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October 30th, 2010

The leaders court the CBI, ‘Cleansing’ welfare cuts, and Cameron grapples with the EU budget – round up of political blogs for 23-29 October

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Blog Admin

October 30th, 2010

The leaders court the CBI, ‘Cleansing’ welfare cuts, and Cameron grapples with the EU budget – round up of political blogs for 23-29 October

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Avery Hancock, Amy Mollett, and Paul Rainford take a look at the week in political blogging.

Weekend

After a busy week of blogging on the Commercial Spending Review, Next Left discuss the results of a ComRes poll showing that 59% of those questioned believe that cuts proposed in the CSR are unfair.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives continue to remain strong in the opinion polls despite a wave of backlash from the press over the cuts.

The Spectator suggest that the Conservative-Liberal coalition may last well beyond 2015, whilst Liberal Conspiracy discuss the problems the government seem to be having in terms of working out the bill caused by welfare fraud.

James Park at Left Foot Forward blogs on the future of education and the importance of the student voice in the ‘Big Society’, whilst the impact of the scrapping of the £162 million PE and Sports Strategy is also discussed.

Monday

Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today, setting out a strategy for growth in Britain through low interest rates and incentives for international trade.

In his speech to the CBI, Ed Miliband praised New Labour’s approach to business, stating that he plans to carry forward ‘New Labour insights’; something that The Staggers was very surprised to hear considering the Labour leader’s previous distancing from New Labour ideology.

Vince Cable echoed Cameron’s calls to move on from focusing on the cuts in his speech to the CBI.

However, Mark Pack noted it the subtle differences between Cable’s speech and one which a Conservative Business Secretary would have delivered, whilst Left Foot Forward attacked Cable’s assertion that working families will continue to benefit significantly from tax credits.

Away from the CBI speeches, Left Futures discuss how the coalition have used the concepts of ‘fairness’ and ‘social justice’ in the CSR.

Tim Montgomerie at Tory Diary supports the new strike legislation after the Fire Brigades Union announces a planned strike on bonfire night.

Tuesday

The news that the economy grew twice as strongly as economists had predicted, by 0.8% in the last quarter, gave a boost to Osborne.

Worries that the UK faced a double dip recession appear to have been headed off notes The Staggers, whereas Though Cowards Flinch warns that we should continue to be cautious about growth.

Liberal Conspiracy ponder the disappearance of the Liberal Democrat ‘pupil premium’ as per-pupil spending looks set to fall overall.

Despite the coalition making much of its pledges to protect the NHS from spending cuts, The Staggers cover a report which suggests a real terms cut of 5% will be effected.

Left Foot Forward cover Labour’s lead over the Tories in the Times/Populous poll series, the first time Labour have been ahead in this poll in three years.

Coffee House take a look at Clegg’s third appearance on Prime Minister’s Questions, in which he made a ‘spirited defence of the coalition’s welfare policies’

According to a survey of MPs and Westminster insiders by Politics Home, Ed Balls is the Labour politician most able to damage the coalition government.

Wednesday

Left Foot Forward reports the (indirect) announcement by David Willetts that university teaching grants for the arts, social, social and humanities would be wiped out

Left Futures believes that the Conservatives’ ‘No to AV’ campaign depends on engaging with Labour voters, which they have failed to do so far.

Chris Bryant’s accusation that the Coalition’s welfare cuts will amount to ‘sociological cleansing’ has angered Nick Clegg and Conservative Home.

The Staggers thinks the Coalition is going ‘wobbly’ on the housing benefit cap but Cameron denied reconsidering it during PMQ’s. Political Betting wonders whether welfare will be the new political divide.

The Adam Smith Institute and Dizzy Thinks are still both impressed that Nick Clegg admitted on Desert Island Discs that he smokes cigarettes. Nicholas Lezard at Comment is Free thinks it was a shrewd political move to boot.

Liberal Conspiracy is unimpressed with the media’s coverage of London fire strikes.

Thursday

Sunny Hundal blogs on news that the cut to child benefit has been pronounced as unworkable

Jim Pickard at Westminster Blog comments on Lord Turnbull’s assertion that Britain was not on the brink of bankruptcy.

Left Foot Forward notes that the Tories didn’t table a single amendment to cut the EU’s budget, while The Coffee House contemplates Cameron’s European strategy.

Liberal Conspiracy wonders whether threats of big City firms to quit the UK are anything to be worried about.

thetorydiary asks questions of the Coalition’s housing policy

Tribune quotes the Charity Commission who argue that cuts will undermine the Big Society.

Friday

Liberal Conspiracy wonders just who will create the 2 million jobs promised by David Cameron.

Conor Ryan comments on widespread trouble for the Coalition, as Michael White takes a look at the furore over housing benefit cuts.

Next Left research suggests that more than half of all of all renters cannot absorb said cuts.

Left Foot Forward believes that cuts to science funding will hurt Britain’s global reputation and that there is a lack of evidence to suggest that fiscal austerity leads to growth.

LSE’s own Nobel Prize-winning economist, Christopher Pissarides, argues that the forthcoming cuts will create mass unemployment.

The Institute for Public Policy Research provides a sector by sector break down of the CSR.

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This work by British Politics and Policy at LSE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.