George Osborne adopts first '100 policy idea'

George Osborne felt a bit of pressure at last night's ConservativeHome Awards Evening for his cautious approach to relieving the burden of taxation but there was a warm welcome for his idea of giving taxpayers a website via which they can find out where their tax pounds are going.

That welcome has been most pronounced on Wat Tyler's Burning Our Money site...

"Let's face it, BOM has been grimly unimpressed by George Osborne's timidity on tax and spend. But now at last he's done something we can wholeheartedly applaud.  Yesterday he announced the Tories would be introducing a Government Spending Transparency Bill... It would be modelled on the new US Act just signed into law by President Bush... So hurrah! Doubtless our current high spending government will find some reason why we can't have it, but come 2010, we will expect it to be right up there on George's list."

Wat's welcome may have something to do with the fact that he proposed the very idea of 100policies.com a few weeks ago.  Wat's idea - inspired by George W Bush's recent initiative - is the first 100 policy idea that's made it on to the Tory agenda.  The first of many, let's hope.

The reason why George Osborne's Follow the Money website [I think Follow Your Money might have been slightly more apposite] is such a sound initiative in that the transparency it will bring will force politicians and bureaucrats to think twice about every expenditure they approve.  Labour already dread headlines about the Treasury's taxi expenses or Downing Street's drinks bill... With new transparency every local newspaper in the land, every blog and The Taxpayers' Alliance's Bumper Book of Government Waste will have a field day exposing fat government projects and suggesting better ways in which the taxpayers' money could be spent.  George Osborne's initiative may not sound as sexy as a promise of a specific tax cut but it has great potential to empower thousands and thousands of people to keep a close eye of government waste.

PS Apologies for the recent lack of 100 policies ideas.  There is a backlog and I just need to find the time to go through them.  Apologies to those patiently waiting to see their brainchilds brainchildren given a public outing.

Comments

[Mark Wadsworth]

When I heard this announced on the radio this morning I was jumping up and down with glee and said to the Mrs "That was a ConHome 100 Policy!".

She didn't have a clue what I was talking about, of course.

[James Maskell]

While I can see the thinking behind it, isnt it just the Government spending public money to justify spending public money? It cant be easy to come up with that sort of detail. Isnt this just a Central Government version of "Best Value"?

[George Hinton]

OH great, no tax cuts but we can have confirmation of where our money is being wasted and misspent.
For goodness sakes, will someone up at Party HQ get a grip and let's have some good old fashioned Tory policies which are people friendly, rather than all this anodyne crap.
Cut taxes, cut bureaucracy, cut red tape, slash big government, Exfiltrate from the EU, give power to the people not unelected and unaccountable outsiders and apparatchiks.
Restore Maggies legacy and dump B-Liars chapters of mendacity, and Gordo's history of theft and grand larceny.

[sjm]

Brainchilds? BRAINCHILDS?

Do we mean brainchildren?

(you can take the girl out of the grammar school, you can't take the grammar school out of the girl)

[malcolm]

I think you're being a bit negative George Hinton.Surely the result of this idea will be that people will be able to pinpoint significant areas of expenditure waste and pressure the government into cutting them.
Every time Conservatives have suggested even the most modest of tax take reductions our political enemies have been able to scream that we will cutting thousands of doctors,teachers and nurses jobs and the electorate BELIEVE THEM and not us.
This idea will make our enemys' task more difficult and ours easier I think.I applaud it.

[johnC]

'Do we mean brainchildren?'

What's wrong with 'idea' ? Somebody talked to me about 'birthing' an idea yesterday and I thought it an unpleasant and unnecessary neologism. As well as saving public expenditure could we please also save the English language ?

[Editor]

Sorry sjm!

[Phil Taylor]

100 policies has been moribund for a couple of months now.

It would be good to see it put back on a regular footing.

Maybe 18 Doughty Street has been keeping Tim's eye off the ball.

[James Maskell]

The BBC notices Tory Radio and 18DS...well done guys! A very positive report I think.

[William Norton]

Actually, I believe that the correct form would be "waiting to see their brainchild" singular. Although there is a group - a rather large group as it happens - each member of it in the singular is waiting in regard to a single brainchild.

Also, would it not be more correct to say "waiting patiently" rather than "patiently waiting"?

[Editor]

Stop! Stop! Stop!

[malcolm]

I believe the song Stop! Stop! Stop! was a hit for the Hollies in 1966.Can't quite see what the relevance to this thread is 'though Editor?

[Simon Chapman]

William,

Some may have delivered more than one policy brainchild....

[johnC]

I am also tempted to query the kindness of giving anyone a 'public outing'. There has been quite enough of that recently.

[James Maskell]

As Queen would have said, Cant Stop Us Now...

[Editor]

I do have a delete button and banning option!!!

[James Maskell]

So Queen were wrong...hehehe, just kidding.

[William Norton]

Simon Chapman:Some may have delivered more than one policy brainchild....

In which case they would be policy brainmidwives?

Aside from the inherent implausibility of anyone having more than one brainchild, in a general case covering both the submission of a sole brainchild and more than one, the economy of referring to a single brainchild should be preferred - where more than one brainchild has been submitted, the submitter still waits patiently to discover the fate of each individual brainchild.

I dislike "brainchildren" as a word. Too clunky.