George Osborne MP

Lord Strathclyde said the Government was making a mistake in adding more guidance to HMRC tax procedures.  “Almost more importantly than that, George Osborne has had a policy since 2010 of trying to reduce taxations for corporations. Fro... Continue to article

Lord Myners claimed Treasury interference had made Stephen Hester’s position at RBS untenable. “I think the pressure the Government, the Treasury, were imposing on the board of RBS made Stephen Hester’s position close to impossible. He’s... Continue to article

George Osborne said RBS was moving into a "new phase". "We want to get British taxpayers’ money back. We’ve been through the rescue phase and now we’re moving into the new phase. Stephen Hester has done a very good rescue job, and now we... Continue to article

Ed Balls said spending on the state pension would be included in Labour’s proposed welfare spending cap. “We have said last week that we certainly think it should exclude the welfare spending which depends upon the ups and downs of the e... Continue to article

Ed Balls said Labour would need to set out more spending cuts in the run-up to the 2015 election, after announcing today that he would scrap universal winter fuel payments. “To safeguard this for 95% of pensioners on middle and lower inc... Continue to article

Chris Leslie said Ed Balls' pledge to scrap universal the Winter Fuel Allowance was an example of the tough decisions Labour would have to take in government. "Don’t forget George Osborne’s going to be announcing a Spending Review at the... Continue to article

  George Osborne claimed he was making good progress in agreeing cuts with Whitehall departments. "We’re now about 20% of the way there with a month to go. I don’t think any Chancellor in history has made this much progress with still... Continue to article

George Osborne said James Wharton would have the “full support” of the Conservative leadership when trying to pilot a private members’ bill legislating for an In/Out EU referendum through Parliament. “It’s great news that James Wharton h... Continue to article

George Osborne said Britain's system of financial regulation was robust enough to deal with concerns at the Co-operative Bank and elsewhere. “The Co-op have put out a statement last night about how they’re going to strengthen their capit... Continue to article

  George Osborne said the Government was "making progress" on economic recovery despite the "difficult situation" in the global economy.  "The phrase I use is ‘an encouraging sign’ that we’re making progress and the economy is healing... Continue to article

George Osborne said the remaining United Kingdom would probably not want to be part of a common currency area with an independent Scotland. “It’d be a real issue. Would we want to tie ourselves in a currency zone with a foreign governmen... Continue to article

George Osborne said the Government was getting the deficit down through taking “difficult decisions”. “The deficit is down by a third since the Government came to office and that’s because we’re taking the difficult decisions necessary t... Continue to article

Alex Salmond said George Osborne needed to grow up on the issue of Scottish independence.. "£40bn protection for the UK balance of payments he sees as a problem – most people see it as an asset. I’ve not seen any UK Chancellor for the la... Continue to article

George Osborne said the rest of the UK was “unlikely” to want to enter into a currency union with an independent Scotland. “It’s of course a decision for two governments – it wouldn’t just be the Scottish government, the newly-independen... Continue to article

Danny Alexander said rejecting independence and keeping the pound was “by far the best option” for Scotland’s economy. “What we conclude is that the current arrangements, where we’ve got the pound within one United Kingdom, it’s been a s... Continue to article

Alistair Darling said Labour should concentrate its fire on the Government rather than seeking to come up with alternatives now. "Firstly, I don’t think my colleagues responsible for the Labour party policy need to take a position till t... Continue to article