Pulaski

It's a supply and demand issue. There is little appetite for increasing the supply of houses in the UK, and yet anyone who suggests, whether here on BE or in Parliament, that something needs to be done about the supply side of the equation, they get rounded on as a racist.

Lion in Winter

Nonsense.

There have been plenty of perfectly sensible, rational posts agreeing with the concept of the reduction of immigration. What people object to are the rationalizations, misinformation, fear mongering and ignorance that range from the objectionable to the frankly lunatic. Such rubbish is only offered up by a very few and is treated as it deserves.

not2old

on top of George Osbourne announcement today, could this be his revelations at its best, 'slashing here, there and everywhere' Let the £3 billion in cuts this year begin & to include further cuts to the Scottish government budget.

Is Cameron going to get his deal with Merkel?

Germany's Merkel open to EU treaty changes for UK

Germany's Merkel open to EU treaty changes for UK - BBC News

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the EU may have to consider treaty change if that is what it takes to keep the UK in. She is confident that conditions can be created for the UK to stay in and she is "not losing sleep" over it, she said in a BBC interview. UK Prime Minister David Cameron aims to renegotiate the UK's EU membership terms, ahead of an in/out referendum.

"I'm optimistic that if we all want it, we'll find a good solution," she said. "It's not about losing sleep over this, but about doing our work and creating the necessary preconditions for Britain to remain in the EU."

not2old

George the 'slasher'

Spending cuts: Department by department - BBC News

Scottish government not too pleased either....

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...get.1433431052

"John Swinney attacked the Chancellor's announcement of further efficiency savings despite Scotland's spending plans having already been set by the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking at Westminster, George Osborne revealed a further £3 billion of savings within Whitehall will be expected this year.

The move will cut up to £170 million from Scotland's budget, the Scottish Government has said.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with Mr Osborne on Monday, Mr Swinney said there had been no prior discussion with the Scottish Government over the cuts.

This demonstrates that post-election warnings that the UK Government could not conduct "business as usual" with Scotland appear not to have been heeded, he said.

"The Scottish Parliament has already agreed our budget for this year and that should be respected, not slashed as part of George Osborne and David Cameron's ideological obsession with austerity," Mr Swinney said."

Pulaski

The Scots should be thankful that they can continue to benefit from having several large banks employing many people in well paid jobs without having had to bear the full cost and pain of bailing them out. But they won't be.

Editha

Cameron's problem with repealing the Human Rights Act is the opposition from senior members of his own party, including Kenneth Clarke, David Davis, Dominic Grieve and Andrew Mitchell. Since he only has a majority of 12, he isn't going to be able to repeal the act without a lot of negotiation within the Tory Party itself, hence the ambiguity within the Queen's speech. He also has a problem that the Human Rights Act is part of the Northern Ireland peace settlement. Moreover, the SNP can block the Act being repealed in Scotland.

All of the above makes it very unlikely that the UK will leave the European Convention on Human Rights, even if the Act is repealed, and the replacement legislation will probably bear an uncanny resemblance to the legislation it is replacing.

The Conservative's made a number of promises during the election campaign which they did not expect to have to keep, since they thought there would be another coalition. A good example is the housing association right-to-buy, which virtually all experts agree will worsen the housing crisis. Another is the no tax rises law.

This is a very dangerous parliament. In five years time we could be out of the EU and Scotland could have left the UK. Even if you think these outcomes are desirable, they are huge and disruptive changes.

themajor

It will be interesting to know how or where your prophesy comes from

Editha

I don't think it is racist to suggest that net immigration is the reason for the housing crisis, but I do think it is rather blinkered.

If you look at the evidence, you'll see that there is some correlation between inward migration and house prices in London, but almost none elsewhere in the country. London is a difficult case because its wealth depends on being a cosmopolitan city, which is why Boris Johnson has publicly disagreed with Theresa May on this subject.