The chancellor should deliver tax cuts, not more spending October 1, 2019 Sajid Javid used his major conference speech yesterday to announce a raft of new spending pledges. The chancellor’s focus was infrastructure and rural areas, with money promised for bus networks, roads, and the rollout of 5G. This sits alongside the strapline of this year’s Conservative party conference itself, which focuses on spending more on the [...]
Two-thirds of small businesses say government is not on their side, new poll reveals May 16, 2019 Two-thirds of small businesses do not feel the government is on their side, a new survey has revealed in a report calling for a radical shake-up of the tax system. A YouGov poll for the Centre of Policy Studies think-tank shows 62 per cent of small business owners and managers don’t believe those in power [...]
DEBATE: Will the European Research Group’s three legal tests help pass Theresa May’s Brexit deal? March 4, 2019 Will the European Research Group’s three legal tests help pass Theresa May’s Brexit deal? Olivia Utley, deputy editor at TheArticle, says YES. The three tests proposed by the European Research Group (ESG) have been rejected by the European Union. But, although they are now off the table, the very fact that they were mooted will help Theresa [...]
It’s not just parliament facing a Brexit showdown: Brussels also has a big dilemma on its hands November 16, 2018 Two months is an exceedingly long time when it comes to Brexit. But try, if you will, to cast your minds back to September and the run up to the Conservative party conference. On more than one occasion EU leaders suddenly and unexpectedly changed tone and delivered Prime Minister Theresa May a vote of confidence. [...]
This Budget balancing act was Hammond’s mission impossible October 30, 2018 As he stood up to deliver his Autumn Budget yesterday, the chancellor was to fulfil two promises which the Prime Minister had made at the Conservative party conference earlier this month: end austerity, while still reducing public debt as a share of GDP. Fulfilling these pledges will take time, and more details will be unveiled [...]
What entrepreneurs want Philip Hammond to announce in the Autumn Budget October 25, 2018 At the Conservative party conference earlier this month, chancellor Philip Hammond announced £20m of investment in business networks “to enable small businesses to learn from each other and from world-leading firms”. He also recognised the need for mentoring and management training for small and medium-sized enterprises, pledging another £11m to help 10,000 businesses by 2025, [...]
Brand Boris: Johnson needs to shed his disrupter image if he wants to become a leader October 8, 2018 There was a particularly pithy Tweet doing the rounds just after the Conservative party conference last week: “in summary: Boris’s speech not good enough for him to take over; May’s not bad enough to be kicked out”. So, was Boris Johnson really just one speech away from leadership? Possibly. Because Boris, just like Donald Trump, “has [...]
Theresa May urges Labour voters to ‘look beyond’ party labels and back her plan for post-Brexit Britain October 7, 2018 Theresa May has launched a bid to woo disgruntled Labour voters, asking them to "look at her party afresh" and "beyond party labels". Writing in the Observer yesterday, May said she wanted the Conservatives to be a party "for the whole country" and that the Tories were capable of going beyond criticising the opposition. "To [...]
The Tories talk the talk on free markets, but the policies don’t match the rhetoric October 5, 2018 Last year’s Conservative party conference marked a change in tone for the Prime Minister and her relationship with the free market. Perhaps it was the 2017 snap election upset that made her roll back her language around “untrammeled free markets”, or maybe there was increased understanding that after Brexit a commitment to competition would be vital [...]
The Conservative party conference was more SOS than Dancing Queen October 4, 2018 You have to hand it to Theresa May: after last year’s conference fiasco, it took guts to go onstage yesterday jiving to Abba’s Dancing Queen. In the end, her speech wasn’t bad. She has never been the kind of messiah-type figure who can bewitch a hall with her “authenticity” like Jeremy Corbyn, nor a charisma-soaked [...]