There were 26 critical questions from Conservative backbenchers on the Government’s EU referendum leaflet yesterday and 5 supportive ones.
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Daily Mail this morning reports on the 118 Conservative MPs who have written to constituents indicating their opposition to gay marriage proposals. The Mail says "Their opposition has been expressed in letters and emails sent to constituents who have contacted them with their own concerns", and points out that […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. On Friday, 50 MPs, including 34 Conservatives, wrote a letter to the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, expressing their "serious concerns" with the Department of Health’s proposal to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. The letter stated that: "There is no reliable evidence that plain packaging will have any public health […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter I recently profiled the 2020 and Free Enterprise groups of Tory MPs. Those two groups are formed by ideology: MPs are attracted to the groups because, in the case of the Free Enterprise Group, members wish to open up markets and make Britain business-friendly enough to compete with other world class economies. The 2020's […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Some extracts from yesterday in Parliament are pasted below. The exchanges occured after Business Secretary Vince Cable had decided to go ahead with the appointment of Les Ebdon as university access tsar. Michael Gove, David Cameron and the BIS Select Committee had all expressed doubts about Mr Ebdon's suitability. On […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter After Justine Greening's announcement giving the go-ahead for a high speed rail network, High Speed 2 (HS2), 37 Conservative MPs were able to question the Transport Secretary within 60 minutes. The exchanges demonstrated the opposition of those MPs whose constituencies are directly affected by high speed rail. However their reservations […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter In a statement to the Commons yesterday, immediately after PMQs, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander talked of a "generous offer" being made by the Government to reform public service pensions. Alexander said he had "decided to revise the government's offer after negotiations with the TUC, since early October, […]
Escape from the EU’s free trade rules gives us the opportunity to introduce a wide range of new welfare measures.