Newslinks for Sunday 15th September 2013
7.30pm WATCH: Vince for leader! Coalition with Labour in 2015! Higher taxes! Meet the Lib Dem Councillors
4pm LeftWatch: Further evidence that Ed Balls wants the economy to fail, so he can succeed
1.45pm ToryDiary: "The Swiss story is precisely what British eurosceptics need. We must put forward a positive, viable vision for our future without the EU - and we must be able to rebut the unfounded fears raised bythe project's fanatics, whether they are talking down Britain's economic capabilities or threatening the prospect of a re-run of World War One." Switzerland shows that life outside the EU isn't just possible, it can be better
11am ToryDiary: What Party members want most from Cameron is a little bit of love
ToryDiary: "Suddenly, when your job involves deciding to support one policy or another rather than supporting both in different leaflets across the country at the same election, you can be pinned down. You have to be one thing, not all things, to voters - and you have to take responsibility your decisions." The problem with the Lib Dems: No-one likes them, and they do care
On Comment, Lord Ashcroft presents his latest polling: "The encouraging news for the Tories, such as it is, is that Labour have made no further progress in their top targets seats than they had when I conducted a similar exercise in 2011...Despite this, Labour’s lead in these seats has grown from nine to 14 points over the last two years, largely because of the defection of Tory voters to UKIP." UKIP's ratings in Conservative-Labour marginals threaten to put Miliband in Number 10
Lib Dem Conference 1: Jeremy Browne calls on colleagues to be proud of the Coalition
"Ministers fear Lib Dem activists at the party’s annual conference, which starts this weekend in Glasgow, are set to rebel against key Government policies and may vote to reinstate the 50p rate introduced by Labour weeks before it lost power in 2010. ‘The fundamental question for Liberal Democrats gathering for conference is this: are we proud of our Government or ashamed of it?’ Mr Browne said. His remarks will be seen as a rebuke to colleagues on the Left of the party – including Business Secretary Vince Cable and president Tim Farron – who have begun to complain publicly about coalition policies." - Mail on Sunday
- Clegg fends off criticism from Oakeshott and Opik - Mail on Sunday
- Vince adds to pressure for a Minimum Wage increase - Mail on Sunday
- Lib Dems could recover under Clegg - Adam Boulton, Sunday Times (£)
- Oh, stop moaning - Sunday Times Leader (£)
- Today's politicians are pygmies - Sunday Times (£)
>Today: ToryDiary - The problem with the Lib Dems: No-one likes them, and they do care
>Yesterday: ToryDiary - A plastic bag tax would hit the poor and small shops but wouldn't help the environment
Lib Dem Conference 2: Could the Lib Dems cosy up to Labour?
"Liberal Democrat members are demanding Nick Clegg make a deal with Labour at the next election, an exclusive poll has revealed. The extraordinary poll will put pressure on the Deputy Prime Minister, who opened his party conference in Glasgow yesterday, to start distancing himself from the Conservatives and open talks with senior Labour figures." - Independent on Sunday
- Clegg orders ministers to go public over disagreements with Tory colleagues - Sunday Times (£)
- Vince and Tim want to be Ed's best friend - John Rentoul, Independent on Sunday
- Jo Swinson: "I could work with Labour" - Independent on Sunday
- Ashdown says another Lib Dem-Conservative pact could work - The Observer
- They want to avoid the question - Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer
- Power-sharing makes the future yellow - Matthew D'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph
Rising UKIP vote threatens to let Miliband into No 10
"The UKIP threat is draining Tory support in key marginal seats so much that the party could let Ed Miliband into Downing Street, according to a poll released today by Lord Ashcroft, former deputy chairman of the Conservative party. Ashcroft finds a 14-point Labour lead in the 32 marginal seats where it is the main challenger to the Tories, enough to put Miliband in No 10 with an overall majority. However, the poll of 13,000 people finds the increased lead is due not to a surge in Labour popularity but to a tripling of the UKIP vote in the marginals." - Sunday Times (£)
- Vote UKIP, get Miliband - Mail on Sunday Leader
- Women reject Cameron as too posh - Sunday Times (£)
- Voters don't trust our referendum promise, says Adam Afriyie - Sunday Telegraph
- Party mailshot to marginals sent without postage - Sun on Sunday (£)
>Today: Lord Ashcroft on Comment - UKIP's ratings in Conservative-Labour marginals threaten to put Miliband in Number 10
Farage fears the pace of leading UKIP may burn him out
"He says he is not looking beyond the Euro elections next year and the general election of 2015. And then what? Will he resign? “No. I’m not even saying that. I’m just saying that to think beyond 2015 for me personally is impossible. To think of 2020 — no way.” But why? He is 49 now, he will only be 56 then. Or does he think he’ll be burnt out? “I think that’s a danger. If I go on like this, I’ll be burnt out, yes.”" - Sunday Times (£)
>Yesterday: WATCH - UKIP founder Alan Sked launches New Deal party
US and Russia strike a deal on Syria
"The United States and Russia have overcome their differences and agreed to put Syria on a short leash, giving it one week to account for all of its chemical weapons, to submit to surrendering them for destruction according to a strict timetable, and to give international inspectors “unfettered access” to its territory." - Independent on Sunday
- Game, set and match to Putin - Sunday Times Leader (£)
Ken Clarke attacks deficit hawks and eurosceptics
"‘I think we have made the biggest cuts in public spending that any democratically elected government has tried to do in modern times,’ said Mr Clarke. The more fervent of our colleagues may think it is peanuts and we should have gone further but that’s simplistic nonsense'…Mr Clarke also renewed his attack on the Eurosceptic element of his party who advocate leaving the EU. ‘I don’t think the majority of MPs would have the first idea how to look after the interests of the United Kingdom in a world in which we’d suddenly decided to leave the European Union,’ he said." - Mail on Sunday
- Architect of Swiss independence says "Get out of the EU" - Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times
- EU Court rejects pay freeze for eurocrats, as there haven't been "exceptional economic circumstances" - Mail on Sunday
- EU membership myths - Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph
- Brussels red tape could ban gardeners from buying favourite plants - Mail on Sunday
- EU Commission denies benefits tourism exists - The Observer
Boris: No to wind farms, yes to nuclear
"They seemed to be everywhere and I asked myself: When were we consulted? Was there a referendum? Did someone ever warn the British people that these moaning seagull-slicers were going to be erected on some of the most sensational scenery that God ever called into being? The answer is that no one warned us, because no one really took the decision to do it. It just sort of happened. We’ve contracted these mills like a disease because of our pathetic apology for an energy policy." - Boris Johnson, The Sun on Sunday (£)
- HS2 will harm capacity - Sunday Telegraph
- HS2 steams on, even though the numbers are wrong - Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times (£)
Shadow Cabinet infighting breaks out over economic recovery
"Disagreements spilled out at a Shadow Cabinet meeting called to discuss how to reverse the decline in Labour’s fortunes in what has been a torrid summer for their leader. Defence spokesman Jim Murphy threw down the gauntlet by insisting that the party had to revise its message now that the economy was clearly recovering. He clashed with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls by insisting Labour could no longer argue the economy was ‘flat-lining’ – a taunt made famous by Mr Balls." - Mail on Sunday
- Jeremy Clarkson may run against Ed in 2015 - Mail on Sunday
- Miliband steels himself for McBride's book on the Brown years - Sunday Times (£)
>Yesterday: ToryDiary - It's the standard of living, stupid
Climate report shows the IPCC acknowledge their computer models were wrong
"The leaked report makes the extraordinary concession that the world has been warming at only just over half the rate claimed by the IPCC in its last assessment, published in 2007. Back then, it said that the planet was warming at a rate of 0.2C every decade – a figure it claimed was in line with the forecasts made by computer climate models. But the new report says the true figure since 1951 has been only 0.12C per decade – a rate far below even the lowest computer prediction." - Mail on Sunday
- The Green debate is open once more - Mail on Sunday Leader
25 Tory MPs write to Cameron over defence cuts
""John Baron, the MP for Basildon and Billericay and a former army officer, said: “There is growing concern about the unanswered questions over the extent of cost savings and the resulting capability gap. Reports of the Ministry of Defence’s failure to meet its reserve recruitment targets add urgency “Surely the axeing of the regular battalions should now be stopped at least until we know the government’s plans for the reserves will work?”" - Sunday Times (£)
- 50 MPs to skip party away day - James Forsyth, Mail on Sunday
>Yesterday: Tobias Ellwood on Comment - We need two aircraft carriers to be a military power of the first rank
News in brief
- More jobs money goes on criminals than school kids - Sun on Sunday (£)
- Paedophile "Escapes to the Country" thanks to BBC show - Mail on Sunday
- Joanna Lumley calls for National Service to be reintroduced - Mail on Sunday
- The UN's brazil nut is mad - Rod Liddle, Sunday Times (£)
- BBC execs' second jobs come under scrutiny - Mail on Sunday
- Argentine ambassador apologises to Cameron - Sun on Sunday (£)
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