“Al-Qaeda cells in Syria are plotting sophisticated terror attacks against airliners, transport systems and landmarks in Britain, the head of MI5 warned last night. Hundreds of British jihadists have returned from the war-torn country and some of those were intent on pursuing their ‘twisted ideology’ by carrying out lethal attacks here. Andrew Parker, director-general of the intelligence agency, said that police and intelligence agencies had saved lives in Britain by thwarting three terror plots driven from Syria in recent months” – The Times (£)
“The official judgment is that ‘an attack on the UK is highly likely’. If one should come, then it will be a huge challenge to social cohesion – and Muslim leaders will need to be at their most forceful, articulate and persuasive in the aftermath. And to do a far better job than of late. The problem in recruiting such leaders is obvious: most British Muslims run a mile from the peculiar and often vicious sectarian politics of all this” – Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“David Cameron has all but ruled out taking part in televised election debates. His remarks prompted Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party to accuse Mr Cameron of running scared from the leaders’ debates ahead of polling day in May” – Daily Telegraph
>Today:
“A shortlist of 29 new housing zones — including several in the north and Midlands — has been published, with proposals of up to 2,000 homes per scheme although larger sites are being considered… Brandon Lewis, the housing minister, said they would share a £200 million pot to help with infrastructure. All the schemes — a mix of social and market housing — will be on brownfield sites” – The Times (£)
“David Cameron’s pledge to deliver £7 billion of tax cuts to middle and low income families would be delivered by using some of the planned £23 billion budget surplus forecast for the end of the decade, George Osborne confirmed yesterday. The chancellor said he ‘completely’ agreed with Michael Gove, the government chief whip, who said earlier this week that the Conservative party’s plan to cut income tax…could be funded by the ‘spare’ cash that the party plans to save by 2020” – The Times (£)
“Ed Miliband has been dealt a further blow over his proposed ‘mansion tax’ after it emerged that two out of five of his own MPs have doubts about it. An anonymous poll showed that 39 per cent of Labour MPs believe that introducing additional council tax bands would be a ‘better way’ to tax high-value homes. Only 56 per cent favoured introducing the mansion tax, which would be applied annually to properties worth more than £2 million” – The Times (£)
“Vince Cable has been forced to apologise after being found to have broken parliamentary rules for failing to disclose private polling paid for by a wealthy backer and used in a failed putsch against Nick Clegg. The business secretary should have declared £6,000 worth of opinion research commissioned by his friend Lord Oakeshott, the parliamentary standards commissioner has ruled in a decision to be published today” – The Times (£)