The LibDems' decision to join the Tories in government will cost them in the long term, just as the lack of a second effective opposition party will cost democracy
Councils have new flood management responsibilities at a time of spending cuts. So can they cope, asks Andrew Jepp in the latest of PF’s regular series of sponsored columns.
So the axe has started to fall – or in the more delicate terms of David Laws, the scalpel has started to slice. Cutting £6.2bn now is more of a symbol of the coalition’s commitment to cuts than...
The new coalition government has announced a £6.2bn headline cut to public spending in the current year. Since £500m is being recycled into additional spending or tax cuts, and the £704m earmarked...
Scotland may have been given a year's reprieve on spending cuts, but the Holyrood Government will have no alternative but to fundamentally re-evaluate its spending priorities and Concordat...
Public bodies spend £765m a year on printing, stationery and general office expenses, and almost £1.5bn on computers. Some pay more than others for the same things, but just signing up to a...
Public servants will breathe a sigh of relief now they know that Comprehensive Area Assessments are to be abolished, The emphasis should now change from compliance to responsibility.
That the new government has included reform of social care funding in its priorities will be greeted with relief. The political acrimony that preceded the campaign, and its absence as a key issue...
With announcements due next week on how the government proposes to find £6bn in Whitehall savings to help reduce the deficit, the spotlight will fall on public sector finance functions
Governments come and go. But the political gameplaying never stops. So this week we had the new chancellor and chief secretary to the Treasury tut-tutting and sucking their teeth, like a pair of...
The Conservative-LibDem proposals on constitutional reform could result in anarchy if the coalition broke up. They should take a step back and start again
Will Hutton's new commission on public sector pay is a timely initiative. Over the past few years, a ‘bidding-war’ has taken place between public sector organisations and this has led to rampant pay...
The public sector has implemented efficiency savings for many years and most of the easy options have already been taken. The term ‘efficiency savings’ is also used rather loosely and can mean...
Public expenditure cuts will be real and deep. They will start this year and continue for the remainder of this Parliament. The emergency Budget and the Spending Review later this autumn will only...
The proposal to put into the legislation for fixed-term parliaments for the UK a provision that it requires a 55% vote to dissolve parliament is ludicrous
MIKE THATCHER | Mervyn King is not known for his hyperbole, so we should take comfort from his assertion this week that the new government’s deficit reduction plan is ‘strong and powerful’.
PETER RIDDELL | The Tory-LibDem government will bring advantages, problems and a whole new way of working in Whitehall. So what can we expect from this political experiment?
The new coalition government has identified its key priority as reducing the size of the UK budget deficit and curtailing the spiralling borrowing requirements. The dilemma is how best to cut public...
Britain’s politicians are making us a laughing stock. Before last year’s MPs’ expenses scandal the UK, was in the lowest quartile of EU countries in terms of confidence in its national Parliament....
The most worrying outcome of the general election for the English gets ever closer: six Scottish and three Welsh nationalist MPs propping up a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition government.
