Tom Phillips brings together the major events of the past week in British and international politics as viewed by Left Foot Forward...
The Week in Politics
•Since Tuesday’s Emergency Budget, the British public, media and MPs alike have strived to make sense of what exactly George Osborne’s “unavoidable” measures will mean for our future.
The Chancellor deemed his plans “tough but fair” and called the Coalition’s Budget “progressive”. However Left Foot Forward has offered substantial proof that counters Osborne’s claims.
Unequivocal evidence from the Institute of Fiscal Studies forecasts the Budget’s overall impact to be “regressive”. Tim Horton and Howard Reed, writing for Left Foot Forward, have shown that the distributional impact of changes to the income tax barriers will favour middle-income households rather than poorer ones.
Finally the notion, proffered by Osborne, that the Budget was “unavoidable” has also been challenged. Will Straw explains that the VAT hike was necessary only to cover Conservative tax cuts elsewhere, while the speed and size of the deficit consolidation were also a choice.
•Stanley McChrystal, formerly head of US operations in Afghanistan, has been removed by President Obama for his decision to speak out against the running of the ill-fated war in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
His fall from grace, which has been reviewed by Patrick Bury, sees David Petraeus [please Lord, don’t betray us] rise to Commander-in-Chief of operations in Afghanistan.
• A revelatory document has been leaked ahead of the Toronto G20 summit. The communique indicates that countries will no longer be obliged to cut the large sums they pay to ensure cheaper fossil fuels. Casper ter Kuile has covered the story in detail for Left Foot Forward.
The leak stokes the fire of discontent surrounding major G20 countires’ backtracking on alternative clean energy commitments.
Progressives of the week
Labour MEPs, and in particular Arlene McCarthy, as her report on capping bankers’ bonuses was carried through with the support of the socialist group in Strasbourg.
Regressive of the week
George Osborne, for delivering a budget that will hit the poorest communities in Britain hardest, and for defending his actions as “unavoidable” and “progressive”
Evidence of the week
The Institute of Fiscal Studies’ graph that assesses the Distributional impact of Tax and benefit measures since the crisis in 2014/15. The data shows that without measures announced by the previous government, including the 50p income tax rate, the Coalition’s measures would not be “progressive”.
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6 Responses to “Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward”
winston k moss
RT @leftfootfwd: Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward: http://bit.ly/cGhikP
LockPickerNet
Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward: http://bit.ly/cGhikP via @leftfootfwd
Look Left – The Week in Fast Forward « The best Labour blogs
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Mr. Sensible
Tom, I personally would have given the Regressive tag to Nick Clegg and Vince Cable.
Because whilst everything you say about Osborne’s budget is true, it is rather predictable.
What I see as more regressive is that Clegg and Cable, having opposed cuts and VAT increases before the election are propping them up after the election. The government talk about Labour apologizing, but the Liberal Democrats owe an apology to their own voters.
Did anyone happen to see Cable’s performence on Question Time last night? Awfull.
At least some Lib Dems (Bob Russel, Charles Kenedy) were sticking to their principles, and didn’t sell out to gain the benefits that come with being in the government.
So in that spirit, I would have made them contenders for Progressive of the week.
I believe the Commons votes on the budget on Monday.
Simon Hughes said yesterday that he could suggest amendments in the Finance Bill. My advice to him would be to tell Clegg and Cable to go back to the drawing board and start again.
Robert
I doubt we will have a repeat of the no more boom and bust then…