Posted by Warwick Smith on 9 December 2011
As everyone tries to come to terms with just what happened in Brussels overnight, a few things are clear, even if their consequences aren’t. As Nick Robinson says on his blog, the British veto has been used rather than merely being threatened as is usual. The reality is that David Cameron had no choice, but [...]
Posted by Sophia Wilson on 24 November 2011
Ahead of the Autumn Statement on the 29th November, I attended Policy Exchange’s event addressing what needs to be done to generate growth in the UK. The event was chaired by Matthew Oakley, Head of Growth at Policy Exchange, and he was joined by Matt Hancock MP and David Smith, Economics Editor for The Sunday [...]
Posted by Robert Russell-Pavier on 27 October 2011
Having been to a previous Hansard Society event on select committees, I thought that I would go to last night’s discussion entitled: ‘Select Committees: What’s next on the agenda?’ The event proved an insightful one, with four select committee chairs (Andrew Tyrie, Treasury; Dame Anne Begg, Work and Pensions; Clive Betts, Communities and Local Government; [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 26 October 2011
At present, being a Europhile native German living and working in the UK appears the perfect recipe for a rollercoaster of emotions. I’ve grown used to the taunting of friends and colleagues that clearly the Euro was a bad idea and almost congratulate myself that I set up permanent residency in the UK ‘just in [...]
Posted by NMinford on 19 October 2011
Last week, following revelations of Liam Fox’s improper relationship with Adam Werrity, it was announced that Justine Greening was to be elevated from the relatively junior position of Economic Secretary in the Treasury, to the considerably more senior post as Secretary of State for Transport, replacing Philip Hammond who has moved into Liam Fox’s [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 7 October 2011
We have returned from the last party conference this year. Party conference season 2011 is officially over. There’s a few tired faces in the office and a few team members are nursing their ‘conference cold’. Social and mainstream media are still coming to terms with Tim Farron’s leadership ambitions, Ed Miliband’s speech and Theresa May’s [...]
Posted by Sophia Wilson on 17 September 2011
Last night I attended the Institute of Economic Affairs event ‘High Speed 2: the next government project disaster?’. For those against HS2, which appeared to be everyone in the room except one lone panellist, the event would most certainly not have been viewed as a disaster. There was huge support for the view that HS2 [...]
Posted by Robert Russell-Pavier on 16 September 2011
On Tuesday, a clutch of nerdy folk from CPP headed off to Portcullis House to listen to a Hansard Society discussion on the effectiveness of select committees (events details on Hansard Society website). After a half an hour wait to get into Portcullis House, we were in. We were just in time to hear Dr Meghan Benton recount [...]
Posted by Katrin Schwede on 3 August 2011
The Government just launched a new public e-petitions website which will begin publishing next Thursday. It’s a familiar procedure: anyone can create or support a petition on anything the government is responsible for; if a petition gets more than 100,000 signatures, it could be considered for debate in Parliament. It is not Britain’s first attempt [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 14 July 2011
There’s a number of things I learned last night, having attended Policy Exchange’s panel debate on ‘A Mutual Future’ that sought to address the question if mutuals would transform public service delivery. First, Policy Exchange is a very cycle-friendly think tank allowing me to park my precious two wheels in their office thereby preventing any [...]