“Energy bosses will face jail under plans to make the fixing of household fuel bills a crime. … Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, yesterday said specific criminal penalties would apply to ‘manipulation of the energy markets’. … He also pledged to reduce red tape to enable households to switch between energy firms within 24 hours. Currently it can take five weeks.” – Daily Mail
“Voters in the ‘squeezed middle’ are flocking to the Labour party after Ed Miliband pledged to freeze fuel bills for 20 months if he wins the next general election, according to a new poll that shows a dramatic fall in support for the Liberal Democrats.” – The Guardian
“The planned High Speed 2 rail line from London to the north advanced on Thursday when MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour and Labour urged the government to ‘get it back on track’. … Only 34 MPs voted against legislation for hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of interim funding, with 350 in favour, including Labour MPs.” – Financial Times
And comment:
> Yesterday:
ToryDiary: The problem with HS2
Tory MPs: Small rebellions on HS2 – but where was Balls?
“Earlier this year, Chancellor George Osborne commissioned two City firms, Black Rock and Rothschild, to evaluate the case for splitting RBS in two. … The decision to keep the bad assets within the bank, but ring-fenced and managed separately, does not go that far. … It also goes against the advice of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which suggested that toxic loans should be removed from RBS and kept in the public sector for the foreseeable future.” – BBC
“Wealthy foreigners who buy and sell British property could face a new tax under plans being considered by George Osborne. … The Chancellor is looking at putting capital gains tax on the UK homes of foreign owners in his Autumn Statement next month.” – Daily Mail
“The Prime Minister and his deputy, Nick Clegg, are expected to announce that the Government at Westminster will devolve more power to the assembly at Cardiff Bay. … The Prime Minister last night indicated that Welsh borrowing powers could be used to upgrade the M4 running through South Wales. He also hinted at the possible devolution of income tax powers – although that would require a new referendum.” – Daily Telegraph
“Rebekah Brooks had a secret six-year affair with Andy Coulson before he became David Cameron’s spin doctor, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday. … The pair, both of whom were married, are said to have had a romance at the height of a phone hacking conspiracy in which the News of the World is alleged to have targeted celebrities, politicians and royals.” – Daily Mail
“Ministers attempting to put the troubled universal credit welfare reform programme back on track have been presented with a radical plan to restart the scheme and write off £119m of work over the past three years. … The proposals would create a much more web-based system, reducing the need for jobcentre staff, but putting the whole scheme back to ‘phase one’.” – The Guardian
> Today on ToryDiary: The T-800 is coming for your job, not your scalp
> Yesterday, by Ed Holmes on Comment: How to stop the long-term unemployed from falling out of the labour market
“A shake-up of the grading system for GCSEs to make it easier for employers and schools to spot high performance is to be announced on Friday as a ‘once in a decade’ reform. … The system will use the numbers one to nine to denote the standard reached, rather than the current system of grades from A* down.” – Financial Times
> Yesterday on LeftWatch: Paxman and Gove go on a Tristram hunt
“Illegal immigrants use £3.7billion worth of taxpayer-funded health and education services every year, figures out yesterday suggest. … Each one taking advantage of Britain’s free NHS and schools costs the Treasury £4,250 per year, a Home Office report reveals. … Only 11 illegals contacted the Home Office as a result of seeing the vans and have been removed.” – Daily Mail
> Today, by Ryan Bourne on Comment: Have immigrants “taken our jobs”?
“Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said “human rights laws need to change” after Scotland Yard released figures showing that just one in 100 foreigners arrested in London are removed from this country. … It comes amid growing police concern about the number of ‘foreign national offenders’. More than a quarter of people arrested in London, equivalent to 70,000 people, are from overseas, with about half of them from outside the European Union.” – Daily Telegraph
“Former military intelligence officer Ben Wallace – now a Tory MP – said security and intelligence agencies were covered by strict laws in place to protect citizens against unwarranted intrusion. … By contrast, lax protections against private snooping allowed mass collection of internet activities by private firms.” – Daily Mail
“As the publishing industry roundly condemned a new Royal Charter yesterday, John Whittingdale, chairman of the Culture Select Committee, asked the Government to consider ‘alternative safeguards’ to allay concerns that it will lead to political interference in press freedom.” – The Times (£)
“Nearly three in every five Asbos handed out to yobs have been breached at least once, official figures revealed yesterday. … Crime Prevention Minister Norman Baker said: ‘This is further proof of why we need to replace this broken system.'” – The Sun (£)
“Lord Steel has launched a despairing attack on the prevalence of spin doctors in politics, noting that he is given ‘daily outpourings of tweets to circulate’ and bombarded by email with “‘lines to take’ on current issues. … The senior Liberal Democrat said a daily ‘laundry list’ sent out by the party headquarters contributes to the ‘diminution of individual expression or even thought in politics’.” – The Guardian
“The head of the CBI said last night that the prospect of a return to 1970s-style socialism under Ed Miliband ‘raised the hairs on the back of my neck’. … John Cridland attacked the Labour leader’s policies, including an energy price freeze and higher corporation tax.” – Daily Mail
CBI director-general says corporate world must rebuild reputation – The Guardian
“A firm set up by one of Labour’s biggest donors has been helping union thugs who are running a campaign of intimidation. … The People’s Operator, a mobile phone company founded by multi-millionaire Andrew Rosenfeld – a close friend of Ed Miliband – gives free mobile calls and text messages to Unite members.” – Daily Mail
> Yesterday on LeftWatch: Unite thugs intimidate the families of Grangemouth managers – when will this rotten outfit be stopped?
“The portrayal of black Britons on screen suggests they can only be successful in sport, music or entertainment – and not in business or the law, a senior Labour frontbencher claimed yesterday. … Chuka Umunna, the party’s business spokesman condemned the ‘lazy stereotypes’ that mean too many strong black role models are ‘ignored’.” – Daily Mail
“And it was notable that Cameron, in particular, has replicated Blair’s mechanisms for delivery. Despite criticising Labour’s ‘top-down targets’ in health and education, Coalition ministers have mostly kept them, renamed as ‘benchmarks’ or other euphemisms.” – John Rentoul, The Independent
“Business leaders believe the costs of being in the EU outweigh the benefits. … A poll of more than 1,000 bosses, from companies of all sizes and sectors, found overwhelming backing for plans for an in-out referendum on Britain’s place in Europe, with 66 per cent in favour.” – Daily Mail
> Yesterday’s video to WATCH: Peter Bone MP says the EU is flushing money down the lavatory
“But now Whitehall is interfering with our jam — or, at least, the commercially made stuff. Government officials propose to change the minimum amount of sugar (from 60 to 50 per cent) needed in mass-made jams. … If that happens, there is a perfectly straightforward solution. Buy homemade jam! Even better, make it yourself.” – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail