The claim “George Osborne has actually delivered a tax cut for the banks compared to last year, even after today’s announcement.” Ed Balls MP, responding to the Chancellors’ increased bank levy, February 8, 2011
The claim “Yvette Cooper should know that Alan Johnson refused to guarantee police numbers, and (Ed) Balls admitted he would cut force budgets by over £1bn a year” Policing Minister Nick Herbert MP, Radio 4’s World this Weekend
Chris Huhne, Ed Balls and David Davis are all Nearly Men writes Gaby Hinsliff. But who is the one to watch after a week when all three have been in the headlines?
As Alan Johnson leaves his post as Shadow Chancellor and Ed Balls replaces him, political commentator Lance Price ponders the compatibility of the Brownite and Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Gary Gibbon
Our Political Editor says that Alan Johnson’s resignation involved “affairs of the heart” – but there was little love lost until recently between the two Eds now at the top of the Labour Party.
As Alan Johnson leaves – and Ed Balls arrives as the new Shadow Chancellor, what does it all mean for the Labour Party? Peter McHugh has some thoughts on the matter.
The claim “My understanding is that the 15 per cent figure – that was quoted by the Shadow Home Secretary – is wrong, and that it is an interpretation of the House of Commons library figures rather than the House of Commons library figure.” Home Secretary Theresa May MP, Select Committee, December 14, 2010
Watch Channel 4 News for the latest on the new Labour Shadow Cabinet, the effort to free 33 miners trapped underground in Chile, and a Cumbrian museum’s appeal for more time to save a Roman mask.
The Conservative conference, which opens today, will see a raft of plans to curb Britain’s “compensation culture”.
Labour’s new leader, Ed Miliband, pledges to lead a “new generation” which will “relish” the chance to take on David Cameron. Political editor Gary Gibbon says the speech did not sink – or fly.
Unions, the PLP or the electoral college? Channel 4 News looks at how the process of electing a Labour leader works and the candidates likely to benefit from the system.
The candidates for the Labour leadership outlined their vision for the party during last night’s Channel 4 News hustings, but Peter McHugh notes that the debate’s biggest player was not in the studio.
Gary Gibbon
TV hustings on Channel 4 News just now. The first one not conducted by the strict rules that governed all the other ones. So you get a lot of inter-change.
The Chancellor recently derided the Labour leadership candidates as ‘deficit-deniers’, an opinion with which Tony Blair appears to concur. The final chapter of his new book does place him closer to the Coalition Treasury than the economic policies outlined to date by the candidates. Ahead of our Labour leadership hustings on the economy, it’s worth…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Ed Balls, who says the contest has been a “liberation” from which he has no intention of quitting.