“Patient care could be put at risk if NHS managers are given further pay rises, because it will take money from front-line clinical staff, health officials have claimed. The warning comes as separate figures show that hospital chief executives have more than doubled their earnings in 13 years. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has indicated he will block any pay rises for senior officials at health quangos such as NHS England to set an example to the rest of the service.” – Daily Telegraph
“Angry MPs yesterday asked Home Secretary Theresa May to explain how Mohamed managed to vanish on Friday — despite being under a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure designed to keep him monitored at all times. Mohamed was seen on CCTV arriving at the An-Noor mosque in Acton, West London, at 10am…Around six hours later he left — disguised in full female Islamic dress…Mohamed was fitted with an electronic tag, which should have triggered an alarm if he removed it before fleeing.” – The Sun (£)
“A terrorist suspect went on the run in a burka hours after he was cleared of tampering with the security tag that controlled his movements, it emerged yesterday.” – The Times(£)
“Two police officers accused of giving misleading answers to Parliament during recent evidence relating to the “plebgate” saga are to face MPs again.” – BBC
“David Cameron said ministers had put too much emphasis on the benefits of HS2’s faster journey times and not enough on freeing up capacity on the network. In a question and answer session at the CBI conference this morning, Mr Cameron said: “One of the problems we have with HS2 is that the early argument a lot of it was about speed….But the real argument about HS2 isn’t speed it is capacity. The line is full.” – Daily Telegraph
“The Prime Minister told the CBI annual conference that the British people needed to be asked for their consent on European membership. “It is my judgment that our current consent of remaining inside the EU is wafer thin,” he said. “We have not made the argument about why Europe matters. “So much has changed and so little consent has been granted, that it’s time to make those arguments, seek that consent, and that’s what I will do.” – The Times(£)
“Water firms have been urged to “look closely” at what level of price rises need to be made and introduce special tariffs for struggling households. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has written to companies calling on them to recognise the strain on households.” – BBC
“MPs in marginal seats have been instructed to ask more “emotional” questions on doorsteps, such as “Do you think your children will be
better off than you?” — so that voters can be put into one of the eight categories. The information gleaned will be cross-checked with
the Mosaic database, which gives a detailed social and economic analysis of households by postcode. Once the data has been compiled to
give as full a picture as possible it will be used to create personalised campaign messages for each of the core groups.” – Rachel Sylvester The Times(£)
“A vote for independence in next year’s Scottish referendum would benefit the Conservatives because it would help them to secure a Commons majority, Sir John Major has said. Sir John — the last Conservative leader to win a general election outright, 21 years ago — said it was in Tory interests for Scotland to vote to break with the rest of the UK. He added that while independence might suit the Conservatives politically it would be a disaster for the United Kingdom.” – The Times(£)
> Yesterday: ToryDiary: Under one in five Conservative members back John Major’s energy windfall tax
“Mistakenly, the outcome is only the compromise “solution” of an internal good bank/bad bank split within RBS….It will delay the privatisation that would have been expedited by the full split. It will not give the boost to bank lending to SMEs that is so badly needed. While large corporations can borrow as much as they need from the capital markets at rock-bottom interest rates, sound SMEs, reliant on bank finance, are lucky if – when bank charges are taken fully into account – the effective rate of interest they have to pay is in single figures.” – Nigel Lawson Financial Times
“Senior Tories will warn George Osborne today that council services are at “breaking point” as they urge him to reverse £1 billion of cuts. Sir Merrick Cockell, Tory chairman of the Local Government Association, says councils’ central grants are being cut by 43 per cent by 2015-16, putting services at risk.” – The Times(£)
“The lack of finance for business is likely to be compounded by deeper supply-side weaknesses. Britain’s tax system became too burdensome and complex over 15 years as Gordon Brown devised ever more ingenious ways of extracting money from businesses and individuals.” – The Times(£)
> Today: Lord Flight on Comment: We need a recovery based on savings, investments and exports – not consumption
“Parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) should always be chaired by a member of the opposition to ensure its independence
and be freely elected by MPs, the Conservative MP Rory Stewart said on Monday night at a debate aimed at fostering public discussion about mass surveillance.” – The Guardian
“Ed Miliband is to pledge to restore the “broken link” between living standards and growth, saying only Labour can deliver an economic
recovery for all.” – BBC
“Ed Miliband’s plan to encourage businesses to pay a ‘living wage’ would put 300,000 young people out of work, a former aide to Tony
Blair warned yesterday. The Labour leader will today announce that he would offer tax breaks to firms who pay their employees £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 in the rest of the UK – far higher than the minimum wage, which is £6.31 an hour.” – Daily Mail
“The Labour party must could reopen its inquiry into vote-rigging scandal which exposed union dominance, Alistair Darling said. The former Chancellor who is leading the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK called for a ‘very thorough investigation’. And he stepped up pressure on Labour leader Ed Miliband, insisting the details of the inquiry had to be published to ensure justice is ‘seen to be done’.” – Daily Mail
“The leader of Scottish Labour today increased the pressure on Ed Miliband to reopen the party’s inquiry into alleged union vote-rigging
in Falkirk, as the scandal took a new twist. Asked whether the inquiry should be reopened after one of the key witnesses broke their silence, Johann Lamont told the BBC: “We certainly should look at that.” – The Times(£)
“The Shadow Chancellor told the CBI annual conference that Labour would continue to support all businesses of all sizes and help them “to
promote open markets, competition and long-term wealth creation”.” – The Times(£)
“Immigrants to the UK since 2000 have a made a “substantial” contribution to public finances, a report says. The study by University College London said recent immigrants were less likely to claim benefits and live in social housing than people born in Britain.” – BBC
“Immigrants from outside Europe have taken £100billion more in benefits and services than they paid back in taxes, a major study revealed
yesterday. Over a 16-year period, the bill to the taxpayer of providing them with welfare, health and education was 14 per cent higher than the money they put in the national purse. However, migrants from Europe – including those from Eastern Europe who came in large numbers after 2004 – have paid more in taxes than they received, researchers said.” – Daily Mail
“Samantha, 42, chose a russet-coloured sari edged in gold for a visit to the Swaminarayan Mandir, the largest traditional Hindu temple outside India, at Neasden in north-west London. She even combined the outfit proudly with a poppy. Diwali, known as the festival of lights, is a five day celebration undertaken by millions of Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world.” – Daily Mail