The tilt towards blocking immigration as the main theme of an otherwise colourless Queen’s Speech, plus Cameron’s speech immediately afterwards rubbishing Labour as the scroungers’ party, clearly sets the tone for the next two years. The Tories have clearly decided, now that Osborne’s stubbornness has clearly poisoned austerity even beyond what the IMF can bear, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘George Osborne’
The Osborne-Crosby election beckons, and it’s going to be rough and nasty
May 11th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.
HMRC let Goldman Sachs off tax to avoid “major embarrassment” to Osborne
May 2nd, 2013 by Newsdesk.In the legal case against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over the ‘sweetheart’ tax deal with Goldman Sachs, details have emerged of a controversial cover up to avoid political embarrassment at the heart of government. It came to light in the High Court that the former tax chief, Dave Hartnett, chose to waive the £20 [...]
Osborne’s last fling
Mar 22nd, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Osborne had a choice. Faced with the unrelentingly grim news on the economy, he could admit that plan A had failed and change course. Or he could brazen it out and focus on choice titbits for the 2015 election whilst giving minor tweaks to the economics where he could. He decisively chose the latter by highlighting a [...]
Austerity isn’t supposed to help the economy – but to protect the rich
Mar 11th, 2013 by Mike Hedges.With Osborne’s fourth budget approaching, the Tory austerity programme is clearly in trouble. The news that a majority of people now think the cuts are not working is bad news for the Chancellor. This follows the stinging rebuke delivered to David Cameron on Friday by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) which rebutted claims [...]
Reining in the banks must be more than bonus capping
Mar 7th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The last ditch defence of unlimited sky-high bankers’ bonuses by Osborne in Brussels exposes as nothing else can the sordid nakedness of Tory values – hands off £10 million bonuses for bankers who nearly crashed the global economy and will hav e cost this country an increase in national debt to £1,400,000,000,000 by 2016 whilst [...]
So where do we go from here, Mr. Osborne?
Mar 6th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.What is really astonishing about the triple A rating downgrade is that nobody, least of all the Chancellor, now has any plausible scenario whatsoever as to how the British economy is going to recover. The Tory Right’s slash-and-burn policy of even heavier welfare cuts will simply undermine demand further (and seriously risk a major political [...]
Is Osborne bent on perma-austerity till 2018…or 2023?
Jan 27th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.It’s difficult to credit that Osborne at Davos, with advance knowledge of the last quarter growth figures, could say “We have credibility and flexibility and have been using that flexibility”. His policies are credible with virtually nobody, are remorselessly rigid, and show not a glimmer of the flexibility needed. The latest growth figure of -0.3% [...]
Osborne’s attack on welfare benefits has backfired
Jan 9th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.As everyone recognises, Osborne’s so-called Welfare Uprating bill, which will be voted on today, is a purely political contrivance designed to portray Labour as the friend of shirkers. But like other amateur makers of elephant traps, he has fallen into it himself by drawing attention to issues which will cost him dear, and which he could [...]
Osborne’s ‘trap’ of forcing vote on cutting benefits should be turned against him
Jan 8th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Today, what Osborne prided himself was a smart move will be launched to put Labour on the back foot by challenging it to vote against his bill cutting benefits and tax credits by 4% in real terms over the next 3 years and thus be portrayed as the scroungers’ friend. He misjudged. Bookmarks Hide Sites
For telling whoppers, Osborne’s really hit the fan this time
Dec 8th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.You can always tell when a politician’s in a corner – the lie rate starts to rise ominously. There can be few budgets ever (even Gordon Brown included) so full of misrepresentation, deliberate deception, fantasy enumeration, misleading claims, or downright twisting of the truth. The Enron accountants must have welcomed one of their own. Bookmarks [...]
