News digest 24 October 2011
The digest opens with Europe high on the
agenda as the contagion continues and Cameron trembles in the face
of criticism of his European strategy. There’s more campaigning
against pension changes, uni applications plummet, a quango will
control the NHS, the Occupy protestors are told to get out, the CBI
says small business needs support while Ryanair patches up a plane
with some tape, Clegg gets more aides and one of Cameron’s mentors
raided his own think tank of £40,000 as he pursued a jet set
life…
EU bailout… – Twin European
stories top the digest with all papers focusing on the latest
developments in the eurozone crisis. Italy is facing pressure to
boost growth to deal with its deficit from Germany and France as
leaders across the eurozone struggled to agree on how to boost the
rescue fund to stem the contagion before the Wednesday summit
deadline. The leaders did agree on the need for European banks to
find €108 billion in new capital, secondly they are looking to
expand the funds for the rescue fund from its current €440 billion
level, probably fivefold and the third pillar of the package is
another rescue plan for Greece. French president Nicolas Sarkozy
accused Britain of ‘interfering’ with the situation while Germany
announced it may consider treaty changes, making it harder for
Cameron to deal with a rising eurosceptic rebellion in his
party…
…and a UK rebellion – Prime
minister David Cameron today faces the largest Commons revolt of
his premiership with as many as 10 members of government
considering rebelling – and more than 70 MPs - on whether the UK
should have a referendum on Europe. The Sun (p8-9) calls it Cameron’s ‘week
of hell’ saying he has been forced to cancel foreign trips, his own
party is riven by chaos and he is staring into the economic abyss.
Cameron should win the vote as Labour and the Lib Dems will vote
against the motion (Mirror
p4, Express p1/4-5,
Mail p6-7, Times p1/6-8, Indie p1/4-5, Guardian p1/8-9, Telegraph p1/4-5, FT p1/6).
Pensions challenge – Talking
of the Lib Dems a ‘supposedly’ leaked letter from chief secretary
to the treasury Danny Alexander ‘supposedly’ offers concessions but
six unions have now mounted a legal challenge on behalf of millions
of public sector workers over the switch from RPI to CPI. Tomorrow
there will be a demonstration in support of the judicial review
outside the Royal Courts of Justice from 08.30-10:00. Unite general
secretary Len McCluskey said: "Our legal challenge
against the coalition government is hugely significant for workers
in both the public and private sectors ... vested interests are
trying to create a wedge between public and private sector workers,
when in reality they have common cause on this. We know that some
private sector employers are already attempting to move to the
lower inflation index citing the government's example. In reality
this government wants us all to work for longer and for
less." (Times p5, Indie p2, Telegraph p2, FT p4, Morning Star p2/3,
Unite
release)
University applications
plummet – In the wake of the Con-Dem’s increase in tuition
fees of up to £9,000 universities have seen a 10 per cent fall in
applications for next September’s courses. Some universities in
more expensive cities – like London - have seen falls of up to 40
per cent (Mirror p11,
Mail p21, Indie p10-11, Guardian p5, Telegraph p8).
Legal aid cuts will widen
abuse – Cuts to legal aid will see an increasing number of
victims be cross examined by their assailants as more people are
forced to go to court without representation (Guardian p7, Telegraph p18, Morning Star p5).
NHS conflict fear – The
Sun (p2), Times (p11) and Morning Star (p2) report
that seven out of 10 GPs in England fear the NHS reforms could lead
to conflicts of interest according to a BMA report.
Call for register
for healthcare assistants – The
Times (p1/11) features
a story on how ministers have faced growing pressure for a register
of healthcare assistants after the government confirmed nurses
struck off for incompetence can return to wards to care for
patients as healthcare assistants.
Quango to hold NHS power –
And the Guardian (p15)
reports that the government, and in particular the health
secretary, will have no control in the day-to-day running of the
NHS as the health secretary will effectively franchise the running
of the NHS to a quango for up to three years at a time.
Disabled demo – The Morning Star (p1) also
reports on the weekend’s demonstrations by disabled people over
government plans to snatch away their benefits. The ‘Hardest Hit’
day of action highlighted how government welfare and public sector
cuts were hitting the most vulnerable.
Fighting for farm wages – And
the Morning Star
(p2/Unite
release) reports that as MPs decide the fate of the
Agricultural Wages Board tomorrow, rural workers will descend on
Westminster to raise awareness of the plight of more than 150,000
agricultural workers who will see their pay and conditions
slashed.
Occupy out? – Legal action
starts as local authority wants to remove camp next to St Paul’s
cathedral and trustees shut the door on worshippers (and tourists);
interestingly the board of trustees is made up of rather a lot of
bankers, and that’s not rhyming slang, could this be the reason for
the closure? (Mail p8,
Times p5, Indie p7, Guardian p5, Telegraph p6, Morning Star p4)
G4S aims to charm investors –
The Express (p44) reports
that the security giant has come out fighting against shareholder
criticism of its proposed £5.2 billion takeover of ISS.
Pay revolts multiply – The
Indie (p47) reports
that shareholders of 15 FTSE 100 firms have challenged remuneration
deals for top directors, more than double the figure from last
year.
Diageo to curtail senior jobs over
tax – The Guardian (p24) and Telegraph (p12) report that Paul
Walsh, who has run the drinks giant for the past 11 years, says he
has stopped creating senior jobs in Britain because of the top rate
of tax; obviously got nothing to do with shutting plants and
shifting UK based work abroad…
Birmingham courts foreign
investment – The FT (p16)
reports that the council is to pin hopes on R&D and financial
and business services and is courting companies from the US rather
than Europe or Asia. The delegation is to stress sectoral
strengths, the city’s location and the talent pool of the local
workforce. Pity the council won’t support its own local employees
rather than trying to impose US style terms and conditions.
CBI call to support SMEs – As
the Times (p51) says
the high street is continuing to struggle the CBI has called for
more government support for small and medium sized firms as reports
that over a fifth of applications for loans were rejected (Times p47, Indie p48, Guardian p24, FT p4).
Lloyds branch flotation looms
– The flotation of 632 bank branches took another step closer as
Lloyds confirmed it had held talks with the UK listing authorities
(Express p44, Mail p62, Telegraph b3, FT p17).
No construction growth until
2014 – The Construction Products Association says there
will be no growth in the industry until 2014, making the current
downturn the worst in 30 years (Telegraph b2, FT p4).
Steel production drops – The
Times (p56) also
reports that steel production from British mills has fallen by 7.3
per cent in the last quarter as the manufacturing sector
weakens.
VW production rises – The
FT (p1) reports that the German
carmaker is set to usurp Toyota’s crown as the larges manufacturer
of cars by both sales and volume after VW sold a record four
million vehicles in the first half of this year.
Ryanair adds aircraft – The
FT (p15/16) interviews Ryanair
boss Michael O’Leary who says he is looking to buy up to 300
aircraft as he plans for a large rise in passenger numbers. Perhaps
hope the plan is in better condition than reported in the
Sun (p6) after a Ryanair
plane with 200 passengers on board was forced to turn back after
some tape used to patch up a pilot’s window came loose…
Fox on the loose – The
Guardian (p11) reports
that the shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy has demanded answers
to 10 key questions about the Fox/Werritty affair as the story over
Fox’s supposed adviser runs and runs…
Clegg needs more aides – And
talking of advisers the Sun
(p2) and Mail (p10)
report that deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has now convinced
Cameron he needs extra political staff. Three have already been
employed, but Clegg is expected to have seven new advisers – at a
total cost of some £500,000 a year – who will sit in ministries
headed up by his Conservative coalition partners.
Think tank raided for jet set
trips – And finally the Sun (p2), Mail (p34), Times (p17) and Telegraph (p19) report that could
be a bit of trouble for David Cameron’s former ‘Big Society’
mentor/adviser after its was revealed that Phillip Blond raided the
coffers of his own think tank ResPublica to live a jet set life of
exotic trips abroad to meet women, pay for a luxury flat and
designer clothes; some £40,000 was withdrawn to cover his personal
‘expenses’ while the think tank was struggling to pay its rent and
even staff wages, same old Tories...
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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