Osborne's leaky briefcase

Budget Day really hasn’t gone the way George Osborne anticipated. His lackeys spent much time before his speech implying what he would produce would be a great radical package, confirming young Gideon as the masterful political tactician of his age. But it’s all rather exploded in his face.

At the heart of his problems are leaks. As the Mirror’s political commentator Kevin Maguire said earlier, Osborne would have been better holding up a sieve outside the black door of Number 11 rather than the traditional red briefcase.

Everyday journalists have had little snippets from the budget dripped in their ear; the changes to the 50pence tax rate, the personal tax statement, changes to stamp duty all were well known before Osborne got to his feet. Even the cut in corporation tax started to filter through beforehand. So what were the press left with? Well little that was fresh or positive.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the ‘granny tax’. Just minutes after Osborne had returned to his seat #grannytax was the top trending topic in the world, definitely not what Number 11 spinners would have wanted.

Of course, they are not being targeted by any specific tax, rather seeing 4.5million pensioners become worse off in real terms because income tax allowances are being frozen. Age UK has warned some pensioners could be £259 a year worse off, and Gransnet putting the figure at £291.

Geraldine Bedell, the editor of Granset, has warned the chancellor was in danger of ‘encouraging a new era of grey activism’. In these days when both major political parties will struggle to get a majority, the grey vote is one for which both must compete.

An extra 300,000 people are being pushed into the higher tax band - again the very people from whom both parties will be eager to secure support at future elections. And the child benefit reforms, which so clearly needed fixing, are improved but still effectively leaves those earning between £50,000 and £60,000 paying a 50pence tax rate. As David Kilshaw, tax partner at KPMG, points out to the Daily Telegraph:

'The 40 per cent tax rate they pay combined with the £10 child benefit loss per £100 earned over £50,000 adds up to a 50 per cent marginal tax rate.'

Commentators from across the political spectrum have been scathing, none more so than those on the Daily Telegraph. Iain Martin is coruscating and Peter Oborne predicts Osborne has waved goodbye to Britain's AAA rating.

Throughout the day my inbox has been steadily filled with gloomy reactions from scientists bemoaning a lack of commitment to science funding, environmentalists remembering when the government said it would be the greenest ever and estate agents feeling not enough has been done for home buyers.

The most positive reaction came from video games manufacturers who are understandably pleased to have regained tax reliefs.

The vast scale of leaks is, it has been said, a consequence of a coalition government; the leaders of both parties are eager to trumpet their own achievements to their supporters. But in doing so the government lost the ability to frame the narrative just minutes after George Osborne finished speaking.

With a still weak and unfocused opposition today's budget should have been an opportunity to press home their perceived advantage on the economy home. Instead, through using almost Brownite political trickery, Osborne has blown it. Tomorrow's papers will be unforgiving to the coalition.

Church 0 Swansea City 1

This is the front page of today's South Wales Evening Post which I picked up this morning. I quote the first few paragraphs in full.

'A Swansea City-mad minister put the Lord on hold so he could watch Sunday's sensational defeat of Manchester City.

'Eirian Wyn postponed the 2pm service at Tabernacle Baptist Chapel in Cwnrhydyceirw to catch the action live at the Liberty Stadium.

'And he was in bright spirits when he appeared at the rearranged time of 6pm.

'"When I walked in with a big smile on my face the congregation knew what had happened," he said referring to the surprise 1-0 win.

'Reverend Wyn said the church always came first and that the postponement had been agreed by chapel regulars.

'Earlier in the day he had moved in less mysterious ways, taking charge of the weekly 10.30am service at Seion Newydd Baptist Chapel in Morriston.'

And on it goes in its merry way. Rarely has a splash given me such unexpected pleasure.fac

Britain's prison scandals continue

A shocking bit of news has just broken, coming from the Chief Inspector of Prisons who says England and Wales will be 'aghast and ashamed' in years to come at the desperate conditions some women have to endure in women's prisons.

In one particular case, inspector Nick Hardwick says the levels of self-mutilation and despair 'kept me awake at night'.

Speaking about the women's section of the Keller Unit of Styal Prison in Wilmslow, he says in a lecture, that conditions were 'more shocking and distressing than anything I had yet seen on an inspection.'

He said:

'We can't go on like this.
'Prisons, particularly as they are currently run, are simply the wrong place for so many of the distressed, damaged or disturbed women they hold.
'I think the treatment and conditions in which a small minority of the most disturbed women are held is - in relation to their needs - simply unacceptable.
'I think - I hope - we will look back on how we treated these women in years to come, aghast and ashamed.'

Going on to where responsibility lies, he said:

'It does not lie with the officers, staff and governors on the ground - many of whom are simply humbling in the dedication and care with which they approach their work - or the officials and others trying to improve things in the centre.

'This is a responsibility that lies squarely at the door of successive governments and parliament.'

Speaking of the Keller Unit, he said:

'I have seen a lot of pretty grim things in my working life but what I saw at the Keller Unit kept me awake at night.
'The levels of self mutilation and despair were just terrible.'

There is something Victorian about the manner in which he describes such horrors. One feels he is a kindred spirit of Dickens and Elizabeth Fry.

And he has a very real, if utterly ignored, point.

Successive governments have competed to have the most hardline, lock-up-'em for longer, Home Secretary. The left howled with horror at the excesses under Thatcher and the appalling Michael Howard, only to see them extended by Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and Jacqui Smith.

Each one eagerly fed the public's desire for revenge, fuelled by the faux-moral outrage of newspapers, all intensifying into the appalling situation we have now with a record number of prisoners, so many of whom simply should not be there.

So when Ken Clarke comes up with modest proposals to cut the prison population, a combination of Ken's own bluff, clumsy, manner and outrage that anyone might take a liberal attitude sees such a plan skewered with embarrassing haste.

No doubt, the latest damning comments from the Chief inspector will be remarked upon, worthies will say 'something must be done' but in this febrile atmosphere action will be non-existent.

The appalling situation will remain.

When a resignation is not a resignation

Just when the hacking story appears to be drifting somewhat something occurs to steer it straight back to the top of the headlines.

And so it is today. Within minutes of the news that James Murdoch was resigning from his position as the Executive Chairman of News International, it was the top trending topic on Twitter in the UK. But it is less a punishment, more of a sideways shift - if not even a promotion - offering James a bit of protection.

There were inevitably victorious cries from those who are clearly want to see News International punished for its excesses. Comedian Mark Steel commented: ‘Good – James Murdoch’s resigned. Now to make it perfect let’s hope he’s jailed in a cell with a 24 stone Ukrainian sex-addict asylum seeker’.

And Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who has been at the forefront of the campaign to expose the wrongdoings of the News of the World, told Sky News that his resignation was ‘long overdue’.

But surely the reaction of the economics editor for BBC’s Newsnight, Paul Mason, while, less excitable, was closer to the truth: ‘Newscorp sees global TV biz as future, Wapping as past. This is like quitting dog track for Cheltenham’.

Murdoch JR will be moving from one swish office in Britain to an even more opulent one in the United States. In his statement of thanks Rupert says James had ‘demonstrated leadership and continues to create great value at Star TV, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia, and BskyB. Now that he has moved to New York, James will continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focues on important pay-TV businesses and broader international operations.’

So with his father’s blessing, James is shifting to a less visible role in the United States but one whose aims is closer to the future ambitions of NewsCorp.

The Hacked Off campaign have summed it up pretty neatly:

"We believe this is a non-story. News Corp had announced James Murdoch’s move to New York and his new role as Deputy Chief Operating Officer in March last year. His move was delayed after the phone hacking scandal escalated in July, but it was always going to happen. In November last year, Murdoch stepped down from the board of News Group Newspapers Limited and Times Newspapers Limited, loosening his ties with London.

"While his departure from this latest post may have some symbolical meaning, it has very little practical impact. We still await a full, and credible account of the extent of his knowledge and engagement in the cover up of hacking. We don’t recognise this as a milestone or as evidence of creating a cleaner sheet at News International."

James remains deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation and chairman of BskyB. But it’s clear his continued presence on this side of the pond just causes aggravation for the company. His appearances at House of Commons select committees have been less than successful; he tried to work with what corporate American charm he could muster, but ended up appearing evasive. The accuracy of his evidence remains challenged. When it comes, the culture and media committee’s report will be required reading and James Murdoch is likely to be in the firing line.

Lansley losing even more support

News reaches me that it is no longer just all the major medical colleges opposing the government’s NHS reform Bill; now a clinical commissioning group has called for it to be dropped.

Tower Hamlets CCG was, as far as Andrew Lansley was concerned, a pioneering group, so much so it hosted his first speech as health secretary.

But now, according to a letter obtained by Pulse founder Dr Sam Everington, who was once deputy chair of the BMA, thinks the government should cut the Bill rather than push it any further.

He writes:

‘We support a strong role for clinical involvement in commissioning decisions that lead to better health outcomes for our patients. We do this already in Tower Hamlets. An Act of Parliament is not needed to make this happen.'

‘You are familiar with the submissions on the long-term implications of the bill made by our professional representative organisations, the RCGP and the BMA. We share their concerns. We add to that our own experience. Clinicians, patients and managers in Tower Hamlets are determined to improve health and well-being, but your rolling restructuring of the NHS compromises our ability to focus on what really counts - improving quality of services for patients, and ensuring value for money during a period of financial restraint.

‘We care deeply about the patients that we see every day and we believe the improvements we all want to see in the NHS can be achieved without the bureaucracy generated by the bill.

‘Your government has interpreted our commitment to our patients as support for the bill. It is not.

‘We have already seen many improvements to health services in Tower Hamlets. We believe the improvements that we all want to see in the NHS can be achieved without the bureaucracy generated by the bill.

‘Our focus is on making sure our patients get the best possible care. In Tower Hamlets we have a track record of improving health services by working closely with patients, hospitals, the council and the whole local NHS. Improvements include more support for people with chronic illnesses like diabetes; the highest childhood vaccination rates in London; and an exemplary local out-of-hours service delivered by our GPs that is highly valued by patients.

‘Local GPs and other health professionals were very keen that we should make our opposition to these proposals clear to the Prime Minister.'

No matter whether the Bill is implemented in its current form, if it's adapted, and complicated further, or if it is dropped altogether, the government will be haunted by it's botched reform attempts throughout its existence.

Rather than reducing bureaucracy it remorselessly heaps more upon the NHS from above - the pledge that there would be 'no more top-down reorganisations' of the service prompts hollow laughs when mentioned to staff.

The very people the government claims it wants to be lead the reforms - the doctors, the nurses, the experts, the commissioning groups like the one above - oppose the extent of the reforms.

And now, every time there is an increase in waiting times, an unnecessary death, a botched operation, a cleaning mistake, a financial mishap, it will be blamed on these reforms, whether justified or not.

Link to Pulse article here

And here Thinis an excellent piece by Max Pemberton from yesterday's Telegraph, cogently highlighting the many problems with the Bill as it stands