In parliament this week I pointed out that less than three weeks into the new year and already three major retailers have gone into administration: first Jessops and then, this week, both HMV and Blockbusters. This puts more than 10,000 retail jobs at risk and has a detrimental effect on communities across the country.
The government should be supporting change in the retail sector by ensuring global online retailers pay their fair share of tax here in the UK. Instead, it has been revealed that ministers have been including unpaid work experience posts in their employment figures. So while real jobs are disappearing on the high street, ministers spend their time conniving to artificially boost employment figures.
It has emerged that students at Stamford University were regaled by Steve Hilton last week with accounts of his time in No 10. He told them:
‘Very often you’ll wake up in the morning and hear on the news [a government announcement] and you think … it’s not just that we didn’t know it was happening, but we don’t even agree with it.’
None of us were in the least surprised by this observation after all Oliver Dowden, the deputy chief of staff at No 10, has said he was ‘surprised on a day by day basis’ by his own government announcements!
The fact that the government’s own aides wander the world saying No 10 is a shambles does raise the question: who’s responsible?
This week we learn ministers have found something new to blame: the civil service.
I pointed out that the list of who the government has blamed for its difficulties keeps on growing. We’ve had: The weather – at different times its been too hot, too cold, too windy or too wet for the economy to grow, Her Majesty has been cited for having a Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics for distracting us, and the deputy prime minister who has been blamed for just about everything.
The prime minister told the Sun in 2009: ‘if we win the election, we cannot afford to waste time having a row with Europe.’
Well they didn’t win the election and they are having a row about Europe.
I suggested that the prime minister might be better making his long awaited Europe speech in the House of Commons rather than Holland.
Yesterday at prime minister’s questions we had questions but no answers. But cabinet ministers have been falling over each other to offer different answers on EU membership. Eric Pickles said he might vote to leave. Ken Clarke thinks that’s barking. Michael Gove wants out. But the deputy prime minister thinks it would be bad for jobs. No wonder the foreign secretary has fled to Australia.
As we had two statements on Leveson, I asked the leader of the House if we are now going to have three on Europe: one by the deputy prime minister; one by the prime minister, and; one by rebel Tory cabinet ministers.
The prime minister has lost control of his divided government and one more party management trumps the national interest. It’s Maastricht all over again.
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Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey, shadow leader of the Commons and writes the weekly Business of Parliament column for Progress. She tweets @AngelaEagle