(By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 11:39PM BST 24 Aug 2008
From Telegraph.co.uk)
The news comes days after the department lost a memory stick containing the details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
It has emerged that officials lost more than 300,000 people's details a month in the year to April.
That came on top of the loss of two CDs containing the entire child benefit database – containing the details of 25 million families – last November. The discs have still not been found.
Home Office data released in response to a question by the Tory peer Lord Hanningfield show that 43 laptops and 94 mobile phones have been lost or stolen at the department over the past three years – 15 laptops and 47 mobiles in 2007; 14 laptops and 10 mobiles in 2006; and 14 laptops and 37 mobiles in 2005.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defence said that almost 600 laptop computers had been stolen in the past decade.
That admission came after Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, had to make a statement to the Commons about the theft of a laptop containing the personal details of 600,000 people from a car in Birmingham.
A Home Office spokesman refused to say what was on the 43 laptops, but added: "We do not believe that any of the lost laptops contained sensitive or classified information."
Lord Hanningfield, the leader of Essex council, demanded an inquiry into what he described as a worrying data lapse. "This is another example of this Government's woeful failure when it comes to data security," he said.
"Given the sensitivity of the Home Office's work, including its lead role in the fight against terrorism, this is all the more worrying.
"This is, of course, also the government department with responsibility for ID cards. There now needs to be an urgent review of what data was lost on these laptops, its sensitivity and possible impact on any work, as well as a wider review of the Home Office's security policy."
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, added: "If the Home Office cannot safeguard such basic equipment, how can they be trusted to deliver ID cards containing the personal data of millions?"
The Home Office said in a statement yesterday: "The Home Office is determined to learn from earlier security breaches in government and is committed to ensuring that our systems and processes to protect personal data are as good as they can be."
Since the loss of details for 25 million child benefit claimants in November, Whitehall departments have begun including information on personal data losses in their annual financial statements.
Among the losses that emerged earlier this week were the National Insurance numbers of 17,000 people and the theft of a laptop containing encrypted details of 17,000 Sats exam markers.
It was also disclosed that the Foreign Office lost information affecting about 190 people, and that there were six occasions when the Department for Transport misplaced personal data, including the records of three million driving test candidates.
Monday, 25 August 2008
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Build up to London 2012 olympics starts now, says Lord Moynihan
(By Tom Knight Last Updated: 8:57PM BST 24 Aug 2008 Telegraph.co.uk)
Team GB'S preparations for London 2012 will start immediately, according to Lord Moynihan, the chairman of the British Olympic Association.
Basking in the glory of Britain's finest performance at the Olympics since the much-smaller Games were staged in London in 1908, Moynihan said: "Not a day can be lost because the work starts tomorrow."
There will be time for reflection and even an open-topped bus parade through London to celebrate Britain's fourth-place finish in Beijing, but Moynihan stressed the need to build on the success that was achieved ahead of schedule.
He added: "Sport has become the unending, unremitting search for perfection and never before have I seen so many silver medallists gutted at not winning gold.
"The funding system in Britain was due to deliver results in 2012. It was not expected in 2008. There will be additional pressure to succeed in London.
"There are nine million tickets to sell for the London Games and the British public will need to see early medals."
The BOA are fast becoming role models for national Olympic associations around the world. Their attention to detail has been one of the secrets of their success in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.
That organised approach will continue and, like UK Sport, the BOA will conduct a review into every sport's performance at these Games to improve for 2012.
Among the changes being considered is the introduction of bonus payments for medallists, similar to those paid in Australia and the United States.
Moynihan confirmed that bonuses were being considered for athletes and coaches but that they remain "a work in progress".
He urged the Government to underwrite funding for Olympic sport for the next four years and called on sports to seek out and recruit the best coaches to enhance Britain's medal prospects.
Team GB'S preparations for London 2012 will start immediately, according to Lord Moynihan, the chairman of the British Olympic Association.
Basking in the glory of Britain's finest performance at the Olympics since the much-smaller Games were staged in London in 1908, Moynihan said: "Not a day can be lost because the work starts tomorrow."
There will be time for reflection and even an open-topped bus parade through London to celebrate Britain's fourth-place finish in Beijing, but Moynihan stressed the need to build on the success that was achieved ahead of schedule.
He added: "Sport has become the unending, unremitting search for perfection and never before have I seen so many silver medallists gutted at not winning gold.
"The funding system in Britain was due to deliver results in 2012. It was not expected in 2008. There will be additional pressure to succeed in London.
"There are nine million tickets to sell for the London Games and the British public will need to see early medals."
The BOA are fast becoming role models for national Olympic associations around the world. Their attention to detail has been one of the secrets of their success in Sydney, Athens and Beijing.
That organised approach will continue and, like UK Sport, the BOA will conduct a review into every sport's performance at these Games to improve for 2012.
Among the changes being considered is the introduction of bonus payments for medallists, similar to those paid in Australia and the United States.
Moynihan confirmed that bonuses were being considered for athletes and coaches but that they remain "a work in progress".
He urged the Government to underwrite funding for Olympic sport for the next four years and called on sports to seek out and recruit the best coaches to enhance Britain's medal prospects.
Friday, 15 August 2008
Penguin on parade: The day they knighted a very special bird
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:52 PM on 15th August 2008
The world’s most decorated penguin p-p-p-picked up its greatest honour to date today - a Knighthood from King Harald of Norway.
In a ceremony at Edinburgh Zoo, involving 130 Norwegian Royal Guardsmen, the bird was entitled Sir Nils Olav.
It was quite a step up for Nils Olav – even though he is already a colonel.
Olav, a king penguin, is the third generation of his kind to enjoy a unique relationship with the Guards, who adopted his predecessor in 1962.
The bird waddled out to the cheers of hundreds of visitors and dignitaries to receive the accolade.
He ‘accepted’ the Knighthood from retired Major Nils Egelien, Vice President of the Norwegian Royal Guard Association.
The majestic bird inspected the line of soldiers before the medal was attached to his wing.
Major General Euan Loudon, chief executive and producer of the Edinburgh Tattoo, performed the Knighthood ceremony upon Nils Olav by waving a sword over the bird’s shoulders in the appropriate manner.
The officer said: ‘I am honoured to have been asked by the Norwegian Guard to perform the promotion ceremony for Nils.’
A musical fanfare from HM King’s Guards Trumpet Corps and a special Royal message from King Harald V were read out to the crowd.
The promotion of the honorary member of The Royal Norwegian Guard was shrouded in secrecy, known only to Norway’s monarch and his closest advisers.
Darren McGarry, Animal Collection Manager at Edinburgh Zoo, said: ‘Nils always recognises the Norwegian Guardsmen when they come.
‘We're excited about his new promotion.’
The King’s Guard, who take part annually in the Edinburgh Tattoo, always make the pilgrimage to the zoo to visit their most unusual comrade.
Last year, they unveiled a 4ft bronze statue in his honour.
The Scandinavians’ association with the zoo’s famous penguins dates back to when Major Egelien was a young lieutenant.
On a return visit, the officer persuaded his regiment to sponsor a king penguin, which they adopted as their mascot.
The penguin’s name combines his Christian name with that of the then king, Olav.
On subsequent visits to the capital, the Norwegians have promoted Nils Olav no fewer than six times.
He has risen from a lowly Lance Corporal in 1962, to Honorary Colonel-in-Chief in 2005.
When the original Nils died in 1993, he was replaced by a new king penguin who was immediately promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major.
In her welcoming address, Lieutenant Colonel Ingrid Margrethe Gjerde joked of the similarities between penguin Nils Olav and the Guardsmen assembled before him for inspection.
She said: ‘The ties between Scotland and Norway are strong, particularly since the time of the Second World War.’
David Windmill, chief executive of the Royal Society of Scotland, the charity that owns Edinburgh Zoo, said: ‘We have a long-standing history with the Norwegian King’s Guard and it is something we are extremely proud of.
‘Edinburgh Zoo is famous for its king penguins and Nils Olav is definitely the most famous of them all.’
Norwegian King’s Guardsman, Captain Rune Wiik added: ‘We are extremely proud of Nils Olav and pleased that an enduring part of the Royal Guard is resident in Scotland helping to further strengthen ties between our two countries.
‘I understand he continues to carry out his duties as Honorary Colonel in Chief in an exemplary fashion and this latest award is clearly very much deserved.’
Last updated at 8:52 PM on 15th August 2008
The world’s most decorated penguin p-p-p-picked up its greatest honour to date today - a Knighthood from King Harald of Norway.
In a ceremony at Edinburgh Zoo, involving 130 Norwegian Royal Guardsmen, the bird was entitled Sir Nils Olav.
It was quite a step up for Nils Olav – even though he is already a colonel.
Olav, a king penguin, is the third generation of his kind to enjoy a unique relationship with the Guards, who adopted his predecessor in 1962.
The bird waddled out to the cheers of hundreds of visitors and dignitaries to receive the accolade.
He ‘accepted’ the Knighthood from retired Major Nils Egelien, Vice President of the Norwegian Royal Guard Association.
The majestic bird inspected the line of soldiers before the medal was attached to his wing.
Major General Euan Loudon, chief executive and producer of the Edinburgh Tattoo, performed the Knighthood ceremony upon Nils Olav by waving a sword over the bird’s shoulders in the appropriate manner.
The officer said: ‘I am honoured to have been asked by the Norwegian Guard to perform the promotion ceremony for Nils.’
A musical fanfare from HM King’s Guards Trumpet Corps and a special Royal message from King Harald V were read out to the crowd.
The promotion of the honorary member of The Royal Norwegian Guard was shrouded in secrecy, known only to Norway’s monarch and his closest advisers.
Darren McGarry, Animal Collection Manager at Edinburgh Zoo, said: ‘Nils always recognises the Norwegian Guardsmen when they come.
‘We're excited about his new promotion.’
The King’s Guard, who take part annually in the Edinburgh Tattoo, always make the pilgrimage to the zoo to visit their most unusual comrade.
Last year, they unveiled a 4ft bronze statue in his honour.
The Scandinavians’ association with the zoo’s famous penguins dates back to when Major Egelien was a young lieutenant.
On a return visit, the officer persuaded his regiment to sponsor a king penguin, which they adopted as their mascot.
The penguin’s name combines his Christian name with that of the then king, Olav.
On subsequent visits to the capital, the Norwegians have promoted Nils Olav no fewer than six times.
He has risen from a lowly Lance Corporal in 1962, to Honorary Colonel-in-Chief in 2005.
When the original Nils died in 1993, he was replaced by a new king penguin who was immediately promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major.
In her welcoming address, Lieutenant Colonel Ingrid Margrethe Gjerde joked of the similarities between penguin Nils Olav and the Guardsmen assembled before him for inspection.
She said: ‘The ties between Scotland and Norway are strong, particularly since the time of the Second World War.’
David Windmill, chief executive of the Royal Society of Scotland, the charity that owns Edinburgh Zoo, said: ‘We have a long-standing history with the Norwegian King’s Guard and it is something we are extremely proud of.
‘Edinburgh Zoo is famous for its king penguins and Nils Olav is definitely the most famous of them all.’
Norwegian King’s Guardsman, Captain Rune Wiik added: ‘We are extremely proud of Nils Olav and pleased that an enduring part of the Royal Guard is resident in Scotland helping to further strengthen ties between our two countries.
‘I understand he continues to carry out his duties as Honorary Colonel in Chief in an exemplary fashion and this latest award is clearly very much deserved.’
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Bank leaves door open for rate cut
Thu Aug 14, 2008 6:40am BST
By Sumeet Desai and Christina Fincher
LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised hopes of an interest rate cut before year-end on Wednesday as it forecast the current record-breaking spike in inflation would reverse sharply as the economy grinds to a halt.
The market reaction was swift. Interest rate futures jumped more than 20 ticks and the pound fell to near two-year lows against the dollar as investors priced in an 80 percent chance of a rate cut by December and further easing after that.
The central bank's new quarterly forecasts showed inflation -- already running at more than double the 2 percent target and the highest since the series began in 1997 -- would leap to around 5 percent this year.
But thereafter, it would fall dramatically as the effect of rising food and fuel prices wane and economic growth dried up.
"It may still -- just -- be summer, but there is a feeling of chill in the economic air," Governor Mervyn King said at a news conference after publication of the Inflation Report.
"The next year will be a difficult one, with inflation high and output broadly flat. But with monetary policy focused on its task of bringing inflation back to the target we will come through that adjustment."
Fears have been growing that Britain is on the brink of its first recession -- two successive quarters of contraction -- since the early 1990s as house prices slump and consumers spend less because rising bills have made it harder to make ends meet.
Figures out on Wednesday showed the number of people on jobless benefit rose by 20,100 in July, the biggest jump since 1992, and wages rose by the weakest rate in five years in June.
"Real wage growth is heavily negative, which coupled with the rise in unemployment will continue to constrain purchasing power," said James Knightley, an economist at ING. "This is very worrying for consumer spending and will help to increase the probability of a technical UK recession even further."
PAIN AHEAD
Under fire for its handling of the economy and desperately in need of growth-boosting rate cuts from the staunchly independent central bank, the government said it would stand by any action the Bank thought necessary.
"The government ... will continue to support the Bank's decisions to ensure inflation comes back to target," finance minister Alistair Darling said.
King said the road ahead would be "painful" but interest rate markets took heart from the Bank expecting inflation to undershoot the target in two years -- the usual horizon it takes for monetary policy changes to affect the economy.
A Reuters poll showed expectations among City economists for lower interest rates by the end of the year were also on the rise. For story on that poll, please click on ID:nLAE000178.
Before the Bank's report, most analysts thought the central bank would hold off from cutting rates because inflation was so high. One member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, Tim Besley, even wanted to raise interest rates last month.
Minutes of last week's meeting when interest rates were held at 5 percent for the fourth month running will not be available for another week but analysts will be focused on whether anyone will have joined MPC member David Blanchflower's call for a cut.
"We had expected the first rate cut to come in Q1 and the risk was a pre-Christmas cut. We now think the risk scenario is the base case and the first cut comes in November," said Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas.
Some economists, however, said it would be difficult for the Bank to cut rates when inflation was so high.
"We expect easing will be mostly backloaded, probably from Q2 2009 onwards given the inflation profile, rather than imminent," said Michael Saunders, economist at Citigroup.
"Of course, delayed easing adds to downside risks to growth, but that may well be necessary to re-anchor inflation expectations and return inflation to target."
By Sumeet Desai and Christina Fincher
LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised hopes of an interest rate cut before year-end on Wednesday as it forecast the current record-breaking spike in inflation would reverse sharply as the economy grinds to a halt.
The market reaction was swift. Interest rate futures jumped more than 20 ticks and the pound fell to near two-year lows against the dollar as investors priced in an 80 percent chance of a rate cut by December and further easing after that.
The central bank's new quarterly forecasts showed inflation -- already running at more than double the 2 percent target and the highest since the series began in 1997 -- would leap to around 5 percent this year.
But thereafter, it would fall dramatically as the effect of rising food and fuel prices wane and economic growth dried up.
"It may still -- just -- be summer, but there is a feeling of chill in the economic air," Governor Mervyn King said at a news conference after publication of the Inflation Report.
"The next year will be a difficult one, with inflation high and output broadly flat. But with monetary policy focused on its task of bringing inflation back to the target we will come through that adjustment."
Fears have been growing that Britain is on the brink of its first recession -- two successive quarters of contraction -- since the early 1990s as house prices slump and consumers spend less because rising bills have made it harder to make ends meet.
Figures out on Wednesday showed the number of people on jobless benefit rose by 20,100 in July, the biggest jump since 1992, and wages rose by the weakest rate in five years in June.
"Real wage growth is heavily negative, which coupled with the rise in unemployment will continue to constrain purchasing power," said James Knightley, an economist at ING. "This is very worrying for consumer spending and will help to increase the probability of a technical UK recession even further."
PAIN AHEAD
Under fire for its handling of the economy and desperately in need of growth-boosting rate cuts from the staunchly independent central bank, the government said it would stand by any action the Bank thought necessary.
"The government ... will continue to support the Bank's decisions to ensure inflation comes back to target," finance minister Alistair Darling said.
King said the road ahead would be "painful" but interest rate markets took heart from the Bank expecting inflation to undershoot the target in two years -- the usual horizon it takes for monetary policy changes to affect the economy.
A Reuters poll showed expectations among City economists for lower interest rates by the end of the year were also on the rise. For story on that poll, please click on ID:nLAE000178.
Before the Bank's report, most analysts thought the central bank would hold off from cutting rates because inflation was so high. One member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, Tim Besley, even wanted to raise interest rates last month.
Minutes of last week's meeting when interest rates were held at 5 percent for the fourth month running will not be available for another week but analysts will be focused on whether anyone will have joined MPC member David Blanchflower's call for a cut.
"We had expected the first rate cut to come in Q1 and the risk was a pre-Christmas cut. We now think the risk scenario is the base case and the first cut comes in November," said Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas.
Some economists, however, said it would be difficult for the Bank to cut rates when inflation was so high.
"We expect easing will be mostly backloaded, probably from Q2 2009 onwards given the inflation profile, rather than imminent," said Michael Saunders, economist at Citigroup.
"Of course, delayed easing adds to downside risks to growth, but that may well be necessary to re-anchor inflation expectations and return inflation to target."
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Unemployment to return to early 1990s misery
telegraph
By Edmund Conway
Economics Editor
The spectre of mass unemployment has returned to haunt the UK after the number of people out of work jumped at the fastest rate for 16 years.
Households must prepare themselves for a repeat of early-1990s unemployment misery, with almost a million people set to lose their jobs in the next 18 months, experts warned.
Some 15,500 people lost their jobs in June, according to the Office for National Statistics. It is the biggest jump since 1992, and means 45,000 people have already lost their jobs since the start of the year.
However, economists warned that worse is to come, as the economy slows sharply in the coming months and possibly dips into recession.
With house prices already falling at the fastest rate since the Great Depression and consumers' disposable incomes dropping sharply, the news about the jobs market will compound consumers' concerns about the state of the economy.
Until recently, most experts had been confident that unemployment would not hit the same peaks reached in the early 1990s recession, where the number out of work rose by one million over the course of three to four years.
However, Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: "The latest labour market figures show that the upward trend in unemployment is picking up pace. Much worse is to come – we expect unemployment to rise by around 900,000 in total by the end of 2010."
The increase would take total unemployment from its current level of 1.6 million to 2.5 million. It will also come as a shock for businesses, which are already preparing for possible redundancies of up to 300,000 in the coming months, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.
Ms Redwood added that the increase in the jobless total would be driven by continued immigration as well as a fall in the supply of jobs available.
The ONS figures do not take into account the recent wave of redundancies within the construction sector, with housebuilders cutting around 5,000 jobs in recent weeks.
The ONS said the overall unemployment rate remained at 5.2 per cent in the three months to May, although this does not reflect the rise in the claimant count in June. However, despite the recent increase in inflation to 3.8 per cent this week, salary growth remains restrained, the ONS figures show.
Wage inflation was also 3.8pc in the three months to May. It may enable the Bank of England to cut interest rates before the end of the year, economists said.
Michael Saunders, chief UK economist at investment bank Citigroup said that the number of job vacancies available had fallen by 7.7 per cent in the past three months - the fastest drop since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
"Worse probably lies ahead," he said. " The early 1990s experience offers a sobering reminder that unemployment tends to lag the economic cycle, and that the scale of job losses can soar far above expectations during downturns.
"We do not, at this stage, expect the current downturn to be as bad as the early 1990s, and hence we do not expect unemployment to soar as sharply as it did then.
"But, even so, with the economy probably slipping into recession now, or about to, we do expect unemployment will rise by about 500,000 people from the recent low over the next two to three years. An extended period of economic difficulties lies ahead."
By Edmund Conway
Economics Editor
The spectre of mass unemployment has returned to haunt the UK after the number of people out of work jumped at the fastest rate for 16 years.
Households must prepare themselves for a repeat of early-1990s unemployment misery, with almost a million people set to lose their jobs in the next 18 months, experts warned.
Some 15,500 people lost their jobs in June, according to the Office for National Statistics. It is the biggest jump since 1992, and means 45,000 people have already lost their jobs since the start of the year.
However, economists warned that worse is to come, as the economy slows sharply in the coming months and possibly dips into recession.
With house prices already falling at the fastest rate since the Great Depression and consumers' disposable incomes dropping sharply, the news about the jobs market will compound consumers' concerns about the state of the economy.
Until recently, most experts had been confident that unemployment would not hit the same peaks reached in the early 1990s recession, where the number out of work rose by one million over the course of three to four years.
However, Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: "The latest labour market figures show that the upward trend in unemployment is picking up pace. Much worse is to come – we expect unemployment to rise by around 900,000 in total by the end of 2010."
The increase would take total unemployment from its current level of 1.6 million to 2.5 million. It will also come as a shock for businesses, which are already preparing for possible redundancies of up to 300,000 in the coming months, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.
Ms Redwood added that the increase in the jobless total would be driven by continued immigration as well as a fall in the supply of jobs available.
The ONS figures do not take into account the recent wave of redundancies within the construction sector, with housebuilders cutting around 5,000 jobs in recent weeks.
The ONS said the overall unemployment rate remained at 5.2 per cent in the three months to May, although this does not reflect the rise in the claimant count in June. However, despite the recent increase in inflation to 3.8 per cent this week, salary growth remains restrained, the ONS figures show.
Wage inflation was also 3.8pc in the three months to May. It may enable the Bank of England to cut interest rates before the end of the year, economists said.
Michael Saunders, chief UK economist at investment bank Citigroup said that the number of job vacancies available had fallen by 7.7 per cent in the past three months - the fastest drop since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
"Worse probably lies ahead," he said. " The early 1990s experience offers a sobering reminder that unemployment tends to lag the economic cycle, and that the scale of job losses can soar far above expectations during downturns.
"We do not, at this stage, expect the current downturn to be as bad as the early 1990s, and hence we do not expect unemployment to soar as sharply as it did then.
"But, even so, with the economy probably slipping into recession now, or about to, we do expect unemployment will rise by about 500,000 people from the recent low over the next two to three years. An extended period of economic difficulties lies ahead."
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Has Labour forgotten the poor?
From Telegraph 6:51PM BST 10/07/2008
More than nine million motorists will face road tax increases of up to £245 under Government reforms of Vehicle Excise Duty, the Treasury has admitted.
Treasury figures show that 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off in 2010/11 when the new measures take effect, despite Gordon Brown’s assurances that “the majority of drivers will benefit from it”.
The news comes as many Britons are struggling to cope with high fuel prices, record grocery bills and rising council tax, and just three months after Gordon Brown was forced to spend £2.6 billion on compensating those hit by the abolition of the 10p tax rate.
How will the reform of VED affect you? Will you be forced to give up your car if it becomes more expensive to tax?
Should the Government abandon environmental taxes in the current economic climate? Or are green taxes fair?
What can Labour do to help people cope with the economic downturn? Has Labour forgotten the poor?
COMMENTS - 27
1. Posted by Edward Michaels on July 10, 2008 09:07 PM
Labour havent forgotten the poor - in other countires - they have never ever had any real interest in the UK.
Their interests, work (?))joking) has always been abroad few years ago they wanted to be in the USSR (or us there) - they tried to assist poor people in Africa spent (wasted) millions - remember the peanuts?
Now of course they are trying to enforce us into the Eu and ensure that their incompetant types (eg. the Welsh geezer and mandelson make money) get jobs.
Plenty more total failures and waste of mony to come - just wait and see!
labourites are just an expensive (money making) incompetant wasters.
Report this comment
2. Posted by karen walker on July 10, 2008 09:07 PM
First the petrol, now the tax, It is alright for the big wigs with plenty of money, but what about us, surviving on less than 20k a year, and daring to buy a car that is 1600, and a 2002 plate ????? !! Get out brown, and let someone do the job that cares about GREAT BRITAIN HA HA what a laugh
Report this comment
3. Posted by Phil Kean on July 10, 2008 08:58 PM
.
To forget,
------------
one has to be cognisant and competent.
This Labour regime are neither. Any pretence that they are worthy of government has all but vanished.
There is no place for outdated and corrupt Labour socialism in 21st century Britain.
Roll on 2010 and the welcome eradication of this Labour regime!
.
Report this comment
4. Posted by keith manton on July 10, 2008 08:52 PM
Of course not, in fact they are creating more every day!
Report this comment
5. Posted by Paul on July 10, 2008 08:50 PM
Stop bombing other countries and bring the money back to England, what a load of politics, this makes me sick but then again who cares for us.
Report this comment
6. Posted by John on July 10, 2008 08:49 PM
"Should the Government abandon environmental taxes?"
LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT.
This is NOT an environmental tax. It's a tax scam to fill the government's coffers. If it were an environmental tax then they would only be raising taxes on purchases of NEW gas guzzlers.
As it stands this is a anti-enviromental tax - since the only thing people caught by it can do is dump their cars either selling them at cut price (since nobody wants them anymore) or literally dumping them. In either case they will buy a new car. These actions will FAR outweigh the CO2 that they would've emitted had they carried on driving the same vehicle.
So stop calling this an environmental or green tax. It just isn't.
Report this comment
7. Posted by Gerard Francomb on July 10, 2008 08:46 PM
VED is not a 'Green Tax'. Petrol duty is. Cars with bigger engines do not necessarily produce more pollution, it depends on how and how far they are driven.
My round trip to work is 5 miles and I would need to be driving a tank to produce as much pollution as a small car doing a round trip of 40 or 50 miles.
The amount of CO2 and other pollutants produced is directly proportional to the amount of fuel used and related to nothing else.
The only cars that should be hit with a high VED are electric ones. Their pollution is produced at the power station and they do not pay any 'Green Tax' on it.
Report this comment
8. Posted by Gil Harding on July 10, 2008 08:45 PM
You can call the whole scurvy bunch all of the worst names you can think of, but they, metaphorically speaking, just reply with that old child's jibe; 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Just don't touch my pension or my expense account'...
No accoutability, no responsibilty, no integrity, but strong on self-interest!
Report this comment
9. Posted by The Trainer on July 10, 2008 08:45 PM
My pensioner father in law drives a car he bought 3 years ago. He manages about 1,500 miles per year. Brown will be charging him approximately �300 per year - whether he drives 1 mile or 50,000. How green is this tax? The eco sin my father in law committed was three years ago, when future VED rates were unknown.
Brown is a simple cheat. He is despised by all. Including pensioners on limited incomes.
Report this comment
10. Posted by J B on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
Politicians care for politicians. Labour politicians pretend to care for the poor but clearly, by their actions (removal of 10% tax threshold, one of many extra taxes), couldn't care less for them.
Report this comment
11. Posted by Kenneth Armitage on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
Has Labour forgotten the poor? Of course they have, if indeed they ever thought about the poorest levels in society anyway! As soon as any political party achieves power they forget entirely the poorest quintile in society and that is why the number of people living in poverty, real and relative, remains at or about 25 to 30 per cent of the population even after a decade of a Labour government.
The reason - pay has increased for the highest paid, in the top quintile and possible the second quintile, at a rate much higher and quicker than the lowest one or two quintiles in society. In addition, Gordon Brown has steadfastly refused to raise the personal allowance to a sensible level to take the poorest and lowest paid out of income taxation to reduce the need for various and nefarious schemes of means-tested form-filling to claim back what they have already pain in taxation, and has consistently refused to restore the link between pensions and pay.
In 2007, almost 13 million people in the UK were living in households below the low income threshold and this equates to approximately more than one fifth (22%) of the population. The most commonly used threshold of low income is a household income that is 60% or less of the average (median) household income in that year. According to the most recent survey by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a single person, the poverty income level is now estimated at �11,000 a year; for a pensioner couple the poverty income level is estimated at �13,900; and, for a married couple with two children the sum jumps to �32,500.
The sums of money referred to for poverty and relative poverty are measured before income tax, council tax and housing costs have been deducted, where housing costs include rents, mortgage interest (but not the repayment of principal), buildings insurance and water charges. They therefore represent what the household has available to spend on everything else it needs, from food and heating to travel and entertainment. The UK has a higher proportion of its population in relative low income than most other EU countries: of the 27 EU countries, only 5 have a higher rate than the UK, they are, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece and Spain; and. the proportion of people living in relative low income in the UK is twice that of the Netherlands, and one-and-half times that of both France and Germany. For the 5th wealthiest nation in the world they are appalling statistics and a national disgrace.
Just to put the figures into perspective, people paid the minimum wage for a 40-hour week are in receipt of �11,208 before income tax and national insurance contributions which reduces to �8,500 once income tax and NI has been deducted, meaning those on the minimum wage are �3,000 a year short of the poverty income level. That is why it is paramount to raise the personal allowance to �11,000 a year.
So, whilst Labour may have partially addressed the subject of poverty among couples with children by increasing the child allowance, raising the child tax credit scheme, increasing the tax credit scheme and introducing the sure start programme they have, deliberately it would seem, ignored the pensioners and the elderly by not restoring the link between pay and pensions and increasing the basic state pension to the poverty income level and ignored all those on low and poor incomes and the minimum wage by not increasing the personal allowance to �11,000 per annum.
Report this comment
12. Posted by RAGE_715 on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
The more tax the governments put on cars, the higher the fuel prices, the more and more ridiculous the insurance.. the less of us will have the freedom of our own vehicles. That way, we are more easily tracked, traced and watched, and have less freedom of movement. If we all then end up using public transport, then we're more easily "watched".
Report this comment
13. Posted by andre on July 10, 2008 08:31 PM
I gave up owning a car 6 months ago because it doesn't make sense to keep lining the treasury's pockets. I knew labour would finish this country off, I am just surprised it took them so long. I don't know anybody who says they able to afford to go out or go on holiday, most people are saying they are going to lose their house or business or both, the rest have moved abroad to escape the ever growing taxes. We pay much more for a much worse service, I wish they would just throw the towel in and call a snap election because I am at the end of my tether, I intend to emigrate as soon as I can find the right position abroad and I suggest your readers do the same.
Report this comment
14. Posted by Alex on July 10, 2008 08:30 PM
Labour hate the poor - always have done. Well we now hate Labour. I'm voting SNP on the 24th. Join me if you have always been a Labour voter. Lets do whatever we can to get rid of this corrupt, wasteful and useless Government.
Report this comment
15. Posted by Strix on July 10, 2008 08:13 PM
Socialists/communists always make people poor and suffering.
I have had the creeps on my skin for almost 65 years.
Report this comment
16. Posted by Diana Davies on July 10, 2008 08:11 PM
I am a 62 year old pensioner and I am still working 16 hours a week part-time. Since the 10p tax band was removed I am �4.00 per week worse off. I drive an old car and will still have to use it to got to work, the emissions will be just the same whatever car tax I pay so how can this help the environment??? Those whom the Gods wish to destroy - they first drive mad and I think I am going crazy!
Report this comment
17. Posted by v on July 10, 2008 08:10 PM
Forgotten the poor? The Marxist scumbags want to steal all of our money and MAKE US POOR!
BRING ON THE REVOLUTION - STOP PAYING COUNCIL TAX NATIONWIDE - SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN
Report this comment
18. Posted by danfrom shelf on July 10, 2008 08:04 PM
Who are they
Report this comment
19. Posted by odin on July 10, 2008 07:57 PM
No, Labour has not forgotten the poor. Labour is making us all poor and the wet Tories will finish the job.
Report this comment
20. Posted by George on July 10, 2008 07:53 PM
Forgotten? Labour never remembered the poor in the fiorst place! To Labour, the poor are a convenient subhuman form of property that they treat as slaves. To Labour the poor, whose votes they feel entitled to by divine right, are a convenient way for labour to get away with spraying their vicious bigotry & intolerance across the political atmosphere.
It suits labour's purposes to keep their feet on the necks of the poor, all the time telling them it's "Vatcher's fault" that they are poor.
Report this comment
21. Posted by David Cage on July 10, 2008 07:49 PM
Many people like me will cut corners. I will now change my tyre at as close as possible to the legal limit instead of doing so at the 3mm which I used to do because it is the point where braking is impaired in the wet.
Report this comment
22. Posted by Edward Ashley-Smith on July 10, 2008 07:42 PM
Inaccurate reporting, warping media comments. -All rubbish. [Yes we are all very poor. Especially OAP's like me. Scrapped my TV & licence. Scrapped my car, which was as good as new]. The national press is gagged and just a propaganda machine. -No news! No Obituary column, nobody died in the last two weeks? Plus Matt is obviously on holiday! On the cammand 'Buck - Up!' -For goodness sake get this show on the road! The Telegraph on line is really poor at present. No intelligent comment. Too many typo's and words left out. It's like reading an article written by an illiterate. So, 'Buck UP!' I have friends in 'The Principality of Great Missenden and Prestwood,' who agree with me. So it is not just me?
Report this comment
23. Posted by mike on July 10, 2008 07:42 PM
Labour have totally forgot the working poor because they don't count. They have never cared about them. Mrs T did, right to buy the first choice with national sell offs freedom of choice, thrift. What as Labour or Nu-Lab ever done for the working poor? Tax, tax and more tax and hurt. What has Nu-Lab done for the workshy, lazy, cheats and so called asylum seeker! Nu-Lab have given more and more to free-loaders and taken more and more from the low paid who cannot hurt Nu-Lab even if it had a choice and boy do they know it.
Report this comment
24. Posted by Dave in Notts on July 10, 2008 07:38 PM
Posted by F. and U. Adenufyet on July 10, 2008 07:17 PM
"...and 43% from 100% is 57% so, according to the facts you have given me, he is actually right. "
Er...no
What if it's fiscally neutral for 50 percent and only 7 percent are better off?
Net result: Far more people worse off than better off.
Good job you didn't use a proper name, you'd have looked a right old berk wouldn't you?
Report this comment
25. Posted by Paul J. Weighell on July 10, 2008 07:27 PM
Math not too good at the Telegraph eh? If 43% per cent of motorists are worse off then the other 57% majority are not. For once then Brown was in fact correct. Unusual I grant but this time the numbers seem quite clear...
Report this comment
26. Posted by Tim on July 10, 2008 07:19 PM
This clown just hasn't got a clue has he? The sooner he goes, the better.
Report this comment
27. Posted by F. and U. Adenufyet on July 10, 2008 07:17 PM
Treasury figures show that 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off in 2010/11 when the new measures take effect, despite Gordon Brown�s assurances that �the majority of drivers will benefit from it�.
Hmmmm.
Now, let me get this straight. Brown trout says that the majority of drivers will benefit from it and 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off.
I've just checked my calculator and 43% from 100% is 57% so, according to the facts you have given me, he is actually right.
Surely there are far easier targets to snipe at like treason.
More than nine million motorists will face road tax increases of up to £245 under Government reforms of Vehicle Excise Duty, the Treasury has admitted.
Treasury figures show that 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off in 2010/11 when the new measures take effect, despite Gordon Brown’s assurances that “the majority of drivers will benefit from it”.
The news comes as many Britons are struggling to cope with high fuel prices, record grocery bills and rising council tax, and just three months after Gordon Brown was forced to spend £2.6 billion on compensating those hit by the abolition of the 10p tax rate.
How will the reform of VED affect you? Will you be forced to give up your car if it becomes more expensive to tax?
Should the Government abandon environmental taxes in the current economic climate? Or are green taxes fair?
What can Labour do to help people cope with the economic downturn? Has Labour forgotten the poor?
COMMENTS - 27
1. Posted by Edward Michaels on July 10, 2008 09:07 PM
Labour havent forgotten the poor - in other countires - they have never ever had any real interest in the UK.
Their interests, work (?))joking) has always been abroad few years ago they wanted to be in the USSR (or us there) - they tried to assist poor people in Africa spent (wasted) millions - remember the peanuts?
Now of course they are trying to enforce us into the Eu and ensure that their incompetant types (eg. the Welsh geezer and mandelson make money) get jobs.
Plenty more total failures and waste of mony to come - just wait and see!
labourites are just an expensive (money making) incompetant wasters.
Report this comment
2. Posted by karen walker on July 10, 2008 09:07 PM
First the petrol, now the tax, It is alright for the big wigs with plenty of money, but what about us, surviving on less than 20k a year, and daring to buy a car that is 1600, and a 2002 plate ????? !! Get out brown, and let someone do the job that cares about GREAT BRITAIN HA HA what a laugh
Report this comment
3. Posted by Phil Kean on July 10, 2008 08:58 PM
.
To forget,
------------
one has to be cognisant and competent.
This Labour regime are neither. Any pretence that they are worthy of government has all but vanished.
There is no place for outdated and corrupt Labour socialism in 21st century Britain.
Roll on 2010 and the welcome eradication of this Labour regime!
.
Report this comment
4. Posted by keith manton on July 10, 2008 08:52 PM
Of course not, in fact they are creating more every day!
Report this comment
5. Posted by Paul on July 10, 2008 08:50 PM
Stop bombing other countries and bring the money back to England, what a load of politics, this makes me sick but then again who cares for us.
Report this comment
6. Posted by John on July 10, 2008 08:49 PM
"Should the Government abandon environmental taxes?"
LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT.
This is NOT an environmental tax. It's a tax scam to fill the government's coffers. If it were an environmental tax then they would only be raising taxes on purchases of NEW gas guzzlers.
As it stands this is a anti-enviromental tax - since the only thing people caught by it can do is dump their cars either selling them at cut price (since nobody wants them anymore) or literally dumping them. In either case they will buy a new car. These actions will FAR outweigh the CO2 that they would've emitted had they carried on driving the same vehicle.
So stop calling this an environmental or green tax. It just isn't.
Report this comment
7. Posted by Gerard Francomb on July 10, 2008 08:46 PM
VED is not a 'Green Tax'. Petrol duty is. Cars with bigger engines do not necessarily produce more pollution, it depends on how and how far they are driven.
My round trip to work is 5 miles and I would need to be driving a tank to produce as much pollution as a small car doing a round trip of 40 or 50 miles.
The amount of CO2 and other pollutants produced is directly proportional to the amount of fuel used and related to nothing else.
The only cars that should be hit with a high VED are electric ones. Their pollution is produced at the power station and they do not pay any 'Green Tax' on it.
Report this comment
8. Posted by Gil Harding on July 10, 2008 08:45 PM
You can call the whole scurvy bunch all of the worst names you can think of, but they, metaphorically speaking, just reply with that old child's jibe; 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Just don't touch my pension or my expense account'...
No accoutability, no responsibilty, no integrity, but strong on self-interest!
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9. Posted by The Trainer on July 10, 2008 08:45 PM
My pensioner father in law drives a car he bought 3 years ago. He manages about 1,500 miles per year. Brown will be charging him approximately �300 per year - whether he drives 1 mile or 50,000. How green is this tax? The eco sin my father in law committed was three years ago, when future VED rates were unknown.
Brown is a simple cheat. He is despised by all. Including pensioners on limited incomes.
Report this comment
10. Posted by J B on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
Politicians care for politicians. Labour politicians pretend to care for the poor but clearly, by their actions (removal of 10% tax threshold, one of many extra taxes), couldn't care less for them.
Report this comment
11. Posted by Kenneth Armitage on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
Has Labour forgotten the poor? Of course they have, if indeed they ever thought about the poorest levels in society anyway! As soon as any political party achieves power they forget entirely the poorest quintile in society and that is why the number of people living in poverty, real and relative, remains at or about 25 to 30 per cent of the population even after a decade of a Labour government.
The reason - pay has increased for the highest paid, in the top quintile and possible the second quintile, at a rate much higher and quicker than the lowest one or two quintiles in society. In addition, Gordon Brown has steadfastly refused to raise the personal allowance to a sensible level to take the poorest and lowest paid out of income taxation to reduce the need for various and nefarious schemes of means-tested form-filling to claim back what they have already pain in taxation, and has consistently refused to restore the link between pensions and pay.
In 2007, almost 13 million people in the UK were living in households below the low income threshold and this equates to approximately more than one fifth (22%) of the population. The most commonly used threshold of low income is a household income that is 60% or less of the average (median) household income in that year. According to the most recent survey by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a single person, the poverty income level is now estimated at �11,000 a year; for a pensioner couple the poverty income level is estimated at �13,900; and, for a married couple with two children the sum jumps to �32,500.
The sums of money referred to for poverty and relative poverty are measured before income tax, council tax and housing costs have been deducted, where housing costs include rents, mortgage interest (but not the repayment of principal), buildings insurance and water charges. They therefore represent what the household has available to spend on everything else it needs, from food and heating to travel and entertainment. The UK has a higher proportion of its population in relative low income than most other EU countries: of the 27 EU countries, only 5 have a higher rate than the UK, they are, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece and Spain; and. the proportion of people living in relative low income in the UK is twice that of the Netherlands, and one-and-half times that of both France and Germany. For the 5th wealthiest nation in the world they are appalling statistics and a national disgrace.
Just to put the figures into perspective, people paid the minimum wage for a 40-hour week are in receipt of �11,208 before income tax and national insurance contributions which reduces to �8,500 once income tax and NI has been deducted, meaning those on the minimum wage are �3,000 a year short of the poverty income level. That is why it is paramount to raise the personal allowance to �11,000 a year.
So, whilst Labour may have partially addressed the subject of poverty among couples with children by increasing the child allowance, raising the child tax credit scheme, increasing the tax credit scheme and introducing the sure start programme they have, deliberately it would seem, ignored the pensioners and the elderly by not restoring the link between pay and pensions and increasing the basic state pension to the poverty income level and ignored all those on low and poor incomes and the minimum wage by not increasing the personal allowance to �11,000 per annum.
Report this comment
12. Posted by RAGE_715 on July 10, 2008 08:44 PM
The more tax the governments put on cars, the higher the fuel prices, the more and more ridiculous the insurance.. the less of us will have the freedom of our own vehicles. That way, we are more easily tracked, traced and watched, and have less freedom of movement. If we all then end up using public transport, then we're more easily "watched".
Report this comment
13. Posted by andre on July 10, 2008 08:31 PM
I gave up owning a car 6 months ago because it doesn't make sense to keep lining the treasury's pockets. I knew labour would finish this country off, I am just surprised it took them so long. I don't know anybody who says they able to afford to go out or go on holiday, most people are saying they are going to lose their house or business or both, the rest have moved abroad to escape the ever growing taxes. We pay much more for a much worse service, I wish they would just throw the towel in and call a snap election because I am at the end of my tether, I intend to emigrate as soon as I can find the right position abroad and I suggest your readers do the same.
Report this comment
14. Posted by Alex on July 10, 2008 08:30 PM
Labour hate the poor - always have done. Well we now hate Labour. I'm voting SNP on the 24th. Join me if you have always been a Labour voter. Lets do whatever we can to get rid of this corrupt, wasteful and useless Government.
Report this comment
15. Posted by Strix on July 10, 2008 08:13 PM
Socialists/communists always make people poor and suffering.
I have had the creeps on my skin for almost 65 years.
Report this comment
16. Posted by Diana Davies on July 10, 2008 08:11 PM
I am a 62 year old pensioner and I am still working 16 hours a week part-time. Since the 10p tax band was removed I am �4.00 per week worse off. I drive an old car and will still have to use it to got to work, the emissions will be just the same whatever car tax I pay so how can this help the environment??? Those whom the Gods wish to destroy - they first drive mad and I think I am going crazy!
Report this comment
17. Posted by v on July 10, 2008 08:10 PM
Forgotten the poor? The Marxist scumbags want to steal all of our money and MAKE US POOR!
BRING ON THE REVOLUTION - STOP PAYING COUNCIL TAX NATIONWIDE - SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN
Report this comment
18. Posted by danfrom shelf on July 10, 2008 08:04 PM
Who are they
Report this comment
19. Posted by odin on July 10, 2008 07:57 PM
No, Labour has not forgotten the poor. Labour is making us all poor and the wet Tories will finish the job.
Report this comment
20. Posted by George on July 10, 2008 07:53 PM
Forgotten? Labour never remembered the poor in the fiorst place! To Labour, the poor are a convenient subhuman form of property that they treat as slaves. To Labour the poor, whose votes they feel entitled to by divine right, are a convenient way for labour to get away with spraying their vicious bigotry & intolerance across the political atmosphere.
It suits labour's purposes to keep their feet on the necks of the poor, all the time telling them it's "Vatcher's fault" that they are poor.
Report this comment
21. Posted by David Cage on July 10, 2008 07:49 PM
Many people like me will cut corners. I will now change my tyre at as close as possible to the legal limit instead of doing so at the 3mm which I used to do because it is the point where braking is impaired in the wet.
Report this comment
22. Posted by Edward Ashley-Smith on July 10, 2008 07:42 PM
Inaccurate reporting, warping media comments. -All rubbish. [Yes we are all very poor. Especially OAP's like me. Scrapped my TV & licence. Scrapped my car, which was as good as new]. The national press is gagged and just a propaganda machine. -No news! No Obituary column, nobody died in the last two weeks? Plus Matt is obviously on holiday! On the cammand 'Buck - Up!' -For goodness sake get this show on the road! The Telegraph on line is really poor at present. No intelligent comment. Too many typo's and words left out. It's like reading an article written by an illiterate. So, 'Buck UP!' I have friends in 'The Principality of Great Missenden and Prestwood,' who agree with me. So it is not just me?
Report this comment
23. Posted by mike on July 10, 2008 07:42 PM
Labour have totally forgot the working poor because they don't count. They have never cared about them. Mrs T did, right to buy the first choice with national sell offs freedom of choice, thrift. What as Labour or Nu-Lab ever done for the working poor? Tax, tax and more tax and hurt. What has Nu-Lab done for the workshy, lazy, cheats and so called asylum seeker! Nu-Lab have given more and more to free-loaders and taken more and more from the low paid who cannot hurt Nu-Lab even if it had a choice and boy do they know it.
Report this comment
24. Posted by Dave in Notts on July 10, 2008 07:38 PM
Posted by F. and U. Adenufyet on July 10, 2008 07:17 PM
"...and 43% from 100% is 57% so, according to the facts you have given me, he is actually right. "
Er...no
What if it's fiscally neutral for 50 percent and only 7 percent are better off?
Net result: Far more people worse off than better off.
Good job you didn't use a proper name, you'd have looked a right old berk wouldn't you?
Report this comment
25. Posted by Paul J. Weighell on July 10, 2008 07:27 PM
Math not too good at the Telegraph eh? If 43% per cent of motorists are worse off then the other 57% majority are not. For once then Brown was in fact correct. Unusual I grant but this time the numbers seem quite clear...
Report this comment
26. Posted by Tim on July 10, 2008 07:19 PM
This clown just hasn't got a clue has he? The sooner he goes, the better.
Report this comment
27. Posted by F. and U. Adenufyet on July 10, 2008 07:17 PM
Treasury figures show that 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off in 2010/11 when the new measures take effect, despite Gordon Brown�s assurances that �the majority of drivers will benefit from it�.
Hmmmm.
Now, let me get this straight. Brown trout says that the majority of drivers will benefit from it and 43 per cent of motorists will be worse off.
I've just checked my calculator and 43% from 100% is 57% so, according to the facts you have given me, he is actually right.
Surely there are far easier targets to snipe at like treason.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Brown attacked over road tax plan
4 June 2008 19:23 UK
David Cameron has told Gordon Brown he will be ousted if he does not drop his "deeply unpopular" plans for higher road tax on more polluting cars.
In angry question time exchanges, he challenged Mr Brown: "Don't you understand that if you don't get rid of it, they will get rid of you?"
But the PM said the Tory leader sounded "more like a used car salesman".
Some green groups say the tax should apply to new cars only, rather than all cars bought since 2001.
Owners of some of the oldest cars could face a tax rise of as much as £200 - a move which the Conservatives and many Labour MPs say will hit poorer drivers the hardest.
Mr Brown insisted that 24 of the top 30 models of car would incur the same vehicle excise duty or lower.
But Mr Cameron hit back: "What you are doing is treating the Ford Focus as one model - in fact there are 40 models of the Ford Focus. You've got the saloon and the estate."
He said owners of only three of these 40 models would be better off. "When are you going to stop using such dodgy statistics to back up your figures?"
And as Labour MPs jeered, Mr Cameron quipped: "I don't know why you're all shouting at me - it's the prime minister who's given you the lowest poll rating since Michael Foot."
'Stealth tax'
Mr Brown, who taunted the Tory leader for riding his bike to work while a car followed with his bags, said: "When are the Conservative Party going to be honest when they say they support green taxes and then they run away from everyone of them?
"You are sounding more and more like a used car salesman today."
Mr Cameron replied: "It's not my backbenchers who are telling me to get on my bike."
He said the road tax rise was "not a green tax, it's a stealth tax". "What on earth is green about taxing someone who bought a Ford Mondeo five years ago?"
Mr Brown replied that the shake up of vehicle excise duty would save 1.3m tonnes of CO2 and increase the number of clean cars.
But speaking to the BBC later, Labour MP Ronnie Campbell said up to 80 Labour MPs were unhappy about the plans and urged Mr Brown to look at the plans again.
He fears they could provoke a backlash similar to that against the abolition of the 10p tax rate.
"This affects working people with second-hand cars. When they have to come next year and renew their road tax, they are going to get a pretty big shock when they have got another £100, £150 to £200 to pay," he said.
"We haven't got a problem with green taxes but they have got to be fair and the retrospective bit of this tax is not fair."
David Cameron has told Gordon Brown he will be ousted if he does not drop his "deeply unpopular" plans for higher road tax on more polluting cars.
In angry question time exchanges, he challenged Mr Brown: "Don't you understand that if you don't get rid of it, they will get rid of you?"
But the PM said the Tory leader sounded "more like a used car salesman".
Some green groups say the tax should apply to new cars only, rather than all cars bought since 2001.
Owners of some of the oldest cars could face a tax rise of as much as £200 - a move which the Conservatives and many Labour MPs say will hit poorer drivers the hardest.
Mr Brown insisted that 24 of the top 30 models of car would incur the same vehicle excise duty or lower.
But Mr Cameron hit back: "What you are doing is treating the Ford Focus as one model - in fact there are 40 models of the Ford Focus. You've got the saloon and the estate."
He said owners of only three of these 40 models would be better off. "When are you going to stop using such dodgy statistics to back up your figures?"
And as Labour MPs jeered, Mr Cameron quipped: "I don't know why you're all shouting at me - it's the prime minister who's given you the lowest poll rating since Michael Foot."
'Stealth tax'
Mr Brown, who taunted the Tory leader for riding his bike to work while a car followed with his bags, said: "When are the Conservative Party going to be honest when they say they support green taxes and then they run away from everyone of them?
"You are sounding more and more like a used car salesman today."
Mr Cameron replied: "It's not my backbenchers who are telling me to get on my bike."
He said the road tax rise was "not a green tax, it's a stealth tax". "What on earth is green about taxing someone who bought a Ford Mondeo five years ago?"
Mr Brown replied that the shake up of vehicle excise duty would save 1.3m tonnes of CO2 and increase the number of clean cars.
But speaking to the BBC later, Labour MP Ronnie Campbell said up to 80 Labour MPs were unhappy about the plans and urged Mr Brown to look at the plans again.
He fears they could provoke a backlash similar to that against the abolition of the 10p tax rate.
"This affects working people with second-hand cars. When they have to come next year and renew their road tax, they are going to get a pretty big shock when they have got another £100, £150 to £200 to pay," he said.
"We haven't got a problem with green taxes but they have got to be fair and the retrospective bit of this tax is not fair."
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Two BA chiefs lose jobs over Terminal 5 mess
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Two British Airways executives lost their jobs yesterday as the airline tried to quell public anger stemming from the shambolic opening of Heathrow's long-awaited Terminal 5.
A week after BA cancelled the transfer of almost all its long-haul flights from Terminal 4 because of continuing problems at the new £4.3bn facility, the airline announced that the operations director Gareth Kirkwood and the customer services director David Noyes would be "leaving the company".
The former national flag-carrier refused to say whether they had been sacked or left of their own accord but explicitly linked their departure to the debacle at the new terminal.
T5 was meant to showcase the future of air travel in the 21st century when it opened on 27 March but its sophisticated baggage system failed, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of bags and the cancellation of hundreds of flights. BA was forced into trucking passengers' luggage to a sorting centre in Italy.
At an upbeat media conference given by BA and the Heathrow operator BAA before the opening, Mr Noyes insisted that the project was going to be "a fantastic facility".
Travellers queuing at check-in would not expect to have more than one person in front of them, he said, and the new baggage system would mean BA would "really improve its baggage performance". He told reporters: "We are confident that this building is operationally ready."
But when T5 opened, staff failed to turn up, or turned up late, blaming problems getting through security and bags piled up because there was no one to haul them around.
Despite obvious evidence to the contrary in the form of queues of furious and confused customers, Mr Kirkwood insisted T5's opening day had been a success, before slipping through a side door. He had been working on the project for 18 months.
As pressure continued to whirl around the BA chief executive Willie Walsh yesterday, BA issued a terse three-sentence statement to the press. It read: "British Airways has announced today that Gareth Kirkwood, director of operations, and David Noyes, director of customer services, will be leaving the company.
"The airline is looking to appoint a chief operations officer to combine both roles. The departures follow the airline's move to Terminal 5."
The problems at T5 have been so severe some insurers including Direct Line and Tesco, have stopped offering cover for lost luggage or delayed flights.
BA was able to run a full service at T5 only last week, and a planned 30 April transfer to the terminal of long-haul Heathrow flights was put back to an unspecified date in June. The delay has angered rival carriers, many of whom were scheduled to move into Terminal 4 after BA had left.
Mr Walsh announced the switchover delay last week, and said he would not have been happy to move BA's short-haul operation into T5 if he had not been confident T5 would be a success. He took responsibility for the problems, saying that its opening was not the company's finest hour.
John Strickland, director at the air transport consultancy JLS, told the BBC there seemed to be "a lack of communication about the problems involved in the run-up to the opening".
BA has admitted the fiasco is likely to cost the airline £16m. Its shares fell 3 per cent to a 12-month low.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Two British Airways executives lost their jobs yesterday as the airline tried to quell public anger stemming from the shambolic opening of Heathrow's long-awaited Terminal 5.
A week after BA cancelled the transfer of almost all its long-haul flights from Terminal 4 because of continuing problems at the new £4.3bn facility, the airline announced that the operations director Gareth Kirkwood and the customer services director David Noyes would be "leaving the company".
The former national flag-carrier refused to say whether they had been sacked or left of their own accord but explicitly linked their departure to the debacle at the new terminal.
T5 was meant to showcase the future of air travel in the 21st century when it opened on 27 March but its sophisticated baggage system failed, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of bags and the cancellation of hundreds of flights. BA was forced into trucking passengers' luggage to a sorting centre in Italy.
At an upbeat media conference given by BA and the Heathrow operator BAA before the opening, Mr Noyes insisted that the project was going to be "a fantastic facility".
Travellers queuing at check-in would not expect to have more than one person in front of them, he said, and the new baggage system would mean BA would "really improve its baggage performance". He told reporters: "We are confident that this building is operationally ready."
But when T5 opened, staff failed to turn up, or turned up late, blaming problems getting through security and bags piled up because there was no one to haul them around.
Despite obvious evidence to the contrary in the form of queues of furious and confused customers, Mr Kirkwood insisted T5's opening day had been a success, before slipping through a side door. He had been working on the project for 18 months.
As pressure continued to whirl around the BA chief executive Willie Walsh yesterday, BA issued a terse three-sentence statement to the press. It read: "British Airways has announced today that Gareth Kirkwood, director of operations, and David Noyes, director of customer services, will be leaving the company.
"The airline is looking to appoint a chief operations officer to combine both roles. The departures follow the airline's move to Terminal 5."
The problems at T5 have been so severe some insurers including Direct Line and Tesco, have stopped offering cover for lost luggage or delayed flights.
BA was able to run a full service at T5 only last week, and a planned 30 April transfer to the terminal of long-haul Heathrow flights was put back to an unspecified date in June. The delay has angered rival carriers, many of whom were scheduled to move into Terminal 4 after BA had left.
Mr Walsh announced the switchover delay last week, and said he would not have been happy to move BA's short-haul operation into T5 if he had not been confident T5 would be a success. He took responsibility for the problems, saying that its opening was not the company's finest hour.
John Strickland, director at the air transport consultancy JLS, told the BBC there seemed to be "a lack of communication about the problems involved in the run-up to the opening".
BA has admitted the fiasco is likely to cost the airline £16m. Its shares fell 3 per cent to a 12-month low.
Saturday, 12 April 2008
UK's Brown vows new measures to pass on rate cuts
LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised new measures to ensure that Bank of England interest rate cuts are passed on to mortgage holders.
A global lending squeeze has made it harder for banks to raise funds on financial markets, forcing mortgage lenders to toughen up their loan terms and raising the risk of a sharp housing market downturn and economic slowdown in Britain.
"Although the Bank of England has cut rates in recent months, the banks have not always been passing those reductions to their customers," Brown said in an article for Sunday's News of the World tabloid newspaper.
He said Finance Minister Alistair Darling will be meeting with the main mortgage lenders to discuss what further steps can be taken.
Brown, whose comments were released on Saturday by the newspaper, promised "new measures to ensure those lower interest rates are passed on to mortgage holders."
On Friday, Britain's mortgage lenders called on the "cautious and slow" Bank of England to increase efforts immediately to ease the credit crunch, warning of a danger of home loans halving from last year's levels.
"There is a real and immediate need for broader-based action than we have seen to date," Steven Crawshaw, chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), said in a speech in London.
The BoE has made funds available to try and ease the crunch and has cut interest rates three times since December, but policymakers are wary of rescuing financial institutions from the consequences of their own investment decisions.
Brown wrote: "The Bank of England is injecting an additional 15 billion pounds. We need to do more to see this feed through to improved availability of mortgage lending," he wrote.
Brown called for greater transparency.
"If the world's largest banks could come together quickly and agree as a group to come clean about the potential bad debts they face, we could reduce the uncertainty and risk they face and restore confidence back into the markets," he wrote.
But he insisted that the soaring price of debt would not prevent the government from borrowing money itself to carry out his spending plans.
"We are able to stick to our public spending plans for the next three years because Britain has lower levels of government debt than most of our competitors. This means the government can borrow more for the next few years without threatening our economic stability," he wrote. (Reporting by Paul Majendie; Editing by Jon Boyle)
A global lending squeeze has made it harder for banks to raise funds on financial markets, forcing mortgage lenders to toughen up their loan terms and raising the risk of a sharp housing market downturn and economic slowdown in Britain.
"Although the Bank of England has cut rates in recent months, the banks have not always been passing those reductions to their customers," Brown said in an article for Sunday's News of the World tabloid newspaper.
He said Finance Minister Alistair Darling will be meeting with the main mortgage lenders to discuss what further steps can be taken.
Brown, whose comments were released on Saturday by the newspaper, promised "new measures to ensure those lower interest rates are passed on to mortgage holders."
On Friday, Britain's mortgage lenders called on the "cautious and slow" Bank of England to increase efforts immediately to ease the credit crunch, warning of a danger of home loans halving from last year's levels.
"There is a real and immediate need for broader-based action than we have seen to date," Steven Crawshaw, chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), said in a speech in London.
The BoE has made funds available to try and ease the crunch and has cut interest rates three times since December, but policymakers are wary of rescuing financial institutions from the consequences of their own investment decisions.
Brown wrote: "The Bank of England is injecting an additional 15 billion pounds. We need to do more to see this feed through to improved availability of mortgage lending," he wrote.
Brown called for greater transparency.
"If the world's largest banks could come together quickly and agree as a group to come clean about the potential bad debts they face, we could reduce the uncertainty and risk they face and restore confidence back into the markets," he wrote.
But he insisted that the soaring price of debt would not prevent the government from borrowing money itself to carry out his spending plans.
"We are able to stick to our public spending plans for the next three years because Britain has lower levels of government debt than most of our competitors. This means the government can borrow more for the next few years without threatening our economic stability," he wrote. (Reporting by Paul Majendie; Editing by Jon Boyle)
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