Monthly Archives: April 2011

One cheer for Ed Balls

                    I read that Ed Balls is querying the wisdom of the UK helping Portugal with a bail out. As an opponent of expensive bails outs in general – they do not solve the underlying problems – I welcome that. As a  stronger opponent of UK contributions to Euro bail outs –  as we [...]

Posted in Blog | 34 Comments

Try talking to save lives in Libya

                     NATO is clearly looking for new ways to continue its intervention in Libya. We have heard of the use of drones and military advisers in recent days.  It needs to remember it is operating under a UN Resolution which only allows it to help save civilian lives. It does not have legal cover [...]

Posted in Blog | 37 Comments

Why didn’t I hear about the 5.1% increase in public spending on the BBC?

                 Yesterday’s news broadcasts usually referred to the 0.2% increase in retail spending in March. I did not hear any BBC news broadcast mention the fact that public spending was 5.1% higher in 2010-11 than the previous year, though that too was announced yesterday.             As the BBC seem to welcome every spending increase and [...]

Posted in Blog | 62 Comments

What does Good Friday mean today?

                  Easter is a  bitter sweet festival. First comes the grim Friday. Churches are stripped bare. Christians are in mourning. The Gospel story is at its most harrowing, the story of the judicial killing of  a man who had done no criminal wrong. For the rest of the country it is a day off. [...]

Posted in Blog | 16 Comments

Deficit reduction – the 2010-11 story

                Today we see figures for the state of the public finances over the last financial year, 2010-11.               Current public spending is up by 5.1%. Tax revenues are up by 6.9%. Additional  Public Sector Net borrowing after financial sector interventions  falls from £156.5 billion 2009-10, to £141 billion 2010-11.  In other words every [...]

Posted in Blog | 21 Comments

The European budget

                You could not make it up. The EU is busy lecturing all its member states to get their budget deficits down. Well they are not always wrong. They are telling states to cut spending and raise more tax revenue. At the same time they want them to pursue a growth strategy, which needs [...]

Posted in Blog | 43 Comments

Other ways of cutting spending

                 There are three big areas where public spending can be cut without touching the core public services which are popular with many voters.  These are unemployment costs by getting unemployment down, money given away overseas, and the costs of regulation. Cutters can also look at  services and activities not valued by so many or [...]

Posted in Blog | 42 Comments

20 more boots on the ground

                The decision to supply protective clothing and now to offer military advisers to the rebels in Libya is an important development  in the UK’s mission. This is more than operating a No fly zone, more than using high flying military intervention to prevent the Libyan  government using warplanes and tanks in open ground against Libyan people. [...]

Posted in Blog | 17 Comments

John Redwood has received an update from the Ministry of Defence on the future of Arborfield Garrison

John Redwood has received a reply from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) about Arborfield Garrison. In his letter the Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox forecasts the closure of the garrison by 2015 and the disposal of the site. He says the MOD are in negotiation over how much they might contribute to [...]

Posted in Press Releases | 2 Comments

Even the USA has to tackle its deficit

                            The US has been able to borrow larger sums for longer than European countries. More people and countries around the world will accept dollars and lend money to the USA.                           Even the USA will discover there are limits to how much other people’s money you can spend before they refuse to lend [...]

Posted in Blog | 31 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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