Ukip legal battle: Nigel Farage could face High Court fight with Amjad Bashir April 7, 2015 Nigel Farage could be facing an intense legal battle with a former Ukip MEP. Amjad Bashir, who defected to the Conservative Party in January, has had his lawyers write to the Ukip leader asking him to withdraw allegations made earlier this year. Bashir's lawyers said Ukip could be taken to the High Court for possible [...]
General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon vows the SNP will block a raise of the state pension age in the UK April 7, 2015 The SNP will block planned raises of the UK pension age, if it wins enough seats in the General Election to do so, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday. The Scottish first minister, argued Scots will be disadvantaged by the rises, as they have the lowest life expectancy in the UK. A baby girl can expect to [...]
General Election 2015: George Osborne says Labour raised taxes by £2,000 as tax row escalates April 7, 2015 Goerge Osborne will today claim that New Labour hiked taxes on earnings for an average household by £1,895 a year in real-terms, as the row between the parties over tax escalates. The new figures come from the House of Commons library. The Tories say they hint at what Labour would do if it wins the [...]
Obama should listen to the people in pushing through his Iran nuclear deal April 6, 2015 Foreign policy analysis in any country tends to be the preserve of a tiny elite: a small number of people practise it, and generally a miniscule section of society follows it. In the UK, to all our shame, a far greater percentage of the population watches The X Factor than exhibits a healthy understanding [...]
Mythbusting Nigel Farage: Why immigration doesn’t erode social cohesion and trust April 6, 2015 The political scientist Robert Putnam famously found that Americans “hunker down” in the face of social diversity, doing less in the community and trusting people less – even their own compatriots. When Nigel Farage suggested that one reason kids tend not to play on the street nowadays was immigration, he was voicing a common concern: [...]
Greece bailout: Future looks brighter for struggling economy as Yanis Varoufakis says he’ll meet all obligations to creditor nations April 6, 2015 Greece's economic situation is on the brink of improving slightly, as long as finance minister Yanis Varoufakis sticks to his word. Yesterday, he told the troubled country's creditor nations that Greece intends to “meet all obligations”, and that includes a €450m (£332m) loan repayment due to be made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on [...]
General Election 2015: Osborne promises to get 2.4m first-time buyers onto housing ladder with property “revolution” April 5, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to bring about a “property revolution” in the UK, helping 2.4m more first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said he intended to double the number of first time buyers to 500,000 a year over the next five years, should the [...]
General Election 2015: Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood launches inquiry into leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon backed Cameron over Miliband for PM April 4, 2015 The cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood has ordered an inquiry into a leaked memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon said David Cameron would be preferable as Prime Minister to Labour leader Ed Miliband. The Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP said the claims, published in the Daily Telegraph from a leaked [...]
David Cameron courts first-time buyers as 50,000 sign on to home discount scheme April 3, 2015 Over 50,000 people have signed up to the government's programme to give first-time buyers a 20 per cent discount on their new home. An extension of the controversial Help to Buy initiative, the programme means new properties up to £250,000 and £450,000 in London will be subject to deep discounts. However, only those under the [...]
Leaders’ debate: Why Nigel Farage failed to break through with HIV claim April 3, 2015 Last night's rare spectacle of seven party leaders tearing each other apart on live TV proved more entertaining than the pundits had feared. Instead of a two hour bora-thon, sparks flew as the seven leaders accused each other of everything from economic incompetence to conspiracies over support for mass immigration. But perhaps the surprise loser of the [...]