“Tax cuts for millions of families could be implemented long before the deficit is eradicated, David Cameron said yesterday. The Prime Minister said we could benefit from slashed taxes much sooner than 2018, when Britain is due to balance its books. He said there was no reason for public finances to be back in the black before a Tory government starts to lift the tax burden on hard-working families.” – Daily Mail
“David Cameron has branded Islamic State terrorists who killed British aid worker Alan Henning ‘brutal and repulsive’ as the Prime Minister led a wave of global revulsion over the murder. He vowed to ‘hunt down’ and bring to justice the man who wielded the knife, who has become known as Jihadi John – as Barack Obama, Nick Clegg and Muslim leaders all spoke of their disgust.” – Daily Mail
“By being such a rat, by the shameless way he betrayed his own constituency party, by the spotlight shone on his serially disloyal behaviour as an MP, and by the way he played Useful Idiot to Nigel Farage’s plans to wreck the conference of a party on whose back he had clambered into politics, Mr Reckless showed them what he was made of. He showed them what Ukip was made of too. They didn’t like it. And all at once, they weren’t scared any more: just irritated and contemptuous.” – The Times (£)
“Chris Grayling has accused his opponents of being out of touch with the ‘wishes of the country’, as Tory plans to end the meddling of the European Court of Human Rights came under ferocious attack. The Justice Secretary faced down criticism of his proposal to allow Britain to ignore rulings by the Strasbourg court from the Lib Dems, ex-Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve and former justice secretary Ken Clarke.” – Daily Mail
“We will never truly know whether, in a moment of understandable bewilderment and justifiable anger, Mr Gove wanted to start his tenure as chief whip with a conscious flash of disloyalty. What is much clearer, ten weeks on, is that the wisecracking, self-deprecating, e’er-so-humble Mr Gove is back and wants you to know that he is enjoying his job, defections and all.” – The Times (£)
“The TV licence fee could be scrapped and replaced with subscriptions in the biggest shake-up since the BBC was founded in 1922. Some members of the Cabinet are understood to believe the compulsory £145.50 annual charge for television ownership is increasingly outdated.” – Daily Mail
“Ed Miliband has “inexplicably abandoned” attempts to attract swing voters, in a move that could cost Labour crucial seats, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown has warned. With despair growing among many Labour MPs, Patrick Diamond warned that simply appealing to core supporters would prevent the party from winning marginal seats. He also said there had been a “refusal to face up to hard choices” facing the next government.” – The Times (£)
“Mr Miliband looks at it all too professorially, and perhaps – he is a socialist, after all – too self-righteously. He can identify that a thing is wrong, such as the energy cartel, but he cannot locate himself in the story of how to put it right. Hence his rather tragic efforts to tell us, last week in Manchester, how many amazing ordinary people he had talked to up and down the country.” – Daily Telegraph
“Labour said the figures showed the Coalition “seems to have given up any effort to end the scandal of millions of pounds of child benefit being sent abroad every year”. The issue was raised by Rachel Reeves, the shadow Work and Pensions secretary, on a visit to France last week. She said: “Rather than admitting defeat the Prime Minister should be ordering his ministers to work with governments across the European Union to bear down on this abuse of our benefits system.” – Daily Telegraph
“Having survived being burnt in effigy, calls for his resignation and being ridiculed on a website called Nick Clegg Looking Sad, he is determined to keep going. “Of course there are people who detest me, on left and right, I wouldn’t be doing my job if they didn’t. But you are toughened up after four and a half years. I’ve got a thicker skin.” – The Times (£)
“The Liberal Democrats will today promise to increase NHS spending by targeting the pension pots of the middle classes. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the party would spend £1billion a year more on the Health Service than David Cameron pledged earlier this week.” – Daily Mail
“Lib Dems will block Tory plans to slash the UK’s bloated benefits bill as the price of joining another Coalition, a Cabinet minister has signalled. Lib Dem Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said he doubted George Osborne’s conference proposals on welfare “would ever be delivered”. It is further evidence that relations between the governing Tories and Lib Dems are worsening.” – The Sun (£)
“Moves to help addicts kick their habit have been thwarted by senior Conservatives “playing politics” with the lives of vulnerable people ahead of the general election, the drugs minister has claimed. Norman Baker opened a new Coalition rift after he condemned the Tories for “suppressing” two Home Office reports which set out plans to tackle addiction and combat the popularity of “legal highs”.” – The Independent
“Nick Clegg is risking the wrath of Liberal Democrat activists by supporting the construction of more airport runways. Speaking before the party’s conference in Glasgow, the deputy prime minister said that airport expansion was “a hot topic in Lib Dem land”, with a debate expected on Tuesday.” – The Times (£)