Even by modern standards, the run-up to Wednesday’s Budget has been a frenzy of media speculation. Will the 50p rate be cut? Will there be faster cuts to Corporation Tax? What about a mansion tax? Or a tycoon tax? Or an oligarch tax?
Me, I’m pushing for a General Anti-Avoidance Rule on misinformation.
Q11 Jesse Norman: Of course, it was not just the Lloyds directors; it was also the political context in which they were being bounced into a merger with HBOS that fulfilled a certain desire for them—so there is a degree of political responsibility for that as well. Isn’t the FSA under a duty to impose fines as required, and not—as it were—under a duty to impose fines as it sees fit? Why have you abrogated that duty, if there is one?
Q148 Jesse Norman: Mr Crawley, you said it was a matter of regret that you had got your structured finance assumptions wrong. It is a source of regret if there is a crisis in the economy or subprime, but it is not something that anyone takes any personal responsibility for when they say it is a regret. Does that mean you don’t think that your organisation was responsible for those and, therefore, you don’t want to apologise?
Q80 Jesse Norman: Mr Bean, have you seen anything recently that gives you increased confidence about the situation in the UK economy?
Charlie Bean: There have been one or two of the high frequency indicators that have been moving in the right direction. Quite a few of the business surveys, particularly the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply indices, have strengthened in the past couple of months. That is true around the world, it should be said, so this looks like a global phenomenon; some recovery from troughs seen round about October time. Retail sales numbers were perhaps a bit stronger than people expected. There have been a few positive signs, but I think it is important not to read too much into one or two indicators rising to the upside. It will take a lot more swallows to make a summer.
Jesse Norman, MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, is this week's author of ConHome's new parliamentary diary. Follow Jesse on Twitter.
Sunday
What a day! Spring is in the air, the birds are nesting busily and the Black Mountains look absolutely gorgeous. Yet again it hits home how lucky I am to represent Hereford and South Herefordshire. Not every constituency selection meeting is the start of a love affair. Mine took place on a cold wet December evening in 2006, and there was a huge shout when I was chosen. I learned later that this was because that meant the bar was open. But it still feels like first love to me.
Henry Kissinger once said that the reason why academic politics is bitter is that the stakes are so small. Some may feel the same is true of the present debate over an elected House of Lords.
A White Paper and draft Bill are presently before Parliament; a Joint Committee is grinding its way through months of testimony; and the media are already getting fired up, amid increasing signs that the next parliamentary session will be dominated by the issue.
