Dan Hannan makes the case for a Conservative-UKIP merger
"At present, the anti-Brussels vote is fragmented, with the result that a Eurosceptic nation keeps returning Euro-enthusiast majorities.
Every activist who leaves the Conservatives for UKIP makes the Tories less Eurosceptic without taking his energies to an alternative party of government.
That is neither in the Conservative Party’s interests nor, indeed, in the interests of anyone who wants an independent Britain.
All of which, in any case, ought really to be beside the point. Holding a referendum is right in principle." - Dan Hannan in The Telegraph
Daily Mail leader: "UKIP would be near the bottom of the polls – if only Mr Cameron kept his promises to repatriate powers from the EU, control mass immigration, stand up for the family, slash red tape and light his famous bonfire of the quangos."
- Why the euro will break up within a year - Andrew Alexander in theDaily Mail
Today's ConservativeHome top features
ToryDiary: Chris Grayling defines the enemy
Columnist Jill Kirby: Nick Clegg thinks state-sponsored childcare workers will do a better job than parents
Lord Ashcroft on Comment: It is disappointing for Conservative ministers to seem to equate philanthropy and charitable giving with tax avoidance
Local government:
ConservativeHome's newslinks
Dan Hannan makes the case for a Conservative-UKIP merger
"At present, the anti-Brussels vote is fragmented, with the result that a Eurosceptic nation keeps returning Euro-enthusiast majorities. Every activist who leaves the Conservatives for UKIP makes the Tories less Eurosceptic without taking his energies to an alternative party of government. That is neither in the Conservative Party’s interests nor, indeed, in the interests of anyone who wants an independent Britain. All of which, in any case, ought really to be beside the point. Holding a referendum is right in principle." - Dan Hannan in The Telegraph
Daily Mail leader: "UKIP would be near the bottom of the polls – if only Mr Cameron kept his promises to repatriate powers from the EU, control mass immigration, stand up for the family, slash red tape and light his famous bonfire of the quangos."
- Why the euro will break up within a year - Andrew Alexander in theDaily Mail
The Sun Says: "Full marks to Home Secretary Theresa May for her determination in booting him out, which led to yesterday’s dramatic arrest. But it could still take months before he is bundled on a plane to face trial in Jordan... Mrs May admits there could be a delay before Qatada gets to the departure gate. And we’re prepared to wait just a little longer. Just so long as we don’t see this vile creature back on our streets again."
> Yesterday's MPsETC: "We can soon put Qatada on a plane and get him out of our country for good"
David Davis in The Times (£): "To restore its reputation the human rights court must shrink its remit and stop interfering in national affairs"
MPs restore cuts to legal aid as they overturn amendments from Lords- BBC
- Ken Clarke U-turn opens up legal aid to domestic abuse victims -Independent
- Ann Widdecombe in The Express: "Cash-strapped councils are spending money teaching the children of immigrants the language of the country they have left instead of expecting them to learn English to as high a standard as possible and leaving their parents’ language to be learned at home. The excuse – you could never call it a reason – for this madness is “diversity”. Yet it is impossible to have true diversity without integration."
Treasury Selection Committee raises questions over Quantitative Easing
"The Treasury committee said quantitative easing penalised savers by redistributing money to borrowers. "Loose monetary policy, achieved through quantitative easing and low interest rates, has redistributional effects, particularly penalising savers, those with 'drawdown pensions' and those retiring now," it said." - BBC
"The Treasury committee says that while the “aggregate” of savers and pensioners may have received some benefit from higher asset prices, “there will be many individuals who will not have benefited”. The Bank should therefore provide its own estimate of the overall benefit and loss to pensioners and savers from QE. Some campaigners have accused the Bank’s leaders of a dismissive attitude towards the concerns of pensioners about QE." - Telegraph
Other issues raised by the TSC:
- "The cross-party Treasury Select Committee said that the cost of lowering the top rate of tax to 45p “could be significantly more or less” than the £110 million a year used in Mr Osborne’s Budget." -Times (£)
- "It suggested that greater care should be taken to prevent leaks, and observed that the coalitional nature of the government was not a sufficient excuse." - Guardian
- "The report also calls on the OBR to consider a wider range of risks – for example, an escalation of the eurozone crisis – when making future forecasts." - FT (£)
- "MPs are now raising concerns that the tapered removal of the benefit will be costly to administer, and complicate the tax affairs of families whose annual net income is £50,000 to £60,000. The committee said: ‘The Government’s latest proposals for reform of child benefit solve only one of the two main problems identified with its original policy.’ It added: ‘They add further complexity.’" - Daily Mail
- Coalition MPs including an ex-aide to the PM will defy the Government tonight and try to vote down the hated Pasty Tax - The Sun
- "Every pound of tax relief on a gift to an Oxbridge college or an opera house is a pound that is not available to fund a tax credit or a social services department." -Guardian leader
- "Hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people face cuts to their support and assistance this year as councils struggle to find new savings of £1bn from social-care budgets" - Independent
Employment minister Chris Grayling rails at 'Polly Toynbee left'
"Chris Grayling, the employment minister, is to condemn what he calls the "Polly Toynbee left", claiming that those people's opposition to work experience schemes shows them to be playing politics with the lives of the unemployed." - Guardian
Only three to five cities expected to vote 'yes' to city mayors - FT (£)
Tim Berners-Lee urges government to stop the snooping bill - Guardian
Simon Hughes may seek more access funding if study concludes withdrawal from EMA has reduced student numbers - Guardian
Bruce Anderson: Cameron must convince people that modernisation and traditionalism are not enemies
"He and his advisers have created the impression that there is a chasm separating old-fashioned Tories from Cameronian modernisers: that the party has to make a choice between the social liberalism of the Cameron circle and traditional Tory themes such as law and order, Euroscepticism and immigration. This is nonsense. It is perfectly possible to accept Cameroon liberalism and distrust Europe: it must be, because David Cameron does. Anyone who has been in an Asian-owned shop when a couple of hoodies shuffle in will know that it is not just whites who are demanding rigorous law-enforcement. It is also easy to believe that the racial minorities already in this country should be made to feel welcome – and that much tighter immigration controls would encourage better race relations." - Bruce Anderson in The Telegraph
Ken Livingstone boycotts Sun newspaper forum but Boris certainly doesn't - The Sun
- "Mr. Livingstone owes it to the public to explain why he thinks he can give just a fifth of his income to the state, while other members of his income bracket should, by his lights, pay nearly four times as much." - Wall Street Journal
- Ken Livingstone has hit back at jibes he looks tired by saying he is so fit he 'almost gave his doctor an orgasm' at his recent medical -Metro
Lord Adonis says move elected Upper House to Manchester - Telegraph
Taxpayers in an independent Scotland would have to pay the £30 billion cost of decommissioning North Sea rigs - Scotsman
There’s a risk that church schools will lose their religious ethos in the rush to expand - David Conway in The Telegraph
"In terms of private sector giving, the UK is already the second-most generous country in the world, with private sector giving amounting to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product. The US is well ahead of us at 1.7 per cent of GDP, but other rich nations are well behind: Germany gives 0.2 per cent; France only 0.1 per cent." - Paul Marshall in the FT (£)
The former Tory leader on Slough Borough Council has pleaded guilty to bigamy - BBC
Sir Edward Heath is to be honoured with a memorial stone at Westminster Abbey - Daily Mail
Highlights from yesterday
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