? She said that members of the shadow cabinet had been ordered to identify where "substantial savings" could be made.Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have written to the shadow cabinet, and asked me to work with them, on first: identifying where waste could be eliminated and substantial savings made; and second,
ytcgzx.net, how they would switch spending from lower to higher priority areas. ??She said that George Osborne's economic policy was failing according to the criteria set by Osborne himself. That was because Osborne said the key things that mattered were cutting the deficit and securing the approval of the credit rating agencies, she argued.The chancellor might claim today's borrowing figures show his plans are on track,
kate spade outlet, but he is only on track for targets which have already been revised up by a staggering ￡158bn .
As the Press Association reports Toulmin, who was in the post when the now-defunct tabloid's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for the practice, said he "accepted some time ago" that the PCC could have called Coulson to shed light on illegal activity at the Sunday paper. But he said at the time the watchdog's powers would not have had any "traction" with the former editor. ? The People's Pledge, the campaign for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, has announced that it will hold a postal ballot on the issue in one parliamentary constituency in April. There will be ballots in another 10 constituencies in the autumn, and another 100 in 2013, it announced at a news conference.
The proposals has not been trailed in advance, but for some families it could turn out to be hugely significant.9.30am: Dilnot is starting his press conference now. He is on the platform with the two other members of his commission, Lord Warner and Dame Jo Williams.Dilnot starts by saying that we should be celebrating the fact the people are living for longer. His report says that the number of people aged 85 and over in England is expected to double to 2.4m over the next 20 years.(The report only covers England, although Dilnot's commission has consulted the devolved administrations about its plans.)Spending on social care is currently only ￡14bn, he says. Total government spending is about ￡700bn.
The letter has been carefully timed to cast a pall over the London mayoral elections, taking place on 3 May, in which Labour's Ken Livingstone is facing a tough battle in his bid to wrest the job back from Johnson.Today Clean Air in London released its analysis of the main mayoral candidates, concluding: Vote for Jenny Jones (Green) or Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat); and give your second preference to Ken Livingstone (Labour). Boris Johnson offers no new policies to reduce air pollution and has shown he does not understand the health impacts.Perhaps in a first for the leader of a world city, Boris Johnson has been caught actively working to undermine the two measures most likely to protect the health of Londoners and address the biggest public health risk after smoking.
7% aid target).However you count, it's still a large number. Does it matter? Probably not as much as people think. Governments should listen to public opinion and it is often better to suffer 24 hours of embarrassment than weeks, months or years of unpopularity over a particular issue. In an interview this morning Kenneth Clarke made the case rather persuasively for "going out and asking people and then modifying what you've done". (See 8.47am.)But there are two exceptions to this general rule. First, a government ends up making too many U-turns, it will acquire a reputation for being either weak or incompetent. These labels, once acquired, tend to stick. This government is already starting to get bogged down in this territory.
Q: Why has it taken you so long to unveil this new approach?Miliband says the government said it would remove the defict in one parliament. But the autumn statement made it clear that that would not happen. That is why he is setting out his approach to the post-2015 parliament now.12.33pm: Another question about Scotland.Q: Do you think Cameron's strategy on a referendum will backfire?Cameron says he is in favour of getting greater clarity about the referendum. Labour has saying for months that Alex Salmond should be clear about the date and clear about the question.Miliband says he will be prominent in the pro-union campaign.Q: On the Today programme you said the benefit cap should vary locally? Should it be higher than ￡26,000 in London, or lower elsewhere?Miliband dodges this one.
? The Child Poverty Action Group has said that the big reductions in child poverty achieved under Labour may be reversed as a result of coalition policies. See 11.30am. ? Stonewall, the gay rights group, has accused the Church of England of scaremonering about the impact of the government's plans to allow gay marriage. Ben Summerskill, the Stonewall chief executive,
kate spade bags, said that he did not accept that the proposal would stop the CoE being able to perform weddings on behalf of the state.Many bishops in the Church of England today will be rather pleased because once again they are not talking about global poverty or the HIV pandemic - they are talking about the subject that obsesses them, and that is sex.
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