Expert insight, analysis and comment on key public policy issues
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted:
George Osborne’s fifth Budget as Chancellor delivered few real surprises or big changes. Many of the detailed adjustments were trailed in advance, and only in the pensions arena did he deliver any radical measures, writes Professor Colin Talbot. It is the pensions issue that will grab the headlines – as he intended. This was a […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
As our Coalition Government moves inexorably towards its end, what are the factors and events that will determine how and when the formal dissolution takes place? Speculation is starting to build, says Prof Colin Talbot, not least because of obvious ‘distancing’ tactics being adopted by both the partners to the Coalition. We have 15 months […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Featured, Whitehall Watch Posted:
Professor Colin Talbot reflects on an Autumn statement that was really a mini-Budget – and some fine detail that hints at the Chancellor’s ultimate intentions. Much of the comment on today’s Autumn Statement by Chancellor George Osborne will focus on the specific measures he announced (there were lots) and on the short-term politics of the […]
By Andrew James Filed Under: Featured Posted:
The announcement that defence company BAE Systems is to cut 1,775 jobs at its naval warship yards in Portsmouth and in Scotland will come as a huge blow to those workers, their families and their local communities. But, writes Andrew James, it also prompts questions about the nature of the defence industry in the United Kingdom, […]
By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Westminster Watch, Whitehall Watch Posted:
“The last government defeat over estimates was in 1921 … nowadays any amendment would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence.” (Whener, 2010: p8). Could we see, in March 2015, the first example of a real conflict within Parliament on the Government’s Budget proposals, leading to a Washington-style impasse? There are several reasons to […]