Newslinks for Sunday 29th January 2012

5pm MPsETC: There needs to be a collective approach to ensure cyber security, says Mark Field MP

12.30pm Megan Moore on Comment: The Archbishop of York doesn't deserve to be called a "bigot" by Twitter's intolerants

ToryDiary: Tory voters want a mansions tax. Mail and Sun oppose Hester's bonus. Is Cameron on the wrong side of the wealth issue?

Columnist Ruth Lea: We are facing a national economic emergency. Where is the boldness?

Daniel Byles MP on Comment: Britain must find £200 billion to keep the lights on

Local government: The 10 local authorities with the highest percentage of failing schools

• Also on Local government: Labour leader of Wirral Council faces no confidence vote

WATCH: Cameron must stop RBS Chief's bonus, says Ed Miliband

ConHomeUSA video: Herman Cain endorses Newt Gingrich at Palm Beach County event

Cameron facing the heat over Hester bonus

- Ed Miliband's tweet last night

• "The Prime Minister's reluctance to interfere with the bonus system of taxpayer-owned banks is a far cry from his pledges while in opposition" - Independent on Sunday
• "Cameron is the man who took on Gaddafi, vetoed an EU treaty, imposed cuts across Whitehall, risked his MPs’ wrath over expenses and challenged his party to transform itself. Why, then, did he let a bunch of bankers face him down? The line between realism and powerlessness is thin, indeed." - Matthew d'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph

Size of Hester's future bonuses becomes issue

"The revelation that Hester could receive future bonuses worth almost eight times that figure will make it extremely difficult for No 10 and the Treasury to continue to resist calls to intervene. As a majority shareholder in the bank, the government could use its vote at the company’s annual general meeting to overrule all the payments, which are discretionary." - Sunday Times (£)

• Now RBS boss to get ANOTHER £8m bonus as he racks up £35.5m (and counting) in earnings from the taxpayer in just three years - Mail on Sunday
• "It has taken several days for the full obscene scale of Mr Hester's pay to be brought into the light of day" - Independent on Sunday leader
• Pay fair tax and you can keep your bonus - Martin Ivens in The Sunday Times (£)

"Monstrous"; The People likens Stephen Hester to Addams Family’s Uncle Fester

- The People

• Banker-bashing will hurt the UK economy, warns The Sunday Telegraph: "The British economy needs an efficient and effective financial sector – and it will not have one unless it can offer rates of pay that are competitive internationally. If not, the loss to the nation will greatly outweigh any proceeds from the present epidemic of banker-bashing."

> Yesterday's video: It is for Stephen Hester to decide whether he will accept his bonus from RBS, says Cameron

Conservative MPs Bernard Jenkin, Andrea Leadsom and John Redwood express concerns about EU veto developments - Sunday Times (£)

Tory MPs fear Cameron may be "backsliding" on his EU veto - Iain Martin in The Sunday Telegraph

In a leader The Sunday Telegraph regrets Cameron's decision to allow erosion of his veto.

> Yesterday's ToryDiary: Has the veto died?

• What Cameron should say at the EU summit - John Redwood
• David Cameron must realise that the Strasbourg Court has no democratic right to overrule us - Alasdair Palmer in The Sunday Telegraph
• "We could be on the brink of a new era of prosperity driven by China, India, Brazil and much of the rest of the emerging world..." says The Sunday Times (£) but the €uro must sort itself out.

Cameron rejects big increase in tax powers for Scotland - Scotland on Sunday

• Alistair Darling, Annabel Goldie and Charles Kennedy are tipped by David Torrance to defend the Union - Scotland on Sunday
• If the Union referendum were held south of the border, Alex Salmond would be more likely to get his way - Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has thanked the British people for sacrificing "blood and treasure" for the future of his country - BBC

Government ambitions to dramatically expand the number of private colleges risk being defeated by an overzealous Home Office crackdown on immigration - Independent on Sunday

Battered Lansley certain of victory in NHS fight - Sunday Times (£)

• Andrew Lansley forced into further concessions on planned health reforms - Observer

In article for The Sunday Times, Home Office minister Nick Herbert looks forward to elected police chief

"On November 15 the public will elect police and crime commissioners for the 41 forces outside London in England and Wales. We have already given the mayor of London direct responsibility for the Metropolitan police. For the first time the public will have a say over policing priorities. Commissioners will set the policing plan and the budget. Chief constables will answer to their commissioners who, in turn, will answer to their electorate." - Nick Herbert in The Sunday Times (£)

Plans for a second Coalition agreement have been jettisoned as ministers struggle to sustain their existing reforms - Independent on Sunday

His government may be flaky on detail, but the Prime Minister has the people behind him on welfare reform and Europe - John Rentoul in the Independent on Sunday

Labour-run councils want the eight million people living alone to pay the same rate as couples or households with several working adults - Sunday Express

"What has possessed Labour council leaders to push for the abolition of the single person discount on council tax? By their very nature single-person households are highly likely to have a smaller income than one shared by a couple, on top of which this category includes widows, single parents and pensioners, the very people Labour is always making a song and dance about." - Sunday Express leader

Labour in brief:

• 30% of Labour voters back David Miliband for their leader; same as Ed - People
• Ed and Yvette cook up 'lasagne-gate' dinner party plot to unseat Ed Miliband from Labour leadership - Mail on Sunday
• Andy Burnham warns David Cameron against middle class aspirations like the happiness agenda when people are struggling - Observer
• Ken Livingstone's campaign to be mayor of London hit by in-fighting - Sunday Telegraph
• Smacking ban led to riots, says David Lammy MP, because parents fear children will be taken away if they discipline them - Mail on Sunday
• Diane Abbott 'fell asleep in key Westminster debate on abortion laws' - Mail on Sunday
• Frank Field wants lower welfare cap for single people and couples without children - Sunday Times (£)

The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee called on ministers to look again at reform of party political funding - BBC

Sir Richard Branson wanted us to join the €uro; he now wants to sell drugs in supermarkets - Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday

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