Budget Day +1
The only smile in the papers this morning is to be found on a spider discovered in Hawaii -- apparently the markings on its back give it a grin to ward off predators. Chancellor Darling could have done with it to ward off today's headlines.
The Daily Mail's headline is 'Alistair in wonderland'.
The Telegraph shouts 'The return of class war'.
The Guardian's has 'Darling's great squeeze'.
The FT is 'Darling gambles on growth'.
The Sun says 'At least it's sunny', referring only to the weather.
The Times has a double entendre, 'Red all over'.
The Independent highlights the breach of Labour's manifesto promise not to change income tax rates with the line 'That's rich!'.
The Daily Express's front page is stark: 'They've ruined Britain'
The rule of thumb is that a Budget which is initially well-received is usually being rubbished by the weekend. So the Chancellor will be crossing his fingers that the opposite is also true. But he shouldn't count on it. One thing is clear to me: this Budget may or may not mark the end of New Labour but it certainly marks the end of the Murdoch newspapers' dalliance with New Labour.
I'm in no doubt that The Times and the Sun are now going to back David Cameron at the next election.
I refer readers to my two post-Budget postings yesterday, by which I still stand. But here are some random thoughts on Budget Day +1.
1. Make me austere -- but not yet. The Chancellor is making great play of his squeeze in public spending. Someone even (ludicrously) described the Budget as Thatcherite this morning. In fact, the squeeze doesn't happen till 2011, and even then it won't be cut -- just grow at a very slow rate (0.7% in real terms). Over the next two years public spending is actually projected to rise by another £38 billion, which means the good times continue to roll for the public sector (until the election is conveniently out of the way).
2. Pass the rose-tinted specs, Darling. I commented yesterday on how the Chancellor might well be overly optimistic in his projections. He expects the economy to collapse by 3.5% this year, flicker into life next (1.25% growth) then rebound by 3.5% in 2011. But this morning the IMF says the economy will collapse by even more in 2009 (down over 4%) and still be in decline by in 2010 (down another 0.4%). That would make Mr Darling's 3.5% rebound all the more remarkable (some would say miraculous).
3. The Trillion-Pound Chancellor. If the IMF and most City economists are right about future growth prospects -- and the Chancellor wrong -- then his plans to borrow over £700 billion over the next four years (already an eye-watering amount) will be a serious underestimate.
Even at that level we as a nation will be paying more on interest to service the debt than we spend on defence or schools. But some City economists are predicting we'll end up having to borrow closer to £1 trillion, taking the national debt to over £1.7 trillion (or more than 100% of our annual national wealth) -- and that's possible, even likely, if all the off-budget items are included. Which raises a pivotal question: could the British government actually sell that amount of debt and hold on to its triple A credit rating. Don Smith, chief economist at ICAP, said at a City briefing last night: "There is a very high possibility of a serious buyers' strike". If that happens sterling will slump and international faith in Britain's prospects will be back to where it was in the 1970s.
4. 60%+ Britain. I've already commented on the new 50% top tax rate. In the cold light of dawn it turns out to be 60%+ for some. From next year, anybody earning between £100,000 and £112,950 will be hit by a marginal income tax rate of 60% as their personal allowance is removed; the real rate will hit 61.5% with national insurance. After that, the tax rate will fall back to 40% for a while ¬(41.5% with the new national insurance rates). Then after £150,000 it will jump to 50% (or 51.5% including NICs). So much, some will say, for simplifying the tax code -- incentivising the entrepreneurs the government says will lead us out of recession.
Perhaps this is why The Times says it's a "good Budget for Switzerland".
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~15~RS~)
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What is clear from this year's Budget is that Gordon Brown does not
expect to win the next General Election, in fact, HE DOESN'T WANT TO
WIN THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION.
But, what is worse, in his delayed proposals for cutting public
expenditure, the increase in fuel duty, the massive increase in
borrowing requirements, the 50p tax rise on the rich, and the
delayed general tax rises for the rest of us, he has set a trap for
the next Conservative government, and his advisers are already
writing their dodgy emails, and their propaganda attacks, on the
next Tory Chancellor.
This Budget was all about party politics and there was nothing about
the economy of the nation. Don't take my word for that. Listen to
them!
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Do you agree with the view that only fools think politicians run free market economies?
What proportion of the debt is a direct result of the support for certain banks? Do you think that Hayek, Friedman, Thatcher and Reagan have any responsibility for the collapse of the world economy?
A life long interest in observing politicians has convinced me that any idiot can oppose.
You state that the ex thuggish Bullingdon Kids will be the choice of Murdoch and his bag carriers at the next election.
I look forward to their proposals for dealing with the problems
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http://oldrightie.blogspot.com/2009/04/down-and-down-we-go.html
My post yesterday was pre-budget. Pretty accurate, wouldn't you say?
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Andrew -
Could you please ask one of the 'living dead' how they can rationalise a borrowing requirement of £175bn with an order to the Whitehall department responsible for universities to make savings of £400m?
The effect of this will be for 200000 students to be turned away from universities this year as applications are up by 8%.
Why? Because there are no jobs - so here's another 200000 for the dole queue come 1 September!
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Can Darling and Brown avoid the double dip?
I found the report about "expenses" quite good, I too think that a lot more is saved up for the release of the whole of these figures rather than the drip drip we have been seeing, but we do already know that Brown claimed a second home allowance, as did Bliar and Darling, despite living in Grace and favour...and we also know that Brown has had to apologise (presumably by You Tube) for sub letting his constituency office...and a Scottish minister lost his job for doing similar
Looking forward to This Week as I notice Diane has been making headlines of her own.
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Will the DP please ensure, for fair balance, that today's poet-comedian presents equally cynical 'celebrations' of St Patrick's day, St David's day, St Andrew's day, and - perhaps for good measure - Burns' Night?
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Obviously a scant 30 mins of politics a day is too much for the BBC hence the dumbed down CBeebies edition again today. Come on Andrew, Paxo wouldn't put up with it!
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RE :8
Thank you mike-jay for that. It did not go unnoticed that Mr Andrew Ferguson Neil thinks it is humorous to invite a guest onto his show to ridicule the English people for wanting to celebrate their National Day.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact he was born in Paicley SCOTLAND, went to Paisley Grammar School SCOTLAND, on to Glasgow University SCOTLAND.
You will all excuse me whilst I go and trample over the Saltire won't you. Oh sorry I do not want to get my feet dirty. NOT even the soles.
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Hat tip to the Murdoch press if they decide to do something
I do note that you missed out the Mirror's headlines, even though they seem to have been listening to a different speech...or maybe it is the legacy of another one who went yachting?
Kelvin's been on Sky uttering again, maybe you should have a friendly word Andrew and up his medication...he's almost starting to make sense.
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2#
Indeed.... Scottish Banks at that. Funny old thing, eh, Sout?
And which particular free market tiger do you think Mr Salmond was going to ride?
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The point of the Scottish secretary is:- to talk up his government and to talk down Scotland. His views on the budget from a Scottish perspective are predictable. "John Swinney has done his calulations on the back of a fag packet. In real terms no cuts have been made, all we are asking the Scottish government to do is be like a normal Scottish family and tighten their belts". 500 million of cuts next year you mean? Of an of course you include the money "going to Scotland" that cash going to exploit smaller oil fields the revenues of which go where exactly? Mmm back to the London treasury.
On a lighter note looking forward to seeing your programme back tonight its always a hoot.
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With news that water boarding and other forms of torture were sanctioned at the highest level of the USA government including by Condelesa Rice how can it now be believable that Ministers of this disreputable disgraceful and shameful executive British Government did not know what was going on?
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Does anyone think that the world economic crises would have been cancelled, if the worlds bankers and the spivs operating in international financial markets had known
that the ex spin doctor whose company went bust owing millions, Norman Lamonts economic advisor and ex Bullingdon Club kid now leading the Tories had been sitting in Downing Street?
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The House of Commons is a corporation, our parlaimentarians are employees of a corporation who are not representing us or our interests, they are merely executing company policy, they are merely directors of a corporation who's sole purpose is to collect revenue, control us and exploit our labour. Call it Socialism or Marxism if you want, I'll call it Criminal-pyramid scheme-extortion-racket-cartelism.
The political system is not just financially bankrupt, it's morally and ethically bankrupt too.
See Freeman John Harris, and his website
tpuc.org, he'll expain the difference between common law which applies to human beings, and commercial law which applies to corporations.
See also Brian Gerrish, I think he's the editor or publisher of the newspaper ukcolumn.
The ruling elite of this country is subverting all good causes to extremely dark ends. They have sold out to the New World Order global government.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Pvs-pgbic&feature=PlayList&p=25A74DD7B093C8B9&index=0&playnext=1
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I blogged during the aftermath of the Guido Fawkes "sleazegate" scandal that it was suprised just how quickly the majority of newspapers had aligned themselves against the government, including the Murdoch ones. This government is finished, Gordon Brown is a dead man walking, no matter how animated he appears on YouTube videos.
The budget is a disaster. Even by Alastair Darling's cloud-cuckoo financial forecast, national debt stays above 70 percent until 2018-19. So we have a decade of misery ahead even if things go to the optimistic plan and we STILL won't have reduced the national debt significantly. Instead all revenues are scheduled to continue to prop up the public sector rather than pay off debt under this government.
In 12 short months, Gordon Brown has condemned us to over a decade of austerity with his squandering ways.
Not only that, but the budget gives the heads-up to the gilt markets that there will be a never-ending conveyor belt of issues. Guaranteed to depress the value of such issues. Sterling is bound to take a battering, just as inflation is sure to creep up. Gilt auctions WILL fail, there can be no other outcome.
We'll be off to the IMF bowl in hand very soon. Mind you, it could weel be a ploy. The IMF always demand tough controls on public sector spending: maybe Gordo sees it as a way of deflecting blame when the public sector cuts are decreed by the IMF. "It was the IMF what dunnit"
I can only think the French are clearing that jungle in Calais ready to receive the influx of Brits emmigrating out of the country.
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Frank Field isn't so chuffed either
http://franklyspeakingblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/the-budget-a-view-from-the-benches/
Could it really be that those people Brown et al have tried to denigrate with their bank bashing and their opportunistic tax grabs could now actually hold the keys to No10 and throw this shower out by having a Gilts strike?
Frank makes it sound like a licence to print money
Maybe we should make all the Gilts payable in Zimbabwe Dollars, because even Mugabe has abandoned that currency
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Interesting to think back to the moment where Brown decided not to call an election in the Autumn of 2007. If he had he would probably have received a reduced majority (what he was afraid of) but now, when he needs it most, he would have a mandate and most importantly time in which to play a long game. More than ever this looks like the defining moment of his failed premiership.
The current situation rather reminds me of the closing phases of a rugby match, the losing side, short on time, start to throw the ball about with gay abandon, chucking out tactical discipline in the hope that a moment of brilliance will result in a game changing try and conversion. The result is that they start to leak points faster and make their inevitable defeat even worse.
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A cynical betrayal of tomorrow's child for the sake of some grubby votes .Shame!
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13#
boringboringboringboring, irrelevant speculation.
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braveSouter wrote:
Does anyone think that the world economic crises would have been cancelled, if the worlds bankers and the spivs operating in international financial markets had known
that the ex spin doctor whose company went bust owing millions, Norman Lamonts economic advisor and ex Bullingdon Club kid now leading the Tories had been sitting in Downing Street?
It could hardly have been worse! Bear in mind that we were told, by this lot, that we were "well placed" to face that recession. Was that intended as a sick joke?
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There are no words to describe how appallingly bad and what a total betrayal the decision made about the Ghurka's is.
Shameful does not even begin to cover it.
Whilst this country is swamped by illegal immigration that this Government does NOTHING about men who have served this nation faithfully and with honour, something this government knows nothing about, are denied a right to settle here.
I would suggest that the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister resign but that would be a decent thing to do and this administration abandoned any semblance of decenency long ago.
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I've just seen the pronouncement from the Home Office and the reactions on the Justice for Gurkhas case.
Having listened to the new conditions for settlement, the reaction from supporters and lawyers and to Phil Woolas, I have to say I am sick, sick, sick to the stomach. What a cowardly, devious, disingenuous bunch of morally corrupt politicians.
My grandfather, a distinguished career soldier, and my father who served during WW2 would both be turning in their graves. My father saw the Gurkhas in action and had a very high regard for them. For them to serve this country and be treated in such a manner is disgusting.
It is a situation that successive governments should have dealt with and Blair did make a ruling for those serving after '97, but the cynical thinking behind these latest conditions is beyond the pale. The latest decision was apparently posted on the internet, without the courtesy of an official public announcement.
Pathetic.
Vote of no confidence NOW.
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Good analysis. It is a pity new Labour is on the way out, politically I felt a lot of sympathy for that lot, but fiscally they clearly have no leg to stand on.
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It is aweful to think that Gordon Brown will probably head off into retirement feeling wronged and mi9sunderstood. With the applause of his G20 colleagues rining in his ears - he will hold to the belief that he saved the World (economy) and we are the ingrates..
The fact is that the budget has stripped away any remaining veneer and revealed the rotting timber beneath.
Since no-one else believes the tReasury's forecasts it is a fair assumption that they don't believe them either. The only criteria on which they are credible is that no-one can prove them wrong (yet).
The only way they can be predicted with a straight face is an assumption that all the money the Government has pumped into the banks will start to flow through the economy - and generate growth.
At best this is short-termism driven by the election timing. There may yet be a modest stimulus from all this spending - but I wouldn't bet on it until we are told how much of the money has been used to pay off past debts and write off bad debts. There may be a short term ability to sell 'gilts' (if only to the Bank of England) and keep public spending up.
But in the longer term this election bubble will have to be paid for. People know this, and they are surely not going to spend the Government out of the hole it is digging.
It is hard not to think the worst - and see this budget as delibertate sabotage of the economy so as to 'poison the well' for the next Government.
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Hi Andrew,
it has really begun to sink in the the use by the government of the internet terminology to describe the current appalling financial state of the planet. For example we have the WWW, the World Wide Web. Well has nobody else seen the sumliminal link to the WWR, the World Wide Recession, or the WWD, the World Wide Depression. Am I the only one to notice this link. Is this the government proving how up to date it is, what with Gordon on Youtube, I am still recovering from the shock of watching somebody laugh, or smile, at totally inappropriate moments.
There is an old 'joke' about the singing telegram men from the thirties, they would go to sing the telegram to the recipient, only some messages were grossly inappropriate, but the recipient insisted, so the Telegram boy sang 'daddy daddy dum, daddy daddy dum, Kate and the kids are dead, Oy'.
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...if only we could all have a Bobby Ewing moment and wake up back in 1996 again!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
The polls carried out by the BBC showed that only 10% would trust Clegg and Vince Cable to be in charge of the economy, although it has been generally recognised that Cable consistently spoke the most sense on the current crisis.
You have to wonder just who they polled to get these results, and whether some of those questioned understood that it wasn't a question simply of voting intentions.
Brown and Darling came out top (on about 34%) - the most trusted on the economy!!! Can anyone believe it?
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I said at the time of the Autumn statement, that I didn't believe Darlings projections.
I'm not sure I believe this latest set either. There seems to be a lot of naive optimism in the assumptions behind Darlings projections...
Labour are clearly following a "Torch and Burn" strategy at the moment. They don't care how much debt they accumulate. They think they'll be able to criticise the new Government from the opposition benches because of all the cuts that have to be made in future...
The best thing that could happen at the next election, would be for Labour to be relegated to third-party, or even further into obscurity. I think they deserve to be hit that hard, because of the mess they've made of the country and because of the sleaze...
Conservatives facing LibDems over the despatch boxes would be a refreshing change. The country desperately needs that.
The old animosity/rivalries between Labour and Tory would go...
.. and be replaced by some new ones...!
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Re:29
I would have said Cable and Osborne.
In fact I did say Cable and Osborne, a few weeks ago.
One has to despair about the British electorate. Very hard to fathom why they vote the way they do sometimes...
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Shame on this government for the decision about the Gurka's and the way the announcement was made
We really are living in a time of bunker politics
If the leaders won't come out and face the music then they must be either ring fenced to ensure that they can play no further part or an all out assault with extreme prejudice
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Re:32 Bunker politics.
Hmmm. Interesting analogy. What other historical figure retreated to his bunker when his grand plan had fallen around his ears and the game was clearly up...!
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33. TGR_Worzel wrote:
Re:32 Bunker politics.
Peter Rabbit?
Sorry, just trying to cheer myself up after getting steamed over the Gurkhas announcement.
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Perusal of the comments (Above) one point is clear, the time is up for PM-GB, I think that realization for GB came with the "McBride E-mailgate" smear fiasco, and this budget was a cynical attempt to make it appear as though the Government is doing something to to get Britain back on its feet, The fact is, this Country is sliding down the tubes at high speed and the brakes have failed. Over the past elleven years or so, this Country was allowed to become to big for its boots, Brown allowed it to happen, when he was dealing with the cash back in the spend, spend, spend days, if the people want money let them have it, let the Banks go wild, if the USA could do it so could little Britain, great and why not? the thing is, the USA had big guns back-up when things whent ker-pow! little Britain didn't and hasn't got anyting like that kind of back-up, what ever piffling amount of cash this budget may bring in, it's less than 2% of what is needed, and Darling knows it, but he had to make a show, the problems that Britain have now will take many years to sort out, Thank You Blair, Thank You Brown, batween the two of,you have done what two World Wars couldn't, SINK! Britain Nice One GOV. I wonder if David Cameron is having second thoughts? stepping into and sorting out the mess this Country is in will take some guts, still, look at this way, the only way is up, I HOPE. DaveS596-XE1
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With regards to today's poll, I agree with the pundit who said that there is no balance in your poll and there should be a none of the above
As it is, you have a fairly significant number who didn't answer which would be bigger than the statistical error of the whole poll
Did you do the poll before or after the headlines that appeared later Budget day+1?
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Will you join the rest of the bloggers in posting this url asking the pm to resign Andrew?
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/#detail
Will it demonstrate whether all communication is cut to the bunker?
Or maybe there is a laser printer wedged behind the door stopping Brown coming out and admitting his figures for the budget are illusory?
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25. At 12:14pm on 24 Apr 2009, chriss-w wrote:
...Since no-one else believes the tReasury's forecasts it is a fair assumption that they don't believe them either. The only criteria on which they are credible is that no-one can prove them wrong (yet).
===
I can!
Wednesday 22 April:
"Mr Deputy Speaker, the UK economy contracted by 1.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.
For the first quarter of this year, I expect the economy will again contract by a similar amount.
And my forecast for GDP growth for the year as a whole will be -3.5% - in line with other independent forecasts."
Friday 24 April:
"The UK economy shrank 1.9% in the first three months of 2009, according to gross domestic product (GDP) data from the Office for National Statistics.
The figure was much worse than the expected level of about 1.5% and followed the contraction of 1.6% in the previous three-month period."
===
Is this a record? Two days for a Darling forecast to be proved hopelessly wrong?
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Andrew,
you are a top man, keeping your blog open.
Toenails has gone off in a sulk for the weekend and taken his ball with him!
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Andrew, you can always be relied upon.
Posting this here as the week's excitement seems to have got to Nick.
Something Laugh posted over there didn't sound right and some quick research suggests he either twisted the facts and made some up or his source was unreliable.
242. At 4:13pm on 24 Apr 2009, ‘Age of Austerity’
Laughatthetories wrote:
Here are some of the ideas coming out of the Tories’ policy think tank to tackle the Debt:
Abolish universal Child Benefit - let’s make the children pay
Reduce the pay of doctors by 10 per cent - fine by me but will they do it?
End inappropriate defence projects - ditto
Remove pensioner gimmicks, such as the winter fuel payment and free TV licences for over-75s - let’s make the pensioners pay
Introduce market rates for interest on student loans - ah yes, rack up some more debt as if topup fees aren’t bad enough
No wonder Cameron won’t say anything about policy if this is what we can look forward to. Still, at least the well off will pay less inheritance tax.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The Morning Star, a far left-lurching rag, reported the ideas exactly as posted above.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/comment/advice_from_left_and_right
This may be a co-incidence.
These are the ideas as reported by the mainstream media, from the report “Back to Black” by Reform, not a “Tories policy think tank”, but an independent think tank with a cross-party advisory board. In fact the report was launched with Vince Cable.
“Child benefit for the WELL-OFF scrapped”
Doctors pay - as per your post
“Wasteful” defence projects - as per your post
“Stopping free TV licences and winter fuel payments to ALL BUT THE POOREST (would save £3.2 billion.)”
Couldn’t find the student loans one from Reform, but did find one from another LibDem think tank sponsored forum from 2007 floating “The blanket interest rate subsidy on student loans should be scrapped”
AND one from the ‘right wing’ think tank Policy Exchange which suggests allowing failing universities to close, e.g. those badly managed or affected by too many universities for one location.
Where did you get the info from, Laugh?
Either check your facts or don't bother posting half-truths and misinformation.
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40.
Apologies for the ? marks instead of inverted commas - it was a cut-and-paste job.
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Labour can save foxes but they can't honour the contribution of those that have fought and seen so many of their comrades dies to preserve the freedoms they discard so lightly. Utterly disgraceful.
And then I hear that Chris Galley is to be sacked for gross professional misconduct. I guess if a civil servant's role is to abuse the public's trust to protect the government or the service itself then he probably is guilty. In the news piece of his sacking, reference was made to the fact that he had signed the official secrets act. Given the DPP declared leaked info was not sensitive then national security doesn't apply. Furthermore the leaking of the information was deemed to be in the public interest.
Galley himself seemed resigned to the verdict since in his own words, he did not raise his concerns through the chain of command.
As a member of the public, I feel well served by Mr Galley's actions and I think that a champion of the public's right to know should be promoted highly in any service that is supposed to serve me, not sacked.
In the same vein, all those in the chain of command above Mr Galley right up to the Home Secretary should have recognised the public interest in the information and are guilty of gross dereliction of duty for suppressing its timely release (at least to all elected representatives). Consequently they should all be fired, their pensions removed, and be denied from public office for a period of 5 years at least. The senior management of the civil service is a joke.
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Well, I got moderated for getting in a lather about the Ghurkas as well yesterday.
It was either the mention of another member of the PM's bunker, for calling for a vote of no confidence or the such like that must have done it.
Only the moderator who did it knows why.
Suffice it to say, it doesnt change anything. The decision made yesterday by Jackboots' dept was scandalous and there can be no justification for it.
I repeat my call for a vote of no confidence in HMG.
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Nadine's blog is saying she has started Legal proceedings
Maybe Brown's comment during pmq's to her stage managed question wasn't enough
Rumours appear to suggest there are more names, but she isn't saying who the action is against
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Fubar
Quite a few Gurkha posts were censored on Nick's blog, myself included. Yet my post on here still stands.
Amazing, an unsuspecting pensioner can be insulted and humiliated over the airwaves, but we can't be too critical of those we elect.
If you haven't already joined the Gurkha Justice Campaign, sign up online - you receive a lovely email from Joanna Lumley. Which is nice.
I won't link it in case it gets referred.
There's also a petition on No. 10's site which Guido is promoting, calling for our great leader to take extended gardening leave.
Apparently Dorries is suing McBride. Excellent.
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The Spectator appears to have put up a debt accumulator for Brown
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/
But the 600 billion I thought was after the current budget figures...so how can it be going up at nearly 6k per second?
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The country is most certainly in “an awful state of chassis”.
Having just read the excellent Observer article by Andrew Rawnsley about the serial killing of new Labour and the new Tories, the latest victims of the recession, I am however left thinking that the piece does not answer the real question. What comes next? In my view it is more likely to be a welcome shift to the left of centre rather than a lurch to the right and the cabal of unfamiliar but traditional right- wing Conservatives, which arc London from the Thames near Upminster to Maidenhead.
The first party to publish a menu of savings, carefully swerving Schools and Hospitals, will inevitably hold the cards at the next election. It will invariably be the Liberal Democrats under the excellent Dr Cable; it will also likely include both sides of the equation simultaneously, useful if you want to make a rational choice. In Waltham Forest where all three parties are equally weighted governance and prudence have both improved immeasurably.
Whilst the electoral system does not allow the Liberals to win, hopefully they may hold the balance of power. I would hope that the price they will demand is the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Home Secretary. A competent economic policy, an overhaul of the income tax system and a complete review of the changes to all aspects of the criminal justice system since 1997 are the first tasks of any new administration.
The popular and fair redistribution of tax starting with taking everyone earning up to £10,000 out of tax (not NI) altogether, by adjusting rates incrementally between that threshold and say 125k, achieved by introducing a 30% and moving the 40% rate between a new low of 20% and 50%. No one should be against this. It is fair, stimulates demand and increases the margin between existence on benefits and work, when employment opportunities return and ensures both the useful and the useless Middle Class; the non-wealth creators pay their share. The wealth creators don’t seem to be those complaining or moving! A cap on the maximum benefit entitlement for any family is also necessary to avoid rare but evident anomalies.
The myth that the leader of Kent or Essex Council is employable anywhere other than where they are is illusory. All current thinking is predicated on a World prior to the killing of the first victim of this recession the golden goose of the Financial World and the interrelated professions. Obama and Cowen have realised this and acted accordingly. Alistair Darling seems to know this but “politics” is constraining him, temporarily?
Trident may have to be deferred for 5 years, ID Cards scrapped, Quantitative Easing quietly abandoned, public sector wages frozen and the pensions of those earning more than £25k reviewed, whoever is elected. This does not markedly affect investment. The simple choice the voter has to make, and that includes those who sadly still look to their perceived betters to guide them, is this. Do I want a Government that helps people from the bottom up or the top down? It’s clear the Liberals are the former and the Conservatives the later but where are the current incumbents. Lazy, illiterate, incomprehensible and profligate governance is coming to an end. More purpose and boldness is required. Politics is transient and must reflect the times, whilst demonstrating inherent values.
The people who have failed by act or omission have to be punished in any event. A shorter Tuscan holiday is incomparable to losing your job.
Fairness leads to better economic and social synergy.
Paul Donnelly E14 (Unaffiliated)
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39. At 6:05pm on 24 Apr 2009, yellowbelly1959
you are a top man, keeping your blog open.
Agreed; it is reassuring that there is at least one avenue for discourse still open outside of school hols, weekends, 'bad' patches, etc.
As a matter of interest, is there anywhere where the 'comments are now closed' logic on different blogs on the BBC is explained?
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47. pauldonnelly wrote:
"Trident may have to be deferred for 5 years, ID Cards scrapped, Quantitative Easing quietly abandoned, public sector wages frozen..."
Can you see them scrapping a flagship project like ID cards? They've invested so much rhetoric and money in it.
That would be a serious about-face, which Labour under Brown don't do very easily. They would be looking at cuts (savings) that won't make big headlines.
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#47, 49
There are all sorts of saving options that are regularly being mentioned - ID cards, Trident, IT databases, children's bonds, numbers going to university, government consultants/advisers, quangos, etc, etc. The lists are endless.
But the crucial factors at this stage are the attitudes, philosophies, and political determinations of the different parties to actually tackle the problem, come what may. And part of this must surely be a major change in the whole culture and trappings of governmnt - an ab initio review of what parliament and the public sector are for and how big they should be.
NL have not shown any signs of having the intention, the ability, or the stomach to take drastic actions. On the contrary, they seem to be stuck with their methods of the past dozen years, tinkering round the edges, sly taxes here and there, and still spending to appease their core supporters.
The Tories are making the right noises, but understandably are not in a hurry to go into details more than a year before an election. They are also very prone to keep shooting themselves in the foot. And the Lib-Dems are making useful suggestions, with a competent Vince Cable guiding them on the economic front.
It would be a travesty to re-elect NL (although, in a sense, they deserve to be stuck with the mess they have helped to create). A better option would be a Tory/Lib-Dem coalition, but a Tory win probably would also be satisfactory if they would stick to their guns and reshape the way government operates. Conventional savings alone will not be enough.
The coming twelve months might bring everything more into focus, although Brown will certainly do everything possible to blur the picture.
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Andrew, one of the main points that Farage made in his Straight Talk interview with you was that they had been "absolutely ruthless" with the 2 MEPs. One of them, Tom Wise, was actually still a UKIP member until earlier this year. That was 3 - 4 yrs after the investigation started. UKIP Ruthless?
The following link has comments from a present NEC member Douglas Denny (Farage loyalist) and a previous NEC member (Butcher) which both conflict with the impression Farage gave to you.
http://tinyurl.com/dnc6j2
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In a common-sense world, I would expect the Budget Debate vote to be a vote of confidence in the government of the day.
For Brown -through Darling- to present a 'sit on our hands for a year' budget is staggering. For him to think that his re-election is more important than the recovery, beggars belief.
He doesn't need to wait a year for the election. He should have enough honour and moral strength to call it now. Whoever wins power cannot wait a year to take decisive action on the deficits.
For his own cabinet and back-benchers not to force his hand is equally shaming.
Does he not understand the country is prepared to face up to digging ourselves out of this hole, we just don't like being treated for fools -see below.
The country also knows that there is no 3.5% bounce due.
There was never any solid growth in the past 12 years either, it was all bubble-driven. If you strip out the pumping of the economy that went on, either in debt-funding, stripping assets, manipulation of statistics, equity release, cheap money, then you will see UK growth was wretched.
I had some faith that Darling was an honest man, that Budget condemns him for a puppet and a patsy.
Regards,
If we are just going to wallow in this, then I'm emigrating, I don't want my children to grow up in a country ruled by lizards and spineless lackeys.
.......
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Is this the kind of thing that you'd be interested in Andrew?
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/index.html
This could be bigger than the exam one last week, especially if he too can make the Straw "lied" stick in the committee room
Don't fully understand the issue, but it looks like Mr Murray may have been a victim of Downing Street Spin and if you can I'd like an explanation of the following in your own inimitable style:
As the Scotland Yard investigation proceeds into MI5 and MI6 collusion in 16 cases of torture, Craig Murray will argue that it is not the security service operatives, but the Ministers who set the policy – and specifically Jack Straw – who should be facing criminal charges.
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Hi Andrew,
I do like trawling thorugh the available copies of Hansard and thought that this extract may be suitable for Gordon Brown. It concerns a debate held on the 18th July 1856 and is in vol. 143 cc. 1035-7 and the speech is by Viscount Palmerston;
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON Sir, I must, in the first place, respectfully enter my protest against the practice that has been growing up of late in this House of hon. Members getting up and asking the Government what is their intention upon this, that, and the other matter. No doubt there may be subjects of sufficient importance to justify prospective inquiry, but I apprehend that, speaking generally, the position of the responsible advisers of the Crown in Parliament is to be responsible for what they do, and that they are not called upon to take this House into their counsels in regard to what they are going to do on every small matter. In reply therefore to the hon. and gallant Member for Westminster, I beg to observe that what we are going to do with respect to the disposal of the German Legion, will, I trust, when done, be found perfectly consistent with law and propriety. More than this I am not prepared to say'.
Now I know this was said about the German Legion but the quote could from the headlines on wednesday after PMQs. Especially when relating to any involvement by the UK in the appalling evidence now coming out from America relating to 'torture'.
Also how dare we question the Hon Ed Balls about 'certain matters'. I mean John Hutton had to admit on the 26th February this year that 'inaccurate information on this particular issue (Records of Detention) Review Conclusions) has been given to the House by my Department'. Hutton had to admit that totally misleading information had been given to the House about the number of detainees who had been handed over the Americans in Iraq where who knows what happened to them.
Finally, I don't think that many fully understood the nature of Huttons statement when he said 'It is, I believe, essential that our armed forces are able to detain people who pose a real threat to our troops, our allies or the local people whom we are seeking to protect'. Now bearing in mind the 'threat' which the Prime Minister referred to when the Pakistani's were detained for questioning I wonder if John Hutton would like to go back to the House, and extend this detention policy to foreign nationals now in the United Kingdom and that it also relates to the UK population. By the way I would be very concerned that the Pakistani detainees may well suffer some form of torture if they were to be returned to Pakistan and accordingly they must never be returned to a state which allows torture of any kind.
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#53
Just understand that the whole issue of Iraq will not go away. For example, I show below what Geoff Hoon said to the House on the 25th November 2002, long after the notorious meeting between George Bush and Tony Blair;
Let me now deal with the request for support by the United States. As Members will know, the United States has approached a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, seeking support in the event that military action proves necessary. Although no decision has been made to commit UK forces to military action, discussions with the US will continue so that an appropriate British contribution can be identified should it prove necessary.
Now, I know of nobody that now believes the statement to be true. Hoon misled Parliament, even though he should have been told by Blair that what he was saying was not quite correct. Can we be told why Tony Blair did not tell Hoon the truth, or did not Hoon even ask the then PM, just like a certain Lord didn't ask a certain company what the pension would be for a certain executive. If you don't ask the question!
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Hi Andrew,
I know that some people will think that my interest in the Iraq war is just so terribly boring well let me then bore your readers with an evn more interesting subject, namely the outbreak of WWI.
Now then the Archduke and his wife were assassinated on the 28th June 1914. We the British were effectively to be the first country to mobilize their most powerful weapon, namely the Royal Navy. How did this happen.
Well there was a review off Spithead to be held on the 17th to the 24th July, after which I think you will find that they would have returned to Scapa Floe, that is the 1st and 2nd battle fleets. What happened was that they were sent to Portland as was reported in the 'Times' of 6th July 1914.
Now as soon as the war was actually declared in August 1914 the Fleet was able to steam to enforce the bloockade which was in place because the fleet did not have to sail from Scapa Floe but from Portland. Now how convenient is that. Somethings never change do they Andrew, mind you I could be accused of being a conspiracy theorist but the truth is out there.
Now then when will Gordon Brown order an urgent inquiry into the Iraq war. Time for an election before we are all taken by 'Swine Flu', course there is no chance that we may end with an emergency just like 'Foot and Mouth' which would never result in any elections being cancelled now would it. Be afraid, very afraid.
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It seems that even Labours Prospective Parliamentary Candidates realise they are wasting their time.
Can DP confirm this story;
http://tinyurl.com/d5b67y
i.e. that the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Eastleigh has resigned, citing disappointement with the Labour party and the fact that it is a two horse race...
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I rather liked what I heard from the Conservatives on the economy over the weekend, it was essentially in-tune with my thinking, but turning primary schools into acadamies seems totally unnecessary. Certainly not a priority...
Primary Acadamies would simply be change for changes sake and a Labour-esque waste of time and money. I'd drop that policy pretty quick if I were you DC.
The best policy is to leave the existing education/health systems pretty stable whilst we get the economy back on track. We've had so much change for changes sake over the last 30 years that we seem to have lost sight of the value of a bit of stability...
But you can certainly chop a few layers of unnecessary management. That's fine by me !
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If you want to see why Acadamies don't work, look at the merger of Woolston Comprehensive and Weston Park to create Oasis Academy Mayfield, in Southampton...
There were riots in the new school, partly because of badly managed logistics and partly because of the pupils loss of identity. Various teachers and the Head resigned...
I said it was a mistake when the merger was being planned, but do the officials listen. No of course not...
Just like fluoridisation in Southampton. there was an overwhelming "No thanks" in the official consulatation, but fluoridisation is going ahead anyway.
What's the point of having such consultations ?
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@57 Iain Dale had that too, although he also said that a Lib Dem had moved to the Conservatives
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@55
I'm beginning to believe that the only real enquiry will actually take place when the present incumbents are forced out at the next election
I'm very much tired of the say one thing do another from this government
A little truth and honesty goes a long way
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Found this on Guido's site... many thanks to Dungeekin, apologies to Eric Idle...
”Whenever life gets you down, Mr Brown, and things seem hard or tough,
When your advisers are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you’ve had quite enoooooouuuuggggghhhh….
Juuust imagine that you’re watching this Government imploding,
And wasting eighteen million pounds an hour,
Debt rising at five thousand pounds a second, so it’s reckoned,
As Gordon tries and fails to stay in power,
The debt for you and me, and everyone that you can see
Goes up at seven hundred pounds a day,
And it makes you really think, at eighteen million pounds an hour
Just how much cash New Labour’s thrown away!
And just to bail the banks out cost two hundred billion pounds,
Our money thrown and wasted far and wide,
And Brown and Darling both must be spectacularly thick,
If they believe the voters can’t see how they’ve lied,
Six billion pounds of tax on all high earners ain’t the point,
When you borrow half a trillion in three years,
If we don’t stop all the spending of billions and billions,
Then our fiscal situation just gets worse!
The National Debt itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
To levels that scare most economists,
As high as it can go - two trillion pounds you know,
Three hundred grand a minute, New Labour really took the p***,
So remember when your savings look unsafe and insecure,
That Labour taxed us all for all we’re worth,
And pray they’ll be some sense on the next Tory Budget Day,
There’s been b*gg*r all from this bunch of berks!"
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Nice story here on the collection of comments on MP's expenses
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3567386/an-historic-clearout.thtml
Andrew, any possibility that you can get a comment from Nick Clegg to back up this?
A "senior" Lib Dem frontbencher, worried for his future, is even said to have asked Nick Clegg for assurances that no one would be sacked when the expenses are published. Clegg refused to give those assurances.
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I see our esteemed political editor appears to have gone on the missing list as well...
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63.
Not sure if it's still the case, but the LibDems were set to come out as the worst offenders, proportionately speaking.
Early indications were:
1. LibDems
2. Labour
3. Tories
The inevitable public outcry will surely increase the pressure for an early election.
64.
After that interview with Darling, I suspect he was sent back to the Damien McBride Finishing School for Young Journalists.
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@64
he could be in Afghanistan with Brown, carrying his bags
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65.
I think that should be 'Damian McBride', not 'Damien'.
Freudian slip, perhaps.
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@64, @66
Or busy voting on the Number 10 petition?
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/#detail
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I think this next General Election is going to prove to be interesting.
If the MP's who are seen to have abused their expenses do not resign their seats Party's will be in a quandary.
Will they support them at the next election no matter who they are and risk the public of the constituency voting for another party therefore losing the seat?
If they do what will the effect on the General Election be?
Will they be quietly forced to resign at the next election and if they refuse will this force all party's into a period of internecine warfare?
Depending on how many are seen as abusing their expenses and how many potential resignations there are we could see a mini election anyway.
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Hi Andrew,
hope you notice that there have been no recent deaths in Afghanistan for the PM to tell us about on Wednesdays before PMQs. Surely he has not gone to Afghanistan to raise the temperature. You know tell the locals that we are killing you and your families so as to make the Streets of Britain safe.
So safe that we arrest people without sufficient evidence and then when the courts realise that there is no evidence that the same people are then, not to be prosecuted, but deported. What sort f country are we living in. Let's start frightening people with Swine Flu, terror didn't seem to work.
In the meantime Andrew we, as a country, cannot afford this war. We have lost in Iraq. If things were so good then why are the Americans having to take over our positions. Why have there been so many deaths which the coalition forces seem totally unable to prevent. In the meantime we want to reinforce our defeat in Afghanistan.
We are economically, financially and morally bankrupt. Our politicians are mired in expense claims, our soldiers have died for nothing, our whole society is being undermined by allegations of our involvement in the detaining of individuals who have subsequently been tortured, not by us mind you but by proxy, Iraqi intelligence and American agents.
We are being defeated on all fronts, it must be time to attack, now where exactly is Iran.
Finally, please note that this bankrupt government is proposing to transfer the nuclear submarines from Plymouth to Faslane. No votes in the westcountry for labour, a bit of pork barrel politics so transfer work toScotland, keep that SNP out of power. Labour (Brown) so needs the Scottish votes, what a country. An English parliament, a vote on the Treaty of Lisbon, and then we can be rid of these unreformed Scottish communists.
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Hi Andrew,
for your show please note that everybody would think that with equality women would have their wages raised to meet those of men. No!
What will happen is that men will be made redundant to be replaced by women. However, the salaries will be those of the women not raised to that of the men.
In Devon for example the council went through a job evaluation scheme and guess what. The men have been appraised as doing the same jobs as some women. So the men are having their wages reduced, seriously, question Harman as to what protection there will be to ensure that wages will not be reduced, that pay for men in the public sector will be protected, and their pensions. And more importantly that men will not lose their jobs on the grounds of equality.
In the meantime somebody must tell the country what is happening with regard to the nuclear submarines based in Plymouth, when it looks as though, to maintain votes in Scotland the submarines will be transferred to Scotland, Faslane. This is pork barrel politics at its worst. Just like announcing the building of two aircraft carriers before a bye-election. Aircraft carriers for which there are no aircraft. This is bizarre.
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66#
Yeah, just followed the trail of Brown (on Sky)... god, what a horrid thought...
Toenails is probably hiding in the back of the Herc at Bastion, taped into a tri-wall box... they probably wont let him out to broadcast anything til they return to Kandahar or UK... which chances are wont be until after Wednesday... yet another PMQ's for Broon to bodyswerve.
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71 TAG
Ah, the forgotten West Country. Bask in high house prices and some of the lowest average wages in the country. No regeneration money needed. All the serfs can wait on the Londoners in their second homes.
Purely a political decision to close Plymouth.
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It astonishes me that one of the provisions of the new equality bill is to ask local authorities to encourage children from poor or deprived backgrounds to apply to attend one of the better, or popular, schools.
Why on earth isn't the government kicking local authorities to ensure that there are no significanly sub-standard schools in their areas? Why is the government tacitly accepting the continuing existence of 'good' and 'poor' schools? They should all offer acceptable standards of education.
And have they forgotten all about carbon footprints? Surely the best option in this respect is to minimise travelling - i.e. children should be able to attend their nearest school with no fear of receiving an inadequate education.
What's Balls doing about the problem?
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In addition to Guido's petition, you may want to look at this.
If it spreads wide enough, quick enough, there may just be a light at the end of the tunnel...
http://houseofcomments.co.uk/
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74:
Nothing. Sharpening his knives ready for his big moment in the Julius Caesar re-run coming to the palace of westminster within the next 12 months....
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#76
I don't think 'Et tu, Balls' has the same ring about it.
In any case, he hasn't improved his credentials by shining in his present job. And his tenuous connection with the McBride incident can't have done him any good.
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Hmmm, no new blog since Thursday, has even Andrew abandoned the blogosphere?
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Missed it until now...
'....apparently the markings on its back give it a grin to ward off predators.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-558609/Gordon-Brown-plenty-smile-cameo-appearance-American-Idol.html
Hope spidey is having better luck.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8020332.stm
With regard to the above
What is stopping Dave and Nick seizing the agenda and putting forward their joint agreed stance?
Some leadership is required and it isn't coming from Drowning Street
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With regards to the Swine Flu
Have the government actually "stress tested" their "well placed" to respond positively to an outbreak?
Is going to my consultant's appointment tomorrow unnecessary travel or risk? I only have my flu jab for protection
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Whilst Brown is away the vote on 2nd home MP expenses has been abandoned
Macavity?
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#73
Was it not Hadek that wrote 'The Road to Serfdom' well us what lives down 'ere in the westcountry have to touch our forelocks everyday, especially when either getting our dole money or our pensions. Thank you ever so much I mean just take a visit to the memorial on Plymouth Hoe to see the sacrifices of not only the westcountry but all the country and the dominions. Where did it get us, nowhere, just like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the politicians have sold us down the river, Tamar that is!
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Necessity is the cry for every infringement of human freedom it is the dry of tyrants and the creed of slaves.
William Pitt.
Our Government is about to spend an estimated £12 Billion spying on its own citizens apparently.
Now it considers every man woman and child born or raised or living in these islands to be potential traitors murderers and extremists.
How I love to be presumed innocent.
The end of freedom.
http://www.no2id.net/news/pressRelease/release.php?name=Smith_announces
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84.
I think this is so JS can spy on her husband.
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Hi Andrew,
I wonder if Gordon Brown has got on the wrong flight and thought that he was actually intending to go to Sheffield to watch the snooker at the Crucible.
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84
By estimate this lot means guestimate. £12bn? It is truly a scandal to think what good could be done with this money. Whatever political leanings I cannot think how this is justified. I also cannot see how this information will be remotely useful. Internet traffic volumes are so great, people use remote sites, public access machines etc etc. How can an extremist be spotted in so much data? Unless it is targetted to specific groups/areas.
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84/87
Sorry could not get the link to open. Anyway I think you may have been referring to ID cards not recording everyone's internet use. Still same rules apply. Will cost a lot more than suggested and will achieve very little. I am sure that soon there will be an on-the=spot fine for not carrying said ID card. Sickening.
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Re 88
No it does not refer to ID cards it refers to the scheme to get company's to hold all your emails phone calls etc thought the article is on the no2id card campaign website. They are also fighting the database state.
I do not know why you cannot open the link but you can go to the main no2id card campaign website below.
http://www.no2id.net/
This is one person who will quite happily break any law brought in by any government and go to prison if necessary but I will NOT carry an ID card.
As the government found out over the Poll Tax they cannot jail everyone.
Bad laws are meant to be broken.
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No 89 SuperANGRY
I'm no fan of ID cards in fact I think that they are a huge waste of money.
However, they did form a major part of the last manifesto of the Labour party and the people had a chance to have their say on the issue. Not worth going to gaol over.
Who knows the poor state of the nations finances may mean that they have to break this manifesto pledge as well as the tax promise and the referendum. We can but hope!
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RE :90
I am afraid you make the assumption of all people namely that support for a party or for that matter because a party wins an election it means support for the whole of the political manifesto of that party.
If it was true the next election would produce something of a quandary. The Torys are likely to win the next election and are committed to scrap ID cards. So which election result is right the one before that promised ID cards or the likely outcome of the next one which promises to scrap them?
There are limits to which any free person can allow the state to interfere in the life of the individual before freedom is lost forever. It is my opinion that the introduction of the ID card will lead to an expectation amongst businesses and the police that it is to be produced on demand. This is of course is the hope of the present tyrannical government.
Since through use they hope the population will become acclimatized to using the ID card they assume they will be able to make it compulsory by the back door.
This can only be challenged should the ID card come in by civil disobedience. As I said previously I will not now nor will I ever use an ID card compulsory or not no matter what the consequences.
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SuperANGRY
I think we should agree to differ. But only on the action I do not think that the ID card is necessary and does infringe civil liberties.
It is not practical to vote on every issue and as ID cards featured in the manifesto we can hardly be surprised that the Government push it through. No doubt the majority that abstained last time around are the first to complain - but as the old adage says, if you don't vote you get the Government that you deserve.
There is a case for the issue to be postponed, as both of the opposition parties are against it and with the election not so far away it would be a shame to commit more funds at this stage only for it to be cancelled after June 2010
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"Gordon's Plans" on a quick fix for expenses are shelved and guess what? The gravy train has rolled on for another week, all the hand wringing and calls for consensus and that's all we have talk, no action. To add insult to injury, a Tory Shadow Cabinet Minister appears on 'Have I got News for You' and laughs at us all as he continues to trouser allowance for one of his 3 homes, allegedly.
I desperately want the Conservatives to do something, NOW - carry on talking and listening to public opinion by all means, but act immediately and then refine policy as consensus is reached.
Alternatively, I suggest that all MPs' expenses are cancelled. From now until they agree on reform, no expenses whatsoever, not suspended, just cancelled until a decision is reached - Focus their minds and their wallets.
Here's a suggestion on the second homes allowance. MPs can claim for a hotel if state accommodation is not available, up to a certain limit. In addition, they are allowed an inconvenience allowance (for being away from home) for subsistence and 'Entertainment' (Sex, drugs, rock'n roll - whatever their conscience allows - I'm no prude). If they are in a hotel then they have to provide receipts for everything and they only get back what they pay for.
If they provide an alternative (extended family home, a selection from their portfolio - whatever) they can have the allowance (say £35 a night) to pocket or to be used to pay family or pay off the mortgage - no questions asked, no receipts required. They can claim no more than 4 nights per week. They can even do this as an alternative to state accommodation if the latter is in short supply. No difference for married or single - all tied to HoC attendance of course.
I don't know if the above 'social allowance' is appropriate but it's what I used to get 25 years ago working for a large IT consultancy. The amounts may have changed or the HMRC attitude (it was tax free then), but my point is that there is probably something close that works in business that approximates to best practice that the man in the street might expect.
Whatever real world models they adopt, they need to decide quickly and then act even quicker. There's no excuse for all this vacillation.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I don't necessarily mind MP's claiming a second homes allowance if there's a genuine need for a second home. It's the blatant abuses of the system that need to be stopped.
Have you noticed how Gordon Brown always chickens out of a vote if he thinks he's going to lose. Witness the EU referendum, election on his accession to the job, election in 2008/09 when the economy fell apart, vote on daily allowance etc...
How can he possibly promote democracy in other countries, if he doesn't implement it in his own country ?
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Want to know the Politician who has impressed me most recently ?
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Minister. She seems to have been on our TV screens a lot, first with the minimum pricing of alcohol and now with the swine flu problem. Always seems competent and always gives a reasonable answer, even if it is a tricky question...
A good role model for some of the MP's in Westminster ?
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Carrying an ID card doesn't bother me. What the Government and the contractors might do with the data it collects does.
Not just the uses to which the data is put, I have security concerns too.
If ID cards are implemented, it's probably only a matter of time before we hear stories of contractors losing ID-card data, because it was stored on a penstick attached to a USB port on somebody's laptop, which was stolen...
But I hear the Conservatives would drop ID cards, as it would save money in these difficult times. That sounds like the more sensible approach as ID-cards are non-essential. With a few trillion pounds of national debt, Government spending has got to focus on the critical services with the non-essentials and desirables scrapped...
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History often leads to one who has been maligned to eventually be seen in a very different light, so it may prove with Margaret Thatcher. After coming to power in 1979 she and her party had the unenviable task of cleaning up the basket case economy left by Labour. When you have to take tough decisions against a backdrop as dire as this was you inevitably attract criticism and it inevitably comes the loudest from those who dropped you and the Country right in it.
This time will be exactly the same, this last New Labour budget avoided al the hard decisions needed now and included a party political tax hike which does nothing to solve the Nation's difficulties and everything to promote class war and division when the Country needs unity like never before.
Labour always find it easy to build and spend in the Public sector but, never have the guts to trim it back when the Nation's income cries out that it is neither affordable nor sustainable. Everyone knows this now needs to happen, the public are ahead of the Government on this but, New Labour will follow the instincts of Old Labour on this one; Bail out at the next election and cry evil Tories from the opposition benches as the Conservatives take the decisions they were too spineless to take.
I just hope the electorate are alive to this and give the Conservatives their continued support through all the difficulties ahead as they once more try to balance the Nation's books.
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Good morning Andrew,
now we know that Gordon Brown deposed Tony Blair as a result of a bloodless Coup. Is it now not the right time for Brown to suffer the same fate. On the basis that anybody taking over will be able to say I would love to hold an election but feel it inappropriate to hold one during the current Swine Flu crisis, or the WWF, World Wide Flu.
So, show some spine mount the Coup now, you know you can get away with it. It's time for change.
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Andrew
I would very much like you to bring a subject up on your programme which should annoy all us voters.
The Cancellor in his speech on budget day said we must all share the pain of this recession, I put it to you that MPs are not. No wonder the politicians have a fondness for voting themselves allowances rather than higher salaries they avoid tax. The average MPs expenses exceed 135,000 when their basic salary is 63,291 thus on average they avoid 54,000 of tax on their allowances as they do not pay any tax on them. It has occurred to me that Brown set the higher tax rate over 100,000 in order to keep his own MPs out of this particular tax bracket. Surely if higher tax payers have to pay tax on everything they earn including perks so should MPs. This taxing of their expenses would surely make the system fairer.
Furthermore the MPs will not suffer from the withdrawal of tax relief on pension contributions nor the cutting of personal allowances for those earning over 100,000.
Now as you say people earning over 100,000 pounds who are not MPs will be subject to a tax rate of 61.5% for part of their income I think this situation is grossly unfair.
I would very much like you to pick up this subject on behalf of the British people who are being treated so badly by these MPs who are supposed to be looking after our interests.
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Hi Andrew,
I want to know is it safe to eat Tortilla chips during the WWF crisis. Should imports be banned, I am very frightened, I'm going back to bed.
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90
Have to agree with superAngry here. You cannot possibly agree with everything put in a party's manifesto, even if you vote for that party. And, as most people did not vote for Labour you cannot say we voted for ID cards. Coupled with this is the fact that Labour have not bothered to implement some of their manifesto pledges and reneged on others.
Having an ID card is one thing but it will inevitably lead on to having to carry it. That I am against and would happily not bother.
Why don't they just drop it and the database of emails and spend the money on something useful? What about tightening up border controls?
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Re MPs pay:
All MPs receive the same salary regardless of their experience. So if 22-year old Georgia Gould gets elected she will be on the same rate as, say, Frank Field. (correct?)
If that is the case then surely it is only fair that the longer-serving MPs are allowed to benefit from their 'experience', from consultancy, board memberships or public engagements, so long as it's all declared and not in conflict with their parliamentary role. If this remains a source of controversy and additional incomes are to be scrapped, then what about an 'entry level' salary which increases to the flat rate after half, or indeed a full, parliamentary term is reached. By-elections would have the same time scale applied. Just a thought.
I presume the reason for a flat rate is that all MPs have the same responsibilities and workloads, so therefore should all earn the same, and their pensions will reflect their length of service. But the example I used initially doesn't seem fair.
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I do wish Gordon Brown would learn when he is speaking, to pronounce names, places and countries correctly, I find it quite embarrassing that a PM cannot speak properly. It was particularly evident at the press conference with the Polish PM today.
He also needs to get some anger management, he seems incapable of keeping his irritation concealed when faced with a question he does not like from a journalist.
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101. TAG
If the worm left in your bottle of Tequila sneezes, beware.
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Andrew
What about a blog on this MP expenses fiasco? Not who claimed what on the second-home allowance but the farce that is the PM sorting it out?!. Nick Clegg first suggested the main opposition party leaders sit down and thrash something out - Mr Brown ignored this. Cameron then asked several questions in PMQs, which Mr Brown told him to stop being stupid and let the independent commitee sort it out. THEN, the same Mr Brown goes on U-Tube to tell the parliament posse that he has sorted the expenses row out and will bring in a day-rate. Now, if Mr Brown really wanted to settle this he would have taken the other party leaders up on the offer of a meeting. But no, he has to try and look as though he is saving the world. Oh, when this is shot down (as it has been) then it is not his fault. He did try afterall.
Come on BBC. Why are our difficult questions for the PM not being asked?
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