Posts Tagged ‘David Laws’
The new government
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
So it’s all over. After countless twists and turns – and interminable waiting – the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have finally come to an agreement and, despite Gordon Brown’s dramatic last minute intervention on Monday, the coalition soap opera has concluded and the Skycopter can finally return to base.
After a mammoth negotiating session lasting over four hours and a joint meeting of the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive and Parliamentary Party stretching past midnight, a formal Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was formally endorsed by the Lib Dems last night, and the work of the new Government begins in earnest today.
Details of the deal struck – both in terms of policy and personnel – have been emerging throughout the day with the initial focus on the most difficult policy areas and the key Cabinet posts.
The Cabinet
Cameron has reserved the main offices of state for Conservative MPs: his close friend and ally George Osborne is the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Hague becomes Foreign Secretary, Theresa May is appointed as Home Secretary and Liam Fox becomes Defence Secretary.
However, Clegg held out for government posts in proportion to the votes cast for his party in last week’s General Election (23%) and has been richly rewarded – the Liberal Democrats have secured five Cabinet places in a Cabinet of twenty-three.
Clegg himself becomes Deputy Prime Minister and the Liberal Democrat deputy leader Vince Cable has been appointed as Business Secretary. Members of the party’s negotiating team have also fared well, with David Laws becoming Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Chris Huhne Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Danny Alexander Scottish Secretary.
This has left David Cameron with a delicate balancing act as he seeks to preserve his top talent and to ensure his new Government adequately mirrors the diverse Britain we live in today. His undertaking to reduce the government payroll, and the ministerial ranks, makes this task even more difficult.
Cabinet positions have been secured for other senior Conservatives close to Cameron. The highly regarded Michael Gove, who commented on Sunday that he would happily fall on his sword to guarantee a place for a Liberal Democrat, stays in post and becomes Schools Secretary. Andrew Lansley becomes Health Secretary, Caroline Spelman is given the environment brief and former party chairman Eric Pickles is the new Communities Secretary.
Space has also been found for the big beasts of the party – Ken Clarke has been handed the justice portfolio and former leader Iain Duncan-Smith is brought back to the front line as Work and Pensions Secretary on the back of his work with the Centre for Social Justice.
A new National Security Council has already been established to oversee all aspects of Britain’s security – one of the Conservatives’ key manifesto pledges. Chaired by the Prime Minister, this will count amongst its members Clegg, Osborne, Hague and Fox, and other Cabinet members as required. Its first meeting will take place this afternoon, reviewing the terrorist threat to the UK and the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
David Cameron has also appointed Sir Peter Ricketts, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, as his National Security Advisor, a position that will be based in the Cabinet Office.
The full Cabinet is as follows:
| NAME | POSITION |
| David Cameron | Prime Minister |
| Nick Clegg (LD) | Deputy Prime Minister |
| George Osborne | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| Chris Huhne (LD) | Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change |
| Liam Fox | Secretary of State for Defence |
| Danny Alexander (LD) | Scotland Secretary |
| Vince Cable (LD) | Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills |
| David Laws (LD) | Chief Secretary to the Treasury |
| Theresa May | Home Secretary, Minister for Women and Equality |
| Ken Clarke | Justice Secretary |
| Iain Duncan-Smith | Work and Pensions Secretary |
| Cheryl Gillan |
Welsh Secretary |
| Owen Paterson | NI Secretary |
| Sir George Young |
Leader of the House of Commons |
| Jeremy Hunt | Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Secretary |
| Patrick McLoughlin | Chief Whip |
| Lord Strathclyde | Leader of the House of Lords |
| Michael Gove | Education Secretary |
| Eric Pickles | Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government |
| Caroline Spelman | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Andrew Lansley | Health Secretary |
| Francis Maude | Cabinet Office Minister |
| Philip Hammond | Transport Secretary |
| Andrew Mitchell | International Development Secretary |
| Dominic Grieve | Attorney General |
| Baroness Warsi | Conservative Party Chairman |
Policy implications
Reducing the deficit and ensuring economic recovery lie at the centre of the coalition agreement. There were difference in degrees between the two parties’ plans as set out in their manifestos, but ultimately both agreed with cuts of broadly similar amounts and broadly similar balances between the balance between spending cuts and tax rises. According to the agreement document, the main burden of the deficit reduction will be borne by reduced spending rather than increased taxes.
The coalition has committed itself to holding an emergency budget by 30 June. This will announce a substantial increase in the personal tax allowance – a step towards the long-term objective of raising it to £10,000 as proposed in the Lib Dem manifesto. Conservative plans to increase the NIC threshold for employers will go ahead, but the inheritance tax cut it has proposed has been conceded as part of the deal. Capital Gains Tax for non-business assets will increase.
A full departmental spending review will also be launched, reporting in the autumn. NHS and international development spending have been ring-fenced, and a pupil premium for schools in disadvantages areas will be funded, while cuts of £6 billion to non-front line services will be identified in the current year and Liam Fox has already started his Defence Review.
Political reform is core to the coalition agreement. This includes fixed term parliaments, a referendum bill on AV and a committee on an elected Lords.
A Sustainable Double Act?
The media had their first opportunity to hear from the Prime Minister and his Deputy in a slightly surreal press conference – and mutual love-in – in the gardens of No 10.
To the sound of birdsong, Cameron emphasised that the new coalition would be founded on the guiding principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility. He said that “a new politics in the national interest is more important than the party interest” and noted that Liberal Democrats would be represented at every level in government. Clegg himself will lead on political reform and deputise for Cameron at PMQs.
Tax rises could be a stumbling block. George Osborne will have to find additional funds to pay for the Liberal Democrat proposal to reintroduce the £10,000 income tax threshold. The sacrifice of the cut in employee National Insurance Contribution rises and his headline grabbing proposal to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m will help to go part of the way.
Whilst the AV Referendum has been positioned as a major triumph for the party, it is not a proportional voting system and in Nick Clegg’s own words, only represents a “baby step” in the right direction. Indeed, Electoral Reform Society research suggests that if the last election was rerun under AV, we would still have a hung parliament, albeit one in which the Lib Dems had 22 more seats, ironically mostly at the expense of the Conservative Party.
Whilst there has been much focus over the last few days on the difficulties of blending together the manifestos of two parties that have been fighting a general election campaign, there are many similarities between the two parties’ programmes. In the education sphere, both agree with the need to create a more diverse provider base and to introduce a “pupil premium”. Both agree with the abolition of ID cards. The Conservatives’ welfare reform proposals are likely to be implemented in full.
Compromises have been found on areas of disagreement such as Europe and Trident, with referendums to be held on all future transfers of sovereignty, joining the euro ruled out for this Parliament and commitment to a replacement for Britain’s nuclear deterrent (although no clarity on what form this will take). Liberal Democrat MPs will also be able to abstain on a number of key issues.
Clegg’s controversial amnesty for illegal immigrants that have been in the country for ten years – and played so badly in the last of the televised debates – has been dropped.
Concessions
| Conservative |
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| Liberal Democrat |
|
| Liberal Democrat right to abstain |
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The future for Labour
Labour will now have to regroup and the search for a new leader will begin in earnest. A number of names are already in the frame, and David Miliband declared his candidacy earlier this evening. Two candidates have, however, ruled themselves out – Alan Johnson and Deputy Leader Harriet Harman. Speculation is now set to focus on the intentions of Ed Miliband, ex-health secretary Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and left-winger Jon Cruddas.
A meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party has already taken place and the leadership election will shortly be put in train, with a new leader set to be announced at the Labour Party’s conference in Manchester in September.
Challenges ahead
But Cameron and Clegg have more pressing concerns than the Labour Party in the short-term – the new Government’s first task will be to compile a Queen’s Speech for delivery on 25 May. Expect education, welfare reform and constitutional reform to be at the centre of it.
Looking ahead, both party leaders will have challenges keeping their parties together and finding their feet in government. There will be a lot of disappointed Conservatives without jobs, many of whom will have no prospect of attaining ministerial ranks. The backbenches will include a number of unknown quantities and whilst loyalty will be the order of the day at first, disenchantment could soon set in.
The shift to five year fixed terms parliaments means there will certainly be an election in 2015 – but confidence votes may well see one take place before this…
Tags: Alan Johnson, Andy Burnham, Chris Huhne, Conservatives, Cuts, David Cameron, David Laws, David Miliband, Ed Miliband, George Osborne, Harriet Harman, John Cruddas, Labour, Lib Dems, Michael Gove, Nick Clegg, Tax
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