Frank's Westminster Blog

Is there not a link between the abuse Fiona Pilkington and her family suffered for more than a decade and Carol Hill, the dinner lady who spoke out to the parents of a girl being bullied at school? I have found it impossible to read fully the reports of the decade long thuggery against Fiona Pilkington and her family. We have had examples like this in Birkenhead, although similar cases in which I was involved took place a few years ago now. I am not saying that there are no such examples in

One almost sympathises with the Prime Minister. No sooner had he started to promise cuts and cuts and cuts again than the difficulties the Government is going to experience - unless they face the issue head on - became glaringly obvious. The Government is naturally enough committed to cutting waste and the Prime Minster promised to cut unnecessary programmes. I can't believe I'm different from the average voter. If there are unnecessary programmes what the hell are we doing providing...

It is a distraction whether or not the prime minister utters the c-word today - or any other day come to that. The plain fact is there will be mega cuts. Two crucial questions are how big they will have to be to restore some sanity to the national accounts and when should they start? A weekend poll shows the strong preference of voters for public expenditure cuts rather than tax increases. What I don't know, but will be crucial politically, is whether these are views based on today's phoney

It is predictable but deeply depressing. Up goes the cry that any review of NHS expenditure MUST result in cuts to consumers. The debate on public expenditure cuts need to be focussed on output and not input. Over the first ten years of this Government's life productivity FELL in the public sector while increasing by 26 per cent in privately run organisations. It is on this mega discrepancy that the debate should be exclusively concentrated. Going for a debate on cutting or non-cutting...

The UK's population has now hit 61m and is growing twice as fast as in the 1990s and three times as fast as in the 1980s. On present forecasts the UK will hit 77m in 50 years' time and will outnumber France and even Germany. Will it ever happen? Long term population forecasts are notoriously unreliable but, at the 20-year range, the Office for National Statistics has been accurate to within 2.5% in the past half-century. Its present forecast is 70m in 2028 and must, therefore, be taken...