Ed’s inbox – February 24th

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

If Ed Miliband could only read five blogposts each day, he’d read these ones…

Do you REALLY want to Save the NHS? – Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
By Sue Marsh

It’s nearly too late. NHS “efficiency savings” are being finalised – 20 Billion pounds worth of them and yesterday, False Economy revealed that over 50,000 jobs will be lost and they will include doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics and all other front-line staff.

So could the NHS ever have saved this eye-watering amount without patient care suffering?

Not only do I believe they could have, but I believe they might have improved both patient care and the working lives of staff. I want to tell you why and it really matters to me. It won’t be short and snappy – you can’t save the NHS in a few paragraphs – but it could be the most important thing I ever write. I’ve always wanted to tell the world this and now, with your help, I can. – Read more.

Fraser Nelson is wrong on the 50p tax rate – Left Foot Forward
By Duncan Weldon

Tuesday’s Public Sector Borrowing figures came in ahead of expectations, driven by bumper income tax receipts.

Over at the Guardian website I argued that this partially represented the impact of the 50p rate:

“Last week’s labour market statistics showed that there had been no improvement in the overall labour market with the percentage of people aged 16 to 64 in work being static at 70.5 per cent between December 2009 and December 2010. The same report said that average weekly earnings had grown by only 1.1% over the past year. – Read more.

The ‘Free Councils’ scheme will increase inequality across the country – Liberal Conspiracy
By Dan McCurry

It seems Vince Cable has begun his political-fight back following his damaging “nuclear” remarks by proving that he can be more right-wing than the Tories. Today in the Guardian: “Free councils to keep bulk of cash raised through business rates. Richer boroughs will no longer see income from their businesses going to subsidise poorer parts of the country.”

A government minister said, “They will be free councils, and the idea is that they have a real incentive for the first time to encourage business in their locality.” – Read more.

What would happen if Senior Metropolitan police officers had held meetings with media outlets as many times as they had met the News of The World? – Tom Watson MP
By Tom Watson

I was taken a back earlier in the week to hear that the number of private meetings, mainly dinners, that senior officers of the Metropolitan police held with News of the World representatives. A spokesman for the Metropolitan police gave a nonchalant response saying only “Senior officers from the Metropolitan Police meet representatives from a wide range of media as a necessary part of their roles.”

News International’s response was typically more aggressive. They said: – Read more.

David Miliband must stay on the subs bench – Labour Uncut
By Kevin Meagher

This morning’s Sun reports that Ed Miliband held “hush hush” talks with his brother David following the resignation of shadow chancellor Alan Johnson last month. The paper reports that:

“…during their clandestine conversation, the possibility of him replacing Mr Johnson was raised”.

Quoting an “insider”, the paper reports that “Ed stopped short of offering his brother the job when David made it clear he wanted to stay on the backbenches”. The party denies an explicit job offer was made to David: “The only person offered it was Ed Balls”, insists a spokesman. This does, however, amount to a non-denial denial of the Sun’s allegation that the idea was floated. – Read more.

Our suggestions for Ed’s inbox are limited by what we read – so if you’ve seen a blogpost that should be in Ed’s inbox, let us know.