Various lower estimates for the UK’s saving from leaving the EU have been put about. Let me remind people where the £10 billion figure comes from. It is the last official ONS figure for a whole year, 2014, published in the Pink Book. It is based on the following figures: UK payments into...
I was glad to hear this morning that the Conservatives intend to inject some hope and optimism into the government’s narrative. You can overdo the dire warnings about cuts to come, especially when the plan is to increase public spending each year for the next five years. If they do announce difficult cuts in...
When 250,000 people march in Central London to complain about cuts the government should listen, and should engage with their leaders in a sensible dialogue. There are many things I felt I wanted to say had I been invited to talk to them as Mr Miliband was able to do. I would have started with...
Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I beg to move, that this House has considered the matter of policy for growth. It gives me great pleasure to move the motion and I know that I speak for many others in this House when I say that we welcome the Backbench Business Committee’s decision to hold...
Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): At the end of the period, in 2014-15, the Government plan to spend £92 billion a year more, on current spending, on services than Labour did in its last year-that is a large 15% increase in the amount of cash. We need to ask ourselves why it is that...
There are just three central figures in the Treasury Red Book which sum up this government’s 5 year plan. They are figures that very few commentators and journalists seem to want to understand. If you compare 2014-15, this government’s last planned year, with the last year of Labour, you should expect; Public sector current...
The Chancellor told us his preferred mixture of tax increases and spending cuts to curb the deficit was 20% tax rises and 80% spending cuts. Mr Ed Miliband favours something closer to 50/50. In the government Budget Red Book we learn that the public sector net borrowing requirement was £154.7 billion in 2009-10. This...
Most people’s definition of the rich is someone better off than themselves. The millionaire feels poor in the company of billionaires. Clearly, someone who has a decent home they own and sufficient invested capital to be able to pay their bills for the rest of their lives without needing to take a paid job...
There has been a sudden surpising worry by some that the VAT rise in the UK in January will reduce growth next year. The official confirmation of this from the OBR should not be a great or new revelation.The point is the growth rate is unsustainable given the very high level of...
We are lucky today to have a copy of Dame Lucy’s reply to Dr Spendlove: Dr Roy Spendlove Division for Miscellaneous Projects Whitehall SW1 Dear Roy, Thank you for your letter. You seem to be doing excellent work to ensure full compliance with best practice and world procurement standards. I do think you...