Gordon Brown let the train take the strain this morning as his Cabinet arrived in south Wales for their awayday.
The big announcement, trailed yesterday, is the go-ahead for electrification of the rail line between London and Swansea.
Everyone sees it as good news, although the Tories have questioned the cost - would they scrap the plan if they win power?
Plaid Cymru have been trying very hard - perhaps two hard - to persuade us that it was their Transport Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, who persuaded the UK Government to cough up the cash.
Mr Jones was at Cardiff Central for the arrival of the prime ministerial express, bearing UK Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.
The two enjoy a good working relationship and were soon deep in conversation on platform three. They'd left their anoraks at home but there was an air of trainspotters' convention about the meeting.
Any political trainspotters hanging around would have spotted Lord Mandelson and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, getting off the train accompanied by various officials and spin doctors.
Gordon Brown left his carriage accompanied by Rhodri Morgan, a surprise to those of us who assumed the First Minister was based in Cardiff.
Apparently Mr Morgan was driven to Newport station this morning so he could have a chat with the PM on the train during the 17-minute journey to Cardiff.
Nothing to do with wanting to be captured on camera arriving alongside the PM.
I was on my best behaviour so resisted the temptationt to shout out: "Have you come far, First Minister?"
Showing posts with label Alistair Darling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alistair Darling. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Monday, 21 April 2008
Good to be back?
A break from Westminster appears to have done little to improve the mood of some Labour MPs.
Two weeks spent with constituents cross and puzzled by a Labour Government's decision to put up the tax bills of low-paid people has left many backbenchers rather agitated ahead of local elections next week.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is refusing to re-write the Budget, but is sending signals ahead of next Monday's crunch vote that the Government will do more for the poor.
Will that be enough? One well-placed Government source suggests the issue will be "quietly defused" with the promise of future help.
He may be right. Rebellion leader Frank Field is often seen as a maverick around whom rebels beyond the usual suspects are unlikely to coalesce.
But damage has been done. The Government may win the vote but there's no disguising the unhappiness among many Labour MPs less than a year into Gordon Brown's premiership.
1650 update: Yvette Cooper has opened the debate on the Budget with a less than convincing defence of the changes. Her main argument is that the losers this year are better off than they were under the Tories 11 years ago.
She promised that the Chancellor would return to the issue in future pre-Budget Reports and Budgets. Her colleagues sitting behind her looked less than comfortable.
Would-be Labour rebels may take a little more persuading between now and next Monday.
Two weeks spent with constituents cross and puzzled by a Labour Government's decision to put up the tax bills of low-paid people has left many backbenchers rather agitated ahead of local elections next week.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is refusing to re-write the Budget, but is sending signals ahead of next Monday's crunch vote that the Government will do more for the poor.
Will that be enough? One well-placed Government source suggests the issue will be "quietly defused" with the promise of future help.
He may be right. Rebellion leader Frank Field is often seen as a maverick around whom rebels beyond the usual suspects are unlikely to coalesce.
But damage has been done. The Government may win the vote but there's no disguising the unhappiness among many Labour MPs less than a year into Gordon Brown's premiership.
1650 update: Yvette Cooper has opened the debate on the Budget with a less than convincing defence of the changes. Her main argument is that the losers this year are better off than they were under the Tories 11 years ago.
She promised that the Chancellor would return to the issue in future pre-Budget Reports and Budgets. Her colleagues sitting behind her looked less than comfortable.
Would-be Labour rebels may take a little more persuading between now and next Monday.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Budget Day
Today's Budget title is "Stability and Opportunity - building a strong sustainable future". Who was it said something about campaigning in poetry and governing in prose?
We're told not to expect rabbits out of the hat, to use a cliche of the day, and to expect few surprises.
There may be some extra money for schools, as The Guardian reported yesterday. But this, I'm advised, is a re-allocation from an underspend in the English schools budget.
As the money isn't new - except to the schools - that means Wales and Scotland won't get much by way of a share of the spending, but that probably won't stop the "snub to Wales"press releases that drop into my inbox later today.
I'm not sure if bookmakers still take bets on the length of the speech but we're told to expect Mr Darling to speak for around 50 minutes.
We're told not to expect rabbits out of the hat, to use a cliche of the day, and to expect few surprises.
There may be some extra money for schools, as The Guardian reported yesterday. But this, I'm advised, is a re-allocation from an underspend in the English schools budget.
As the money isn't new - except to the schools - that means Wales and Scotland won't get much by way of a share of the spending, but that probably won't stop the "snub to Wales"press releases that drop into my inbox later today.
I'm not sure if bookmakers still take bets on the length of the speech but we're told to expect Mr Darling to speak for around 50 minutes.
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Money-saving idea
The sacked England football coach Steve McClaren is apparently to be paid £2m for not coaching the team during the next two years.
If the FA are reading this, they may like to know that I would be prepared not to do the job for half that.
I would suggest Alistair Darling might make a suitable replacement for McClaren but the idea of the Scots running English affairs couldn't happen, could it?
If the FA are reading this, they may like to know that I would be prepared not to do the job for half that.
I would suggest Alistair Darling might make a suitable replacement for McClaren but the idea of the Scots running English affairs couldn't happen, could it?
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Oh, Darling
It was jaw-dropping stuff. The Commons chamber is home to more than its fair share of fake anger and pantomime drama, but the clashes over Alistair Darling's statement yesterday were real enough.
The gasps from MPs were genuine as the sheer scale of the security breach of child benefit details - and details of how they were lost - emerged.
The body language on the Government front bench, in the words of Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, suggested the demeanour of "the hired mourners from a Chicago funeral partner".
Calling off the election that never was, Gordon Brown said his Government had proved its competence during his first months in office. Ministers can't be held directly responsible for an official sending the UK's entire child benefit data in the internal post, but questions of competence have followed cock-ups at the Home Office and the Northern Rock debacle.
This week - two emergency Darling statements in two days - has evoked memories for some MPs of some of the less good days enjoyed by John Major's Government. Remember John Smith, late Labour leader?
"If we were to offer this tale of events to the BBC Light Entertainment Department as a script for a programme I think the producers of Yes Minister would have turned it down as hopelessly over the top. I think it might have even been too much for Some Mothers Do Have 'Em. But Madam Speaker, the tragedy for us all is that it is really happening, it is fact, not fiction. The man with the non-Midas touch is in charge. No wonder we live in a country where the Grand National doesn't start and the hotels fall into the sea".
Gordon Brown's Government isn't there yet, but the economic forecasts are less than rosy and once an administration loses a reputation for competence it's very hard to recover - ask John Major.
Alistair Darling has been criticised for dullness, but he is widely seen at Westminster as one of the more competent Ministers. Perhaps he's just been unlucky to have been holding the parcel when the music stopped.
Mr Brown's favourite joke, in his last job, was that there are two types of Chancellor -
those who fail and those who get out in time. Mr Brown doesn't think he failed.
The gasps from MPs were genuine as the sheer scale of the security breach of child benefit details - and details of how they were lost - emerged.
The body language on the Government front bench, in the words of Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, suggested the demeanour of "the hired mourners from a Chicago funeral partner".
Calling off the election that never was, Gordon Brown said his Government had proved its competence during his first months in office. Ministers can't be held directly responsible for an official sending the UK's entire child benefit data in the internal post, but questions of competence have followed cock-ups at the Home Office and the Northern Rock debacle.
This week - two emergency Darling statements in two days - has evoked memories for some MPs of some of the less good days enjoyed by John Major's Government. Remember John Smith, late Labour leader?
"If we were to offer this tale of events to the BBC Light Entertainment Department as a script for a programme I think the producers of Yes Minister would have turned it down as hopelessly over the top. I think it might have even been too much for Some Mothers Do Have 'Em. But Madam Speaker, the tragedy for us all is that it is really happening, it is fact, not fiction. The man with the non-Midas touch is in charge. No wonder we live in a country where the Grand National doesn't start and the hotels fall into the sea".
Gordon Brown's Government isn't there yet, but the economic forecasts are less than rosy and once an administration loses a reputation for competence it's very hard to recover - ask John Major.
Alistair Darling has been criticised for dullness, but he is widely seen at Westminster as one of the more competent Ministers. Perhaps he's just been unlucky to have been holding the parcel when the music stopped.
Mr Brown's favourite joke, in his last job, was that there are two types of Chancellor -
those who fail and those who get out in time. Mr Brown doesn't think he failed.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Post-pre-Budget report
I managed to survive the day without using too much of the accountancy jargon thrust upon us after Alistair Darling's spending review.
As a bonus, we even managed to entice a Government Minister or two onto the airwaves.
But when you look at the small print of the Welsh settlement there are big questions to ask about why the Assembly Government budget this year is more than £200m less than it expected.
The answer, according to governments at both ends of the M4, is that the NHS in England (unbelievably you might think given its financial crises) actually underspent last year and under that formula I try to avoid mentioning a couple of hundred million or so that could have been spent in Welsh hospitals or on other public services was sliced off the balance sheet.
(Under the formula, Wales gets a share of any increase in comparable spending in England - and a share of any decrease).
The Assembly Government says it's keen to negotiate with the Treasury to get the money - after all it's twice what John Redwood sent back during his time as Secretary of State in the 1990s.
The reduction of up to £260m a year also allows the UK Government to claim bigger increases in Welsh spending, thanks to the lower base. (I should point out that spending will still increase in real terms, although not as quickly as the Assembly is accustomed to).
As you might expect, opposition parties are queuing up to attack what's been called the "worst" spending round since devolution.
That rather assumes all state spending is a good thing - you don't need to be John Redwood to prefer a more neutral ("tightest"?) term but the budget will certainly make life more interesting for Labour and their new best friends in Cardiff Bay.
As a bonus, we even managed to entice a Government Minister or two onto the airwaves.
But when you look at the small print of the Welsh settlement there are big questions to ask about why the Assembly Government budget this year is more than £200m less than it expected.
The answer, according to governments at both ends of the M4, is that the NHS in England (unbelievably you might think given its financial crises) actually underspent last year and under that formula I try to avoid mentioning a couple of hundred million or so that could have been spent in Welsh hospitals or on other public services was sliced off the balance sheet.
(Under the formula, Wales gets a share of any increase in comparable spending in England - and a share of any decrease).
The Assembly Government says it's keen to negotiate with the Treasury to get the money - after all it's twice what John Redwood sent back during his time as Secretary of State in the 1990s.
The reduction of up to £260m a year also allows the UK Government to claim bigger increases in Welsh spending, thanks to the lower base. (I should point out that spending will still increase in real terms, although not as quickly as the Assembly is accustomed to).
As you might expect, opposition parties are queuing up to attack what's been called the "worst" spending round since devolution.
That rather assumes all state spending is a good thing - you don't need to be John Redwood to prefer a more neutral ("tightest"?) term but the budget will certainly make life more interesting for Labour and their new best friends in Cardiff Bay.
Friday, 5 October 2007
Diary date
A date for your diary, but not one in November. The UK Government will reveal the results of its spending review - and the pre-Budget report - next Tuesday.
A last chance to bribe us with our own money before polling day? Or a long-scheduled piece of political furniture? Today's polls make an election less likely.
The pre-Budget report offers Alistair Darling a chance to respond to Tory initiatives on stamp duty and inheritance tax - two policies that appear to be playing well with voters despite questions about how they would be paid for.
The spending review will set out public spending limits between now and 2011, including the Welsh Assembly Government's budget.
There will be more money for health and education in England, which means a bigger budget for Wales, but the rate of increase will slow down dramatically compared with the past few bountiful years.
Those Labour/Plaid Ministers will find themselves with some tough decisions to take if they're going to deliver the policies they've signed up to.
A last chance to bribe us with our own money before polling day? Or a long-scheduled piece of political furniture? Today's polls make an election less likely.
The pre-Budget report offers Alistair Darling a chance to respond to Tory initiatives on stamp duty and inheritance tax - two policies that appear to be playing well with voters despite questions about how they would be paid for.
The spending review will set out public spending limits between now and 2011, including the Welsh Assembly Government's budget.
There will be more money for health and education in England, which means a bigger budget for Wales, but the rate of increase will slow down dramatically compared with the past few bountiful years.
Those Labour/Plaid Ministers will find themselves with some tough decisions to take if they're going to deliver the policies they've signed up to.
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