ToryDiary: IDS speaks out: No immigration control = no welfare reform
Comment: Mark Field MP: These bailouts are appeasement by another name
Also on Comment: Lord Ashcroft: A tale of one unconventional RAF hero, and two daring missions to target Germany's war-time leaders
Local Government: Miliband condemns "attempting to cut Local Government out of education"
Dylan Sharpe on ThinkTankCentral: The Countryside Alliance launches a new campaign for honest, fair and simple meat labelling
Gazette: MPs Owen Paterson and Dan Byles seek sponsorship for their respective charitable adventures
Strikes: First round to the Government as most schools stay open
"Figures showed 104,000 civil servants went on strike, representing only a minority of those who were members of the unions taking part. And only 27 per cent of schools were closed, with another quarter facing disruption – far less than the nine in ten schools which the unions predicted would be affected. The biggest impact was among Metropolitan Police 999 call handlers, where 95 per cent of workers went on strike." - Daily Telegraph
Dominic Raab, a Tory MP, said yesterday: "What you can't have is a very militant minority inflicting maximum damage in vital public service infrastructure on the hard-working majority, when it's got such little support." Boris Johnson, who has faced a series of strikes by London Underground workers, renewed his call for a 50 per cent threshold…Ministers say there are no immediate plans to change the strike laws but that the issue could be considered in the event of a wave of co-ordinated strikes this autumn." - The Independent
Miliband booed by public sector workers
"Labour leader Ed Miliband denounced the strike by public sector workers for the third time in six days, saying it was a mistake, wrong and would not help them win the argument. Miliband's name was booed and he was branded a disgrace at a union rally in London, while the TUC general secretary Brendan Barber was also highly critical. One of many dissenting Labour blogs suggested Miliband's performance in a BBC interview had been reminiscent of a hostage video." - The Guardian
Daily Mirror reports that "Miliband is caught joking with Cameron and Clegg on the day thousands come out on strike".
Strike comment:
- A day that proved the unions will not win - Daily Telegraph Editorial
- Winter of discontent? More like a summer of selfishness - Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail
- Wot a waste - Sun Editorial
- Without public support, unions lack the power to defeat the Government - Andy McSmith, The Independent
Labour Holds Inverclyde In By-Election, but its majority is slashed by over half (and the LibDems get 2% of the vote) - Sky News
Balls joins Conservative attack on EU's €1tn budget proposal - The Guardian
(Vice-President of European Commission says it's a "miracle" that Brussels doesn't want even more money - Daily Mail)
Prescott wasted nearly half a billion pounds on fire brigade control rooms - The Sun
IDS warns that majority of new jobs go to foreigners
"A new generation will be condemned to a life on benefits without tougher measures to stem the flow of migrant workers, Iain Duncan Smith is to warn today. The Work and Pensions Secretary will lift the lid on simmering Cabinet tensions over immigration, telling David Cameron that expensive back-to-work schemes will fail without strict controls on incomers." - Daily Mail
- Don't repeat Labour's migrant jobs betrayal - Daily Mail Editorial
- EU membership hurts war on welfare dependency - Daily Express Editorial
UK population growing at fastest rate for 50 years - Daily Telegraph
Michael Gove "is the Cabinet's greatest success story"
"Since becoming Education Secretary last May, Mr Gove has scythed back the powers of the state. He has displayed shrewdness about the politics of deficit reduction. In short, he has been, by some distance, the most impressive member of the Cameron Cabinet…Mr Gove has gone about his task with precision, loosening the grip of egalitarianism on our schools." - Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
Young Gove on picket line photo shocker - Daily Mail
Mark Harper moves to cut voting fraud
"The Government has announced that it will bring forward a new individual electoral registration system by a year to 2014 to cut down on electoral fraud and save money. It will replace the current system under which an adult at an address fills in names and nationalities of all adults who live there. Everyone will be asked to provide “personal identifiers” such as their NI number and date of birth when they register to vote." - Daily Telegraph
It's EasyPet for EasyJet: Spelman eases rules on animal travel
"Yesterday the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, announced that the "outdated rules which have caused hardship to generations of pets and pet owners" would be overhauled. From the start of next year, the UK will broadly adopt the much more relaxed EU pet movement scheme, greatly easing the burden in time and cost that owners of dogs, cats and – yes – ferrets must currently bear." - The Independent
Hammond steers electric cars to slow lane
"The great electric car revolution stalled yesterday as ministers said it was uneconomical to have ‘a charging point on every corner'. Instead, the majority of charging for electric vehicles should happen at home, said Transport Secretary Philip Hammond. Setting out the government’s strategy, he said putting a charging point on every street corner was ‘not the right approach’." - Daily Mail
Royal household financial announcement
1) Osborne proclaims new rights for female heirs...
"The law will also be changed so that a female heir will be entitled to the income from the Duchy of Cornwall, currently held by the Prince of Wales and previously reserved for male heirs. The Treasury proposals set out yesterday will add to expectations of a wider change in the law to ensure that a first-born daughter of the Duke would accede to the throne even if she had younger brothers…George Osborne published the Bill to overhaul the royal finances, which he said would mean a real cut in the Queen’s annual spending over this Parliament." - Daily Telegraph
2) …And adopts Prince Charles's money plan for the royal household
"George Osborne, the chancellor, has proposed to do away with government grants to the royal household – first introduced in 1760 when George III agreed to transfer income from Crown lands to the government. They will be replaced with a 15 per cent share of the profit that the Crown Estate pays into national accounts…The arrangement would mark a personal victory for Prince Charles, who first floated the idea 20 years ago." - Financial Times (£)
Tape of Chris Huhne discussing claims he lied about wife taking speeding points could be handed to police - Daily Mail
How clean energy can drive economic growth - Chris Huhne, Daily Telegraph
Allister Heath supports Sajid Javed's plan to cut the national debt
"Javid, a former executive at Deutsche Bank, would ideally like to cap the national debt at 40 per cent of GDP, though such a laudable goal would be at least a decade away given the current explosion in the UK’s liabilities. Writing down a debt limit would be a good idea because it will help remind everybody that money doesn’t grow on trees – if a government wants to spend, it needs to raise the funds somehow." - City A.M
Christopher Shale death "blow to Tory detoxification" - Financial Times (£)
Chief Rabbi says that equality laws are leading to new Mayflower exodus of religious believers from Britain - Daily Telegraph
Political News and Comment in Brief
- Cameron to meet Pakistan's President today - Press Association
- Cable and Hammond gang up to support Bombadier - The Guardian
- Boris champions Arab art - The Independent
- Sally Bercow threatened by Carpetright with legal action - Daily Telegraph
- Emergency law to resolve bail crisis - The Independent
- Papandreou wins second crucial vote - Financial Times (£)
- Duke and Duchess of Kent begin tour of Canada - Daily Mail
- Your gran shouldn't have to sell her house to afford care - Philip Collins, The Times (£)
- How to free our universities to compete - Martin Wolf, Financial Times (£)
Strikes:
- ToryDiary: Michael Gove thanks teachers who are working and expresses sympathy with those who have been inconvenienced
- WATCH: Francis Maude tells BBC Breakfast this morning that today's strikes are "unjustifiable", not least because talks on public sector pensions are still ongoing
- WATCH: Miliband repeats same message to interviewer about public sector strikes
ToryDiary: Another Buckinghamshire Conservative Association put its money where its mouth is on High Speed Rail
Andrea Leadsom MP on Comment: Cheques remain a vital method of payment and the banks need to clarify their plans for them
- Cheryl Gillan bats away an inquiry at Welsh Questions about the prospect of her resigning over High Speed Rail
- Lord Howell defends the Government as Labour Europhiles complain that the European flag was not flown from official buildings on Europe Day
LeftWatch: Labour peer blames overspending under Labour for the recession
WATCH: Alan Duncan observes how UK aid is being spent in Bangladesh
ConHome USA: Today's Republican and American political news
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