News digest 11 October 2011
The digest opens with more revelations on
Fox who may be safe for now, but could soon be off to play with toy
soldiers in his sandpit. Cameron tells people to shop their
neighbours while his adviser attacks his cabinet for their looks,
doctors attack the government’s NHS bill and Unison opens its
ballot on pensions. There’s more gloom on the economy with an
expected rise in unemployment, falling exports, a call for growth
from the BCC as UK firms are condemned over tax havens. And while
Scania scales back production, Mini motors ahead, Hesketh heads for
UKIP, Wales could get more powers and the Blackberry breakdown may
go on for longer than expected in the House of Commons if two Tory
MPs get their way…
Werritty’s world tour –
Defence secretary Liam Fox remains under pressure as the country’s
top civil servant, Sir Gus O’Donnell, launched a full inquiry into
Fox’s intricate links with his friend. The inquiry will look into
whether Werritty was profiting from his privileged access to Fox
and his ministerial diary as it also emerged that despite Fox
saying Werritty has not travelled on overseas visits Werritty
actually accompanied Fox on 18 trips. There were also 22 meetings
at the Ministry of Defence, but according to Fox none of these
meetings were business talks, all sounds perfectly plausible
doesn’t it. Has the hunting pack smelt blood, if so Cameron could
soon be forced to give Fox the brush off (Mirror p8-9, Sun p1/2, Express p4, Mail p6-7, Times p1/8-10, Indie p4-5, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p1/4-5, FT p1, Morning Star p5).
Inform on your neighbours –
Prime minister David Cameron yesterday called on the public to shop
their neighbours if they think they are suspected illegal
immigrants or have overstayed their welcome as the government’s
plan to ‘get a grip on immigration’ proves much easier to say than
to deliver (Mirror p9,
Sun p9, Express p2, Mail p4, Times p18, Indie p8, Guardian p16, Telegraph p12, Morning Star p3).
Promote women to boardrooms –
And the Mail (p24) and
Times (p44) report that
the prime minister is to urge public companies to bring more women
into the boardroom and is planning to hold an event at Downing
Street tomorrow to promote female executive recruitment. He will
write to the FTSE 350 companies asking them for details on their
approach to hiring women, remind me how many women in Cameron’s
cabinet?
Adviser critiques cabinet –
And Mary Portas, the woman brought in by Cameron to advise on
rescuing Britain’s dying high streets, has instead decided to
advise the cabinet on their dress sense after she called female
minister’s fashion flops saying: “I mean, the female
cabinet – what an ugly bunch.” Seems quite typical of
the Cameron approach, all about the appearance and nothing to do
with the substance (Mirror
p18, Sun p19, Mail p8, Telegraph p11).
Senior doctors attack NHS
reforms – As the Sun (p2) reports that the future of
the NHS bill hangs in the balance as it goes to the Lords, and the
Indie (p1) reports 60
leading clinicians have written to the paper urging Lords to block
the bill – a message pushed out by Unite member and intensive care
nurse
Dave Carr on a blog on LabourList over the weekend – while
Unite national officer for health Rachael Maskell simply said:
‘We want peers to throw out the bill which will
privatise the NHS.” (Unite
release) Campaign group 38 Degrees is calling on people to sign
its petition to the
Lords on the crucial NHS vote.
Balloting to start over changes to
public sector pensions - More than one million public
sector workers are to vote on strike action in the biggest-ever
union industrial action ballot. Unison said probation officers,
nurses, social workers, teaching assistants, school kitchen
assistants and hospital cleaners would be among those voting in the
row over public sector pensions. The result of the ballot will be
known on 3 November, giving time for Unison to strike on the TUC
day of action, which takes place on 30 November (Times p16/45, Guardian p13, Telegraph p15, FT p4, Morning Star p1,
Unite campaign page).
Cuts will make 1 in 4 kids
poor – More than three million children will be living in
poverty by 2020 due to the scale of the government’s cuts says a
report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which also warns that
the number of adults living in poverty will rise by more than 40
per cent to 4.9 million (Mirror p29, Sun p2, Mail p13, Times p20, Guardian p1).
Don’t let our youth go to
waste – With figures out tomorrow showing that youth
unemployment will top the one million mark the Indie (p10-11) has a detailed
feature on the lack of hope that is starting to become endemic
especially as long term unemployment among the young rises. Unite
is also pushing to stop the end of youth services with young people
planning to descend on parliament on 25 October to protect their
‘vanishing service’ (Unite
release).
Exports drop – And more gloom
as the Times (p42)
reports that hopes to rebalance the economy towards exports is
being derailed by the worsening global outlook which is now being
reflected in the UK economy as figures from the British Chambers of
Commerce show that the indicator for export orders has fallen to
the worst level since the third quarter of 2009 when the UK was
emerging from recession. The Telegraph (b1) follows up with
the BCC’s call on the government to make some hard choices and
focus on policies that will help businesses expand and the economy
grow.
Dexia rescued but
euro deal delayed – Franco-Belgian bank in €90 billion
bailout package as the summit on the future of the euro has been
put back a week to 23 October to give EU leaders more time to agree
on proposals to expand the bailout fund and assess Greece’s
finances and get growth across the eurozone back on track (Sun p39, Express p15/45, Mail p12/58, Times p43, Indie p52, Guardian p23, Telegraph b1/3, FT p1/22, Morning Star p6).
Bankers want bonuses – The
Mail (p12) and Guardian (p26) both report that
even with what the governor of the Bank of England calls
“the onset of the most serious financial crisis in
history” nine out of ten financial professionals
expect to receive an annual handout this year; time for more taxes
on bonuses please.
UK firms attacked for
dodging taxes – The Mirror (p20) and Indie (p51) report that just
two of the FTSE 100 companies do not use tax havens according to a
report published by the charity ActionAid today. Instead the use of
offshore companies – including by state backed RBS and Lloyds – has
reached epidemic proportions with the top 100 firms having some
34,216 operations located in tax havens; time for companies to
break down accounts on a country-by-country basis or a crackdown on
get-out clauses.
Ferrovial sells BAA shares –
From havens back to the continent and the Spanish firm has sold six
per cent of its stake – valued at £282 million - in airport giant
BAA meaning its holdings now stand at 49.9 per cent (Mirror p48, Sun p44, Mail p59, Times p41, Telegraph b3, FT p19).
Scania to slash production –
As economic pressures envelop Europe the Swedish truck maker
announced plans to cut production by 10-15 per cent from next month
(FT p23).
BMW boost – Booming sales of
the Mini expected to see BMW have a record year as sales of 159,214
vehicles last month brings quarterly total to 400,000 making this
the most successful quarter in the company’s history (Mirror p48).
Hesketh heads for UKIP – And
the Mail (p2) reports
that the former head of Formula 1 motor racing team Hesketh Racing
- and former Tory minister, peer and treasurer – has announced he
is quitting the Tories to join UKIP after having lost faith in the
prime minister.
Wales may gain more
powers – The Guardian (p2) says that the welsh
secretary, Cheryl Gillan, is expected to announce a new commission
that could give the Welsh Assembly greater financial powers in
future.
No tweeting for MPs – And as
many papers report that Blackberry went down after a power outage
in Slough yesterday (Mirror
p24, Sun p10, Mail p12, Indie p7, Telegraph p7, FT p17) the Mirror (p6) reports that MPs may
soon be banned from tweeting in the House of Commons if two Tories
get their way, a motion by James Gray and Roger Gale wants to ban
mobiles and iPads from debates; yet another example of Tories
trying to restrict the coverage of debates and hide the pressure
the Con-Dem coalition is under…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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