ToryDiary: A stock-take of Conservative and Liberal Democrat compromises
Philip Booth on Platform: The UK should be on “inflation watch”
Parliament: Tory backbenchers raise questions about the deal with France on aircraft carriers
Local Government: Bexley will save one million pounds a month for next three years
Melanchthon on CentreRight: Other things, nothing to do with renegotiating our position in the EU
Theresa May to make first major immigration speech
"Home Secretary Theresa May will today make her first major immigration speech. She will announce a crackdown on foreign students and a new salary limit for economic migrants... In her speech, Mrs May is expected to promise that the intra-company transfer system – while not part of the cap – will still be subject to a new salary limit. Companies must pay any employee they wish to bring in a minimum wage, which could be fixed at £40,000 or more." - Daily Mail
"Some of the companies whose bosses publicly endorsed the Coalition Government's deep public-spending cuts have been privately lobbying ministers to relax the proposed cap on immigration to the UK." - The Independent
Nick Clegg hits back at Tory EU sceptics...
"Nick Clegg faced down Eurosceptic Conservative MPs by insisting that Britain would wave through a European treaty reform designed to underpin the euro and that the coalition would not use it as a chance to repatriate powers to London. After a week in which Liberal Democrats had to eat their words over rises in university tuition fees, Mr Clegg used an interview with the Financial Times to harden his position on issues including Europe, immigration and anti-terror laws. The deputy prime minister said he would not bow to Tory backbench pressure to hold a referendum on a proposed European Uni on treaty reform aimed at improving eurozone governance in a fiscal crisis, saying it had no direct bearing on Britain." - FT (£)
...as he plans to replace Lords with mainly elected ‘mini Senate’
"A 300-strong mini Senate would replace the House of Lords under plans being drawn up by Nick Clegg. However, the Deputy Prime Minister is facing setbacks as he tries to deliver constitutional reform. He is having to surrender the Liberal Democrat ambition of a wholly elected Upper House amid stiff resistance from peers in all parties and will struggle to ensure that a reformed second chamber will be mainly elected." - The Times (£)
David Davis calls on Government to stand up to ECHR over votes for prisoners...
"David Davis said parliament should get the chance to reject the decision and take on the court. Prime Minister David Cameron said he had had no choice but to lift the ban because of the £160m cost of disputing the ruling. But Mr Davis said the decision was none of the European Court's business. Speaking on BBC1's Question Time, Mr Davis, a former shadow home secretary, said: "They said in the judgment that one of the reasons they made this decision was because there had been no debate in Parliament. Well maybe they didn't go back to 1867. Maybe they didn't realise there was a democracy here then but that's when it was debated and we made a decision." - BBC
...and rip up outdated union laws
"It is undoubtedly possible for a government to remove the right to strike from a limited number of areas where irresponsible action would unfairly oppress or put the public at risk. It is more difficult to do it in a way that respects the rights of employees and encourages sensible negotiating practice and good industrial relations. But it is not impossible... We have had 20 years’ respite from the irresponsible militancy of the 1970s. Today, however, we are seeing the results of a clear decision to resurrect that militancy, and the public misery it engenders, as a political weapon. It is time we replaced that weapon with something that better serves the public interest and the interests of the trade unions’ members rather than their over-political leadership." - David Davis MP writing in the Daily Mail
Firefighters back down on strike but 'autumn of discontent' continues
"Ministers are prepared to up the stakes in their disputes with striking public-sector workers, after firefighters dramatically backed off from today's Bonfire Night walkout." - The Independent
Coalition to publish policy delivery progress
"Detailed delivery plans for every government department are to be launched on Monday in a move designed to fasten the coalition parties more tightly to their programme and to spell out their intentions to devolve power to citizens. The “business plans” will set deadlines for each department to achieve its stated goals as far ahead as 2015 – whether for example creating GP commissioners or putting elected police commissioners in place – with the results monitored and published monthly so the electorate can monitor progress." - FT (£)
Cabinet ministers who fail to meet spending targets face public explanation to Cameron - Daily Telegraph
Peter Oborne: This Coalition is proving to be a truly revolutionary regime
"It is, of course, far too early to speak of the Cameron/Clegg Coalition in the same breath as those momentous Asquith, Attlee and Thatcher governments. However, in one essential respect, a comparison can already be made. The Tory and Lib Dem leaders have shown the same audacity and personal character as their great antecedents. The Coalition has set out with astonishing energy on its tremendous project: nothing less than the reshaping of British politics, the repair of our economy and the rebuilding of Clem Attlee’s now broken welfare state." - Peter Oborne in the Daily Telegraph
Andy McSmith: This government picks its confrontations with care - The Independent
Bagehot: Away from economic policy, the Liberal Democrats are influential
"Not all politics is economics. Some of it is life and death. And here, the Lib Dems are influential. Take the government’s current dilemma over control orders. These restrictions, which amount to house arrest for a few suspected terrorists, were introduced by the previous Labour government to deal with those who could not be brought to trial because evidence was scant or sensitive... A purely Tory government would probably have retained control orders. In opposition the party promised to review the policy but, unlike the Lib Dems, did not commit to abolishing them... Recent weeks have provided oth er glimpses of the Lib Dems’ influence on non-economic matters." - Bagehot in The Economist
Cameron on collision course with China over imprisonment of Nobel prize winner
"David Cameron will risk souring relations with China on his first visit as Prime Minister by raising concerns over the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo amid signs of Beijing’s frustration at the dissident’s Nobel peace prize. Mr Cameron will lead a delegation of up to 50 businessmen and four Cabinet ministers to Beijing next week, where he hopes to announce a string of trade deals and hold talks with the President, Hu Jintao." - The TImes (£)
Failing schools to be turned into academies under new plans aimed at tackling low attainment
"Thousands of under-performing schools will be forcibly converted into independent academies in a crackdown unveiled by ministers today. Education Secretary Michael Gove urged town halls to relinquish control of persistently weak schools and hand them over to outside sponsors. Councils should identify hitlists of the worst schools in their area where 'students have been poorly served for years', he said." - Daily Mail
Window of opportunity for two-state solution closing, Hague warns Israel
"William Hague warned yesterday that the window of opportunity for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was closing and failure by the two parties to reach agreement would be a "serious setback". Speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, after visiting Jerusalem's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, the foreign secretary urged Israel to renew its freeze on settlement construction to allow direct talks between the two parties to resume." - The Guardian
Hague vows to make it safe for Israeli officials to travel to UK - Jerusalem Post
William Hague is an enemy of Iran, and that's good enough for Israel - Stephen Pollard in the Daily Telegraph
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Has a recent British Government had worse relations with Israel than this one?
George Osborne sets date for 2011 Budget
"The Chancellor announced that he will present his 2011 Budget to Parliament on 23 March yesterday as he proposed changes to the way government spending is dished out. George Osborne told the Treasury Select Committee he hoped next year's Budget would contain details of a new framework for department funding to improve budget discipline across the government, as the Coalition seeks to cut £81bn from spending over four years." - The Independent
Osborne accused of misleading public over UK bankruptcy claim - The Guardian
Share prices shoot up to pre-banking crisis levels - Daily Telegraph
Foreign aid tsar to check where our billions go in bid to bolster public support
"An independent body is to be set up to scrutinise Britain’s aid budget in an attempt to pacify public anger over a £4billion spending increase. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell is appointing a leading accountant as the country’s first ‘aid commissioner’. Graham Ward, the former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, will rate aid programmes using a traffic light system in around 20 reports a year to Parliament." - Daily Mail
> Mark Pritchard MP on Platform yesterday: The Government is right to protect the International Aid budget
> Matthew Sinclair's response ot Mark Pritchard
Michael White: Is now really the best time to axe 50 MPs?
"In Cornwall, they recoil at the prospect of sharing an MP with Devon. In Sheffield and Liverpool there is concern that wards will be split. The Isle of Wight demands the same special treatment as the Western Isles. So does Argyll and Bute, which has four times as many bridge-less islands. What are they all talking about? The back half of the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill, which got its Commons third reading this week. The coalition agreement's commitment to an £80m-plus referendum on the alternative vote (AV) has attracted most publicity, but more trouble may yet be caused by sweeping cha nges to constituency boundaries." - The Guardian
Court to rule today on Oldham East and Saddleworth election
"A specially convened court is to rule on whether ex-immigration minister Phil Woolas broke the law by making false claims before the general election. The MP won the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat by 103 votes but his defeated Liberal Democrat rival claims the vote was swayed by Labour leaflets. Mr Woolas denies making false statements about Elwyn Watkins. If the court rules against him, he could be fined and barred from public office and a fresh election triggered." - BBC
BBC schedules hit by NUJ strike
"A strike by journalists in protest at proposed changes to the BBC pension scheme is set to cripple the Corporation's news programming today with shows including Radio 4's Today and BBC2's Newsnight taken off the air. Huw Edwards, George Alagiah and Fiona Bruce are among high-profile presenters expected to join the action, which has been called by the National Union of Journalists." - The Independent
Manual on Queen's role may lead to first written constitution - Daily Mail
Extremist website urges Muslims to track down MPs
"An extremist website that helped to inspire Roshonara Choudhry to stab the MP Stephen Timms published a complete list yesterday of British MPs who voted for the Iraq war and called on Muslims to take up the “knife of jihad” against them. Choudhry, jailed for life this week, named the website RevolutionMuslim.com as a source of inspiration, together with the teachings of the English-speaking radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, a key ideologue for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen." - The Times (£)
Boris Johnson could be the Sarah Palin of a British Tea Party - Martin Kettle in The Guardian
UKIP leadership election result due at lunchtime - BBC
And finally... Foreign Office minister branded 'racist' by humourless Question Time audience member over French onions jibe
"Jeremy Browne, the foreign minister, was branded racist last night after saying that British soldiers would not be forced to “wear onions round their necks” under the defence treaty with France. The Liberal Democrat made the remarks in a debate on BBC One’s Question Time over the defence treaties signed by the British and French governments this week. An audience member shouted “Ooh, racist!” after Mr Browne recited a string of stereotypes about the French." - Daily Telegraph
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