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

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