Liebrary: PFI saves us virtually nothing, if you believe the NAO’s figures. If you believe the Commons Treasury Committee, it costs us a vast amount that nobody has yet quantified

Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) were first used by the Conservatives in 1992, were enthusiastically embraced by Labour when they came into power in 1997, and continue to be cuddled and kissed by the coalition government of 2010. PFI involves the government entering into contracts with the private sector, where public infrastructure (hospitals, schools etc) are handed to the private sector for development and management and effectively rented back. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) helpfully explains this: "The private finance initiative...

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U-turn: Osborne will, after all, cap the cost of payday loans. What’s made him change his mind?

Fee and Chris explain it all to KJ...SOURCE GUARDIAN: U-turn: cap on Payday loans unveiled by George OsborneAnnouncing a major and politically significant U-turn, George Osborne said the cap on the overall cost of credit was the next logical step as the coalition sought to regulate what had been a wholly unregulated market. The timing of the U-turn led observers to conclude that politics as much as policy had driven the decision. Both the government and the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had been resisting the move despite...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 28th November)

Energy row erupts as winter deaths spiral 29% to a four year high of 31,000Campaigners say Government should be "ashamed" as official figures reveal thousands of over 75 year-olds perished in Britain during the coldest winter for nearly 50 years. Dot Gibson, national secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said "How can colder Scandinavian countries avoid this annual toll while we simply wring our hands?” Ed Matthew of the Energy Bill Revolution campaign group said it was mystifying that Germany could "retro fit" a quarter of a million...

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Graphs at a glance: the regional impact of excessive debt

In November 2013 The Money Advice Service, set up by the UK government, released a report on the debt burden. The report states: Across the UK approximately 8.8 million people are over-indebted. These are individuals who have been at least three months behind with their bills in the last six months or have said that they feel their debts are a heavy burden. This large and diverse group represents 18% of the UK adult population Most startling is the concentration of debt stress in certain cities and certain regions. In areas more than 4 in 10 people...

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RBS accused of making money by forcing small and medium-sized businesses into bankruptcy

SOURCE GUARDIAN: RBS accused of pushing small businesses to the edge to boost profitsCity regulators have been handed a dossier of evidence compiled by an adviser to Vince Cable which claims that Royal Bank of Scotland was deliberately wrecking viable small businesses to make profits for the bailed out bank. Cable, the business secretary – a long-time critic of the banking industry's lending practices – said some of the allegations were so serious that he had handed the report, compiled by businessman Lawrence Tomlinson, to the regulators and the...

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Graphs at a glance - Who do MPs represent? What did they do before becoming MPs?

In an earlier post we published graphs showing the unrepresentative number of private school and Oxbridge types among our MPs. One could argue that going to private school and Oxbridge is largely an accident of birth. Your parents need to be able to afford the fees to get into private school, and that gives you a great advantage getting into Oxbridge (UK students from private schools (6% of all students) make up 42.5% of undergraduates at Oxford and 36.7% at Cambridge). On the other hand, what you choose to do for a living is down to you.According...

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Liebrary: Does Government "Help To Buy" help house buyers on modest incomes get 95% mortgages? Shelter, the housing charity, reveals that people on average incomes can't actually afford repayments on 95% mortgages.

The Conservative led government's "Help To Buy" provides £12 billion of guarantees allowing people to buy houses with just a 5% deposit. This government guarantee enables them to take out a 95% mortgage. We pointed out in an earlier post that this subsidy is available to people buying homes for up to £600,000 - i.e. not aimed at those on modest incomes, nor at first-time-buyers.We were scolded by some, who said that while £600,000 was the upper limit the subsidy was also available for those on modest and low incomes aspiring to less than a...

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Tory leak says the prime minister is going round Number 10 saying: 'We have got to get rid of all this green crap!'

SOURCE GUARDIAN: No 10 pours cold water on claim David Cameron wants to 'get rid of green crap'Downing Street has said it does not recognise reports that David Cameron ordered aides to "get rid of all the green crap" from energy bills in a drive to bring down costs. According the Sun, the prime minister used the direct language to dismiss green levies, which go towards paying for renewables and helping the poor cut their usage. He has already promised to roll back green costs, which currently make up £112 of the average bill, over concerns...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 21st November)

Government admits fiddling figures to hide failings of fit for work testWork and Pensions Select Committee member Sheila Gilmore MP has today revealed that the number of sick and disabled people wrongly declared ‘Fit for Work’ by a Government benefits test could be far higher than previously thought. This followed a letter from Tory Work and Pensions Minister Esther McVey in which she admitted figures are ‘not clear’ and promised to ‘ensure greater clarity in future’. Gilmore said: “Up to now we thought that the assessment was getting about one...

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At the lavish annual Lord Mayor's Banquet, Cameron says Britain needs cuts. Permanently

SOURCE GUARDIAN DAILY MAIL: Has Cameron just admitted Austerity is a cover for permanent cuts?David Cameron said, in his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, that the government is to forge a "leaner, more efficient state" on a permanent basis. He signalled he had no intention of resuming spending once the structural deficit has been eliminated. This is a clear change to claims made after the last general election. In his New Year's message issued on 31 December 2010, he said: "I didn't come into politics to make cuts. Neither did...

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Graphs at a glance - Who does Parliament actually represent?

Normal 0 As we watch the government make our lives harder with cuts in pay, pensions, benefits, the creation of 'two tier' services and generally soaring inequality we tend to forget that it is we who put them there. They are not our rulers, they are our representatives.Rulers rule in their own interests. They hold their power and wealth by force of law and arms. The spoon belongs to them, and they ladle out goodies to whom they wish. Representatives in a democracy rule in the interests of those they represent. They hold their power because...

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On election, Cameron said the cuts were temporary, and not ideological. Now he’s saying they’re permanent, and ideological

Chris meets an enthusiastic supporter of the lean state...SOURCE GUARDIAN DAILY MAIL: Has Cameron just admitted Austerity is a cover for permanent cuts?David Cameron said, in his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, that the government is to forge a "leaner, more efficient state" on a permanent basis. He signalled he had no intention of resuming spending once the structural deficit has been eliminated. This is a clear change to claims made after the last general election. In his New Year's message issued on 31 December 2010, he said:...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 14th November)

Has Cameron just admitted Austerity is a cover for permanent cuts?David Cameron said, in his speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, that the government is to forge a "leaner, more efficient state" on a permanent basis. He signalled he had no intention of resuming spending once the structural deficit has been eliminated. This is a clear change to claims made after the last general election. In his New Year's message issued on 31 December 2010, he said: "I didn't come into politics to make cuts. Neither did Nick Clegg. But in the end politics is about...

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Bedroom Tax: Cuts to the Spare Room Subsidy (might!) save £470m. But the new Help To Buy subsidy costs £12bn. That means it’s not about cutting the deficit

SOURCE INDEPENDENT: Bedroom tax: Families trapped with nowhere to move face penalty for having spare roomThe policy means that tenants have their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent if they have one spare bedroom, and 25 per cent if they have two or more spare bedrooms. Yet more than 19 out of 20 families hit by the bedroom tax are trapped in their larger homes because there is nowhere smaller within the local social housing stock to take them.SOURCE BBC NEWS: Strong start for Help to Buy, say lendersTwo major lenders have reported a strong...

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The Home Office's GREAT Club helps top foreign business executives avoid...what exactly?

In November 2013 the Home Office launched a GREAT Club. Yes, the capitals in GREAT and C are appropriate - the name of the club is "GREAT Club", as you will see from the Home Office press release below. Clearly the Home Office has access to some really great minds to think up a great name like that. Or have they mispelled GREET, as in greeting visitors to the UK? Or perhaps GREED, as in greedy (see hypothesis below)?.Anyway, the birth of the GREAT Club was proclaimed in a Home Office press release is:"the launch of the GREAT Club, an invitation...

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