3.45pm ToryDiary: John Baron MP and Peter Bone MP table a cunning EU referendum amendment
2pm One week on from the local elections, Charlie Elphicke MP reflects on the value of clarity in what we stand for
1.30pm Adrian Hilton writes this week's culture column: The BBC would have us think that Ferguson trumps the Queen
12.15pm Roger Scruton on Thinker's Corner: Truth in politics. "The absurd insults hurled at UKIP and its supporters have at last done
their work, and the Conservative Party has been forced to wake up to the
fact that you can no longer conceal the truth from the people."
Noon ToryDiary: There are plenty of questions to which shale gas is the answer
11am Dr Lee Rotherham on Comment: We must appoint a good EU Commissioner, for a change
Nadhim Zahawi MP on Comment: Every taxpayer helped to rescue RBS. So every taxpayer should benefit from its shares. How the Treasury should think outside the Bank.
Also on Comment: John Stevenson MP – Blue Collar Conservatism is the key to winning the next election. Please join us at our conference next Monday.
Majority Conservatism: Five ideas for Cameron – 4) Take up John Penrose's plan to combat rip-off utilities
Local Government:
The Deep End: Tattoos, racism and modernist architecture
Grayling pledges to 'turn the tide of crime'
"Mr Grayling said he wanted to ‘put a stopper in the revolving door of the justice system’ which sees as many as six in ten short-sentence offenders return to crime within a year of their release. Tackling our stubbornly high reoffending rates has dogged successive governments for decades,’ he said. These reforms represent a golden opportunity to finally turn the tide. It is simply not good enough that we spend £4billion a year on prisons and probation and yet make no real dent in the appetite of offenders to commit more crime." – Daily Mail
Queen's Speech aftermath: Cost of living, business competitiveness and immigration in the crosshairs
"David Cameron and Nick Clegg have promised to "fire up our private sector" as the Queen announced the government's agenda for the next year. The prime minister and deputy prime minister set out a range of meaasures designed to help businesses, including granting companies a £2,000 allowance on their nationl insurance contributions. Ministers will also legislate to cut corporation tax to 20 per cent from 2015, and introduce a bill to reduce the burden of red tape, such as health and safety legislation from small companies." – Financial Times (£)
Queen's Speech aftermath: Newspaper reaction to the Curate's Egg
"IT was a Queen’s Speech for Sun readers. The Government is finally tackling fears of a fresh migrant tidal wave when Bulgaria and Romania open their borders next year. Access to the NHS, housing and benefits will be limited and landlords will be forced to check tenants are living here legally." – The Sun Says
Queen's Speech aftermath: Questions about Crosby's involvement in dropping of nanny state plans
"Sarah Wollaston, a Conservative MP, called for clarity on the involvement of Lynton Crosby after measures to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes and minimal alcohol pricing were not included in the legislative programme. Both have faced fierce opposition from the tobacco and alcohol industries, and a lobbying and PR company founded by Mr Crosby, the Prime Minister’s strategy chief, has worked previously for clients opposed to the measures in his Australian homeland." – The Times
>> On ToryDiary yesterday: The Snoopers' Charter comes sneaking back. Again.
"The Prime Minister was warned directly that Ms Dorries could hand Nigel Farage a huge PR coup by leaving the Tories and becoming a UKIP MP if she was kept in the cold much longer. Another fear was that she might quit her seat next spring and stand for UKIP at the European elections. “She would top the Europe poll and we’d lose the by-election to UKIP, it would be a total disaster,” said one MP. The 1922 Committee, shop stewards of the Tory backbenches, had made clear to the party leadership that Ms Dorries should be given back the whip." – The Times (£)
Michael Portillo: I want out of the EU
"To put it mildly, you could not imagine Margaret Thatcher approaching the issue in such an insincere and political way. If senior Conservatives were proved right about the British electorate, and we were cowed into voting for continued EU membership, the British Establishment would claim that the issue was settled for all time. Over the following few years, defeatism would run its full course and the political class would deliver Britain into the euro. So the referendum, were it to occur, would not be simply about withdrawing from the EU or going on as we are. It would really be about pulling out, or in due course entering political union. That is why I would vote “no”." – The Times (£)
Charles Moore: Margaret Thatcher thought we should leave the EU
"[Andrew Neil] asked me if, after leaving office, Lady Thatcher had come to the view that Britain should leave the European Union. I said yes (I think it happened after the Maastricht Treaty in 1992), although advisers had persuaded her that she should not say this in public since it would have allowed her opponents to drive her to the fringes of public life." – The Spectator
Labour pushes for "Bridget Jones tax" on singletons
"In a formal submission to ministers, the Local Government Association is calling for the power to end the 25 per cent discount offered in recognition of the fact single people place fewer demands on local services. More than seven million are thought to benefit from the discount, at a cost of around £2.7billion a year." – Daily Mail
Peter Lilley: The only way is shale
"If shale gas proves abundant it could help the government meet three key objectives: rebalancing the public finances by generating large tax revenues, rebalancing the economy by boosting manufacturing, and rebalancing the north/south divide by creating jobs and a whole new industry in the north. We will only know for sure how much is there, and can be economically extracted, by drilling. So you might assume governments would be forcing the pace. Far from it." – The Spectator
Pickles and Boles tear up planning rules to make it easier to launch free schools and businesses
Mr Pickles said: 'By simplifying the process and relaxing some stringent rules we can provide a helping hand to those eager to boost their high streets or rural communities by cutting the time and costs needed to start up new businesses.' – Daily Mail
Lib Dems threaten to bloc Liz Truss' reforms to cost of childcare
"In government meetings over recent days, Mr Clegg is understood to have said he can no longer support the reforms. 'The question that needs to be answered is will this drive down costs,’ said a Lib Dem source. ‘If it doesn’t then that defeats the object of doing it.’ Another Whitehall source said the Lib Dems appeared to have been ‘spooked’ by the negative reaction of some childcare providers. The Prime Minister will now have to begin ‘horse-trading’ with the Lib Dems." – Daily Mail
Treasury analysis set to deal a further blow to Salmond
"Mortgage costs are likely to rise and pension values fall in an independent Scotland, according to a forthcoming Treasury analysis designed to capitalise on growing hostility towards Alex Salmond’s attempts to break away from Britain. A new Ipsos MORI poll of 1,000 Scots for The Times shows that support for Scotland leaving the UK has fallen farther, with the gap among those certain to vote widening by 7 to 28 percentage points." – The Times (£)
News in brief
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