Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
Speaker Martin is, rightly, going to be out before the Election and the only question now is how and when. Michael Martin is not entirely to blame for the current crisis but his statement today is too little far, far, too late. He has to go because he’s more part of the problem than the […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
I hope this will be my last blog on ‘Expenses-Gate’ but I somehow doubt it – this one ‘has legs’ as the media says. (For those of you outside the UK some of this must seem positively weird – the scale of the problem is, by any rational standards, relatively small).
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
Confession: within 30 seconds of hearing about David Willett’s expenses claim for changing light-bulbs I’d cracked the inevitable “how many Conservative MPs does it take to change a light-bulb…” joke to my long-suffering partner.
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
As I have argued (see ‘The Death of Strategy in British Government’, May 5th below), the future of the Spending Review system introduced by Gordon Brown in 1998 is now in serious doubt.
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
John Redwood, the unreconstructed Thatcherite and leading Conservative, thinks we should be cutting about 20% off total public spending. Redwood is not in the current Shadow Cabinet, but is Chairman of their Economic Competitiveness Policy Group, and clearly still influential. And his logic is impeccable – not surprising for someone often mockingly described as a Vulcan.
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
First, let me say I hugely enjoyed Andrew Rawnsely’s magnificent rant in today’s Observer. It was hilarious. And it was quite right about many things.
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
British politics is currently consumed by a single question – how much did various Members of Parliament spend on bath-plugs and various other expenses items?
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
For those of you who have not seen it, the UK National School of Government’s ‘Policy Hub‘ is a useful resource.
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
Participated in a useful roundtable discussion on performance reporting and management, organised by Public Finance magazine – for a full report see Public Finance
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
A flagship policy of the New Labour government was that it would introduce greater stability – no more ‘boom and bust’ as Gordon Brown loudly and frequently boasted. A key component of this approach was more a ‘strategic’ approach to public spending – embedded in the new 3-year ‘Comprehensive Spending Review’ (CSR) process first announced […]