Tag Archives: deficit reduction

5 points on Clegg’s admission that Coalition was wrong to cut capital spending

By Stephen Tall | Fri 25th January 2013 - 8:40 am

Nick Clegg has sparked a flurry of excitement with his admission in an interview for The House magazine that the Coalition cut capital spending ‘too far, too fast’ to coin a phrase. Here’s what he said to Paul Waugh and Sam Macrory:

“If I’m going to be sort of self-critical, there was this reduction in capital spending when we came into the Coalition Government. I think we comforted ourselves at the time that it was actually no more than what Alistair Darling spelt out

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Posted in News | Also tagged building schools for the future, featured, fiscal multiplier, imf, jonathan portes, nick clegg, paul waugh, sam macrory and the house magazine | 45 Comments

Eliminating the structural deficit is aiming for the wrong target

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th November 2012 - 10:53 am

There is an appealing simplicity behind the idea of having a zero structural deficit. It is the policy the government is committed to, with its plans to eliminate the structural deficit. And it’s also wrong.

For all the problems in measuring the structural deficit accurately, the concept is a useful one – to measure what the deficit is, once you have allowed for where we are in the economic cycle. Or, as the FT puts it, “A budget deficit that results from a fundamental imbalance in government receipts and expenditures, as opposed to one based on one-off or short-term factors”.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged deficit, economy and featured | 19 Comments

Opinion: The Conflicts of Economic Policy

By Geoff Crocker | Tue 2nd October 2012 - 8:45 am

Nick Clegg’s conference speech committed Lib Dems to manage debt out of the economy and implement a fair tax regime. But the objectives of economic policy often conflict with each other.

Let’s take it that there are three objectives for current economic policy:

to reduce deficit and the debt it accumulates
to inject demand into the economy
to have a fair tax system

In the following table, I’ve had a try at evaluating recent and proposed economic policies against these objectives.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged economic policy and nick clegg | 53 Comments

Nick Clegg says no to Tory plans for more welfare cuts

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 31st July 2012 - 10:58 am

Newspapers have been reporting for months that the Liberal Democrats were not prepared to sign up to Tory plans for £10 billion of welfare cuts in a spending review that would draw up plans for spending into the next Parliament. Today’s Independent says that Nick Clegg himself will ensure that this Government only produces spending plans for 2015-16. The electorate will then decide in the 2015 election whether they want to pursue further cuts in welfare or a heavier burden of tax on the wealthy.

The report says;

The Liberal Democrats’ opposition means the review will have to be watered down. Before the

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Posted in News | Also tagged 2015 general election, benefits, cuts, economy, nick clegg and welfare | 10 Comments

LibLink: David Laws MP writes about the Lib Dem ambition for fairer tax

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd February 2012 - 12:53 pm

David Laws has argued at the Guardian’s Comment is Free site that the Coalition should accelerate Liberal Democrat tax cutting plans.

The government’s previous plan was for the allowance to rise in steps of £630 over the next few years, to reach £10,000 by April 2015. Clegg and chief treasury secretary Danny Alexander are rightly insisting that we look to bring forward those tax cuts. This week they seemed to attract the unlikely support of Labour’s Ed Balls. But his plan for a totally unfunded tax cut is as unlikely to convince the deputy prime minister as it is the chancellor.

The

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Posted in News | Also tagged david laws, ed balls, george osborne, nick clegg, raising tax threshold and tax | 28 Comments

Opinion: The Coalition are winning the economic argument

By David Thorpe | Fri 20th January 2012 - 12:30 pm

It’s a dark winter night in Westminster but the building from which a group of men emerge is still wreathed in light. The men clamber into a sleek car, which streaks away through the emptying streets. Their journey is short in physical distance, but it’s long on significance for all of them. They are serious of face and purpose as the vehicle stops by one of the quieter spots on the riverbank.

The heaviest of the men is the first to get out, he flashes a look along the river bank, and seeing it deserted, nods quickly to his companions, all of whom …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged coalition, ed balls, ed miliband and labour party | 30 Comments

Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Tag Archives: deficit reduction

5 points on Clegg’s admission that Coalition was wrong to cut capital spending

Eliminating the structural deficit is aiming for the wrong target

Opinion: The Conflicts of Economic Policy

Nick Clegg says no to Tory plans for more welfare cuts

LibLink: David Laws MP writes about the Lib Dem ambition for fairer tax

Opinion: The Coalition are winning the economic argument

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Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Tag Archives: deficit reduction

5 points on Clegg’s admission that Coalition was wrong to cut capital spending

Eliminating the structural deficit is aiming for the wrong target

Opinion: The Conflicts of Economic Policy

Nick Clegg says no to Tory plans for more welfare cuts

LibLink: David Laws MP writes about the Lib Dem ambition for fairer tax

Opinion: The Coalition are winning the economic argument

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