Spending review
Cabinet ministers told to find an extra £2.5 billion in cuts
Cabinet this morning can’t have been a cheery occasion. The Prime Minister did congratulate all those who had been involved in the Leveson talks, with a little bit more congratulation… Continue reading
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Exclusive: Number 10’s plan to break the spending review log-jam
George Osborne yesterday set the date for completion of the 2015-16 spending review as 26 June. But it is hard to see how an agreement between the Treasury and the un-protected… Continue reading
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How will the Tories sell more welfare cuts?
David Cameron is making noises about further welfare cuts as he tours India, reports the FT’s Kiran Stacey. This isn’t surprising: the PM has got a gaggle of Cabinet ministers… Continue reading
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Cabinet agrees ‘difficult decisions’ due for 2015/16 spending review
Ministers aren’t just getting ready for March’s Budget: they’re also trying to work out a ‘budget setting process’ for 2015/16. The content of that slimmed-down departmental spending review formed the… Continue reading
18 CommentsOsborne’s Paul Daniels strategy
Is George Osborne the first British Chancellor to hide good news in the small print? I ask this in my News of the World column (£) today, and ask what… Continue reading
37 CommentsClegg hits back at the IFS
It’s fast becoming a tradition: when the IFS calls the government’s work "regressive," send for Nick Clegg to take the think tank on. He wrote an article for the FT… Continue reading
37 CommentsThe Tory response to Osborne’s Spending Review
George Osborne was well received by the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers when he addressed them on the spending review earlier. There was much thumping of desks, the traditional sign… Continue reading
14 CommentsThe chart that could cause trouble for the coalition
Just as they did in the Budget, the coalition have produced a chart showing the impact of the Spending Review’s tax, spend and benefit measures on different income groups (see… Continue reading
15 CommentsThe departmental cuts
The Spending Review document is available here, but we’ve collected the cuts facing some of the main departments in the table below. This is not the complete picture of Osborne’s… Continue reading
10 CommentsSpending review live blog
1350, PH: And that’s Johnson finished now. Osborne is responding, but we’ll leave the live blog there. Plenty more coverage on Coffee House soon. 1348, PH: Johnson claims that Osborne’s… Continue reading
16 CommentsOsborne vows to play straight
George Osborne’s statement is, I hear, about 40 minutes long. I also hear that there is no obfuscation in it about what is being cut. The coalition is determined that… Continue reading
2 CommentsHow we got here – and where we’re going
With the Spending Review less than two hours away, I thought CoffeeHousers might like to be armed with a few graphs that set the scene. What follows is by no… Continue reading
4 CommentsOn the eve of the cuts
In economic terms, the role of the Comprehensive Spending Review is a fairly straightforward one: to set Departmental Expenditure Limits for every government department, and outline some of the policy… Continue reading
12 CommentsThe day of reckoning draws near
Tomorrow we finally move from generalities to specifics. No need to argue any more about whether the losers will be up in arms or will it all be a damp… Continue reading
4 CommentsGenerous settlements mean gigantic cuts elsewhere
I hear that the Department of Transport’s settlement is another one that is not as bad as expected. The capital statement is, apparently, positively reasonable. George Osborne’s commitment to infrastructure… Continue reading
3 CommentsWhat we know already
At the Comprehensive Spending Review tomorrow, we will get a much clearer picture of how the Government plans to manage spending cuts. There are a few things we already know,… Continue reading
4 CommentsWhat should the Chancellor do in the Spending Review?
With this autumn’s Spending Review set to be one of the most important moments in the life of the Coalition Government, Reform has linked up The Spectator’s Coffee House blog… Continue reading
13 CommentsThe coalition’s carrier trouble
We will be presented with the full defence review at around 1430 today – but already its contents are spilling out across the papers. Much of it is unsurprising: a… Continue reading
24 CommentsPutting the cuts into context
Having been accused of being a “pain denier” by Tim Montgomerie yesterday, I’d like to quickly defend myself. In my News of the World column, I sought to put this… Continue reading
23 CommentsFox in the dock?
Split-stories have their own momentum. As soon as you know that a certain secretary of state is in the dog house with Downing Street, you start seeing things through that… Continue reading
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