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Archive for 2010

Scrapping EMA really hurts me and my friends, says Simone Webb

23/10/2010, 11:17:02 AM

Of all the cuts announced in the comprehensive spending review, the one which hit me most emotionally was the abolition of educational maintenance allowance. I have seen many arguments levied against it, from supporters of all political parties, but I have felt its impact strongly: not just in my own life, but in the lives of so many friends and acquaintances who rely on the money they get every week.

One of the arguments I hear most often against EMA is that young people should just get jobs, and make their own way in the world. To begin with, this shows a lack of understanding of just how bad the economic situation is at the moment – jobs are scarce, and likely to become scarcer under this government.

Second, it is hard to imagine that holding a job down while studying hard to achieve good grades in A Levels, or whichever course is being done, cannot affect either the job or the grades. This would not be so blatantly unfair if all students had to take jobs in order to keep afloat, but the practical situation will be that children from higher income families will not have to work during college or higher education, while children from lower income families will. In effect, students from higher income families will have however many more hours a week to study, and will achieve better grades. (more…)

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Saturday News Review

23/10/2010, 07:48:41 AM

It’s all gone Nick Clegg

One question swirling through the sea of British politics is this: how will Ed Miliband act towards the Lib Dems? The Labour leader certainly didn’t flinch from attacking the yellow brigade during the leadership contest, at one point calling them a “disgrace to the traditions of liberalism.” But surely he’ll have to soften that rhetoric in case the next election delivers another bout of frenzied coalition negotiations.

Which is why Andy Burnham’s article in the Guardian today is worth noting down. In making his point – that the Lib Dems haven’t won the pupil premium they sought – he does all he can to force a wedge between Nick Clegg and his party. In other words, it looks as though Ed Miliband’s campaign promise that he could only work with a Clegg-less Lib Dem party is now official Labour policy. – The Spectator

The political significance of Clegg’s failure to fund the pupil premium is huge. It goes to the heart of the politics of the coalition, and raises real questions about Clegg’s influence within it. The issue is politically charged because it was one of the points on which the Lib-Lab post-election talks foundered.

Taken all together, I don’t think this is an education policy that most Lib Dems can sign up to. We now have not one but two major Lib Dem broken promises on education. Ruthless Tory ministers have chewed up and spat out Mr Clegg. For a party proud of its principled approach to education policy down the years – and which famously promised a penny on income tax to fund it – these are bleak times indeed. – Andy Burnham, The Guardian

Nick Clegg faces criticism after attacking the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) assessment of the spending review as “complete nonsense”. The deputy prime minister’s comments came after the economics thinktank said the spending review’s approach to welfare and public services would have a regressive impact. The IFS’ acting director, Carl Emmerson, had said the Treasury’s own analysis showed the poorest would be hit hardest by cuts to both public services and welfare payments. – politics.co.uk

Where the Axe Falls

Urban areas will bear the brunt of the spending cuts announced this week with every major English city facing a triple whammy of the biggest job losses, council cuts and benefit withdrawals, a Guardian analysis of the impact of the key decisions reveals.

Local authorities with dense populations face the deepest cuts, according to a breakdown of the measures by George Osborne to slash council spending, reduce child benefit and cut the educational maintenance allowance. The predicted 490,000 job losses in the public sector will fall most heavily on cities.

In public sector job losses, the biggest losers are Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool – all largely Labour strongholds, plus the Conservative Westminster and Sheffield Hallam, which is Nick Clegg’s constituency. – The Guardian

Wayne’s World

The opulence of Wayne’s world and his record-breaking deal stands in stark contrast to the other news which rocked the city this week. It is now estimated that 40,000 people in the Greater Manchester area will lose their jobs as a result of Chancellor George Osborne’s plans to cut £83bn from public spending to fight the deficit. Those cuts will translate into the loss of 30,000 public-sector posts and a further 10,000 job losses from private businesses. The majority of jobs will be lost either in the NHS or from the region’s 10 town halls, where 6,750 workers are expected to be added to the dole queue. – The Independent

Super Councils to the Rescue

A new generation of super-councils across the country is being backed by Conservative ministers as a means to slash costs and drive up efficiency standards. A cull of smaller councils would inevitably lead to sweeping job losses.

Three Conservative-controlled councils in the capital – Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham – yesterday announced moves to share services, although they would retain their separate identities. – The Independent

Council Cuts to Cause NHS Chaos

Hospital beds will be filled by the elderly and the vulnerable because of cuts to local government care, a senior health service figure has warned. Nigel Edwards, the head of the NHS Confederation, said the pressure on beds could mean that hospitals would be unable to admit patients “who badly need care”.

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Edwards said the result could be that elderly patients would have to stay on in hospital for longer as there will be no after-care available in the community. “Less support from council services will quickly lead to increased pressure on emergency services and hospitals. Hospital beds will be blocked for those who badly need care because the support services the elderly require after discharge will not be available.” – Press Association

Patients will be left untreated as the NHS struggles to mop up the consequences of severe cuts in local authority funding, said Nigel Edwards, the head of the NHS Confederation. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Edwards — whose organisation represents NHS trusts running hospitals and ambulance services — says the cuts in local authority budgets will force them to reduce care services for the elderly and vulnerable. – The Telegraph

Mandelson’s U-Turn

During the leadership campaign, Mandelson criticized Miliband at various points, blaming him for the platform Labour ran on in May’s election and warning Miliband could lead the party down “an electoral cul-de-sac.”

However, in a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires Friday, Mandelson said the new Labour leader had positioned himself well on the key political debate over how to handle the country’s fiscal challenges.

“Ed has done what the leader of the opposition needs to do, make a serious argument that has credibility and speaks for the views of many in the country,” Mandelson said. “He has done that successfully.” – The Wall Street Journal

The Rocky Road to NPF Reform

Labour‘s method of making policy has not achieved its objectives, has been far too distant from ordinary party members and has created a great deal of cynicism, Peter Hain says today.

Hain, the man chosen by Ed Miliband to lead Labour’s policy forum, says in a Guardian interview: “I defend the policy forum principle, but there is a great deal of cynicism amongst party members that we need to address. If you disempower your membership, you start down the road to losing, and that is what happened during our 13 years of power.

“I feel rejuvenating our national policy forum is a precondition to winning the next election, and that is very much Ed Miliband’s view.” – The Guardian

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The lessons from Tower Hamlets, by Jessica Asato

22/10/2010, 02:00:27 PM

Were you out campaigning in Tower Hamlets yesterday?

I thought not. You’re not alone; lots of Labour campaign stalwarts stayed away. They took one look at the situation and thought that their precious holiday could be saved for a more deserving campaign.

Even without knowing the complex saga of Tower Hamlets politics, trying to elect an imposed candidate who came third in a party selection seemed like electoral suicide. It was. Despite a valiant ground campaign which I witnessed yesterday, our candidate Helal Abbas was beaten solidly by Lutfur Rahman on 51% of first preferences. I can’t remember the last election day in which I felt so outnumbered by the sheer presence of opposition campaigners. Rahman’s supporters drove round in cars plastered with his literature and quite happily flouted electoral rules by crowding round the entrance to polling stations with leaflets. The few of us who did make it there were stretched thin. It won’t count as one of my happier campaigning experiences. (more…)

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Select and Parliamentary committee vacancies and elections: latest

22/10/2010, 11:47:16 AM

From: O’DONOVAN, Martin

Sent: 19 October 2010 17:00

Subject: UPDATE: VACANCIES AHEAD OF BALLOT NEXT TUESDAY

FAO Labour MPs

As colleagues will be aware we have a number of vacancies to various bodies that we need to fill in the coming days.

As agreed at last night’s PLP meeting the ballots for every vacancy where a ballot is required will take place next Tuesday (26 October) from 10am-5pm in the PLP Office.

We have four different categories of vacancies:

1. Select Committee vacancies

2. Parliamentary Committee vacancies

3. House of Commons Commission vacancy

4. Vacancies to serve on international Bodies (Council of Europe, NATO and OSCE)

In every case the deadline for nominations is next Monday (25 October) at 5pm. The deadline for agreeing proxy votes in 7pm on the same day.

1. Select Committees – expressions of interest

Following the announcement of the new shadow ministerial team we have a number of vacancies on Select Committees. Many thanks to everyone who has already expressed an interest.

We have the following vacancies – please email me with your expressions of interest: (more…)

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The CSR was a political disaster for Labour, says Dan Hodges

22/10/2010, 09:00:17 AM

We fell into a trap. The CSR saw us out-thought, out-spun and out-positioned. First casualty of Osborne’s cuts: the Labour party.

There will be others. Those set to lose their jobs, their benefits, their housing. We will weep for them. Some of us will march for them. Though, wisely, not our leader. We will rage at the injustice.

It will achieve nothing. Neil was right. He has got his party back. A party of protest, not influence.

Wednesday was a slow motion car crash. For months people have been warning that our failure to articulate a coherent position on deficit reduction would cost us dear. Dismissed as siren voices, they were ignored. So we drove, unblinking, into the wall. (more…)

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Friday News Review

22/10/2010, 07:10:21 AM

The alternative

Prime Minister David Cameron pursues his plan to fix the battered British economy with austerity, his main foil in the debate over how deeply to cut government spending will be Ed Miliband, the young, untested leader of the opposition Labour Party. Mr. Miliband is an unlikely standard-bearer in the global debate over how best to pull nations out of economic doldrums. One of the loudest arguments in that debate came Wednesday, when the U.K. laid out £81 billion ($127 billion) in budget cuts over the next four years—the latest European government to demonstrate a belief that recovery will be built on austerity measures and a balanced budget.Mr. Miliband is among those counter-arguing that slashing spending will sap demand and forestall a fragile economic recovery. “This is a global economic battle and people will be citing the U.K. around the world. So Ed Miliband has to stand up and say, ‘There is an alternative”‘ to steep cuts, said Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for economics. But Mr. Miliband may disappoint anyone expecting him to fully torpedo Mr. Cameron’s plan. Unlike the Obama administration in the U.S., which continues to look at ways to prime the economy with government intervention, Mr. Miliband has less room to take such a position. – Wall Street Journal

In an outline of the basic foundations of the party’s alternative to the coalition’s record £83 billion in spending cuts, Mr Johnson said investment would be a more effective way of reducing the £155 billion national deficit and producing economic growth. Radical plans to make banks pay a £7.5 billion levy towards a “push for growth” are contained in the broad strategy. It was the first time since the 2009 Budget that Labour’s official policy has focused on investment as part of the solution to the current crisis. Mr Johnson accused the Government of “taking a huge gamble with growth and jobs” but in a radio interview said that the threat of a “double-dip” recession may yet be averted. – Tribune

Broken Promises

Both Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg ate humble pie before the audience. Mr Cameron acknowledged that he had gone back on an election pledge not to cut child benefit. “I had to eat those words. But is it right to go on asking people on £15,000, £20,000 or £25,000 a year to keep paying so that Nick and me and [Labour leader] Ed Miliband can go on getting child benefit?” On the decision to sharply increase tuition fees for university students from 2012, when they will double in most cases and, perhaps, more than double, Mr Clegg, whose party has longed wanted their abolition, said: “It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do – to own up to pledging things I now feel I cannot deliver.” In a bid to shore up support among Liberal Democrat MPs and supporters, Danny Alexander, the party’s chief secretary to the treasury, wrote to party members, saying: “We have made the tougher choice, no doubt, but we should be proud of the way we have taken responsibility and we have done the right thing.” – Irish Times

David Cameron and Nick Clegg today expressed regret for breaking election pledges when they faced an audience at a question-and-answer session in the aftermath of the government’s spending cuts announcement. The prime minister admitted he had to “eat his words” over child benefit, under questioning from audience members who were angry that both parties had reneged on promises made before the election. Clegg said he felt “really bad” when asked by a sixth-former about his U-turn on tuition fees. – Guardian

(more…)

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A popular alternative to the Tories’ seedy foreign policy, by Nick Keehan

21/10/2010, 04:28:28 PM

The spending review leaves no doubt about the government’s priorities when it comes to foreign policy: those diplomats and civil servants remaining at the foreign office after it has undergone budget cuts of 24 per cent will focus on championing British companies abroad and increasing business links and market information for UK exporters. The foreign office will become, in effect, a consultancy and PR firm for business, underwritten by the UK taxpayer.

In this, the spending review simply reaffirms what the foreign secretary has been saying since entering the job in May. In his speech to a Tokyo audience in July, “Britain’s prosperity in a networked world”’, William Hague made it clear that promoting trade and commercial interests would be at the heart of Britain’s foreign policy. The government would “inject a new commercialism into the work of the foreign office and into the definition of our international objectives”; it would give “significant new emphasis to helping British business secure new opportunities”; and it would use its political influence “to help unblock obstacles to commercial success”.

Not any old obstacles, obviously. There would be some red lines which the government would “never, ever cross” in pursuit of British interests, as David Cameron told the Conservative party conference. Under the Tories, a devolved Scottish government would never again exercise its constitutional right to release a convicted foreign terrorist on compassionate grounds, for example. Cameron said this in a very stern voice, lest it seem like a cynical platitude which he doesn’t have the power to deliver.

If the obstacles to your commercial success include only an indictment for genocide, however, you are in luck. (more…)

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It is wrong to hate Margaret Thatcher, says Kevin Meagher

21/10/2010, 12:29:14 PM

SO the Iron Lady has started to rust. Lady Thatcher will remain in hospital – needless to say a Bupa one – to treat her bout of flu. Her son, Mark, says his mother is “in good order”, an unusual formulation, usually reserved for descriptions of used cars.

Some will sneer at her predicament. Her detractors are measured in tens of millions. But she is a sick, elderly grandmother suffering, as her daughter Carol confirmed two years ago, from dementia. Whatever her faults as a politician – and they are legion – she deserves compassion now.

This is not to diminish the appalling policy choices Margaret Thatcher made in her 11 years as prime minister. Thatcherism and the Tory party which propagated it are enduringly loathsome. But we should not hate her. (more…)

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Criminal justice: Amanda Ramsay says a bad situation just got worse

21/10/2010, 11:30:27 AM

One comprehensive spending review (CSR) commentator dared to ponder: would Labour have landed a more Brown-like ‘clunking fist’ on George Osborne had Ed Balls been the shadow chancellor? No. The man of the moment for Labour was Alan Johnson and he did not disappoint, delivering a deft performance in response to the cuts.

Balls took to the post-announcement airwaves, making his mark as shadow home secretary, characteristically quick to challenge his opposite number, Theresa May, over huge 20% cuts to the policing budget, predicting “massive cuts in police numbers” and a “very dangerous situation for public safety.”
Add the 20% cuts to policing and the massive 23% cuts at the ministry of justice and public order and the social ramifications of the CSR loom enormous. Not that you would know this from either the mainstream or social media discussion.

Ahead of the game, the police federation had already described the anticipated wide-scale cuts in police numbers as heralding “Christmas for criminals”. Labour’s Tony McNulty, a former home office minister, was also quick to conclude that “these cuts, to the crown prosecution service (CPS), courts and probation, will have a huge impact on policing”. (more…)

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Labour’s relationship with the unions is not set in stone, says Peter Watt

21/10/2010, 09:00:42 AM

As Tony Blair once said, “I didn’t come into politics to change the Labour party. I came into politics to change the country.”

And that is why opposition sucks. We all joined the party so that we could play our part in turning our values into practical policies. We want to actually be able to improve the lives of people and their families, raise aspiration, work to strengthen the economy and so on. And you can only actually do that in government. For 13 years we felt that we were making a difference – making a difference at our local party meetings, making a difference at national policy forums and making a difference at party conference.

Oh I know that we complained that we were ignored (and probably we were, although not as much we claimed) but ministers of the crown came to our fundraising dinners, spoke at our events and circulated around the policy discussions and fringe at our conferences. It felt that we were both important and that we were involved in doing something important. And I guess that we can admit this now – we enjoyed it. Even the wine was better at conference when we were in government. (more…)

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