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People in Guildford don’t vote BNP

Yesterday Ed Miliband made another step in reframing Labour’s position on immigration. With Ukip surging in the polls and likely to come first in next year’s European elections, and the media already beginning their racist attacks on Bulgarians and Romanians, Labour has a choice. They can follow the Conservatives in drifting to the right in the hope of choking off Ukip support or they can offer a positive, more progressive alternative that deals with concerns over immigration but in a wider context.

Torfaen becomes first council to pass Financial Transaction Tax motion

We are proud that last week Torfaen became the first council in the UK to pass a motion calling on the government to implement a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). It heralds the start of a nationwide initiative by the Robin Hood Tax campaign to get as many local councils signed up as possible.

Right to Buy relies on several mistaken assumptions

A recent article on Conservative Home bemoaning the fact that the reinvigorated Right-to-Buy policy has not taken off and suggesting a further raising of the discount deserves challenging by the reality-based policy community.

Keynes’s ghost continues to haunt George Osborne

That George Osborne should hail the loss of the UK’s AAA credit rating as evidence that yet more of the same cuts and austerity are needed is an alarming example of Orwellian “doublethink.” What is needed is Keynesian government pump priming, to fill the potholes, build houses, improve local rail networks (not HS2), invest in renewable energy sources etc, and so create employment, restore growth, increase tax revenues, eliminate the current deficit and bequeath to future generations a spanking economic infrastructure and a healthy society.

Cameron praises flat taxes – but are they fair?

David Cameron has been praising the Latvian tax system, calling it ‘attractive-sounding’ during a speech at the Northern Future Forum Conference in Riga. But one study by the IFS, looking at four plausible and revenue neutral flat tax scenarios, found two main reasons why flat taxes might not be as attractive as they sound.