Is it worth 2/5 on a Manchester C-Charge NO?

Is it worth 2/5 on a Manchester C-Charge NO?

Who’ll win the UK’s second biggest election? The picture is of part of Manchester tramway system which is set to be expanded provided voters in the region back a controversial Congestion Charge scheme. Voting by post is taking place at the moment and closes in a week’s time. This is the UK’s second biggest election this year with 1.94m voters involved. The vote covers Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Manchester and Wigan – with most ballot papers…

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Are savers the first to feel the impact?

Are savers the first to feel the impact?

Will Gord get the blame as incomes are slashed? What a difference a day makes? Yesterday morning’s main article featured the front pages from mostly the right wing press which were full of plaudits for Brown’s mortgage rescue plan. Today there’s a new side of the economy featured that threatens to undermine the living standards of millions and millions of voters. For it has taken another drastic cut in interest rates for the media finally to pick up something that…

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Did a minister have advance knowledge?

Did a minister have advance knowledge?

But has the story any impact beyond the Westminster village? The Green arrest affair has taken on a new turn this evening with a report by Iain Martin on the Telegraph “Three Line Whip” blog that “the strong rumour is that one minister with good police contacts did know and has remained well under the radar since the row erupted last week, for understandable reasons.” This, clearly, could have big ramifications because the most damaging thing for the government, surely,…

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Can Martin survive without Harman’s support?

Can Martin survive without Harman’s support?

Could the Speaker’s job now be on the line? Harriet Harman is in a very different category from every other member of the cabinet. For she owes her position of Deputy Leader to her successful campaign in last year’s election. Brown could sack her from his cabinet but he can’t fire her as his deputy. This has given an independence of action which she seems ready, when necessary, to use. As leader of the house she is in a position…

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Why can’t Gordon do spontaneity?

Why can’t Gordon do spontaneity?

Is this how the Tories will always trap him? It has, as predicted, been a gripping afternoon and on balance I think that the government has lost some ground. I thought that the Speaker, Michael Martin, made the best of a very bad hand and his frank explanations of where things went wrong will have bought him some more time. But for me the really intriguing element was the way that senior Tory figures managed to trap Gordon using what…

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Who’s going to come out of today on top?

Who’s going to come out of today on top?

Could the Tories have fired their big guns too early? In one sense today is a great victory for the opposition parties. Normally this annual set-piece event provides the peg for acres and acres of coverage on what the government is doing with the Tories and the Lib Dems struggling to get a look in. Well with the Green arrest likely to be dominating the headlines tonight that should be a minus point to Brown Central. But don’t underestimate them…

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Will the Speaker get through the day unscathed?

Will the Speaker get through the day unscathed?

How will his statement go down with worried MPs? One of the “smart” elements of the Green arrest was the timing. It happened just as Parliament was going into a five day recess ahead of the Queen’s Speech and the start of the new parliamentary year. This meant that there was no immediate platform for the issue of the police search of Green’s Commons’ office to be raised in the chamber. That all changes today and the Tories and the…

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