9 Dec 2012 09:03:30
Newslinks for Sunday 9th December 2012
9pm ToryDiary: Calling all young conservatives. Register now for the Young Britons' Foundation...
5.45pm ToryDiary: The benefits squeeze will cause real hardship to many families. It's a necessary measure in difficult times but no Tory should see it as a political ploy.
3.45pm WATCH: The Scottish Secretary says that an independent Scotland is "likely" to have to re-apply for EU membership
ToryDiary: Duncan Smith, Gove, Hague, Pickles and Hammond top Cabinet league table
MPsETC: Boris Johnson and Michael Gove sign up to new Tory-led campaign for same-sex marriage
Pauline Latham MP on Comment: Today is International Anti-Corruption Day. Let's tackle the corruption that is hurting the world's poorest people.
Local government: Harry Phibbs pays tribute to the late Nick Seaton and remembers ten of his finest arguments for educational improvement
Britain, like America, may be tilting towards drug liberalisation as the House of Commons' Home Affairs Committee recommends: 'Treat addicts, don't lock them up'
"According to the most recent UK poll on the subject, conducted by YouGov, 49 per cent of voters supports keeping the law on drugs as it is, while 45 per cent support liberalising the law on soft drugs – either by downgrading offences or completely decriminalising drug use." - Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday leader-writers are cautious: "A genuinely impartial inquiry, which examines the case against relaxation, studies the true state of law enforcement and looks seriously at the correlation between cannabis and mental illness, would be highly desirable."
Gove puts Department of Education on war footing over teacher pay reforms
The Sunday Times (£) lists his new reform ambitions:
- "New laws to make it more difficult for teaching unions to call and conduct strikes;
- Challenging strikes in the courts, possibly using the European Convention on Human Rights to guarantee children the right to education;
- Making it easier for academies — semi-independent state schools — to dismiss sub-standard staff."
52% support Osborne's benefits squeeze; 35% do not
- 33% say it was "right that benefits should only be increased at 1% a year";
- 19% say it was wrong, "benefits should not have been increased at all";
- 35% say wrong, "benefits should have been increased in line with inflation or more".
Source YouGov for The Sunday Times (PDF).
Matthew d'Ancona warns that these numbers might not endure: "We have yet to see how the electorate responds to the sharper knives in the austerity canteen. Voters hate “scroungers” and benefit frauds. But many of them will also recoil from real-term cuts to benefits for those in work, and from the case studies of indigence that will quickly proliferate. Each such news item will bring what V S Pritchett called a “talent of pain” to the table. Decency is the spine of the British character and all who are bold enough to address our broken welfare system should take care not to affront it." - The Sunday Telegraph
Ed Balls: The Tories are attacking strivers, not shirkers
"the Government is pushing through three years’ of real-term cuts in everything from tax credits for working families to child benefit. Even maternity pay is being cut — a move branded the “mummy tax”. A one-earner family on £20,000 with two children will lose £279 a year from all the Government’s changes next April — on top of the cost of higher VAT — according to the independent House of Commons Library. No wonder some have already said this is effectively a tax on striving families." - Ed Balls in The Sun
Could benefits squeeze become defining political issue?
Ed Miliband has decided to oppose the Coalition's three year long 1% cap on benefits - Observer
In his Mail on Sunday column James Forsyth says Cameron wants to turn welfare into a "wedge issue".
Osborne has forced Labour into its historic stance of defending the poorest, in low-paid work and on benefits - John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday
But The Observer reports that Vince Cable may not be on side, suggesting the Chancellor was 'demonising' the jobless.
"[The] more serious, charge against the Chancellor is that he has shattered one of the longstanding principles of the welfare state. Donald Hirsch, director of the centre for the study of social policy at Loughborough University, argues that the 1% cap is "the most historic moment for the economic welfare of the poorest people in Britain for 30 years". Since 1981, it has been accepted that benefits increase each year with prices, so that the living standards of the poorest are not eaten away by inflation."" - Heather Stewart for The Observer
Where are the rioters? Nick Cohen wonders why Britons don't protest like we used to - Observer
Osborne may have scrapped the fuel duty escalator but the beer price escalator keeps going up and up - The Sun
Lord Helseltine praises Team Cameron and blasts Ed Balls
"Chancellor George Osborne has set his face to the wind. Michael Gove is tackling a country of educational underperformance. Iain Duncan Smith is talking about dependency as though he understands it. Unlike Labour, they are all determined to reduce the levels of debt. For there is no serious long-term future for our economy that does not grip the scale of indebtedness." - Lord Heseltine writing for the Mail on Sunday
- Osborne v Balls is the nastier fight than Cameron v Miliband - Martin Ivens in The Sunday Times (£)
- Ed Miliband tells lies about taxing and cutting - Toby Young in The Sun
MoD set to axe hundreds more soldiers under 'hugely damaging' plans to cut army to just 82,000, claim Tory MPs Patrick Mercer and John Baron - Mail on Sunday
Tory MPs warn Osborne that defence cannot be cut further, with one suggesting the aid budget must be trimmed first - Sunday Express
"The Prime Minister is to push ahead with the winding down of Britain’s war and wants to withdraw up to 4,000 troops by the end of next year, almost halving the size of the combat force in Helmand province, according to military sources. He is said to have overruled military chiefs who wanted to maintain a strong force right to the final months of the Nato combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014." - The Sunday Times (£)
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Autumn Statement means less funding for Defence - and potential Budget rebellions from Tory MPs
The Sunday Times: Where is the serious spending review?
"When the coalition took office it embarked on a rapid spending review which set the tone for this parliament. It was not an exhaustive examination of the size of the state as was done by Canada and Sweden in recent years. It did not look at how a zombie economy could afford such a generous welfare state. It was a short-term fix. A proper review of spending is urgently needed to give us the scaled-back state we can afford and alongside which the private sector can flourish. Otherwise, we will stagnate and this decade really will be lost." - The Sunday Times leader (£)
> Earlier this year Paul Goodman proposed a Comprehensive 'Lower Spending Commission'.
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove join new Tory campaign group to push for same-sex marriage - The Sunday Telegraph | Sky News
"Mr Gove and London Mayor Boris Johnson are among 19 senior figures who have signed the letter calling for marriage to be open to all, regardless of sexuality. The group has been put together by Nick Herbert, the former police minister who resigned from the government in September's reshuffle. It includes Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who is Catholic, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt, an evangelical Christian and former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Fowler." - BBC
Same-sex marriage is a true Tory principle - Nick Herbert MP in The Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Times (£) predicts a mini-Cabinet rebellion on gay marriage.
> The list of Freedom To Marry supporters.
A group of 12 "Turquoise Tories" met the Prime Minister last week to express their concerns that some ministers are killing off the Conservatives' green agenda with anti-wind farm rhetoric - Independent on Sunday
The Sunday Herald scare-mongers: "A quarter of Scotland has been opened up for drilling as part of Chancellor George Osborne's new dash for underground gas. The potentially huge scale of the exploration has stirred fears of contamination, radioactive wastes, climate pollution and explosions."
Osborne's belief in shale gas is "fracking crazy" - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The developed world may soon be compensating the developing world for climate change
Liam Fox suggests "Back to a Common Market" as new slogan for Tories on Europe
"Dr Fox will say a “new consensus” is emerging in Britain which points to a looser, trade-based relationship with the EU. Britain should seek to renegotiate its membership along these lines – then put this to the test in a referendum, he will argue. “If the choice is between a looser, more economic relationship and leaving, then I would choose to stay,” the former cabinet minister will tell the Royal United Services Institute. However, he will add: “If the choice is between the current trajectory towards ever-closer union and leaving, then I would choose to leave, albeit reluctantly.”" - The Sunday Telegraph
Some Tories say the Prime Minister should tell fellow EU leaders that for Britain it’s 'Common Market or Quit' - Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph
"As Ukip’s surprisingly strong showing in recent by-elections has demonstrated, the electorate is increasingly impatient with the EU as it is presently constituted. If the Tories are to stop losing support to Ukip, they need to act decisively. Further drift points only in the direction of electoral defeat." - The Sunday Telegraph leader
- English nationalists want less Bruseels - John Redwood
- Worries grow that non-Euro states could be frozen out of new EU decision-making structures - Independent on Sunday
Jeremy Hunt to announce more accurate smear test for cervical cancer - Mail on Sunday
Prime Minister hires plane for £700,000 trade mission jaunt from London to New York, Brazil and back again - Mail on Sunday
Bishop Joe Devine attacks David Cameron’s morals - Scotland on Sunday
It's not so much fun being young anymore...
- The cost of a degree is now £100,000... claims the Independent on Sunday
- "Half of under-30s who rent from private landlords fear they will never buy their own house — even though nine in ten want to. And a fifth of those aged under 45 have delayed starting a family until they find a stable home." - The Sun
Under the 'Good Friday' agreement, flying the Union Flag is illegal in Northern Ireland on 348 days of the year - Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday
Italy PM Mario Monti announces plan to resign - BBC
And finally... This will there will be an election to the House of Lords
The Independent on Sunday previews the 'by-election' to replace the late Lord Ferrers.
> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.
8 Dec 2012 09:01:53
"Nadine Dorries will be left to sweat over her political future after the Tories said that they would not rule on restoring the whip until next year. The former nurse... will meet members of her local Conservative association in the next few days to discuss her disappearance to the jungle." - Times (£)
Newslinks for Saturday 8th December 2012
7.30pm LeftWatch: Nick Clegg continues to insult his opponents. This time he says Conservatives have an "irrational phobia" of property taxes.
4.45pm LISTEN: William Hague says Britain has "seen some evidence" of the Syrian regime preparing to use chemical weapons
3.15pm ToryDiary: The developed world may soon be compensating the developing world for climate change
ToryDiary: Autumn Statement means less funding for Defence - and potential Budget rebellions from Tory MPs
ConservativeIntelligence: A report of Lord Lamont's reflections on the Autumn Statement
Christopher Howarth on Comment: Banking Union could lead to a permanent sidelining of Britain in the Single Market
Adam Afriyie MP on Thinkers' Corner reflects on wealth creation
John Bald on Local government: Formal English - an argument that must be won
Cameron backs gay weddings in churches...
"David Cameron has given his backing to gay weddings in churches in a move that puts him on direct collision course with the established Church. The Church of England, which last month rejected women bishops despite more than seven in ten members of the General Synod voting in favour, accused him of “divisive” proposals that will “change the nature of marriage for everyone.”" - Times (£)
> Coverage from yesterday:
- ToryDiary: If Cameron lets churches conduct same-sex marriages, what happens to those that refuse?
- WATCH: Let me be 100% clear, says David Cameron, no church or mosque will be forced to hold a gay wedding
...but a large number of Tory MPs - and Lords - are ready to revolt on the issue
"Letters to constituents passed to The Daily Telegraph suggest that at least 130 Tory MPs are preparing to vote against the plans. It is understood that the change was triggered by Government legal advice that a complete prohibition would be vulnerable to legal challenge and open the way for further challenges against the Church of England and others." - Daily Telegraph | Guardian
"David Cameron has been warned that plans to let same-sex couples marry in churches will be "massacred" in the House of Lords and alienate grassroots Conservatives. ... Lord Carey, the former Archbishop, said here was a real possibility that the bill could be defeated in the Lords." - Daily Telegraph
Maria Miller: Gay marriage is a small evolutionary change, not a radical step
"For me, far from being a radical departure, this is simply one more in a long line of reforms which have strengthened marriage, ensuring it remains a modern and vibrant institution. Over the coming weeks and months I will continue to work closely with faith and other interested groups on how best to implement our plans." - Maria Miller for the Daily Telegraph
UK on triple-dip recession alert after industrial slowdown - Guardian
- UK economy: the problem sectors - Guardian
Matthew Parris: The worse it gets for the British economy... the better it gets for Tory re-election prospects
"Mr Osborne’s best hopes of winning the general election in 2015 lie in continuing austerity, the continuing postponement of hopes for growth, and national anxiety. On Wednesday he promised economic recovery. But his best hope of victory in 2015 would lie in its failure to arrive. Depression here and across Europe, further and seemingly indefinite postponements to economic success and a near-permanent atmosphere of crisis and danger could serve the Tories well in two and a half years’ time." - Matthew Parris for the Times (£)
- Britain needs another grand vision tailored to what it can afford - Janan Ganesh for the FT (£)
- Strivers are still being short-changed - Patrick O'Flynn for the Daily Express
- David Cameron must adapt to the times, but he risks ignoring what is truly important - Charles Moore from the Daily Telegraph
> Today - ConservativeIntelligence: A report of Lord Lamont's reflections on the Autumn Statement
> Yesterday -
- ToryDiary: The voters give their verdict on the economy: The Coalition is rubbish but Labour would be even worse
- Columnist Bruce Anderson: In austere times the winning politicians will be the ones who tell the truth
- LISTEN: George Osborne wasn't the only Treasury minister who battled with BBC presenters over the Autumn Statement
Tory MPs plan to fight Defence cuts
"Conservative MPs are preparing to do battle with George Osborne in the run-up to next year’s spending review over defence spending, which they argue should not be cut while spending on aid, schools and the NHS is protected. Several Tory backbenchers told the Financial Times they will not accept further cuts to the Ministry of Defence" - FT (£)
- Hammond faces defence budgets fight - FT (£)
> Today on ToryDiary: Autumn Statement means less funding for Defence - and potential Budget rebellions from Tory MPs
> Yesterday - Columnist Andrew Lilico: With £27bn more cuts to find, something's gotta give. Why not the NHS ringfence?
Owen Paterson: We want our country back from Europe
> Today - Christopher Howarth on Comment: Banking Union could lead to a permanent sidelining of Britain in the Single Market
> Yesterday on Local government: Pickles warns of new EU rules to cause planning delays
West Coast fiasco report is "damning", Patrick McLoughlin says
David Willetts to announce £600m investment in British science
"Technology capable of turning human excrement into fuel, and stem cell researchers attempting to cure paralysis are to benefit from a £600 million package of investment in British science. A new medicine manufacturing plant will also be built in an attempt to dissuade major pharmaceutical companies from mass-producing British-made drugs in Asia... David Willetts, the Science Minister, said that the Government’s aim was to turn Britain into “the best place in the world to do science”." - Times (£)
Oliver Letwin, David Cameron's brainbox, boasts a CV of clever fixes... and not to mention a few screw-ups - Guardian interview
Tories sought donors' cash to fight Lib Dem mansion tax
"The Conservative party privately sent letters to Tory donors and wealthy homeowners promising to defeat Liberal Democrat plans for a mansion tax at the same time as their coalition partners thought they were negotiating on a version of the proposal ahead of the autumn statement, it emerged on Friday." - Guardian
New technology means Britain and the U.S. could tap undreamed reserves of gas and oil - Nigel Lawson for the Daily Mail
Nadine Dorries may still have the whip suspended until next year
Tory heartlands suffer biggest cuts to child benefit - Daily Telegraph
Danny Alexander: "Multinationals must pay their taxes here — it’s not an option"
"That, he says, must include large multinationals. Starbucks bowed to consumer pressure this week and announced that it would increase its tax contributions and the Chief Secretary insists that other businesses must follow suit. “Complying with the UK tax system is not an optional extra,” he says. “A multinational company can’t just decide whether or not to engage with the UK tax system. It’s an obligation. Companies need to pay the tax they are supposed to pay, full stop. End of story.”" - Times (£) interview with Danny Alexander
- Isle of Man to help Britain tackle tax evasion - Guardian
George Osborne in expense claim for paddock - Independent
Disabled challenge minister over job support boast - Independent
Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes faces probe over donation
"The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is to consider whether the MP breached rules by failing to fully declare a £10,000 donation received by his local party in south London." - BBC
The SNP flip-flop on automatic membership of the EU
"Alex Salmond’s opponents have accused the SNP of retreating from its long-standing position that an independent Scotland would have automatic membership of the European Union. ... This week it emerged that European officials had signalled that a newly independent nation would have to reapply for EU membership." - Scotsman
- Alex Salmond lobbied statesmen to back Lockerbie bomber's release - Daily Telegraph
- Scotland’s brand image damaged - Scotsman
- Tories book place at the table for Salmond’s panel on press standards - Scotsman
Riots erupt in Belfast hours after Hillary Clinton condemns violence - Guardian
Qatar seeks to extend Kyoto to break climate change deadlock - Reuters
Royal Mail plans to cut compensation limit for "normal" post - Daily Telegraph
> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.
7 Dec 2012 08:29:35
"To turn the public mood, Labour needs to find its voice and tell
the stories that counteract Daily Mail scrounger anecdotes. For every
cheat claiming disability while running a marathon, there are thousands
of tales of the hard-working and the desperate-to-work queuing at food
banks. Labour MPs' surgeries brim with stories that need to be told, of
families evicted unable to pay soaring rents, of children trapped in
bed-and-breakfast single rooms, of "strivers" sinking through no fault
of their own." - Polly Toynbee in The Guardian
Newslinks for Friday 7th December 2012
5pm LeftWatch: Ed Miliband kept "boring my ear off" and "pestering me for a picture"
4.15pm Local government:
- Council byelection results from yesterday
- Barnet Council to save £12 million a year on back office costs
4pm Lord Ashcroft on Comment: My inspirational night as a judge at the “Millies”
3pm WATCH: Let me be 100% clear, says David Cameron, no church or mosque will be forced to hold a gay wedding
2.30pm WATCH: Why are we spending £2 billion on windfarms in Africa? Nigel Farage gives extended interview to BBC Breakfast.
1pm Columnist Andrew Lilico: With £27bn more cuts to find, something's gotta give. Why not the NHS ringfence?
12.30pm ToryDiary: If Cameron lets churches conduct same-sex marriages, what happens to those that refuse?
Noon George Osborne wasn't the only Treasury minister who battled with BBC presenters over the Autumn Statement... "You've really got to get your facts right before you bring me on," Sajid Javid MP told Five Live reporters. Continuing: "I'm shocked. You guys just haven't been briefed."
11am ToryDiary: The voters give their verdict on the economy: The Coalition is rubbish but Labour would be even worse
ToryDiary: The future of the Conservative Party Conference
Columnist Bruce Anderson: In austere times the winning politicians will be the ones who tell the truth
Lord Popat and Shailesh Vara on Comment: Britain found a home for Ugandan Asians
Local government: Pickles warns of new EU rules to cause planning delays
The Deep End: Authoritarian libertarianism may be a contradiction in terms, but it works
Cabinet colleagues tell Osborne that ratings downgrade is inevitable and he should tell voters it will not affect borrowing costs - Guardian
- The economic impact of a downgrade would not be that great - Larry Elliott in The Guardian
- “It’s not the end of the world to lose the triple-A,” says Jim Leaviss, head of retail fixed interest at M&G Investments. “Unless we have a growth miracle, the UK will probably be downgraded – but there aren’t many large triple-A countries left anyway.” - FT (£)
Osborne still hasn't identified £10 billion of election year cuts...
"Mr Osborne wants to cut spending by £16bn in election year, and his Autumn Statement listed only £6bn of that sum: £3.6bn through a welfare squeeze and £2.4bn in day-to-day Whitehall spending." - FT (£)
...Osborne has kicked cuts into the long grass
"In the event that the chancellor again decided to spare the NHS, schools and international aid from cuts, the IFS calculated that every other area of spending would have to fall by 16% in inflation-adjusted terms in the three years after the 2015 election." - Guardian
"The Institute for Fiscal Studies said Britain is on course for £7billion of tax rises and another £20billion in welfare cuts and spending reductions after the next election. IFS director Paul Johnson also predicted that pensioner benefits such as free bus passes and television licences, and the winter fuel allowance – which David Cameron has pledged to protect until 2015 – are almost certain to be slashed after the election." - Daily Mail
Fraser Nelson: Osborne often behaves as if he is playing a game of chess with Ed Balls rather than trying to save a country
"Osborne recently observed that Barack Obama was re-elected after years of dismal economic progress, because he succeeded in blaming the other guys for the problems. His implication was that the Conservatives might get away with doing the same in 2015." - Fraser Nelson in The Telegraph
- Ed Balls was right, concludes Mary Ann Sieghart in The Independent; We should be cutting less.
- John Redwood doesn't see much austerity: "The OBR forecasts 1.2% growth next year, 2% in 2014, 2.3% in 2015, and higher rates in the following two years. All this could better be described as “gently recovering Britain” rather than “Austerity Britain”."
- Samuel Brittan says the national budget should be divided into three sections: normal current expenditure; a capital budget; and a stabilisation fund - FT (£)
Frontloaded tax rises is one explanation for Britain's poor growth performance - Allister Heath in City AM
No 10 director of communications understood to have been told by BBC boss that Today programme's interview of George Osborne 'could have been better handled' - Guardian
"Downing Street complained to the BBC following the 13-minute encounter on Radio 4’s Today programme because of the ‘unacceptably hostile’ tone of the interview. Mr Davis is said to have been ‘spoken to’ by managers, although the BBC denied he had been reprimanded. Downing Street is thought to have received an apology." - Daily Mail
The Chancellor should give an absolute assurance that the Government will stop targeting the nation’s pension savings - Telegraph leader
Liberal Democrat critics say Nick Clegg was 'outgunned' in negotiations on George Osborne's Autumn Statement - Independent
"Vince Cable, the business secretary, has put himself at the helm of a Liberal Democrat backlash over the autumn statement, accusing David Cameron of being frightened off a mansion tax by Tory donors and criticising George Osborne for stigmatising welfare claimants." - Guardian
Andrew Lansley challenges Labour to come up with their own deficit reduction plan
"Andrew Lansley, the Conservative leader of the Commons, challenged Labour over whether it would back the real-terms cut in benefits. “I heard nothing about how the Labour Party would control borrowing. Where would the deficit reduction plan from the Labour Party come from? When the welfare upratings Bill comes before the House, will the Opposition vote for it or against it?”" - Quoted in The Telegraph
Moderate earners seen as the only winners...
- "Those in the upper middle of the income scale will be slightly better off thanks to cuts to fuel duty and income tax;
- The poorest half of the population will lose from the decision to increase benefit payments by 1 per cent for the next three years. The IFS said this would equate to a 4 per cent cut in real terms;
- The richest 10th of the population will lose about £8 a week or 0.5 per cent of their net income because of stricter pension tax relief rules and below-inflation increases to the threshold for the higher rate of income tax."
Full report in the Financial Times (£).
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: The squeezed middle are NOT earning over £225,000 a year
Labour says squeeze on benefits will hurt strivers - BBC
- Labour refuses to back 1% cap on benefits rises but minister insists the era of the 'generous' welfare state is over - Daily Mail
- Yvette Cooper said the Chancellor’s 1 per cent cap on maternity pay rises over the next three years will hit women who take time off work after giving birth - The Sun
Polly Toynbee urges Labour to counter the idea of widespread benefits scrounging
Remembering the liberating vision of William Beveridge Philip Collins in The Times (£) offers a different perspective: "For too long Labour has been associated with higher welfare bills when the whole point of Labour — there’s a clue in the name — is that it should be a party for whom a huge welfare state is not something of which to be proud."
"The £3.75 billion benefits cut is a trap the Tories have spent the best part of two years preparing. Yet it looks like Labour’s response will be to leap into it with gay abandon. “Osborne wants to pick on people he thinks are work-shy and feckless,” Balls said yesterday. Perhaps. But so does most of the electorate." - Dan Hodges in The Telegraph
Balls yesterday blamed his dire Autumn Statement performance on a childhood stammer and heckling Tory MPs - Express
"In truth [Ed Balls] has never been able to connect easily with either his
party or the British public for, like the senior Tories he is so fond
of deriding, he comes from a privileged background and
has little experience of the real world. The son of a distinguished
scientist, he was educated at private school
before going to Oxford and embarking on a life in politics. That
political career may now been doomed thanks to his spectacularly poor
judgment. But the coalition must be hoping he remains in place as
Shadow
Chancellor, for he is fast becoming Labour’s greatest liability."
- Proof Labour is unfit to run the economy - Daily Mail leader
> Yesterday's LeftWatch: Balls has a far worse problem than his stammer
Steve Barclay MP welcomes Starbucks' decision to voluntarily pay £20 million more in tax
"This payment is
more to do with corporate reputation than corporation tax. Companies
have a duty to shareholders to maximise their profits, so it is
difficult for Starbucks to argue that they are making this payment on
tax grounds, rather than to protect their brand identity." - Quoted by The Guardian
The Economist offers reasons to be more upbeat
"The OBR’s forecasts no longer appear rosy. The misery in the euro zone may not end soon, but it may not get much worse either. China’s slowdown already shows signs of ending. America’s economy might be pushing ahead by the spring, if its politicians can avoid driving it off the “fiscal cliff.” A generally brighter global outlook would offer Mr Osborne his best hope of avoiding more bad news in March." - The Economist
Within the OBR forecasts the UK contribution to the EU budget is expected to grow - Express
The Economist leads this week in arguing again EU exit for Britain, decribing it as a "reckless gamble".
West Coast Main Line fiasco could cost taxpayer £50 million - BBC
Eric Pickles becomes first Tory Cabinet minister to publicly support leaving the ECHR - Spectator
Lord Heseltine defends his growth report during House of Lords debate - Scotsman
Prime Minister salutes 'talent and dedication' at Sun Military Awards 2012 - The Sun
- It is an inspired idea to send former soldiers into classrooms - Express leader | Independent
Police commissioners accused of cronyism
"Police and crime commissioners were embroiled in “cronyism” rows last night after appointing close friends to lucrative jobs as their deputies. Sixteen commissioners have appointed deputies on salaries of up to £65,000 without any formal appointments process. The Tory commissioner in Northamptonshire has published plans to hire 17 people, including four assistant commissioners, to help him." - Times (£)
72% of businesses oppose Scottish separation - Telegraph
"In a significant blow to Alex Salmond, José Manuel Barroso confirmed that any part of an existing member state that became an independent country would not inherit membership. Existing treaties “would no longer apply”, he confirmed, meaning Scotland would have to try and negotiate its own opt-out from the single currency and the Schengen free movement agreement. It would also lose the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher, which is worth around £290 million a year to Scottish taxpayers." - Telegraph
"Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP who appeared on I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!, has accused journalists of invading her privacy and threatened to call the police if they turn up to her constituency office." - Times (£)
And finally... You’ve heard of Girl Power — now here, perhaps, comes Princess Power!
"Of course, it doesn’t really matter what sex Kate’s baby is — any child is wonderful. But after David Cameron scrambles to change succession laws in time, it really would be fitting if we had our first female heir apparent." - Louise Mensch in The Sun
> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.
6 Dec 2012 08:39:40
Newslinks for Thursday 6th December 2012
7pm ToryDiary: The squeezed middle are NOT earning over £225,000 a year
4pm WATCH: MPs Bernard Jenkin and David Lammy join forces - in the Parliament Choir for Christmas
3.15pm WATCH: Balls on his much-mocked response to Osborne in the Commons
3pm ToryDiary: A 10p income tax rate - arguments for and against
2pm Local Government: Social landlords should help with childcare to get tenants into work
10.45am LeftWatch: Balls has a far worse problem than his stammer
ToryDiary: Osborne gets a good press this morning but Britain is in serious economic trouble
Columnist Andrew Lilico is today's absolute must-read: "Osborne has responded to the disintegration of his fiscal strategy with a bold political attack. He remains the best show in town - our best hoped for achieving anything in terms of getting the deficit down. But with the growth outlook getting worse and worse, with austerity scheduled to last longer and longer, and with the political damage of now-near-inevitable high inflation getting worse and worse, I fear that being the best show in town will not ensure him an eager audience for too much longer."
MPsETC: How Robert Halfon MP froze fuel duty and won a victory for "white van conservatism"
LeftWatch: Does Jonathan Freedland read ConHome before writing about it?
The Deep End: The new dash for gas should be good for the environment, but there is a complication…
Chris Skidmore MP on Comment: Beveridge - a modern conservative?
Local Government: Newly built neo-classical social housing in Islington
Ratings agency Fitch warns that Britain could lose its AAA credit rating after George Osborne admitted he will miss his target to reduce Britain’s debts and have to borrow an extra £100 billion - Telegraph
"The economy would shrink by 0.1 per cent this year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which also cut growth forecasts for each of the next four years." - Times (£)
Graphic from The Sun.
The Tories will go to the polls in 2015 promising another three years of austerity - Guardian
"Ed Balls, shadow chancellor, accused the Treasury of manipulating the borrowing figures by taking account of 4G spectrum proceeds before the auction has taken place. The £3.5bn booked in the statement looks conservative against the £22.5bn raised by a similar sale of 3G spectrum in 2000 at the peak of the dotcom boom." - FT (£)
'The Coalition is simply not radical enough'
"The terrifying fact is that Mr Osborne did not extend austerity yesterday. He merely delayed it. To adapt a phrase from the euro crisis, he kicked the can down the road. In due course he, or more likely a successor, will have to come to the Commons and deliver the bracing cuts that were not announced yesterday." - Peter Oborne in The Telegraph
"The compromises of coalition government prevent the kind of radical, supply-side, tax-cutting agenda that might stand some chance of breaking the mould. What we seem to have is a kind of “New Labour-lite” approach to government in which the Treasury constantly shrinks away from what really needs to be done." - Jeremy Warner in The Telegraph
"This Statement will soon be forgotten, yet another wasted opportunity to salvage the UK economy from what looks ever more likely to be a lost decade" - Allister Heath in City AM
But Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail is not so harsh: "Too often, Chancellors hemmed in by Treasury orthodoxy fail to act co urageously. But in the past few weeks, Osborne has acted bravely in his choice of Canadian Mark Carney as the new governor of the Bank of England, and in his insistence on the dash for gas-fired power stations."
Business will cheer the Autumn Statement only if its promises are put into action - John Cridland of the CBI in The Times (£)
George Osborne's electoral battleplan
"Osborne wants to be able to go to the voters in 2015 and tell them four things: first, that Labour borrowed too much before 2010; second, that the coalition has cut the borrowing back to half of the 2010 figure; third, to claim that the borrowing cut has been achieved by targeting those on welfare and the very well off, rather than the not so squeezed middle, whom the government has tried to protect as far as possible; and, fourth, that Labour would increase borrowing again, spend more on welfare and restart the whole miserable cycle. If he can do this, Osborne seems to believe that he may have an election-winning narrative." - Martin Kettle in The Guardian
Newspaper editorial verdicts:
- "Mr Osborne has played a difficult hand with some considerable skill. And after Ed Balls’s truly atrocious performance yesterday, the Chancellor has proved himself an infinitely safer guardian of our nation’s future than the alternative." - Daily Mail leader
- The Sun Says: "After the disasters of Mr Osborne’s earlier “pasty tax” Budget, this was a genuine attempt to be more in tune with ordinary voters. Curbing benefits while lifting more of the low-paid out of tax is a welcome step towards righting the imbalance between work and welfare."
- The Autumn Statement strikes a difficult balance between what needs to be done and what the public will accept - The Telegraph
- The Times (£): "George Osborne got the big decisions right yesterday, but the dismal figures he announced still depend on luck"
- The Independent: "The economy is expected to contract again in the fourth quarter of this year; there are ructions to come over Whitehall job cuts and the squeeze on pensions; and the prospect of Britain losing its triple-A credit rating has far from receded. And that is only the immediate future. Mr Osborne clung on yesterday. But only just."
- The Guardian can find Thatcher but no Liberal Democrat qualities in the Autumn Statement.
Despite the headlines we are all worse off
"Official figures show that as a result of all the tax, benefit and public spending changes implemented by the Coalition since 2010, the average household will be around £1,140 worse off by 2015, with the top fifth of households £2,370 worse off." - Daily Mail
Some more Autumn Statement detail:
- 1% benefit cap effectively pays for cancellation of 3p rise in petrol duty - Guardian
- Osborne attacked for £4bn raid on benefits - The Herald
- 400,000 more people dragged into the 40% tax band - Guardian
- Road groups welcome £1.5bn investment but demand more - Guardian
- 1.1million public sector workers will be axed by 2018 - The Sun
- "George Osborne humiliated his Liberal Democrat colleagues in the Coalition by dismissing their hopes for a mansion tax" - Daily Mail
- £2bn gap opens up in MoD budget - FT (£)
- UN aid pledge will be honoured but less will be delivered than expected - Independent
Welfare squeeze may cause splits in Labour ranks (and was designed to do so)
"Ed Miliband will have to decide within weeks whether to back new laws sanctioning sweeping cuts to welfare benefits. George Osborne sought to reopen divisions within the Labour Party by announcing that MPs will vote before Christmas on coalition plans to slash £3.7 billion from the welfare budget by 2016. The move is designed to reignite a battle within the Shadow Cabinet over welfare. Blairites have been trying to persuade Mr Miliband to go further in cutting back benefits. Although welfare cuts enjoy broad public support, they remain contentious for Labour." - Times (£)
- "Labour finds itself in an awkward position on many budgetary specifics. Its ambiguity on welfare, an issue on which it is almost impossible to out-tough the public, allows the government to portray Labour as the party of idlers." - Janan Ganesh in the FT (£)
Ed Balls' response seen as disastrous by the sketch writers
"Frogmen were last night diving on the wreck of a Westminster coaster, the high-tonnage Ed Balls, after she (okay, technically ‘he’) sank in less than a minute with the possible loss of all on board. The vessel foundered yesterday at the start of the Opposition’s response to the Autumn Statement." - Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail | Michael Deacon in The Telegraph
The Independent's Steve Richards writes that Balls "struggled" yesterday and lacks "populist phrases".
Max Hastings in the Daily Mail describes the Ed Balls recipe as "economic poison": "He has learned nothing from the past, proposing to borrow vastly more money that the country does not have to resurrect New Labour’s disastrous era of fantasy prosperity."
The Government is expected to be heavily criticised in a report into the collapse of the West Coast Mainline train contract - BBC
Gove clashed with MPs yesterday after exam watchdogs rapped his plan to scrap GCSEs - Sun
- Teachers' salary rises should be based on performance in the classroom, rather than just time served - Patricia Hodgson in The Telegraph
Newspaper editors to back 'most' suggestions proposed by Leveson but reject any role for Ofcom - Guardian
David Cameron backs Nick Boles over house building plans - Telegraph
David Cameron accused of dithering on EU referendum - Express
"The Conservative leadership appears to be made up of remarkably slow learners when it comes to public hostility towards the EU. The referendum that people demand must offer a quite simple binary choice: in or out. Anything else will quite rightly be seen as an insult to the intelligence of the public." - Express leader
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Cameron and Boris both want renegotiation not exit --- but both seem ready to give voters an In/Out choice
Betty Boothroyd, the former Speaker of the House of Commons, criticises John Bercow for failing to wear the 'uniform' of his office - Telegraph
English councils have increased their reserves by £4.5bn over the last five years to almost £13bn, despite cuts to funding - BBC | ConHome's Local government page
Separate Scotland must apply to join EU, warns Brussels - Scotsman
And finally... Michael White focuses on the choice of tie of Osborne, Cameron, Clegg and Alexander
"The deputy prime minister wore a red tie to remind Lib Dem MPs and Labour MPs – to whom he needs to be kinder, just in case they ever form a coalition – that he is a radical deep down. Admittedly, quite deep down after another autumn statement that suggests the back half of the coalition pantomime horse carries the sh*t for the front half, but symbols matter, especially on TV." - Michael White in The Guardian
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