Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Tories risk 'serious damage' to forces if they rebel against reserve reforms, warns Philip Hammond
House of Commons due to vote on plans to expand reserves to offset cuts in regular forces
The House of Commons is due to vote today on a rebel amendment which could delay plans to expand the Army Reserve to 30,000 to offset cuts of 20,000 in regular troops by 2020.
The amendment, tabled by Tory backbencher John Baron, has been signed by 21 Tory MPs who have expressed concerned that the changes will leave gaps in defence capabilities. In a letter written by Mr Hammond addressed to the Tories, he said a vote could be "damaging to the army and Britain's military capability".
He wrote: "I hope colleagues will support the Government in resisting John's amendment. To do otherwise will not only give a significant fillip to the Labour Party but more significantly would risk serious damage to our future armed forces."
If the Defence Reform Bill were to became law under Mr Baron's proposals, the Defence Secretary would have to report to Parliament on the "viability and cost effectiveness" of his plans and how he intends to implement them. He would not be permitted to proceed without the approval of both Houses.
Mr Hammond warned that the amendment would halt the process of recruiting reservists, sending "completely the wrong signal to those thinking of joining the reserves", prevent a planned change in the name of the Territorial Army to the Army Reserve, freeze payments to small and medium-sized firms whose employees join the reserves, and stop reservists receiving paid leave when training as well as on operations.
Full story Independent.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
It appears this once again a badly thought out plan
they dont have the reservists in place,
also theres no guarentee that these people could be available
plus many other issues
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the bit in paragraph 5 suggests that party politics matter only slightly less than the future capability of our armed forces.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
It doesn't appear thought out
or good for our armed forces
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Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Well, we can rest easy then eh Brian ?
Roger
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
: Nick Clegg' plans to raise personal tax allowance 'will help better-off more than low-paid'
IPPR study also called into question his claim that raising allowance to £10,500 would mean a tax cut of £100 a year
The Liberal Democrats, who have persuaded the Conservatives to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000 a year from next April, have proposed a further rise to £10,500 in April 2015. Mr Clegg's party will fight the election the following month on a pledge to increase the allowance to £12,500 a year during the next parliament.
The Lib Dems have contrasted their flagship plan to help "ordinary workers" with the Tories' decision to cut in the top tax rate from 50p to 45p. But analysis by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank shows that under Mr Clegg's plans, people in the seventh, eighth and ninth of the 10 deciles on the earnings ladder would see a bigger percentage rise in their income than those lower down the scale.
The IPPR study also called into question the claims made by the Deputy Prime Minister last weekend. He said that raising the personal allowance to £10,500 would mean a tax cut of £100 a year. The IPPR put the figure at £54. Mr Clegg put the cost at £1bn, but the think tank said the move would cost £1.28bn. It also warned that raising the allowance so that no one on the minimum wage would pay income tax (currently £12,500) could cost up to £20bn.
Full story Independent.
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
# 426........Tory minister thinks we can................
Minister dismisses fears of new year tide of Romanians and Bulgarians migrants
The Government has refused repeated demands to publish or commission estimates of the numbers expected to enter Britain
Mark Harper, the Immigration minister, also rejected calls from Tory right-wingers for frontiers to be shut to workers from the two countries for another five years, warning that such a move would be thrown out by the courts.
Mr Harper's comments were the first attempt by the Government to forecast the potential impact of the lifting on 1 January of "transitional controls" limiting the right of Romanians and Bulgarians to work in this country.
Ministers fear that the issue, which has been heavily exploited by the UK Independence Party, has the potential to become politically toxic for the Conservatives in the run-up to the European Parliament elections next May.
Full story Independent..
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
no doubt about it, ukip will benefit enormously next may from this issue, nobody knows how many will come from the new countries so any estimates the government has are worthless.
we all remember the last government with their prediction that 13,000 would come.
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
'Full of crap': Senior Lib Dem Danny Alexander stokes Coalition tensions as he turns on right-wing Tories over environmental taxes on energy bills
A Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister today accused right-wing Conservatives pressing for the scrapping of environmental taxes on energy bills of being "full of crap".
Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, stoked up Coalition tensions as he responded to newspaper claims that David Cameron had instructed aides to "get rid of all this green crap" pushing up gas and electricity prices.
Although Downing Street insisted it did not recognise the phrase, the reports triggered anger among senior Liberal Democrats and green groups, as well as an extraordinary attack by a prominent Conservative MP on the Prime Minister.
Mr Alexander said green levies on energy were designed to help insulate the homes of poorer families and create tens of thousands of jobs by investing in future energy sources.
In a swipe at his Tory Coalition colleagues, he said: "Anyone who thinks we should get rid of that is full of crap."
Nick Clegg also insisted such levies are not "all crap" and made clear the Government would not retreat from its environmental agenda.
The row broke out after a senior Tory source was quoted describing how the Prime Minister is "going round Number 10 saying 'we have got to get rid of all this green crap'".
The source added: "We used to say 'vote blue, go green', now it's 'vote blue, get real'."
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
surprised to read that danny alexander is turning on his blue colleagues, at one stage it looked like he would defect to them.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
Theres still time Howard
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Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Joe public beginning to see through the `nasty` parties propaganda .......
Poll backs David Cameron ally's warning - most voters see Tories as 'party of the rich'
Results also highlight dangerous 'gender gap' facing party
A majority of the public believes that the Conservative Party only represents the interests of the rich, according to a ComRes survey for The Independent.
The poll vindicates the warning last week by Nick Boles, the Planning Minister and a close ally of David Cameron, that "the single biggest problem the Conservative Party faces is being seen as the party of the rich." He said some voters like the party's policies "but they don't like us and they don't trust our motives", and that they had to be convinced that Conservatives are "not aliens from another planet."
full story Independe3nt.
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Conservative backbenchers warn PM that he risks split
David Cameron has been given a private warning by more than 25 Tory MPs that he risks splitting the Conservatives if he
ditches green policies as a sop to the Right. Normally loyal backbenchers and ministers called the Prime Minister to a
showdown in his Commons office on Friday in what one present said was a deliberate attempt to "flex our muscles". The
meeting was organised by Laura Sandys, whose decision to stand down at the next election fuelled concerns yesterday
that Mr Cameron has all-but abandoned his attempts to modernise his party. Ms Sandys, the third female Tory MP first
elected in 2010 to leave politics, was chosen to contest Thanet South under the "A" list system designed to boost the
number of women...
full story The Times.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
So much the mouse gets wrong
who will move first to get him out?
the right of his party
or the soft left?
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Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
I see ids is under pressure again,and I don't blame the oranizations for having a go at him.
http://news.sky.com/story/1174155/bedroom-tax-leaves-disabled-fearing-evictionhoward mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
rather worrying that a third of disabled claimants are being refused the discretionary help.
Guest 1033- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 509
Its just another example of a policy that wasn't thought through in the first place, and taken up as a sop to the 'squeezed middle', or whatever they call them this week.After saying they would sort out the welfare system, which most of us agree needs sorting, they just threw a few ideas together to make their supporters think they were really doing something. They've been caught out yet again, so perhaps more people will see through them now. The party faithful will still suck it up as gospel, but I think ythe unconverted might start to see the light.
Not that the last lot were any better, I still think that Blair should be in prison for his lies, but he appears to be another of the exempt elite.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
not thought out polocies
u turn after u turn
what a way to run the country
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Dithering Dave.....................
Tories deny seeking Big Six energy price freeze
Downing Street is on the back foot over Ed Miliband's energy price freeze policy
Labour claimed the Government was in "complete disarray" after energy companies suggested ministers are trying to stop them raising their charges while condemning the price freeze proposed by Ed Miliband.
Downing Street and the Treasury denied the claim but it threw the Government on to the defensive as it finalised a package to cut gas and electricity bills to be announced in George Osborne's autumn statement on Thursday.
Full story Independent.