7.15pm Columnist Anthony Browne: The financial transaction tax will be a tipping point for many British people
6.30pm ToryDiary: 10/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne recognise and capture the nation's mood?
5.30pm ToryDiary: 9/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne advance a Mandelsonian industrial policy?
4.30pm ToryDiary: 8/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne address family policy?
4pm ToryDiary: 7/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne address the €uro issue?
3pm ToryDiary: 6/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne address the 40p issue?
2.30pm MPsETC: Registration for hairdressers would be compulsory, under a law introduced by David Morris MP
2pm ToryDiary: 5/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne bring economic sense to environmental policies?
1.30pm WATCH: Zac Goldsmith MP: Many people in the Treasury still see environmental policy as a "burden"
1.15pm Local government: Boris poll lead steady at 8%
1pm ToryDiary: 4/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will "Osbrowne" simplify or complicate the economy?
12.30pm ToryDiary: No Goldilocks moment as Government veers from appeasement to confrontation with unions
Noon ToryDiary: 3/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne act on growth?
Noon ConHomeUSA: Today's top Republican and American political news
11am Richard Harrington MP on Comment: UK manufacturing: is there hope for small and medium businesses?
10am ToryDiary: 2/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne fight for the fairness agenda?
9.30am TheRightList: According to GQ, Cameron's chief pollster is more important than George Osborne
ToryDiary: 1/10 Tests for the Autumn Statement: Will Osborne stand firm on deficit reduction?
Columnist Bruce Anderson: George Osborne will do well tomorrow. His ratings, high already, will climb further
LeftWatch: Chloe Smith MP warns that average family's mortgage bill could be £5,000 higher under Labour
Marc Glendening on Comment: Only an EU referendum can bring about real re-negotiation
Local government: Councils funding the equalities industry
WATCH: Francis Maude explains Government's position on public sector pensions
IMF drawing up £517bn package to save Italy, Spain and the euro – Telegraph
"Britain is drawing up emergency plans for the collapse of the ‘creaking’ Eurozone amid warnings debt-stricken Italy will need a £500 billion bailout involving billions of pounds of UK taxpayers’ money." – Daily Mail
Centrepiece of Autumn Statement will be a £30 billion National Infrastructure Plan
500 infrastructure projects to be funded by £5 billion squeeze on other spending and investments from pension funds – Guardian
"The Chancellor will redirect money made from savings in the welfare budget, and other areas, to start work on 40 “priority” schemes, including expanding schools to provide another 40,000 places for pupils." – Telegraph
China’s $410bn sovereign wealth fund announces plans for new investment in the UK – FT (£)
The Government is to set out plans for up to a dozen new specialist schools aimed at providing the "highest quality maths teaching in the world – Telegraph
Osborne's VERY flexible fiscal mandate
"Osborne showed that he is a supreme political operator by making [his fiscal mandate] much more elastic than commentators have appreciated. The plan has two goals. First, to ensure that the structural current deficit is in balance by 2015-16, which is, crucially, after the next general election. This excludes capital investment and is a "rolling five-year judgment" which means there will be no fixed point when a definitive judgment can be made. The second goal, to ensure that debt is falling as share of GDP by 2015-16, is a fixed target. But it simply means that debt in 2015-16 must be lower than the previous year, however high the figure in 2014-15." – Nick Watt in The Guardian
Jackie Ashley: Osborne's economic strategy owes a great deal to Labour and the Lib Dems – Guardian
"Tim Montgomerie, editor of the ConservativeHome activists’ website, believes the opposition’s failure to restore its reputation for economic competence after the crash of 2008-09 is “one of the most important factors in British politics”, and has led the chancellor to conclude the Conservatives can win the next election even if the economy is still in the doldrums." – FT (£)
> Yesterday's LeftWatch: Labour wonks call for fiscal conservatism
Chris Grayling aims to halve health and safety red tape
"Ministers aim to cut the amount of health and safety red tape by half, Chris Grayling will announce on Monday. Publishing the findings of a government review into health and safety measures, the employment minister on Monday will promise a “significant simplification of the rules”, adding that employees need to take as much responsibility for their own health in the workplace as the businesses that employ them." – FT (£) | Sun
Appeals by welfare claimants are delaying budget savings – Times (£)
Maude's ultimatum to public sector: Accept pension deal or lose it at end of year – Independent
> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Army could secure Britain's borders if planned strikes go ahead
Cameron has called in senior ministers to Downing Street to explain why their departments missed key performance targets – which they themselves had set – Independent
Andrew Mitchell: Coalition will stick by 0.7% aid commitment – FT (£)
Patients admitted to NHS hospitals for emergency treatment at weekends are almost 10 per cent more likely to die than during the rest of the week – Telegraph
People who think Cameron is a failure are simply being foolish – Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson for Dale&Co
Another pollster shows UKIP gaining on the LibDems; Lab 42%, Con 33%, LD 8%, UKIP 7% – Angus Reid
Britain must end its supine indulgence of the globalised wealthy – John Kampfner for The Independent
Time to end the taboo and have an industrial policy again – Diane Coyle and Paola Subacchi in the FT (£)
Blogger 'Guido Fawkes' summoned by Leveson inquiry – BBC
And finally… Boris Johnson beats Cameron to be GQ's most influential man
"Boris Johnson has triumphed over David Cameron to be named the most influential man in Britain. The Mayor of London, who left the Prime Minister lagging behind for the second year running, led the political agenda this year, forcing Mr Cameron to react to his decisions, according to GQ magazine's 100 Most Influential Men in Britain 2012 list…" Osborne is down to number 8, Clegg to 34 – Press Association
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