Author Archives: Elizabeth Truss and Lucy Parsons

Opinion: Shifting the unequal state

By Elizabeth Truss and Lucy Parsons | Mon 21st April 2008 - 1:27 pm

Raising social mobility: an opportunity to empower individuals to improve their own capability

There is a cross-party consensus that the UK has a social mobility problem. Gordon Brown has called it “the great mission of the next decade”. Recent discussion has focused on the abolition of the 10p tax rate which is seen as a blow to those on low incomes. The Liberal Democrats have called it a “betrayal of the most needy in our society”. However, income taxes are just one piece of the vast tax and benefits jigsaw puzzle.

What is required to improve social mobility is a comprehensive …

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Posted in Op-eds | 20 Comments

Opinion: The Budget – an opportunity for a new approach to fiscal policy

By Elizabeth Truss and Lucy Parsons | Mon 10th March 2008 - 1:53 pm

The economic debate of recent weeks has centred around the credit crunch and the changing times of Northern Rock. The Liberal Democrats have shown leadership with Vince Cable’s well-respected comments on the nationalisation issue.

This week, the focus will shift to the Government’s plans for fiscal policy for the coming years. In Wednesday’s Budget, the Chancellor has the opportunity to set out a new model for government spending, based on long term sustainable public spending policies. If he does not take it, he will leave the field open for the Opposition parties, and the Liberal Democrats could capitalise on their …

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Posted in The Independent View | 19 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • David Evans
    Hello Ian, According to the figures I have seen, the split on the tuition fees vote was 28 in favour, 21 against and 8 abstentions. However, the 28 were large...
  • Judy Abel
    Sorry when my replies didn’t appear I thought I had better post them again!...
  • Ian Sanderson (RM3)
    @David Evans Some years ago I did some drilling down into how many LibDem MPs voted to triple student fees. I found that it was a minority. Those who voted for...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Mick's comment seems to be under the wrong post!...
  • Alex Macfie
    The Green Party has always had an open eligibility for leadership (since it started having leaders; during its 1989/90 flash-in-pan surge and for a long time af...