In February 2011, David Cameron announced a welfare reform bill he described as the most fundamental, ambitious and radical since the benefit system began. The cost of benefit, he said, had gone up by nearly 60 billion pounds in the last decade. Critics say that the welfare state is in crisis.
Fracking is a toxic issue for Conservative party grassroots Source: The Guardian As Topic: Elections A2 Politics: Environment Fracking has the ability to give the UK another supply for energy, which has the potential to drive down energy prices for the economy. However, this has caused great controversy in safe Tory seats, with constituents pledging to run anti-fracking campaigns and research from Greenpeace and the Guardian has shown that 120 safe seats have protest groups in them. On top of this, 31 of the 40 key marginal seats identified by the party have these protest groups. This bodes ill for the Conservative party, who have deviated from green policy. The TTIP hands British sovereignty to multinationals Source: The Guardian A2 Topic: Economic Policy The TTIP is a treaty between the EU and the USA, being marketed by its champions as a economic stimulus package for ailing Europe, providing up to £100bn in extra growth. It is presented as a free trade agreement, but existing tariffs on either side of the Atlantic are already weak …
Weekly Parliament Roundup: 1St September – 5th September No return home for British Jihadists? Following the recent Syrian Crisis, David Cameron’s unveiling of anti-terror laws on Monday failed to include specific proposals regarding the prospect of British born citizens coming back to the UK after being involved in acts of terrorism in Syria. Cameron emphasised on the fact that we need a ‘targeted, discretionary power to allow us to exclude Brit Nationals from the UK’ but he failed to state how we would go about in doing this. At the moment, this action would not be following the conducts of Law and order since removing the passports from returning British Citizens would not only be a breach of International Law but it will also be a breach of UK common Law. Despite this, the prospect of banning returning Brit Jihadists might be put into action soon as there have been possible proposals to provide the police with temporary powers to seize their passports. Even with this option, there are still difficulties with the legalities …
It has become an unspoken known that the 2015 general election would rely purely on which party had the strongest economic policy. However, Labour at its party conference in Brighton has tried to turn the tables and turn the clamour for power into a debate on childcare and living standards. De ja vu perhaps? Reminiscent of Blair’s plans to eliminate poverty and introduce a system of tax credits? Lest we forget measures such as the minimum wage, sure start and the new deal. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that Labour will offer parents of primary school children guaranteed access to childcare from 8am to 6pm. As part of proving Labours commitment to those struggling with falling living standards, Miliband also gave a firm commitment that a future Labour government would abolish the controversial bedroom tax. Latest evidence of a growing economic divide came as figures showed that UK living standards had dropped to their lowest in a decade after average real incomes fell a further 3% last year. The IFS has said the …
From Channel 4 News From the Today Programme listen to ‘Derby fire deaths: Were benefits to blame?’ on Audioboo Some commentators have said Philpott’s lifestyle illustrates “all that is wrong” with the benefits system. When asked if the Philpotts were a product of Britain’s benefit system, Mr Osborne said: “It’s right we ask questions as a government, a society and as taxpayers, why we are subsidising lifestyles like these. “It does need to be handled.” He said Philpott “was responsible for horrendous crimes, crimes which have shocked the nation”. His comments came amid pressure from the Tory Right to restrict child benefit to two children per household. Former Conservative leadership challenger David Davis told The Times: “I don’t think it is a good idea to make policy on the back of one story. But there is a strong argument to restrict child benefit whether it is to two, three, or four children.” Government figures show that the vast majority of the 7.9m families claiming child benefits have just one or two children – …
