It’s not over yet
Controversial government plans to raise university tuition fees in England to as much as £9,000 a year are to be debated by peers. In the Lords’ vote, Labour peers will have to overturn a coalition majority of 40 to have a chance of blocking the government’s education proposals. Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Royall, said: “Labour opposed the government’s policy in the Commons last week, and Labour will oppose the government’s policy in the Lords this week.– BBC Politics
The Liberal Democrats ran into fresh trouble today when the party’shigher education spokeswoman in the Lords, Lady Sharp, said she was not sure she could vote tomorrow for the coalition government’s trebling of tuition fees. Sharp told the Guardian: “I face a dilemma. I have a lot of reservations, and I am in the same position as many Liberal Democrat MPs. I have not decided how to vote.” – Guardian
Labour reaches out
Labour leader Ed Miliband yesterday appealed to disgruntled Liberal Democrats to work with him against the UK coalition Government. With 21 Lib-Dem MPs having voted against government plans to raise university tuition fees in England, Mr Miliband said the party should recognise its “common interests” with Labour. At his first Westminster press conference since becoming Labour leader, he called on Lib Dems to submit ideas to Labour’s policy review. – Western Mail
No pork in Pickle’s agenda
The biggest cuts to police and local councils “in living memory” were yesterday unveiled by ministers with some parts of the country losing almost 10 per cent of their budget in a single year. Inner city areas of Liverpool and Manchester and parts of London including Hackney will be worst hit with spending reductions of 8.9 per cent. However richer parts of the country such as Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire fare much better with cuts of less that 1 per cent. – Independent
The revolution in local government outlined in Eric Pickles‘s localism bill has laid ministers open to the charge that their package of new powers coupled with drastic spending cuts will hit the poorest in society hardest, enable big business to buy off local opposition and devolve difficult political decisions to councils at a time when they are least able to cope with them. Overshadowing the devolved powers in the bill are the cuts imposed on local councils and the impact on local services as well as the potential job losses, amid claims that more than 140,000 people will be handed redundancy notices by town halls next year. – Guardian
Cost guard Cuts
Opposition MPs claimed lives would inevitably be put at risk if the cutbacks were put in place, and rank-and-file coastguards spoke privately of “an impending disaster”. Angus Robertson, defence spokesman for the Scottish National Party, said: “The Tory government is putting lives at risk on sea and land by their reckless cuts to the Coastguard and privatisation plan for Search and Rescue services. The coalition is planning to sell off the search-and-rescue service to a foreign consortium. – Telegraph
Don’t forget me
The former foreign secretary said his brother Ed had ‘done well’ since winning their battle for control and it was a ‘very difficult job being leader of the opposition, especially in the first year of a parliament’. The 45-year-old added: ‘I have no plans to return to front-line politics – at the moment, that is. ‘For now, I’m doing what’s best for the party and leaving the field open for Ed to lead the party. I’ve got to admit, I wish the leadership campaign had gone differently but who knows what will happen in the future?’ – Metro
Tags: David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Eric Pickles
