ToryDiary: David Cameron promises a "brazenly elitist" approach to teacher recruitment
Alistair Thompson on Platform: Next time the country faces a big freeze, battalions of unemployed people should be called upon to clear the streets of snow
Seats and Candidates Diary of a PPC: The future of Dungeness nuclear power station, remembering WWI veterans and judging the local sloe gin all feature in a busy week for Damian Collins in Folkestone and Hythe
- Labour's plans for Council Tax hikes exposed
- Cllr Alan Lamb: The nationalisation of grit
- Essex hosts snow summit
Parliament: Sir George Young successfully presses Harriet Harman to support the campaign to Save General Election Night
WATCH: Ex-Labour General Secretary Peter Watt talks to Andrew Marr about his devastating memoirs
General Election Brief: All the weekend's big election developments
- Tory lead 9% and 13% in the latest polls
- CCHQ wants Tory activists to help 'beat BBC bias'
- Tories may leave Human Rights Act untouched for five years
- Labour restores relations with extremist Muslim Council of Britain in time for General Election
- Brown wants his "friend" Blair to help him defeat Cameron
- Final six for Staffordshire South
- Blacklisted Tory candidate, Nigel Hastilow, fails to get on South Staffordshire shortlist despite local members' support
- David Bridle: Gay and lesbian supporters of the Tory party feel they can once again follow their political instinct
- Richard Graham: Why I, a Conservative parliamentary candidate, am prepared to go to jail
Mark Wallace on Local government: Councils spend £20 million translating documents
Also in Local government: Free press flourishing in Hammersmith and Fulham
On CentreRight:
- Alistair Burt MP: Why are there so many journalists in Haiti?
- Ridley Grove: Liam Fox has failed the armed forces
- David T Breaker: What do we actually want an MP to be? What is the job description?
- John Glen: Balls' dogma on marriage is expensive and depressing
- Ben Rogers: The Gathering Storm of Radical Islamism
WATCH: William Hague talks to Sky News about the disaster in Haiti and Tory plans to increase aid spending
Tories defend plans to give tax breaks for marriage
"The Tories fended off attacks on their plans to give married couples a tax break as political parties engaged in angry clashes over family policy... Mr Cameron renewed his commitment to the policy, saying he wanted to send out a message that "If you take responsibility, you'll be rewarded"... As family policy took centre stage in pre general-election skirmishes, Mr Cameron said supporting marriage was an important part of his plans to tackle Britain's "broken society". - Press Association
"Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, whose Centre for Social Justice think-tank has developed proposals for a transferable income tax allowance, demanded at least a minimum measure to be introduced “as a matter of urgency”. He pointed out giving the tax break to married couples with children aged under three would only cost £600m compared to £3.2bn for all married couples." - The Herald
Cameron wants sexual consent on the curriculum
"All children will get lessons on how to say “no” to sex under reforms proposed yesterday by David Cameron to mend Britain’s “broken society.” He said school curriculums should include teaching about sexual consent – with an emphasis on “empowering” youngsters to refuse. He also pledged to crack down on “drunken” and violent fathers, as the three main parties battled over the best way to support families." - Daily Express
Tackling climate change not a priority for Tory candidates
"The new generation of Conservative MPs due to take power after the election does not share David Cameron’s professed commitment to tackling climate change, a survey being published this week suggests. “Reducing Britain’s carbon footprint” was rated as the lowest priority, out of 19 policies, by 144 Conservative candidates responding to the survey of the 240 most winnable Tory target seats... The results of the survey by the Conservativehome website, to be unveiled at a conference on the Tory manifesto on Wednesday, suggest a gap might be opening up between the leadership and rank-and-file MPs and activists on the issue." - FT
Fresh doubts cast over global warming theories - Daily Express
> Last night in Seats and Candidates: Cutting the deficit is the top priority of Tory candidates (reducing Britain's carbon footprint is the lowest priority)
Boris Johnson sets an Olympic goal for London to be Britain’s first plastic bag-free city
"London could become Britain’s first plastic-bag-free city in time for the Olympics in 2012, under plans published today by Boris Johnson to reduce litter and landfill waste. Shoppers will be given greater incentives to bring their own reusable bags, and supermarkets may be encouraged to charge for single-use bags issued at the checkout." - The Times
Boris Johnson acts to boost London's recycle rates - The Guardian
Conservatives say GPs must run out-of-hours care again
"The Conservatives have put themselves on a collision course with GPs by vowing to make doctors take back responsibility for out-of-hours care from NHS trusts and private companies. Andrew Lansley, the Tory shadow health spokesman, has renewed his party’s promise to challenge GPs’ controversial contracts in the wake of an inquest into the death of a pensioner given an overdose by a German locum providing after-hours care." - Daily Telegraph
The dysfunctional Whitehall which a Cameron Government could inherit
"David Cameron could inherit a dysfunctional Whitehall machine unable to deliver his programme if he wins the general election, a damning report into the state of the civil service under Gordon Brown concludes. The analysis by the independent charity Institute for Government says there is a “strategic gap” at the heart of Mr Brown’s administration because of weak central command structures." - FT
Liam Fox wants answers from Hoon on failure to equip our troops
"Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, will face questions at the Iraq Inquiry about pre-war planning that left some British troops short of vital equipment when the invasion began... According to Liam Fox, the Conservative shadow defence spokesman, Mr Hoon delayed an order for body armour from September 2002 to November 2002." - Daily Telegraph
Labour opposes a cap on immigration...
"Annual caps on immigration are unnecessary and could exclude people with valuable skills, the Communities Secretary has said... John Denham has said the Government does not support the idea as applicants with something to contribute should get the chance to come to Britain... "We don't think population is going to go to 70 million, so there is a bit of a straw man there," he said." - Sky News
...as does Nick Clegg
"David Cameron wants to enter into a Dutch auction now, entering into implausible caps that can't work, that don't work, that we know round the world doesn't work. It might work in his focus groups but it is not actually going to produce the cohesive Britain that I want to see," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show." - BBC
> Saturday's ToryDiary post: Immigration could be the issue that ensures a decisive Conservative victory
David Cameron: No point in tougher deportation if we keep letting unwanted people in
"There's not much point having tougher laws to deport people who are a threat to Britain if at the same time we don't have a proper border police force to stop unwanted people from coming in." - Extract from a speech given by David Cameron last week reproduced in The Independent
An FT editorial praises David Cameron's recognition of the global security environment
"David Cameron, the UK Conservative party leader, has unveiled a national security programme for a future Tory government. It suggests that his party understands the complexities of today’s global threats, but it stops short of saying how to pay for the bill." - FT
Mandelson adds to confusion over 50p tax band
"There was confusion over the government’s policy on the 50p tax rate yesterday, after the Treasury appeared to contradict remarks made by Lord Mandelson. When asked about the top rate of tax for workers earning over £150,000, Mandelson said: “I would favour, when financial circumstances permit, for the top rate to come down, just as it has gone up when times were hard"... But a Treasury spokesman yesterday insisted the government intended to keep the tax in force for the entire lifetime of the next parliament, which could last until 2015." - City AM
"Britain is going to hurt for a decade"
"Britain faces a "decade of pain" as the cost of Gordon Brown's spending frenzy stifles an economic recovery, experts predicted yesterday. They said growth this year and next would be far lower than Government forecasts. And they claimed that our mammoth debts mean we face ten years of "painful readjustment" as taxes rise and public spending is slashed." - The Sun
Labour plans to push children from poor backgrounds into lucrative jobs - The Times
Philip Johnston: The Tories have been too timid in standing up for the middle classes - Daily Telegraph
Julian Glover: Polls dictate the state of play. And sometimes get it wrong
"Polls are why we think Labour is going to lose this spring. Polls are why there was no election in 2007. Polls are (in part) why Cameron is and stays leader. But before we trust polls, we should ask how they are created and whether they might be misleading. What if the British political class is chasing digits without substance?" - The Guardian
The parties are primed for a digital election - Claire Beale in The Independent
Banning of burkas is oppressive, says Respect leader Salma Yaqoob
"Plans to ban Muslim women from covering their faces in public areas are oppressive, the leader of the Respect party said yesterday. Salma Yaqoob’s comments came as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) announced a formal policy that would make the wearing of garments such as the burka or the niqab — both of which conceal most of the face — to be illegal." - The Times
> Saturday's ToryDiary: Conservative MEP and Times attack "un-British" UKIP
An Australian broadcaster's take on observing David Cameron in action
"What's he like? Impressive. Less because of any vavoom or grand passion in his message of a Year for Change; more because he seemed the genuine article: sensible, collected, capable, reasonable. The chap for these turbulent times. And to put it in Australian terms, probably enough ticker for the task at hand." - Ticky Fullerton of ABC News
Peter Robinson has shaken hands with Martin McGuinness for the first time - BBC
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