Richard Harrington MP on Comment: The Coalition is still protecting green Britain but it's making development less bureaucratic Also on Comment: Laveen Ladharam - Conservatives must change their student unions for the better John Bald on Local Government: One good idea… Carol Vorderman’s maths report Gazette: Richard Harrington MP is not the heavyweight he once was Bratton tells friends he'll take British citizenship to do the Met job - as Cameron and Miliband lock horns in post-riot speeches Prime Minister: Britain's moral collapse Ministers draft plans to remove benefits from rioters... "Ministers are drawing up controversial plans to remove benefits from those convicted of taking part in the riots that engulfed England last week, in a move Liberal Democrats and independent experts have condemned as counter-productive and overly expensive. Officials in Number 10 and the department for work and pensions are putting together plans for the harsh punishment of those found guilty of even the most minor infringements during the riots after a public petition calling for such a move gathered nearly 200,000 signatures." - Financial Times (£) ...And May wants yobs named and shamed "Underage yobs could be named and shamed in a bid to crush Britain’s festering gang culture, the Home Secretary warned yesterday. Theresa May said guidance should be given to prosecutors that juveniles found guilty of criminal activity may lose their legal anonymity. She was firing the starting gun for the “zero tolerance” approach advocated by David Cameron to make life impossible for gang members." - Daily Express Clegg lines up against police commissioners "Nick Clegg has indicated that he is comfortable with the idea of council house evictions in cases where people have helped destroy their own communities. But the Deputy Prime Minister is likely to oppose further benefit cuts. He will also give the green light for his MPs openly to fight Tory plans to bring in elected police commissioners, which are due to pass through the Commons again next month." - Daily Mail Boris stands his ground on police numbers... "But Boris Johnson used the news to reopen his offensive against police cuts. He pointed out that Mr Bratton cut crime in New York and Los Angeles only because he flooded the streets with police. The Mayor said: ‘His particular success in tackling crime in New York was very much due to a huge ramp up in numbers from about 30,000 to 42,000 officers in New York, that was instrumental in his success." - Daily Mail ...And turns on Oborne... Boris: Send riot kids to Borstal - The Sun ...(As does Tim Montgomerie)... "Peter Oborne launched an attack on Financial Times readers, greedy bankers and corrupt politicians. They were, he said, complicit in the riots of last week. Their degradation was on the same moral slippery slope as the looters’. There has always been a significant strain of pessimism on the Right. It is found in its most vivid form on the pages of the Daily Mail. Britain is for ever going to hell in a handcart. While the Left hates Britain’s history, large parts of the Right hate Britain’s future." - The Times (£) …But Miliband links MPs and bankers to riots "At the same time, Mr Miliband will use a speech at his old school – Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, north London, close to where some of the rioting took place on Monday night – to suggest it is not just the bottom of society that is to blame, but examples set by people with money and power as well. He will single out bankers' pay and MPs' expenses as instances of the breakdown in standards which have seen "greed, selfishness and immorality" become the norm." - The Independent "David Cameron condemns thugs, full stop. Ed Miliband says we should try to understand them more. At this defining moment for Britain, that is the difference between the party leaders." - Sun Editorial Bratton: I can lead the Met out of crisis (and he's told friends that he'd take British citizenship to do the Met job) West Midlands and Greater Manchester Police Chiefs back Orde's attack on Bratton - Daily Telegraph Riot news and comment: > Yesterday on ConservativeHome: Cable briefs the FT (again) against a colleague. Today's subject (again) is banks... …And the colleague is Osborne, who is building a consensus for deficit reductions. He backs them in the same paper with four other finance Ministers "George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer, is recruiting international support for his unyielding stance on deficit cutting, amid continuing signs that UK economic growth will continue to disappoint. In an article published in the Financial Times today, Mr Osborne calls for “hard decisions on spending, entitlements and taxation in countries with large budget deficits”. The article is co-authored with the finance ministers of Australia, Canada, Singapore and South Africa." - Financial Times (£) Osborne article in full - Financial Times (£) LibDem Swap-50p-rate-for-mansion-tax-deal takes shape "The Liberal Democrats are pushing for the eventual disbanding of the 50p rate of tax to see the implementation of a new land tax levied on properties above £1m. In a refinement of their controversial mansion tax policy launched at their party conference two years ago, the Lib Dems now believe there is an argument for levying capital gains tax on any money made from the sale of a property after the first £1m." - The Guardian Express pushes EU referendum campaign as pressure for full federalism mounts Record number set to score A* at A-level "A record number of A-level pupils are expected to be awarded an A* this year. As many as one in ten are likely to gain the top mark, according to a leading education academic. Last summer, one in 12 (8.1 per cent) entries achieved the top grade. But with more universities asking for A*s, making it more important to students, the rate could leap this year." - Daily Mail Economy "will suffer" under SNP plan to take control of corporation tax -The Times (£) London Councils oppose Pickles's relaxation of planning rules - Financial Times (£) Sarkozy set to clash with Merkel over euro bonds - The Independent Other News and Comment in Brief ToryDiary: Other Comment: Local Government: LeftWatch: Every Coalition spending cut is now opposed by Labour Tim Montgomerie on ThinkTankCentral: We don't need an inquiry into the riots. The Centre for Social Justice has been looking at these questions for seven years. WATCH: David Cameron enlists American "supercop" Bill Bratton
ToryDiary: Four ways for Cameron to stop Miliband stealing the moment"The Prime Minister will claim that Britain has been suffering from a “slow-motion moral collapse” for decades. He will promise to confront it by asking every Cabinet minister to look into what their department could do to turn things around. In a move that will please the Tory Right, Mr Cameron will attack parts of society for “twisting and misrepresenting human rights” to undermine personal responsibility. He will also blame an obsession with “health and safety” that has drowned out common sense." - The Times (£)
"Some commentators of both Left and Right have said that the rioters were somehow impelled by a sense of moral equivalence with expense-diddling MPs and bonus-toting bankers. I am not sure that will quite do, either. Yes, it was wrong of MPs to cheat the spirit (if usually not the letter) of the system, and yes, bankers’ bonuses are often nauseating. But I simply cannot agree that Gerald Kaufman’s expense-claim for a Bang and Olufsen television has somehow triggered or legitimated the torching of property in outer London." -Daily Telegraph
"In an interview with the Guardian, Bratton said he was "seriously" interested in the vacant post of commissioner of the Metropolitan police but that the home secretary, Theresa May, had been "adamant" in banning foreign nationals from applying….According to Whitehall sources, Bratton has also told friends that he was so keen to take the job he would be prepared to take British citizenship if it made the difference. Cameron's courting of Bratton continued to provoke criticism by senior British officers on Sunday." - The Guardian
Advisers close to Mr Cable said the business secretary would not accept any delay in bank reform after it was revealed in the Financial Times last week that Mr Osborne was considering a plan to endorse strict ringfencing while giving banks a long timeframe – probably until 2019 – to implement the rules. “There is going to be a big fight,” said a senior Liberal Democrat source, quashing any suggestions that Mr Cable would swallow an eight-year delay in the implementation of the Vickers’ recommendations." - Financial Times (£)
David Cameron was under mounting pressure last night to hold a referendum on EU membership amid claims that the Coalition is paving the way for full eurozone financial integration. Tory and Labour MPs believe that Chancellor George Osborne’s hopes for a single eurozone tax system will lead to the EU becoming a fundamentally different organisation to the one the UK joined in 1973…. Steve Baker, Tory MP for Wycombe, said: “It is very clear that the EU is heading at full speed towards being one country.” - Daily Express
Simon Marcus on Comment: Listen to the children
Monday, 15 August 2011
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