Isabel Hardman, Author at The Spectator

Friday

March 22, 2013

Clegg aims for ‘sensible’ 2015 manifesto with immigration speech

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg gave his 'sensible' immigration speech this morning. He started off by agreeing with Labour's Yvette Cooper that politicians shouldn't enter an 'arms race of rhetoric', and then spent a considerable part of the speech either attacking Labour or backing a policy that his own colleagues had previously attacked: a security bond system for immigrants from 'high-risk' countries to cut down on people overstaying their visas. It's also a policy that Theresa May backs. And what he doesn't back anymore is the idea of an amnesty for illegal immigrants, which was a big Lib Dem policy in 2010. Clegg said: 'But despite the policy's aims, it was seen by many people as a reward for those who have broken the law. And so it risked undermining public confidence in the immigration system.

Isabel Hardman

Why Scary Graphs help the Tory plotters

From our UK edition

Without wanting to dwell too much on those Scary Graphs from the IFS yesterday, there's one political point that's worth mulling about the ones that charted the future of departmental spending. George Osborne knows that his 'pain tomorrow' approach means the years after 2015 are going to see even more cuts to public spending. He's not the only one: it's something that those Tory MPs who love a good plot believe is a key selling point for backbenchers who aren't involved in the Coalition in any way, such as Adam Afriyie.

Thursday

March 21, 2013

Isabel Hardman

Hacked Off says press damages plan is a mistake

From our UK edition

So the latest twist in the surreal saga of statutory regulation of the press is that the campaign group which had unparalleled access to the three parties hammering out a settlement in the silent watches of the night now thinks there's been a terrible mistake. Whoops! Hacked Off has put out a statement this afternoon which says the amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill approved by MPs on Monday night contain 'an accident in the drafting' and is now trying to change the amendments so that they won't impact bloggers and small publishers. You can read the full statement here, but this is the key section: 'The amendments are the work of Conservatives in government and not of Labour, the Liberal Democrats or for that matter Hacked Off. 'They have not been endorsed in any way by Hacked Off.

Isabel Hardman

The never-ending fuel duty story

From our UK edition

One other point worth noting from today's IFS post-Budget briefing was the way the government has dealt with fuel duty over the past few years. Here's a table showing how things have worked out in Budgets and Autumn Statements: So now there isn't another fuel duty increase until September 2014. But when I spoke to Robert Halfon yesterday, he seemed pretty content to let the government off from now on, given they've 'done more than any other government in the last 10 years on this issue'. But as the Treasury Select Committee argued after the Autumn Statement, a medium-term strategy for fuel duty would make a great deal more sense, even if it prevented Chancellors in future years from producing a rabbit out of their hat for worried backbenchers. We didn't see that in this Budget, though.

Isabel Hardman

IFS: Osborne’s austerity means more pain, not jam, tomorrow

From our UK edition

George Osborne's critics like to deride him as the 'jam tomorrow' Chancellor. But according to the post-Budget briefing the Institute for Fiscal Studies gave this afternoon, he's the 'pain tomorrow' Chancellor instead. It's not that things really aren't getting better, but that the bulk of the pain in terms of spending cuts and tax rises isn't just not over, it's not even here yet. The IFS team gave a series of presentations (in case you hadn't sunk into a pit of misery after Fraser's six scary graphs yesterday) showing that yesterday's Budget will lead to big tax increases and spending cuts from 2016 onwards. Paul Johnson, IFS director, said there was a 'heavy hint' that the consolidation needed would come from tax: 'There are other changes too which might frighten Whitehall departments.

Isabel Hardman

Forget beer and petrol: will MPs debate monetary policy today?

From our UK edition

MPs are debating the detail of the Budget today, and will doubtless pick over some of the lines from George Osborne's round of interviews this morning, particularly the confusion over whether Help to Buy is available for those buying second homes. There are plenty of queries about whether the government's new mortgage plans are actually very wise at all. The debate will inevitably focus on the doorstep issues on taxes and cuts. But will MPs talk about one of the most important elements of yesterday's announcement? It wasn't on petrol, and it wasn't beer duty. It actually concerned monetary policy.

Wednesday

March 20, 2013

Isabel Hardman

Osborne’s pitch to Sun-reading voters caught up in Leveson row

From our UK edition

If this was a Budget for Sun readers, then it hasn't quite worked out as well as George Osborne might have hoped. The newspaper sounded pretty cheery this morning with its story about the beer duty escalator. But here's the front page for tomorrow's edition: Now, this is clearly as much about Leveson and the newspaper's industry disgust that it wasn't consulted when the lobbying group Hacked Off was invited to the late night negotiations as it is about the measures announced today. But there's also the point that Fraser makes tirelessly on this blog that politicians like to be lazy at best when it comes to talking about debt and the deficit. One of the bullet points reminds readers that the government isn't 'paying down its debts' as David Cameron has said before: 'Debt!

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2013: Ed Balls sticks to his favourite 50p attack

From our UK edition

Ed Balls has just given his post-Budget briefing in parliament. The striking thing about Balls, no matter how much you might disagree with him, is how much he relishes these occasions. His whole face lights up, like a large Cheshire cat that has spied a snoozing mouse, as he goes in for the kill. He even went through a list circulated by CCHQ of 'questions for Labour'. No wonder some Tory MPs wish they had someone on their side who loves the political game as much as the Shadow Chancellor. Now, Balls had plenty of soundbites: he has calculated that you'd have to drink 50,000 pints of beer a year to make up for the impact on personal income of other tax rises and cuts.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2013: New ‘Help to Buy’ plan is a boost for Eric Pickles

From our UK edition

One of the big measures in today's Budget was the Help to Buy scheme. It answers two demands: the first for the Tories to continue to support home ownership as what George Osborne called 'the most human of aspirations', and the second for the government to do everything it can to get construction moving again. But there's an interesting political point here. In the summer, George Osborne frightened the living daylights out of Eric Pickles and his team at the Communities and Local Government department by putting it about that he wanted further relaxations on planning regulations to encourage economic growth through construction.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2013: It’s all about the ‘aspiration nation’

From our UK edition

So did he do it? This was a budget with a strong narrative about the 'aspiration nation', and the Chancellor certainly did everything he could to nod to two of those three groups that James identified last week. He had two distinct sections on making Britain competitive in the global race and tackling the cost of living, while dismissing 'those who would want to cut much more than we are planning to - and chase the debt target'. The cost of living section was a careful attempt to please Sun readers who had been so irritated by last year's Budget. And Osborne also took care to spell out the tangible benefits of scrapping the fuel duty increase and the beer duty escalator. He said: 'Today, I am cancelling this September's fuel duty increase altogether.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2013: Five boxes George Osborne needs to tick

From our UK edition

We've got just over half an hour until the Chancellor stands up to give his Budget statement in the House of Commons. It's the last Budget, many Tory MPs believe, that he has to make a real difference to the party before 2015. And those who enjoy plotting against the leadership are touting it as one of the last chances David Cameron and George Osborne have to convince their own MPs that they're worth backing for the long run. So what does the Chancellor need to do to emerge unscathed from this bleak Budget? Here are five boxes he needs to tick. 1. Cost of living. A big issue for Conservative MPs, and one that many of them have campaigned on vociferously.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2013: what the papers say

From our UK edition

The Treasury has largely managed to maintain discipline in the run-up to the Budget, with only controlled briefings in the past few days, rather than last year's public row over tax cuts. Yesterday we were told about the additional departmental spending cuts to fund infrastructure: the pain has already been briefed so that today the £2.5billion raised from cuts can be painted more as gain. There are also some carefully-placed stories on the front pages this morning, too. Last year's Budget didn't have much in it for Sun readers: the pasty and caravan taxes did for any suggestion that the government was on their side while it cut the top rate of tax. And after the Budget, the newspaper sent a model to hand out pasties on the steps of the Treasury.

Tuesday

March 19, 2013

Isabel Hardman

What will it take to keep Cyprus in the euro?

From our UK edition

How will the eurozone respond to the Cypriot parliament's overwhelming rejection of the bank deposit levy? There are only a few days in which to make a deal before the country's banks must re-open, with an ensuing run on deposits. The question is whether Cyprus or the other eurozone countries blink first. Given all members present of the governing DISY party abstained on the vote, there is a chance that an amended bill could come before the parliament again. Indeed, one member, Nicos Tornaritis, said this evening that this would 'strengthen the bargaining position of the Republic of Cyprus'. This will still require action from other countries, whether in the form of concessions on the current plan, or a different deal altogether.

Isabel Hardman

Letter to PM: ‘Nicholson must go with all speed’

From our UK edition

Earlier, I blogged that Tory MP Charlotte Leslie planned to raise concerns with the Prime Minister about Sir David Nicholson's incorrect select committee evidence. She's now written a letter, which I've seen, telling David Cameron that the NHS chief executive 'must go with all speed', and reminding the Tory leader that she has the backing of 60 colleagues. The letter is pretty strong stuff. It says: 'I am deeply concerned that the man who currently leads the largest employer in the country has not only overseen a culture that has damaged our NHS, but has now given a false account to a Select Committee in this way. I know you are aware that wilfully misleading a parliamentary select committee is an offence for which one can be tried at the Bar of the House.

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s frontbench gets a taste of the welfare battles to come

From our UK edition

The Commons this evening approved emergency regulations for the government's work experience programme so the DWP can avoid repaying benefits to those who were sanctioned for refusing to take part. This wouldn't be a particularly interesting vote, but for an uprising on the Labour benches. This is the controversial 'workfare' programme, where those on Jobseeker's Allowance are required to undertake work experience as part of their benefit claim. A court judgement last month (which was widely misinterpreted) meant the government had to rush these new regulations through. But though Labour made hay with that judgement at the time, its official position this afternoon was to abstain on the vote.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron under fresh pressure to sack David Nicholson after select committee blunder

From our UK edition

David Cameron is coming under fresh pressure to force out NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson this afternoon. The health boss has had to apologise to the Public Accounts Committee, after his evidence yesterday was directly contradicted by whistleblower Gary Walker's testimony to the Health Select Committee today. Nicholson told the PAC that Walker 'didn't identify himself as a whistleblower at that moment in time, nor did he raise with me any issues of patient safety'. But today Walker produced a letter which said 'I assume the Department of Health has a policy on whistleblowing and would therefore like this letter to be considered in that context'.

Isabel Hardman

How the Treasury could sell its tax cuts to voters

From our UK edition

One of the big challenges for the government in tomorrow's Budget is how well the Number 10 machine is able to sell some of the positive measures that George Osborne will announce. Some are easy for voters to notice: cancelling the fuel duty rise, for instance. But others, like the personal tax allowance, need a bit more noise. One Tory backbencher is currently trying to push an idea to the Treasury about how to do this: tell voters every time they get paid. Justin Tomlinson, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Personal Finance, will raise his idea in the post-Budget debate in the House of Commons on Thursday. Every payslip would tell an employee whether the government has made changes to their tax arrangements, and how much more or less they're getting in pay as a result.

Isabel Hardman

Cabinet ministers told to find an extra £2.5 billion in cuts

From our UK edition

Cabinet this morning can't have been a cheery occasion. The Prime Minister did congratulate all those who had been involved in the Leveson talks, with a little bit more congratulation from the Deputy Prime Minister and Maria Miller. But that was where the backslapping stopped. the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced that OBR forecasts tomorrow will show that departments are underspending more of their budgets than the historical average. As a result, departments will now be required to reduce their spending by a further 1 per cent in 2013/14 and 2014/15, which amounts to a further £2.5 billion to fund capital investment projects in tomorrow's Budget. The £1.

Isabel Hardman

Liz Truss: the minister fighting the ‘Where have all the women gone?’ debates

From our UK edition

The government's childcare announcement, fronted by the formidable Liz Truss, is another attempt to appeal to working mothers and to spread privilege by removing some of the barriers for women who want to return to work after having children. Never mind that Labour and a left-leaning think tank complain this isn't as generous for low-earners as it is for those on higher salaries: the intention is to cut back on the staggering cost of childcare with parents claiming back £1,200 per child (the previous scheme was per household). Labour is anxious about this too: the party knows it left government with an extremely expensive childcare offer, and has been hard at work trying to remedy that before 2015. There are two problems with this very welcome announcement.

Isabel Hardman

Ministers avoid awkward vote on foreign criminals as Tories rebel on press damages plan

From our UK edition

The Crime and Courts Bill, which contains one half of the government's response to the Leveson recommendations, has just passed its third reading in the House of Commons. An earlier amendment on exemplary damages, which the Mail's James Chapman reports this evening has roused the ire of Boris Johnson, saw this group of Conservative rebels troop through the 'No' lobbies: Richard Bacon, Christopher Chope, Tracey Crouch, Philip Davies, Richard Drax, Nick de Bois, Andrew Percy, Mark Reckless, John Redwood, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrew Turner, Martin Vickers, Charles Walker and Sarah Wollaston. The amendment passed 530 ayes to 13 noes (the list above includes tellers Rees-Mogg and Drax, who are not listed in the initial division numbers).