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As we are not participating in the new treaty, what exactly do you anticipate that the new referendum would be framed around?
After Europe says no to Britain's modest demands, Cameron says no to Europe
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter This morning seems like a very big moment. David Cameron went to Europe with only modest demands. The Prime Minister was ready to agree to a fiscal union of the seventeen - within existing EU structures - if Britain's financial sector received some safegu...
G Man - we are a represntative not a direct democracy - you have the freedom to stand for election on this issue if you would like!
How e-petitions could harm the Commons
By Paul Goodman Follow Paul on Twitter. Sir George Young takes to the pages of the Daily Mail - I wonder when that last happened - to hail the prospect of a debate on capital punishment. He writes: "People are beginning to wake up to the fact that this is a new era for the House of Commons. T...
Can I ask where we think these people are goign to move to?
Evicting "neighbours from Hell" to be made easier
The Guardian reports (as does the Daily Mail) that the Government are to make it easier for councils and housing associations to evict tenants involved in anti social behaviour. There will be a mandatory power of repossession which will allow previous convictions to be taken into account - such ...
Mr Halfon isn't goign to get far with his All Party Group if he choses to use it as a platform for bashign the Opposition. This is a real problem and people from all sides of the political divide need to pull together on this isue.
Robert Halfon MP: Motorists are being fleeced by sky high petrol prices. It's time for reform.
Robert Halfon is MP for Harlow. Today in Parliament, with the FairFuelUK campaign, I am launching a new All-Party Parliamentary Group to look at the high cost of petrol. When the fuel protests broke out in the year 2000, we were worried about 80p per litre, and the damage it might do to our ...
Philip,
As turnout appears to be a greater factor in determining the Labour bias than constituency size, there will still be a considerable pro-Labour bias within the new boundaries. Equalising constituency size is really a minor tinkering that will do little to resolve the issue.
Rob Hayward: Today's suggested parliamentary boundaries from Lewis Baston are incoherent, full of oddities and far from impartial
Rob Hayward is an elections analyst and the former Conservative MP for Kingswood. Here he casts considerable doubt on the accuracy of Lewis Baston's new research into the likely new parliamentary boundaries. Lewis Baston has produced what I can best describe as an interesting set of boundary pr...
To be fair, one of the reasons that Chris Huhne is behaving so appllingly is that the No campaign have hardly covered themselves in glory with the manner in which they have chosen to conduct their campaign.
The Liberal Democrat dream for electoral reform may be dead for a generation... and their 'friends' on the Left have helped to kill it
By Tim Montgomerie The overnight opinion polls look ominous for the Yes to AV campaign. YouGov gives the No campaign an 18% lead. A ComRes survey for The Independent gives No a whopping 32% lead. No will be boosted by a massive effort by Fleet Street this morning to get Britain to reject AV. On ...
Elaine - this isn't just a report from left-wing academia - the report has been endorsed by Conservative Peers such as Lord Forsyth, and constitutional expert Lord Norton, who chaired a commission for William Hague about strengthening parliament.
Full House: Cameron warned against appointing more peers
Matthew Barrett A report (pdf) by University College London's Constitution Unit, featured on BBC Newsnight last night, has renewed concerns about the size of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister has already appointed 117 peers in less than a year. The current number is 831 (792 are entitled t...
I must confess that I haven't yet read the report but a quick couple of observations:
1. Whilst I appreciate the large number of Peers created, this does not take into account how active they, or previous appointees are
2. It seems silly to appoint professionals and leaders in their fields to a chamber that is ill-equipped to harness their talents.
Full House: Cameron warned against appointing more peers
Matthew Barrett A report (pdf) by University College London's Constitution Unit, featured on BBC Newsnight last night, has renewed concerns about the size of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister has already appointed 117 peers in less than a year. The current number is 831 (792 are entitled t...
I think that that was a perfectly reasonable post! I know David of old and this is great news, for him and for Policy Exchange.
David Skelton appointed Deputy Director of Policy Exchange
By Jonathan Isaby This week has seen David Skelton appointed as Neil O'Brien's deputy at Policy Exchange. David, who has been working at management consultancy PA Consulting Group, was Conservative candidate for North Durham at last year's general election and is a former Deputy Director of th...
To be fair to Chris Huhne, those AV posters are quite ridiculous...
The Liberal Democrats tug hard at the Concession-O-Meter
Tim Montgomerie It's been quite a while since my last thorough stock-take of who was winning the tug-o-war inside the Coalition. Before I do a comprehensive update it's worth noting that there have been significant signs recently that the Liberal Democrats have been increasingly assertive insi...
It's not just the decline in party members - as a branch chairman I reckon that only about half of my members art actually active, further reducing the numbers available for canvassing.
The Conservative Party is dying on its feet. But whose Party is it anyway? (Part One)
By Paul Goodman The Conservative Party is the largest force in local government. It may win the next election. But it's dying on its feet. Ponder the likely course of events - Membership is falling. It currently stands at roughly 177,000 - as this site reported during Party Conference. The P...
on what grounds are they incompetent and corrupt?
Brian Binley leads cross-party move against the right of prisoners to vote
By Paul Goodman Jonathan offered an acute summary recently of the anger on the Tory backbenches about the Government, the European Court of Human Rights and the right of prisoners to vote. Early Day Motions are ten a penny, and nothing usually comes of them, but one tabled by Brian Binley may...
Well they have left the Paelstinians to rot - hence Cameron's spot on comments regardingGaze being a prison camp...
Has a recent British Government had worse relations with Israel than this one?
By Paul Goodman I ask in a spirit of genuine enquiry, wondering as I do so whether it's one of those many questions to which John Rentoul, the Independent's observant political commentator, considers the obvious answer to be "no". I'm very much down-the-middle about Israel/Palestine, viewing ...
Perhaps is Israel stopped building on occupied territory then people would stop trying to kill the Israelis.
The Plestinians are ahrdly blameless, but Israel does nothing to advance its cause.
Has a recent British Government had worse relations with Israel than this one?
By Paul Goodman I ask in a spirit of genuine enquiry, wondering as I do so whether it's one of those many questions to which John Rentoul, the Independent's observant political commentator, considers the obvious answer to be "no". I'm very much down-the-middle about Israel/Palestine, viewing ...
Perhpas is Israel behaved a bit less like a bull in a china shop, it would be easier to give them something that has a greater resemblance to unqulaified support...
Has a recent British Government had worse relations with Israel than this one?
By Paul Goodman I ask in a spirit of genuine enquiry, wondering as I do so whether it's one of those many questions to which John Rentoul, the Independent's observant political commentator, considers the obvious answer to be "no". I'm very much down-the-middle about Israel/Palestine, viewing ...
Everyone's having to compromise - Lib Dems as well as Tories - can we not just grow up and accept this? The electoral arithmatic does not provide for an overall Tory majority - so let's roll the sleeves up and get on with the job as best we can.
1922 Committee Secretary: Liberal Democrats holding Conservative Ministers "to ransom"
By Paul Goodman 4.30pm update: Gather that the quote attributed to Brady in the transcript actually comes from Chope. So that's Brady in the clear (as far as the Whips are concerned, at any rate, and Chope out on his own). I didn't hear the World at One, but Politics Home (£) has an accou...
Marvellous - sounds like a cracking speech and good luck on your parliamentary career, Iain!
Iain Stewart uses his maiden speech to show how Milton Keynes is leading the way in promoting flexibility in the education system
Iain Stewart stood for Parliament in Milton Keynes in both 2001 and 2005 before being successfully elected at his third attempt at this year's general election in the slightly-redrawn Milton Keynes South constituency. In his maiden speech yesterday, apart from revealing that he was baptised b...
Maybe we should let the public decide in a referendum and shut the Liberals up. If Labour DOES do a deal on a PR referndum, then how enthusiastic are we going to be defending an electoral system that has massively disadvantaged us?
Also, turning the argument it round, if we are saying that the need for change is so urgent that the Liberals need to join with us, then does defending the FPTP system at all costs (ie not being able to form a government) trump the economic sclorosis?
Conservative options for a Hung Parliament
Ken Clarke took centre-stage last week to warn of a hung Parliament's effect on the economy. Nick Clegg gained no new momentum from Thursday's debate, and his party seems to have peaked. Labour is running its worst election campaign since 1983, and is riven over how to deal with the Liberal De...
Last time I checked what you wear doesn't have any impacty on your reasoning or ability to think - does it really matter anymore? This is exactly the sort of petty behaviour that puts young people off politics?
Should councillors wear jeans to council meetings?
There is an Adjudication Panel for Wales tribunal under way at present involving a dispute over councillors in Flintshire. An independent councillor Cllr Patrick Heeson is accused of bullying Council officers and refusing to be interviewed by the Ombudsman. A Conservative councillor, Cllr Alison...
I must be a PC Tory if I believe that we should be presenting all sexual lifestyles as of equal value - being a homosexual does zero damage to the hetrosexual community at all - what is damaging is settingn out the notion that it is "wrong" to be gay, forcing gay people to try and live hetrosexual lifestyles with the inevitable destruction and unhappiness it creates at a later date.
Concerning sex education
When I was at school, we had sex education. We were taught about the woman's cycle, about conception, about how contraceptives worked, about a variety of sexual practices, about certain health risks associated with these practices and how they might be mitigated. I'm all in favour of kids of, ...
For the first time, I'm beginnign to fear a hung parliament...
Reasons - from the Guardian - why current polls still point to a Conservative victory
A few disappointing opinion polls can lead to people making all kinds of rash conclusions - and there has without doubt been nervousness in the Tory camp on the back of recent surveys showing a narrowing of the Conservative lead. As we reported last night, today's ICM poll in the Guardian has th...
I think it's fair to say it gives the DUP a veto over what happens as well...
Owen Paterson questions wisdom of forced coalitions in Northern Ireland politics
The Times today reports on comments that shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson has made in an interview with the BBC about future governmental structures in the province: Owen Paterson, the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, has promised to review the way in which the post of First M...
I can see no reason to change the current system - both unionists and nationalists need to feel that the current system serves their needs and I cannot see how this can be provided for if we impose majority unionist rule on the nationalists. The Good Friday Agreement and the peace dividend that has flowed has suceeded because for the first time nationalists feel theiy are aprt of the governing structures - any move away from the coalition would damage and perhaps see a return to violence.
Owen Paterson questions wisdom of forced coalitions in Northern Ireland politics
The Times today reports on comments that shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson has made in an interview with the BBC about future governmental structures in the province: Owen Paterson, the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, has promised to review the way in which the post of First M...
Well it's not in his gift to get the Arts Council to reverse revnue funding cuts is it? He could have funded them himself through the LDA if he really wanted to...
100 achievements of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London
Less than half way through his first term as Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has brought optimism and good humour to the office. He is bringing tangible benefits to Londoners. 1. Frozen the Council Tax precept for two years running. After allowing for inflation this means a cut in real terms. Ov...
Yes, the Conservative party under Cameron is far too dominated by one man, so let's replace him with another celebrity-politician...
Conservatives pass the one nation test with flying colours
One of Gordon Brown's favourite lines (parroted by Labour's natural allies, the Liberal Democrats) is that Conservative policies will benefit the rich. They quote George Osborne's inheritance tax cut as evidence for this* and sometimes the Tories' married couples allowance. I strongly believe th...
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