Politics
LISTEN – Osborne’s car crash interview why he keeps missing targets
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The Chancellor faced some very tough questioning this morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, turning into a car-crash interview, which will be music to the ears of left wingers and probably quite of lot of euro-sceptic MPs in his own party. Osborne was asked why he kept missing his targets on the economy, but he didn’t have an answer. John Humphreys wasn’t in the mood to let him off the hook. Humphreys: My question to...
Farage is starting to sound like Trump
By Harold Stone Nigel Farage dominated Tuesday’s EU referendum debate. Some of us booed him, but that didn’t stop him getting massive applause. “Obama is the most anti-British president America has ever had,” was met with cheers from the audience. “In Brussels,” he continued, “they’re hell-bent on building a European army.” At this point Nick Clegg intervened, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd, “The much bigger danger than this fantasy fear of a European army is Vladimir...
Jeremy Hunt warned NHS now hit ‘crisis point’ with patient safety & care now at risk
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The NHS has hit crisis point with safety and patient care now at risk, a damning report will reveal. The report said that hospitals are really struggling because of pressure on them to make “efficiency savings” of £22bn over four years. Added to that spending by acute hospital trusts on agency staff rose 24% between 2012-13 and 2014-15. These extra costs have added a colossal £880million this year taking the total bill to £4bn. The Public...
2016 Budget A ‘Toxic Dose Of Austerity’
The 2016 Budget has been hailed 'a toxic dose of austerity' by Green Party leader Natalie Bennett. Early calculations show that the poorest ten per cent of families see no gain from income tax cuts in the budget but the richest ten per cent get almost £200 a year. Bennett said: "The Chancellor’s repeated claim that the Tories have a long-term economic plan that is delivering a stronger economy is looking more absurd by the day. Let's not forget that this latest...
MPs vote in £1 billion tax credits cut – despite Chancellor’s pledge not to
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Conservative MPs voted to slash nearly £1billion from tax credits, even though the Chancellor swore he wouldn’t cut the benefit; that helps millions of hardworking families across the UK. A little-known catch will hit hundreds of thousands of people and was approved in a very brief vote and with no debate. It was a massive U-turn over his attempts to slash tax credits for over 3 million families by £1,300 in a year, however he...
The EU debate pantomime
By Abeer Sharma You would be forgiven for hoping that the upcoming referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union- the first since 1975- would present a ripe prospect to have a sensible, mature and enlightening debate about how we intend to steer the future direction of our country. Unfortunately (and somewhat depressingly predictably), since David Cameron announced the date of the 23rd June referendum last month, the entire debate is being overshadowed by an onslaught of false statistics,...
PM ‘needed a crib sheet’ to tell him price of milk
By Joe Mellor Deputy Editor David Laws ex-Lib Dem minister has claimed that David Cameron was given a list with the cost of common items of food and the names of hit pop songs; in the event he was asked any normal questions everyone else knows the answer to. The PM was forced to rely on a “crib sheet” to let him know the price of milk and other daily goods, to ensure he didn’t look out of touch with...
New poll sees Labour drawing level with Tories
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Like most people I am fairly dubious of polls these days, however according to an ICM poll for the Guardian Labour has drawn level with the Conservative Party. The poll put Labour on 36% up a huge four points, leaving them tied with the conservatives down 3 points since December’s results. It is the first time labour has match the Tories since Corbyn came to power. UKIP are unchanged on 11%, the Lib Dems up...
Tory MP forced out of MS Society after voting to cut disability benefits
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Angry MS Society members urged Kit Malthouse to resign as their patron over his decision to vote in support of a cuts to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to disabled people. Malthouse had to quit over his decision to slash (ESA) by £30 a week. The North West Hampshire MP handed in his resignation, and said: "I have no desire to remain if their members do not wish me to do so." Chief executive Lucy Byrne...