The Peel Group will be working positively up and down the country to attract former Conservative supporters to Charles Kennedy’s party,” Mr Oaten said.Tim Collins, the shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: “It is the height of absurdity that a party on the hard left of the political spectrum should try to attract people from the Conservative Party.”The establishment of the Tory unit to combat the Liberal Democrats was announced at the Conservative Party conference last year.. Stephen Byers came under fresh attack yesterday for going on holiday to India while a rail strike caused chaos for thousands of travellers. The industrial action continues today and resumes on Monday and Tuesday.The 170 services that ran – 10 per cent of the normal total – were packed with angry commuters, although others decided to use the industrial action as an excuse for a long weekend. At the first sign of the slightest trouble, he goes to ground. Given that he was so keen to assume responsibility for the rail network, we find it truly staggering that he should desert his post when thousands of people face misery on the railways on a daily basis.”A spokesman for the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions said Mr Byers had gone on holiday “shortly before the New Year” and would return on Monday. Dismissing Mr Pickles’ criticisms, he said: “We have duty ministers and there are things such as telephones, the internet and e-mail.”We do live in the 21st century and it’s not as though people are out of contact for months.”The intervention in the strike by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was prompted by fears that taxpayers would ultimately have to pick up the bill for a rash of big wage demands elsewhere on the network.The Government already faces the prospect of having to pump billions of pounds of extra cash into the rail network after the collapse of Railtrack.
Industry estimates yesterday put the potential increase in the wage bills of the train operators at £500m to £1bn over the next 20 years.The four days of strikes at SWT will cost £5m in lost revenue – more than the entire cost of funding this year’s increased pay offer. However, the SWT management has been told to stand firm by the SRA and the Treasury. A rail industry source said.”They are running scared of this spreading right across the network, resulting in spiralling costs for the train operators which will be passed very quickly on to the taxpayer,”. The Whitehall official responsible for recommending whether Britain should join the euro has no recollection of saying it will be a political rather than economic decision, the Treasury said today. Ultimately, it will be a political decision.”A Treasury spokesman said today: “Reports of Mr O’Donnell’s remarks are a complete misrepresentation of what he actually said.”Mr O’Donnell has no recollection of saying ultimately it will be a political decision.”Any Government decision on the euro will be based on a thorough and rigorous assessment of the five economic tests.
Parents are becoming more conservative in their choice of children’s names. Top 20 namesGirls1 Chloe2 Emily3 Megan4 Jessica5 Sophie6 Lauren7 Charlotte8 Hannah9 Olivia10 Lucy11 Ellie12 Amy13 Katie14 Georgia15 Rebecca16 Molly17 Bethany18 Emma19 Holly20 EllaBoys1 Jack2 Thomas3 Joshua4 James5 Daniel6 Harry7 Samuel8 Joseph9 Matthew10 Lewis11 Luke12 Oliver13 William14 Benjamin15 Callum16 George17 Adam18 Ryan19 Jake20 Alexander Parents are becoming more conservative in their choice of children’s names.
Government statistics published yesterday show there has been negligible change in the 10 most popular names for boys and girls, with Jack and Chloe again the most common choice for the seventh and fifth years respectively.Experts from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) predict, though, that after almost a decade of inertia there will be more experimentation soon. According to the ONS, the favourite names change in ten-year cycles and they predict the top ten in five years may include still relatively rare but rising choices such as Angelina, Willow, Maximus, Leo and the highest new entry in the boys’ list, Tyler .Adrian Read of the ONS said: “There’s not been many changes at the top this year but there are one or two unusual names coming through at the lower end. When parents read this list they will be put off using the most popular names.”Jack and Chloe will rank as the most popular millennium names in the same way that Susan and David dominated the 1950s and Sarah, Paul and Christopher the 1970s.In the past year there was little change in the top 10 names for boys, with Lewis the only new entrant at No 10.