50 mistakes in 100 days (36-40)

By Howard Dawber

Over 100 days ago, Britain woke up to a new coalition government. In that time they have already displayed extraordinary economic illiteracy and are beginning to champion a dangerous mix of cruelty and cheerful incompetence, perhaps already worse than any government in living memory.

Here are the numbers thirty-six to forty of the top 50 things they have done wrong … so far…

36. TRYING TO CURB PARLIAMENTARY POWER

In the first few days of the coalition, Nick Clegg proposed changing the rules to make it more difficult for parliament to throw out the government. At present, if the government is defeated on a simple majority on a question of confidence in the government, it would be expected to call an immediate general election or at least for the PM to resign to enable some other sort of coalition to be formed. Clegg wanted to change the rules so a majority of 55% was needed.

Why is it a bad idea? This was seen as a cynical ploy to keep the coalition in power as it would take and almost impossible co-ordination of all Labour MPs plus all the Lib Dems and other minor parties, and even Tory defectors to kick out Cameron – he has 46% of the votes in the commons. Luckily Labour, some Lib Dems and even Tory backbenchers quickly saw through the plot and Clegg was forced to abandon the plans.

37. CANCELLING THE LONDON CHILDCARE AFFORDABILITY PILOT
The Childcare Affordability Pilot was supposed to run from May for a year and parents were invited to take part by the Child Poverty Unit. Some families had 100 per cent of their childcare costs paid by HM Revenue and Customs, which funded the scheme, and others were given a £500 advance to help them arrange childcare. But officials from the Department for Education have now written to participants telling them the pilot will end on September 15th and they must pay back any money they borrowed.

Why is it a bad idea? Both short-sighted and cruelly executed. It has left parents on low incomes – who volunteered to take part in a new scheme to help make childcare provision better – struggling to pay back hundreds of pounds.

According to the Evening Standard, single parent Michelle Burke, 37, signed up for the free childcare scheme a few months ago after being invited to take part. She works for an advice charity and her job often takes her away – costing her about £60 extra for overnight childcare. A low earner, she was given a £500 advance which she spent on childcare for her son Liam, eight, who has Asperger’s syndrome.

But at the end of last month, the Department for Education informed her the pilot was being discontinued.

Ms Burke told the Standard that she has been forced to borrow from her parents to repay the loan. She said: “I can’t afford this – it’s appalling.” She added that she knew if she left the scheme the cash had to be repaid, but that it was the government which had effectively “left” the scheme – not her.

38. U-TURN ON HOSPITAL CLOSURES
During the election local Conservative and Lib Dem candidates claimed that Labour was closing local Accident and Emergency Units, Maternity Units and other hospital facilities. This was the result of the Picture of Health programme, which looked for savings in the NHS budget by centralising specialist facilities into separate hospitals rather than having lots of generalist hospitals. Marches like this one in Bexley and campaigns were run on “Brown’s NHS Cuts“. Andrew Lansley, then Shadow Health Secretary, said he would immediately halt the changes if elected. Indeed in some places he actually promised to re-open A&E units which had already moved.

Well, he did get elected. And now the NHS Chief Executive has written to all the hospitals saying they need to have a plan in place to implement the closures and changes by October this year.So they are going ahead with everything they campaigned against.

Why is it a bad idea? Because Lansley is again saying one thing and doing another. The Tories were happy to play politics with the issue in the run up to the election and then as soon as they are in, go ahead with the changes anyway.

39. ENDING THE “YOUNG PERSON’S GUARANTEE”
The coalition has announced an end to the Young Person’s Guarantee, a promise to all unemployed young people that if they were out of work and claiming JSA for six months they would be guaranteed a job (via the Future Jobs Fund), a training place or work experience. This guarantee will now not be extended beyond the current financial year, and will cease to operate in March 2011.

Why is it a bad idea? The Young Person’s Guarantee was a commitment from government to help unemployed young people get their careers on track – vital at the moment when jobs are few and far between. The guarantee was easy to understand and brought together a good set of options for young people. Also, it worked: DWP/ONS figures show that, up to the end of May 2010, there had been 11,890 starts on training provided under the YPG.

40. CUTTING THE GOLDEN HELLO FOR NEW EMPLOYEES
The coalition has announced cuts of £30 million from the ‘golden hello‘ scheme which offered a subsidy of £1,000 plus help with training costs for businesses that employ someone who has been unemployed for over 6 months. This scheme has now closed nine months early, and stopped at the end of June.

Why is it a bad idea? The scheme helped people get back into work and was sorely needed to help counter the impact of the recession.