“The European Commission is expected to announce within weeks plans for new restrictions on migrants’ access to benefits, a move that will be a boost to Mr Cameron’s hopes of renegotiating Britain’s relations with the EU. … Insiders say it offers Mr Cameron his best chance of achieving by far his most difficult demand – denying EU migrants in-work benefits for four years. He also wants to ensure parents only receive payments if their children live with them in Britain.” – Sunday Telegraph
“It had been a fear among pro-Europeans that the prime minister would not campaign enthusiastically for an In vote or he would leave it late to start making the case for continued membership. As I reported to you last month, there was a period when some at Number 10 were even pressing the notion that he ought to present whatever he manages to renegotiate on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis. Mr Cameron and his inner circle now seem to grasp that he is going to have to start taking on the Outers himself and he can’t let them make all the running in the many months between here and the moment of national decision.” – Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer
“Thirteen former ambassadors have warned that billions of pounds in trade deals and millions of jobs are at risk if Britain leaves the EU. … In a letter to The Sunday Times, they say those who want to leave have ‘no credibility’ and are ‘naive’ if they think Britain will be able to quickly strike a better free trade deal with the EU or new ones with countries such as America and China. … ‘Neither argument holds water,’ they say.” – Sunday Times (£)
“Schools will be forced to focus on traditional lessons in a back-to-basics standards crusade to be launched this week. … Every secondary school pupil will have to study five key subjects up to GCSE — English, maths, science, a language plus geography or history. … And children who leave primary school without a grasp of the three Rs will have to resit their tests the following year. … Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will signal the end of ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses by insisting that the youngsters work towards ‘worthwhile’ qualifications.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
And comment:
“Highly controversial plans to allow the police and security services full access to everyone’s internet browsing history have been abandoned by ministers in what is being presented as a dramatic climbdown over online surveillance. … Amid fears in government that it would be unable to force new laws through parliament because of concerns over civil liberties, the Home Office said it had dropped several contentious proposals from the investigatory powers bill, which will be published in draft form on Wednesday.” – The Observer
“Journalists across Britain will be able to protect the identities of whistleblowers and confidential sources from the police under a new law to be unveiled this week, in a victory for The Mail on Sunday’s campaign for press freedom. … The legislation, which will be announced by Home Secretary Theresa May on Wednesday, comes after this newspaper exposed how police used controversial anti-terrorism powers to hack the phone records of MoS journalists and other media organisations.” – Mail on Sunday
“Town halls are to be banned from using new anti-terror laws to snoop on staff and the public. … Home Secretary Theresa May is set to impose tough curbs on who can access phone, email and internet records and will create an offence of ‘misusing investigatory powers’. … This will make snooping illegal unless used against terrorists, paedophiles or dangerous criminals.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Mrs May is widely expected to reject calls to require the intelligence services to seek authorisation from an independent judge before they can listen to private phone calls, or read the contents of emails and text messages. … On Saturday night, Dominic Grieve, the new chairman of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, suggested that judges may be better placed than ministers to authorise the interception of communications.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Acid attack victim Adele Bellis has been to Parliament and urged ministers to help her defeat the sick craze. … She told Victims’ Minister Mike Penning: ‘The bloke who threw acid in my face was jailed for four years and four months. What sort of a message does that send out? We need to be much tougher.’ … Mr Penning called her ‘the bravest girl he’d ever met” and vowed: ‘I’m determined to do everything I can.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Jeremy Hunt is urging junior doctors to step back from the ‘barricades’ and vote against strike action over new contracts, warning that a walk-out would put patients at risk. … As medics are balloted on industrial action this week, the Health Secretary pays tribute to the junior doctors who do ‘one of the toughest jobs in Britain’, working long hours to keep the NHS going.” – Sunday Telegraph
Read Jeremy Hunt’s Sunday Telegraph article in full
> Yesterday: Raffy Marshall on Comment – To be a real One Nation party, we must overhaul this Trade Union Bill
“Ministers are under mounting pressure to pump more money into care for the elderly as investigations by the Observer reveal how some of the largest providers may have to pull out of supplying services because of an escalating financial crisis. … Before chancellor George Osborne’s autumn statement on 25 November, Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative chair of the all-party Commons select committee on health, is calling for the government to act, saying that social care providers are reeling from rising costs and declining fees from cash-strapped local authorities.” – The Observer
“George Osborne, the Chancellor, has been accused of building a power base at the Treasury to support his ambition to succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister. The annual list of special advisers, to be published this month, is expected to confirm that he employs eight special advisers – political appointees paid from public funds. The normal limit for a cabinet minister is two, but Mr Osborne has been given permission by Mr Cameron to hire an extra six.” – Independent on Sunday
“Households across Britain could save a total of £2.2billion by switching energy suppliers. … Energy Secretary Amber Rudd said: ‘My number one priority is keeping energy bills as low as possible for hardworking families and businesses. … The real power is in the hands of consumers who should take advantage of the estimated £2.2billion savings on offer.'” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“Scandal-hit Kids Company spent tens of thousands of pounds sending staff and clients to a £240-an-hour Harley Street hypnotherapist. … Former Children’s Minister Tim Loughton said: ‘This is further evidence of the questionable use of money and raises serious questions about whether damaged young people should have been referred to therapists with proper qualifications rather than to a hypnotherapist on Batmanghelidjh’s list of favoured practitioners.’” – Mail on Sunday
“The government is facing a fresh confrontation with the House of Lords amid new warnings that its housing policies will deprive rural communities of affordable homes and make them the ‘exclusive preserve of the affluent’. … With many peers already uneasy about the effects of extending right-to-buy to housing associations, leading peers are now raising concerns about the impact of the policies on country areas where low-cost properties to buy or rent are in short supply.” – The Observer
“Real conservatives are in favour of all kinds of unelected power and authority. … As well as the Monarchy, there’s the Church, the judges, not to mention the chiefs of the Armed Forces, parents, privately owned media companies, the BBC, school heads – and the thousands of strivers who have won the freedom to hire and fire through hard work and business success. … Democracy plays little part in these things, and a good thing too. To say that you are an elected politician in modern Britain isn’t much of a boast.” – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
And further comment:
“If Corbyn wanted to stop the nastiness, surely he’d lead by example and not appoint divisive and hateful people to his top table. Appointing Andrew Fisher as Labour’s head of policy shows appallingly bad judgment and has given Corbynista trolls carte blanche to carry on abusing people. … It’s not just nastiness, though, that Corbyn seems to be unwittingly incubating – it’s offensive views light years away from mainstream opinion. His new director of communications, Seumas Milne, for example, appears to hate America, cheerlead for communism, and act as an apologist for terrorism.” – Simon Danczuk, Mail on Sunday
“The byelection caused by the death of veteran MP Michael Meacher will be held on 3 December, providing the first electoral test of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, party sources have confirmed Labour is expected to move a writ in the House of Commons on Monday, formally triggering the byelection process in Meacher’s Oldham West and Royton constituency. … One senior Labour MP said that he was surprised at the haste with which the byelection was being called.” – The Observer
“Thousands of homes could be bought cheap by migrants after just three years under right-to-buy, an MP warned yesterday. … PM David Cameron plans to offer 1.3million housing association tenants the chance to buy their home with a 70 per cent discount. … But there are fears EU citizens will move here to take advantage of the deal. Labour MP Tristram Hunt said British families in his Stoke constituency are enraged.” – Sun on Sunday (£)
“The future of Britain’s nuclear deterrent could be thrown into doubt on 1 November when the Scottish Labour Party conference is expected to vote against the renewal of the Trident missile system. … In a move that will highlight the struggle between the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and the party’s centre-right, the Scottish branch of the party is set to have the debate that the UK Labour conference at Brighton in September conspicuously avoided.” – Independent on Sunday
“Scotland Yard detectives are ready to interview the last British resident released from Guantanamo Bay over claims he was subjected to human rights abuses with the complicity of UK officials. … The Metropolitan Police are understood to be prepared to speak to Shaker Aamer following his release from the US detention camp and his return to Britain on Friday. … At the same time Mr Aamer is to be monitored by the security services to assess whether his release poses any threat to national security.” – Sunday Telegraph
And comment:
“Tony Blair was rocked last night by a new crisis over Iraq after it was revealed that Ministers were told to ‘burn’ a secret document which said the war was illegal. … The Mail on Sunday has learned how Downing Street descended into panic on the eve of the war when Attorney General Lord Goldsmith told Mr Blair the conflict could be challenged under international law. … The Prime Minister was horrified, and Ministers and officials who had a copy of Goldsmith’s written opinion were told: ‘Burn it. Destroy it.’ … Ten days later, with the invasion just days away, Goldsmith did a U-turn and said an attack could be justified.” – Mail on Sunday
And comment:
“The BBC remains one of the most trusted institutions in Britain. The trust has been earned by providing serious, accurate news for generations. … This is precisely why it is so politically isolated. In good times, many mainstream politicians would have defended the BBC. But our rolling constitutional and economic crises are, unsurprisingly, producing ideological movements that cannot bear to have their ‘solutions’ questioned or ‘facts’ challenged.” – Nick Cohen, The Observer
“Mr Cameron has joined a new London club – and for free. He has accepted honorary membership of Mark’s Club in Mayfair – described as a ‘haven of exclusivity’. … Membership of Mark’s Club is believed to cost in the region of £2,000 a year. There’s also a one-off joining fee of £1,000 – coincidentally the amount millions of families would stand to lose every year due to the proposed cuts.” – Mail on Sunday
“[Norman Baker], who lost his seat at the general election, will release a second album in January with his band, The Reform Club. On Never Yesterday, Mr Baker uses his music to take pot-shots at Tony Blair and tabloid journalism, although most of the 12 tracks are a sardonic take on aspects of everyday life, such as shopping.” – Independent on Sunday