Party Lines: October 14th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Today’s Party Lines focus on two coalition cuts, and one coalition price hike. John Denham was critical of the government’s policies on higher fees for university students in the commons today, while Liam Byrne questioned the pace of the “quango cull” and David Hanson pointed out the hidden impact of cuts to pension tax-breaks.

Speaking in parliament today, shadow business, industry and skills secretary John Denham criticised the coalition’s proposals for higher levels of tution fees, saying:

“The higher education minister said you can’t stop people paying their fees up front, won’t this create a situation where those born into privilege like the Prime Minister and the chancellor of the Exchequer – to pick two at random – can get a huge discount for paying up front while the bright child from the poor background who makes it to Oxford or Cambridge will pay even more. How is that fair?”

Liam Byrne responded to the Tories “quango cull” today, and was critical of the Tories “desperation for headlines”:

“Labour had a plan for steadily saving £0.5 billion by carefully closing 25% of quangos over the next few years. The Tories now need to tell us whether their desperation for headlines and faster cuts means the cost of closing quangos is actually bigger than the savings. And while they’re at it, they should tell us whether their manifesto commitment for 20 new quangos is now on ice.”

David Hanson responded to the capping of pension tax-breaks, and stressed the impact this would have on some modest income earners:

“Today’s announcement on pensions tax will hit some families on modest incomes extremely hard. And there was an alternative. We support the principle that pensions tax relief should play a part in getting borrowing down. But under our plans no-one earning under £130,000 would lose out. Now everyone’s at risk because the government is taxing on the basis of people’s wish to save for a pension, rather than because they are high earners.”