MAC has provided the Prime Minister with the evidence he needs to get a grip on immigration.

The question is: will he take it?

Eric Pickles, that great raging bull of the Tory party, is furious. Again.

As is usual, he has every right to be on the war path.

Eric Pickles slams council bosses' pay, but is anyone listening?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... z1nyNZNmTJ

Eric Pickles, for whom lambasting councils for supposedly wasteful spending is a stock in trade, has paid his department’s interim finance chief nearly £600,000 for only 16 months work.

The department’s permanent secretary revealed the shocking figure — more than £36,000 per month — to a committee of MPs described as “speechless” by LGC’s Alistair Hayman. Sir Bob Kerslake attempted to defend the salary of Stephen Park, hired from PFI kings Capita:

“Clearly, however large that figure is – and I don’t want to suggest it isn’t a large figure – the consequence of not running our finances in a sound way would have been far greater”

This will be difficult to swallow for councils across the country, who have frequently been on the end of Pickles’ criticisms of their spending. As recently as May of this year, he was denouncing a “culture of wild overspends” in local authorities.

“Do as I say, not as I do.”

If, by paying private firms to do the back office jobs, we free more police to get their feet out on the pavement, forces should be free to get on with it. No matter how much Labour and the BBC wails.

After the blizzard of employment laws forced upon small and medium-sized firms under Labour, which are suffocating chances of economic growth, the Coalition promised to help Britain’s small businesses.

David Cameron vowed to create a 'new economic dynamism' and decreed a 'forensic, relentless focus on growth'.

But with the Chancellor's third Budget today, the Government's rhetoric has yet to be matched by its actions.

......

Inevitably, much of the blame for the Government's failure to help business lies with the tensions between the two Coalition partners.

The Lib Dems are passionate supporters of the EU, and fiercely oppose attempts to slash Brussels red-tape. The party is also committed to 'worker rights'.

Tory attempts to make it easier for firms to get rid of lazy and unproductive workers, following the findings of a report commissioned by ministers which recommended radical reform of employment laws to help economic growth, have been hampered by constant battles with Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable.

National minimum wage increase

Despite the parlous state of the economy, the minimum wage — a flagship Labour policy — went up from £5.93 to £6.08 per hour for adults. Employers' leaders called it 'the wrong increase at the wrong time' and said it was a 'barrier to job creation'. The minimum wage is uprated annually.

Bribery Act

Places onerous new rules on business over the giving and receiving of gifts, hospitality, entertainment and other payments — at home and abroad. Business leaders say smaller firms, faced with costly, time-consuming and complex procedures, will no longer be able to explore new markets.

Immigration cap

Number of work permits available to skilled non EU-workers fixed at 21,700 per annum. Policy is supported by campaign groups who want to bring migrant numbers under control, but disliked by businesses, who say it is bureaucratic and restricts their access to skilled labour and makes recruitment harder.

Unelected euro judges are bringing terror to the streets of Britain