Rob Hayward is an elections analyst and former MP for Kingswood Bristol. Rob was heavily involved in preparing the Coalition's legislation to reduce the number of MPs and has also proposed a marked reduction in councils and councillors in London. The shock waves of the recent elections will continue to be felt for a number […]
Glyn Gaskarth says The Guardian's Cutswatch site reflects a preoccupation with the interests of producers, rather than consumers, of public services Our good friends at the Guardian have produced a public spending cuts site. The rationale is clear – any reduction in public spending is bad, lower public spending means worse services and the appropriate […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Those of us who don't see Lords reform as a priority do not believe that the Lords is perfect. One reform that should be made is the exclusion of law-breakers from the membership of the upper house. The Sun is on its high horse this morning, chasing down the […]
Tom Kelley is an academic foundation doctor and a member of the Bow Group Health & Education Policy Committee. Stuart Carroll is a senior health economist and Chairman of the Bow Group Health & Education Policy Committee. Gary Jones is a public affairs consultant and Editor of Crossbow. Here they summarise the research paper they […]
Alex Morton is Senior Research Fellow for Housing and Planning at Policy Exchange There is agreement across the Coalition that we need a better housing market. But we don’t just need that: we need a better housing debate. Today’s series of articles in the Independent illustrate why. First, it seems to believe that home ownership […]
Nicholas Bryars is Chairman of City of Leicester Conservative Association (COLCA). I now understand how Sir John Major must have felt on 2nd May 1997 when he went to watch a cricket match at the Oval having led the Conservative Party to its greatest defeat since the Great Reform Act. I had what feels like […]
6.30pm WATCH: Lord Taylor sentenced to a year's imprisonment for expenses fraud 4pm ToryDiary: Operation Castrate-the-Right is underway 3.30pm Alex Morton on Comment: The Independent is wrong – renting isn't always a good thing 12.30pm WATCH: Housing recovery predicted for 2015 Will the UK become a nation of renters? 11am Nicholas Bryars: What Tories must […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. The above findings come from today's Times (£). The newspaper sent questions to all 789 voting members of the Upper House and 310 responded. The results confirm widespread opposition to Coalition plans to introduce democracy to Britain's Upper House. Even many of Nick Clegg’s own peers are opposed to […]
The Times reports (£) on The Treasury being lobbied by the trade unions and the Local Government Association over increasing the pension contribution for public sector workers. George Osborne announced last year an increase, on average, of 3% in pension contributions across the public sector from next April to raise £2.8 billion by 2014-15. But […]
If we were to score nature’s life forces, then the Nile, with its majestic length and width, must rank very high. But unlike its inevitable flow into the Mediterranean, the word inevitable does not apply to the political, economic, social or religious confusion which characterises Egypt today, as I witnessed so clearly during a visit […]
Cllr Henry Higgins, the Cabinet Member for Culture Sport & Leisure on Hillingdon Council, writes on how the the library revolution in his borough continues after winning National Award for Library Innovation A lot has been written and spoken about the Library service offered by the London Borough of Hillingdon. We’re very proud of the […]
The Sun this morning has the following quote from a Local Government Association about Government plans to offer an incentive to councils to maintain, or restore, weekly bin collections. The LGA spokesman says: "Any council that did take up this offer will have to make sure that all their costs are covered going forward. "Our […]
Asheem Singh is a former adviser to the Conservative Party cabinet office team and senior researcher at the Centre for Social Justice who is now Associate Director of the ResPublica think-tank. When scores of student activists converged on Parliament Square to protest against tuition fees, organised through social networks and through parent groups like UK […]