Monday, 7 November 2011

Break-up of euro would cost UK 'less than feared'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/breakup-of-euro-would-cost-uk-less-than-feared-6258304.html

Today's ConservativeHome newslinks

Theresa May to face questions in the Commons on whether terror suspects entered the UK during relaxed border controls

TmY"The home secretary will attempt to defuse the row by telling MPs that she is to set up an inquiry into the UK Border Agency. Union leaders blame cuts and say the relaxation was ordered by ministers. Hundreds of thousands of people are thought to have entered Britain without being checked against the Home Office index of suspected terrorists and illegal immigrants. The head of the border force, Brodie Clark, has been suspended and an inquiry has been set up under John Vine, chief inspector of the agency."

  • May said to have reacted with "incredulity and fury" when she found out - Sun
  • Daily Mail Comment: "May now finds herself facing an even more dangerous enemy: her own civil servants at the endemically shambolic UK Border Agency" - Daily Mail
  • Melanie Phillips: "While the Tories rightly see immigration control as vital for security and the orderly management of the country, their officials’ main preoccupation is instead the speedy processing of people in the passport queues" - Daily Mail
  • Abhijit Pandya: 'The immigration minister needs to resign - or UKIP will take more votes from the Tories' - Daily Mail

Whistleblower inside the UK Borders Agency says staff warned about the national security dangers of stopping checks

Times"A whistleblower from inside the UK Border and Immigration Agency said that staff warned their managers that the scheme, in which the chips on biometric passports of foreign nationals were not checked and visitors with visas did not face additional questions, was dangerous for national security. “I could not, hand on heart, say to you I have not let a terrorist into this country,” the immigration official said. “If the British public only knew what got through their borders.” - Times (£)< /a>

'No one likes bailing out spendthrifts – but we'll have to' - Mary Ann Sieghart in The Independent

"The mood on the Tory benches is hostile and resentful. They sense that Mr Cameron is willing to sink more UK cash into propping up the EU edifice. He does not get credit for protecting Britain's negotiating position when the new treaty is in play by coming to the aid of his cross-channel colleagues" - Benedict Brogan in The Telegraph

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: By two-to-one voters are against any back door bailout of €urozone with UK taxes

After striking a deal on a unity coalition with the opposition, Greek PM Papandreou will stand down

"European leaders forced George Papendreou to act under the threat of national bankruptcy. An agreement in principle was reached between Mr Papandreou and Antonis Samaras, the conservative opposition, leader after an hour and a half meeting with the president on Sunday night. The two men will meet on Monday to decide on the composition of the new government, which will take office after Mr Papandreou formally tenders his resignation." - Telegraph

  • Pressure is now on Italy's Silvio Berlusconi to follow suit: 'If he wants to save Italy, Mr Berlusconi should go' - Independent
  • Amrose Evans-Pritchard: 'Europe's rescue fiasco leaves Italy defenceless' - Telegraph

Research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research suggests that the break up of the €uro could lead to economic growth in Britain

Eu"CEBR economists suggest that the demise of the euro would “not be anything like the disaster that has been argued”. Freed from the constraints of the single currency, strong countries such as Germany would see their currencies gain in price in relation to the pound, boosting British exports. The economists also predict that break-up would free many eurozone members from the deficit-cutting austerity policies that threaten to subdue their growth for years." - Telegraph

The Coalition needs a "Grand Bargain moment" - Tim Montgomerie in theTimes (£)

Cameron's next revolt and biggest worry, says Andrew Pierce, will be over High Speed Rail

Andrewpierce"Cameron will be alarmed by the leak of a letter from Tricia Birchley, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire area Tory chairwoman, which has gone to every Conservative MP. The PM’s constituency, of course, sits in Oxfordshire’s rolling acres. Mrs Birchley is demanding the scrapping of the ‘unloved’ £33billion rail project, HS2. The link, designed to cut journey times from London to Birmingham and Manchester, will slice through 16 Conservative constituencies in sensitive areas of Buckinghamshire, the Chilterns and Warwickshire" - Daily Mail

Those who destroy and steal memorials should be punished, says Boris Johnson, and the menace scrap metal merchants buying them, stopped

"We should look at all sorts of ways in which the offence of nicking a piece of precious public metal can be properly punished. Taking a piece of railway infrastructure is beyond anti-social. It is dangerous, moronic and economically debilitating. As for desecrating a memorial, the act is beneath contempt. Those who gave their lives deserve to be remembered in glory; and those who violate their memory deserve an eternity of shame" - Telegraph

Miliband launches a class based personal attack on Cameron, saying "it is not in his DNA" to understand the majority of people

Screen shot 2011-11-07 at 08.36.24"In an interview with The Independent, Mr Miliband mapped out a new dividing line between Labour and the Conservatives. He declared: "The social exclusion of those at the top is as much of a problem for our society in this era as the social exclusion of those at the bottom of society." Launching his strongest attack on the Prime Minister, the Labour leader said: "David Cameron really is doing a terrific job of looking after the vested interests, the privileged, the powerful and the wealthiest one per cent. It's the other 99 per cent who feel desperately let down. " - Independent

  • Interview by Andrew Grice: 'Miliband turns his fire on Cameron as debate over inequality gets personal' - Independent
  • Cameron protects 1% - Huffington Post

A report by Demos reveals that the far right is on the increase across Europe

Demos"The far right is on the rise across Europe as a new generation of young, web-based supporters embrace hardline nationalist and anti-immigrant groups, a study has revealed ahead of a meeting of politicians and academics in Brussels to examine the phenomenon. Research by the British thinktank Demos attitudes among supporters of the far right online. Using advertisements on Facebook group pages, they persuaded more than 10,000 followers of 14 parties and street organisations in 11 countries to fill in detailed questionnaires" - Guardian

  • David Miliband warns against complacency over rightwing extremism - Guardian

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham urges the Government to drop the Health Bill as "it spells the end of the NHS as we know it" - Mirror

New Labour architect Lord Gould, has died at the age of 61 - BBC

Highlights from the weekend

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Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:03