6.45pm WATCH: Osborne: All contact between the UK banking system and Iranian financial system will cease under new sanctions on Iran
5.15pm Karl McCartney MP on Comment: We need to apply fair play and justice to Britain's roads by properly punishing uninsured drivers
3.30pm Lewis Sidnick on Comment: The new Government backed mortgage scheme is bold – but will it work?
2.30pm Columnist Andrew Lilico: What should George Osborne say in the Autumn Statement?
1.30pm Local Government:
1.15pm ToryDiary: After violent clashes in Egypt, William Hague calls for the ruling Military Council to allow "free and fair elections"
12.15am ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news
10.30am Nick de Bois MP on Comment: Confidence in the economy is not just a matter for the City, but a matter of economic life and death
9.30am ToryDiary: Merkel gets a roadmap to fiscal union. In return Cameron may get repatriation of parts of the Working Time Directive. Fair deal?
ToryDiary: Cameron should pause before chorusing Y Viva Espagna this morning
Also on ToryDiary: The Coalition faces an uphill struggle to win support for public sector pension reforms
Bruce Anderson on our Columnists' page: There is no alternative to legalisation of drugs and this is how it might work
Jo Johnson MP on Comment continues our seven-part series on growth: Although this is a difficult time for British entrepreneurs, we must shift our focus to the emerging economies
Grant Shapps MP on Local Government kicks off a new Conservative Home series on Housing: The Coalition's strategy to unlock the housing market
Also on Local Government: Wandsworth wins AAA credit rating
WATCH: Mariano Rajoy and the Spanish conservatives win a landslide victory over the socialist party
Cameron and Clegg set to announce proposals to help first-time buyers with taxpayers underwriting their mortgages, and the Government subsidising construction of new homes
"In the foreword to the Coalition’s new housing strategy, which is published today, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg say that Britain has been “under-building” for decades and that a “radical and unashamedly ambitious strategy” is needed to shake up the housing market. “The housing market is one of the biggest victims of the credit crunch: lenders won’t lend, so builders can’t build and buyers can’t buy,” they say in the report. “That lack of confidence is visible in derelict building sites and endless 'For Sale’ signs. It is doing huge damage to our economy and our society, so it is right for government to step in and take bold action to unblock the market” - Telegraph
In another bid to boost the economy, the Government is considering building toll roads
"Firms will be asked to construct dedicated ‘express lanes’ alongside busy sections of motorways and trunk roads. Drivers using the lanes would be billed per journey, with the profits going to the private sector. Ministers, desperate to get more private sector cash into the economy, believe that by creating extra lanes, the scheme conforms with their pledge not to introduce tolls on existing roads … The initiative is being actively considered as part of the Government’s ‘growth review’ which will be unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne next week" - Daily Mail
Justine Greening under pressure to change the route of the High Speed Rail link between London and Birmingham – Independent
Despite suggestions that Downing Street was warming to the idea of an airport in the Thames Estuary (Boris Island), ministers look unlikely to back the idea
"Officials have privately slapped down Boris Johnson’s campaign for a four-runway airport to the east of London. That could lead to an angry backlash by the Mayor of London, who will speak to the Institute of Directors about the project today. Mr Johnson thinks the project — dubbed “Boris Island” — could boost the economy and generate tens of thousands of jobs. Ministers are thought to be dubious. Obstacles include the cost of any project, particularly in difficult economic times" - Times (£)
Cameron and Merkel aim to come to a deal to relax the European Working Time Directive, preventing employers from working their staff for more than 48 hours hours a week
"The UK will sign up to a revision of the Lisbon treaty – aimed at underpinning tough new fiscal rules for the eurozone – in exchange for an undertaking from Berlin that it will allow for an examination of the impact of the directive, which imposes a 48-hour week on workers across the EU. The tentative deal, agreed over lunch in Berlin on Friday, may allow the prime minister to sell the idea of an EU treaty change to his Conservative backbenchers on the grounds that he will be repatriating social powers to Britain" - Guardian I Mail
Lord Heseltine thinks Britian will join the €uro at some stage, and Franco-German "determination" to save the single currency means it will survive
Heseltine told BBC1's Politics Show: "I think we will join the euro. I think the chances are the euro will survive because the determination, particularly of the French and the Germans, is to maintain the coherence that they have created in Europe. Now they have got a hell of a problem, let's be frank about it, but my guess is that they will find a way through. I hope they will because the downside for the British economy of the euro going under is catastrophic. People have no idea of the scale of money British banks are owed by European banks" - Telegraph
Spain's Popular Party led by Mariano Rajoy, wins a landslide victory in the general election, with a crushing 16 percentage point win over the Socialists
"The Socialists lost a third of their seats as voters dumped a government that presided over a dramatic economic slump which has left 23% of Spaniards out of work. With the PP winning 186 of the 350 seats in parliament, 56-year-old Rajoy was given a free hand to carry out sweeping reforms and impose further austerity in an attempt to turn the country around. "It is no secret to anyone that we are going to rule in the most delicate circumstances Spain has faced in 30 years," he said. He pleaded for time. "There will be no miracles," he said. "We haven't promised any" - Guardian
> Yesterday:
Maude and Alexander signal differences in the Coalition over the 50p tax rate and welfare policy – Guardian
The legacy of the Olympics, says Boris Johnson, is about motivating children to take part in sport and lose weight
"In a sense it doesn’t matter a bit if we come fourth or fifth or ninth in the roll of honour at the end of London 2012. I really don’t give a hoot if we lose out to the Germans, provided we feel that we did justice to our potential. Of course I would like Team GB to come fourth again; but what really matters is whether we have used the Olympics to get the very best out of our elite athletes – and whether we can use London 2012 to motivate young people of all ages to take part in sport. We are, after all, fatter than most other European countries (including the thrifty and industrious Germans)" - Telegraph
Charlie Taylor, a behaviour adviser to Michael Gove, says that schools must do more to engage pupils, and prevent them "opting out" of lessons - Guardian
Three Labour peers, who were given lengthy bans from Parliament over their expenses, are at the centre of a legal battle to determine whether they were targetted because of their race - Daily Mail
Ed Balls defends Labour donor's links with Libya's Gaddafi regime - Times (£)
Rachel Reeves: 'I look at the life choices Ed Miliband's made and do not envy that' - Independent
The Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, arrives in the UK for a three day state visit - Independent
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