This week the Government are holding a drinks party to congratulate themselves on the new European Union directive on illegal timber. The directive is five years late. It is toothless and it fails to achieve the objective of putting an end to this trade that costs developing countries up to $15 billion each year.
Last week saw the deadline pass for local authorities and businesses to produce proposals for new, local regeneration bodies to succeed the eight regional development agencies outside London, allegedly replacing the “top-down prescription approach taken previously”.
Nick Clegg’s proposals for 5-year fixed terms will put Britain at odds with most democratic countries. The proposals were not even Lib Dem policy.
David Willetts, minister of science, yesterday confirmed on the Today programme that the science budget will be cut. Although I don’t agree with this policy, I was not surprised. The decision has been widely trailed, with most university departments quietly bracing themselves for this outcome.
Alex Salmond has pledged to put his Government’s budget at the heart of the SNP’s programme leading up to next May’s elections to the Scottish Parliament.
This is a guest cross-post by Dominic Campbell – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here Well, you wouldn’t still be reading had I called it the politics of procurement now would you? (no, stop – don’t go!). No-onetest
Two Welsh Conservative MPs have expressed their concerns over coalition plans to cut the number of Parliamentary constituencies. The Government plans which are contained within the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill passed its second reading in the Commons on Monday.test
When David Cameron took the reins of government, within a week of doing so, he made a point of visiting each of the devolved governments, seeking to highlight his new mantra of respect between Westminster, Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont. Little did they know; it now transpires that the respect is not, it seems, applicable to relations between Conservatives in London and Scotland.
The deputy leader of the Conservative group on Sandwell council has defected to Labour in protest at Michael Gove’s slashing of the Building Schools for the Future programme in her borough.
The refusal of the Coalition to endorse a European Union directive to combat the trade in sex slaves and child trafficking shows the weakness of the Liberal Democrat arm of the Government.
