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What does 'we should be subsidizing the people who need it'mean. It is the way that the welfare state and state spending warps thinking. Why should the impecunious taxpayer pay for persons to live in housing they cannot afford and even if it is consdiered that the taxpayer is forced to house say an innocent paraplegic why should this housing not be the say the cheapest flats in the Isle of Sheppey but valuable property in the centre of London?
Grant Shapps promises jail for some tenants who profit from sub-letting social housing
Yes I agree with Angela Ellis Jones. I expect Boris Johnson like Gingrich to rum as a 'moral conservative' with strong emphasis on 'family'.
But there is a wall of material out there whish can crash down on him.
And dont forget his other murky activities in the p[ast.
Now it's Osborne's turn to say "no" to Europe
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter George Osborne yesterday told Eurozone leaders that Britain would not contribute to a special bailout facility that they are establishing at the IMF, specifically to bolster the single currency. The Eurozone nations had been hoping to build a €200bn warc...
It might be good to have some more penentrating threads.
For example,exactly what,how etc are British financial commitments to saving the eurozone? Quite an important matter,one might think,but eneveloped in 'nacht und nebel
.
Another matter is the extraordinary but not particularly ne w fact that criminals never pay court fines.Why are the judiciary not being held responsible for this?
Experimenting with a new approach to comments
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter This afternoon I've launched a new approach to comments moderation over on the Comment page. You can see it in operation under Lord Ashcroft's post. The new system allows a number of new things: Users can give comments a thumbs up or thumbs down; Users c...
So many good points made by the commenters on Cameron's 'find' which appears to be 'transfer' of funding from other swollen departments.
Tim you cant run a society with carrots alone . Look at donkeys and horses given endless carrots. It makes them ill.
We need and the 'takers'need to see -
-mass repatriation of the foreign unemployed,criminals,illegals etc
-the end of our payments to the EU and foreign aid
-Climate change scam completely stopped.
-an end to permanent unemployment subsidy,one parent family support etc.
Even the Singapore government this week has cut back its policy of welcoming'skilled'imigrants because of its perpetual abuse.
Cameron finds £448 million to counter the £9 billion problem of 120,000 highly dysfunctional families
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter The Coalition may not be united on the significance of marriage but in the latest sign that it is making progress on family policy it has agreed a £448 million programme to address the challenges represented by Britain's 120,000 most chaotic families (1...
Have we got confirmation yet of exactly how much money Cameron agreed to pledge to the IMF to help the eurozone?
Teatime newslinks for Wednesday 14th December
TODAY'S PMQS 'Cameron gets the upper hand over Miliband, as the Labour party leader fails to reap the rewards of Coalition division' - ToryDiary Cameron: 'no apology' for EU treaty veto - Telegraph Miliband attacks Cameron over Europe and unemployment at PMQs - Guardian Clegg attends PMQs as Ca...
I mentioned last week that the official statements at the European Council talked about mnoney to be contributed to the IMF by the'eurozone and othe r member states' and that was an ominous statement that Britain may have agreed to contribute to the IMF roundtrip bailout.(its always a good idea to get the original documents)
I see Ambrose Evans Pritchard has now got onto this.
Well, we dont know exactly what Cameron has agreed and we may well be saved by the collapse of the whole cockamanie scheme but really-has Cameron even considered a major loan to the IMF?
Needless to say MPs did not raise this om Monday.
I apologise for banging on about a referendum. But the subject simply won't go away.
By Paul Goodman Follow Paul on Twitter Last week's summit didn't save the Euro “Right now, there is not much more than a blank sheet of paper", Petr Necas is quoted as saying in the Financial Times (£) this morning. The words of the Czech Republic's Prime Minister are a reminder that British E...
It is long past time that a massive repatriation programme was launched to include unemployed immigrants,illegals,those with communicable diseases,those committing crimes etc
Is there a single Conservative voter who does not consider this plain commonsense.?
Some of Mr Netanyahu recent moves are well worth following.
Julian Brazier calls on Government to take tougher action to control immigration
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter In the Commons yesterday there was a debate on immigration. Pasted below I pick out highlights of the contribution made by the MP for Canterbury, Julian Brazier. Immigration during the Labour years was at least two million: "It is curious, looking throu...
Presumably Hannan is referring to the arrival of enormous numbers of refugees from France at the time of the revolution. Of course all thses Frenchmen led by their king-in-exile returned to France after 1815.
I doubt you could quite describe this as an 'oppurtunity' but we certainly dont want a mass influx of population from the rest of the EU.
Daniel Hannan MEP: The UK should become "the sanctuary to which people come fleeing the chaos of the €urozone"
Bruce Anderson has had 50 years and still does not understand.'We would all want to rejoin the Common Market' and then he blathers on about free trade.
You dont need a Common Market for 'free trade',indeed what was called a Common Market but was actually an economic union was of course a customs union and had nothing to do with free trade at all.
Bruce Anderson: Tory commentators ought to be embarrassed at their attacks on David Cameron. He knows what he's doing.
The late George Younger was a wise and good man. He had a favourite phrase, which he would appply to persons and to situations: "getting over-cooked". There was a lot of over-cooking in Europe last week. One expects that of foreigners, most of whom cannot help being exciteable - though President...
Mick Mcgough,there never was a Treaty to veto let alone what Cameron calls a European Treaty. Yet Cameron says 'there was a treaty on the table'.
His suggestion is quite incredible that there was a formal Treaty ready to be signed by 27 countries. It is not mentioned in the minutes of the meeting. That is not to say that somebody was not walking around with some draft heads of terms which contained material the British government could not accept.There is also the point that Cameron had already given way on adjustments to the Treaties which were not properly constituted but illegally slipped through by the Council in the past and so they may have thought they could do the same again with what actually turn out to be a bunch of mediocre stabilization measures.
What donation shall we make to the Cameron memorial fund if we find a) there was a European treaty 2) it was according to Cameron'on the table'
Meanwhile as Tim traces the pressure on Cameron to the 81 MPs voting against him,let us call to mind that the petition on which they voted was organized and submitted by a hardworking independent UKIP MEP,Mikki Sinclaire.
Congratulations to Nikki Sinclaire who provided the lever that moved the MPs that moved Cameron.
The three things Cameron should do next on the EU
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter Click on Carla Millar's drawing to enlarge Over the last 24 hours we have learnt that the Liberal Democrats are very angry. Friday's measured reactions to the EU 'veto' from Nick Clegg and Ming Campbell gave way to this morning's press briefings. On the...
I note from the Eurozone heads of government statement that 'euro area and other member states....additional rersources for the IMF of up to $200 billion'.
I have no idea if the UK is included in this largesse as a member state but it should be verified that it is not.
62% say Cameron was right to use the veto. Only 19% disagree.
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter Sunday at 10.45pm: A Populus poll for The Times (£) confirms public backing for David Cameron. It finds 57% support the PM's use of Britain's veto with only 14% against. Even 49% of Lib Dem voters support the PM. *** There'll be happy faces inside Numbe...
The smell of rattiness increases all the time but on Monday we will no doubt be shown the terms of the terrible Treaty that Cameron professes to have 'effectively vetoed' not 'vetoed '..
Amazingly the details of the veto are not reported in the Minutes of the European Council and neither does it record the introduction of a proposed treaty for discussion.
The awful truth is that all this talk about the extraordinary Cameron's veto is only verified by the word of D.Cameron.
I urge all Conservatives to check the exact facts before jumping to any conclusion. What was it Jeff Randall said about 'any word Cameron may say'?
62% say Cameron was right to use the veto. Only 19% disagree.
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter Sunday at 10.45pm: A Populus poll for The Times (£) confirms public backing for David Cameron. It finds 57% support the PM's use of Britain's veto with only 14% against. Even 49% of Lib Dem voters support the PM. *** There'll be happy faces inside Numbe...
Mark-where is this Treaty you say Cameron has vetoed? Incidentally you do not veto or even consider a Treaty at a meeting of a European Council-you might discuss a proposed draft treaty or more likely the Heads of Terms of what might be later a possible draft Treaty.
Tory MPs react to Cameron's EU veto (Rolling Blog)
6.15pm Andrew Rosindell MP praised David Cameron's "bulldog spirit": "It’s a historic sort-of shift for Britain; it does mean that we can think more freely about where we want to be in the long-term. I think the great majority of British people don’t want to be part of political union. We want...
Where is this Treaty Cameron is supposed to have vetoed?Is this the greatest con even for the the Tory MPs who will be appauding on Monday.
Teatime newslinks for Friday 9th December 2011
DAVID CAMERON'S EU VETO What the PM really asked for: "Let’s be clear about this: what David Cameron tried to do in Brussels wasn’t merely to try to safeguard Britain’s financial services. He just attempted to repatriate powers which have already legally been transferred to Europe ...The issue ...
You are quite correct to draw attention to the Treaty of the ELysee whereby France and Germany agree common positions before EU Councils quite contrary to the EU treaties.
There is a huge problem with allowing the creation of a eurozone bloc which will determine a common position before any European Council meeting and then vote their proposals through. This will transfer the decision making to the eurozone meetings preceded of course by the Traety OF Elysee meetings. This is all contrary to the EU treaties and should be vetoed without further discussions.
There is no question of'wishing them well'
Jan Zahradil and Martin Callanan: The Eurozone is within its rights to go one way. We are within our rights to go another.
Jan Zahradil MEP is chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group and member of the Czech ODS party - the party of the Czech Prime Minister. Martin Callanan is leader of UK Conservative MEPs. EU leaders will be taking their sleeping bags to Brussels today. They have been put on no...
On the procedural approach,does it not appaer fantastic that our Prime Minister is going to sign up to any major change in our EU position without having a clear written statement of what is proposed and the oppurtunity to consider this over a reasonable time.?
AFter all, consumer credirt legislation allows a 'cooling off 'period when customers can consider a deal and repudiate it. Should this principle apply even more to fundamental changes to the interests of the UK?
No British Prime Minister should even entertain signing up to a rushed agreement with a gun to their head.
If Cameron safeguards the City of London and UK access to the single market it's not necessary for him to repatriate any powers...
Do you agree? And what about these statements...? This summit provides Britain with the best opportunity in a generation to forge a new relationship with the EU. Britain should not be part of any summit deal that saves the €uro. We should be arguing that the €uro needs to be broken up in an or...
Would you tell us the approximate number of migrants to the EUK from Turkey during the first ten years of Turkey's membership of the EU which you flew to Ankara to support.
Help us design our special EU survey
Tomorrow we will conduct a special poll on the EU. We will use it to put together a wish list for the Prime Minister to take to the looming EU summit. We'll publish the results in an open letter to David Cameron on Friday. Please use the thread below to suggest the right questions to put in tomo...
Ok lets have a poll-
should Iain Duncan Smith be brought back as Conservative Leader?
Beware of the dark arts
By Paul Goodman Follow Paul on Twitter A man who has worked closely with David Cameron at the highest levels of the Conservative Party has told a private meeting: "We've got all sorts of dark arts". Readers will grasp at once that I am not referring to Tim Collins, the former Shadow Cabinet...
I like this. It is in Britain's interests to keep the eurozone crisis going as we can continue to borrow at low rates.
Leaving aside the fact that we should be slashing the defcit to nil forthwith,the advocacy of realpolitik is the best thing I have heard from a Conservative MP for a long time.
Mark Field MP: We may be no nearer to solving this economic crisis
Mark Field is MP for Cities of London and Westminster. So here we go again! Yet another ‘last chance saloon’ Eurozone crisis conference. Maybe, just maybe, this Friday’s summit will be the game changer that financial markets so earnestly desire. In truth, I am still not convinced, in spite of ...
'Bring back Bonar'-that was the move that got rid of the Lloyd George coalition.
I believe the contours of future necessity are being revealed and that there is now an alternative to David Cameron and that alternative is Iain Duncan Smith.
IDS certainly has had his problems in man mangement,political direction etc but he is honest and patriotic. He needs a strong political Director who could play the role of John Hoskyns in the early Thatcher years and no one is better suited for that role than Tim Montgomerie who of course has worked with IDS in the past.
David Cameron sets out in his EU Treaty strategy in article for The Times
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter David Cameron has an article in tomorrow's Times that expands on the TV interview he has given this evening. The basic message is that he'll seek safeguards for Britain from any move towards greater fiscal integration but he doesn't mention repatriation...
Just a question,Tim. What would it require on Cameron's part for you to call for his resignation?
David Cameron sets out in his EU Treaty strategy in article for The Times
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter David Cameron has an article in tomorrow's Times that expands on the TV interview he has given this evening. The basic message is that he'll seek safeguards for Britain from any move towards greater fiscal integration but he doesn't mention repatriation...
It is a pity you cannot have a one to one with Cameron-it is said you visit Downing Street- and inform him of the facts of life-there is no respect in the EU or elsewhere for the weak and those unprepared to stand up for their stated principles. Niceness just does not cut any ice with the EU leaders ,they only respect competence, will and firmness.
I am sure you share the widespread concern in the party that we are close to a MUNICH sellout.
David Cameron sets out in his EU Treaty strategy in article for The Times
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter David Cameron has an article in tomorrow's Times that expands on the TV interview he has given this evening. The basic message is that he'll seek safeguards for Britain from any move towards greater fiscal integration but he doesn't mention repatriation...
Yes,yes so these newspapers want a referendum but surely this is getting the cart before the horse.
The question will be -are you in favour of staying in the EU?(in one form or another)
and from these great organs answer came there none.
The question of the EU is a binary one-are you in favour albeit a reformer -or do you wish to leave?
In the first category fall all the usual politicians,the CBI,the TUC etc but also John Redwood,Bill Cash and others who still believe in EU reform.
On the other side are the Better Off OUT group,Dan Hannan, Roger Helmer,UKIP,Tim Montgomerie etc.
At present the Telegraph, Mail and Sun all belong in the pro-EU camp.
Don't treat us as "congenital idiots", Mr Cameron. Mail, Telegraph and Sun warn PM over Europe.
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter I recently blogged that David Cameron's relations with the centre right press are very poor for this stage of the Parliament. They might be about to get worse... "Downing Street said yesterday that a referendum is unnecessary. It is, at the very least, a...
No sane person outside government would answer this question without proper accounts including a balance sheet in their hand. The government does not keep proper accounts therefore they cannot take decisions as they do not have the information to hand-nor the experience as as MPs prepare them for cost accounting.
Incidentally you do realize ,Tim ,that EU contributions and ovewrseas aid payments are in a different category to most other government spending as they represent resources leaving the UK and being spent in other countries. If we employ a use less ministerial assistant in the UK it may be wasteful but his salary circulates in the UK. If you employ a useless Brussels bureaucrat his salary does not contribute to others income in the UK.
I regret therefore that your post PS does not comprehend the true dimensions of governmeent spending
The £30 billion question: What should we cut next?
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter Last week George Osborne announced that austerity wouldn't end in time for the next election but would continue for at least another two years. This government or its successor is likely to need to find another £30 billion in cuts (although dramatic suppl...
Tim,you should not confuse poverty with low declared for tax incomes.
Governments do not give money to the poor,they give it to those with low declared for tax incomes.
Plenty of pensioners are income poor and asset rich.
Has the Coalition balanced the budget on the backs of the poorest?
By Tim Montgomerie A graph in the Treasury guide to the CSR would appear to suggest that the poorest people in Britain are the second biggest (proportionate) losers from the Chancellor's fiscal plans: Another does show, however, that the poor are relatively protected in absolute cash terms: ...
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