What has the Coalition done that you most approve of? Cancelled the third runway at Heathrow? Abolished ID cards? Invited many more schools to become Academies?
And who is performing best in the Cabinet?
ToryDiary: Migrant workers must have private medical insurance, insists Theresa May
ToryDiary: George Osborne, the gambler let loose in the Treasury
David Cowan on Platform: How to get credit flowing into Britain’s deprived areas
Local government: Whistleblower account of life in a Council's Planning Department
Martin Parsons on CentreRight: Defending coastal areas against erosion and flooding
Cameron takes Cabinet to Yorkshire for meeting on regional growth - BBC
Clegg to replace Regional Development Agencies and Cable to scrap aid to motor industry"Nick Clegg will announce tomorrow that the London Development Agency and the eight regional development agencies, which, together, cost the taxpayer more than £1.5 billion, will be replaced by “local enterprise partnerships”. - Times (£)
"Vince Cable, business secretary, said on Monday the car industry was no longer in an “emergency” situation, warning manufacturers that they could no longer count on direct government support." - FT
"Bringing down the deficit, making work pay and becoming a magnet for investment will ‘help Britain earn its living in the decades to come’ and ensure the country’s place at the ‘top table’, [Cameron] said." - Metro
Keynesianism is out of fashion in London; 'Good' says Rupert Darwell in the Wall Street Journal
Nuclear power, low taxation and ruthless cuts top CEOs’ wishlist - Times (£)
Cameron seeks low-budget G8"After being unimpressed by the expensive 'circus' in Canada [Cameron] suggested the [G8] gathering is held in tandem with another event - such as a Nato or UN summit - to save cash... The weekend gathering of world leaders in Muskoka and Toronto has cost Canada £645million. The G8 is held annually and is attended by eight of the world's most powerful heads of government - those of the UK, U.S., Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada." - Daily Mail
Police chief warns of big cuts in beat police officers if Home Office budget is slashed
"Sir Hugh [Orde], president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, will say that “critical duties” may be threatened by cuts of up to a third in the Home Office budget. The warning – originally given in private notes inadvertently sent to The Daily Telegraph – is the first time a senior officer has suggested in such a bald way that traditional “bobbies on the beat” are under threat from the unprecedented cut in public services." - Telegraph
Nick Herbert admits 'substantial cuts' in police funding - PoliticsHome
"A former Canadian Prime Minister cast doubt yesterday on the British Government’s plans to protect favoured departments from its deficit cutting plan, by revealing that the secret of a successful austerity programme was to have no exemptions." - Times (£)
Budget passes after only two Liberal Democrats rebel
"The coalition faced its first rebellion last night when two Liberal Democrat MPs voted against a budget proposal to increase VAT to 20%. Bob Russell and Mike Hancock voted with Labour to oppose the increase, which has alarmed many Lib Dems who warned during the election of a Tory VAT "bombshell". To shouts of "shame" from the Labour benches, the 2.5% increase in VAT from January was backed by 346 to 270, majority 76. " - Guardian
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: How last week's Budget could have been a lot more radical
The Liberal Democrats slip 5% in new poll - Independent | Yesterday's ToryDiary
Geoffrey Wheatcroft: The Liberal Democrats will always be condemned to coalitions?"If Lib Dems don't like Osborne's cuts, would they have been happier supporting Blair's wars? No, as Disraeli's contemporary Bismarck more truly said, politics is the art of the possible." - Geoffrey Wheatcroft in The Guardian
Melanie Phillips attacks Cameron's lack of commitment to Afghanistan "Cameron’s remark that he wanted British troops out of Afghanistan by 2015 was a shockingly stupid and irresponsible statement which has yet again undermined the coalition’s troops in Afghanistan, just as Obama did by announcing America would start withdrawing next year. As anyone with even a passing knowledge of warfare or just an iota of common sense knows, to announce your departure date is to signal to the enemy that you are halfway out the door and all they have to do is sit it out until you have left -- because what you have just announced you are not going to is to fight until they are defeated." - Melanie Phillips, Spectator
Up to £10 million to be spent on schools Olympics - Reuters
"Let’s bury forever the idea that losing a sports competition is an assault on children’s self-esteem. Low self-esteem does not come from losing; it comes from not being emotionally equipped to deal with disappointments and setbacks. The point of competitive sport is to help provide that emotional ballast. To allow young people to experience competition in a structured, rules-based environment, and learn how to treat Kipling’s “two imposters” – triumph and disaster – “just the same.”" - Jeremy Hunt's speech at launch of initiative (PDF)
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Gove and Hunt plan 'Schools Olympics' in bid to revive UK sport
David Cameron under pressure to review Labour's interrogation guidelines - Guardian
Shirking fathers should lose their benefits, says Frank Field - Guardian
Two leading articles analyse Coalition moves on welfare reform: The Telegraph identifies "coherence" in government plans but the FT warns against "balancing the books on the backs of vulnerable Britons".
Tories offer SNP seat on the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee - Herald
Tony Blair hopes Cameron government will hold off-the-record discussions with former Labour ministers to learn what had worked and what didn't - Guardian
Iraq inquiry resumes after election break - BBC
Rachel Sylvester: The unions are nudging Labour towards the Left"There are already signs that the potentially critical role of the unions is distorting the policy debate in the Labour leadership contest. There has been a slow but sure tack to the left. Most dangerously, Labour seems to be stuck in a time warp on the economy. None of the leadership contenders has put forward a serious programme for deficit reduction or acknowledged the need for greater spending cuts." - Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£)
More than 150 peers have been claiming a £174 tax-free overnight allowance for staying in London, despite owning a property there - BBC
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