8.15pm Christopher Howarth on Comment: Why the UK should push hard for EU services liberalisation. And what to do if it doesn't get it.
7pm ToryDiary: Under one in seven party members want the Coalition to continue into 2015
5pm Local Government: Race row causes Labour to lose control of Harrow Council
3.45pm The Queen's Speech: WATCH – The Queen details the Government's proposals for the economy, welfare, immigration and social care
3.15pm The Queen's Speech: ToryDiary – The Snoopers' Charter comes sneaking back. Again.
2pm The Queen's Speech: On ToryDiary, Andrew Gimson sketches this morning's ceremony: What a Martian would take away from the State Opening of Parliament
12.45pm The Queen's Speech: Local Government – Queen's Speech boosts right to buy and tackles Town Hall Pravdas, referendum dodgers and rioters
9.30am Henry Hill's Red, White and Blue Column: Can UKIP become a truly national party?
Also on Tory Diary: Our Afghan interpreters should be offered refuge in Britain
Majority Conservatism: Five ideas for Cameron: 3) Promote Whips
Garvan Walshe writes this week's Foreign Affairs Column: Foreign Policy for growth – Britain should fight for a transatlantic free market
Greg Clark MP's weekly Letter from a Treasury Minister: We in central government have so much to learn from local authorities
Christina Dykes on Comment: Let's treat councillors as proper politicians
John Penrose MP on Comment: How to fight back against the gas bill and water rates rip-off
Also on Comment: Marina Kim – Dangers of freedom
The Deep End: Texas shows that fiscal conservatism is a (lone star) state of mind
Queen's Speech Day – and it's Cameron's crackdown on immigrants (but what will the courts say?)…
"Sweeping new powers will stop new arrivals getting benefits, free health care and council houses. And landlords letting to illegals or bosses employing them face fines of thousands of pounds for the first time. The assault on immigration was promised by the PM two months ago — as a solution to stem the long-feared tidal wave of up 50,000 new Romanian and Bulgarians arriving here next year when EU restrictions are lifted." – The Sun
> Yesterday: Tory Diary – Tomorrow will see the Queen's Speech. So here again is the Alternative Queen's Speech
…And there will be Pro-women bills to cap social care costs and bring in a flat rate pension
"The Queen’s Speech, which maps out legislation for the next year, will also include bills on: Capping social care costs so pensioners do not have to sell their homes; A flat-rate pension that will help women who have had long career breaks; Scrapping the Asbo and tougher crime prevention measures against anti-social behaviour; Slashing the cost of national insurance for small businesses, taking one third of all employers out of paying the levy; Tighter rules on unfair contract terms covering goods, services and digital content; Privatising the probation service" – Daily Mail
Lawson: The Day After 1) Jacob Rees-Mogg uses Queen's Speech Day to suggest a Conservative-UKIP pact, and UKIP jobs in a Tory-led Ministry
"Is
it, therefore, now time to make a “big open and comprehensive offer” to
Ukip?…The proposal ought to be at least as generous to Ukip in terms of
people and places as the current arrangement is to the Lib Dems. Most
Conservatives would rather see Nigel Farage as deputy Prime Minister
than Nick Clegg. It would be interesting to see how well a Ukip minister
managed to deal with the immigration issue when faced with the
realities of high office." – Daily Telegraph
> Today: MPsETC – Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes the first Tory MP to back a Conservative-UKIP pact
Lawson: The Day After 2) Peer says Clegg talks "poppycock"
"He later accused Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg of talking “poppycock” for suggesting that quitting the EU could cost up to three million UK jobs. Lord Lawson’s intervention – adding to the snowballing support for the Daily Express’s crusade for Britain to leave the EU – emboldened fellow Tories to speak out….Former minister Sir Gerald Howarth called for an immediate referendum on Britain’s EU membership, saying: “We need to do something now.” – Daily Express
> Today: ToryDiary – The Prime Minister's view of his EU critics is "Never Smile At A Crocodile". They mustn't prove him right.
Lawson: The Day After 3) Oh, Yes it Will. Redwood says renegotiation will work
“I think the party leadership does have to
listen to this very heartfelt plea from a large number of
serious-minded Conservatives…If they cannot negotiate a good deal it
would be better to leave, but I am an optimist I think we can negotiate a
good deal. I want that lock on the door so the British people can say
ultimately whether the deal is good or not.” – The Times (£)
Lawson: The Day After 4) Oh, No it Won't. Jenkin says renegotiation won't work
"Bernard Jenkin told Radio 4's The World at One: "The treaties are now so highly developed – since we signed up to the Maastricht treaty 20 years ago we have had the Nice treaty, the Amsterdam treaty and the Lisbon treaty. "The idea that the prime minister is going to be able to reverse much of that is moonshine. So what he is effectively going to be asking MPs to do, when he brings back a new deal, is to sign up to Nice, Amsterdam and Lisbon minus some concessions which we know naught at this stage." – The Guardian
Lawson: The Day After 5) Cameron stalls on Baron referendum bill plan
"Mr Baron said he was worried about Mr Cameron’s changing message on the referendum. He said: “I fear indecision is now stalking No 10. He needs to support our calls for legislation in this Parliament for a referendum in the next. This would show Conservatives are serious in their commitment.” Some MPs still believe that Mr Cameron would support a backbench bill on a referendum if one were introduced. Such private legislation could fail in the Commons, but backers believe it would still send a message to voters about Conservative intent." – Daily Telegraph
Lawson: The Day After 6) UKIP membership is now at 26,000. Tory membership could be as low as 130,000
"Ukip membership rose from 17,220 to 26,097 from April 2012 to April 2013 – with a further 550 members joining in the past week alone amid the blanket media coverage of its strong local election performance. “Our officials are inputting their details just as fast as their fingers can move,” said a spokesman. The party has won over large numbers of former Tory activists with its rightwing, socially traditional message and hostility towards David Cameron’s modernisation agenda." – Financial Times
Lawson: The Day After 7) Open Europe pushing Government to force open E.U services market
"William Hague, foreign secretary, has told officials to examine whether Britain and other free-trading EU members could forge ahead with reforms to the market in services regardless of opposition from “protectionist” countries. The idea would be potentially explosive and could split countries like Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland – which signed a “pro-growth” letter in 2012 – and those resisting further liberalisation of the trade in services." – Financial Times (£)
Daniel Finkelstein: The Conservatives can't win by pandering to UKIP
"The mainstream Right sees its job primarily as trying to put pressure on David Cameron to meet UKIP’s demands. They might consider that they have another serious task. It is to explain to Tory core voters and defectors, and to the rest of the Right, that they cannot govern by themselves, pleasing only themselves. There aren’t enough of such people. They have to compromise. They need the support of others to have a majority and a future." – The Times (£)
Liam Fox says: Who cares what Polly Toynbee thinks? What matters is what British workers think
"He said: “It doesn’t matter to hard-working families what is being said round Polly Toynbee’s dinner table (though, no doubt, they would never have heard of her) but it should matter to us what is being said in the Dog and Duck in Daventry, Darlington or Dover. “We need to concentrate our conversation on those whose values we need to succeed for the future well-being of our country. We cannot do that if we spend all our time talking about ourselves.” – Daily Telegraph
Nadhim Zahawi wants mass RBS share sell-off
"Nadhim Zahawi is urging George
Osborne to trigger a mass giveaway that would act as a multibillion
stimulus to the economy. It would also help to reverse the fall in share
ownership which has declined from 28 per cent in the heyday of the
Thatcher sell-offs to 10.2 per cent. “Something that introduces an
entire new generation to share ownership can only be good thing,” said
Mr Zahawi, MP for Stratford-upon-Avon." – The Times (£)
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