“The government has ordered an inquiry into industrial disputes, including “leverage” tactics by unions. Downing Street said the wide-ranging review would be led by Bruce Carr QC. The announcement follows last month’s Grangemouth dispute, in which union teams reportedly targeted managers’ homes.” – BBC
“The Prime Minister, David Cameron, is set to lay out a number of initiatives tomorrow aimed at helping to better protect children from harmful content online, as part of a summit involving the National Crime Agency (NCA), children’ charity the NSPCC plus all of the major search engines and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) at Downing Street.” – Independent on Sunday
“Education Secretary Michael Gove is under growing pressure to give the green light to the first significant expansion of a grammar school in
England for 50 years. The site for an annexe has been found in Sevenoaks, Kent, where staff and parents are anxious to get moving. Kent County Council has already given its approval to Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone to expand in Sevenoaks.” – Sunday Express
“David Cameron is planning to use John Major’s successful 1992 campaign victory against Neil Kinnock as a model for the next election, portraying himself as the underdog against high-tax and high-spending Labour. Speaking during a trip to the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka, the prime minister said he was ready to roll back the years and “dust down” some of Major’s posters, which vilified Kinnock and helped prevent the then Labour leader entering No 10.” – The Observer
“The Conservatives have allowed access via an internet archive to a decade of speeches, after criticism over their removal from the party’s website. The purge erased records of speeches and press releases from 2000 until May 2010, and a file on Conservatives.com instructed sites such as the Internet Archive and Google, which store copies of webpages for posterity, to remove the deleted pages from their databases.” – The Observer
“Ambitous politician Nikki Sinclaire today reveals her secret — she is Britain’s first transsexual parliamentarian. The striking-looking MEP lived as a man until the age of 23 before having a life-changing op on the NHS. In an exclusive interview she tells The Sun on Sunday how she wants to enter the UK Parliament and emulate her idol Maggie Thatcher.” – The Sun on Sunday (£)
“Nick Clegg has said the coalition government should raise the income tax threshold for a fifth time. The government has repeatedly raised the personal allowance – the amount people can earn before paying income tax – since the 2010 election. The threshold is due to reach £10,000 in 2014/15 – the level agreed when the coalition was formed – but Mr Clegg wants to make it £10,500 from 2015.” – BBC
“Conservative support has fallen by three points since last month, giving Labour a six-point lead, which would mean a 74-seat majority for Mr Miliband if repeated at the election, even though 53 per cent of voters say they disagree with the statement, “I can imagine Ed Miliband as Prime Minister.” – Independent on Sunday
“AREAS identified as benefit cheat hotspots are to be targeted by an intensive advertising campaign asking people to report on their neighbours. Hoardings featuring Google maps are to be used by the government, with slogans urging people to turn in their neighbours. One will say: “They are claiming benefits and getting cash in hand — do something about it. Help us catch benefit cheats one street at a time.” Facebook ads will also urge people to report on their neighbours.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Layabout parents – like the characters in hit TV show Shameless – would undergo an ‘intensive’ programme to keep them out of crime and unemployment, says Adam Simmonds, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Northamptonshire. He said derelict Army bases could be used to house them while they were taught basic household skills, ordered to stop drinking and smoking, and given basic job training.” – Mail on Sunday
“Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is this week facing a revolt among his own MPs over controversial plans to replace full-time troops with Army reservists. Rebel Conservative backbenchers are plotting to line up with MPs from Labour and other parties to block plans for a dramatic expansion of the UK’s reserve forces.” – Mail on Sunday
“LORD HESELTINE, one of the leading supporters of the government’s contentious HS2 high-speed railway, faced embarrassment last night after it emerged his son and heir to his publishing empire had tried to derail the project.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Explosive leaked emails have laid bare for the first time the depth of the bitter feud between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. The emails, sent last week and obtained by The Mail on Sunday, reveal that the Labour leader’s team think Mr Balls is a ‘nightmare’. They prove the two are deeply divided over how to respond to the economic revival. And they indicate Mr Miliband is sick and tired of the shadow chancellor’s refusal to obey his orders and ‘stay on message’.” – Mail on Sunday
“More than a million households are poised to swap energy suppliers in a move of unprecedented magnitude in Britain. In a dramatic escalation of pressure by the Government on energy suppliers over their soaring prices, homes across London and in 77 local authority areas, helped by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, can change their fuel provider this Tuesday.” – Independent on Sunday
“THE top 1% of taxpayers are now paying almost 30% of all income tax, with the nation’s finances increasingly reliant on a small wealthy elite. New research shows an ever smaller proportion of taxpayers are contributing an increasing share of income tax. In 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher came to power, the highest-earning 1% of taxpayers contributed just 11% of all income taxes — even though the highest rate of income tax was 83%.” – Sunday Times (£)
“In the near future – imminently, I am told – the Government is to publish a report on the fortunes of the 65 per cent of 16-24 year-olds who do not go to university: their educational attainments, employment record and the fate of those who are neither working nor learning. The Cabinet Office inquiry, headed by Sir Jeremy Heywood, is not a direct response to Sir John Major’s remarks last weekend about social mobility. Yet its timing could scarcely be better.” – Matthew d’Ancona Sunday Telegraph
“Daltrey, 69, has expressed his anger on immigration before but this time he directs much of it at Labour and the European Union. He is vitriolic about the immigration policies of the government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. “I can’t stand the bureaucracy of the European Union. It’s detrimental to the whole place. They’ve made some decisions now where I think it can only fly apart at the seams. Sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.” – Sunday Times (£)