Britannia Radio

Today's highlights on ConservativeHome ToryDiary: Davis says the UK economy needs shock therapy and urges the Coalition to adopt a clear roadmap to a very different system of tax, regulation, banking and energy policy Columnist Bruce Anderson: Tory belief starts with Britain and ends with champagne Nigel Waterson on Comment: One gets the feeling that being a committed Conservative is not appreciated these days Cllr Andrew Johnson on Local Government: Sell expensive council properties but use proceeds to boost affordable home ownership - not just social rent The Deep End: Let's spend less on infrastructure! Today's newslinks Government plans for growth 1): planning laws  "Legislation expected next month will propose new curbs on residents’ ability to protest against new developments, giving them less time to appeal and ensuring fewer cases face legal challenges. ... Rules allowing councils to authorise building on the green belt by redesignating other land will also be streamlined to encourage more building in areas given legal protection from development." - Daily Telegraph "The fresh reform of Britain’s planning system has provoked alarm among some Cabinet ministers. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles are among those warning it could provoke a public backlash." - Daily Mail In an article for the Daily Telegraph, ConservativeHome's Paul Goodman warns that David Cameron is in for a "bruising encounter" over planning laws: "...the more wide-ranging the reform, the longer the debate would drag on, which in turn would delay the housebuilding blitz that the Treasury yearns for. “Cutting through the dither”, as Mr Cameron puts it, takes time and trouble to work. If his aim, theref ore, is for a mass of new homes to be built swiftly, it will not succeed." > Yesterday on Local Government: Labour face both ways on criminalising squatting Government plans for growth 2): airport capacity  "[David] Cameron is to order an independent review of the future of Britain’s airports in a bid to end Coalition infighting over plans for a third runway at Britain’s only international hub airport. ... The Prime Minister is hoping the review will secure cross-party support and defuse a row over aviation policy that has split the Cabinet." - Daily Mail The leader of the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davidson, calls for a third runway at Heathrow - Daily Telergraph > Yesterday's video: George Osborne: We need more airport capacity in the South East Government plans for growth 3): other measures, including a state-backed bank for business lending "Planning rules are to be torn up to allow development on green belt land, a state-backed small business bank created and £50billion poured into big infrastructure schemes in emergency moves to kickstart the flatlining economy." - Daily Mail "The latest proposal for a state-sponsored small business bank is inspired by similar models in Germany, the US and Ireland and it was immediately welcomed by the corporate sector." - Financial Times (£) "...the Mail is encouraged by the new urgency of the Tories’ language, as Mr Cameron prepares a Cabinet reshuffle in which he is expected to promote ministers who are genuinely committed to slashing red tape, business taxes and wasteful government spending. ... Let this half-way mark be the turning point, when the Government finally matches action to its words." - Daily Mail editorial "Mr Cameron says he is sick of the 'dithering' which is holding Britain back. ... Can he not see the irony of taking more than two years to come to that conclusion?" - Sun editorial > Yesterday: ToryDiary: A five-point guide to David Cameron's big article ToryDiary: George Osborne talks tough but he also needs to talk clearly > Today: ToryDiary: Davis says the UK economy needs shock therapy and urges the Coalition to adopt a clear roadmap to a very different system of tax, regulation, banking and energy policy The Deep End: Let's spend less on infrastructure! The Telegraph has started a new series in which "leading young Tory MPs" set out their ideas for growth From the first entry, by Kwasi Kwarteng: "As worrying as the state of the economy is the state of our psychology – because in many discussions about our future, the same defeatism that once ruled British sport now reigns. We spent much of the 20th century talking about decline, about how we were falling behind Germany, France and other continental countries. Now, in the wake of the financial crisis, that language has returned." With the reshuffle possibly happening tomorrow, here are the latest reports... Mr Cameron will use his reshuffle to boost the Tory Right, including promotions for Chris Grayling, Owen Paterson and Michael Fallon. Ken Clarke is "fighting to keep his job" - Daily Mail Up to 20 (!) Conservative ministers could be reshuffled out of government, mostly from junior- and middle-ranking positions. Andrew Mitchell could be made Chief Whip. The return of David Laws might antagonise Tory MPs - Daily Telegraph "The political futures of Ken Clarke and Sayeeda Warsi, hoping to stay on as justice secretary and party chairman respectively, are less certain as are the careers of Andrew Lansley at health, Caroline Spelman at agriculture and Jeremy Hunt at culture."  Financial Times (£) "...there are few women, bar Maria Miller, knocking on the Cabinet door to take the place of Caroline Spelman at Environment or Cheryl Gillan in the Welsh Office" - The Times (£) Ken Clarke has "pleaded to stay on in his role" - Sun Government sources say that the reshuffle will be more than "tinkering" - Guardian "Cameron and Clegg are too weak for a major reshuffle" - Jackie Ashley, Guardian > Yesterday: Columnist Nadine Dorries: The reshuffle will create more enemies for Cameron among the overlooked. It won't achieve much else Majority: Building a Conservative Majority (21): A Welsh Tory Welsh Secretary, representing a seat in Wales 55 new free schools will open across England this month, compared to the 24 that launched in September last year - Financial Times (£) The free schools programme is failing to tackle the shortage of primary places, says Labour - Guardian Under new rules implemented today, bad teachers will come under greater scrutiny "Head teachers will get less than 24 hours notice of an Ofsted visit, while inspection teams will observe more classes, listen to pupils read, monitor behaviour and check payrolls to ensure the salaries of weak teachers reflects their performance. ... At the same time as the new Ofsted regime comes into force, Government rules designed to tackle substandard teachers take effect. ... Heads and governors will be able to sack the worst-performing staff in just a term – rather than a year - under new 'capability' procedures." - Daily Telegraph David Cameron defends the tougher marking in this year's GCSEs -Sun Schools could receive more than £1,000 in extra funding for each child in foster or residential care they teach - The Times (£) Grant Shapps founded company selling software that breaches Google code - Guardian Lord Carey, former Archibishop of Canterbury, criticises the government over the wearing of crosses in the workplace "Lord Carey, who stepped down from Lambeth Palace in 2002, said yesterday: ‘Sadly, the Government has passed up its opportunity to support the right of Christians to express their faith and have a reasonable accommodation in the law for freedom of conscience." - Daily Mail Boris Johnson has some advice for his holiday destination country, Croatia "On July 1 next year, Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union, and under the terms of the Treaty of Maastricht this new, proud sovereign state – not yet two decades old – must accept the entire corpus of EU law; and she must place her neck in the noose of the single currency. Unlike Britain or Denmark, the Croats have no opt-out. They are now legally obliged to give up the kuna for the euro, and I say, don’t do it, folks. It is not only a mistake. To submit to the euro would be a stunning refusal to learn the grim lessons of recent Balkan history." - Boris Johnso n, Daily Telegraph "Hague is wrong... we must own up to our brutal colonial past" - Owen Jones, Independent Tim Montgomerie: What is needed in both British and American politics is a reappraisal of the Left "I don’t blame the Left for their attempts to monopolise the moral high ground; I blame the Right for allowing it. It’s time for the Centre-Right to attack systematically the Left’s claims to moral superiority and to sustain that attack for a culture-shaping generation." - Tim Montgomerie, The Times (£) Vince Cable plays down the Lib Dem attacks on Nick Clegg - The Times (£) David Cameron fears that attacks on Nick Clegg could destabilise the Coalition "One source said that the Prime Minister believed Conservatives 'need to protect Nick and Danny [Alexander] – we can’t have them thrown out.' Conservatives are taking care to avoid public shows of support for Mr Clegg, however, knowing it could be counterproductive and further weaken the Deputy Prime Minister’s position. ... But the Prime Minister is keen to find ways of shoring up Mr Clegg, for fear he will be replaced by Mr Cable." - Daily Telegraph But then there's Ed Davey as John Major... "One Lib Dem minister told the FT that Ed Davey, the energy secretary, was also positioning himself for a potential future bid. 'He sees himself as the John Major figure, who can quietly come through the middle,' the minister said." - Financial Times (£) "What the Paralympics have exposed is the lazy equation of disability with incapacity" - Melanie Phillips, Daily Mail 450 council executives have received redundancy packages of at least £100,000 in the past financial year - Daily Telegraph Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Iran does not see international determination to stop its nuclear programme" - Daily Mail And finally... the title sequence of the Andrew Marr show has swapped his car for a Vespa scooter - Daily Telegraph Highlights from the weekend on ConservativeHome ToryDiary: Housing - if not radical reform now, then when? Paul Goodman says Sayeeda Warsi should remain in the Cabinet but not as Tory Chairman Justine Greening enjoys improved Cabinet rating in pre-reshuffle survey A five-point guide to David Cameron's big article George Osborne talks tough but he also needs to talk clearly Columnist Nadine Dorries: The reshuffle will create more enemies for Cameron among the overlooked. It won't achieve much else Majority: Building a Conservative Majority (21): A Welsh Tory Welsh Secretary, representing a seat in Wales Comment: Lord Ashcroft: Let’s all support courageous Ffion Hague as she prepares for her charity abseil off the Shard Lord Ashcroft: Former Treasurer Peter Cruddas accuses The Sunday Times of “selective” editing and “distorting” the facts Alex Morton: Housing - why planning powers should be reshuffled to local people and a new Secretary of State Thomas Byrne: Sunday trading laws protect the family and civil society. Libertarians should not do away with them Chris Kelly MP on Comment: It's vital Parliament continues to take action against scrap metal theft, before a fatality occurs MPsETC: Tories choose local businesswoman, Christine Emmett, to fight Corby by-election Local Government: Labour face both ways on criminalising squatting Planning rules eased on new homes above shops John Moss: Montague's proposals for boosting housing investment don't go far enough WATCH:  George Osborne: We need more airport capacity in the South East In interview with Ecuadorian TV, Julian Assange says that he expects his situation to be resolved in six to twelve months