Reform The Week

2 May 2008

Reform – The Week

Results of Thursday’s local elections across England and Wales show significant Conservative gains, with an estimated 44 per cent of the national vote share and a likely Mayoral win for Boris Johnson. The parties will now move on to the general election, where the key battle ground looks set to be the economy, with rising food and fuel prices hitting voters hard. All parties need to set out robust policies for getting the UK economy back on track. As Rupert Darwell commented, the ‘third way’ failed to deliver. Instead we need A Better Way.

Laura Kounine, Editor

Reformer of the week

Irwin Stelzer, for his call for lower taxes in the UK. Appearing on Channel 4 News, the economist and fellow of the Hudson Institute was asked what Gordon Brown should do to address the problem of rising fuel prices and the credit squeeze. Stelzer responded, “what I would recommend he do, if everybody is suffering, is lower the general tax rate that has gone up so much and so quickly in the past 10 years”.

Reactionary of the week

Guardian Public magazine for its contention that “unless the sons and daughters of the well off fall, there’s no room at the inn for the children of the poor” in response to Reform’s latest report, Shifting the unequal state: from public apathy to personal capability. This is predicated on the idea that there are a fixed number of “high skilled jobs” in the UK. In fact, in a global market, the UK’s skilled sector can expand to provide roles for all those who reach the mark – bringing an estimated £32 billion to the economy.

Good week for

Northern Ireland

In his Review on the Competitiveness of Northern Ireland published this week, Sir David Varney identified the steps needed to continue the progress Northern Ireland has made in boosting its economy and competitive position. Recommendations included reducing the size of the public sector and deepening and intensifying public sector reform, in particular increasing the role of the private sector in delivery, labour market and welfare reforms to get people off benefits and initiatives to upskill the population, with an emphasis on employer-led skills training.

Apologising

Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, toured the television studios finally acknowledging that Labour had made a “mistake” over the 10p rate and that this was having an effect on the polls. Indeed, the Conservative Party gained an estimated 44 per cent of the vote share at the local elections, 20 per cent more than Labour.

Teacher training organisations

Keith Bartley, Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for England, said that urgent action was required to retrain teachers who “had more bad days than good”. Some estimates put the number of incompetent teachers at 24,000, approximately one for every school.

Bad week for

The UK’s fiscal position

In its latest six-monthly economic forecast, the European Commission predicted the UK's budget deficit would rise to 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008 and 2009, breaching the 3 per cent limit set under the EU's stability and growth pact. Although the EU cannot impose sanctions if the UK ignores its advice as it can with the eurozone, the EC has threatened formal censure. In Budget 2008 in March, the Treasury projected the deficit would reach 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2008-09 and fall back to 2.8 per cent in the following year.

Londoners and south easterners

Figures from the Financial Times and Oxford Economics show that the extent to which taxpayers in London and the South East fund public services received by the rest of the country has increased. The FT estimates that if London were a country, it would be running a budget surplus of 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product over the past year, compared with a projected deficit of 2.9 per cent of GDP for the country as a whole.

The ‘third way’

In a review of Blair Unbound, Rupert Darwall, Reform’s Consultant Director, argued: “In the absence of thorough-going public-sector reform, Mr Blair's premiership must be counted as a missed opportunity … Blairism was politics for the good times that it neither created nor helped much to extend. The ‘third way’ left Britain with a tax burden approaching Germany's, faltering productivity growth and a structural deficit”.

Quote of the week

“When searching for ways to help the less fortunate the answer is not to drag back those higher up the ladder but to raise those at the bottom, by taxing them less and educating them better.”

(Damian Reece, Telegraph)

Reform’s week

Reform published its latest paper Demand for a new era: The future health on Wednesday. The report was covered in Liberal Democrat Voice and the HSJ.

Further coverage of Reform's report on social mobility last week. Gary Duncan devoted his Times column on Monday to what he calls an “important” report. Trevor Phillips used one of the findings of the report in a Sunday Times op-ed on the poor opportunities faced by white working-class boys (Times; Sunday Times; Telegraph; Guardian Public; report available at www.reform.co.uk).

Rupert Darwall, Reform’s Consultant Director, reviews Blair Unbound in the Wall Street Journal.

In an article in the Yorkshire Post on Wednesday Andrew Haldenby, Director of Reform, discussed the recent disquiet and strikes over public pay.

Reform held a seminar on “Balancing choice and personal services within the NHS” on Wednesday at No.11 Downing Street. It was widely attended by Chief Executives of PCTs, leading medical professionals and those with a policy interest in the health sector.