“Theresa May is in a stand-off with Downing Street over stop-and-search powers used by police. … The Home Secretary wanted to announce sweeping curbs of the controversial tactic before Christmas but has been blocked by No 10, senior officials have told The Times. … The clash threatens to become a battle between David Cameron and Mrs May, tipped as a potential Conservative Party leader.” – The Times (£)
“Crime figures are likely to increase sharply following revelations about police ‘fiddling’ the data, MPs were warned yesterday. … The UK’s statistics watchdog revealed there has been no proper audit of the figures recorded by the police for an astonishing five years. … The experts predict that, when the figures are thoroughly checked, it will lead to crime once again beginning to rise.” – Daily Mail
“The British Bankers’ Association has sent a submission to a Treasury review that counters fears over the split of powers between London and Brussels, saying the current balance was ‘broadly appropriate’. It added there was an ‘overwhelming’ case for more resources to be devoted to relations with Europe and warned that the UK was significantly underpresented in Brussels. … In a sign of the concern in the City over the outcome of David Cameron’s pledged referendum on EU membership, Citigroup has separately made an explicit warning to the Treasury about the costs for the UK economy if Britain were to leave Europe.” – Financial Times
“David Cameron’s plan to give the public a vote on membership of the European Union could be defeated within weeks after Labour peers tabled dozens of outlandish amendments that could halt its progress in Parliament. … More than 50 amendments were tabled for the committee stage of the EU Referendum Bill, including holding a petition of a million voters, posing the questions in Cornish and giving prisoners the vote, the Telegraph has learnt.” – Daily Telegraph
“David Cameron ignited a row at the height of the recent UK floods by proclaiming that he ‘very much’ suspected the devastation had been caused by climate change. … The 19 scientists, from prestigious universities and institutes in Britain, the US, Japan, Australia and across Europe, said that while greenhouse gas emissions are ‘strongly linked’ to flooding, there is insufficient evidence to accurately describe the connection. … They said that until there is firm evidence about the role of climate change, it is better to concentrate on what we do know – that the way we are changing our physical landscape is making flooding worse.” – Daily Mail
“David Cameron is likely to rebuff a request for a meeting from the President of Iran when the two come together in Davos later this week. … The President is one of the key speakers in Davos and will appear tomorrow, hours after an address by Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel. … Government sources indicated that a meeting between the Prime Minister and Mr Rowhani was unlikely.” – The Times (£)
“Britain’s most senior Muslim politician, Sayeeda Warsi, has warned that the persecution of Christians has become ‘a global crisis’. … Minister for Faith Baroness Warsi described ‘a rising tide’ in attacks on Christians in the war-torn regions of Egypt, Iraq and Syria where they often become ‘scapegoats’ for events taking place thousands of miles away.” – Daily Mail
“A secret Ministry of Defence (MoD) report on a Taliban attack at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in which 18 soldiers were killed or wounded admits that funding to protect the base was ‘not always forthcoming despite warnings’. The revelation is in stark contrast to denials by defence officials that security recommendations were rejected on cost grounds.” – The Independent
“Esther McVey said jobseekers need reminding that they have to start at the bottom and work their way up, rather than expecting to walk into their dream job. … In an interview with the Mail, she admitted that young Britons are less prepared for the world of work than foreign migrants and need to learn the basics, such as turning up on time. … But she insisted that those who want to work hard can succeed if they are prepared to learn the ropes and ‘be realistic’ about their abilities.” – Daily Mail
“In a damming assessment of her party’s negative pitch to the electorate, Nicky Morgan said the Conservatives had to do more than attack people ‘we don’t like’ including immigrants and people on benefits. … Miss Morgan, the Economic Secretary in George Osborne’s team, warned that if the Tories are to win in 2015 they must set out a ‘positive long term plan’.” – Daily Mail
> Today: ToryDiary – Nicky Morgan has a point
“Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary, became embroiled in a party political row after Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs were initially excluded from a meeting to discuss Margaret Thatcher’s 1984 decision to send an SAS officer to India to advise on the expulsion of militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. … The row broke out when [Paul] Uppal announced on the Sikh Television Channel in a round-table discussion with Labour MPs Pat McFadden and Tom Watson over the weekend that he was due to meet the cabinet secretary.” – The Guardian
“Former chancellor Lord Lawson has increased pressure on the government to deliver cheaper pensions by calling for fund managers to disclose a wide variety of opaque charges. … The Tory peer’s broadside against the industry comes as Steve Webb, the pensions minister, is poised to admit that plans for a cap on pension charges will be delayed, a blow to thousands of savers.” – Financial Times
And comment:
“The news that the Conservative MP Jessica Lee will step down next year after just one term in Parliament has prompted soul-searching in the party. … Paul Goodman, the former MP who is now editor of ConservativeHome, said that the financial pressures on those who leave high-salary jobs to become an MP were also a problem.” – The Times (£)
> Yesterday:
“The advice I would provide the Tories, and actually the Lib Dems too, is this — you need a divorce agreement. A proper divorce agreement. I don’t mean for a second that the coalition should break up. It won’t end until the election and nor should it. … What I mean is that staying together all the way until the election causes problems of its own. And these problems can be sorted only with a formal agreement on the terms of parting. An agreement as carefully considered as the original marriage contract in 2010.” – Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (£)
“Nick Clegg was last night warned by allies of Lord Rennard he faces a legal ‘bloodbath’ that will rip his party apart. … The peer has instructed a senior QC and plans to seek an injunction unless Mr Clegg halts an inquiry into the charge that he has brought the Lib Dems into disrepute by refusing to apologise over sex pest claims. … Lord Steel last night raised the stakes by saying the threat of expulsion should be withdrawn from Lord Rennard.” – Daily Mail
And comment:
“Nick Clegg’s flagship childcare policy to double the number of free nursery places for two-year-olds will lower standards and should be delayed, a leading education charity is warning. … the Sutton Trust said many of the extra 20,000 staff needed will be drawn from the army of childminders who are generally less qualified than nursery workers.” – Daily Mail
“Danny Alexander, the most senior Liberal Democrat in the government after Nick Clegg, said there was ‘no prospect’ of the 45p rate being cut in this Parliament. …He gave a strong indication that the Lib Dems would never agree to reduce the rate, even in the event of another coalition government with the Conservatives.” – Daily Mail
“Ministers and senior officials had hoped insurers would rapidly embrace the opportunity to devise policies to cover people for costs up to the level of the cap, which takes effect in April 2016. … But on Tuesday, in a joint ‘statement of intent’, Norman Lamb, care and support minister, and the Association of British Insurers acknowledged that the market for long-term care products was ‘currently limited’.” – Financial Times
And comment:
“Vicky Pryce, who was jailed for falsely accepting the speeding points of her former husband Chris Huhne, has quietly returned to an official role advising the Government. … Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has approved the decision to appoint Dr Pryce to a panel of economists, it was confirmed last night.” – The Times (£)
“With a little more than a fortnight before the plans must be published, party sources say that most union leaders have agreed to scrap the electoral college, which gives MPs, union members and local parties a third of the vote each. In return Mr Miliband is set to agree that the scrapping of automatic affiliation, so that union members must choose if they want to support Labour, will be introduced gradually. Other rule changes will also be delayed, meaning, for example, that union bosses will keep block votes at the party conference.” – The Times (£)
“Ed Balls came under fire yesterday for dismissing new figures showing the UK economy is the fastest growing in Europe and for branding the recovery the ‘slowest for 100 years’. … Last night critics branded the Shadow Chancellor’s reaction ‘disgraceful’ and accused him of ‘talking down the economy’.” – Daily Mail
> Yesterday:
“Thousands of patients suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses are being denied the drugs they need from the NHS, according to a report. … Even though the treatments have been approved by the health service rationing body, at least 14,000 patients a year are not receiving them. … As many as one in three of those suffering from some types of cancer are going without medication that could extend their lives, the figures show.” – Daily Telegraph
“Scots are being frozen out the biggest decision the country will face in 300 years because they are not interested in the issues dominating the referendum campaign, according to new research. … Voters want to know what the economic impact of leaving the UK would be, the latest Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found. However, the debate among the rival Yes and No camps over issues such as EU membership, the pound and welfare has ‘little or no impact’ on how they will vote.” – The Scotsman
“A major conference aimed at finding a political solution to the three-year conflict in Syria that has left 130,000 dead is due to start in Switzerland. … The Syrian government and the main opposition are attending the Geneva II summit along with international allies. … The key issue, on which neither side appears willing to budge, is the future of President Bashar al-Assad.” – BBC
And comment:
> Yesterday: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP on Comment – Our visit to victims of the humanitarian disaster in Syria
“Let’s face it, we all live on Benefits Street. The Channel 4 series may be raising hackles to left and right, but I doubt if there is a person reading this column who is not “on the take” in some sense. We may work a bit, mostly obey the law and not look a total mess, but then we are not really poor. We can still be ‘on benefit’, and some of us are rich because of it.” – Simon Jenkins, The Guardian