Happy #EdBallsDay: It’s the fourth anniversary of *that* tweet April 28, 2015 Update: Ed Balls has made everyone's Ed Balls Day the best yet. https://twitter.com/edballsmp/status/593072495395282944 Crack open the champagne and settle down for hours of social media lolz. It's Ed Balls Day again. Ed Balls It's the fourth anniversary of what has become one of the finest tweets the political world has ever seen. Back [...]
General Election 2015: Icap CEO Michael Spencer wants a balanced immigration policy and an end to wealth creator persecution April 27, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN: 9 DAYS TO GO Every day until the final week of the election campaign, we ask a business leader to say what policies would entice them to vote for a particular party. MICHAEL SPENCER: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ICAP ■ Focus on the Economy Since 2010 the UK economy has done much better than [...]
Lib Dems: Blocking a BP takeover would be a massive Tory U-turn April 27, 2015 The Liberal Democrats believe it would be a huge shift for any future Conservative government to try to block a foreign takeover of BP. The party points to last year’s coalition row over a potential takeover of pharmaceutical giant Astrazeneca by Pfizer. Then, Vince Cable wanted to bring in greater restrictions to protect research and [...]
Greece’s golden boy Yanis Varoufakis and his tragic fall from grace. It all started with a misjudged Paris Match photoshoot April 27, 2015 It all began so well for Yanis Varoufakis. When he was thrust into the spotlight in January as the finance minister of a near-bankrupt Greece, the motorcycle-riding academic was acclaimed by media and academics alike as being a new voice for a new era. They dubbed him a rock star economist for his leather jacket [...]
Rent control plans: Breaking down Labour’s latest housing proposals April 27, 2015 Q What is Labour proposing for tenants and landlords? A Labour leader Ed Miliband says his government would cap rents so they could not rise by more than the consumer price index (CPI) during secure, three-year tenancies. Q Would all tenancies change to three years under the Labour proposal? A Labour says that from [...]
General Election: Only Scottish patients are getting the best new drugs on the NHS April 27, 2015 Terminally ill people in Scotland are being given the best new cancer drugs, while those in the rest of the UK are being deprived of them. This apparently unfair difference stems from the way drug provision by NHS England and NHS Scotland is regulated, with Scotland's drug monitoring body making it much easier for [...]
Lord Ashcroft poll: Conservatives lead nationally by six points but marginals are a mixed bag April 27, 2015 Good news for the Conservatives in the form of Lord Ashcroft's national poll, which puts them six points ahead of Labour on 36 per cent. The poll shows the most substantial Tory lead for two weeks. Ukip was down to 11 per cent with Greens and Lib Dems trailing on seven and 11 per cent [...]
General Election 2015: Small business support for Tories is stronger in the south than north, according to 5,000-strong Telegraph letter April 27, 2015 Small businesses in the south of England are the overwhelming backers of the Tory party compared with those located across the rest of the UK, based on the 5,000-strong letter of support published in The Telegraph. The letter, the second signed by business leaders in the lead-up to the General Election, has recieved widespread criticism however, as it [...]
General Election 2015: Lord Mandelson’s firm predicts that whatever happens, the SNP win April 27, 2015 The SNP will try and ensure conditions for a second independence referendum victory, driving a "political wedge" between Scotland and England, according to new new research note from Global Counsel entitled "why the SNP will win whatever happens on 7 May." What the makes the note especially interesting is that it is from a firm [...]
General Election 2015: David Cameron vows to slash £10bn of regulation for small businesses April 27, 2015 David Cameron has said his party is engaged in a "battle for the backbone of Britain" and that meeting small businesses "pumps" him up, unveiling the Tories' small business manifesto in a noticeably more passionate address than in the previous weeks of campaigning. The Conservatives plan to relieve small businesses of £10bn worth of regulation [...]