Tag Archives: coalition agreement

The coalition agreement: consumers and crime

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th May 2010 - 3:31 pm

Welcome to the fourth in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

A brief section on consumer protection offers a handful of positive policies – such as strong consumer protection, more pressure on credit card companies to keep their customers fully informed and clearer food labelling – which could have featured in any party’s manifesto. There is also the well meaning but fantastically vague promise to “take forward measures to enhance customer service in the private and public sectors”. Make of that what you will…

The crime …

Posted in News | Also tagged theresa may | 9 Comments

The coalition agreement: communities and local government

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th May 2010 - 10:20 am

Welcome to the third in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

Traditionally Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have far from seen eye to eye over local government with devolving liberals and centralising conservatives taking fundamentally different approaches. However, this policy area offers a classic example of Cameron’s move to take his party towards a liberal centre-ground creating some genuine overlap in outlook where very little existed before. Large parts of the Conservative Party’s general election manifesto on devolving power could have been taken from previous Liberal …

Posted in Local government and News | 8 Comments

The coalition agreement: civil liberties

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th May 2010 - 2:20 pm

Welcome to the second in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

The section on civil liberties is, with one exception, a straight forward listing of many policies the Liberal Democrats have long argued for. Whether by principle or pragmatism, David Cameron has taken the chance of a hung Parliament to firmly put the Conservatives on the liberal side of the liberal versus authoritarian divide. There certainly are some in his party who would rather be on the other side, but they have been sidelined …

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The coalition agreement: banking and business

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th May 2010 - 10:20 am

Welcome to the first in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

For all the importance and controversy associated with banking reform, it is also one of the areas where cross-party agreement is easiest – because once you’ve decided that major reform is necessary, the differences of approach are essentially ones of pragmatic detail rather than principle. Some at the free-market or state control fringes may beg to differ, but it’s a debate about what will or won’t work rather than what political philosophers do or …

Posted in News | Also tagged regional development agencies | 4 Comments