Ed Miliband wants City to fund NHS spending but fails to mention UK deficit – Labour Party Conference September 23, 2014 Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday unveiled controversial plans to force the City to pick up the bill for extra spending on the NHS if his party won next year’s election Announcing a new levy on the profits of tobacco companies, the apparent scrapping of intermediary tax relief on derivatives and a tax on the [...]
Obama drops hint to UK about launching airstrikes against IS September 23, 2014 PRESIDENT Obama yesterday gave the strongest indication yet that he wants the UK to commit to air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Syria, warning the responsibility for military action is not “America’s fight alone”. It is the second time the US president has used the phrase, after both David Cameron and Ed Miliband backed [...]
Name-dropping won’t cut it: Miliband must do more to rouse his party September 23, 2014 Colin, Gareth, Elizabeth, the two young women in the local park… it sounds like the beginning of that song by The Beautiful South, which is apt, given the track was called Song for Whoever. Instead, the names were part of a list of people Ed Miliband has recently met in the street, trotted out yesterday [...]
Miliband to tax mansions to fund new NHS splurge September 22, 2014 ED MILIBAND will today deliver a key pre-election speech at his party’s annual conference in Manchester, in which he is widely expected to announce a funding boost for the NHS. Miliband is thought to have found a way to pay for a budget increase for the health service as he seeks to position Labour as [...]
Ed Balls’ attempts to win over business leaders knocked flat by reality – Labour Conference Comment September 22, 2014 You could almost see the moment Ed Balls realised it during his speech to Labour conference yesterday. The shadow chancellor knew he had to appeal to business leaders keen to see evidence of his economic credibility. But at the same time Balls the showman wanted the audience in the palm of his hand. By the [...]
Labour vows to pay for more spending out of tax not debt September 22, 2014 ED BALLS yesterday committed not to borrow any money in order to fund promises in Labour’s election manifesto in a speech at the party’s conference in Manchester. Announcing plans to extend the freeze on child benefit and curb ministers’ pay, the shadow chancellor prepared Labour voters for difficult decisions in a speech designed to bolster [...]
Labour conference: Ed Balls unveils proposal to save £400m September 21, 2014 Ed Balls will set out Labour’s stall on the economy today in a headline speech at the party’s annual conference in Manchester. The shadow chancellor will promise a five per cent pay cut for all government ministers, as well as a plan to continue the one per cent cap on child benefit payment increases for [...]
Constitutional storm continues to brew as Miliband dithers September 21, 2014 DOWNING Street yesterday stepped into themiddle of the growing debate over devolution to reassure Scottish voters that the promise of further powers, made by David Cameron, will be delivered no matter what. Number 10 was forced to clarify the Prime Minister’s position after accusations from both Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond that Cameron is pedalling [...]
Business groups warn Labour on low pay plans September 21, 2014 Leading business organisations have warned that Labour’s minimum wage proposal risks turning the issue of low pay into a political football and threatening the economic recovery. The Federation of Small Business, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chambers of Commerce yesterday all urged Labour not to use the minimum wage to score political [...]
Chuka Umunna: More power for London and the regions – but not for me September 21, 2014 The shadow business secretary has been hailed as his party’s next big thing so many times the joke is starting to wear a little thin. Chuka Umunna scoffs at the suggestion that shadow chancellor Ed Balls could be shuffled out before the general election, making way for him to step up. “There will be no [...]
