Monthly Archives: November 2007

The Wokingham Times

Last week some asked why 400,000 people left the UK last year to live and work elsewhere last year. I would have thought the answer was obvious. They’ve had enough. We live in a country where anyone who has gained some qualifications, who tries to pay their own way and to live a decent life [...]

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Redwood warns of Government spending black hole

Giving away part of the rebate was reckless and wrong. John Redwood pointed out yesterday in Parliament that Alastair Darling has just added a ??70 billion spending black hole to his ??25 billion Northern Rock black hole, by signing up to the expensive EU budget settlement for the next seven years and giving away part [...]

Posted in Press Releases | 1 Comment

Politicians on the Northern Rocks- let them take a third way liferaft

Yesterday was a dispiriting sight in the Commons. We saw Lib Dems and Labour arguing over the future of a bank when none of them seemed to understand the first thing about how banking operates. Nor did they seem to understand the complicated banking regulations and company law they have put in place over the [...]

Posted in Blog, Northern Rock | 6 Comments

Now I have to queue to pay my petrol tax to Mr Brown!

Yesterday I needed to refill my car. That meant paying ??40 to Mr Brown and ??20 to an oil company. The cheapest filling station was offering diesel at 3p a litre less than some others. As that represented a saving of ??1.80 and I had to pass it anyway it was the obvious place to [...]

Posted in Blog | 5 Comments

Northern Rock – and the Lib Dems

The BBC today offered two visions of the future for Northern Rock. The first is nationalisation, with the Lib Dems recommending compulsory purchase of the Rock, apparently for nothing, wiping out all the shareholders. The second was another Treasury guarantee, this time to small long term shareholders so they do not lose out if things [...]

Posted in Blog, Northern Rock | 3 Comments

The EU and Mr Miliband

Yesterday I spoke to the Bruges Group meeting in King’s College Hall, London about the need for a referendum on the Constitutional treaty. I proposed that all should write to and lobby MPs who promised a referendum on the Constitution before the 2005 election, and who now say they will not vote for one on [...]

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The Hegg and Cluhne race – two Lib Dem ex MEPs in search of the leadership

How many more interviews of these two are we going to hear on the BBC with no question about Europe? Both these men believe in selling our country down the river to the Brussels bureaucracy. Both campaigned for a referendum on the Constitution to win their seats for the first time in 2005, and both [...]

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Chancellor must make a statement on Northern Rock funding

The Chancellor has to be careful not to create a false market in Northern Rock shares. The amount and duration of government lending to the mortgage bank is fundamental to valuing the shares. If this funding is to be there for as long as Northern Rock wants, the company will have one value. If the [...]

Posted in Blog, Northern Rock | 3 Comments

How to solve the Scottish problem for Mr Brown

As Gordon Brown must be fed up with Alex Salmond and the Scottish National party running rings round him, fomenting English dissent with the Union, I suggest the following advice to the Prime Minister: To rime Minister From :Senior Political Adviser I understand your reasons for turning down a referendum on the EU Treaty, even [...]

Posted in Blog | 7 Comments

Faster trains, slower stations

This government often lacks a sense of irony and timing. This week they proudly announced 20 minutes had been lopped off the train journey time from a London station to Paris, after substantial taxpayer expense. At the same time they announced that they intended to introduce some security scanning at larger stations, including St Pancras, [...]

Posted in Blog | 6 Comments
  • About John Redwood

    John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College, and has a DPhil from All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has been a director of NM Rothschild merchant bank and chairman of a quoted industrial PLC.
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