Furlough fraud exposes the shortcomings of doling out endless amounts of cash Annabel Denham Outrage has erupted over the news that £5.8bn has been “criminally siphoned off” the emergency Covid-19 schemes that propped up millions of workers and paid for us to eat on the cheap. The very same folk who complained ministers weren’t acting fast enough to provide support, rejecting warnings that furlough was excessively generous, are now [...]
Whitehall needs to butt out of businesses’ rules on home working Good news, British workers! If you want to work flexibly, by adjusting your hours or working from home, then a consultation document due to be published on Thursday may give you the right to request it from day one. If an employer dares deny it, they’ll need to explain why and suggest an alternative working [...]
Even entertaining a nappy tax exposes No10’s muddled plans for plastic waste and climate change When I saw the front page of the Daily Mail over breakfast this morning, I nearly choked on my Shreddies. It’s possible George Eustice did, too, given his department rapidly denied today’s headlines that government is contemplating a levy on disposable nappies. Perhaps someone in Whitehall got the wrong end of the stick. Considering Ministers’ contempt for [...]
Teaching unions’ refusal to innovate is behind the Government’s schools u-turn January 5, 2021 Over the course of this grim pandemic the government has performed enough u-turns to make a woodpecker’s head spin. Free schools meals, mass testing, masks, furlough, exams, Christmas, one exasperatingly predictable volte-face after another, accompanied by the inevitable, gradual erosion of faith in ministers to chart a course out of this crisis. Read more: England [...]
Got an idea to supercharge growth in left-behind Britain? Your country needs you! November 30, 2020 A lot has changed since the nation last went to the ballot box. A generation will never again take freedom for granted. The national debt exceeds 100 per cent of GDP. Lives have been lost, attainment gaps have widened, dying industries have been dealt a coup de grâce. But in one area the narrative has [...]
Covid-19 has exposed the faults within the broken NHS system October 1, 2020 The NHS Confederation this week raised concerns about the health service’s ability to cope with a second wave and a vast backlog of treatments over the course of the winter, strengthening an already-watertight case for system-level reform of the UK’s healthcare system. Over the course of this crisis, the NHS’s status has reached a new [...]
DEBATE: Is the government right to wind up the furlough scheme at the end of October? September 11, 2020 The government has split public opinion by saying that it will not be extending the furlough scheme beyond the end of October. For the City A.M. debate, Annabel Denham of the Institute of Economic affairs and Cyrille Lenoel of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research consider whether it is right to do so. [...]
DEBATE: Is the government right to focus on obesity as its top public health issue? July 28, 2020 Is the government right to focus on obesity as its top public health issue? Dr Keith Klintworth, managing director at VitalityHealth, says YES. The pandemic has made the case for action on obesity stronger than ever, with research showing that it is the second biggest risk factor for hospitalisation from Covid-19. Not only that, but [...]
DEBATE: Do we need more regulation and a ‘post-pandemic settlement’ to protect low-paid workers? June 3, 2020 Do we need more regulation and a ‘post-pandemic settlement’ to protect low-paid workers? Hannah Slaughter, economist at the Resolution Foundation, says YES. Low-paid workers have been at the heart of the crisis. They are three times more likely to have stopped working as high earners, and are twice as likely to have put their health [...]
Coronavirus: Britain’s pandemic response has nothing to do with funding May 10, 2020 There have been no good weeks for Britain since the lockdown began, but last week has surely been among the worst. On Monday, the news that half of all adults are now being paid for by the state and consternation over how the Chancellor will ever roll back the furlough scheme. On Wednesday, national humiliation [...]
