ToryDiary: Conservatism, love, evolution - and why reciprocal altruism just doesn't cut it
Also in Parliament: In just 30 minutes of DPMQs, Nick Clegg launches attack after attack on Labour
In Comment:
- Jesse Norman MP: Taxpayers deserve a rebate from Gordon Brown's costly Private Finance Initiatives
- Robert Halfon MP: Let's establish a Royal Society of Apprenticeships
Local Government: Housing waiting list grew 72% under Labour
WATCH: Wikileaks suggests that Mervyn King privately criticised Cameron and Osborne when in opposition
Theresa May today publishes Bill to create elected Police Commissioners
- Home Affairs Committee wants cooling off period before police officers could stand for commissioner - The Guardian
The English will now pay higher tuition fees than the Welsh...
"The English face a university education "apartheid" after Welsh students were told they would be exempt from a sharp rise in tuition fees. The Welsh Assembly government announced that it would heavily subsidise the degree courses of about 90,000 students each year, even if they studied at universities in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland." - Daily Telegraph
The Daily Mail splashes on the same story.
...as Lib Dem ministers fail to back their own policy
"Confusion over tuition fees among the Liberal Democrats deepened last night as both Nick Clegg and Vince Cable tied themselves in knots over how they would vote on the policy. Mr Clegg was asked five times in the House of Commons which way he would jump when the controversial proposal to lift the annual cap to £9,000 is put to Parliament – but he failed to give an answer. He was left floundering at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions after Business Secretary Mr Cable – one of the architects of the policy – also refused to confirm that he would back it." - Daily Mail
- The Lib Dems' determination to end collective responsibility in the Cabinet will end in chaos - Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph
- 153 arrests at latest anti-fees demo - Reuters
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Should we care if Cable and Clegg abstain on tuition fees?
Oliver Letwin to scrutinise NHS power shift
Andrew Lansley: No more nanny state on health
"People will be encouraged to lead healthier lives with nudges in the right direction rather than nannying from the State, ministers said as they outlined plans for a radical shift in public health policy. Government will be less "intrusive" in people's lives and not tell them what to do, minsters said as they published the new public health white paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People." - Daily Telegraph
- Tax on stronger beer to ‘nudge’ nation towards healthier lifestyle - The Times (£)
- Ministers pledge £4bn to tackle smoking, drinking and obesity - The Guardian
- Super-tax for strongest beers will add £1.50 to price of a four-pack (so much for reining in the nanny state) - Daily Mail
> Yesterday in Parliament: Andrew Lansley sets out strategy to improve public health and reduce health inequalities
Iain Duncan Smith: Britain - and Britons - must rediscover the culture of work
- Confirmation that housing benefit changes will be delayed by nine months - The Times (£)
David Cameron hails new powers for Holyrood in the Scotland Bill
"The reforms we are setting out mark the biggest change in the way Scotland is run since devolution. A whole host of new powers are going to be transferred closer to you - taken from Westminster and given to Holyrood. The biggest changes concern taxation, spending and borrowing. For eleven years now, Holyrood has had the power to spend money on schools, hospitals, transport and justice as it decides. But it has raised little of this money itself, depending instead largely on the block grant from Westminster. This doesn't make sense." - David Cameron writing in The Scotsman
Greg Clark: Residents will be given power to block supermarkets and housing developments
Other Coalition news in brief
- Cameron says World Cup Bid is alive and kicking - Daily Express
- Will Hutton's report calls for public sector pay cap - The Independent
- Eric Pickles says councils should raid £10billion piggy banks to save frontline services - Daily Telegraph
- Michael Gove defends changes to school sport funding - BBC
- Prison population may not be cut, signals Clarke - Daily Telegraph
- Andrew Mitchell to boost fund fighting Aids - The Independent
MPs "are already flouting new rules on expenses"
"MPs have continued to submit claims for mortgage payments that they were not entitled to, first-class travel and excessive hospitality, the first evidence of the new Westminster expenses culture reveals. The Times has obtained a list of the 1,574 claims rejected in five months by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which demonstrates the disregard that some MPs have for the tough new rules introduced in the wake of the expenses scandal. The list of rejected claims, which total £116,359, shows that the election has not led to a complete clean-up of the Commons." - The Times (£)
Boris wants to charge utility companies by the hour for disrupting traffic with roadworks - The Times (£)
And finally... a winner from our World Cup Bid caption competition
> Click here to read all the entries
LISTEN: Andrew Lansley on Today: "Every time someone smokes a cigarette they do themselves some harm"
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