The Guardian tells us today that Matthew Elliot of the TaxPayer’s Alliance is to head up the campaign for a no vote in next May’s referendum on the Alternative Vote.

The TUC has no policy either way on AV as yet, though we were asked to stimulate a debate on electoral reform at our last Congress. I suspect that this announcement is unlikely to aid the no campaign in unions.

But what struck me in the article was this enconium from Conservative peer, Rodney Leach – who as Wikipedia tells us is “chairman of the eurosceptic think-tank Open Europe and a noted climate change sceptic.^{” Read more »}

   Filed under: Electoral reform, Public services | No Comments »

In most parts of England and Wales young people’s A level results will be published tomorrow. Around the country they will be turning to their local Connexions service for advice; local news services are pointing teenagers with worse (or better) results than they expected to Connexions in Bakewell, Barrow, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Haringey, Islington, Milton Keynes, Portsmouth and Wiltshire.

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   Filed under: Public services | 1 Comment »

The Government argues that cuts can be made in spending without damaging the quality of public services (as there is apparently so much waste that can be eliminated).  They also stress that these cuts will be fair and progressive and maintain that the most vulnerable will be protected.

However, our analysis of spending cuts announced so far (as reported in the Sunday Mirror) shows an emerging pattern of decisions that have been especially harmful for children and young people -  this group of people have been disproportionally affected by the cuts agenda.

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   Filed under: Public services, Public spending | 3 Comments »

I’ve just been looking through the latest edition of NAPO News (as one does) and found it illustrated perfectly the stupidity of the cuts. The magazine, produced by the National Association of Probation Officers, reports that this year’s Probation Service cuts mean that a number of probation trusts are going to have to reduce their staff, whilst others will introduce a vacancy freeze. If probation service and CAFCASS cuts in future years are twice as large – which NAPO expects – the union believes that “neither service will be in a position to fulfil its statutory responsibilities.”

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   Filed under: Public services, Public spending | 1 Comment »

Sculptor Anish Kapoor, who created Sky Mirror and Marsyas, is the latest artist to protest at the Coalition’s cuts in arts funding. Kapoor, a former Turner Prize winner who has represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, said:

“I am particularly worried about the effect the proposed cuts are likely to have on museums and galleries, especially those outside London, some of which are likely to have to close.

“It seems short-sighted to me for the government to do such damage to the British cultural sector, which has made such a valuable contribution to the perception of Britain abroad.”

Read more »

   Filed under: Public services | 3 Comments »

Today the TUC published our response to the first phase of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, arguing that public service pensions are affordable and sustainable, contrary to the scaremongering of some commentators. Former Labour Business Secretary John Hutton has been appointed to head up a one-man Commission (no relation to the IoD’s so-called Independent Commission, whose arguments Nigel has thoroughly dismantled).  The Hutton Commission has a punishing timescale to investigate the issues and make recommendations, with an initial report in September followed by a final report in March 2011. Read more »

   Filed under: Pensions, Public services | 1 Comment »

I was struck by two items in the news that happened to appear on the same day. In the UK, Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for local government, has announced plans to give the public the power to veto Council Tax increases. From 2012, MPs will decide each year on a maximum increase local authorities will be allowed to introduce, and increases over that limit will be subject to a referendum and a ‘shadow budget’ the Council would also have to produce. If the electorate voted against the Council’s budget, there would be a refund or a credit against next year’s Council Tax. (There will be no right to a referendum on cuts in services.)

On the same day I saw a report on California’s budget crisis, with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring a “fiscal state of emergency.” Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Public services, Public spending, Tax | 2 Comments »

Here’s an important poll on attitudes to the cuts.

It was commissioned by the BBC for their Newsnight special on the coalition, from ComRes. The full tables are here.

I think the questions here are much better worded than those in the YouGov polls I linked to in my rather lengthy post on resisting the cuts (though I blame the clients – both ComRes and YouGov are good pollsters).

The results here are pretty consistent with the earlier polls though. Most buy the necessity for big cuts, but are beginning to be worried that they will be affected and that they might be going too far. What is new here is that a majority think they might be bad for the wider economy. Read more »

   Filed under: Public services, Public spending, polling | 1 Comment »

We had a fascinating briefing here at Congress House yesterday, an opportunity to hear about the impact of the Budget on the poorest people.

I thought it made a very strong case that the Budget measures will have a very unfair impact on poverty and inequality. Read more »

   Filed under: Budget, Housing, Public services, Public spending, Welfare | 4 Comments »

There’s a shorter version of my cuts article at Liberal Conspiracy with a lively discussion thread.

   Filed under: Blogging, Public services, Public spending | No Comments »

The dominant political issue for the life of this government is going to be public spending. Almost all their policies will flow from, or be constrained by, their overwhelming belief that we need to deal with the deficit by cutting spending and doing it quickly.

Some coalition supporters will do this reluctantly. They will recognise the damage that cuts can do to the wider economy, public services and social cohesion. Others are revelling in this opportunity to shrink the state – and certainly “not letting this crisis go to waste”.

Many outside government of course are deeply opposed, and the debate has already started about how best to resist the cuts. Already there are calls for events, campaigns and demonstrations. Today’s lobby against the cuts to new schools is an early candidate for having captured this mood most successfully.

But it is important to think strategically about campaigns if we want them to have a result. That starts with working out where we are now, where we want to get to and how we make that journey. Read more »

   Filed under: Economics, Politics, Public services, Public spending, polling | 4 Comments »

Nigel has already looked in detail at the IoD sponsored report of the Public Sector Pensions Commission. As he says, the report is based on challenging current assumptions about how you measure in today’s money the cost of pension commitments that go many years into the future.

Their main complaint  is that the Government currently assesses the cost of unfunded pension liabilities using a discount rate of 3.5%. They say that this is “artificial” and that it involves “accounting sleights of hand”.  There is even the suggestion that the current figures lack “honesty”.

Suggesting that the Treasury, who produce these figures, is dishonest is fighting talk. One would expect, therefore, that the report would give considerable attention to describing and attempting to rebut the basis upon which the figure of 3.5% is chosen. But far from it. The report simply says that the continued use of 3.5% is “unexplained”. But this statement is simply untrue. Read more »

   Filed under: Pensions, Public services | 1 Comment »