‘Ministers will today go to war with mobile phone giants over the problem of signal blackspots which affect a fifth of the country. Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has lost patience with companies’ efforts to eliminate poor signals that leave millions of us unable to make calls or use the internet. He will now unveil plans to force the four major networks – EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three – to act through a change in the law.’ – Daily Mail
‘Theresa May has risked a new round of cabinet warfare by warning one of her long-term rivals for the Tory leadership that his key policy could leave Britain open to terrorist attacks. A confidential letter from the home secretary, seen by The Times, advises that plans by Sajid Javid to make mobile phone companies improve their coverage threaten to damage the ability of intelligence agencies to thwart plots.’ – The Times (£)
Editorials
‘Immigrants who came to live in Britain from outside Europe cost the public purse nearly £120 billion over 17 years, a new report has shown…The report analysed figures from 1995 to 2011, during most of which the Labour government was pursuing vigorously pro-immigration policies. It found that migrants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) made a negative contribution to the public purse of £117.9 billion because they consumed more in public expenditure – including NHS costs, welfare hand-outs and education – than they contributed in taxes.’ – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Stephen Tall’s column: For me or UKIP to win on immigration, we must cede some ground
‘European immigrants to the UK paid much more in taxes than they received in benefits over the past decade, making a net fiscal contribution of £20bn, say researchers. The research by academics at University College London comes at a time of fierce debate over freedom of movement within the EU.’ – FT
>Yesterday: Richard Tice on Comment: Switzerland offers the model for our new relationship with the EU
‘Republicans stormed to victory in the battle for the US Senate last night as America’s midterm elections turned into a powerful vote of no confidence in President Obama. The president, whose personal popularity has been in a year-long slump, must now face an entirely hostile Congress for his final two years in office.’ – The Times (£)
>Today: ToryDiary: Where are the Obama-supporting Conservatives this morning?
‘Do the middle classes have a new hero? Certainly the rumours in Westminster are that Paterson is positioning himself as the standard bearer of the Right. In other news, Conservative Home leads with the fact that despite having had a truely miserable week, Theresa May is still Conservative Party members’ top pick for next leader.’ – Daily Telegraph
Editorials
>Yesterday:
‘London’s fiscal surplus – money raised in tax minus public spending in London – shot up from £11bn in 2009-10 to £28bn in 2012-13, as the recession ended and the recovery intensified…While state spending on the capital reached £93bn in 2013-14, too high for comfort but partly thanks to infrastructure projects such as Crossrail, London generated £127bn of tax revenues for the exchequer. Employment in London has now reached almost 5m, with a huge concentration of high-value-added jobs.’ – Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph
‘The full extent of Unite’s takeover of the Labour Party is today laid bare by The Sun. Nearly one-third of the party’s candidates already lined up for next year’s General Election are backed by the union. In total, 109 of the 337 would-be MPs – 32 per cent – have the official support of Len McCluskey’s left-wing militants. More than 50 of them are standing in key target seats.’ – The Sun (£)
>Today: Henry Hill’s Red, White and Blue column: Unions pick sides in Scots Labour leadership struggle
‘Britain missed David Cameron’s flagship foreign aid target last year despite handing out an extra £2.7billion, it emerged yesterday. The figures, buried in an official report, suggest the country could have to fork out up to £750million extra by the end of next month in order to hit the target this year – although Government sources insisted the final increase would be lower.’ – Daily Mail
‘To take on this inquiry as it is constituted is not to help victims, it is to fail them. It is not to do your duty it is to fail your duty. The inquiry cannot possibly succeed in its present form. This does not mean, of course, that it cannot identify disastrous lapses; naturally it will. It cannot, however, come close to doing justice to the issue.’ – Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (£)
‘A mayor was humiliated yesterday when Eric Pickles threatened to send commissioners to take over his failing council in east London. Lutfur Rahman had been accused of buying votes with grants and showing favouritism to the Bangladeshi community. Mr Pickles, the communities and local government secretary, took the rare step yesterday of saying that he will seize powers from the mayor, whom he accused of abusing public money, helping cronies, trading favours and spreading divisions.’ – The Times (£)
>Yesterday: Local Government: Pickles tackles corruption in Tower Hamlets
‘All UK schools are being offered the chance to participate in controversial tests designed to show how they compare to results in the world’s top-ranked schools systems. The Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) test for schools’ will cost £3,550 a time and will be administered twice a year in the spring and autumn, starting next year.’ – Times Educational Supplement
‘Business leaders attacked a tribunal ruling on Tuesday that gave millions of UK workers the right to extra holiday pay. John Cridland, head of the CBI, the business lobby group, said employers felt “anguish” at the decision. “Goal posts are simply moving here,” he told the Financial Times. “We’ve got mission creep.”’ – FT
‘A recent spike in antisemitic attacks should serve as a “wake-up call” for anyone who thinks the “scourge of antisemitism” has been defeated in Britain, Ed Miliband warned on Tuesday. In a post on his Facebook page, the Labour leader called for a “zero-tolerance approach” to antisemitism and said that some Jewish families had told him they felt scared for their children.’ – The Guardian