Calais Crisis 1) Jail for landlords who fail to check tenants’ immigration status
‘Rogue landlords who fail to check whether they are renting flats to illegal immigrants could face five years in jail. The ministerial announcement is designed to make it harder for anyone without the right to live in this country to rent a home. It comes a day after ministers pledged a consultation on stripping financial support from the families of migrants who fail in their applications for asylum.’ – Daily Mail
- And illegal immigrants face eviction without a court order – The Independent
- Labour caused this mess – Daily Mail Leader
- Cameron is all talk – Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun (£)
- Families will lose benefits if their asylum claims are rejected – FT
- It’s absurd to ban asylum seekers from working – Ross Clark, The Times (£)
- Public sector workers must speak English, says Hancock – Daily Mail
Calais Crisis 2) Crackdown could push the problem to other Channel ports
‘Migrants could move to other Channel ports in an attempt to get to Britain as security at Calais increases, Eurotunnel warned yesterday. The channel tunnel operator said it feared that the migrants would adopt new tactics as tougher security thwarted their efforts to jump aboard lorries and trains heading to the UK. Ministers announced further plans to tighten security at the terminal at Coquelles as they struggled to respond to the Calais migrant crisis.’ – The Times (£)
- Deputy Mayor of Calais threatens to open the border – Daily Mail
- 900 a month make it across the Channel – Daily Mail
- Kent County Council spends hundreds on taxi journey to their new homes – Daily Telegraph
- Passengers arrive unchecked at Heathrow – The Times (£)
Calais Crisis 3) d’Ancona: A boost to the Out campaign
‘The “outs” now have a showreel: news footage of young men running towards lorries and the Eurotunnel, trying to make it to England at any price. The proposition that Brexit would stop them in their tracks shows a heartbreaking lack of understanding of human nature, of hope or of desperation. But in a world of competing images this one, you can be sure, will be abused again and again to make the case against continued EU membership. Like Mary Tudor, Cameron may yet find Calais engraved on his heart.’ – Matthew d’Ancona, The Guardian
The Chancellor plans the biggest sell-off ever seen…
‘George Osborne aims to eclipse the Thatcherite privatisation boom as the chancellor oversees the biggest sale of publicly owned corporate and financial assets in a single year. The chancellor hopes to sell £32bn worth of assets this financial year, smashing a record set in 1991 when the Conservative government raised £11.8bn, £20.5bn in today’s money, through the sale of BT, National Power and regional electricity companies.’ – FT
- The Shareholder Executive is moved into the Treasury in preparation – FT
- The City loses its global investment bank – FT
>Today: Lord Flight’s column: The stealth taxes in Osborne’s latest Budget would have made Gordon Brown proud
…and crowdsources his spending review
‘Millions of public sector workers will be asked for their ideas on how the government can make billions of pounds of Whitehall cuts. Teachers, nurses and civil servants, as well as diplomats and members of the armed forces will also receive a letter from George Osborne inviting them to contribute to his spending review. Ideas will be examined by ministers to find the most effective ways of saving money.’ – The Times (£)
- Austerity has driven public sector innovation – Daily Telegraph
- HMRC struggles to enforce child benefit rules – The Times (£)
- Pensioners face tax returns for the first time – Daily Telegraph
Clinton aide’s brutal review of Cameron and Boris
‘David Cameron is “unsure, inexperienced, oblique and largely uncommitted” on foreign policy. Boris Johnson is the “Tory clown prince”. The relationship between the US and the UK is said to be shattered. Such is America’s view of Britain as told by messages released from the private email system used by Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state.’ – The Times (£)
Dominic Lawson: Save our older Peers
‘Why are younger peers ‘more relevant’? More relevant to what? And what makes this ‘senior peer’ think his/her elders are less ‘effective’? It is true that some of the oldest peers might be losing their marbles, with good medical reasons for retirement. But old age alone is no reason for disqualification as a legislator. Indeed, it may very well be an advantage. As Cicero, perhaps the greatest Ancient Roman orator and politician, observed: ‘There is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom; and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.’’ – Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail
- Those over 75 may lose their attendance allowance – The Sun (£)
- Why was Sewel in the Lords in the first place? – Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph
- Let’s have an elected second chamber in Glasgow – Kezia Dugdale, The Guardian
Lilley: I’m still a ‘bastard’
‘Mr Lilley is also clear that Britain needs to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights, saying: “To give judges the unfettered right to make these intrusive and political decision, both about the balance between rights and how trivial the issues to which they extend rights, is to lead to the politicisation of the judiciary.” If he hasn’t softened over Europe, Mr Lilley is also unafraid to hold views on a number of other subjects not necessarily in vogue in the Conservative Party. These include climate change – he remains unconvinced about the damage it causes – cannabis, which he would like to legalise, and immigration; he is unapologetic about saying Britain is “full up”.’ – Daily Telegraph
The Times calls for Labour MPs to make a stand against Corbyn
‘Registered voters in the leadership election, some of them with no observable loyalty to the party or history of involvement with it, should not vote for Mr Corbyn. Labour MPs should declare they will not serve in a Corbyn shadow cabinet or co-operate with party whips. The future of the Labour party is too important to be a matter for Labour alone in its descent into frivolity.’ – The Times Leader (£)
- He is the right man for the job – Melanie Phillips, The Times (£)
- Shadow Chancellor warns Corbyn would hurt the poor – The Independent
- ‘Rock star’ reception for the radical’s speaking tour – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: WATCH: Self vs McTernan on Corbynmania
Kinnock warns of entryism by ‘malign’ Trots
‘Neil Kinnock yesterday warned that ‘malign’ Trotskyites are helping Jeremy Corbyn to victory in the Labour leadership contest. The former party leader – who fought to expel hard-Left factions in the 1980s – urged members to back Andy Burnham instead. He warned of ‘entryism’, claiming mischief-makers could swing the result.’ – Daily Mail
- Tom Harris fights back for the Blairites – The Sun (£)
- Striking union boss pictured tucking into caviar – Daily Mail
>Today: Alan Hayman on Comment: Time for a new SDP?
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Might the Labour right abandon ‘New Old Labour’?
Scottish councils fear SNP’s new tax may cause an exodus
‘The SNP’s plan for a local income tax risks backfiring on the public purse by causing high-earning Scots and businesses to flee to England, local authorities have warned ministers. Fife Council said the levy would have to be set at between 5.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent of taxable income to replace the £2 billion currently raised by council tax every year, a level it said may be “unpalatable”. It warned this would lead to a “real danger of fiscal flight”.’ – Daily Telegraph
- More scrutiny, fewer stunts, please – FT Leader
- Nationalists hit out at peerage for Mone – The Scotsman
- Sturgeon hints again at second referendum – The Belfast Newsletter
>Today: Local Government: Councils are failing to use their powers to cut business rates
Young renters far less bothered about the greenbelt
‘People renting their home are much less concerned about protecting the green belt than owner-occupiers, a survey has found. Young people are significantly less likely than those over 55 to believe that England’s 14 green belts should not be built on, according to the survey commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.’ – The Times (£)
- But Andrew Motion wants to defend it – Daily Telegraph
- Farmland prices are soaring – Daily Telegraph
Chinese teachers give British schools (and kids) a low grade
‘Teachers who stand in front of a class giving instruction for up to 12 hours a day have been credited with putting Chinese schools at the top of international ratings in maths, sciences and literacy, in which the record of UK schools is mediocre. One of the teachers, Wei Zhao, believed British pupils lacked motivation. She said: ‘Even if they don’t work, they can get money, they don’t worry about it. But in China they can’t get these things so they know, “I need to study hard, I need to work hard to get money to support my family”.’ – Daily Mail
- How worrying – Daily Mail Leader
- NUT spreading ‘pro-Palestinian propaganda’ in schools – Daily Telegraph
- DfE looks at exam board reform – Daily Telegraph
Concerns that new end of life care rules could cause more early deaths
‘New NHS guidelines on “end of life” care are worse than the Liverpool Care Pathway and could push more patients to an early grave, a leading doctor has warned. Prof Patrick Pullicino, one of the first medics to raise concerns over the pathway, said the national proposals would encourage hospital staff to guess who was dying, in the absence of any clear evidence, and to take steps which could hasten patients’ death.’ – Daily Telegraph
- Healthy retired nurse ends own life in Switzerland – Daily Telegraph
- British hospitals’ worryingly low score for botched operations – Daily Telegraph
News in Brief
- Judge strikes a blow for plain English – Daily Mail
- Man shoots armadillo, is hit in the face by ricochet – The Times (£)
- Athletic doping scandal intensifies – The Guardian
- Farewell, Cilla Black – Daily Mail
- At last, the secret cause of the marauding evil seagulls is revealed – WalesOnline
- Is there anybody out there? – Matt Ridley, The Times (£)
- Teenager stabbed at Jerusalem Gay Pride dies – Daily Telegraph