Newslinks for Sunday 26th February 2012

5.30pm WATCH: Fears grow that Lib Dems will veto boundary changes if Tories veto elected House of Lords

2.45pm Nicholas Rogers on Comment: Trust, direction, integrity - what we will need from elected Police Commissioners

Noon WATCH: Liam Fox: "There is the perception that Lib Dems are far more free to voice what they want"

11.15am ToryDiary: George Osborne says he is willing to give more money to the IMF - if €urozone members contribute

ToryDiary: It's time for business to fight for the right to work!

Columnist Nadine Dorries MP: We need tighter regulation of abortion

Mark Lancaster MP on Comment: The Government needs to overhaul adoption.  For some families, one more chance is a chance too many.

MPsETC: Stewart Jackson MP's review of the parliamentary week

Local Government: 

• Kirklees and Calderdal Conservatives have radical plan to share services
• Livingstone uses loophole to avoid £50,000 of tax
• Lib Dem councillor joins with NUT to attack academies

WATCH: Russia opposition supporters rally against Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg

Cameron meeting with MPs dominated by an "absolute determination to govern alone"

"Cameron told his colleagues they were in a ‘full-time campaign’ to win over the public. One of those present says that the meeting was marked by an ‘absolute determination to govern alone’ after 2015. The focus was on which voters the party needs to win over to get a majority and how it can do that. Even those in the Cameron circle who once flirted with the idea of an electoral alliance with the Liberal Democrats are now keen to be free of the constraints of coalition." - James Forsyth for the Mail on Sunday

• Cameron in stitches at 'Don't be beastly to Liberals' spoof - Mail on Sunday

40 Tory MPs sign letter supporting Lansley's NHS reforms

"SIR – As members of the recently formed 301 group of Conservative MPs, we support the principles of the Health and Social Care Bill, which shows a commitment by the Coalition to deliver better NHS services and improve patient care." - signed by 40 Tory MPs including Nick Boles, Matt Hancock and Priti Patel - Sunday Telegraph

• Sunday Telegraph editorial endorses reforms, but says "No one is better placed than Mr Lansley to pilot his reforms through Parliament. But once the Bill has become law, it may be time for the Prime Minister to consider replacing him with someone who is better able to convince the public of the wisdom of the changes."

But Andrew Rawnsley reports "serious" Cabinet concerns about health reforms

"There is mounting and serious alarm in the highest reaches of the cabinet about the trouble they have got into over health. There is continuing, almost complete and unanimous confidence that they are moving in the right direction on welfare and work. For there is one crucial difference between the two. On health, they have lost public opinion even before the plan is implemented." - Andrew Rawnsley for the Observer

• Doctors to vote on industrial action in protest at changes to pensions - Independent on Sunday
• Three key royal colleges prepare to pull the plug on David Cameron's NHS Bill - Sunday Mirror
• Labour urges Liberal Democrat peers to halt NHS bill - BBC
• Critic of Health Bill claims Lansley 'smear' - Independent on Sunday
• Ed Miliband writes for the Sunday Mirror on disastrous NHS reforms - Sunday Mirror

George Osborne blocks new council tax on the rich

"Calls for new council tax bands for the most valuable properties are expected to be rejected by the Treasury. Ministers believe it would be too expensive and complicated to devise a scheme to force owners of the most expensive homes to pay more. The move would also involve reneging on a Tory general election pledge not to revalue properties for council tax. ... George Osborne, the chancellor, is thought to have ruled out introducing a so-called “mansion tax” on properties worth more than £2m." - Sunday Times (£)

• "Nick Clegg is targeting Tory voters for higher property taxes - but why are David Cameron and George Osborne pandering to him?" - Iain Martin for the Sunday Telegraph
• Top 1% of earners pay 30% of tax - Sunday Times (£)

Tory Free Enterprise Group urges more spending cuts and new tax cuts - and plans new book on Britain's competitiveness

"The group, which will hold a summit on growth with the Institute of Economic Affairs, wants Osborne to re-examine spending decisions across government departments. The welfare budget and red tape are likely to be prime targets. It is also expected that Andrew Tyrie, Tory chairman of the Treasury select committee, will use the meeting to renew his criticism that Osborne lacks a coherent long-term strategy to stimulate growth." - Observer

• "Key members of the Free Enterprise Group are writing a book, to be published on the eve of Tory conference, calling for Britain to reassert its place in the world. Called Britannia Unchained, it is a follow-up to After the Coalition, a provocative manifesto for a Tory-majority government after the 2015 election." - Independent on Sunday

Iain Duncan Smith blames "anarchists" for row over Government workfare scheme

"Duncan Smith dismissed the protests as the “militant actions of a small bunch of anarchists” and insisted the government would press ahead. “The critics of the work experience programme represent a minority of people who think rights come before responsibilities. This cannot be allowed to harm the prospects of the overwhelming number of decent young people who are desperate for work experience to give them a chance at securing jobs and to gain their financial freedom,” said Duncan Smith." - Sunday Times (£)

• Tories order police to halt workfare demos as Priti Patel makes formal protest to BBC over bias in favour of hard-left militants - Mail on Sunday
• Chris Grayling's workfare scheme deserves support from business - Matthew d'Ancona for the Sunday Telegraph
• The Government should stand up to the rent-a-mob campaign against unpaid work experience - Janet Daley
• "The identities of hard-left militants orchestrating a campaign to undermine a Government scheme providing youngsters with work experience can be exposed today." - Sunday Telegraph

Tory backbenchers are ready to rebel against Lords reform

"In a move that could plunge the coalition into crisis, Conservative MPs opposed to elected peers have begun gathering names for a rebellion. ... A Tory backbencher involved in the plans for a revolt said: “There is huge strength of feeling on this among Tory MPs. It would be a constitutional outrage to use the Parliament Act to force it through.”" - Sunday Times (£)

• "At least 20 Lib Dem peers are to join forces with rebel Conservatives and vote against Mr Clegg's plans for an elected chamber." - Sunday Telegraph

"He just went for me and head-butted me on the nose" - Stuart Andrew MP talks about his encounter with Labour's Eric Joyce

"Tory Stuart Andrew says Eric Joyce was seized by a policeman after grabbing his tie and pushing him against a wall, but persuaded the constable to let him go, saying: 'You can't do that, I'm an MP.' It was then that former soldier Mr Joyce head-butted Mr Andrew, according to the injured MP. 'The police held him but let him go for a minute. He just went for me and head-butted me on the nose. My nose was bleeding heavily. I kept holding it and grabbed a tissue from somewhere.'" - Mail on Sunday

• Labour anxious to avoid by-election over Joyce bust-up - Independent on Sunday

Two Sunday columnists, John Rentoul and new Sun on Sunday writer Toby Young, back Michael Gove to become Prime Minister

• "He has a confidence and an ideological clarity that make him formidable. That ideology is the purest essence of Blairism, which might not be obviously popular but which has the advantage of being right." - John Rentoul for the Independent on Sunday
• "In a rash moment, I bet Nigella Lawson a large sum of money in 2003 that Boris would be leader of the Conservative Party within 15 years. That bet's looking safer now. However, in a three-way contest between Boris, Osborne and Gove, my money would be on Gove." - Toby Young for the Sun on Sunday

Dominic Raab MP to introduce legislation stopping tyrants entering Britain

"If the government has evidence that a state official is responsible for torture, extrajudicial killing or some other grotesque human rights abuse — or is complicit in covering it up — he or she will be banned from receiving a US visa, their assets in America will be frozen and their names will be published... This week... I will be applying for a debate in the Commons to vote in favour of an equivalent British law." - Dominic Raab MP for the Sunday Times (£)

• "The operation to monitor the extremist cleric Abu Qatada is costing the taxpayer £100,000 a week — 100 times the cost of keeping him in his former high-security prison cell." - Sunday Times (£)

Harriet Harman's law on equality "is anti-Christian" and unacceptable - Mail on Sunday

Charles Clarke interview: "I could have done better than Gordon Brown" - Sunday Telegraph

• "Accusing Ed Miliband of failing to present a coherent vision, Mr Clarke warns the party: "We need to have a clear narrative of what we did right and what we did wrong. We're not remotely near that."" - Sunday Telegraph

Scottish independence referendum date will be October 18, 2014 - Sun on Sunday

Black Watch and other historic regiments at risk due to Army cuts

"Apart from the Black Watch and Green Howards, the Highlanders in Scotland and the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in northern England are at risk... The Scots Guards and the Coldstream Guards, the army’s oldest regiment, have also lacked recruits, which could jeopardise their futures or lead to amalgamation." - Sunday Times (£)

• Lib Dems hunt for a "tuppenny Trident" - Sunday Times (£)

Ken Livingstone uses loophole to save £50,000 in tax - Sunday Telegraph

British staff withdrawn from Afghan government after shootings in interior ministry - Sunday Telegraph

German cabinet minister calls for Greek euro exit - Sunday Telegraph

Plan to charge for Big Ben tours sparks ding-dong with MPs - Independent on Sunday

Syria votes on new constitution referendum amid unrest - BBC

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Saturday 25th February 2012

3pm Sir Andrew Green on Comment: Net migration will fall, despite this week's figures. But will it fall enough for the Government to hit its target?

1.15pm MPsETC: In the wake of Eric Joyce's arrest, is it time for a new understanding of MPs?

12.45pm WATCH: George Eustice MP on workfare opponents: "This is a small number of people orchestrating a campaign... a handful of communists"

ToryDiary: Why the Government is winning the gay marriage debate

Mark Field MP on Comment: The new economic thinking is coming from the East

John Moss on Local Government: Some difficult facts about implementing a Mansion Tax

Also on Local Government:

• Rationing for new free schools must end
• Councils in Wales should have freedom of worship too
• Survey shows bureaucrats want end to Council Tax freeze offer

WATCH: William Hague: "We have to intensify the pressure" on the Syrian regime

Osborne insists there will be no cuts to fuel duty

"George Osborne has reportedly ruled out any cuts to fuel duty in next month's budget... Diesel prices hit 143.5p this week and a planned rise in fuel duty in the forthcoming budget has led to calls for protests at Westminster next month. The Chancellor... is set to raise fuel duty by 3p in August, after having deferred the rise from January. But his aides have said that the rise must go ahead as planned, in order to fund business tax cuts demanded by many in the Conservative Party." - Independent | FT (£)

Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs demand a Budget slashing taxes and red tape to kickstart growth

"The Free Enterprise Group of 36 MPs, most of whom were elected in 2010, is calling for George Osborne to pledge now to cut the 50p top rate of income tax before the General Election. ... Mr Osborne has signalled his tacit support for the exercise by despatching his Parliamentary aide Sajid Javid to take notes at the meeting. The MPs also want to slash red tape that is deterring businesses from hiring. They are calling for firms with fewer than ten employees to be excluded from unfair dismissal laws to encourage them to create jobs." - Daily Mail

• Osborne's Budget is shaping up to be a battle for the soul of the Coalition - Andrew Grice

> From yesterday - Bruce Anderson: Which of these two budget speeches is Osborne more likely to deliver?

Chris Grayling accuses left-wing activists of hijacking his email account

"Employment minister Chris Grayling said activists used his official Commons account to send complaints to Tesco for giving young people a chance. He said: "I only discovered it when I got an automated reply from Tesco thanking me for my comments." He revealed the scam as he defended giving unemployed youngsters four weeks' unpaid work experience. The hard-left Socialist Workers Party has spearheaded a campaign to target firms taking part, including Tesco." - The Sun

• Companies get cold feet over ‘slave labour’ work experience - The Times (£)
• Far-Left groups behind drive to sabotage work experience for young - Daily Telegraph
• Now Cameron's ex-jobs tsar quits her own company - Independent
• Burger King leaves work experience scheme for jobless - BBC
• Jobseekers forced to clean private homes and offices for nothing - Guardian
• A retreat on workfare would fail our young - Telegraph editorial

> Yesterday on MPsETC: John Hayes displays his passion for apprenticeships in the House Magazine

MPs consider plan to give anti-abortion groups role in pregnancy counselling

"A cross-party group of MPs, set up by the public health minister Anne Milton after last September's vote against proposals by the Tory MP Nadine Dorries, is looking at plans that could give anti-abortion groups an official role. The MPs have been presented with three policy options... One option is to make no change while another resembles Dorries' original proposals, which would have prevented abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) from providing counselling services." - Guardian

'Bloated' House of Lords will soon have 1,000 members, Mark Harper warns

"Cabinet Office minister Mark Harper launched a provocative attack on the ‘absurd’ Upper House. Mr Harper – Nick Clegg’s deputy at the Cabinet Office – insisted that the Government intends to sweep away centuries of history by replacing it with an elected chamber. He warned fellow Conservatives, who are threatening to rebel against the plans, that the party committed to Lords reform in its election manifesto. He also revealed the Prime Minister is prepared to use the Parliament Act, which allows the Commons to overrule the Lords, to force changes into law even if the Lords refuses to agree." - Daily Mail

David Willetts defends appointment of Les Ebdon in Times interview

"Offa is, he insists, critical to improving social mobility by widening the type of people who go to the best universities. Mr Willetts not only defends Professor Ebdon but says he, together with Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, chose him. “We were presented with three candidates and Les was the candidate who came from the world of universities and understood it. He will be working within the framework of agreed policy.”" - Full interview at the Times (£)

• "The courses on offer at his institution do not include traditional degree courses... Instead, there is a less-than-scholastic two-year course in carnival arts — teaching undergraduates how to design costumes and allowing them ‘to take part in Europe’s  largest one-day carnival: the Luton International Carnival’." - Much more in a Daily Mail profile of Ebdon
• "This week’s worst example of the Lib Dem tail wagging the Tory dog has, however, been the appointment, at Vince Cable’s insistence, of Professor Les Ebdon as director of the Office of Fair Access — the so-called ‘tsar’ whose job is to help youngsters from poor backgrounds go to university." - Simon Heffer

Charles Moore: Free schools are breaking down the barrier to a decent education for all

"[Michael Gove] has built a coalition of advisers and friends who see how much he cares and so want to help him. They are, in that sense, unfashionably ideological. They have a project and – which helps morale – an enemy. They resemble the people, in the early 1980s, many of them Left-wing in origin, who were desperate to break the power of trade union leaders like Arthur Scargill so that ordinary members could regain their rights. They get the feeling that they are winning." - Charles Moore

> From yesterday - WATCH: Michael Gove - my own story as an adopted child

Lib Dem "Equality" Minister Lynne Featherstone: It's not for the Church to decide who can marry

"Lynne Featherstone directly challenges the role of the Church in the debate over homosexual weddings, saying it does not “own” marriage. Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Miss Featherstone says the Government has a right to change the definition of marriage and pledges to challenge those who “want to leave tradition alone”." - Daily Telegraph

• This is not gay rights versus religious beliefs - Lynne Featherstone for the Daily Telegraph

Lib Dem mischief: Tim Farron says NHS Bill should have been axed 'far earlier'

"Tim Farron said it would be “stupid” to ignore the concerns of doctors and other professionals over the proposed changes to the NHS and called on the House of Lords to force the government to back down. ... Mr Farron said: “Lots of us are guilty for allowing it to get as far as it has done now. Basically this should have been dealt with far earlier in the cycle." - Daily Telegraph

• Tory document warns of chaos if health reforms are dropped - Guardian
• The Lib Dem carcass-to-be isn't ready to give up just yet - Jonathan Freedland

Eric Joyce's antics may call time on the cheap parliamentary pint - Marina Hyde

• "A TORY MP caught up in the fracas in a Commons bar that saw Labour's Eric Joyce nicked said yesterday: "I sort of feel sorry for him."" - The Sun

SSE says independence referendum is creating economic "uncertainty"

"SSE, previously known as Scottish and Southern Energy, said it has “no alternative” but to take into account the “additional risk” of separation when deciding whether to press ahead with energy projects north of the Border. Although the company will not declare a moratorium on an estimated £3.5 billion of schemes that are already in the pipeline, the referendum makes it less likely they will get the go-ahead." - Daily Telegraph

> From yesterday - Mark Menzies MP on Comment: In defence of the Union - a cause for common concern

 Graeme Archer: The strange left-wing priorities of Britain's first Green council

"But imagine you’re Britain’s first Green council. What would you wish to be remembered for? Isn’t it just possible you’d want to make a positive environmental impact on your city? How, then, to explain a key proposal of its flagship budget, to raise the charges on city allotments by an astonishing two thirds? What were they thinking? “Let’s put up tax and make it harder for people without gardens to grow their own vegetables.” Perhaps allotment holders aren’t, like, radical enough." - Graeme Archer for the Daily Telegraph

• "Greens leader Caroline Lucas has attacked the biggest UK parties and urged members to "have confidence" in the party's future." - BBC

> Yesterday on Local Government: Council Tax freeze agreed for Brighton & Hove

Downing Street endorses tree scrapping at Portcullis House - Independent

Extradited businessman Christopher Tappin says Qatada is better protected by Britain - Daily Telegraph

The World War Three files: For 30 years the papers have been kept secret. Now, the extraordinary story of how Whitehall drew up terrifyingly detailed plans for nuclear armageddon can finally be revealed - Daily Mail

 > Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.

Newslinks for Friday 24th February 2012

6pm Local Government: Stirling and Three Rivers latest Council Tax cutters

5pm No. 10 pressing on with NHS reforms and William Hague's recognition of Syrian opposition lead our teatime newslinks

4.45pm Health Minister Simon Burns MP on Comment: The NHS is improving all the time. But to continue to improve, we must press on with reform.

2pm Local Government: Council Tax freeze agreed for Brighton & Hove

1.15pm Brandon Lewis MP on Comment: It's time to improve our railway stations

Noon ConHomeUSA: Polling shows a Romney-Santorum toss-up in Michigan

11am Local Government: Watch Boris's Age UK hustings speech

10am WATCH: Michael Gove - my own story as an adopted child

Q: "Do you ever want to trace your birth mother?"

A: "If I were to try to trace my birth mother I would in a way be suggesting to my mum that somehow the love that she's given me isn't complete."

ToryDiary: The Times reports Number 10 "negotiating" new community punishments with Clarke.  Could Cameron break up the Ministry of Justice?

Columnist Bruce Anderson: Which of these two budget speeches is Osborne more likely to deliver?

Mark Menzies MP on Comment: In defence of the Union - a cause for common concern

Local Government:

• Conservative councillors conference sees call to act against pilgrims
• Shadow Cabinet member backs free school

MPsETC: John Hayes displays his passion for apprenticeships in the House Magazine - while referring to St Augustine, Aquinas, Hegel, Burke...

WATCH: Ten years of Policy Exchange

Cameron's back to work tsar quits...

"Emma Harrison dramatically quit yesterday following a string of fraud allegations against her firm. She said she was stepping down immediately as the Prime Minister’s ‘family champion’ to avoid becoming a ‘distraction’. Her company A4e, which earns hundreds of millions of pounds from Government contracts, is at the centre of two police investigations." - Daily Mail

Expelled former UKIP MEP Nikki Sinclair arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud the European Parliament - Daily Mail

More Prime Minister news and comment:

• Five Cameron summits in a fortnight, three this week, one yesterday (on Somalia) - Daily Mail
• "David Cameron signalled his support for attacks [on Somalia] as part of an international effort against the fanatics. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Western air strikes would "not be a good idea"." - The Sun
• Business chiefs welcome Cameron speech - Financial Times (£)
• "David Cameron yesterday gave a typically bold defence of profit-makers, but he missed an opportunity. He could have – should have – put the A4e scandal into perspective, and explained that this is part of the process. There will be scandals along the way, but that is the price of reform. If a thousand flowers bloom, a few weeds are certain to crop up as well.  Fraud is a grim fact of human life…The main difference is that the private sector is significantly better at uncovering it." - Fraser Nelson, Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday: WATCH - Cameron gives upbeat assessment of Somalia's prospects at London conference

...And Downing Street officials step in.  Prime Minister pressing longer curfews and more tag plans on Ministry of Justice.

"David Cameron is planning tough new community punishments under which criminals face draconian restrictions on their movements. Offenders would be sentenced to “virtual prison”, curfewed for 16 hours a day with the threat of being taken back to court if they break the terms of their house arrest. Judges and magistrates would also be given powers to confiscate criminals’ passports and driving licences as part of the sentence. No 10 officials set out the plans during negotiations with Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, over toughening up non-custodial sentences." - The Times (£)

More law and order news and comment:

• All three heads of the main agencies charged with tackling white-collar crime will have left their posts by the end of the year - Financial Times (£)
• Philip Davies MP discovers that Freed mentally-ill patients have committed 200 crimes - The Sun
• May locks them up, Clarke lets them out (but she also lets them in) - The Times (£)

Net migration into Britain rose to 250,000 last year

"Britain's population soared by a quarter of a million in just 12 months thanks to immigration, official figures revealed yesterday... The figure has shot up from 235,000 for the year to June 2010, just after the Coalition came to power. The data, which shatters the Government’s promise to slash immigration, comes as the UK’s population races towards 70 million. Fewer people are emigrating while increasing numbers continue to settle here." - Daily Express

• "The PM must do whatever it takes to bring this figure down, tightening border controls and cracking down on non-EU visas." - Sun Editorial

Prime Minister's father-in-law plan to force through Lords reform

"Peers have threatened to repeatedly send reform legislation back to the Commons, and even block other legislation in protest. But Mr Cameron is considering preventing that by including a reform Bill in the Queen’s Speech, expected in May, passing it through the Commons and then suspending it when the Lords rejects it for the first time. The Government would announce at that stage that it intends to use the Parliament Act to force the proposals into law at the start of the next session in 2013." - Daily Mail

“There are too many ****ing Tories in here" - Joyce's words before he allegedly head-butted Stuart Andrew and punched a Labour Whip.  He faces three assault charges.

“There was blood spilled. It was like the Wild West in there,” one MP said. Mr Joyce was suspended from the Labour Party ­yesterday pending a police investigation into assault allegations. The 51-year-old backbencher, a former Scottish judo champion, was alleged to have head-butted and punched Tory MP Stuart Andrew in Parliament’s Strangers’ Bar, which is subsidised by taxpayers…Witnesses said five Commons security officials struggled to restrain him and a glass door was smashed as they hauled him away." - Daily Express

Commons booze n' violence Fleet Street special:

• Labour MP fisticuffs history: Paul Farrelly brawled with newspaper seller. Bob Marshall-Andrews and Jim Dowd had to be pulled apart - Daily Express
• "In the old days, violence among MPs was almost as common as it is on Friday night in a British city centre. I recall an MP, still in the Commons, who decked a Scottish reporter after he didn't like something the chap had written. Tom Swain, a former miner and fairground boxer, once slugged Norman Tebbit – at the back of the chamber, in full view of everyone. A press reception held by Eric Pickles ended in a punch-up." - Simon Hoggart, The Guardian
• The arrest of the MP Eric Joyce has shone a light on Parliament’s drinking culture - The Times Editorial (£)
• Canning missed rival Castlereagh in Putney Heath pistol duel and was wounded in the thigh by the latter's third shot - Financial Times (£)

Hague joins local rally against NHS cuts

"William Hague is to join a mass protest against NHS cuts — despite publicly backing Andrew Lansley's health reforms.  The demo is in the Foreign Secretary's North Yorkshire constituency on May 5. Mr Hague opposes plans to cut kids' care and maternity services at Friarage Hospital in Northallerton. The Richmond MP will add-ress up to 5,000 protesters at a rally and march in the town." - The Sun

• Lib Dem peers table package of amendments to health bill - The Guardian

I'll make it illegal to block mixed-race adoption, says Gove

"The law is to be changed to stop councils blocking mixed-race adoptions as part of radical reforms to ensure children are removed from unfit parents more quickly. Education Secretary Michael Gove said there was ‘horrifying’ evidence that youngsters were being left in dangerous homes for too long.  Mr Gove, who was adopted at four months, said he wants many more children to be adopted before the age of one." - Daily Mail

Chancellor "moves on wealthy who dodge paying homes taxes"

"George Osborne is set to disappoint Liberal Democrats who are pressing him to deliver a massive windfall in the Budget from tighter stamp duty rules. The Chancellor is poised to make it harder to move properties offshore and so dodge tax by transferring ownership into companies — but the sums recouped will fall far short of the near £1 billion a year that Nick Clegg’s team is looking for to help to fund tax cuts for low earners." - The Times (£)

• Let's have a land tax - Samuel Brittan, Financial Times (£)
• How I punished Osborne over autumn statement leaks - John Bercow House Magazine interview

Yesterday:

• MajorityConservatism: Tim Montgomerie calls for George Osborne to announce Shock-and-awe" tax cuts in next month's Budget, financed by a triple source of January's surplus, faster spending cuts... and wealth taxes
• ToryDiary: Paul Goodman warns of a "backlash from natural Conservative voters" if spending isn't cut further - and in consequence there's too much budget tax-rise pain to bear
• Lord Flight on Comment: Deficit financing might get a lot harder so Osborne should cut faster now

Police called in over sex selection abortions. Nadine Dorries calls on NHS watchdog to act  - Daily Telegraph

The Commons agrees 5.2% increase in benefits as millions prepare for wage freezes - Daily Mail

Former poet laureate warns that two thirds of rural England will be at the "mercy of developers" - Daily Telegraph

Blue Labour guru Maurice Glasman drops plan to write Sun on Sunday column on the advice of Ed Miliband - The Guardian

And finally…Samantha Cameron pounds the streets in black tracksuit bottoms, a black t-shirt and green hooded top - Daily Mail

> Please use the thread below to provide links to news topics likely to be of interest to ConservativeHome readers and to comment on political topics that haven't been given their own blog. Read our comments policy here.