Via BT ruling could open pension claim floodgates – Telegraph: Taxpayers could be on the hook for tens of billions of pounds to cover a string of privatised companies’ pension schemes after the precedent set by BT’s landmark “crown guarantee” victory. What next, I wonder? Between the Institute of Economic Affairs, […]
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The TPA reveal the true scale of the national debt
See also my speeches of 22 June and 14 September. The process of turning this country around began in May, but we have very much further to go if we are to deliver a hopeful and prosperous future.
Read MoreYes, Minister: Sir Humphrey has all the solutions – Telegraph
Via the Telegraph, Yes, Minister: Sir Humphrey has all the solutions provides a series of memos from Sir Humphrey Appleby to Bernard Woolley on electoral reform, guiding ministers, Brussels and transparency. The entire article is a must-read, but I think the following is my favourite passage: Brussels provides a model for […]
Read MoreThe Comprehensive Spending Review – big government is here to stay – Public Service
Via The Comprehensive Spending Review – big government is here to stay, Richard Wellings points out what John Redwood spotted during the Emergency Budget debate: When governments speak of cuts, they often mean reducing previously planned increases in spending and most public sector workers have little to fear from the CSR, […]
Read MoreThe case for tax simplification
As the tax fiasco continues, we might ask what is to be done to prevent this in future. I am not surprised amounts of tax were miscalculated. I personally worked on a project to encode a corporate tax return for electronic submission when we found the rules were incompatible. It […]
Read MoreEquitable Life update
At 13:00 today, I attended a busy Westminster Hall debate on Equitable Life secured by Nicola Blackwood MP, to which the minister, Mark Hoban MP, responded. Nicola covered the situation incisively. Many of us made an exception to sign the Equitable Life pledge during the campaign and we do expect […]
Read MoreHow can we re-think government to deliver more for less?
Via HMT – Spending Challenge, an attempt to “crowd source” government spending: The Spending Challenge is your chance to help shape the way government works. We need to reduce the deficit by cutting public spending in a way that is fair and responsible – and you can help. It could be […]
Read MoreCapital Gains Tax
Concerned constituents — including basic rate taxpayers, pensioners and private residential landlords — have written to me about the Government’s proposed changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT). In this post, I will set out details of the tax, the proposal, the arguments and my position. I conclude that the way […]
Read MoreThe State Opening of Parliament
Today, I found myself standing by the exit into the aye lobby for the state opening of Parliament. The text of the Queen’s Speech, for which I was lucky to be able to enter the House of Lords, may be found here: The Queen, seated on the Throne and attended […]
Read MoreBastiat – The State
This post originally appeared at The Cobden Centre. In the course of things, I had cause to quote Bastiat, a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly: “The state is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.” […]
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