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Today's ConservativeHome top features ToryDiary: Today's Commons vote is about much more than the EU budget Columnist Jill Kirby: How to avoid further child benefit chaos On Comment, Nadhim Zahawi MP says thatlocalism can work, but only if we give it the space to do so: "This decision in Shottery is exactly the kind we've been rallying against. It's a decision taken by a Civil Servant at the centre, who will never have to live with the consequences, that has been rubber stamped by a Minister who has never even visited the area. In short it's a decision that drives a coach and horses through the Localism agenda." Local Government: Your chance to question Eric Pickles Army of state funded union officials still in place The Deep End: Drugs damage cultures not just individuals WATCH: Barack Obama warns that superstorm Sandy "is not over yet" Today's ConservativeHome newslinks EU Vote Day: David Cameron under pressure from backbenchers... “Despite misgivings in Labour ranks, senior party sources signalled that Ed Miliband would instruct his MPs to back a Tory rebel motion calling for a real-terms reduction to the budget covering 2014-20. … At least 40 Tory MPs are already signed up to the rebel amendment demanding a cut. Eighty-one rebelled last year in calling for an immediate referendum on Britain’s EU membership.” – The Times (£) “David Cameron's pro-EU charade cannot go on much longer” – Simon Jenkins, Guardian ...including David Davis... “The EU needs to do less, and it needs to do it better. A robust approach, more focused policies and the curbing of the EU’s sillier ambitions could save European taxpayers a quarter of the budget. … So our stance must be more aggressive: we must ensure that in these times of austerity, Brussels bureaucrats shoulder at least as much of the burden as the member states during a eurozone crisis for which they are largely responsible.” - David Davis, Daily Mail ...and Labour's Gisela Stuart, writing in the Times (£): We had better start thinking about what life outside the EU might look like, so that at some stage people are offered a genuine choice.".... ...but the PM does have the support of Nick Clegg... “Mr Cameron has won unlikely support from Deputy Premier Nick Clegg, who will insist in a speech today: ‘We will not accept an increase, above inflation, to the EU budget. That is a real terms freeze, and we will protect the British rebate in full. … That is the toughest position of any European country.’” – Daily Mail > Today on ToryDiary: Today's Commons vote is about much more than the EU budget > Yesterday: Andrea Leadsom MP on Comment: The Reckless Amendment is not in Britain's best interests Will Straw on LeftWatch: A British-led ‘Grand Bargain’ could cut the EU budget by 25% ToryDiary: David Cameron may not placate his backbenchers by threatening a veto now — but he might in future ...although the Guardian reports that Mr Cameron has "confronted" Mr Clegg over constituational reforms "In a sign of the deterioration in relations, the prime minister vented his fury at Clegg after the Lib Dem leader authorised his peers to support a Labour move to delay plans to reduce the size of the Commons until 2018." - Guardian Mr Cameron's adviser on digital strategy, Jonathan Luff, has moved to the payday loan firm Wonga - Daily Mail Speaking to the Daily Telegraph about his new growth review, Lord Heseltine urges a solution on airport capacity before 2015 Here are three snippets from the article: "In recommendations that are likely to surprise some of his Conservative colleagues, Lord Heseltine says that regulation, particularly from Europe, is not a major problem for British business." "Mr Cameron has pledged to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU, but Lord Heseltine claims that many problems blamed on Brussels are caused by civil servants 'gold-plating' directives." "He says that a review of airports should report before 2015 so work can begin on a third runway at Heathrow, or an alternative option, after the next election." And Lord Heseltine also writes a comment article for the same paper. The BBC's summarises his recommendations here. John Hayes: No more windfarms! "Insisting ‘enough is enough’, John Hayes said turbines had been ‘peppered around the country’ with little or no regard for local opinion. … He said existing sites and those in the pipeline would be enough to meet green commitments with no need for more. … ‘Even if a minority of what’s in the system is built we are going to reach our 2020 target,’ he said. ‘I’m saying enough is enough.’ … Mr Hayes told the Mail he had commissioned research on the impact of wind turbines on the landscape a nd whether they drive down house prices." - Daily Mail "On the face of it, this promises to be the beginning of an end to one of the greatest and most dangerous political delusions of our time." - Christopher Booker, Daily Mail “Greg Barker accused of rowing back on David Cameron's energy tariff promise.” – Daily Telegraph Continuing doubts about the child benefit cuts “Mr Wade said: ‘It is particularly problematic for people who are in the range or just below the range. If they get the option of overtime and if they have got a large family then it is a waste of time doing it because they will just lose more than they’ll get paid. Or they will lose quite a percentage due to tax, National Insurance and the clawback.’” – Daily Telegraph The proportion of new mothers deciding to stay at home, rather than return to work, has risen by 6 percentage points in a year - Daily Mail > Yesterday on ToryDiary: Is David Cameron coming round to the idea of further universal benefit cuts? Eric Pickles to consider plans for new council housing for "middle-class professionals" “The three boroughs of Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham are proposing to borrow against their “extremely valuable” housing assets to build the homes. … Today they will submit their plan for a pilot scheme of 300 homes on a new ‘middle-class’ estate to the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles.” – Daily Telegraph > Today on Local Government: Your chance to question Eric Pickles Michael Gove tries to give Maths a boost “Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced funds to create a curriculum aimed at sixth-formers who abandon maths after their GCSEs. … Youngsters would study the maths behind real-world scenarios such as the cost-effectiveness of washing machine insurance, the trustworthiness of opinion polls and the odds of lotteries being fixed.” –Daily Mail Ucas head says that tougher A-levels could deter students from taking them - The Times (£) Some of the British aid money going to Uganda wil be suspended, after worries about corruption - Daily Mail  Tory MPs call for the beer duty escalator to be scrapped, as Brits pay ten times more beer tax than other Europeans “Tory MP Andrew Griffiths told politics.co.uk: ‘The Treasury's own figures reveal that even with the escalator it'll raise no extra revenue over the next two years, because it's hitting beer sales and encouraging people to drink other things.’” – Daily Mail Louise Mensch writes to Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman over Austin Mitchell's "sexist comments" “In a letter to the pair, she wrote: ‘Mr Mitchell has not deleted nor withdrawn his tweet. He is a sitting Labour MP and neither of you have said a word about his behaviour. I trust you will correct this lack of leadership at the earliest opportunity.’” – Daily Telegraph Vince Cable's "senior moment" over meetings "The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, faced embarrassment yesterday after he told MPs that a new committee set up to promote economic growth had not held any meetings – even though he attended two of them." - Independent Mr Miliband admits that he saw a counsellor when his father died “‘When my father died, I did go and see a counsellor, who helped me a lot with coping with that bereavement, so I think the availability of help for people in all kinds of ways is very important,’ said Mr Miliband.” – Daily Telegraph Mr Miliband's night of signing autographs -Daily Mail Labour peer Lord West warns that Britain is "sleepwalking" into another Falklands War - Sun Alex Salmond dodges questions about whether he lied about an independent Scotland's status in the EU - Daily Telegraph SNP's Education Minister accused of overruling experts to include more Scottish books in the curriculum - Daily Telegraph Met Police to sell New Scotland Yard - Financial Times (£) The Commission on Living Standards warns of "two decades of stagnant living standards" “The Commission on Living Standards says that even if the economy recovers, around a third of the working age population – some 11million people – will be no better off in 2020 than they were in 2000. ... Among the worst hit are mothers because the cost of childcare is so high they cannot afford to go back to work." – Daily Mail "Benefits for wealthy pensioners should be axed to free up money to help hard-working families, a report claims." - Sun “Already the Labour leader is branding the 2015 showdown the ‘living standards election’." - Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph “A blueprint for supporting the strivers – or barely scratching the surface?” – Larry Elliott, Guardian > Yesterday: Columnist Andrew Lilico: The "inflation hawks" weren't wrong then and won't be wrong now The Deep End: The global economic crisis started forty years ago Taxpayers' Alliance research finds that taxpayers stump up £113 million every year to fund the union activities of civil servants “This amounted to £92million in paid staff time in the last year, according to research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, along with a further £21million in direct payments to unions. … The staff figure is the equivalent of 3,000 public sector employees working full-time for trade unions, in what campaigners described as a ‘scandalous subsidy’.” – Daily Mail > Today on Local Government: Army of state funded union officials still in place > Yesterday on Local Government: Labour Police and Crime Commissioner candidates should come clean on UNISON funding The end of the White Van Man? Just four per cent of under-30s are entering trades that require a van - Sun Israel postpones a strike on Iran after discussions with British spies -Sun > Yesterday, by Ross Cypher-Burley on Comment: Cameron must remain part of the "carrot and stick" club when it comes to Iran And finally... Could Sandy postpone the US election? “Despite no presidential election ever being postponed, some are pointing to past precedents where voting has been delayed. … However, what is most likely is a compromise for those affected by the havoc caused by the storm. … Voting hours could be extended at various locations and in places where electronic voting machines are in use, paper ballots could be used instead.” – Daily Mail Yesterday's ConservativeHome highlights ToryDiary: David Cameron may not placate his backbenchers by threatening a veto now — but he might in future Columnist Andrew Lilico: The "inflation hawks" weren't wrong then and won't be wrong now Comment: Andrea Leadsom MP: The Reckless Amendment is not in Britain's best interests Ross Cypher-Burley: Cameron must remain part of the "carrot and stick" club when it comes to Iran LeftWatch: Francis Maude should abolish the antiquated and intrusive Equality and Human Rights Commission now  Local government: Labour Police and Crime Commissioner candidates should come clean on UNISON funding WATCH:  Boris is winched aboard HMS Severn to launch London Poppy Day Nadine Dorries and Iain Dale debate gay marriage on the Daily Politics