Will the Foreign Aid commitment be another Cameron u-turn?

by Guest    
May 17, 2011 at 10:45 am

contribution by Owen Tudor

I’ve expressed scepticism before about the Government’s commitment to meet the UN target for overseas aid by 2013.

With the news that Defence Secretary Liam Fox has raised concerns about the pledge suggests that we are seeing the beginning of the end for that commitment.
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‘Houses heading for another boom & bust’

by Newswire    
May 17, 2011 at 10:30 am

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has today called for urgent and fundamental reform of the housing market after the failure of policy-makers to learn the lessons from previous boom and bust cycles.

They say the UK has one of the most persistently volatile housing markets in the world.

The report recommends policy options that would help create a more stable housing market, protect existing home owners and enable more new households to get onto the property ladder.

They recommend:

– An increase in the supply of housing

Supply is central to managing house price volatility. The scale of the increase required, however, means that this alone will not reduce volatility in the market.

- The reform of both Stamp Duty and Council Tax

These existing taxation tools could help to reduce house price volatility in the shorter term. Both Stamp Duty and Council Tax should be linked to the real value of a property and regularly updated.

Stamp Duty: the current ‘slab’ structure of stamp duty should be replaced with a ‘slice’ structure whereby only the value that exceeds the threshold is taxed or taxed at a higher rate (similar to income tax). Thresholds should be uprated regularly in line with consumer price inflation.

Council Tax: in the short-term, the number of bands should be extended. In the medium term, there should be a move towards a system based on a fixed percentage of a property’s value. In the long-term a national property tax could be created with safeguards for low-income households.

- A better safety net for homeowners based on shared responsibility between lenders, borrowers and Government

The current safety net for homeowners is inadequate and has required extensive Government intervention during downturns. Active steps need to be taken to improve borrowers’ financial capability to ensure they have sufficient information and skills to make informed choices about what they can afford.

Since the 1970s, there have been four boom and bust cycles in the housing market. This persistent instability distorts housing choices, inhibits house-building, and drives arrears and possession rates, putting people at great risk, and creates wealth inequality between the generations.

We have set out to provide a series of policy options that together would help provide long-term stability in the market. I urge policy-makers to look at these and act now, because the seeds of the next housing boom have already been sown.

The full report by Mark Stephens, Professor in Urban Economics at the University of Glasgow, can be downloaded at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/housing-market-task-force

From a press release

Help us push the Living Wage to stop the widening pay gap

by Guest    
May 17, 2011 at 8:45 am

contribution by Matthew Butcher

Yesterday’s report by the High Pay Commission revealed that the top 0.1% of UK earners will see their pay rise from 5% to an estimated 14% of national income by 2030.

Worse, the ratio between executive pay and the national median income is set to rise to 214:1 by 2020. But not only do Britain’s biggest companies employ some of the richest people in the country but their workforce includes some of the poorest too.
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Cameron attacked from all sides on NHS plans

by Sunny Hundal    
May 16, 2011 at 6:25 pm

I’m not sure who Cameron was meant to be placating with his speech on the NHS today but I’m not sure it has quite worked.

Of course the Labour party, the broader left and health professionals are opposed to the plans vociferously.

But Cameron’s not getting much love elsewhere either.

The top editorial on the Evening Standard today declared:

PM has still not made case for NHS reforms
Few doubt the NHS needs reform and that spending at present levels is unsustainable given the demands of an ageing population and the expansion in expensive new treatments. But accepting the need for reform is not the same thing as welcoming the Government’s health bill.

This is a complicated set of proposals in one piece of legislation, which gives GPs more control over spending and commissioning services and at the same time seeks to take out layers of bureaucracy and increase competition. Many people, including health professionals, who would happily give GPs a greater say in the service, baulk at the extension of commercial competition. And Mr Cameron’s decision to “pause” the reforms – but not, as he says today, to stop them – is a measure of the public disquiet about the Bill and its implications.

This bit is broadly spot on.

As I said this morning, Cameron might be regarded by right-wingers as well-intentioned on the NHS, it doesn’t mean they will accept the need for these proposals. And they’ll blame him if things start getting worse noticeably.

Even now the government does not have a clear message on the NHS. It is all over the place; some say the changes are revolutionary and others say they hardly represent much change at all.

But if the Evening Standard does not want to go too far too fast, the Telegraph is in the opposite place.

David Cameron is getting it wrong on NHS reform
The Prime Minister’s speech on the NHS today confirmed that the Government’s commitment to reform has been heavily diluted in recent weeks.

David Cameron paid lip service to the principle of choice but in practice his speech defended the status quo in NHS provision, was recalcitrant about competition and outright hostile to the private sector.

Either way, it seems that while Lansley isn’t going to be fired – his plans have largely been kicked into the long grass.

Abbott attacks Lansley’s links to health firms

by Newswire    
May 16, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Diane Abbott MP, the Shadow Health Minister, has demanded clarification from the Tory health team of whether Andrew Lansley’s wife’s health lobbying firm, Low Associates, has held meetings with department officials, following newspaper reports on the issue over the weekend.

In response to Ms Abbott’s parliamentary question earlier this month, Simon Burns MP, the health minister, told Ms Abbott that the Health Secretary had “declared his wife’s position as Managing Director of Low Associated to the Permanent Secretary.”

However, whilst he denied that any ministerial colleagues had been involved in meetings with Low Associates, he went to suggest that checking whether the department had hosted meetings with Low Associates and their clients would cost too much money.

Ms Abbott today said:

We need to know whether there has been any kind of ‘conflict of interest’’. After all the upset about MPs’ expenses, I think it is vital for the government to be straight with people over this. We need openness and transparency.

When it comes to health policy, there are widespread concerns that the government’s approach is being driven by big businesses and private interests, which makes this issue even more significant. Key health groups and experts have walked out on policies like ‘responsibility deals’, whilst David Cameron and Andrew Lansley have drinks companies and fast food outlets writing government policy for them.

Over the weekend, Labour MP Grahame Morris, who is on the Commons’ Health Select Committee called for an investigation to see if Mr Lansley has breached the ministerial code of conduct.

From a press release

Toby Young preferred free lunch to TPA rally

by Sunny Hundal    
May 16, 2011 at 1:43 pm

“All those who care about Britain’s future should attend the Rally Against Debt” – declared the fearless Toby Young on 13th May.

Taxpayers are sponging off the state and destroying the lives of our children dontcha know? These public subsidies must stop!

Of course we already know Young opted instead to attend a Pirate’s Exhibition at Museum of London Docklands rather than the TPA rally. Now that’s commitment!

But it gets better!

As Political Scrapbook points out:

Toby Young was enjoying free preview tickets to be entertained by a charity which has received £18.9 million of public funding from the Greater London Authority in the last two years.

Wait, he was promoting a rally against debt while enjoying being subsidised at taxpayers’ expense? And while the public will have to pay for tickets to the exhibition in West India Quay, Young and his children went for free.

The Museum of London is also facing cuts in its funding. There’s a debt crisis out there apparently?!

To top it off, some of the people who helped organise it were about to made redundant too.

But that’s ok, just so as long as Toby Young and his kids can enjoy a free lunch (throw in) at taxpayers expense!

(image via Snipe London)

Assange, Strauss-Kahn: don’t rush to judgement

by Dave Osler    
May 16, 2011 at 1:37 pm

Nobody in their right mind should come to strident conclusions about rape allegations on the basis of preliminary newspaper reports. That does not stop some people doing just that.

When Sweden began extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for alleged sexual offences last year, the default assumption of many of his political backers was that this simply had to be a set up.

Take this article from one leftwing publication, for instance. No mention is made of the substance of the accusations he faces, and there is a blanket assertion that he should not be sent to Stockholm, presumably in any circumstances.
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Government’s own report finds the Future Jobs Fund, which they cut, was very effective

by Richard Exell    
May 16, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Blink and you’ll miss it: the government hasn’t exactly gone overboard to publicise the Department for Work and Pensions’ new report on the experience of people taking part in the Future Jobs Fund.

The study found that the quality of jobs on the FJF was often high, that Jobcentre Plus (which the government thinks is not up to running the Work Programme) generally managed it well and that the programme had been a huge help in getting jobs.

We know the sort of report the government would have liked to get:
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‘Re-founding Labour’ website goes live

by Newswire    
May 16, 2011 at 9:48 am

The Labour party launches a new website today titled, Refounding Labour, to encourage and facilitate contributions on party reform.

The aim of the website is to provide a platform for members to critically review and assess the current structures and processes of the Labour Party.

It will also provide a space where members contribute their experiences, ideas, comments, suggestions, thoughts and insights into what works within the party, and what doesn’t work and needs to change.

Key features of the website include the ability for members to ‘Like’ ideas and proposals directly off the website; contribute 150 word posts on what they ‘Love’ and want to ‘Change’ about the party, as well to provide in depth and full length responses on topics of their choice.

Ed Miliband commissioned Peter Hain to write a consultation paper in November 2010 to assess the position and structure of the Labour Party and to suggest some questions on next steps for the party. The paper was published in March with the consultation running until June 24th.

The Refounding Labour website also will publish regular posts from MPs, members, affiliated organisations and other campaigners on the website and will be encouraging debate, discussion and dissent on internal issues.

See: Refounding Labour.

Will Cameron be able to avert the NHS car-crash?

by Sunny Hundal    
May 16, 2011 at 9:07 am

David Cameron is due to make a ‘big speech’ today in a bid to rescue Andrew Lansley and avert the car-crash that are the NHS proposals.

But even his own supporters aren’t convinced by the tough-sell. Only 2% of Tories said improving the NHS would attract more support. And it gets worse.
continue reading… »

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