9pm LeftWatch: Labour's 100 top target seats
6.30pm MPsETC: Is Grant Shapps Gandalf in disguise? He announces candidate selections for 14 new seats
2.30pm Local Government: Hammersmith and Fulham cutting Council Tax by 3%
2pm WATCH: Cameron – "The only little red pests I pursue these days are in this House"
1.30pm ToryDiary: PMQs – Miliband shows his strategic weakness
12.45pm LeftWatch: Mirror's Kevin Maguire admits top earners ARE paying more tax under the Coalition than under Labour
11am Local Government: Labour MP asks: "What is a sock puppet?"
9.30am MPsETC: The main arguments made by Tory MPs in defence of the benefits squeeze
ToryDiary: Compassionate conservatism from Grayling as he moves to cut re-offending
In the first of a series of five myths and truths of polling, Columnist Stephan Shakespeare examines The myth of The Big Swing
Ruth Lea on Comment continues our series on the Conservatives and women: How to attract more women’s votes? It’s the economy, stupid
Local Government: What Eric did over Christmas
LeftWatch: David Miliband backs Osborne's spending envelope
ThinkTankCentral: Dalia Ben-Galim of the IPPR responds to Elizabeth Truss's ConHome piece on childcare: The Coalition’s mid-term review was surprisingly silent on childcare
The Deep End: The incredible disappearing Germans – a long-term economic forecast for the 21st century
WATCH: IDS makes the case in the Commons for the benefits freeze
Second Lords Minister quits this week: this time, it's Lord Marland
"A second minister has resigned from the Government in the first week of the new political term. Lord Marland of Odstock, a business minister and a former Tory treasurer, has stepped down from the front bench to concentrate on his main role as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy. It is another blow for David Cameron after the resignation on Monday of Lord Strathclyde, the leader of the Lords. The peer announced he was leaving the Cabinet on the day of the coalition’s relaunch." – The Times (£)
> Yesterday: MPsETC – Members of the Upper House offer tributes to Lord Strathclyde
Government to Scotland Select Committee: ‘Trident will be on Clyde for many years’ – Scotsman
Loyalists attack police again in east Belfast – Belfast Telegraph
Grayling to announce that businesses and charities will be paid to stop ex-prisoners offending again
Private firms and charities are to be paid to meet offenders at the prison gate and seek to turn them away from a life of crime, the Justice Secretary will announce today. In a major shake up of prisoner rehabilitation, Chris Grayling will set out plans to offer cash incentives if inmates are prevented from reoffending after release. But the move has infuriated probation officers, who say 70 per cent of their work will be put out to tender, heralding the effective ‘demise’ of the 105-year-old Probation Service." – Daily Mail
> ToryDiary: Compassionate conservatism from Grayling as he moves to cut re-offending
Policegate 1) charges will be brought by the end of the month, says Hogan-Howe – Daily Mail
Policegate 2) Heywood ordered to explain why he failed to discover truth – The Independent
Gove revives Imperial weights and measures in the classroom
"Children will be required to learn imperial measures as part of the national curriculum for the first time in decades, in a radical shake-up of maths lessons. Education Secretary Michael Gove wants schools to ensure pupils have a firm grounding in the imperial units most commonly used – including miles, pints, feet and ounces. Schools have been required to teach metric units as the prime system of measurement since 1974." – Daily Mail
The Commons votes for three-year "benefit freeze"…
"MP's last night voted to curb annual rises in state handouts for millions of benefit claimants. The landmark decision will be seen as a massive victory for strivers over shirkers. MPs backed Chancellor George Osborne’s proposal for a one per cent limit on increases in working-age welfare payments to around 10 million jobless and low income households in the crunch House of Commons vote. It means a string of benefits –including jobseeker’s allowance, income support and housing benefit – will increase at a rate below the expected level of inflation for the next three years." – Daily Express
…But Sarah Teather and other LibDems join Labour's attack on the measure…
"Sarah Teather, one of the Liberal Democrat MPs who rebelled against the measure, criticised “disingenuous comparisons” that would “set neighbour against neighbour”. Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, told Sky News he did not agree with “the stigma being attached to the unemployed”. The criticism was also echoed on Tory benches. Richard Fuller, a backbench MP, said he was uncomfortable with the “false distinction between strivers and skivers” – Financial Times (£)
…And some Conservatives are unhappy with Osborne and Shapps's strivers v skivers strategy
One Tory minister told The Independent: "We've not got the language right at Conservative HQ and the Treasury. Some people who lose their jobs and many people on tax credits, are strivers not scroungers. Young people looking hard for their first job are not skivers; there is a danger we may make them feel like parasites, and that we look like the nasty party. The message should be that we are making work pay." – The Independent
> Yesterday:
Parliament:
> Today: LeftWatch – David Miliband backs Osborne's spending envelope
> Yesterday: Greg Clark on Comment says Ed Balls's policies are designed wholly and entirely for the purposes of opposition, not government
Comment:
Skidmore, Halfon urge end to benefits for richer pensioners
"Chris
Skidmore said that Mr Cameron should open an honest conversation with
pensioners. “We simply cannot afford a system where we are spending
millions of pounds of government money on people who don’t need it,” he
said. Robert Halfon urged Mr Cameorn to take the bull by the horns,
saying: “It’s a crazy world when low-earning taxpayers are paying for
rich pensioners to buy wine. It’s mad.” One idea proposed by a minister
would be to scrap the winter fuel allowance and put the £2.2 billion it
costs into increasing the value of the state pension." – The Times (£)
Meanwhile, Cameron tells Tory MPs over boundary reform: "Let's lock a LibDem in a loo on the night"
"The prime minister criticised the Lib Dems at the special meeting hosted by his political secretary and strategist Stephen Gilbert. "The Lib Dems have behaved atrociously," he is said to have told the meeting. Cameron's tone is then said to have lightened, reportedly saying: "Does anyone know a DUP [Democratic Unionist Party] MP or a Green who can help? Lock up a Lib Dem in a loo on the night. But don't bank on it." – The Guardian
MPs say Health watchdog has 'long way to go' to gain public confidence – The Guardian
"Candid assessment" of Coalition's failure to hit 70 targets will be published this afternoon
"On Tuesday night, following inquiries from The Daily Telegraph, senior aides to the Prime Minister said it would be released on Wednesday afternoon . It was intended that the document be published alongside Monday’s Mid-Term Review but appears to have been removed at a late stage amid fears that it would overshadow the “favourable coverage” the Government received on the main television news bulletins." – Daily Telegraph
Global warming has stalled since 1998 – Daily Express
> Yesterday: Andrew Lilico on Comment – With
the Met Office now predicting no rise in global temperatures for 20
years, isn't it time to give up trying to prevent climate change?
Fiona Bruce MP: How I saved my father from Liverpool Care Pathway, two years after my mother died on it
"An MP told movingly yesterday how she saved her father from the Liverpool Care Pathway, two years after her mother endured an ‘agonising’ death on the system. Fiona Bruce said she was told ‘almost casually’ by a nurse that doctors had decided to remove life-saving treatment from her 83-year-old father, despite not having consulted relatives." – Daily Mail
One in five Britons will describe themselves as 'non-white by 2050' – Daily Mail
The Independent picks up Elizabeth Truss's ConHome childcare article
Writing on the Conservative Home website Ms Truss said that the UK had the most restrictive adult-child ratios for young children of comparable European countries. She added that changing staff ratios would allow nurseries to pay more and retain good staff. “It is no coincidence that we have the most restrictive adult-child ratios for young children of comparable European countries as well as the lowest staff salaries,” she said." – The Independent
> Today: ThinkTankCentral – Dalia Ben-Galim of the IPPR responds to Elizabeth Truss's ConHome piece on childcare: The Coalition’s mid-term review was surprisingly silent on childcare
Tom Watson: Labour is aiming for a 60-seat majority
"Arrogant Labour chiefs yesterday claimed they are on course for a majority of at least SIXTY seats at the General Election. Campaign co-ordinator Tom Watson said he thought the party could “win well” in 2015. The Shadow Cabinet yesterday agreed a list of 106 “battleground seats” they hope to claw back from other parties. They plan to blitz them with an army of trained volunteers to boost the Labour vote. Mr Watson declared: “Our aim is to have a 60-seat majority." – The Sun
> Yesterday: Lord Ashcroft on Comment says Don't bet on a Tory victory but don't rule it out
The stealthy pro-EU fightback continues
"The heads of some of Britain’s biggest companies – including BT and Virgin – have signed an open letter saying that attempting a major change in Britain’s relationship with the EU could “create damaging uncertainty” and put off investment in the UK. The Prime Minister will later this month make a major speech about Britain’s future in the European Union, outlining plans to seek a “new settlement” that could then be put the British people in a referendum." – Daily Telegraph
Fears raised over Syria uranium stockpile – Financial Times (£)
Cyber attacks could 'fatally' wound computer dependent military, MPs warn – Daily Telegraph
Esther Rantzen speaks common sense over police posturing on Savile – Ann Widdecombe, Daily Expressfinal
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