By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Julia Manning, Chief Executive of 2020health, (and ConservativeHome contributor) is telling it as she sees it on the Government's health bill, in a submission published today. Its headline recommendations are as follows: Don’t hamper competition Admit choice has its limits Don’t undermine NICE Put safety ahead of sentimentality – […]
Sky News have launched a new blog called Waste Watch which was monitors how our money is spent. Their first post is on Council spending on "away days." I was pleased that as well as criiticising extravagance they also praised a couple of frugal examples. West Berkshire Council held a team development meeting at East […]
Cllr Philip Hickson is the new Conservative leader of Derby City Council. The Council will continue to be run as a Conservative/Lib Dem coalition although Labour gained five seats on May 5 and will be hoping to take control next year when another third of the seats are up for election. The new leader was […]
5.45pm WATCH: At the G8 summit in France, David Cameron says it's right to be ratcheting up the military, economic and political pressure against Colonel Gaddafi 4pm Jonathan Isaby on Comment: A day when most right-thinking people will find themselves in agreement with Ed Balls 2.30pm Dominique Lazanski on Comment: How the EU 'cookie' directive […]
The Local Government Chronicle and Local Government Information Unit have published a map of Britain coloured according to which Party is in control of each local council. Normally the importance of a council is measured by its population and budget rather than the space within its boundaries. Given that Conservatives are particularly strong in rural […]
By Lord Ashcroft, KCMG Her Majesty’s Press has been loud of late in its criticisms of “super-injunctions”. Newspapers – aided by some helpful (perhaps even dubious?) use of Parliamentary privilege in both “Houses” – have taken great delight in being able to over-ride long-standing injunctions from judges. This has enabled the media to identify both Fred […]
Cllr Ravi Govindia, the new leader of Wandsworth Council, wants to proote home ownership and parent choice Wandsworth has enjoyed a reputation over the past 30 years as reforming council that delivers the best value local services in the country. We will continue to do this while developing a new agenda which addresses the challenges […]
The debate over the NHS reform bill is becoming fraught, and we are risking losing even the modest advances made late in the Blair period. Some, such as the BMA, argue that the health regulator Monitor should promote collaboration, not competition, whilst others seem particularly upset that supplying to the NHS might become subject to EU […]
Martin Cakebread is a former elected Board Director of the independent defence and foreign affairs campaign group UKNDA and a former strategy consultant on the David James report. Here he responds to the news on the front page of today's Daily Telegraph that paratroopers who have just returned from Afghanistan face a pay cut of […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Labour enjoy a lead in the polls at the moment. The latest poll, for example, gives them a 7 point lead, with the full percentages at: Labour: 42 / Conservatives: 35 / Lib Dems: 10. But as Scotland showed, poll leads can be overturned quickly during a campaign. One […]
6.45pm WATCH Balls said the OECD doesn't support Osborne's plan. The OECD says it doesn't support Balls. 4.30pm Andrew Lilico on Comment: "The concept that there is something bad about competition should simply be rejected and dismissed as the antediluvian nonsense that it is. Of course, subject to meeting quality requirements, firms should be able […]
Cllr David Burbage, the leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, reflects on the local elections and last week's Conservative Home Local Government Conference. Under David's leadership the Council has showcased many radical initiatives from spending transparency to incentives for recycling. A really pioneering council. Our track record at the Royal Borough, and […]
Dominique Lazanski is Technology Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance. Yesterday, amendments to the EU’s e-Privacy Directive came into force. The e-Privacy Directive was created in the early 2000s to address the issues of privacy and data protection. The amendments, made in 2009, reflect changes in technology. It is the change to the law around […]