This was the week Nick Clegg would most definitely wish to forget. From his litany of gaffes at PMQs to the disastrous Liberal Democrat opinion poll results, the recess can’t come soon enough for the deputy prime minister.
The shadow Chancellor says the rise in GDP “show the results of the Labour Government’s approach to supporting the recovery” – and that the Coalition “will have to accept responsibility for the risks they are taking with the economy”.
The UK economy is set for a ‘triple whammy’ of higher inflation, lower growth and rising unemployment, the Bank of England’s chief economist has said.
Nick Clegg today sat shoulder-to-shoulder with George Osborne in defending the axing of the loan to Sheffield Forgemasters – in his constituency – forcing the plant to stop work on a new press for nuclear power plants which would have resulted in the creation of 200 jobs.
Consistent David Cameron critic Simon Heffer suggests in this morning’s Telegraph that the next Labour leader “could find himself prime minister within a year” – and suggests Ed Miliband is the favourite.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has said gay couples will be allowed to get married.
The latest newspaper circulation figures come as Trinity Mirror announced the axing of 200 more staff, on top of the loss of 1,700 jobs, one in five of all jobs, from the group last year.
Labour leadership candidate Ed Miliband has challenged Chris Huhne to stand up against “free-market zealots”, accusing the climate change and energy secretary of “turning your back on green industry”.
The prime minister will finally launch his ‘Big Society’ in a speech in Liverpool today, announcing the “biggest redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street”.
The Coalition’s plans for five-year fixed term parliaments put the UK out of step with most fixed term Parliaments in the democrat world. The most common length of a fixed term parliament is four years, with some nations – like Mexico – going to the country every three years.
