“Millions of married couples are to receive a tax break to recognise their ‘commitment and responsibility’, David Cameron reveals today. In an article for the Daily Mail, the Prime Minister says a £1,000 transferable tax allowance will be introduced in 2015.” – Daily Mail
“In an interview with The Times, the Chancellor dismissed as a gimmick Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy prices, but he signalled that he could ease green measures if prices continued to rise. “I think we have to keep a very, very close eye on the affordability of energy prices going forward,” he said. “You have to constantly assess the value for money of your energy policies and obligations,” he said when asked if he would halt green tariffs.” – The Times (£)
>Today: Charles Hendry MP: How Miliband’s energy plan will harm not help consumers
“A £200m-a-year fund for life-enhancing cancer drugs is to continue until 2016, the prime minister has announced. The Cancer Drugs Fund was set up in 2011 to help patients in England access certain drugs before they get approval for widespread NHS use.” – BBC
“We are on the right track. We are seeing more jobs, more new businesses, we’re beginning to see things moving again,” Mr Cameron told the BBC. He said there would be a “clear choice” at the next election between his party’s record on the economy and Labour’s programme. “Do you want to stick with us, on the right track – delivering an economy for hardworking people? Or do you want to put all of that at risk with Ed Miliband and his crazy plans to tax business out of existence? That’ll be the choice.” – BBC
“Theresa May, home secretary, has bowed to pressure from retailers and businesses who want to lure high-spending Chinese tourists to Britain by seeking to bring in a joint visa application for the UK and other European countries.” – Financial Times
“Education minister Elizabeth Truss, welfare minister Esther McVey and junior whip Nicky Morgan are all tipped for promotion to bigger jobs. The Prime Minister is under pressure from some senior Tories to ease out some veteran Tories to ease out some veteran ministers, including Chief Whip Sir George Young and Commons Leader Andrew Lansley, to free up room at the top…Mr Cameron is also under pressure to find jobs for talented backbenchers from the 2010 intake, such as Nadhim Zahawi and Gavin Barwell.” – Daily Mail
“David Cameron has held talks with Nick Clegg about forming a second coalition after 2015, amid growing concern in Downing Street that the Conservatives will not win the next election.” – Daily Telegraph
“The Tory Party was rocked last night after one of its most senior figures was arrested over an alleged rape of a teenage girl. Alan Lewis, 75 — a party vice-chairman appointed by PM David Cameron — was held by specialist officers after a woman claimed he sexually assaulted her while she was a teenager.” – The Sun (£)
“Senior No 10 figures have warned that Labour attracts most non-white votes and could prevent the Tories from returning to power. In the 2010 election only 16 per cent of voters from ethnic minority backgrounds chose the Conservatives, compared with 68 per cent who supported Labour. Mr Crosby, the Australian strategist who helped Boris Johnson to become Mayor of London, has made it clear to MPs that he believes electoral success hinges on universally targeted, simple messages on the economy, welfare and the character of Ed Miliband, which are repeated over and over.” – The Times (£)
“Young people overwhelmingly support the Government’s cap on benefits, according to a poll for The Times that reveals a “harder edge” compared with earlier generations….Oliver Cooper, the 26-year-old chairman of the Tory youth group Conservative Future, said that a new generation of teenagers and twenty-somethings was agreeing with his party’s economic policies. As evidence, he pointed to a boom in university Conservative associations, which will have a presence on 75 campuses this year compared with 45 last year.” – The Times(£)
>Today: We will stop paying people to be idle: An interview with Iain Duncan Smith
>Yesterday: Matthew Sinclair: Why IDS is right to make welfare claimants work for dole
“If “we’re all in it together” when times are bad, then ordinary voters expect their fair share when times are good. Certainly, they’ve earned it. According to the Office for National Statistics, real wages fell by about 9 per cent over the five years from April 2008. Having done their bit for British competitiveness, the last thing working people want are proposals to further weaken their position in the labour market.” – Peter Franklin The Times(£)
“Mr Miliband was only a boy in the 1970s. He cannot know from personal memory what millions of his countrymen do. Anyone aged over 55 remembers the statutory prices policy, and most of us remember its failure, and the reasons for its failure.” – Matthew Parris The Times(£)
“Mr McBride claimed Tony Blair sometimes confronted Mr Brown about damaging leaks after being told by the security services that Mr McBride was responsible for them. He said Mr Brown was “convinced” the services were monitoring whom Mr McBride was speaking to on the telephone.” – The Independent
“As for the country that gave him and his family protection, the 17-year-old wrote in his diary: ‘The Englishman is a rabid nationalist. They are perhaps the most nationalist people in the world. . . you sometimes want them almost to lose (the war) to show them how things are. They have the greatest contempt for the Continent . .. To lose their empire would be the worst possible humiliation.’ ” Geoffrey Levy Daily Mail