LeftWatch: Neil Kinnock launches an attack on his Labour comrades Graeme Archer on Comment looks at LibDem/Con relations: Overlapping narratives. It contains so many good lines and here's one to whet your appetite: "Tim Farron, the Justin Bieber of British politics, should be embarrassed to even obliquely compare himself with Margaret Thatcher, let alone setting himself up as - what? - some sort of anti-Clegg leader across the water." Read on... International: Conservatives triumph in Canada, winning majority in parliament after five years of minority Gareth Knight on Seats and candidates: More evidence of the complications and consequences of the forthcoming boundary changes On Local government: Cameron urges public vigilance amid fears of swift retaliation > Yesterday's ToryDiary: David Cameron welcomes killing of Osama bin Laden Other OBL links from yesterday: With two days before the vote, the AV campaigns make their final points... "The “no” campaign, which opposes the alternative vote (AV), said councils were having to spend the equivalent of up to 22 per cent of their budget cuts on holding Thursday’s referendum, suggesting that the money could have been better spent on local services." - The Times (£) "The No to AV campaign is expected to hit back at comments by Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne, who accused the Conservatives of trashing his party. In a speech to a No campaign rally, former Labour minister Lord Boateng will say that Mr Huhne should resign if he dislikes working with Tories." - BBC > Yesterday: WATCH For BBC News, Mark Pack of LibDemVoice and Shane Greer make the case for and against AV Ed Miliband: Cameron relies on 'smears and fears' - The Independent ...but low turnout could result in a "Yes" victory Coalition in Brief: "The New Victorians" - Middle class families hit hardest by the budget "Far from being “fair,” the experts said, moves contained in the budget to strip middle class families of tax credits and child benefit payments while freezing higher rate tax thresholds would have a disproportionate effect on those with an income of between £40,000 and £50,000.Stay at home mothers who are losing child benefit because their partner is a high rate tax payer will miss out the most, experts from the Chartered Institute of Taxation said." - Daily Telegraph "Families face the greatest pressure on their finances for nearly 150 years, a report has warned. Workers face a combination of inflation and low pay rises or even freezes for a fourth year in a row, according to international financial consultants Deloitte. It will be the first time since the 1870s that ‘real’ wages, the sum you earn after inflation has been taken into account, have fallen for four successive years." - Daily Mail Union leaders warn of industrial action and "massive" protests Children worse off in the UK than in Estonia in the well-being stakes - Daily Mail Labour big beasts ignore Ed Miliband "Labour's big beasts are urging a No vote in Thursday’s AV referendum in defiance of their leader, Ed Miliband, and amid growing signs the party’s supporters could determine the result. Polls suggest opposition to electoral reform among Conservative voters has hardened dramatically in recent weeks, while Liberal Democrat voters remain broadly in favour." - Daily Mail "Labour must not be airbrushed from history" "The question facing Labour this week, beyond electoral reform and local democracy, is whether it can create a story of modern Britain. Douglas Alexander, the shadow Foreign Secretary, says: "If we are not a party of the future, then we lose." Mr Cruddas believes that, if Labour fails to be a party for patriots, "we can't ever be successful again". They are both right. We are witnessing the power of a Conservative establishment that wants Labour not only out of power, but excised from history. That is the existential threat facing Mr Miliband this Thursday." - Mary Riddell in the Daily Telegraph "Revenge is sweet but Labour needs Clegg after May 5" And finally... Labour MP admits removing Plaid election placards "The National Assembly election campaign took a bizarre turn yesterday when a Labour MP admitted he had been removing Plaid Cymru placards from residents’ gardens. Plaid has made a formal complaint to Gwent Police about the actions of Caerphilly MP Wayne David, the Shadow Minister for Europe ... Yesterday, a resident of Bargoed claimed Mr David had knocked on her door on Saturday and told her that neighbours found the Plaid placard in her garden “offensive”. He also suggested, she said, that it was “illegal”." - Western Mail ToryDiary: Is Britain a centre left country as Chris Huhne claims? ToryDiary: Twelve Tory quotes in support of our monarchy Seats and candidates: The 23 Tory MPs who may not have won their seats if AV had operated at the last election Andrew Boff on Comment: Our electoral system is broke - fix it LeftWatch: Chris Huhne accuses the Conservative Party of opposing "every change in our democracy" Jill Kirby on Comment: The benefits of marriage are not coincidental WATCH: 75% of Liberal Democrat promises became Coalition policy but only 60% of Tory promises"David Cameron urged the British public at home and abroad to be vigilant amid fears that al-Qa'ida could attempt a show of strength following Osama bin Laden's death. MI5 is monitoring about 2,000 extremists in the UK thought to present a potential terrorist threat, while British embassies and military bases have been put on heightened guard for reprisal attacks." - The Independent
"No campaigners are urging supporters not to become complacent following polls which give them a double-digit lead ahead of Thursday’s vote. With turnout expected to be as low as a third of the electorate, and the campaign generally failing to capture public imagination, there are warnings that the more motivated Yes campaign could succeed in ushering in AV “by the back door”." - Daily Telegraph
"Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, the public service trade union, said: 'After the double bank holiday, feel-good factor wears off, the reality of austerity Britain will kick back in. Unless this Government changes direction, it is heading for industrial turmoil on a massive scale. The Government must understand that Unison will fight tooth and nail to protect and defend public services, and will ballot one million of its members to strike to protect their pensions. This will not be a token skirmish, but a prolonged and sustained war, because this Government has declared w ar on a huge proportion of the population.'" - Daily Telegraph
David Brooks' The Social Animal is the book that all top Tories are reading - Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£)
"Who will blink first? For sure, Clegg would be punished at an early election, but it is far from clear that Cameron would achieve a majority. Would we be back in hung parliament territory? And this time around would Labour try harder to build bridges with other parties? Just as year one of the coalition was a new experience for the British body politic, so year two promises to be just as unpredictable. Preparation, flexibility and subtlety are the keys to success – not visceral tribal loyalties and loathing. Labour might wish Clegg away, but it may have to put up with him for longer. If he is s erious about power, Miliband should start talking, or at least whispering, to the man he says he cannot abide." - John Kampfner in the Guardian
Tuesday 3 May 2011
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