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The Lib Dems have got very little out of this coalition. On the cuts, foreign policy, the euro, defence, immigration as far as I can see they have got virtually nothing.

My understanding is that the ?10,000 threshold is a longer term objective.

As for Danny Alexander, his previous job before coming an MP in 2005 was as press officer for the Cairngorms National Park. Not the best preparation to be Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I would have thought.

I understand that the Tories and Lib Dems were full of praise for the work David Laws had done in his role in the coalition government. How anyone can be appraised after 18 days in a job is beyond me.

But there you go, the wacky world of the Lib Dem COn coalition just got wackier.

Cheers
ED

They praised him because he identified areas that could be cut quickly and he was very enthusiastic about them. Watching him reading his list at the press conference, I had the feeling he was going to nip back to his office and bash one out afterwards, he was that excited about it all.

If Vince Cable is supposed to be this economic genius (Cameron before the election - Cable is a joke. After the election - Vince Cable is incredible) why haven't they given him the CS job? Answer - He is supposedly the best qualified Lib Dem for that job, but he can't work with Osbourne

It's all going to end in Nick Clegg's tears

The new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, avoided paying capital gains tax when he sold his taxpayer-funded second home at a profit. Alexander, who was appointed on Saturday after the resignation of fellow Liberal Democrat David Laws, designated the property as his second home for the purpose of claiming parliamentary expenses but described it to HM Revenue and Customs as his main home.

Last night Mr Alexander admitted that he took advantage of a loophole to legally avoid paying CGT when he sold the south London property in June 2007 for around ?300,000.

Mr Alexander said last night that he had bought the flat in south London in 1999. It is not known how much he paid for the property. Around the time he bought it, flats in the same row of terrace houses were sold for between ?144,000 and ?235,000, meaning he is likely to have made tens of thousands of pounds of profit.

Mr Alexander took advantage of a tax loophole that allows people to continue to tell the tax authorities for three years that a property is their main home even if they have bought another house ?in Mr Alexander?s case in Scotland ? which has become their ?principal residence?. It did not stop him telling the authorities at the House of Commons that the London property was his second home.
The three-year loophole was introduced to give people time to sell their homes during housing market downturns. However, the Lib Dems have previously criticised its capacity to be abused.


Yet another bending of the rules for profit.

Ah yes, elected in 2005, it didnt take Danny Alexander long to get into the swing of things. He got ?37,000 in expenses as well as maintenance work done before "flipping" the house to avoid CGT in 2007

At the time capital gains tax was at 40% on second homes so avoiding it was a big saving. It was later reduced to 18% by the Labour government.

The Lib Dems are very keen to see it go back up to 40%. But Danny is obviously less keen to pay it at all, himself!!

Cheers
D