Newslinks for Tuesday 29th March 2011

9.30pm WATCH:

• No2AV's One Person One Vote Launch
• Labour's one-time Twitter 'tsar' Kerry McCarthy becomes the first MP ever to use an iPad as an aide memoire while speaking in the Commons

7pm ToryDiary: What questions should we ask in this month's grassroots survey?

6pm Parliament: David Ruffley spells out the dangers of increasing inflation

5.45pm Kimberley Trewhitt on Comment: The challenge of energy security

4pm WATCH: David Cameron opens the London Conference by emphasising the need to plan for the rebuilding of post-Gaddafi Libya

3.45pm Robert-John Tasker on Comment: The hypocrisy of the international anti-war coalition

3.15pm Parliament: Nicholas Soames calls for Lord Young of Graffham to be reinstated as health and safety adviser

1.30pm ToryDiary: Is Theresa May in danger of following the Labour edict that you react to problematic events by creating a new law?

12.45pm Andrew Lilico on Comment: There is an alternative to the Government's programme - deeper and faster cuts

11.45am WATCH: Ahead of today's London Conference, William Hague reiterates the need for Gaddafi to commit to a ceasefire in Libya

11.30am Local government: Brendan Barber also backed UK Uncut

10am WATCH: Eric Pickles tells the BBC that new transparency rules are making councils realise they have to justify their spending

ToryDiary: May is going to be an unhappy month for Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems

John Hayes MP on Comment: Building a highly-skilled workforce is critical to rebalancing the economy

Also on Comment, JP Floru asks: Will the Freedom Bill actually retain the Database of the Innocents?

Parliament: Peter Bone allows Work and Pensions Minister Maria Miller to bust Labour myths about disability benefits

Local Government:

• Free schools planned for Leeds, Enfield, Brentwood, Manchester... as Birbalsingh enters the fray
• Councillors urge cuts not to fall on the vulnerable

ThinkTankCentral: The Bow Group emphasises the need for detail from the Government if it is to avoid failure on public health policy

WATCH: Barack Obama insists that the UN-backed mission in Libya is not akin to the military operation Iraq

Ken Clarke to announce crackdown on the 'no win, no fee' lawyers

"Kenneth Clarke will today sound the death knell for 'no win, no fee' deals which encourage ambulance-chasing lawyers to pursue frivolous cases. Victorious solicitors will now have to take a share of the damages awarded, rather than claiming huge success fees. The Justice Secretary will also raise the maximum damages which can be awarded in small claims courts from £5,000 to £15,000." - Daily Mail

Sentencing Council proposes that "minor" drug runners may be spared jail

"Drug-runners caught with up to 100 Ecstasy tablets would not face jail under proposals published yesterday. A person carrying up to 50 grams of heroin or cocaine could also avoid prison if they are deemed to be a minor player in a drugs gang. Instead of jail, offenders would be ordered to do unpaid physical work in the community. Critics said the proposal, published by the Sentencing Council, would send the wrong message and show that the courts were going “soft”. - The Times (£)

David Cameron accused of not telling whole truth over EU bail-out

"David Cameron was accused yesterday of giving an “incomplete account” to MPs by failing to admit that the Conservatives agreed to British involvement in a controversial EU bail-out fund. The Prime Minister has insisted that the Tories argued against joining the £50billion fund to preserve the euro agreed by Alistair Darling, the former Chancellor, in the dying days of the last Labour government... But Mr Darling said Mr Cameron had given "a somewhat incomplete account of my conversation" with George Osborne, his successor as Chancellor, as a document emerged suggesting that "cross–party consensus" had been given." - Daily Telegraph

• Did Osborne's Treasury sign up to Darling bailouts? - Paul Waugh's blog

Allies meet for Libya conference in London today

"Members of the international community are to hold a meeting in London later to discuss the next steps for Libya amid the UN-backed military action. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped the meeting of about 40 delegations would ensure "maximum political and diplomatic unity". In a statement, the UK and France urged supporters of Muammar Gaddafi to "leave him before it is too late". - BBC

• Gaddafi must face a war crime trial not exile, insists Cameron - Daily Mail
• David Cameron keen to avoid repeat of Iraq's post-invasion chaos - Daily Telegraph

> Yesterday on ConHome:

• ToryDiary: The Government's Libyan policy dare not speak its name
• John Baron MP: It's quite clear that Cameron and Sarkozy have intervened in Libya to secure regime change but are not willing to admit it

Theresa May to review police powers in aftermath of Saturday's clashes

"Theresa May is to ask the police whether they need stronger powers to ban known hooligans from marches and to order the removal of face masks, in the aftermath of the violence following the anti-cuts protest on Saturday." - The Guardian

• Fears of crackdown on right to protest in wake of anti-cuts violence - The Independent
• Government to consider banning face coverings to deter anarchists during Royal wedding - Daily Mail
• Boris agrees to riot summit after protests - City AM

> Yesterday's coverage on ConHome:

• WATCH: Theresa May to consider giving police new powers to remove face coverings of protestors
• ToryDiary: Boris was right to link Labour with Saturday's disorder

Gove in partial U-turn on EMA after allowing schools to hand payments to poorest pupils

"Michael Gove was last night accused of doing a U-turn after he announced a new education allowance to help the poorest college-age teenagers. The £180million a year bursary scheme will replace the Education Maintenance Allowance, which  the Education Secretary scrapped last year. The scheme is worth less than half of the EMA, which had annual funding totalling £560million." - Daily Mail

> WATCH: Michael Gove tells Commons that he'll ensure poorest students are still helped through 16-to-19yo education

Conservative and Labour Foreign Office ministers unite to say NO2AV

"Those of us who have represented Britain internationally know that one of the many reasons why we have always punched above our weight is our simple and straightforward voting system, a system that everyone can understand, because it gives one person, one vote." - Letter in The Times (£) from William Hague, Margaret Beckett, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Hurd of Westwell, Lord Howe of Aberavon, Keith Vaz, Tony Lloyd and Caroline Flint

• AV 'will give BNP voters more say at ballot box' - Daily Mail

Tensions emerge in Coalition over tax

"There is surprisingly little disagreement between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on the desirability of getting rid of the 50p income tax rate but there is friction about how exactly the rich should be taxed on their mansions... Tension rose on Monday after Mr Clegg and Vince Cable, Lib Dem business secretary, interpreted Mr Osborne’s Budget as the start of a “liberal” retargeting of the tax system away from income and enterprise and towards “unearned wealth”." - FT (£)

• Treasury rejects Vince Cable's plan for 'mansion tax' levy to replace 50p income tax rate - Daily Mail

David Cameron reveals that Samantha inspired his plan for a new wave of entrepreneurs

"Samantha Cameron was a major inspiration behind the Prime Minister’s attempt to encourage a new generation of British entrepreneurs. David Cameron said his wife wanted to set up her own business after leaving Downing Street and that he went to sleep and woke up with an entrepreneur. He made the remarks as he announced an initiative called “start up Britain” and declared the country “open for business” following last week’s Budget, which cut taxes and red tape for entrepreneurial firms. Yesterday, 39 entrepreneurs wrote to The Daily Telegraph to back the Government’s measures." - Daily Telegraph

> Nadhim Zahawi MP on Comment yesterday: StartUpBritain will help a new generation of entrepreneurs

Rachel Sylvester: Ailing NHS reforms will face radical surgery

"At their spring conference this month the Liberal Democrats voted overwhelmingly against the coalition’s plan for the NHS. In the Commons Conservative MPs are increasingly nervous, with Sarah Wollaston, a former GP, leading Tory opposition to the reforms. In the Lords, “Shirl the Pearl” Williams has joined forces with Robert Winston, the fertility expert, to try to ensure that the proposals are blocked. Even in the Cabinet it’s hard to find anyone who really believes that this is the right time to tear up the NHS... Something’s got to give and it may be about to." - The Times (£)

• Alan Milburn: Labour will contest, not concede, on NHS reform - The Guardian

Public could be given vote in Labour leadership elections

"Members of the public registering as individual Labour supporters could be given a vote in leadership elections and possibly at party conference. The proposals for reforming the party's structure and culture, to be outlined by leader Ed Miliband and the chair of the national policy forum, Peter Hain, are potentially far broader than expected, according to Hain." - The Guardian

Steve Richards: It's time for Miliband to tell us where Labour is heading

"Ed Miliband needs to make a very big speech. In it, he must outline Labour's broad alternative to the Coalition's economic policies and its related view of the state. He needs to make the speech, or series of big speeches, by this summer or else become trapped in a caricature defined by his various and many opponents." - The Independent

> Yesterday on LeftWatch: Labour is "in serious danger of losing economic credibility" warns Tom Bradby, ITN's Political Editor

News and Comment in brief

• Baroness Newlove says residents should be able to set speed limits on local roads - BBC
• Mary Riddell: Turning his back on the family is a betrayal David Cameron will regret - Daily Telegraph
• Nick Clegg to lead UK charm offensive in Latin America - The Guardian
• Ed Miliband and Charles Kennedy to unite on pro-AV platform today - Press Association
• Decline in student numbers will cost treasury nearly £4bn - The Times (£)
• Boris Johnson announces £50m fund for outer London - BBC

And finally... Poll finds MEPs are the least trusted people in Britain - Daily Express