More questions raised over Lansley’s health reforms

Andrew Lansley has said the UK’s outcomes when it comes to health issues such as heart attack and cancer are among the poorest in Europe, despite similar spending. But John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund think-tank, has now challenged these claims and called for a cautious interpretation of the evidence. While UK heart attack rates in 2006 were twice those in France, the UK will actually have lower rates by 2012 if trends continue, he wrote in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). “Comparing just one year – and with a country with the lowest death rate for myocardial infarction (heart attack) in Europe – reveals only part of the story,” he said. “Not only has the UK had the largest fall in death rates from myocardial infarction between 1980 and 2006 of any European country, if trends over the past 30 years continue, it will have a lower death rate than France as soon as 2012.” – PA

Meanwhile David Cameron has claimed that family doctors’ frustrations with the current healthcare system in England are the driving force behind the controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which will lead to the scrapping of Primary Care Trusts and the establishment of new GP-led “consortia” that can purchase care from state-run hospitals or private providers. Speaking at a Downing Street reception for GPs running pilot schemes on Wednesday night, the Prime Minister said: “So many of you are telling me about your frustration with the current system, that you want to do more and become more involved. That is what is behind all this.” However the doctors’ powerful trade union, the British Medical Association, is stepping up its opposition to the reforms and will hold an emergency meeting of its council in March to discuss them. – the Telegraph (more…)

New investigation into phone hacking

I have learned that News International uncovered four emails indicating that the former News of the World news editor Ian Edmondson had full knowledge of the illegal phone hacking activities of the private detective, Glenn Mulcaire. Glenn Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 for his role in trying to intercept voicemail messages left for royal aides. Mr Edmondson had always denied to News International’s bosses that he had any knowledge of hacking. So executives of the UK arm of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation yesterday concluded that they had no option but to sack Mr Edmondson. A source said that Mr Edmondson misled News International when originally asked about all this a few years ago. “He denied all knowledge,” the source said. News International is now expected to go on a hunt for evidence to discover whether other executives from that era are implicated. “This is a new phase for News International in relation to the hacking,” said a businessman close to the media group. “They want to know everything and root out anyone who obtained information improperly. It could get pretty messy.” – Robert Peston, BBC

With its dismissal of Ian Edmondson, News International abandoned the mantra it has chanted for four years: that phone hacking carried out by the News of the World was the work of a “rogue reporter”. That was the line from January 2007, when the paper’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for illegally intercepting the royal household’s messages. Andy Coulson, the paper’s editor, agreed to resign while denying any knowledge of illegal activities. He didn’t go straight away – when Goodman was jailed, Coulson simply promised to make a donation to a charity chosen by the royal princes. Four years later, dozens of alleged victims of the hacking – almost all high-profile figures – have lodged legal actions against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire in the High Court. – the Independent (more…)

Osborne unwilling to consider alternative

A shaken coalition government today lashed itself to the mast of multi-billion spending cuts and rejected calls for a change of economic course in the face of shocking figures that showed the economy contracted by 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010. The figures, raising fears of stagflation – high unemployment and inflation with stagnant growth – mark the first serious challenge to the coalition’s political and economic edifice. In an attempt to reassure volatile markets, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, urged the cabinet to stand firm and warned of many shocks to the economy before it settled down to a consistent pattern of growth. The markets had been expecting growth in the final quarter of 2010 in the region of 0.3% and 0.7%. Ministers blamed the coldest weather in a century or a survey error by the Office for National Statistics. But even if the effect of the weather is stripped out, the economy was flat in the final quarter after a year of recovery.

David and Ed to team up?

David and Ed Miliband are combining to create a 10,000-strong “army” of community organisers in the first formal rapprochement for the pair since Ed beat David to the Labour party leadership. The Movement for Change, set up by David during his leadership campaign, is to be relaunched in March and expanded, initially under the wing of the Labour party. The brothers want to increase tenfold the 1,000 activists trained through that campaign to organise people, such as patients, parents and tenants, to resist change imposed by state or the private sector in their neighbourhoods. Lord Sainsbury of Turville is poised to donate £250,000 as the first stage of funding for the training. The move is significant because Sainsbury, a supporter of David Miliband who has bankrolled Labour with £13m in the last 10 years, is one of several big donors who have said they are not keen on continuing to back Labour with Ed in charge. – the Guardian (more…)

Outgoing head of the CBI slams the government on growth

Richard Lambert has launched an uncompromising but constructive assault on the government’s growth strategy, or lack of it. He said: “The government is…talking about growth in an enthusiastic and thoughtful way… But it’s failed so far to articulate in big picture terms its vision of what the UK economy might become under its stewardship. What I feel is that a number of their initiatives – I’m thinking of the immigration cap, I’m thinking about their move on the default retirement age, about the carbon reduction commitment – have actually made it harder for companies, or less likely for companies to employ people. And what we want, actually, is a sense of direction, a sense of ambition.” It’s a common refrain. The Conservatives campaigned on the deregulation of small businesses at the last election; they are yet to deliver, something for which they are being criticised. In fact, several business bodies lament the onset of yet more regulation. – Spectator

Sir Richard Lambert, retiring boss of the CBI has had a fairly comprehensive blast at the Government’s “supply side” polices on the economy, and especially Vince Cable, asking the key question; “Where’s the growth going to come from?” He’s right to ask, and right to suggest some concrete things – genuine public investment – that only the state can do and which will yield real returns in the decades to come. Prime among these is boosting the UK’s electricity generation capacity, though Sir Richard ducks the great nuclear debate (my own view is that we may end with just no other choice in the matter, though I dread the risks). He is also probably right on the UK’s quixotic new bribery laws, another gift from us to French commerce. – the Independent

The government has struggled to develop a growth agenda. It cancelled plans for a White Paper on the subject. It published, instead, a list of problems rather than solutions. The chancellor and the business secretary are seeing ministers from every department in turn to ask them what they’re doing to help the economy grow. The fear in Whitehall is no longer a double dip recession but a jobless recovery. Ministers feel that they have won the debate on the deficit. Sir Richard Lambert’s speech is a reminder than they are not yet winning the debate about how to get the economy growing.- BBC

News Corp referred to Competition Commission but more questions for Hunt

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is likely to be the subject of fresh criticism today following the news this morning that he has granted Rupert Murdoch a stay of execution over a referral to the Competition Commission of News Corp’s takeover bid for BSkyB. Mr Hunt has claimed he is simply following legal advice but the move could prove controversial. Labour has questioned whether the Prime Minister broke the ministerial code of conduct by meeting the European Chairman of News Corporation, James Murdoch, just days after stripping Vince Cable of the power to decide the fate of NewsCorp’s bid for control of BSkyB. – PoliticsHome

The Crown Prosecution Service is to adopt a “robust approach” in examining “recent or new substantive allegations” of phone hacking. As David Cameron faced renewed pressure over his close links to News Corp, the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said he had agreed the approach with the leadership of the Metropolitan police yesterday. Last night’s announcement by the DPP came amid signs that the illegal phone-hacking scandal may be extending beyond newspapers in the Murdoch stable. Paul Marsden, a former Liberal Democrat MP, told the BBC last night he had begun legal inquiries to find out whether his phone was hacked by the Daily Mirror in 2003. Marsden, who defected to the Lib Dems from Labour in 2001, told Radio 4’s PM programme: “We have started those legal inquiries with a specific journalist and also the Mirror Group. If it turns out to be true, I would like it exposed in a court of law. I want to know the truth.” – the Guardian

DAVID Cameron was slammed yesterday for having dinner with James Murdoch as the Government considers whether to let his company take over BSkyB. The Prime Minister socialised with Mr Murdoch, son of News Corporation mogul Rupert Murdoch, over Christmas. Just days earlier the PM gave Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt the final say on whether the Murdochs’ £7.5billion takeover could go ahead. – the Mirror

Balls comes out fighting

Ed Balls, the new shadow chancellor, claimed on Saturday that the government’s “reckless gamble” of massive spending cuts was already harming the economy as the country headed for high unemployment, lower mortgage lending and slower growth. Balls, who was promoted last week after the surprise resignation of Alan Johnson, showed signs of a newly combative approach as he claimed that the coalition had turned a promising economic outlook into a gloomy one by pushing through “the fastest, deepest deficit reduction in Britain’s peacetime history”. Labour MPs had become frustrated during the first months of Ed Miliband’s leadership at how the coalition managed to pin all blame for the deficit on Labour. They were also dismayed at how Tories and Lib Dems had convinced large sections of the public that there was no alternative to their strategy of savage fiscal retrenchment. – the Guardian

The appointment of Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor is great news for the country. Alan Johnson is a nice man but a fighter is needed for these tough times. Alan simply wasn’t challenging the ConDems’ economic policy of cuts, cuts and more cuts. Ed’s background means he is well prepared. He left Oxford University with a first class degree then went to Harvard. I first met him in the 90s when he was a young ­journalist in the States on the Financial Times. We would chat about economic policy and even in those days it was obvious he was headed for big things. Ed will challenge Slasher Osborne and his mistaken programme of austerity that isn’t working. He is aggressive, smart, passionate and a battler with a big advantage over the coalition – a really good understanding of economics. He will quickly challenge the ConDems’ long list of ­broken promises – VAT, tuition fees and the slashing of public sector jobs nobody voted for. – David Blanchflower, the Mirror

Labour’s alternative plan would put jobs and growth first. Instead of doing backroom deals with the banks on the disclosure of their pay, we would apply the bank bonus tax again. It brought in £3.5 billion last year which could be used this year to help create the jobs and growth we need. The lesson of history is that good economics is good politics. But when Chancellors put political ideology or expediency before economic logic, the country pays a heavy price. This Tory Chancellor and this Tory-led government are repeating the mistakes of the 1930s and 1980s, but they just keep ploughing on. They had a choice about which path to go down, and it is already becoming clear they have made the wrong choice.  It is not too late to change course. It is not too late for an alternative. And if they do not provide it to the British people, Ed Miliband and I will. Of course we do not oppose every cut, but the Tory-led government is cutting too far too fast. And over the coming weeks and months, we will hold them to account for the reckless gamble they have taken, and the historic mistake they have made. – Ed Balls

Coulson departure raises more questions

Gordon Brown has asked the police to investigate whether he was the victim of phone hacking, The Independent on Sundayhas learnt. Mr Brown has written at least one letter to the Metropolitan Police over concerns that his phone was targeted when he was Chancellor, during the latter stages of Andy Coulson’s reign as editor of the News of the World. Mr Brown’s aides last night declined to comment. It is understood that Scotland Yard sought clarification from the former prime minister after his request. Sources have told The IoS that Tony Blair, his predecessor as prime minister, had also asked police some months ago to investigate whether messages left by him had been the subject of hacking (he did not have his own mobile phone until after he left No 10). – Independent on Sunday

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Coulson falls on sword

Andy Coulson, one of the key members of David Cameron‘s inner circle, has resigned as Downing Street’s director of communications, saying the wave of allegations that he was involved in illegal phone hacking when editor of the News of the World made it impossible for him to continue. “When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it is time to move on,” Coulson said in a carefully crafted statement which had been in preparation for 48 hours. Downing Street insisted his departure was not precipitated by any fresh piece of damning evidence that would undercut Coulson’s claim he was unaware that phone hacking was prevalent at the News of the World under his editorship. Officials said the steady drip of allegations, and the likelihood that they would continue through civil court cases and possible police inquiries, was taking a toll on Coulson’s family and making it harder for him to focus. – the Guardian

Mr Coulson said the claims, which concerned his time as editor of the Sunday tabloid, meant he could not give the Prime Minister the “110 per cent needed”. The departure was a blow to Mr Cameron, who said that his aide had been “punished for the same offence twice”. Mr Coulson stood down as News of the World editor in 2007 soon after a reporter from his paper was jailed for phone hacking. The Prime Minister reluctantly agreed to accept the resignation on Wednesday evening, but it was not announced until yesterday because they had to finalise a timetable for his departure. The timing led to claims that the Government was trying to “bury bad news” while Tony Blair was appearing at the Iraq inquiry and the furore over Alan Johnson’s resignation was still dominating the news schedules. – the Telegraph (more…)

Lords settle in for more long nights

The House of Lords has something of a Mad Hatters’ tea party about it this week. Everyone is agitated. Everyone is angry. Everyone is in a hurry. No one knows what is going on. Flustered peers are threatening to stay up all night, and perhaps for several nights to come, as they debate government plans to hold a referendum on the alternative vote and reshape constituency boundaries. If nothing else, this is a bad way to make a good constitution. The standoff involves one of those dilemmas in which there is merit in the arguments from both sides, but over which neither wants to compromise. The government is doing what it promised in the coalition agreement, passing legislation to hold an early referendum on electoral change and reduce the number of MPs (though the cut is smaller than either the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives offered in their manifestos). The opposition makes the reasonable point that these changes have huge consequences, were barely debated in the Commons, and do not – apart from reasons of internal coalition balance – have to be in the same bill. – the Guardian

The party argues that the coalition is trying to hinder its chances at future elections, but ministers say the changes to seats are needed to make the system fairer and cheaper. Opening the peers’ debate on Monday, Lords leader Lord Strathclyde said the bill had already spent too long going through Parliament, having first been introduced to the Lords last November. He said: “The opposition have dragged their feet. They’ve had their fun.” He added: “The situation has become urgent because the Labour Party has decided to go on a marathon go-slow since we started the committee [to consider the bill].” But Labour’s Lord Falconer said: “This bill is motivated by party politics… It has been introduced without public consultation or pre-legislative scrutiny.” He added: “The bill runs to over 300 pages… It’s unlikely in the extreme that, uniquely among bills, it cannot be improved further by this house.”- the BBC (more…)

Cameron and Lansley criticised on NHS reform

The Prime Minister had been accused by Labour of insulting “millions of NHS staff” with his comments. Mr Cameron was defending the plans for reform of the National Health Service and the speed with which the shake-up is being introduced. In an interview, Mr Cameron said that patients should not have to settle for “second rate” healthcare. He corrected himself, fearing that health professionals would take a very dim view of his assessment. Labour seized on the slip with John Healey, the shadow health secretary, saying that improvements in the NHS were clear for everyone to see. He said: “David Cameron also seems to see the NHS as second rate when everybody else has seen big improvements by Labour in recent years and public satisfaction is now at an all time high. This is an insult to millions of NHS staff. – the Telegraph

The public will soon see for itself the dangers warned of by the medical profession, the Tory-led Commons health select committee, the royal colleges and the independent King’s Fund. The government has skilfully focused all attention on what seems most patient-friendly and easy to understand. Your trusted GP will be in charge of an £80bn budget for your care. Faceless bureaucrats in unknown primary care trusts will be swept away, half of all NHS managers sacked and replaced by your wise GP buying whatever you choose, with no diktats from above. In reality those commissioning services will be more distant from patients, as local PCTs are replaced by far larger clusters of consortiums – some run by the same managers expensively sacked and re-employed, but more by private companies. A survey by Pulse magazine found six out of 10 of the first consortiums are negotiating with private companies to run their referrals. It may or may not hold together, but at a time of famine the price tag is £2bn-£3bn: the real cost of these political re-disorganisations is never fully computed. – the Guardian (more…)