By Jonathan Isaby Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Caroline Spelman has just made a difficult statement to the Commons, making a full U-turn on the Government's proposals to sell off some state-owned forests. She announced The forestry clauses will be removed from the public bodies bill; The consultation on the forest sell-off – due […]
Tom Perrin is a student at Manchester Grammar School and an active Conservative Party and Conservative Future member. All the recent electoral reform ‘hoo-hah’ in the news seems to be related to the AV referendum. We do seem to be forgetting one key thing, however: that the Coalition (or Nick Clegg) will soon be unveiling […]
6pm WATCH: Caroline Spelman's dignified statement on forests to the Commons this afternoon 5.30pm Parliament update: Tory MPs welcome the U-turn on forests as they lambast Labour's record of hypocrisy on the issue 5pm Nadhim Zahawi MP on Comment: Regulation, Reward and Re-Skilling are the three Rs of growth for Ministers 4.30pm Latest on Comment: […]
By Jonathan Isaby Yesterday afternoon, Tim noted that the House of Lords was standing its ground and had inflicted another defeat on the Government over retaining a 40% threshold in the Bill setting up the AV referendum for May 5th. The Bill then returned to the Commons, which again rejected their Lordships' amendment by 310 […]
The Times splashes (£) this morning with the claim: "Councils hit households with £400 extra charges." But the claim unravels when we see their example of page 8 of a "typical" example with a bill to "The Everyman Family, 25 Any Street…" But then the list includes the biggest increases they could find anywhere (for instance […]
Andrew Haldenby is the director of the independent think tank Reform. Today Reform publishes a scorecard on how each of the big spending departments, plus the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, is shaping up against the Government’s own principles of reform. In my view the Prime Minister has been absolutely right to say that its […]
by Paul Goodman The evidence for its claim is set out in a research paper called German Economic Policy and the Euro 1999-2010. It claims that since the launch of the Euro – The German economy has grown faster than any other country in the Eurozone; Germany has been by far the largest exporting nation within […]
By Jonathan Isaby As part of the latest ConservativeHome reader's survey, aside from seeking the latest Cabinet ratings and pollong on other topical issues, we asked party members which of Labour's Shadow Cabinet they found to be most impressive. The findings – summarised in the bar chart below – show that Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls […]
Mark Field is MP for Cities of London an Westminster. Our elite universities are international leaders. In their admission policies most pride themselves as having worldwide reputations for excellence and aspire to recruit the brightest and best globally. Nevertheless, at the heart of last year’s battle over tuition fees was an implicit recognition that the […]
Dr Patrick Nolan is the Chief Economist of Reform Long term care needs reform. The major parties all agree that the current system is outdated and unsustainable. They all recognise that an ageing population and changes in morbidity mean the cost of care will continue to rise. Yet efforts to adopt solutions are stuck in […]
Tim Montgomerie 81% of Tory members think AV shouldn't pass unless 40% of voters turnout in the referendum. 27 Tory peers agree – including Lords Tebbit and Howe, Forsyth and Lawson, and their leader Norman Lamont. They joined together with Labour and other peers to vote (again) for the 40% threshold. Last time the amendment […]
Mohammed Amin is Vice Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum but is writing in a personal capacity. If the first past the post (FPTP) voting system did not exist, we would not dream of inventing it. Apart from the simple case when there are only two candidates, FPTP has the fundamental flaw that it requires […]
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is proposing that there should be a full vote of councillors to approve staff salaries over £100,000. Hear him interviewed on Today here. But the Local Government Association (LGA) have attacked the idea. Sir Steve Bullock, chairman of the LGA's Local Government Group Workforce Board, said: "It is right that pay for […]
7.30pm WATCH: Cameron defends youth unemployment figures 4.30pm Patrick Nolan on Comment: Time to bite the bullet on paying for long term care 3.45pm ToryDiary: Chris Grayling fights back over Labour's record on youth unemployment – half a million jobless pupils 3pm – Parliament: 27 Tory peers help defeat Government on 40% threshold for referendum […]
By Andrew Lilico Fairness is the uniting theme of the Coalition. We hear it discussed everywhere. “Is it fair for the government to leave huge debts for our children to repay?” “Is it fair to leave environmental damage for our children to deal with?” “Is it fair for MPs who benefitted from free higher education […]