Political
Let battle commence
Posted by Katherine Morgan at Wed, 09/12/2009 - 3:00pm in Political commentary
‘Good economics are good politics' and it's not in the Chancellor's nature to play politics with the economy so say his closest allies. But there was no doubt that whilst today's PBR contained few gimmicks, and was delivered in Darling's typically dour tone, it was highly political.
With Labour attempting to claw-back a 10-12% Conservative lead in the opinion polls, this was a decisive moment. Alistair Darling pulled the trigger of the General Election starting gun and sharpened the dividing lines of political debate between what Darling called ‘two competing visions'.
Darling's heady mix of growth and pain
Posted by Jonathan Lomax at Wed, 09/12/2009 - 2:58pm in Political commentary
Alistair Darling delivered the pre-Budget report today and promised to protect health, education and the police while imposing deep cuts in other areas of public spending to reassure financial markets.
"The choices are between going for growth or putting the recovery at risk," said the Chancellor. "To reduce the deficit while protecting front-line services or cuts which put these services in danger. Choices between two competing visions. This Pre-Budget Report is about building a fairer society and securing opportunity for all."
Taxpayers' Alliance report on lobbying by the public sector
Posted by Gavin Devine at Tue, 04/08/2009 - 9:38am in
The Taxpayers' Alliance has today published a report into taxpayer-funded lobbying and political campaigning. You can see it online here.
