“Britain led efforts to block EU tariffs that might have protected the steel industry in this country from a flood of cheap Chinese imports, it emerged yesterday. George Osborne and David Cameron were accused last night of being more concerned with courting China than the fate of Tata steelworkers.” – Daily Mail
Government:
Comment:
Editorial:
>Today: ToryDiary: Why Conservatives should want to intervene in Port Talbot
>Yesterday:
“Britain is sinking deeper into the red. There will be no sovereign debt crisis because we borrow in our own currency. Instead we will let the exchange rate take the strain if need be, devaluing our way out of immediate trouble with the usual insouciance… The moral of the story is that if you want to call to a referendum on such a neuralgic issue as EU membership, don’t do it when you are running the worst current account deficit in 244 years of recorded history.” – Daily Telegraph
“A leading Eurosceptic Cabinet minister has hit out at George Osborne’s national living wage – warning that it will attract more migrants. John Whittingdale said the higher minimum wage, which comes into force today, will encourage more workers from the continent to come to Britain.” – Daily Mail
More EU:
>Today: Iain Dale’s column: Hunt and Morgan on the one side, and the Vote Leave campaign on the other, make idiots of themselves over the EU
“Tomorrow, right across our country, millions of people will be going to work and earning more. That’s thanks to our new, compulsory National Living Wage which comes into effect at midnight. This government was elected to deliver a higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax country that finally lives within its means – and that’s what David Cameron, I and my colleagues are delivering.” – The Sun
>Today: George Osborne MP in Comment: Four radical reforms which show what this modern, compassionate Conservative Government is all about
“Hundreds of extra armed police are to patrol British cities as fears grow of a Paris-style massacre outside London. The Prime Minister announced the additional 400 gun cops for Manchester, Birmingham and other cities during a trip to Washington.” – Daily Mail
“Britain has a moral responsibility to help train a new national Libyan army after the fiasco of its 2011 intervention, but any British forces stationed in Tripoli would be perceived as an invading force and therefore seen as a military target, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Crispin Blunt, has said. He was speaking on Thursday after Libya’s unity government tried to assert its authority in Tripoli in the wake of the UN-backed prime minister-designate’s arrival in the capital.” – The Guardian
“Nicola Sturgeon owes a “debt of honour” to the Scottish people not to stage a second independence referendum and will rule one out if she has a “shred of decency”, Ruth Davidson has said as she attacked the SNP and Labour over a series of policy about-turns. The Scottish Tory leader said the First Minister would stick by her pledge that a referendum could only be staged once in a generation “if she is an honourable woman” and vowed to oppose a new separation campaign Ms Sturgeon has promised to launch this summer.” – Daily Telegraph
“First Minister Arlene Foster has fired the starting pistol in the race to elect Northern Ireland’s next Assembly. With five weeks to go before polling day on May 5, the DUP leader was first out of the blocks yesterday to officially nominate herself as a candidate.” – Belfast Telegraph
>Yesterday: David Shiels in Comment: How Northern Ireland’s Unionist parties are gearing up for the EU Referendum
“Donald Trump’s remarks on women and on nuclear security left him fighting for his credibility as the Republican frontrunner last night — and the party contemplating disaster if the billionaire wins the nomination. Mr Trump’s campaign claimed yesterday that he was guilty of a “complete misspeak” when he said that women should be punished for having abortions, but the latest attempt at damage limitation was no more effective than two corrective statements that were put out after his initial words became public on Wednesday evening.” – The Times (£)