So.... all you political pundit types...

[OrmRenewed]

tell me what's happening. Because I haven't a clue.

GB is a gonner. Clegg is two-timing the tories.

Please elucidate for the hard of thinking.

TheBride I think you are in fact NC....

Who's the Groom?

Instead of starting a new thread, can someone clarify something for me, since I think DC is now in... can he make changes immediately?

I ask because my friend is a student nurse getting the NHS bursary, and she also has a mortgage which the bursary helps to pay for, but she's a bit worried if they interest rates go back up her mortgage will go up and won't be able to afford it?

Then she's worried about cut backs to the NHS?

Yes he's in.

No, any changes need to go through Parliament which doesn't reconvene until May 25th. Then cuts would typically need to wait for the next Budget.

There will be cuts but newly qualified nurses are likely to be safe, because they're cheap. Interest rates I can't comment on - that depends on the dreaded markets.

In all honesty I don't know. I don't think your friend's funding will suddenly disappear though.

Juneybean- the government doesnt set interest rates. That's done by the Bank of England which is independent of the government (grudgingly admits that this was a good idea by Gordon). Therefore, the election result was somewhat irrelevant to interest rates. The main threat to interest rates is inflation because interest rates are used to control inflation.

My understanding on the budget(slightly different to Frakkin) is that the Con-Lib Gov will publish an emergency budget which effectively replaces the last budget. i.e. they dont wait till next March. How much change they will make is hard to know.

However, agree with frakkin that student nurses/ front line public sector workers are unlikely to be an immediate target. It's more likely to be people in Civil service middle management/ consultants etc. as they are relatively more expensive and people notice them less.

You may have more up to date info - I hadn't heard what the deal was with the budget when I posted that. I know the Conservatives were in favour of immediate cuts but the Lib Dems didn't want them until 2011. Who knows with this situation? Normal conventions don't seem to apply!

But your friend should be safe, markets willing.

I hope so! Our summer holiday depends on this haha! She won't be able to afford it if the interest rates go up as her bursary won't cover her mortgage, oh dear!