Labour party

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Darling’s phoney Budget doesn’t change anything

From our UK edition

Was that a Budget sufficient to the fiscal nightmare that we face?  Well, I think we all could have answered that question before Alistair Darling stood up at the dispatch box, but now we can at least be sure: no, it wasn't.  The government's overall spending plans remain roughly the same as they were in the PBR, there aren't many tax increases to raise much money for the Treasury, and we're meant to be all excited that borrowing is £11bn lower this year than previously forecast – at £167bn.  It's a shame that Darling increased alcohol duty, or we'd all be be out celebrating that particular success, I'm sure. If you're feeling charitable to the government, you could say that if might have been worse.

Peter Hoskin

All quiet on the Westminster front

From our UK edition

If there's one thing distinguishing this morning, then it's just how placid everything feels.  The clouds are moving sluggishly across the sky; there's little excitement about the measures expected in the Budget; and there are no stories about rifts between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.  Indeed, Downing St insiders tell the FT that relations between Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been "pretty good" in the run up to the Budget, because both are "broadly agreed on the strategy of halving the deficit in four years while backing growth initiatives." Many are taking this as a sign that Darling and Peter Mandelson have won out in their efforts to coax Brown away from the crude "investment vs cuts" thinking of yesteryear.

Tuesday

Martin Bright

Does America Point to a Future for the British Left?

From our UK edition

I have had the pleasure of meeting two major figures of the American intellectual left over the past two weeks: Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne and Michael Kazin, co-editor of Dissent magazine. I'm sure there are as many differences as similarities in the politics of these two men, but what struck me about meeting them was how complacent and flabby we have become in Britain with our progressive politics. The relative strength of the Labour Party and the trade unions make us believe our radical traditions are safe here. But last night's Dispatches made me realise just how fragile a principled left-wing politics has become.  It is as well not to get over-romantic about other intellectual cultures.

Peter Hoskin

Darling’s Budget preview emphasises private sector-driven growth

From our UK edition

Exactly what you want at the end of the working day: Alistair Darling's video preview of the Budget.  I've watched it so that you don't have to, and it's striking just how much emphasis the Chancellor places on "unlocking private sector investment" to "ensure growth".  There's probably nothing in it, but it does make you wonder whether Labour have some secret business tax cut ready to spring tomorrow.  And, if so, how that sqaures with increasing the rates of tax on workers.

Peter Hoskin

Two things to bear in mind tomorrow

From our UK edition

If, as expected, Alistair Darling reduces his borrowing forecasts tomorrow, it's worth keeping two particular points in mind: 1) This government has always tended to underestimate its borrowing levels.  Ok, so you might argue that the government couldn't have foreseen that public sector net borrowing would rise to £178 billion in 2009/10 when it predicted £38 billion in Budget 2008.  A recession has bitten, banks have collapsed, since then – that kind of thing.  But Brown & Co. certainly have a track record when it comes to underestimating borrowing totals.  In Budget 1999, they thought that borrowing would be at £3 billion in 2002-03 – it turned out to be £23 billion.

Andrew Haldenby

Alistair Darling needs to tell us that frontline services will be affected by cuts

From our UK edition

The credibility of the Chancellor’s Budget tomorrow depends on the policy changes that he announces for the public sector.  It won’t be enough for him just to announce a series of public spending totals that decline gracefully in the years to come.  Within some broad limits, anyone can do that.  What counts is whether he backs it up with practical ideas to target the big government costs, which lie in two places - benefits and the public sector workforce. In retrospect, the general election has fallen at the wrong time for the UK public finances.  Since early last year, the prospect of an early election has allowed the Government to put off the date of publication of its full plan to address the deficit.

Peter Hoskin

The Budget is a bigger opportunity for the Tories than for Labour

From our UK edition

Last night's Dispatches programme was a concentrated double blow for Labour.  Not only did the limelight burn more unflatteringly on their party, but it has also undermined their careful Budget operation.  For the next few days, at least, it's possible that broken politics may trump the broken economy in the public mind.  And Alistair Darling is going to have a difficult, if not impossible, task in bridging that chasm of "distrust and disbelief" with his prescriptions tomorrow.

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Byers, Hewitt and Hoon suspended from the Labour party…

From our UK edition

...according to the Beeb just now.  And if you watched tonight's Dispatches programme, you'll know exactly why. Nick Robinson comments that the "Labour leadership" will delight in "taking revenge" on three figures who have ruffled Brown's feathers on multiple occasions – so it continues to look like backbiting and politicking will take priority over geniune reform.  A grubby Parliament just got considerably grubbier.

David Blackburn

Four politicians singing the same tune…

From our UK edition

Cabbies have a reputation for telling tall tales, but Stephen Byers could be in a league of his own. Lords Adonis and Mandelson have stated, categorically, that Byers is lying: he did not alter government policy. If so, why on earth did he liken himself to (though I would use a more lurid epithet) a 'cab for hire'? This affair is being obscured by thickening smoke. Each new answer poses further questions. Mandelson’s outright denial contrasts with yesterday’s amnesia. The Sunday Times quoted Mandelson as having “no recollection” of a conversation which Byers alleges took place. There is subtle difference between denying something happened and being unable to recall it. But that’s not the half of it.

James Forsyth

Another shaming day for Westminster

From our UK edition

There was something particularly depressing about Harriet Harman’s statement to the House today on this lobbying scandal. The MPs involved have damned themselves more effectively than anybody else could and so the anger of the Commons lacked bite. Though, it was noticeable that the personal attacks on those involved tended to come from their own side not the opposition benches; proof that for many this is another episode in the long running battle for the soul of the Labour party. David Heath, the Lib Dem shadow leader of the House, made probably the best speech. He wanted to know why the House was always reacting to these problems rather than pre-empting them.

David Blackburn

Both Labour and the Tories need to get stuck into Vince

From our UK edition

The public remains infatuated with Vince Cable. A Politics Home poll reveals that 31 percent want Cable to be chancellor. It’s a crushing endorsement: Don’t Know is his nearest rival on 24 percent, followed by Ken Clarke on 16 percent. Cable’s reputation rests on his sagacious airs and an apparent contempt for party politics. His eminence is baffling. Fleet-footed fox-trotter he may be; economic guru he is not. Andrew Neil's interview shattered Cable’s invincibility. The Sage of Twickenham admitted to changing his mind over the HBOS Lloyds merger and his constantly shifting position on cuts was exposed. Add to that the ill-thought out Mansions Tax and Cable begins to look leaden. The Tories and Labour should emphasise Cable’s intellectual shortcomings.

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

Introducing the Nelson tax

From our UK edition

In the News of the World today, I propose a new tax on the rich: specifically, on ex-ministers who go on to earn a crust advising companies how to avoid the regulations with which they have saddled the British economy. I proposed this before the news broke about Byers and Hewitt etc, but their appalling story makes it all the more pertinent. The Nelson tax should be above the top rate, and imposed on any activity such as giving speeches to the Chinese, lobbying, consultancy, etc. - anything which trades from contacts or reputation built up while serving the taxpayer. It would not be levied on activities which the ex-minister could plausibly claim he would have taken on anyway. So if Blair were to return to law, his earnings would be taxed at the normal rate.

Peter Hoskin

Osborne steps up his game

From our UK edition

George Osborne must have changed breakfast cereals, or something, because he's suddenly a different man.  After the Tories muddied their economic message to the point of abstraction a few weeks ago, there's now a new clarity and directness about the shadow chancellor's languange.  Exhibit A was his article in the FT last week.  And Exhibit B comes in the form of his article for the Sunday Telegraph today. It sets out five deceptions that we can expect from the Budget this week, and are all punchy and persuasive in equal measures.  But it's the first which, as I said on Friday, is the most important: "The Chancellor might be so brazen as to claim he has a 'windfall' because it turns out he has to borrow a few billion pounds less than he forecast in the autumn.

Peter Hoskin

Dirty money and dirtier politics

From our UK edition

Busted.  Yep, that's the word which first sprung to mind when I read the Sunday Times's expose of MPs and their dirty lobbying work.  Hoon, Hewitt, Byers – they're all revealed as providing influence and access for cash, and a lot of cash at that.  But it's Byers who comes out of it the worst.  You can read his story here, but suffice to say that it involves boasts about successfully lobbying ministers to change policy, and about parading Tony Blair in front of his clients.  He even describes himself as "a bit like a sort of cab for hire".  I imagine he'll pick up fewer fares now. Our democracy could hardly bear another major political scandal, but here we have one: as grubby, underhand and dispiriting as last year's expenses revelations.

Saturday

David Blackburn

Pot, kettle, black

From our UK edition

George Boateng, Alan Milburn and Andrew Smith have written a letter to George Osborne, calling him to task over the contradictions in his policy. 'It is not clear to us whether these mixed messages are a deliberate attempt to obscure your plans or a symptom of a confused approach to policy but either way the public deserves better.' Fair enough. Osborne's policy has become more concrete in recent weeks, but much remains still to do. Peversely, I think they've given too much detail, and have been found out because they haven't seen the nation's books.The reduction in the amount of cuts that are planned is a case in point. But talk about hypocrisy: take a look at Labour's economic policy in the run-up to the budget. They are certainly clear on cuts: there aren't going to be any.

Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband’s new investment vs cuts battleground

From our UK edition

Ed Miliband certainly isn't one for holding back, is he?  In an interview with today's Guardian he discusses what we might expect from the Labour manifesto, and there's some pretty noteworthy stuff in there: a People's Bank based around the network of Post Offices; an increase in the minimum wage; a reduction in the voting age to 16; things like that. But, as Sunder Katwala suggests over at Next Left, the most eye-catching passage is when Miliband discusses Free School Meals for all: "The manifesto could well include a pledge to provide free school meals for all children, Miliband says. 'I think a lot of people would like free school meals.

Martin Bright

Tony Judt’s Manifesto for the Left

From our UK edition

Anyone who cares about political debate should read the essay by the historian Tony Judt in today's Guardian. It is an astonishing piece of work which argues for a renewal of social democracy in response to the failure of the New Labour experiment (which Judt considers as evidence of the redundancy of the philosophy of Thatcherism so willingly embraced by Blair and Brown). You may quibble with the detail -- Judt remains over-sentimental about the public sector -- but it is a challenge to received wisdom in all strands of dominant contemporary political discourse.  He captures what many of the liberal left feel here: "It's difficult to feel optimistic about the upcoming election.

Friday

Fraser Nelson

Why Cameron must never say “deficit”.

From our UK edition

Listening to BBC news, it's striking how they are still using Labour's politically-charged vocabulary. When the universities are kicking off about their budgets being cut, the BBC newsreaders are told to talk about "investment" in higher education, rather than spending. Why, though? An "investment" would be to put £1 billion of taxpayers’ money into an Emerging Markets fund, and hope it grows. Giving it to universities - many of which serve neither students nor society - is not an investment. But using the word "investment" is Labour code for "good spending". There is one particularly frequent example if this: the BBC regularly confuse the words "deficit" and "debt" - a bugbear of mine, and something James Forsyth deals with in his column in this week's magazine.

Peter Hoskin

Strike-a-rama<br />

From our UK edition

So there we have it: talks between the BA management and Unite have collapsed, and the strike is back on for midnight tonight.  Throw in the news that railway workers have also voted in favour of strikes, and it looks like there will be more transport trouble ahead. Politically-speaking, the government won't enjoy operating against a backdrop of industrial unrest as the election approaches.  Sure, last year's postal strikes had no discernible effect on the polls.  But, this time around, the Brown premiership has closer ties with the striking party – and those ties are already front-page news.  Involving Charlie Whelan in Labour's election campaign is now looking like an even more toxic manoeuvre.

Peter Hoskin

Darling’s Budget takes shape

From our UK edition

Yep, it's that time of the year again – when the government starts briefing about the contents of the Budget.  First up, there's the news that Alistair Darling may cut projected borrowing figures by £5-10 billion, thanks to higher-than-expected tax receipts.  And then there's Peter Mandelson's claim that new tax rises would have to be considered a year from now – implying, perhaps, that there won't many in this year's Budget. Many folk around Westminister were surprised that the government was putting out a pre-election Budget – especially given the sorry state of the public finances.