Op-ed: Did you watch the House of Commons debate early Tuesday afternoon? The one when Chancellor George Osborne finally put in an appearance? Monday Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell had tabled an urgent question regarding last week's budget but Osborne was a no show. The budget was flawed from the start but the nail in its coffin came Friday when Tory DWP boss Iain Duncan Smith resigned over what he claimed to see was welfare cuts a step too far as the Tories handed out cash to the wealthy. Whether IDS had truly seen the light or it was a political stunt with the EU referendum at its heart is not clear but it was a deadly attack. IDS spent the weekend trawling news studios to put his case and Osborne vanished from the radar. But wherever he got too there was no doubt Monday he was working on his response. Political pundits surmised that he was holed up in Number 11 Downing Street along with his highly paid advisers, spin doctors and script writers trying to dig himself out of a hole. Tuesday after shoring up his budget with wild facts and figures George was good to go and address the House. The Tory benches had a fair few empty seats Tuesday probably due to the terrible terrorist attacks in Brussels today. Cameron and people like Hammond and May were tied up with Cobra meetings and more. So did George manage to wriggle of the budget hook? The answer may depend on your political persuasions but for me he did not. As his temper rose so did his voice and the volume of it. In the end he was screaming almost like a fishwife as he wagged his finger at the Labour Party across the House. He played the same tired old card blaming the deficit on the last Labour government which left office in 2010 after being downed by the 2008 global economic recession and banking crisis. George even tried the old lie that it was all Labour's fault ignoring the global situation. But the only deficit and mismanaged budgets Osborne inherited was from hiself in 2015. John Bercow was one success today as he finally managed to keep order even telling off one Tory MP a Mr Cleverly for being rude. The other big success was Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. In a calm, measured and professional manner he addressed the House. He did not raise his voice though its tone strengthened under silly unrelated Tory attacks. The Tory backbenchers had obviously been primed to verbally attack Mr McDonnell on past alleged support for Irish dissidents. But he dealt with them swiftly and they just looked silly and sounded like petulant school kids. It is worth remembering their hero Margaret Thatcher who said when they threw insults at her and personal attacks it was because they had lost the argument and had nothing better to offer. So John McDonnell won the day although there were no apologies from the Tory benches or hints at resignations to follow. As Mr McDonnell finished speaking veteran Tory Kenneth Clarke got to his feet in what looked like an effort to diffuse the situation and detract from Osborne's failings. In the end he too looked silly but from the moment he got his feet he appeared as if he had spent too long in the Commons' bar. MPs now face the tough challenge of voting on a budget that has been ripped apart and is incomplete. That will be later today. As usual this writer tweeted her way through the debate and her tweets may tell you all you need to know if you can find them. Looking for them to post below they appear to have vanished; still so did this post twice previously leaving an empty page. Re-writes are never as good but I must hit the publish button now before this one floats off too. You may find the tweets @NEWTEKWORLDNEWS on Twitter.
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Op-ed: On April 29 2015 we posted "Cameron unfunded tax lock promise" but the well-funded Tory propaganda machine had already messed with enough minds to win the May general election with a majority. But it means all along most people knew PM Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne would be unable to live up to election promises. They have tried to fulfil those promises made to tory donors and voters and along the way have wrecked communities and savaged the poor and vulnerable. The tory majority is and was small but it is enough for them to govern and in true Tory style class divisions have been perpetuated and in some cases extended. We now have the working population set against the non-working and the old against the young. For a while that divide and conquer method of operation served them well but we are now at a crossroads. The jig is up. With Iain Duncan Smith resigning Friday and spending the weekend knifing Tory colleagues back, front and sideways the Tory government is in danger of collapsing. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for Chancellor Osborne to resign and later Monday David Cameron will address the House of Commons. Could the government fall? When the last Labour government lost the 2010 election the incoming Lib Dem Tory coalition government made at least one significant change-they shifted the timeline for elections allowing them five years in office with little chance of removing a government in less time. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 sets the interval between general elections at five years. At the end of this time a new House of Commons must be elected. Could a general election be called in 2015?
Having stitched up General Elections the Tory government is making boundary changes that will tip the balance of voting in their favour-assuming areas that are Labour or Conservative strongholds run true to form. In my neck of the woods it looks like "Hull West and Hessle will disappear into a constituency that embraces Cottingham, North Ferriby, Swanland and large chunks of the East Riding. The constituencies of Haltemprice and Howden and Brigg and Goole would disappear." England is in danger of becoming a one-party state. But if the Tories are trying to sell these boundary changes on economics their argument is flawed. David Cameron continues to stuff the House of Lords to the rafters to try to get his way in that other chamber and with life expectancy reportedly on the up vacant seats are few and far between. The cost of bureaucracy and administration of various reforms aimed at taking money away from the people illustrates flawed government policies. Less than a year on from the 2015 General Election the Tory party is wrecked by in-fighting and it has little to do with certain MPs suddenly finding a conscience and everything to do with the next Tory leader. Iain Duncan Smith may or may not have been backed into a corner but he has come out fighting. One man touted as next leader of the Conservative party is Boris Johnson widely viewed outside of the tory party and its supporters as a buffoon. He is part of the same BRexit campaign as IDS and his sidekick at the DWP Priti Patel. There seems little doubt that how the country votes in the EU referendum will seal the fate of many high-profile Tory MPs. And the bad news is this. Most budget announcements do not come into force until sometime in the future. That makes them hard to keep track off. While we are all caught up in the row over benefit cuts to people with disabilities other previously announced changes will be coming into force and other new ones sneakily slid into place. David Cameron's government has failed to cut the deficit and he needs billions to make a dent in the country's huge debts. So how will he fill the gaps and who will be made to pay because it sure as hell will not be the 1%? Days ago we asked "Will Osborne dish out cuts post election and EU referendum" but it may not be Gideon George Osborne who is Chancellor. Related: Tory onslaught on welfare is not an austerity agenda Osborne using public money to fund private corporations, more cuts ahead Get set for £12 billion July budget |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
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