An interesting story here about the decision-making process in government; Universities minister David "Two-brains" Willetts was on-air discussing budget cutting in the education sector and said that scrapping free milk for the under-5s was an option being considered. During the interview, Downing St contacted the BBC to say that David Cameron didn't like the idea and that it wasn't happening.
Various newspapers have their own take on the story, the Daily Mail here, the Independent here and the Mirror here. It is interesting for G&P students because it can be used in discussions about coalition policy, and also about Prime Ministerial power and the process of policy-making (before the PM moved in, it was a policy that had been discussed at length in government, and was worth £50m a year).
As pointed out here by Bagehot in the Economist, the PM disliked the milk policy because it was an echo of Margaret Thatcher's policy of ending school milk to the over 7s in 1971. There are issues about whether it is wise for the PM to have the power to arbitrarily decide on policy (further echoes, this time of Tony Blair's sofa government) rather than it being a cabinet decision, which can be discussed at length in any relevant essay.
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