“The death knell was sounded for the licence fee yesterday as sweeping changes to the BBC were announced. Batting off ‘hysterical speculation’, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale launched a White Paper that secured the corporation’s future for the next 11 years. Marking a step towards subscription funding, viewers will now have to pay for some content and there will be a trial of new ‘top-up’ services to existing programmes.” – Daily Mail
“The very absence of bias in British broadcasting is one of the ways in which the British political culture is superior to that in America. The BBC is one of those public sector institutions — the monarchy, the army and the NHS being others — through which Britishness is embodied. Strange that it takes a Conservative secretary of state to get that so wrong.” – The Times (£)
Editorials:
>Yesterday: Norman Fowler in Comment: The Government’s plans for the BBC risk its indepedence and reputation
“David Cameron was accused yesterday of running scared of a TV debate on the EU referendum after refusing to go head-to-head with Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson vowed to debate with ‘anybody’ as he continued his tour of the country to promote Brexit.” – Daily Mail
Economy:
Major:
>Today:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Vote Leave are justifiably annoyed at ITV’s double-dealing on the referendum debate
“The original data excluded people coming for less than a year. The Office for National Statistics has now combined long-term and short-term migration to produce estimates of the numbers who have arrived from the EU for business or to work or study. Statisticians produced the new migrant figures in response to pressure to explain a gulf between numbers coming for more than a year and the number of national insurance numbers issued to people from the EU.” – The Times (£)
Comment:
“Earlier this year the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all recommended that the EU Referendum shouldn’t be held too close to the elections we have just had. This advice was ignored, the Referendum was called for June 23, and the Government’s riposte was basically that voters can walk and chew gum at the same time. Unfortunately, while the Government credits voters with being able to multitask as the In-Out vote looms, it doesn’t appear to be capable of the same.” – Daily Telegraph
“David Cameron has been accused of double standards in trying to impose stringent financial rules on Britain’s overseas tax havens while letting bigger countries off the hook. Leaders of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man used the global anti-corruption summit in London yesterday to hit back at critics of their offshore finance industries.” – The Times (£)
>Today: ToryDiary: The Social Justice Queen’s Speech 5) Countering crony capitalism
“The chancellor’s pensions reforms could ‘trigger mass mis-selling’ MPs have warned today. In a damning report, the commons Public Accounts Committee warned there is a ‘substantial’ risk of another mis-selling scandal and accused regulators and government of not doing enough to protect the public. It singled out scams targeting savers who have cashed in their pensions since new laws came into force as the biggest facing savers today.” – Daily Mail
“Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt has waived the residency requirements to allow 200 Commonwealth citizens to fill roles in regular forces every year. They will fill the gap in troops with specialist skills, such as engineering. The u-turn comes as staggering statistics published yesterday revealed there had been a drop in the regular armed forces of 3,680 troops since April last year.” – Daily Mail
“The SNP has been accused of a “calculated” move to grab two powerful posts at Holyrood that are traditionally split between different parties, in the first major row of the new parliament. Experienced opposition MSPs expressed outrage that Nationalist MSPs were selected to fill both Deputy Presiding Officer (DPOs) position, the Scottish Parliament’s equivalent of the Commons Deputy Speakers.” – Daily Telegraph
>Today: Lewis Baston’s column: The Scottish Conservatives – fragile, but enduring and adaptable. A history.
“In Cardiff, Welsh assembly politicians and their aides were hammering out deals, exchanging insults in the press and attempting to compromise on a deadlock that has prevented the creation of a new government. Twenty miles down the road, at the Lion Inn in Treorchy, high in the Rhondda valley, drinkers were frankly baffled that their new constituency member, the Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, had very nearly become first minister despite only having a fifth of the assembly in her party.” – The Guardian
>Yesterday:
“The Ulster Unionist Party is to form the first official Opposition within the Northern Ireland Assembly. Party Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, announced the decision to the Assembly as it sat for the first time since the elections on May 5 where they returned 16 MLAs. It came moments after DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein veteran Martin McGuinness were re-appointed First and Deputy First Minister respectively.” – Belfast Telegraph
Comment: