“The government is planning to scrap the use of police cautions – where those who commit minor offences are given a formal warning – in England and Wales….Under the new system, offenders would make good damage they have done or pay compensation for less serious crimes. Those who commit more serious offences would face court if they fail to comply with conditions set out by police.”- BBC
>Today: ToryDiary: Grayling to end the “cautions culture”
“Labour’s rearguard triumphed in the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner by-election, while Ukip came a distant second place, it was revealed this afternoon. Alan Billings, a former deputy leader of Sheffield city council, won just over 50 per cent of the vote in the first round ballot, avoiding a second round count by 0.02 per cent. He had campaigned on a ticket of rebuilding trust between the police and community after the child sex abuse scandal in Rotherham.” – The Times(£)
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: What does the South Yorkshire PCC result mean for UKIP, Labour and the bookies?
“UKIP is on course to crush the Conservatives in the Rochester and Strood by-election, according to a new poll last night. The Survation poll for the Unite trade union gave Ukip candidate Mark Reckless a 15-point lead over his former party. The lead has widened by six points since an identical poll last month, and suggests that a huge Tory effort to hold the seat is failing to gain traction.” – Daily Mail
“The government’s child sex abuse inquiry was thrown into crisis after Fiona Woolf became the second senior legal figure to quit as chair over her links to the Westminster political establishment. Woolf’s departure is a major embarrassment for the government and raises questions about the judgment of the home secretary, Theresa May, just months after retired judge Lady Butler-Sloss stepped down over similar concerns. Woolf’s exit has left the inquiry without a chair and exposed concerns about the whole process overseen by the Home Office. Victims’ groups who pressed for Woolf to step down are now also calling for a much tougher judge-led inquiry.” – The Guardian
“Britain’s contributions to the EU have quadrupled to £11.3 billion in just five years, official figures revealed this morning. It means each family in the UK now sends £450 a year to Brussels on average – up £350 from the £100 bill in 2008 – according to the Office for National Statistics figures. The soaring bill comes before the latest demand for an extra £1.7billion, which David Cameron has refused to pay by the December 1 deadline.” – Daily Mail
“MORE than one million people who applied for sickness benefit in the last six years were found fit for work, official figures show. Work and Pensions Minister Mark Harper said the stats proved the Coalition was no longer “writing off” benefit claimants like Labour did. Disability campaigners have warned the work tests are unfair because many claimants ruled as fit still suffer physical and mental problems.” – The Sun(£)
“David Cameron welcomed the supermodel Claudia Schiffer to dinner at Chequers, according to newly-released Cabinet Office records. The German model accompanied her husband, the British film producer Matthew Vaughan, to the Prime Minister’s official residence as guests of the American Ambassador Matthew Barzun, along with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, a former head of MI5 and diplomatic and military figures.” – The Independent
“Labour would replace the House of Lords with an elected senate if the party won next May’s general election, party leader Ed Miliband is to say. He will tell a conference in Blackpool on Saturday the current system “fails to represent large parts of the UK”. Senators would be elected from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions instead of from constituencies like MPs. This will give the senate a “clearly defined different role”, Labour says.” – BBC
“You might think that when times and attitudes change, our MPs should be admired for noticing; but Nicky Morgan MP could be forgiven for despair at the reaction she got from some quarters when in an interview this week, then a speech, she made clear that her views on gay marriage had been altering. From the left she was heckled by a graceless Labour MP and from the right next morning sneered at by The Daily Mail as “U-turn Morgan”. A depressing reminder of the new barbarism surfacing in our politics.” – Matthew Parris The Times(£)
“The rule of law, yes, but what about the rule of lawyers? In a democracy, the first is good; the second is bad. Abraham Lincoln got it right in his first inauguration as US president: “If the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court … the people will have ceased … to be their own rulers.” It is even worse if the lawyers doing the ruling sit in Strasbourg. This has happened to Britain.” Charles Moore Daily Telegraph
“It’s a dilemma we all face – do you give money to a homeless person or not? For Ed Miliband, the awkwardness of that predicament was all too clear to see as he passed a beggar in Manchester yesterday. On his way to deliver a speech, the Labour leader first passed the woman in a green headscarf. Realising photographers were present, he doubled back. But in a toe-curling encounter, he failed even to make eye contact as he leant towards her… and appeared to drop just 2p into a cup.” – Daily Mail