Monday 30th January 2006
9pm update: David Cameron's 'Modern Conservatism' speech
BLOGS
- ConservativeHome appeal for £3,300
- Has Cameron spurned The Telgraph for the BBC?
- Fat people produce fat government
- Tebbit attacks Cameron for trying to "purge the memory of Thatcherism"
Platform: Jeremy Brier: After Hamas' 'victory'
Events: Keep in the loop!
TORY TAX POLICY
Telegraph Business interview with George Osborne: "Faced with the position of poor public finances and with Britain's declining
place in the world, the Conservatives did not promise tax cuts in the 1979
election and said they had to sort out the public finances first"
"There is plenty of evidence that voters are very sceptical about
politicians who make promises of tax cuts that seem primarily designed to get
them elected, and they are doubtful that these cuts will not be
offset by increases elsewhere. That is the legacy of stealth taxes".
TaxPayer's Alliance: "A low tax campaign should make far more use of the moral and personal case for lower taxes – i.e. it should be made relevant to the lives of ordinary people. These sorts of messages have scored particularly well in internal Conservative polling."
MILLIONS TRAPPED IN TAX MAZE
Telegraph: "Some 3.8 million people are paying income tax at the wrong rate - many are giving the Treasury too much - because the system devised by Gordon Brown is excessively complicated, a report says before tomorrow's final deadline for tax returns. The study, compiled by City experts for the Bow Group, paints a picture of a system in chaos and taxpayers confused about how to fill in ever more complex forms. The report calls for a drastic simplification of the system, with fewer reliefs and exemptions."
CAMERON'S BIG SPEECH
David Cameron will be at the Demos think-tank to make a keynote speech on Modern Conservatism later today, he will controversially praise Tony Blair, saying the prime minister saw his task as
"preserving the fruits of the Thatcher revolution". ConservativeHome will report on it in the evening.
RELIGIOUS HATRED BILL
BBCi - This bill returns to the Commons tomorrow, a growing coalition are urging the Government to accept the amendments made in the Lords. Evan Harris MP, LibDem Human Rights spokesman and a prominent secularist, said that "These freedoms to speak and to argue, to criticise and indeed to ridicule, once lost are very rarely got back."
OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY
Telegraph Leader on the erosion of parental responsibility: "The state's role in bringing up minors is ceasing to be complementary and becoming preponderant. Instead of having a presumption in favour of parental authority, to be disregarded only if parents are plainly unfit, we have a system in which only limited variety is sanctioned."
Independent: A poll of polls puts Labour one point ahead
BBCi - Alan Milburn urges unity on Labour's education reforms: "It's become a test of Labour's willingness to carry on as a reforming government".
Times Leader on Bush's second term: "...it might be assumed that Mr Bush is already sprouting the feathers that make for lame-duck status. That would be too sweeping a conclusion."
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