Frank's Westminster Blog

Why the extraordinary fuss over Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension? Isn’t there a danger in concentrating on this boil and losing sight of the pox-ridden body of which it is such a nasty part? It is this main picture that has always distressed me. Hardly a week goes by without my coming across a constituent, or a correspondent from a wider field, managing to bring up a family on something around £11,000 a year. I know there might be tax credits on top of this sum, but it is...

Today's Telegraph/YouGov poll puts immigration as a key concern for both Labour and Conservative voters. 62 per cent of Conservative and 42 per cent of Labour supporters polled agreed that immigration to this country must be reduced. These results sound the most sombre warning. Unless the two major parties respond to the legitimate worries of voters, they will punish them horribly at the European elections in June.

So, there is a danger of rising interest rates as the Government begins to offload their huge deficits onto the bond market. It has been part of the denial line that there is any such danger. Angela Merkel, thankfully, has let the big cat out of the bag. She is worried, as she has every right to be, about the consequences of Governments trying to raise over £2,000 billion in loans during this year alone. The German Chancellor has many abilities, but I doubt whether they extend to...

The downturn in the economy, which is severe, is no doubt going to test still further the manufacturing base. Last Friday in Birkenhead was a tonic for lowly spirits. Part of the day I spent visiting LT Print Group. Based in Hamilton Street, and the bigger works over in Wallasey, LT Print Group is a model of what Britain has got to become if we are to maintain, let alone improve, living standards. Here are the pointers for the future. The firm is owned, but more importantly, led by Robert...

The UK's race relations lobby has a mixed record. For the very best of motives it succeeded for all too long in closing down a debate on the changing composition of Britain's population. The reason for this is as understandable as it was wrong. The race relations industry feared a racial backlash from British citizens. This approach was part of the two long decades of deceit that the political classes practised in Britain. Never was the obvious question asked on why there might be a...