The Northern Echo | Rob Merrick

What are our MPs good for?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:36:31 +0000

IT is fast becoming Westminster’s dirty little secret: the tawdry way that controversial legislation is waved through by MPs, with little or no scrutiny.

Who will fall foul of the cap?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:08:24 +0000

VERY few people in the North will be affected by the “benefits cap”, that so inflamed bishops in the House of Lords, but a similar crackdown is already underway.

Biting the hand that feeds you

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:25:58 +0000

IT was after the pesky little terrier sank his teeth into my calf muscle that I pondered the Government's miserable failure to do anything about dangerous dogs.

United the Coalition stands

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:13:20 +0000

THE release of Cabinet papers from 1981 was a reminder of all the startling similarities with the modern political age, but also of one revealing difference.

The sceptic spectre at the feast

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:49:48 +0000

DAVID CAMERON triumphed in the Commons on his return from wielding his historic EU veto – so why did I spot the spectre of John Major on the backbenches?

The North is taken for a ride

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:42:01 +0000

BUS passengers in the North are being taken for a ride again, this time to deliver a pre-election Tory bung to London Mayor Boris Johnson. Regular readers of this column will know I have long-criticised the failure of successive governments to reverse the deregulation disaster of the Eighties.

Chancellor needs a fresh idea

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:11:21 +0000

HOW would you like to receive a £300 cheque from the Government? A voucher that must be spent on a struggling High Street within three months?

Running out of excuses

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:02:19 +0000

THERE are still three-and-a-half years to go the next general election. Yet, already, it feels like the Chancellor’s last roll of the dice.

No such thing as a free lunch

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:29:24 +0000

NEVER look a gift horse in the mouth is tempting advice – but then I peered into the Government’s offer of a council tax freeze.

Who will stand up for jobless?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:58:36 +0000

WHO will speak up for the millions of people forced to survive on miserly benefits, in Britain’s new dole age?