“The chancellor was under growing pressure to think again on sweeping cuts to tax credits for low-paid workers last night after it emerged that peers were plotting to derail the plan… the possibility grew of a defeat in the House of Lords on Monday — an outcome that would force the Treasury to restart the push for approval of the bill in the Commons. News of the rebellion came as the former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit became the latest senior figure to stoke dissent in the Lords, urging for more ‘transition’ measures to help the poorest” – The Times (£)
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“As long as they simmer and never erupt, Conservative squabbles can deprive Labour of any relevance it has left after electing the unelectable Jeremy Corbyn as leader. There is such a thing as an optimal level of dissent: too little and the official opposition fills the vacuum, too much and things fall apart. Achieving that balance is easier when the dissenters are as biddable as Tory MPs of recent vintage tend to be” – Janan Ganesh, Financial Times
“David Cameron promised to challenge President Xi over thousands of job losses in the British steel industry, as China’s leader flew into London for a four-day state visit. Last night the prime minister hailed a ‘very important moment’ in relations between the UK and China at the start of a visit that Downing Street said would secure trade deals worth more than £30 billion and 3,900 jobs… Mr Cameron remained under pressure to speak out about the demise of UK steel-making, which has put 6,000 jobs at risk” – The Times (£)
>Today:
“Mark Carney is to make a dramatic intervention in the Brexit debate with a speech on Wednesday setting out the bank’s views on how leaving the EU would affect the Bank of England’s work. Presenting the culmination of the BoE’s project on Brexit, Mr Carney will limit his remarks to the bank’s ability to deliver monetary and financial stability… The BoE’s intervention has been encouraged by Downing Street” – Financial Times
>Yesterday:
“Plans to force newspapers to pay tens of thousands of pounds in legal costs every time someone tries to sue for libel could be kicked into the long grass, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale signalled today. Under controversial proposals newspapers will be forced to cover court costs when they are sued – regardless of whether or not they are found guilty. The plan was a central plank of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into media ethics” – Daily Mail
“Lord Ashcroft has suffered a ‘life-threatening’ illness over the past fortnight – facing septic shock, liver and kidney failure, it was claimed last night. The Conservative peer missed the launch of Call Me Dave, his biography of the Prime Minister, in Westminster yesterday evening as it emerged he had been in intensive care for 18 days. The 69-year-old, whose book was serialised in the Daily Mail, has been recovering in hospital in America and is said to now be ‘out of danger’” – Daily Mail
>Today:
“Energy suppliers ignored a private request from the Tories to cut prices after the election. Only two of the big six suppliers bothered to reply to a letter sent by the energy secretary, Amber Rudd, in May suggesting that they lower bills because the threat of Ed Miliband’s price freeze had been lifted by a Conservative election victory. Since then only British Gas has cut prices, by just 5 per cent and only on gas” – The Times (£)
“Scotland Yard’s shambolic investigation into alleged VIP child sex abuse and murder inched closer to collapse last night after a new officer was put in charge. Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who controversially described a key witness as being ‘credible and true’, has been replaced as head of Operation Midland… The news came as Home Secretary Theresa May distanced herself from the force’s Leon Brittan rape inquiry, saying police should tell suspects in a ‘timely’ way if they have been cleared” – Daily Mail
“The inconvenient truth that ministers refuse to acknowledge is that the crisis in the NHS is not only caused by the ageing population, rising treatment costs and a growth in survivable but long-term health problems — it is also directly linked to their failure to plan for the kind of workforce required by a modern health service. Both the eye-watering agency fees and the reliance on foreign recruits are a result of nursing shortages now being felt following the decision to cut training places in the early years of the coalition government” – Rachel Sylvester, The Times (£)
“Norman Warner, a Labour health minister between 2003 and 2007, became the first Jeremy Corbyn-era Labour parliamentarian to resign the whip, saying Labour is no longer ‘a credible party of government-in-waiting’. In a letter to Corbyn, Lord Warner said he would sit as a cross bencher in future, adding: ‘Labour will only win another election with a policy approach that wins back people who have moved to voting Conservative and UKIP’” – Guardian
“Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party sealed a stunning victory in Monday’s Canadian general election, ousting Stephen Harper and his Conservatives from their near-decade reign, after Canadians who had grown weary of austerity voted for change. The Liberals were projected to win 188 seats with 40 per cent of the popular vote, according to Elections Canada, the government election agency, giving it enough seats to form a majority government and defying pre-election polls that pointed to a slim minority win” – Financial Times