4.30pm Penny Mordaunt MP on Comment: To deliver the Conservative vision and the Big Society, we need the public, private, voluntary and non-profit sectors to work together
2.30pm Columnist Andrew Lilico: A six-point alternative to yet more bank bailouts – "1. No recapitalisation. 2. Suspend formulaic capital adequacy ratio requirements. 3. Depositor liquidity insurance. 4. Depositor preference. 5. Debt-equity swaps. 6. Solvent institutions should be lent monies by the central bank."
1pm ToryDiary: The IMF's Lagarde – "I shiver" to think what would have happened had Osborne not taken charge
10.30am Local Government: Wiltshire councillor joins Conservatives
9.30am Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey MP on Comment: More low carbon electricity and no public nuclear subsidies – the aims of today's draft Energy Bill
Columnist Stephan Shakespeare: Why David Cameron is still the most likely person to be Prime Minister after the next election
Quentin Letts on Comment: Axe BBC Three – and that's just for starters. My manifesto for Director-General
Also on Comment: Sam Gyimah MP – Labour market flexibility is only one part of the package needed to create jobs
- £100 fine for home owners who see their gardens as rubbish dumps
- Another Cornish LibDem Councillor quits
The Deep End: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry: Big Society Republican
WATCH: Beecroft – Should it be easier to hire and fire staff?
Beecroft and no fault dismissal: Cable speaks out…
"Tensions within the coalition over proposals to make it easier for businesses to fire workers have spilled out into the open with Tory backbenchers lining up against the Lib Dem frontbencher…Cable dismissed the idea as "complete nonsense", while close Liberal Democrat ally Lord Oakeshott denounced it as "the economics of the madhouse", saying it would be "bonkers" to undermine demand in the economy by making workers fear for their jobs." – The Guardian
…And Cameron backs off
"David Cameron faces a Conservative revolt after signalling that he is ready to ignore proposals for employers to sack staff at will. Downing Street gave the idea of no-fault dismissals a cool reception when it was published yesterday after being kept under wraps by ministers for seven months…Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said that Mr Beecroft’s proposals were “a contribution”. She said of Mr Cameron: “He’s not wedded to one set of proposals or another at this stage.” – The Times (£)
(The Telegraph details how three proposals were dropped.)
"A document leaked to The Daily Telegraph shows that three proposals in the controversial Beecroft report were removed after being submitted to No10 before it was sent to the Business Department. They called for the Government to delay plans to introduce flexible working for parents, to abandon proposals to allow all workers to request flexible working, and to remove regulations surrounding the employment of children." – Daily Telegraph
- How 10 Downing Street censored its own independent report – Daily Telegraph
- Downing Street: We deny it – BBC
But Mark Prisk says it's full steam ahead for 17 out of 23 Beecroft proposals
"Business minister Mark Prisk told MPs that 17 of its 23 recommendations were being put into action. These include extending the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one to two years, scrapping laws on 'third party harassment', streamlining employment tribunals and introducing fees for claims…However, the most contentious recommendation is expected to be dropped later this year, following a consultation." – Daily Mail
- British Chambers of Commerce and IOD rally to Beechcroft, CBI more cautious – Financial Times (£)
- Reforming tax and labour laws will cause coalition strains. But unless the Government acts it will pay a higher price – Times (£) Editorial
- The Beecroft proposals are commonsense measures that go a long way towards lifting the burden of unnecessary regulation – Daily Telegraph Editorial
- The Coalition must embrace this plan for growth – Mark Littlewood, Daily Mail
> Yesterday:
- ToryDiary: Forget Plan A or Plan B, it's Plan E for Euro Economic Emergency
- Julian Smith MP on Comment – Small businessmen are the best judges of employment relations. The Beecroft report will empower them
TPA/IOD calls for 30% tax rate which will replace national insurance
"A major study, by the 2020 Tax Commission, has claimed that a single 30 per cent tax rate and further public spending cuts are the only way the government can increase growth. It called for a simplification of the UK's tax system, including the abolition of national insurance and stamp duty…Under the plans national insurance contributions would be scrapped, with a single 30% rate of tax on income and a £10,000 personal allowance." – Daily Express
- TPA says prolong cuts by five years to fund tax cuts – The Guardian
"Whether the state spends and taxes 30 per cent of GDP or 50 per cent is irrelevant, it is argued, and should merely be seen as a question of taste. I disagree. There have been dozens of complex, statistically rigorous papers written by top academics from around the world that have investigated these relationships and found that big government is bad for prosperity…These and many other excellent papers are reviewed in the 2020 Tax Commission’s final report, a major investigation into the tax system I chaired and which launched yesterday (see www.2020tax.org)." – Allister Heath, City A.M
> Yesterday: Matt Sinclair on Comment –
- Tax reform without tax cuts is a political disaster; tax cuts without reform a missed opportunity
- A Family Transferable Allowance would cut the couples penalty and let families keep their own money
- Matthew Elliott on Comment: A Single Income Tax would be fairer, more transparent and would spur economic growth
- Local government: 2020 Tax Commission calls for councils to pay for half their spending from local taxes
Introducing the CPO, May's ASBO replacement: Homeowners who dump rubbish face on-the-spot penalties. £100 fine if your garden is a tip.
"The penalty will also apply to anyone who leaves an old sofa or fridge in their garden, or has mountains of pizza boxes or takeaway cartons lying around. They will receive an on-the-spot fine of up to £100 or be taken to court – where the maximum fine would be £2,500. The new Community Protection Notice is a key part of new anti-yob laws unveiled by Theresa May today." – Daily Mail
- End of ASBOs – Sun Editorial
Polls 1) Cameron's personal rating hits all-time low, but Conservatives have "limited political recovery" – The Guardian
Polls 2) 49% of voters back Coalition economic strategy, 51% don't – The Times (£)
Cameron faces make-or-break time – Norman Tebbit, Daily Telegraph
It is fair for universities to recruit on “potential” rather than just attainment, says Clegg
"The types of jobs secured by young people are to be compared with those carried out by their parents under a new indicator to measure social mobility, Nick Clegg will say today. The Deputy Prime Minister will reveal that the children of professionals are almost twice as likely to end up in “higher level occupations” than those born to parents working in other fields. Mr Clegg, who has a higher status, if less well paid role than his father who was a banker, hopes that publishing the data annually will force ministers to take action to improve social mobility." – The Times (£)
- Born poor, stay poor: the scandal of social immobility – Andrew Grice, The Independent
- Miliband attacks inequality – The Independent
Labour 1) Mandelson to Leveson: New Labour never had pact with Murdoch (honest) – Daily Express
Labour 2) By appointing Jon Cruddas, the Labour leader is taking a leap into the unknown – Mary Riddell, Daily Telegraph
Labour 3) A dangerous split is emerging between Miliband and Balls – Rachel Sylvester, The Times (£)
Labour 4 – Special nostalgia edition) Tony Blair and George Bush's phone conversation a week before Iraq invasion 'must be released' – The Independent
> Yesterday: WATCH – Ed Miliband talks about snobbery of university versus vocational education and jokes that after talking to David Davis they increasingly agree with each other – notably about David Cameron
"Good luck with explaining that to the Germans, Mr Clegg"
"One of our own politicians who had thought this country was mad not to join the euro, Nick Clegg, yesterday urged the Germans to sanction eurobonds and thus underwrite the Continent's debts – corrupt Greece and all. He told an interviewer from Der Spiegel that such a course of action was "unavoidable", however much German taxpayers might be "reluctant to entertain those ideas and to … become the paymaster of the European Union". To which the British Deputy Prime Minister's interviewer responded: "Good luck explaining that to a German audience". – Dominic Lawson, The Independent
- Cameron reassures savers in Santander UK – Financial Times (£)
- Cameron defends vocal approach to eurozone debt crisis – Daily Telegraph
- Lecturing the Greeks won’t help our firms – Daily Mail Editorial
- Time to plan a velvet divorce for the euro – Gideon Rachman, Financial Times (£)
"The little Hungarian fascist". The great Bruce Anderson-Steve Hilton ConHome row rumbles on…and on…and on…
"David Cameron nicknamed policy guru Steve Hilton the 'little Hungarian fascist', it was claimed last night. The claim was made by a Conservative commentator writing on the unofficial party supporters' website Conservative Home. On the website, Bruce Anderson launched an extraordinary attack on Mr Hilton, whose parents came to Britain as asylum seekers during the Hungarian revolution of 1956." – Daily Mail
> Yesterday: Columnist Bruce Anderson – Steve Hilton rewarded David Cameron with one of the most despicable instances of disloyalty in political history
Jeremy Hunt to be investigated by Standards Commissioner over claims he failed to register donations from media firms – Daily Express
Parents being asked to pay top-up fees to get free nursery care, say MPs – The Guardian
Single mums must look for work or face losing benefits – Daily Telegraph
Delay in aid increase could cost lives – Scotsman
Nuclear power plants to have lives extended – The Times (£)
Gay marriage: Advertising watchdog accused of bias over chairman's campaign video – Daily Telegraph
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