Eric Pickles car crash interview: Senior Tory struggles to explain Cameron’s paid volunteering scheme April 10, 2015 Communities secretary Eric Pickles suffered a bruising encounter on Radio 4's Today programme as he struggled to explain Tory plans to give workers three days' paid leave for volunteering. David Cameron pledged a future Conservative government will offer workers in the public sector and big private companies three days' paid leave for volunteering. Large companies [...]
Secret plans are being drawn up to kick Greece out of the Eurozone April 10, 2015 Eurozone countries are formulating plans to boot Greece out of the single currency, as expectations grow that Athens may default on its debts next month. A memo put together by the Finnish Finance Ministry, a close Berlin ally, talks of “very difficult political decisions” as the currency bloc braces itself for Greece’s cash flow to [...]
Greece urges creditors to compromise on bailout April 9, 2015 Greece will strike a deal on its bailout loan before the end of this month even if it invokes a political backlash, but its Eurozone creditors must be prepared to compromise, finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said yesterday. Varoufakis’ statement came as Eurozone partners set Greece a deadline of six working days to improve proposed economic [...]
General Election 2015: Mixed message as polls split on who leads race April 9, 2015 Three polls put Labour on course for victory in the General Election last night, heaping pressure on a Tory campaign that is facing increasing criticism for its negativity. The surveys, conducted by the firms Panelbase, TNS, and Survation, gave Labour a lead ranging between three and six per cent. However polls by YouGov and Comres [...]
This pro-immigration group has launched a nationwide poster campaign April 9, 2015 If you're fed up with the anti-immigration rhetoric surrounding this year's General Election … (ahem, Ukip) then here's a group that's actually doing something about it. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which consistently campaigns against discrimination, is spending £44,000 on posters highlighting the importance of immigrants to British society. "The poster campaign [...]
Majority of Britons want to follow Australia and introduce compulsory voting April 9, 2015 The debate over how to increase voter turnout has produced some controversial proposals. None more so than the suggestion that the UK should follow Australia's lead and compel citizens to vote through force of law. In Australia, citizens can be fined £115 for refusing to vote. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argue young [...]
General Election 2015: What are the parties tweeting about? April 9, 2015 Voters may complain about a certain homogeneity, but there are clear differences between Westminster's biggest parties in the first week of campaigning – according to their Twitter accounts, at least. In the week since the leaders' debate, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have each tried to steer the General Election conversation in their own [...]
Labour and Tories battle over Trident: How much does it cost, how many submarines are there, who wants to abolish it? April 9, 2015 Labour and the Conservatives have become locked in a vicious fight today over the future of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent. Defence secretary Michael Fallon kicked off the debate with a scathing article in The Times where he accused Labour of using Trident as a "bargaining chip" for a possible deal with the SNP after the [...]
Tories plan crackdown on inherited non-dom status as public endorse Miliband’s policy April 9, 2015 After Labour seized the political agenda yesterday with Ed Miliband's pledge to abolish non-dom tax status, the Tories are reportedly planning their own non-dom crackdown. George Osborne is looking at plans to abolish the hereditary aspect of the 200-year-old rule, where sons and daughters of non-doms can inherit the privileged status from their father. The chancellor [...]
Defiant Greek PM Alexis Tsipras cosies up to Russian President Vladimir Putin April 8, 2015 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras risked straining relations with his Eurozone partners even further yesterday after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to boost ties between the two countries. Dismissing European officials who questioned his intentions for the trip, Tsipras said: “Greece is a sovereign state – it has its undisputed right to a [...]