http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-brexit-would-spark-30bn-in-spending-cuts-and-tax-rises-warn-george-osborne-and-a7082271.html 57 Tory MPs pledge to vote down George Osborne's post-Brexit budget If the "Remain" campaign were determined to destroy their own chances of winning next weeks referendum, they could not have chosen a more appropriate weapon to add to their already substantial armoury of fear and intimidation employed thus far, than to threaten a "punishment budget" should the nation vote "Leave", on the 23rd June. George Osborne is firmly in the "Remain" camp and yet has chosen to threaten retaliation against those people and groups that he seeks the support of at the polls. Last week, threats to pensioners and others, now threats to the NHS and tax payers. All that Osborne has achieved with this latest tantrum of bile and spite, is to incur the wrath of at least 60 Conservative MP's who wil...
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/17/tory-mps-at-risk-tax-credits Tory MPs in 71 marginal seats at risk from cuts to tax credits Always see the funny side Working Tax Credits are a subsidy paid by the tax payer for business to pay low wages. The government bleat that the cost of this "benefit" has increased substantially over recent years and has to be cut. The only way to reduce the level of these tax credits, is to force employers to pay wages and salaries which are adequate to meet today's living costs. The "minimum wage" or "living wage" call it what you will, is a government confidence trick designed to indicate that the g overnment is "doing something" to assist lower paid workers where in fact it does nothing of the sort. In April of next year, hundreds of thousands of families in this country will be up to £3000 per year worse off due exclusively to a combination of government fiscal policies...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/think-tank-whose-work-george-osborne-based-new-living-wage-on-accuse-him-of-pushing-low-income-families-further-into-poverty-10379015.html George Osborne pushing low income families further into poverty Chancellor George Osborne What a difference a day makes. Yesterday morning, the television news and the media generally, were full of reports with headlines such as "Hooray! Its pay rises all round", "From welfare to work", "The well, fair state" and other equally meaningless nonsense, trying to convince the public what a great guy George Osborne was in producing a winning budget. Now, less than 24 hours later,Osborne's sleight of hand, has been exposed as nothing but an exercise in the use of smoke and mirrors to conceal the fact that this budget has made millions of people worse off, particularly those at the lower end of the income structure. No wonder that Iain Duncan-Smith ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/watch-budget-2015-live-iain-duncan-performs-double-fist-pump-during-george-osbornes-budget-but-it-has-only-made-him-more-enemies-10375699.html Iain Duncan Smith has managed to make even more enemies after performing a double fist pump during the Budget. Iain Duncan-Smith The lasting image of this budget speech came not from Osborne, but from Iain Duncan-Smith, punching the air and clearly shouting "fantastic" and "yes,yes". The disgusting behaviour of a vile evil man, celebrating more punishment for the sick, unemployed, disabled and those on low pay who are having their tax credits cut, two years before a rise in their "minimum wage". Duncan-Smith. A nefarious maggot in a malevolent government.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-george-osborne-to-axe-subsidies-for-higher-income-earners-in-social-housing-10366555.html George Osborne to axe subsidies for higher income earners in social housing Rent benefits to be scrapped for those on more than £30,000 It is not really clear from this article whether the £40k in London and the £30k elsewhere, is a "household income" (dad,mum,working children living at home) or an individual, (presumably the person in who's name the tenancy stands), income. In either case, will the "savings" from this measure be sufficient to cover the costs of the bureaucracy needed to manage the new measures and to monitor the ongoing "means testing" necessary to implement it? Again a knee jerk and ill tho ught out proposal from this wretched government, designed to be popular with some parts of society rather than to resolve an extremely complex problem of which hou...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chancellor-george-osborne-sets-date-for-summer-budget-to-keep-election-pledges-10254658.html Chancellor George Osbornewill unveil the first Budget of Conservative government on 8 July. With a Conservative overall majority, no one should be surprised at the severity of the cuts and the continuing drive for welfare "savings". With the resentment of ordinary people towards more even more austerity the Conservative government and those who support them, should not be surprised at the protests and anti government demonstrations that will follow and grow over coming months.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/24/britain-to-send-military-advisers-to-ukraine-cameron#comment-48036283 Britain to send military advisers to Ukraine David Cameron This is a very bad idea. Not from any pacifist or pro Putin/Russia ideal, but from the viewpoint of practicalities. "Advisers" are invariably shortly followed by "support units" who are again invariably followed by "aircraft in a supporting role" and so on until, low and behold, someone suddenly realises that we have a full blown military presence in region. As was the case in Viet Nam through to Afghanistan and Iraq, history has always shown us that "mission creep" is not a question of numbers, it is a question of timescale. There are those in this country, as many of the comments in this section demonstrate, who are clearly of a gung ho mentality and still believe that we should bomb and smash the Russians as that great political thinker Kenny Ev...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/29/future-labour-government-will-not-undo-hugely-unpopular-coalition-cuts_n_5413596.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Future Labour Government will not undo Coalition Government Cuts Ed Miliband And Ed Balls Labour will not undo ConDem Coalition cuts. Labour have not undone Tory anti trade union legislation. Labour will not restore the real reductions in pensions, nor will they reverse the increases in taxation for working people imposed at the same time as reductions in taxes for millionaire. The Labour party will not restore essential public services, energy, water, railways to public ownership and prevent the excesses of privatised industries and their profiteering at the expense of their customers and the country. The Labour party will not commence a programme of house building, particularly in the social housing sector, to address the chronic and shameful housing shortage in this country. This ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/jul/27/staff-cuts-cps-delays-errors?guni=Keyword:news-grid%20main-1%20Main%20trailblock:Editable%20trailblock%20-%20news:Position3 Staff cuts at CPS lead to delays, errors and waste, say legal experts Crown courts in England and Wales have registered a rise in the number of trials failing because of basic administrative errors. The CPS already makes some bizarre decisions, offering no evidence at trial or not bringing charges as prosecution, "would not be in the public interest" (what ever that means). If these CPS conclusions are as a direct (or indirect) consequence of cut backs and "savings" as seems to be the case, then strange decisions will become even more common. Perhaps there may be a case for closing down the CPS entirely, transferring the work to the Department of Justice and thereby "saving" even more money ! Nothing that this inept collection of ConDem opportunists masquerading as governmen...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/08/european-union-budget-cut_n_2646201.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Tory Right Hail Cameron As PM Delivers Historic EU Budget Cut MEP's may still veto the bill Hang on a minute. The EU Budget is cut, but the net contribution by the UK to the European coffers is increased, so the British tax payer contributes even more money to Brussels. If this is a "victory" let us all be thankful that Cameron did not suffer a "humiliating defeat".