Reform Media Summary

20 March 2008

In today’s Media Summary, Peter Riddell: “No-one expects an increase in taxes or cuts in public spending plans on 12 March, Manchester’s Trafford General Hospital has declared a £10 million budget cut in order to clear the hospital’s long running deficit and Daniel Finkelstein: new Conservatives should embrace “reciprocal altruism”.

Economy

Peter Riddell: “No-one expects an increase in taxes or cuts in public spending plans on 12 March. But Mr Darling needs to explain how he intends to get the public finances back on track in the medium term. That is the crucial test of his competence” (Times, p.24).

The FT reports that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee would be considering even deeper cuts in interest rates were it not for worrying signs that inflation is likely to spike soon (FT, p.2; Express, p.1, p.4; Mail, p.12).

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats want the Office of Fair Trading to monitor the impact the nationalisation of Northern Rock may have on banking competition (FT, p.2, p.13 [Will Hutton]; Telegraph, p.12; Telegraph, p.12; Sun, p.12; Guardian, p.13, p.22, p.30 [leader]; Mail, p.4, p.14 [leader], p.53, p.79).

The National Audit Office disclosed yesterday that government departments lack the financial expertise to manage their multi-billion-pound budgets effectively (Telegraph, p.2).

Home Office Green Paper today will suggest that new immigrants will have to pay a levy towards the costs of public services as part of their application (Times, p.2; Guardian, p.4; Express, p.2, p.12 [leader]; Mail, p.8; Telegraph, p.1; Mirror, p.7; Sun, p.2, p.8 [leader]).

Further coverage of government tax clampdown on non-doms (FT, p.1, p.2; Independent, p.8, p.37; Express, p.7).

Health

Manchester’s Trafford General Hospital has declared a £10 million budget cut in order to clear the hospital’s long running deficit (Independent, p.16, p.28 [leader]; Express, p.17).

Further coverage on William Moyes letter to David Nicholson, the NHS Chief Executive (FT, p.4).

Education

Children's charities and companies oppose steep rises in registration fees paid to Ofsted (Times, p.28).

Public Accounts Committee: higher education drop-out rates unchanged (at 22 per cent for full-time students) despite grants of £800 million to universities over five years to alleviate the problem. A leader in the Telegraph writes: “Once again, the Government seems to have thrown money at a problem and got little in return” (Times, p.20; Independent, p.8; Guardian, p.12; Mail, p.10, p.14 [leader]; Telegraph, p.1, p.23 [leader]; Mirror, p.8; Sun, p.2).

Home Affairs

The Department for Work and Pensions yesterday announced a new “Flexible New Deal” under which people unemployed for more than a year will have to work for four weeks (Times, p.2; Guardian, p.12; Mail, p.2; Telegraph, p.2; Mirror, p.6, p.10 [leader]; Sun, p.2).

MPs yesterday called for the £5.4 billion ID card project to be scrapped (FT, p.3).

Politics

Daniel Finkelstein: new Conservatives should embrace “reciprocal altruism” (Times, p.17).

Simon Heffer writes: “People feel too highly taxed, but the Conservatives don’t grasp that” (Telegraph, p.22).