“George Osborne on Tuesday welcomed a fall in inflation to 1.6 per cent, amid hopes at the Treasury that data to be published on Wednesday will show average earnings are finally rising more quickly than prices. … Consumer price inflation fell from 1.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent in March, raising the prospect that wages will soon be outstripping inflation for the first time in almost five years. Some MPs sense a political tipping point.” – Financial Times
“Figures today are expected to show another fall in the overall unemployment rate, which has dropped by more than 300,000 since the end of 2011. … However, a survey by the Resolution Foundation suggests that many previously jobless people have opted to work for themselves because they have no alternative.” – The Independent
> Yesterday: Nick Faith on Comment – Tomorrow will be a defining day for the Coalition’s economic message
“Chris Sims, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said the decision to call in Peter Clarke, former head of Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command, to investigate claims about schools in Birmingham was ‘desperately unfortunate’. … In remarks echoed by the leader of Birmingham City Council Sir Albert Bore and local MPs, he said the move would ‘inevitably’ lead people to ‘draw unwarranted conclusions’ about the allegations that hardline elements in the Muslim community in the city had orchestrated a dirty tricks campaign to increase their influence.” – Daily Telegraph
And comment:
“Northern Ireland’s chief constable will control the National Crime Agency (NCA) if nationalist parties agree to its deployment in the region, the secretary of state has said. … In a pre-Easter message, the Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, also pledged that there would be no amnesties for any more IRA members ‘on the run’ after the freeing of the IRA Hyde Park bomb suspect, John Downey, in February when he produced a ‘comfort letter’ from Tony Blair’s government assuring him and others they would not be prosecuted for their crimes.” – The Guardian
“On Tuesday [Philip] Hammond told an audience of defence workers in Glasgow that the departure of the Royal Navy from an independent Scotland could jeopardise ‘billions of pounds of investment’ and thousands of jobs. … Mr Hammond’s intervention was supposed to put the SNP on the back foot but it also exposed tensions between Labour and Conservatives over the way the pro-union campaign is run. … The cross-party campaign, led by former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling and based in Edinburgh, says it was not told until late in the day that Mr Hammond was planning to visit Scotland; the defence secretary denies this.” – Financial Times
And comment:
“Blunders by British commanders were ‘devastatingly exploited’ by the Taliban to carry out an attack on Camp Bastion while Prince Harry was deployed in Afghanistan, a damning report says today. … The defence select committee was also scathing about the Ministry of Defence, accusing officials of being ‘obstructive and unhelpful’ in the face of the committee’s inquiries to establish what had happened.” – Daily Mail
> Today: James Gray MP on Comment – Defence policy – a retreat to “splendid islolation”?
“Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden is guilty of treason for leaking details of eavesdropping operations by GCHQ and the NSA, Liam Fox declared yesterday. … In a speech in the United States, the former defence secretary said the former spy has endangered the lives of British spies and their families by revealing the techniques used by the intelligence agencies to al Qaeda and foreign enemies. … And he accused the editor of The Guardian of ‘egotism and self-importance’ for continuing to print Snowden’s revelations after being warned that they damaged national security.” – Daily Mail
“Since the election, the Department for International Development has given £3.3 billion to 12 organisations that offer ‘poor’ or ‘average’ value for money. … Shockingly, DfID has increased funding for five of the groups. … Conservative MP Peter Bone said: ‘Because they are so determined to meet the 0.7 per cent target, there has been no time to hand out money based on need. … So they have been in a rush to give it to organisations that are below value for money – and that’s just crazy.” – Daily Mail
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – The aid budget increased 28 per cent last year – what have we got to show for it?
“Health spending has relative protection from the squeeze on public spending (the so-called ring-fencing of the NHS budget) but is still experiencing the tightest settlement in its history — a rise of just 0.1 per cent a year in real terms for the lifetime of this parliament. There must, therefore, come a point when, without further reform, hospital managers close wards, pleading that they are unable to keep them open. Patients queue for even longer at A&E. Ambulances are forced to park outside, unable to discharge the people they carry.” – Paul Goodman, The Times (£)
“Mr Clegg had said that when all Lib Dem MPs and peers were asked two years ago whether they had heard of the child abuse claims against the 29-stone MP for Rochdale, ‘no one said they did’. … But ex-leader David Steel admitted speaking to Smith about the allegations as long ago as the 1970s and his office issued a statement about them to the Rochdale Alternative Press newspaper in 1979.” – Daily Mail
> Today: The Deep End – The ruling tribes of British politics – Day 3: The Lib Dem rank-and-file and the Orange Bookers
“Mr Farage also faced charges of hypocrisy yesterday as it emerged that he has claimed ‘general expenditure allowances’ from the European Parliament averaging £15,000 a year to pay for the same office … Questioned on Sky News whether he was running in his office ‘a sauna’ or ‘Tracey Island’ – the headquarters in the TV children’s series Thunderbirds – Mr Farage attacked the interviewer Dermot Murngahan as an ‘establishment’ stooge and added: ‘We are running machines, running banks of computers, running photocopiers.’” – Daily Mail
“Nigel Farage said today he was prepared to allow independent auditors to verify Ukip accounts after The Times revealed that he was facing an investigation into the use of £60,000 of European Union funds” – The Times (£)
> Today:
> Yesterday: LISTEN – Nigel Farage defends himself from allegations of expenses abuse
“Nigel Farage and other senior Ukip officials traduced colleagues who raised concerns about how the party handled millions of pounds in funds, whistleblowers and former members alleged. … Mr Farage called a senior female Ukip official a ‘stupid woman’ and told her to ‘shut up’ when she asked for an independent audit into party finances, according to Delroy Young, formerly Ukip’s only black executive. Another member was allegedly physically threatened.” – The Times (£)
“Nearly a million people have received emergency food supplies in the past year, almost triple the previous number, according to figures released by the Trussell Trust on Wednesday. … The charity, which runs more than 400 food banks, blamed “static incomes, rising living costs, low pay, underemployment and problems with welfare” for the explosion in demand.” – Financial Times
“A United Nations official has been slammed for claiming that Britain was one of the most sexist countries in the world. … Rashida Manjoo, a South African human rights expert, said sexism in the UK was more ‘in your face’ than any other country she had visited. … But critics ridiculed her report – pointing to other countries such as Saudi Arabia where women suffer routine repression.” – The Sun (£)
Talk about boom and bust … here’s David Cameron on his Easter hols — surrounded by topless sunbathers. … Cam, in sunglasses and swim shorts, took a dip in the sea before lying on his front in the sand. … An onlooker said yesterday: ‘He seemed very comfortable lying on the beach where there is a relaxed attitude to clothes. He didn’t even seem to notice he was surrounded by topless women.'” – The Sun (£)
“Conservatives in Barnet, north London, asked for volunteers in Finchley, her constituency for 30 years, to rename their street for the Grantham-born political titan. … However, a year on and Barnet Council has received no applications for a name change. … Council leader Richard Cornelius admits a road in one of the borough’s new developments could now be named after Thatcher as an alternative.” – Daily Mail