“The war against Islamic State could last more than three years — and become a generational struggle as it spreads to North and West Africa, David Cameron has declared. The PM said Britain and the West are now locked in a long-term campaign against extremists who prey on weak and troubled countries. Speaking as MPs voted by 524 votes to 43 to blitz IS militants in Iraq, he singled out three more terror groups as future targets. They are Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Qaeda in the Maghreb — who operate in Algeria, Mali and Morocco — and Ansar al-Sharia in Libya and Tunisia.” – The Sun (£)
“Ed Miliband is facing a major backlash from his own party – with one MP warning his opposition to strikes in Syria could play into Putin’s hands. The Labour leader said he would back limited military action against Islamic State in Iraq, but insisted conditions would need to be met for him to support raids in Syria – including a UN resolution, which Russia has pledged to veto.” – Daily Mail
>Today: ToryDiary: If war is to be waged against ISIS, it cannot stop at the Syrian border. Which is gone in any event.
>Yesterday: Watch: “It is our duty” to act against ISIS, Cameron tells the Commons
“The Commons faced two questions yesterday, and they are distinct. Does something have to be done? And does Britain have to do it? I’ve dwelt on the second because if you conclude, as I have, that Britain’s contribution to this adventure is not critical to its success — just a sideshow — then you have to ask what or whom the show is for.” – The Times (£)
“Britain should have no fear of quitting the European Union, which could ‘open up opportunities’ for the country, a senior Tory minister says today. Culture Secretary Sajid Javid, increasingly tipped as a future party leader, said he was not concerned about Britain’s prospects outside the EU if people voted to leave in a referendum. ‘I think it would open up opportunities. I am not afraid of that at all,’ he told the Daily Mail in a wide-ranging interview.” – Daily Mail
“The European Court of Human Rights will no longer be able to overrule British courts, under Conservative plans to be unveiled within days. Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, told The Telegraph that the Tories are ready to change the law to ensure that Britain is no longer “powerless” before the European court. After extensive deliberations, the Conservatives are ready to unveil their plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and ensure that the final decision on controversial legal cases is taken by Britain’s Supreme Court and not judges in Strasbourg, he said.” – Daily Telegraph
“Britain has been told to pay more than £10 million in unemployment benefit to eastern European migrants who have left Britain, returned home and now cannot find a job. Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have demanded that Iain Duncan Smith’s department funds their jobless citizens because they once worked and paid national insurance in the UK. His department has refused because the migrants had not worked in the UK long enough to claim, but the three countries have threatened to issue a diplomatic protest.” – Daily Mail
“The first thing we should do is analyse the Scottish result in order to learn its lessons for the European one. The starting point is to remember that the status quo won. With all the shouting about constitutional change, all the adulation of Alex Salmond and the surge in SNP membership after the result, you might think Scotland voted Yes. I can exclusively reveal that it voted No.” – Daily Telegraph
“Tinted windows, presumably to keep out prying eyes and worse, cast a soft, grey light across Theresa May’s face as she lays out the scale of the challenge of keeping Britain safe from any retaliation for military airstrikes against Islamic State.
“We think it’s now over 500 who have gone,” she says of the number of British Muslims who have travelled to Syria and Iraq. “There will be a reasonable proportion of those who were not on the radar before.”” – The Times (£)
“Theresa May has signalled that she is willing to increase cash and powers for police investigating child abuse as the “truly shocking” scale of the problem is revealed. An investigation into online paedophilia has identified 25,000 suspects, of whom only 660 have so far been arrested, it emerged this week. That follows the disclosure that some 1,400 children had been groomed for sex in Rotherham, despite repeated warnings to the authorities.” – The Times (£)
“The “vow” that appears on the front of last week’s Daily Record is actually quite vague. It boils down to “extensive” new powers for the Scottish parliament and government, and an agreement to get to work on the agenda as soon as possible. David Cameron is putting William Hague in charge, and we are promised details by Burns night in January. That strikes me as blisteringly fast, when you consider the gravity of the matters at stake. If we give any more powers to Scottish politicians, then we simply must address the basic unfairness to England; indeed, it should have been addressed years ago, as soon as devolution kicked in.” – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Chris Auckland in Local Government: Regionalism wouldn’t work.
“A ‘silent army’ of stay-at-home parents and people who care for relatives should be offered tax breaks to match those for working couples, say senior Tories. A group of centre-ground MPs will use next week’s party conference to put pressure on Chancellor George Osborne to boost tax breaks for marriage and extend them to carers.” – Daily Mail
“Education Secretary Nicky Morgan… has put her name to a document produced by a group of activists, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, which they say is designed to ‘fill gaps’ in sex and relationship education. The sheet says it intends to help teachers confront ‘harmful attitudes in boys and young men’ before they become adults. But parent groups have raised concerns that Mrs Morgan – who was appointed Education Secretary in July – is encouraging changes to the sex education curriculum ‘by the back door’.” – Daily Mail
“Ukip will today pile pressure on George Osborne to ease the tax burden on millions who have been sucked into the higher 40p rate of income tax. The Eurosceptic party is proposing a new 35p rate to be levied on earnings between £42,000 and £55,000, arguing many middle-class families on such incomes are being unfairly squeezed.” – Daily Mail
“First-time buyers under the age of 40 are to be offered 20 per cent discounts on 100,000 new homes. David Cameron is to unveil a dramatic extension of the party’s flagship Help to Buy scheme, which aims to get people on the housing ladder. Under the scheme, 100,000 houses would be built on so-called ‘brownfield’ land and reserved for sale only to young people buying their first homes.” – Daily Mail
“Labour’s £1.2billion-a-year mansion tax haul could be virtually wiped out by plunging stamp duty, inheritance tax and running costs, experts warned last night. Many prospective buyers desperate to avoid a new annual one per cent tax on properties worth more than £2million would lower their offers, research suggests. Meanwhile, sellers wary of trying to market homes burdened with the mansion tax would be more likely to price them lower.” – Daily Mail
“The changes, announced by George Osborne, the chancellor, in the March Budget, will give millions of pensions savers the new freedom to take their savings as a lump sum from the age of 55 and avoid buying an annuity. Under the reforms, savers will also be given the right to a free guidance session on their new options. But many in the pension industry have expressed concern about the tight timetable to deliver the reforms, billed as the biggest changes to pensions in nearly a century, with much of the detail still to be finalised.” – Financial Times
“The vacuous, self-regarding keynote speech Ed Miliband made this week at Labour’s conference made him look more like a teenage student union bore than a prime minister in waiting. It also presented the Tory Party, which meets tomorrow in Birmingham, with a golden opportunity not just to show itself as a sensible alternative to Labour’s suffocating statism, but also as a superior one. Caricatured as self-interested fat cats by Mr Miliband, the Tories can fight back and present themselves as a party with a realistic grasp of how to improve the economy — and, unlike Labour, with a recent record of doing so.” – Daily Mail
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Cameron’s conference speeches tell the sad story of his leadership
“Yesterday, Adrian Bailey, chairman of the Commons business committee, said he would ‘keep a close eye’ on the matter and ask members if they wished to call on Tesco executives to give evidence once they knew the outcome of the internal inquiry. The Labour MP added that Tesco’s auditors PwC could also be called to give evidence.” – Daily Mail
“UKIP today blamed Labour for recent child sex abuse scandals. Leader Nigel Farage called attacks by Asian gangs in Rotherham and Rochdale a “direct result” of the multiculturalism of Ed Miliband’s party. And MEP Jane Collins — standing as an MP in Rotherham Central — accused Labour of “conspiring to allow the abuse of children on an industrial scale”. Labour lawyers are now looking into her comments.” – The Sun (£)
“Police chiefs blocked a paedophile probe into a top politician 25 years ago, one of the country’s most senior officers said yesterday. Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon was serving as a detective sergeant in Leicestershire when allegations surfaced against Labour MP Greville Janner in 1989. Mr Creedon said he was ordered to limit his inquiries into the MP, now Lord Janner of Braunstone.” – Daily Mail