continue reading
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Maria Miller tells the luvvies to take their easels off her lawn
Something had to give for Culture Secretary Maria Miller. She’s not had an easy time since the Leveson report and the subsequent battle over state regulation of the press. Harangued… Continue reading
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What will Ed Miliband do on spending?
The political mood has shifted these past few weeks. There’s now, as the Sunday papers demonstrate, far more focus on Labour than there was a couple of months back, something… Continue reading
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6 steps to out-fox local government’s Sir Humphreys
Shortly after the 2010 general election I attended an event where mandarins complained of ‘swingeing cuts’. Then one NHS boss admitted that he had so much cash sloshing around he… Continue reading
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George Osborne’s benefits speech – full text
George Osborne’s speech is below. As you will see, it is a bold defence of the government’s policies on tax and welfare, including the 50p rate cut. There was a… Continue reading
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Council tax increases, but might councils spend more wisely?
One development that IDS and George Osborne did not dwell upon in their Telegraph piece mentioned earlier was council tax, which, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is due to… Continue reading
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The Tory branch of the National Union of Ministers says cut welfare, not our budgets
Philip Hammond is a cautious and loyal politician. He is not a boat rocker. This is what makes his interviews in the Telegraph and The Sun today so noteworthy. He… Continue reading
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Austerity hits home in the North East of England
Have you personally suffered from George Osborne’s spending cuts? Your answer depends largely on where you live. I’ve witnessed both over the past few days. This Christmas, I’m enjoying my first prolonged… Continue reading
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The public’s verdict on the Autumn Statement
We’ve only had two days to digest it, but the early signs from YouGov are that George Osborne’s Autumn Statement has gone down a lot better than his March Budget.… Continue reading
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Autumn Statement: What Osborne will say
Lower growth, bigger deficits, targets missed — that’ll be the backdrop to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement tomorrow. So what medicine will he prescribe to make it all better? As usual, many… Continue reading
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Autumn Statement: Michael Gove becomes the poster boy for Whitehall cuts
George Osborne briefed the Cabinet this morning on tomorrow’s Autumn Statement, giving ministers some good news and some bad news. The good news is that he is launching £5 billion… Continue reading
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Make people with lifestyle-related illnesses pay for their drugs, says Tory MP
Tory MP and GP Phillip Lee made a striking call this morning for patients suffering from lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes to pay for their prescriptions as part… Continue reading
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Sir John Major glimpses the sunny uplands
The standard joke is that Sir John Major is the ultimate grey man, as if Charles Pooter had been painted by Wilhelm Hammershoi in particularly pallid light. But the pea-eating… Continue reading
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Slashing and burning the civil service, or just skimming off the top?
Are Francis Maude’s £5.5bn savings in central government spending a significant step forward in his battle to shrink the public sector? In today’s Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister explains the beneficiaries and sources… Continue reading
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How big are the cuts so far?
‘Osborne’s austerity is killing the recovery.’ It’s a familiar refrain, one that we hear every time there’s bad economic news. And, sure enough, today’s terrible GDP stats have sparked yet… Continue reading
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The Whitehall monster would kill any data revolution
Could the government save £33 billion a year through better use of data? That’s the claim of a new report from Policy Exchange, which highlights how the government has failed… Continue reading
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Who is the enemy?
It is Armed Forces Day and army morale is low – according to the Telegraph at least. The prospect of a 20 per cent cut in personnel is provoking anger in… Continue reading
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Debt as a threat to national security
Today’s papers carry news that British nuclear submarines are going to be replaced: a strong indication that the government will replace Trident with a like-for-like deterrent in 2016, contrary to… Continue reading
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Osborne versus wind farms
Here’s a U-turn that we can all welcome: felling the wind farms. Matt Ridley described, in a Spectator cover story some while ago, how George Osborne has turned against them. Today, the… Continue reading
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Grand follies
The economy’s not looking terribly good, is it? Manufacturing has sunk to a three year low, rather worse than anyone expected — and the Eurozone crisis is only partly to… Continue reading
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