The weekend press was full of speculation regarding likely policies of our new LibCon coalition but it seems we will have a short wait to see exactly what the Queens Speech will contain next week. There was a briefing this morning from George Osborne from the Treasury although this wasn't specific in terms of cuts, it just confirmed the date of the budget will be June 22nd. As expected he made a point of stating that things were even worse than expected and that tough times are ahead because of the mess that was left behind; however he still insisted that the savings this year can primarily come from 'government waste' rather than an increase in taxes. He refused to be drawn on the expected rise in VAT, perhaps this tells us what we need to know?
There is increasing dissent from all sides regarding the proposal to change the rules around the dissolution of parliament. The proposal is that rather than simply requiring a majority, i.e. 51%, of MP's to dissolve the house and therefore call an election 55% will instead be required. David Davis is the most senior Tory voice to oppose this, along with other member of the house; it's predicted this bill could have a rocky ride through the Lords.
An arguably cynical piece below relating to means testing child benefit; not something we have heard as yet but thought to be a likely cut. The article contains individual quotes from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats stating that they will not means test; will the coalition be used as an excuse to implement such a policy? See this link for the full article Child Benefit
I will update with any further news as it comes through but as ever please do comment and post your thoughts.
I don't think means testing is a bad idea as clearly there are some families that don't need financial support from the government. What is key however is where they set the minimum income level. A household income figure of £24K has been suggested, which I think is too low. And the second point is that this Lib/Con Government need to better analyse the cost of implementation of policy to ensure value for money, to avoid the excess of the previous Labour administration. For details of these excesses (for all you staunch Labour supporters)refer to the 'Bumper Book of Government Waste'. Cheerio.
ReplyDeleteagree that for some child benefit is a nice to have, rather than a necessity. however i would be unhappy to see this being changed whilst other more elitist tax cuts go through, i.e increasing the inheritance tax threshold to £1m, which only affects around 3000 estates per year. Broadly speaking if we are going to withdraw these sorts of benefits, lets make sure it targets those with the most money first. Middle income families should not bear the brunt of the spending cuts.
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