The government’s response to its defeat in the Lords last night over benefit caps has been notable for its lack of substance. Iain Duncan Smith has taken two lines: that the policy is enormously popular, and that Bishops and left-leaning peers ought to be as concerned by the people paying for the benefits as they… Continue reading Why aren’t landlords “in this together” as well?
Tag: poverty
Poverty, marginal tax rates and the big state
Are Conservatives serious when they bang on about the high marginal tax rate of people at the bottom end of the income scale and its symbolism as a failure of the “big state”, as David Cameron referred to on Thursday and William Hague repeated on Any Questions? I ask this because this “tax rate” –… Continue reading Poverty, marginal tax rates and the big state
Cameron and Johnson timed the Venezuela announcement for after the Crewe by-election
At a stroke, Boris Johnson has undermined the capital the Conservatives have made out of the 10p income tax fiasco. It isn’t that the cheap oil deal with Venezuela was defensible – it wasn’t. It was this sort of tokenism that disqualified Livingstone from office in the eyes of most Londoners. But no-one begrudged low… Continue reading Cameron and Johnson timed the Venezuela announcement for after the Crewe by-election