“David Cameron announced on Monday night £2 billion of extra military spending aimed at tackling Isis, with investment in special forces, drones and fighter aircraft able to carry out ground attacks. Mr Cameron also announced a big shift in the aid budget, with half of Britain’s £12 billion overseas aid going to failed states and other fragile countries that have the potential to become breeding grounds for terrorism. The prime minister was giving his annual foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor’s banquet” – Financial Times
>Today:
>Yesterday:
“Only three extremists are subject to anti-terrorism curfews and control measures in Britain, even though almost 400 people have returned from fighting violent jihad in Syria… Theresa May, the home secretary, told parliament that in the wake of the Paris attacks a full review of the security response to a gun attack was under way” – The Times (£)
>Yesterday:
“In a speech at GCHQ today Mr Osborne will warn that, if IS were able to attack satellites or the IT systems of air traffic control or hospitals, ‘the impact could be measured not just in terms of economic damage but of lives lost… They do not yet have that capability. But we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it” – Daily Mail
“Jeremy Corbyn said the west had ‘created a situation’ that had contributed to the terrorist attacks on Paris and questioned the legality of last week’s strike on ‘Jihadi John’, drawing criticism from David Cameron and opposition MPs for his pacifist response to Islamist militancy… On Monday night, Mr Corbyn was heckled by some of his own MPs at a stormy meeting in Westminster where many colleagues were left frustrated by his vague answers” – Financial Times
“Labour is engaged in emoji politics despite the deadly serious times we live in. The choices facing the country — military, economic, cultural — could not be starker and yet the opposition seems more interested in party identity than in winning power… Labour believes that feeling good about itself is more important than changing things” – Rachel Sylvester, The Times (£)
“I have warned for many months now that the EU’s Common Asylum policy is a complete failure. By sending out the signal that anyone who wanted to come to the EU could come and stay, we have sent out a very dangerous message indeed. We now know of course that some of the Islamic terrorists in Paris came through via Greece, posing as asylum seekers” – Nigel Farage, Sun
“Up to 50 Tory rebels are expected to formally reject David Cameron’s EU renegotiation plans today and declare that Britain should leave the European Union… Steve Baker, the Tory MP for Wycombe, and MEP David Campbell Bannerman, who are co-chairmen of Conservatives for Britain, will put a formal proposal for Britain to leave the EU before members of the group at a meeting today” – Daily Mail
“Banks should be forcibly broken up if they try to game the UK’s new ‘ringfencing’ law requiring separation of their retail and investment banking units, the chairman of parliament’s Treasury select committee has said. Andrew Tyrie used a speech in the City of London on Monday night to push back against a recent lobbying drive by banks seeking to water down the extra regulation and taxes imposed on the sector since the financial crisis” – Financial Times
“Two hundred civil servants at the business department are taking voluntary redundancy even before the deep cuts to the ministry’s budget in next week’s Spending Review. Sajid Javid, business secretary, has meanwhile drawn up plans to close down some of his department’s 80 offices while slashing the number of quangos under its control” – Financial Times
“Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, will on Tuesday call for a Commonwealth visa programme to reverse the dramatic decline in students from India attending the capital’s universities. Mr Johnson will propose that the post-study work visa — which would allow students to stay and work for two years after graduating — is trialled with Indian citizens and, if successful, extended to other Commonwealth students” – Financial Times
“Two Tory activists claimed last night that details of their confidential complaints to the Conservative party against a senior aide were leaked straight back to him. The pair had made official submissions to the party about the conduct of Mark Clarke, the founder of the Road Trip 2015 group that bussed young campaigners to leaflet in key seats during the election campaign, after the suicide of a 21-year-old activist” – The Times (£)
“Birmingham and the West Midlands will elect a powerful regional mayor in 2017 after council leaders agreed an historic £1 billion deal with Chancellor George Osborne. The long-awaited deal means the ‘Greater Birmingham’ region will get cash to improve transport services, training and help for employers” – Birmingham Mail
“Alex Salmond’s former head of policy has said the SNP case for independence is dead. Alex Bell, who was tasked with creating a new social model for an independent Scotland between 2010 and 2013, said the economic case presented during the referendum was based on wishful thinking and it is deluded to continue to promote it” – Scotsman