News digest 16 June 2011
The digest starts with the latest on
proposed strike action over pensions in the public sector, while
public sector privatisation may be shelved, Northern Rock will be
sold off (at a loss), while the economic woes are here for a while
longer, the NHS reforms are attacked as not going far enough by an
ex-Labour health secretary while Cameron is robustly challenged
over benefits for cancer patients by Ed Miliband, and there’s no
protection for domestic workers while Brooks has been hacked and
could MPs be gagged...
Time for action – A host of
the papers cover the result of the PCS ballot and the coming
together of workers from various unions in co-ordinated strike
action later this month. The right wing tabloids focus on the
‘danger’ of ‘strike chaos’ highlighting the union leaders and their
views trying to say they diverge with members while the Mirror (p4) is more moderated
highlighting the real reasons behind the dispute over pensions and
pay. Many of the papers raise the issue over turnout with the
government ratcheting up pressure for 40 or 50 per cent minimum
threshold even though UK laws remain the most restrictive in Europe
(Sun p13, Express p1, Mail p6-7, Times p22, Indie p1-3, Guardian p8-9, Telegraph p1, FT p3, Morning Star p1).
Public services reform
postponed – But in a sign that the government may be
getting the jitters the Times (p1) and Telegraph (p6) report the drive
to open up public services to competition has been put on hold as
ministers fear a further backlash. The white paper has been delayed
three times so far and is now not expected before September,
although some experts expect it to be shelved indefinitely.
Northern Rock up for sale –
Chancellor George Osborne waited until the end of his Mansion House
speech to reveal that he plans to sell the rescued bank, the sale
is expected to generate close to £1 billion, although the
government had to pump in £1.4 billion so taxpayers will lose £400
million on the deal. Unite called on the government to consider
returning the bank to the mutual sector as general secretary, Len
McCluskey, said: "The coalition government made a clear
and unequivocal commitment to foster diversity in financial
services and to promote mutuals. We hope that the chancellor keeps
an open mind on the future of Northern Rock and explores the
possibility of re-mutualisation." The bank will not
be sold to a large existing bank, instead the government wants to
engender more competition on the high street, a fact also supported
by the chancellor outlining the move to make banks ringfence retail
operations. Many papers report that could lead to the end of ‘free
banking’ for customers and even the possibility of a 10 per cent
hike in mortgage prices, so that will do wonders for the
government’s popularity (Mirror p11, Sun p2, Express p2/50, Mail p2, Times p17, Indie p7, Guardian p1, Telegraph p1/b1, FT p2, Unite
release).
Cheque not yet dated –
Talking of banks the UK Payments Council is to postpone phasing out
of cheques after it announced it will not look at alternatives
until 2016 (Sun p51).
Halfway through the lean
years – Back to Mansion House and after Osborne the
governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, stood up to issue a
robust defence of the bank’s economic record and said the economy
may only be halfway through a period of seven lean years, so nice
to know what we have to look forward to under the Con-Dem coalition
(Mail p8, Guardian p29, Telegraph p1, FT p2).
Employment improves – But
good news on the jobs front as the private sector actually created
100,000 new jobs in the past quarter. Total unemployment fell by
88,000 in the three months to April to 2.43 million, the claimant
count however did rise by 19,600 to 1.49 million and the Times (p6-7) has a detailed
feature that notes that of the 376,000 new jobs created just 64,000
went to women and the number of women on the dole is at the highest
level since 1996 (Sun p4,
Express p4, Mail p17, Indie p36, Guardian p29, Telegraph b3, FT p4, Morning Star p4).
Primary schools failing – The
education secretary Michael Gove is expected to announce that 200
failing primary schools will be converted into academies in a drive
to improve education standards, new head teachers will be brought
in with the local authority losing any control (Mail p30, Guardian p5, Telegraph p2).
NHS ‘car crash’ – Former
Labour health secretary Alan Milburn has now completed his shift
from left to right as he says that the watered-down health
reforms driven by the Lib Dems represent a ‘disaster’ and argues
Cameron should have stuck to his guns on NHS reform before adding
that any money Osborne was trying to save for tax cuts will have to
be spent on the NHS instead. The Morning Star (p8) has a
feature on why the watered down changes are still a grave threat to
the service (Mail p4,
Telegraph p1/25).
Cameron’s cancer challenge –
And many of the papers report on the boisterous PMQs yesterday with
Ed Miliband having forced Cameron into a corner over his refusal to
back down over plans to dock benefits for over 7,000 cancer
patients, Cameron called the claim – backed by Macmillan Cancer
Trust – a smokescreen (Mirror p6-7, Express p5, Mail p10, Times p5, Indie p6, Guardian p4, Telegraph p12, Morning Star p3).
Southern Cross agrees
restructuring – Care company has reached agreement with
its landlords under which the two parties will form a committee to
keep the company out of insolvency in advance of a fuller
restructuring over the next eight weeks (Mirror p9, Guardian p28, Telegraph b3, FT p21).
Tale of two cities – And the
FT (p4) has a detailed piece on
the north-south divide and how balanced growth will get harder to
achieve as the gap between struggling and successful cities is set
to widen, especially as towns reliant on public sector employment
see jobs cut back.
No government protection for domestic
workers – And after Unite called on the government to sign
up to the domestic worker treaty the government revealed it will
abstain on the vote which would pave the way for an international
treaty to protect exploited domestic workers. Diana Holland, Unite
assistant general secretary, said: “The absence of
basic rights for domestic workers places them at huge risk of
exploitation and the UK government should be leading the way, not
opting out of this crucial convention ... Unite believes no workers
should be treated as second class in terms of health and safety or
other basic protections. Domestic workers need real support and not
empty words.” (Guardian p12, Morning Star p5)
From BA to AB – On the
international front UK flag carrier signs codeshare with Germany’s
Air Berlin to expand routes into Germany (Mail p72).
Sainsbury’s squeeze – And on
the domestic front the latest results for Sainsbury’s show an
improvement of 4.9 per cent, but if VAT and fuel rises are stripped
out that drops to 1.9 per cent. Chief executive Justin King warned
that the consumer economy was the toughest he had ever seen, does
this auger badly for the general economy? (Mirror p62, Express p51, Mail p68, Times p51, Indie p39, Guardian p30, Telegraph b5, FT p20)
Brooks hacked – And finally a
number of papers (Indie
p22, Guardian p5, Telegraph p2) report on the phone
hacking scandal with the latest twist being the then editor of the
Sun, Rebekah Brooks, who is now chief executive of News
International, was hacked by sister paper News of the World. No
news on whether she’ll take any action, but interesting to see that
this was covered in both the Sun (p2) and Times (p4)…
Legal aid rethink urged - Law
Society urges government to seek alternatives to its proposed £350
million legal aid cuts, while new research concluded slashing legal
aid is ‘a false economy’ (Law
Society Gazette).
SuperMPjunction – And finally
the Mirror (p2) reports that
justice secretary Ken Clarke has raised the possibility of bringing
in new rules to gag MPs breaking privacy injunctions in parliament,
no word of outrage from the backbenchers or have they been gagged
already…
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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