Thursday, 17 June 2010

Today's other newslinks

David Cameron has made an appeal on behalf of BP's British investors as it was forced to suspend dividend payments over its US oil spill - Telegraph

George Osborne delivers on pledge to put Bank of England in charge of financial regulation

"Mervyn King became the most powerful governor of the Bank of England in living memory today after George Osborne gave him sweeping powers to curb City excesses and prevent another financial crash. King emerged as the big winner from the chancellor's shakeup of supervision that will abolish the Financial Services Authority and do away with the tripartite system of regulation introduced by Gordon Brown in 1997." - Guardian

Handy Wall Street Journal graphic summarises the changes.

"“The tripartite structure” is a term well known in psychiatry in the analysis of depression. It looks like the darkest part of the night is over in the regulation of banking. The cost of regulatory failure has been very high. This Mansion House speech starts the correction." - Times leader (£)

Allister Heath: Does Mervyn King deserve all this extra power?

"Mervyn King has officially emerged as the credit crunch’s great – and perhaps only – winner, even though his policy of keeping interest rates excessively low was the single most important domestic driver of the bubble (something which for some reason, unlike in the US, nobody wants to talk about in this country). Of course, the real culprit was Gordon Brown and Ed Balls, who forced King to follow a narrow and deeply destructive mandate, focusing exclusively on targeting the consumer price index and largely ignoring asset prices, the soaring money supply and the rest." - Allister Heath in City AM

We know George Osborne will cut, but will he announce a programme for growth?

6a00d83451b31c69e2012876f3c322970c "The big unknown is what Mr Osborne will do with the tax system. Will he begin to fulfil his promise to “create the most competitive corporate tax regime in the G20”? Will he increase “sin taxes” on pollution and alcohol but cut them on investment? Will he back away from changes to capital gains tax that might undermine enterprise? Will he find money to give incentives to green businesses? Will he plot a path to lower taxation on high earners?" - Tim Montgomerie in The Times (£)

Tory rebellion succeeds in diluting Osborne's CGT rise - Independent

Fox promises to help defence industry exports if it cuts costs for MoD

"The squeeze on industry will be just one dimension of a defence and security review, which will this autumn reshape the armed forces against the threat of the deepest cuts to defence spending since the cold war. The MoD faces an estimated budget deficit of £36bn over the next ten years." - FT

Andrew Lansley aims to save £250m by reducing NHS management to 2008 levels - Times (£)

Clegg to announce increased legal rights for grandparents under new family reforms - Telegraph

The Daily Mail lists other family-friendly reforms that will be announced by Mr Clegg later today:

  • New rights for flexible parental leave.
  • A crackdown on ‘irresponsible’ advertising and marketing aimed at children.
  • A huge scaling back of Labour’s child tax credit in favour of income tax breaks.
  • New powers for local communities to create and protect playgrounds and playing fields. 
  • Rights to respite care for parents with disabled children.

Editor's comment: Nothing on marriage.

> Related link: Children as young as five should be given lessons in sex and relationships - Metro

Cameron admits he finds it "painful" to work with Martin McGuinness

"David Cameron admitted yesterday he finds it “painful” to work with former IRA terror chief Martin McGuinness. But Cameron said compromises such as the rehabilitation of the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister were a “price worth paying” for peace." - Express

Cameron welcomes gay celebrities to Number 10 - Daily Mail

"Cameron did more than chatter over white wine and canapes in the Downing Street drawing room. He confirmed a raft of promises made by his equality ministers, the home secretary, Teresa May, and her Lib Dem sidekick, Lynne Featherstone, to remove historic convictions for consensual gay sex, offer a fairer deal to those seeking asylum on gender issues and work to end homophobic bullying in school." - Michael White in The Guardian

Cheryl Gillan addresses Welsh Assembly

Cherylgillan1.thumbnail "The Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan has addressed assembly members for the first time in her new role. She promised a "renewed relationship between Westminster and Cardiff"." - BBC | Welsh Office

"A referendum on full law-making powers was “a priority” for the Westminster coalition and would be held as “rapidly as possible”; she would ensure reforms at a UK level did not have a negative impact on the Assembly, and her door would be “always open” to any AM. A reference to the “previous Government’s economic mismanagement” sparked a minor detonation on the Labour backbenches and shouts of “How dare you?”." - Western Mail

The Commons committee which deals with Scotland could end up with no Nationalists and five English Tories - Scotsman

BBC and Royal Mail left out of Will Hutton's public sector pay inquiry - Guardian

William Waldegrave's review of Philip Ziegler's Edward Heath - The Spectator

David Miliband unhappy at brother Ed's aggressive campaign

"David Miliband could 'walk away' from frontline politics if he loses the Labour leadership contest to his brother, party sources have warned. The former Foreign Secretary is said to be so 'hurt' by younger brother Ed's aggressive campaign that he is questioning whether he could work for him." - Daily Mail

"Ed Balls, another contender to succeed Mr Brown, claimed the brothers’ allies were locked in feuding. He told a magazine: “Between the two brothers there has been a bit of off-the-record briefing going on. I think it is pretty unedifying.” - Express

Peers give MEPs free access after MPs withdrew passes - BBC

And finally...

Cameron signature "A collection of the autographs of 46 British prime ministers, stretching from 1721, has sold at auction. The signatures of premiers including Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as Britain's first prime minister, and David Cameron fetched £1,700 earlier." - BBC

Posted by Britannia Radio at 10:11