3.30pm: David Cameron and Nick Clegg hold a Q&A with workers at a factory in Essex.As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm. But I'll be wrapping up early because I've got a local election article to write this afternoon.If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow.And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA 9.33am: David Laws (pictured), the Lib Dem former chief secretary to the Treasury, was on the Today programme this morning.
What needs to happen to shake Cameron out of his complacency.Cameron says Labour gave Britain the biggest boom and the biggest bust. There is not "one ounce of complacency" in the government, he says. Labour has only one answer - to deal with a debt crisis by borrowing more.12.06pm: Miliband says Cameron and Osborne are a byword for "self-satisfied, smug complacency". The government is borrowing ￡158bn more than forecast. Will Cameron accept his policies are failing?Cameron says the economy grew last year. There are more people in work now than at the time of the last election. Yesterday, at 5pm, Ed Balls said the government should listen to the IMF. At 7pm the IMF said "fiscal consolidation" in the UK was part of the solution.
Political loyalty does not justify inflicing a "sub-optimal" infrastructure on the NHS, he says.4.42pm: Barely anyone has a good word to say about the bill, Burnham says.Even Lansley can hardly recognise the bill because it has changed so much.After David Cameron had to hold an NHS summit without the main health organisations, it was hard to see how things could get worse.But they did. Last week the information tribunal said the transition risk register should be published.It was extraordinary for a government to suffer a reverse of this seriousnes at this stage of the legislative process, he says.The risk register should be published. But ministers are "playing for time",
ytcgzx.net, he says. "It is simply not good enough," he says.
I pay into a public sector pension scheme which is about to have contributions hiked. I was told that I could retire at 65 when I signed my contract. I was told it will go up in line with the state pension age which is currently forecast to be 68. Now I'm told the state pension age will go up automatically with the increase in life expectancy. When am I going to get my pension which I will be paying 5% of wages into? When I'm 70, 75, 80, 90? What a con! And pensioners today who had a job for life,
ytcgzx, bought cheap houses which are now worth a fortune, will get the largest increase ever in the state pension this year, have experienced no cuts whatsoever and who a large proportion earn more than me! I'm paying for pensioners to live a Life of Reilly, when I get there I'll get nothing like what pensioners today get.
It is all more open and accountable than it used to be and senior officials are moved,
marc by marc jacobs tote, or even retired early, more than they were.It is still not enough for free market enthusiasts. Here's what Andrew Haldenby of the Reform pressure group wrote after Maude's June speech. Reform wants much more radical change to the NHS and the other public services. Senior officials should be put on contract and expect to be moved or be fired when a new government comes in, Haldenby says. Michael Gove and Theresa May argued as much last year, but Maude watered down such proposals.Harold Wilson's 1974-76 Labour government first introduced political appointees, usually experts who could counter the official Whitehall policy line, but also media specialists and apparatchiks able to do political work that civil servants can't and won't do.
Will Cameron extend happiness by cutting fuel duty.Cameron says he is pleased to hear that the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the UK, although their representatives in the Commons don't always give that impression.Higher oil prices are pushing petrol prices up, he says.12.24pm: Cameron says that everyone, from Barclays to Ken Livingstone, should pay their taxes. Livingstone has been caught "red handed", he says.12.25pm: Stephen Metcalfe, a Conservative MP, asks Cameron about the work experience programme.Cameron says the whole country wants to see young people have work experience opportunities. Since the row broke out about this, 200 small and medium-sized firms have contacted the goverment to offer to join the scheme.
6% in March from 3.7% in February. 10.23am: Tube workers are going to go on strike next week. Here's what the Press Association have filed.Workers who maintain and upgrade Tube lines on London Underground are to strike for 72 hours next week in a dispute over pensions and benefits.The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), which represents around 1,000 staff on the Tube Lines contracts, said its members will walk out at 4pm on Tuesday until the same time on Friday.The staff work on the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines and provide a number of services, including emergency repairs, across the entire network.The row is over union demands for all Tube Lines staff to be allowed to join the Transport for London pension scheme and receive the same travel concessions as those who work for London Underground.
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