Cllr Simon Cooke, the Deputy Leader of the Bradford Council Conservative Group, welcomes the range of groups proposing free schools in his city When Michael Gove first launched the idea of free schools it was to a universally negative response from the educational establishment and their left-wing fellow travellers. Comments like this prevailed: “The free […]
By JP Floru Self-reliance must rank in the top three Conservative values; perhaps together with producing growth and taking care of our nearest and dearest (I’m open to suggestions for even better Conservative values, and am looking forward to the Comments below!). Key to self-reliance is saving. Call it frittering away. Beavering away. Saving for […]
By Jonathan IsabyFollow Jonathan on Twitter Questions to the Deputy Prime Minister in the Commons yesterday saw a long line of Conservative MPs seeking to ask Nick Clegg about his plans to reform the House of Lords. I think it's fair to conclude that the scepticism about meddling with the composition of the second chamber […]
5.30pm WATCH: Barack Obama tells MPs and peers assembled in Westminster Hall how he wanted to reaffirm "one of the oldest and strongest alliances the world has ever known" 3pm WATCH: Two clips from this afternoon's press conference: Barack Obama says the special relationship is "stronger than ever"… …as David Cameron says that the special […]
This evening sees the annual Council Meeting in Hammersmith and Fulham. Here are some of the achievements of the Council since the Conservatives gained control five years ago. 1.Cut Council Tax from £917 in 2006 (at Band D) to £812 now. Under Labour the Council Tax by an average of 7.7% a year between 1993 […]
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter. Last Tuesday Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, gave a speech to ConservativeHome's Innovation and Improvement in Local Government conference. Download a full PDF of his remarks. The speech was a comprehensive account of the Coalition's agenda for local government and, fresh from encouraging local […]
By Jonathan IsabyFollow Jonathan on Twitter We have already highlighted the result of the vote of yesterday's debate on the future use of the European Financial Stability Mechanism to bail out eurozone countries, which saw a rebellion by thirty Conservative MPs. As I explained yesterday afternoon, Mark Reckless MP proposed a motion that would have […]
Ryan Bourne is the Economic and Statistical Researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies. At the CPS growth event last week, Lord Griffiths opened the debate with a remarkable statistic. “Between 1975 and 2008,” he said, “on 31 occasions the initial estimate of GDP on a quarterly basis was negative. The subsequent average upward revision was […]
By Matthew Sinclair Last week I wrote about why the Government should be trying to tackle crony capitalism. That way, they can show that they aren't in it for the rich. More importantly they can defend the vital quality of a free market: that you succeed by efficiently producing goods and services that other people […]
Andrea Leadsom is MP for South Northamptonshire, a financial services expert and a member of the Treasury Select Committee provides three suggestions to answer the above question… 1. UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) owns 41% of Lloyds Banking Group, 84% of Royal Bank of Scotland Group and the whole of Northern Rock and Bradford and […]
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter. Wednesday 6am NB The original list as taken from the People's Pledge failed to include four of those who rebelled yesterday. They have now been added and highlighted. Apologies for the oversight. — Via The People's Pledge here are the Tory MPs who backed Mark Reckless against government attempts […]
By Jonathan IsabyFollow Jonathan on Twitter Yesterday saw two Opposition debates relating to law and order, which included speeches highly critical of the Government from two (unrelated) Conservative backbenchers by the name of Davies. The first debate was on a simple Labour motion stating "that this House opposes changing the maximum discount for custodial sentences […]
By David T Breaker The Speaker, swathes of Parliament and most of the judiciary are less than happy about Lib Dem MP John Hemming's decision to use Parliamentary privilege to tell the nation the worst kept secret in recent history, and commentators across the spectrum are rushing to express their disdain. Politicians unhappy with the […]
Ruth Lea is Economic Adviser and Director of Arbuthnot Banking Group. The Commonwealth as an economic bloc is rarely discussed in Britain. But, as the global economic and political focus shifts to partnerships with non-western economies in the wake of the global financial crisis, this is an opportune moment to re-evaluate the economic potential of […]