“Workers will be allowed to take a year’s sabbatical to care for sick relatives, Theresa May will announce today. The Prime Minister will pledge ‘the greatest expansion of workers’ rights by any Tory government in history’ as she sets out a raft of new entitlements to woo Labour voters. Employees with family members who fall sick – such as elderly parents – will be able to take up to 12 months’ unpaid leave to provide full-time care while their jobs are kept on hold. Parents who suffer the tragedy of losing a child will get a statutory two weeks of bereavement leave, and employees will be allowed to request time off to go on training courses as part of a bid to boost skills and productivity. There will also be a major crackdown on corporate governance, with listed companies forced to have worker representation on their boards.” – Daily Mail
More policy:
Comment:
“When the British people voted to leave the EU last summer, they did so in pursuit of a stronger, brighter future for our country. My government is determined to answer that call by backing the businesses that provide growth, and ensuring the benefits are spread across the country. In the fast-changing world of work, that means being an evangelist for the entrepreneurs who invent and create, and the hardworking employees who turn those sparks of inspiration into the tangible outputs of a dynamic economy. The Conservative party has always been the true party of those workers. And at this great moment of national change, when the country is choosing which leader will take us through the Brexit negotiations and beyond, it is the Conservative party that is the voice of ordinary working people once again.” – FT
Editorial:
>Today:
>Yesterday: Tina Stowell in Comment: The question that voters are asking in this election is – who’s with us, and who’s against us?
“Jeremy Corbyn is facing new questions over a “black hole” at the heart of his spending plans after committing £37billion to funding the NHS over the next five years. The Labour leader will today pledge to take one million people off NHS waiting lists by the end of this Parliament and guarantee that patients will be seen at A&E within four hours. He is planning to fund his new NHS spending pledge by hiking taxes on those earning over £80,000, raising corporation tax by 40 per cent and increasing insurance premium tax for private healthcare. Labour insisted that the plans are “fully-costed” but refused to say exactly how they will be funded.” – Daily Telegraph
More Corbyn:
>Yesterday: Video: WATCH: Labour’s tax on the City is “a big gamble”, asserts Ridge – “it is”, agrees McDonnell
“Jeremy Corbyn branded Nato a “danger to world peace” and was once arrested after joining a sympathy protest for the IRA, it emerged today. The Labour leader was filmed in January 2011 describing Nato as a “major problem” and warning that the organisation’s power must be curbed. It also emerged that Mr Corbyn was arrested in 1986 after taking part in an IRA-linked demonstration outside the Old Bailey to “show solidarity” with a group of people accused of being terrorists.” – Daily Telegraph
More Thornberry:
Comment:
“A Tory landslide on June 8 will inspire the creation of a new centrist party to replace Labour, Lib Dem grandee Sir Vince Cable predicted today. With polls suggesting scores of Labour seats will fall to Theresa May in less than a month, Sir Vince said he believed it could be the end for the party. The Tories lead most opinion polls by around 20 per cent and have done throughout the campaign. Labour’s deficits have closed slightly over the past month. It came as Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem leader, said it was now impossible for a single party to ‘wrest power’ away from the Tories and added Labour and his party were ‘duty bound’ to work together to restore ‘the necessity of competition’ to British politics.” – Daily Mail
More landslide:
Comment:
>Today: MPs Etc.: Battleground Seats 7) West Midlands
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Will the so-called “progressive alliance” ever get its act together?
“Ministers are preparing for an early clash with the European Union over its demand that negotiations on a trade deal should be delayed until the autumn, David Davis said yesterday. Predicting the “row of the summer” the Brexit secretary said he would not agree to an EU plan that allowed the UK’s divorce settlement and talks on a future Irish border arrangement to take priority over negotiations on a new trade deal. “We want to see everything packaged up together and that’s what we’re going to do,” he told ITV’s Peston on Sunday, adding that “nothing’s agreed until everything’s agreed”.” – The Times (£)
More Brexit:
Comment:
>Today: Neale Richmond in Comment: No deal between Britain and the EU would be a disaster for Ireland
>Yesterday:
“Jeremy Hunt was warned last summer that NHS organisations were failing to prioritise cybersecurity and continued to use obsolete computer systems. Almost a year before an attack that paralysed healthcare systems, the Care Quality Commission and Dame Fiona Caldicott, the national data guardian, wrote to the health secretary to point out a worrying “lack of understanding of security issues” and that “the external cyberthreat is becoming a bigger consideration”. Their letter last July proposed a 13-point plan to ensure that leaders of NHS bodies improved cybersecurity.” – The Times (£)
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday:
Video: WATCH: “We are strengthening the cyber defence of our hospital system,” says Fallon
“Nicola Sturgeon was mocked yesterday after she insisted Scotland’s education system was flourishing – once grim literacy and numeracy falls are stripped out. Scotland’s First Minister was forced to defend dismal figures showing the country’s once proud education record which has slumped under SNP rule. It follows the release of the latest official Scottish figures showing fewer than half of Scotland’s 13 and 14-year-olds are able to write well. Ms Sturgeon said she had been “very open that that’s not good enough” but insisted a massive programme of reform was under way.” – The Sun
More Scotland: