Spending reviews

New review system undermines field umpires: Dickie Bird

Daily News Analysis (Free subscription) | 12/08/2009

Players and officials continue to wrestle with the system; Ponting yesterday spent both his reviews within the first hour of play.

Town halls face £11bn spending shortfall

The Guardian (Free subscription) | 12/04/2009

Local Government Association says councils will have to find cuts amounting to 10% of spending Town halls face an annual £11bn spending shortfall as the next government seeks to bring down the deficit in the nation's finances, the umbrella body for councils has warned. Stephen Jones, director of finance for the Local Government Association, said the "ballpark figure"...

A Labour Election Victory Would Mean Higher Taxes And Interest Rates

Mark Reckless Conservative PPC (Free subscription) | yesterday

Today, Alistair Darling delivered the last Pre Budget Report before a General Election. Because he failed to take the tough decisions on spending before the election, there will be higher taxes and higher interest rates if Labour win the election. The central measure was a tax on jobs that hits everyone earning over £20,000 - well below the median wage. That is Labour's definition of the...

Government in denial over deficit | Pre-budget report | John Redwood

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

The pre-budget report shows how overextended the UK finances are. Recovery requires a proper review of spending Bingo! The deficit will come down by magic. According to the government's pre-budget report , we might appear to need cuts of £84bn to hit the four-year deficit target, but that's no excuse to have a fundamental spending review. One more heave with pro-growth...

Darling ushers in the hard decade

Whitehall 1212 (Free subscription) | yesterday

... "All of the money that is going to be raised in additional tax will now be spent (on) public spending," he said. "None of this increase in taxation is going to be used to pay down the borrowing requirement or the deficit, it is complete distortion of the priorities the Government should have." The National Insurance increase will hit everyone earning more than £20k...

Public sector pay rises capped at 1%

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

Darling promises to protect core services in health, education and police from tough spending climate Public sector pay rises will be capped at 1% for two years from 2011, the chancellor announced today as he promised to protect frontline services in health, education and the police force from the "tough and challenging" public spending climate of the future. Setting out his...

Brown's Greek Tragedy

Paul Owen (Free subscription) | 12/09/2009

... keep as much of the truth from us as he can get away with. That's why we're not getting a proper spending review before the election. The bottom line though is this: the government has to make cuts, savage cuts. They've been spinning that they will be able to find those cuts through efficiency savings but this is patent nonsense. The last Budget included cuts hidden away in the small...

Labour puts off the pain until after the election

Chris Whiteside's Blog (Free subscription) | yesterday

... Labour have failed to deal with the £178bn deficit, cancelled the pre-election Comprehensive Spending Review, and instead said that a Labour victory at the election would mean: £7.8 billion higher taxes - £370 more per family - after the election Of this £6.5 billion - £310 more per family – is a rise in National Insurance - a tax on anyone earning...

• A Labour Election Victory Would Mean Higher Taxes And Interest Rates - Mark Reckless Conservative PPC

Darling to hit bankers with super-tax

Tory Politico (Free subscription) | yesterday

... insisted the chancellor, who they didn’t want to be chancellor, put in,” he added. He said serious spending plans were needed and a strategy to protect quality in key areas. “You’ve got to do it by getting more for less. You’ve got to stop the process of pouring money over, which Gordon Brown indulged in,” he said. “A credible path for getting out of deficit and debt in a reasonable time...

Norman Lamb says the NHS IT programme has been disastrously flawed from the start, and should be abandoned

Les Bonner (Free subscription) | 12/06/2009

The government is to cut back its £12billion NHS IT system; a scheme that the Liberal Democrats have always claimed is disastrously flawed. Chancellor Alistair Darling said he would be delaying parts of the scheme in Wednesday’s pre-Budget Report as it was “not essential to the frontline”. The move may save hundreds of millions but Mr Darling admitted it was only a fraction of total spending...

Snowy Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

2008 Democratic Convention Watch (Free subscription) | 12/05/2009

As I write this, the snow hasn't yet started to fall. By the time this posts, theoretically , it will be snowing. First midlantic snow of the season. There's been a lot of hype about it, which is normally inversely proportional to the amount of snow that falls. My afternoon is going to be spent reviewing some documents I've been provided. Tomorrow, I'll be interviewing Doug Pike, one of the two Democratic...

Alistair Darling's priority to convince City he will cut debt

Evening Standard - News (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009

Alistair Darling rebuffs pressure for a spending review ahead of the election and is instead giving priority to convincing the markets he has a credible plan to slash debt