Posted by Chris Lowe on 3 August 2010
The Prime Minister has today written to his cabinet colleagues. But here in College Public Policy we have been able to piece together the first draft of his letter. In some ways it is clearer.
PM’s letter to the Cabinet
First draft
Dear colleague
Dear colleague
In the weeks ahead you will be engaging in vital negotiations with the Treasury about the [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 9 July 2010
One of the changes proposed by the Wright Committee and approved by the Commons was to set up a Backbench Business Committee. This appears to be a significant change to the procedures of the House for a number of reasons:
1. The Committee is to be given 35 days per year, (approximately one day a week), [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 8 July 2010
College Public Policy Partner, Chris Lowe, today (7 July 2010) spoke at the UK Business Conference in Westminster on ‘The Business Agenda of the Coalition Government” along with Adrian Bailey MP, the new Chairman of the BIS Select Committee, commentator Will Hutton, and the TUC’s Brendan Barber.
Speaking about the Coalition Government, Chris emphasised the role of [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 31 March 2010
Everyone expects Gordon Brown to visit the Queen on Tuesday 6 April to ask her to dissolve Parliament so that a General Election can be held on Thursday 6 May.
Once Parliament is dissolved, there are no longer any MPs, merely Parliamentary Candidates, but because government must continue, Ministers remain in place. This period is known [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 13 February 2010
Are you surprised that the Conservative’s poll lead is up to 11, just after we had been told that Labour were pulling it back? Has David Cameron had a really good week? Did Gordon Brown have a good January. Or is it just that journalists are hopeless at maths?
Opinion polls interviewing 1,000 people have an error of 3% . [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 2 February 2010
So today, 13 weeks before the General Election, we hear that Gordon Brown is to propose electoral reform. Ring any bells?
According to Paddy Ashdown’s diaries, on 14 January 1997, 15 weeks before that General Election, Tony Blair told him: “I have become convinced of the need for electoral reform in Britain”.
Posted by Chris Lowe on
Here’s a good example of how a public affairs programme can be measured.
When College Public Policy started working with G15, a group of leading Lodon housing associations, ComRes were commissioned to undertake a survey of London MPs’ attitudes towards housing associations. Over the following 16 months CPP worked with G15 to engage with many of London’s [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 29 January 2010
The most recent polls point to either a very small Conservative majority or a hung parliament after the next General Election. It is a peculiarity of how the votes stack up that even if the Conservatives are 10 points ahead of Labour there could be a hung parliament, while if Labour were that far ahead, [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 18 January 2010
A cautionary tale. As I sat alone on the train from Leeds on Friday evening, I was joined by three executives on their way back from a meeting with the Department of Health at Quarry Hill.
It was absolutely incredible how much company confidential information information they gave away. Apparently they are so far behind on their software development [...]
Posted by Chris Lowe on 6 January 2010
In last year’s European Elections, Labour’s vote was an appalling 15.7%, behind even the madcap UKIP. As the polls closed that evening, Cabinet Minister James Purnell resigned, as had his colleague Hazel Blears the day before. And as Purnell marched to the top of the hill, he turned around to find…….no-one was following.
So why, do Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon [...]