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| Politics live blog: David Cameron's speech on roads and peers debate health bill | Politics live blog: David Cameron's speech on roads and peers debate health bill |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 11.35am: Here's an extract from the David Cameron speech released in advance explaining Cameron's plan to semi-privatise part of the road network. | |
We need good roads, too. Again, the problem's clear: we don't have enough capacity in places of key demand. There's nothing green about a traffic jam - and gridlock holds the economy back. | |
| So here's what we should do. Yes, move passengers and heavy goods onto rail. But also widen pinch points, add lanes to motorways by using the hard shoulder to increase capacity and dual overcrowded A-roads. | |
| The massive programme announced during last year's Growth Review made a good start. But how do we do more, when , frankly, there isn't enough money? | |
| We need to look at innovative approaches to the funding of our national roads - to increase investment to reduce congestion. Road tolling is one option – but we are only considering this for new, not existing, capacity. For example, we're looking at how improvements to the A14 could be part funded through tolling. | |
| But we now need to be more ambitious. Why is it that other infrastructure – for example water - is funded by private sector capital through privately owned, independently regulated, utilities……but roads in Britain call on the public finances for funding? | |
| We need to look urgently at the options for getting large-scale private investment into the national roads network – from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and other investors. That's why I have asked the Department for Transport and the Treasury to carry out a feasibility study of new ownership and financing models for the national roads system and to report progress to me in the Autumn. | |
| 11.30am: David Cameron was due to be starting his speech at 11.30am. But Sky and BBC News are now focusing on the Duchess of Cambridge, who is making what is being billed as her first public speech at a hospice in Ipswich. Presumably Cameron will decide to wait a few minutes before he gets to his feet ... | |
| 11.25am: David Cameron should be starting his speech on infrastructure in the next five minutes. | |
| Sky have just shown footage of him leaving Number 10 on his way to the venue. Sky's Joey Jones asked him if there was anything left in the budget that had not been leaked. Cameron seemed to see the funny side. | |
| 11.10am: You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here. | |
| As for the rest of the papers, here are some stories and articles that are particularly interesting. | |
| • George Parker in the Financial Times (subscription) says George Osborne will cut the 50p top rate of tax to 45p from 2013 in his budget. | |
| Mr Osborne claims to have constructed a package aimed at the "hard working families", but the message risks being drowned out by his decision – confirmed by several officials close to the Budget process – to cut tax on earnings above £150,000 from 50p to 45p from April 2013 ... | |
| The Liberal Democrats feel an urgent need to make the "fairness" case, hence the party's description of the Budget as a "Robin Hood" package. Mr Clegg has insisted that the lost revenue from cutting the 50p rate must be offset by a squeeze on tax avoidance that raises at least double the amount. | |
| One party official said: "The people who must benefit are working people in the squeezed middle: top earning tax dodgers and their army of flashy accountants should be quaking in their boots." | |
| Mr Clegg cannot afford to be branded by Labour as an accomplice to a Conservative chancellor, supposedly helping his wealthy friends. Therefore, Mr Clegg's claim that his idea of a "tycoon tax" – raising the overall tax take from the rich – will be embodied in the Budget. | |
• Chris Mullin in the Times (paywall) says income tax should go up. | |
| When Mrs Thatcher left office the basic tax rate was 25p in the pound. Today it is 20p. Successive chancellors, anxious to pose as tax cutters, have slashed it. But the plain fact is that this is too low to sustain the level of public services that we all, or most of us, have come to expect. For years governments have pretended that it is possible to enjoy North European levels of public services and pay US levels of taxation. This is not possible. There is a choice to be made and sooner or later it will have to be faced ... | |
| Gordon Brown, in his last Budget as Chancellor, slashed the basic rate by 2p in return for a round of applause that had faded within 24 hours, costing the Exchequer a cool £6 billion a year, recurring. He did it for the entirely cynical reason that he was contemplating an early general election. In the event he bottled out, but the cut in tax was permanent. | |
| • Lord Wilson, the former cabinet secretary, says in an article for the Telegraph that publishing the health bill risk register would be a "major blow" to the cause of good government. | |
| We have the best chance of being governed well if civil servants are able to give their best policy advice to their Ministers, frankly and on the basis of an impartial analysis of the options and the facts, in private. This applies to the risk register. We need Ministers to have before them documents which 'speak truth unto power' at those moments when they are on the brink of key decisions on a policy, or when they need to think through the risks of what they want to do.. There needs to be a private space where they can receive advice without worrying how it would look in the media or Parliament. | |
| • Tony Blair says in an article in the Times (paywall) that Africa could be free from dependence on aid within a generation. | |
| The debt relief campaign has liberated African economies from the burden of indebtedness, allowing them to compete globally. Government funds that once went to service debt now go on public services. In Nigeria, a country of 170 million people, 70 per cent of whom live on less than $1.25 a day, the millions saved have been piled back into healthcare, with vaccination levels rising from 10 per cent to 65 per cent in places. Thousands of lives have been saved each year. And the progress on malaria, Aids and measles is spread right across the continent ... | |
| However, the main thing changing Africa is Africa itself. There is one indispensable thing that cannot be imported: government. Here, too, things have improved. The number of democracies in sub-Saharan Africa has skyrocketed from three in 1989 to 23 in 2008. Since 1991, African governments have been defeated at the ballot box 30 times. Between the 1960s and 1991 that happened only once. To seize this moment, African governments across the continent must step up to lead the way. I see a new generation of leaders emerging, ready to take their countries' destinies into their own hands, no longer dependent on outside assistance. This is achievable. I believe that we can end African countries' dependence on aid within a generation. But it will need a new approach, a new partnership between developed and developing world. | |
| • Boris Johnson in his Daily Telegraph column says that his new Routemaster bus symbolises what's best about his record as London's mayor. | |
| That new bus incarnates our cost-cutting approach, because the entire project has been delivered for about £10 million – not much more than the annual fare evasion on the bendy buses. | |
| You will hear my critics say that each of the first eight new buses therefore costs more than a million. This is cretinous. You might as well say that each of the first 10 new Minis cost £50 million, because the cost of developing the new Mini was about £500 million. Hundreds of those beautiful buses will be appearing on our streets, and thousands of London buses will be based on their design and technology. | |
| • Frances Gibb in the Times (paywall) says the parliamentary committee on privacy and injunctions has backed plans for a new system of press self-regulation. | |
| Plans for press self-regulation but with the safeguard of parliamentary oversight have won the backing of an influential committee of MPs and peers, The Times has learnt. | |
| A report from the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions is expected to endorse proposals put forward by Lord Hunt of Wirral, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, that the industry should first try to regulate itself — with statutory intervention if a new scheme fails. | |
| Under Lord Hunt's plans, likened by some to Premier-League-style regulation, proprietors would sign up to the new framework, to be overseen by a small regulatory board with a majority of lay members and an independent chairman. It would be underpinned by a system of contracts with proprietors; have power to impose fines and operate a complaints' mediation procedure. | |
| Crucially, though, the board would report annually to Parliament, providing an opportunity for debate so that — as one committee member put it — "it would know someone was looking over its shoulder". | |
| 10.52am: Nick Gibb, the schools minister, was on Radio 5 Live this morning talking about Maggie Atkinson's school exclusions report. He said the government would take action if pupils were being excluded illegally. | 10.52am: Nick Gibb, the schools minister, was on Radio 5 Live this morning talking about Maggie Atkinson's school exclusions report. He said the government would take action if pupils were being excluded illegally. |
| We will look at this report very carefully, and we will take action if there is any evidence of unlawful exclusions taking place in schools. We're very clear about what the rules are about when a school can exclude a child, and we'll look at the evidence very carefully. But we have to trust teachers. We're determined to raise levels of behaviour in our schools. Parents are concerned about poor behaviour, and that's why we have shifted the balance of authority away from the child, back towards the teacher. | We will look at this report very carefully, and we will take action if there is any evidence of unlawful exclusions taking place in schools. We're very clear about what the rules are about when a school can exclude a child, and we'll look at the evidence very carefully. But we have to trust teachers. We're determined to raise levels of behaviour in our schools. Parents are concerned about poor behaviour, and that's why we have shifted the balance of authority away from the child, back towards the teacher. |
| 10.35am: The adult minimum wage will go up by 11p an hour in October, to £6.19 an hour. But the rates for 18 to 20-year-olds and for 16 and 17-year-olds will be frozen. The full details are on the Department for Business website. | 10.35am: The adult minimum wage will go up by 11p an hour in October, to £6.19 an hour. But the rates for 18 to 20-year-olds and for 16 and 17-year-olds will be frozen. The full details are on the Department for Business website. |
| Although the government is just following the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC), Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said ministers should have increased the rate for young people. | Although the government is just following the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC), Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, said ministers should have increased the rate for young people. |
| The LPC should have been bolder in its recommendations. Even in the current economic climate there was room for an increase in the minimum wage that at the very least kept pace with inflation and earnings. It is wrong to deny young people an increase this year, as there is no evidence that the minimum wage has had an adverse impact on jobs. The reason why firms have not been hiring enough new workers is because they lack confidence in this government's ability to set the UK on course for a sound economic recovery. There is now a real danger that young people will view minimum wage work as exploitative. Many of the businesses that are calling for the minimum wage to be frozen are also complaining about the lack of consumer spending. Boosting demand is vital – but this will not be achieved by squeezing the low paid even further. Low-paid workers, like hairdressers, shop workers and care assistants, tend to spend 100 per cent of any salary increase in their local economy, so a well-judged rise in the minimum wage would have a beneficial effect across the UK. | The LPC should have been bolder in its recommendations. Even in the current economic climate there was room for an increase in the minimum wage that at the very least kept pace with inflation and earnings. It is wrong to deny young people an increase this year, as there is no evidence that the minimum wage has had an adverse impact on jobs. The reason why firms have not been hiring enough new workers is because they lack confidence in this government's ability to set the UK on course for a sound economic recovery. There is now a real danger that young people will view minimum wage work as exploitative. Many of the businesses that are calling for the minimum wage to be frozen are also complaining about the lack of consumer spending. Boosting demand is vital – but this will not be achieved by squeezing the low paid even further. Low-paid workers, like hairdressers, shop workers and care assistants, tend to spend 100 per cent of any salary increase in their local economy, so a well-judged rise in the minimum wage would have a beneficial effect across the UK. |
| 10.13am: The Local Government Association has published a report saying that the government's attempts to get young people into work are a mess. Here's an extract from its news release. | 10.13am: The Local Government Association has published a report saying that the government's attempts to get young people into work are a mess. Here's an extract from its news release. |
| Attempts to get more than one million young people into work are being hampered by excessive bureaucracy, duplication and government control, according to local government leaders. | Attempts to get more than one million young people into work are being hampered by excessive bureaucracy, duplication and government control, according to local government leaders. |
| An analysis of the current efforts to tackle youth unemployment has identified an overly complicated £15 billion system that is awash with different national, strategies and inconsistent age barriers. | An analysis of the current efforts to tackle youth unemployment has identified an overly complicated £15 billion system that is awash with different national, strategies and inconsistent age barriers. |
| The research, by the Local Government Association, reveals a complex picture, with people aged 13 to 24 receiving support from at least eight different national organisations, who fund 33 different schemes and span 13 different age boundaries at a cost of £15 billion a year. | The research, by the Local Government Association, reveals a complex picture, with people aged 13 to 24 receiving support from at least eight different national organisations, who fund 33 different schemes and span 13 different age boundaries at a cost of £15 billion a year. |
| The report - 'Hidden Talents' - exposes how government approaches have cast the most disengaged young people further adrift, failing to identify and target support at those most affected by the recession and with the most difficult and complex circumstances. | The report - 'Hidden Talents' - exposes how government approaches have cast the most disengaged young people further adrift, failing to identify and target support at those most affected by the recession and with the most difficult and complex circumstances. |
| As a result, this group of 'core - neets', young people not in employment, education or training for more than 12 months, is growing at a faster rate than any other and has doubled in four years to 260,000. This means one in four young people out of work is now classed as long term unemployed and more likely to be living on benefits in later life. | As a result, this group of 'core - neets', young people not in employment, education or training for more than 12 months, is growing at a faster rate than any other and has doubled in four years to 260,000. This means one in four young people out of work is now classed as long term unemployed and more likely to be living on benefits in later life. |
| And here's a quote from Cllr Peter Box, the chair of the LGA's economy and transport board. | And here's a quote from Cllr Peter Box, the chair of the LGA's economy and transport board. |
| It's clear that the current attempts to tackle youth unemployment aren't working. National approaches tend to work for those out of work for a short time and address spikes in unemployment, but fail to reach those who are the most marginalised. | It's clear that the current attempts to tackle youth unemployment aren't working. National approaches tend to work for those out of work for a short time and address spikes in unemployment, but fail to reach those who are the most marginalised. |
| 9.43am: Much of the pre-budget comment has focused on the 50p top rate of tax, when George Osborne will cut it and whether he will replace it with a new 45p top rate. | 9.43am: Much of the pre-budget comment has focused on the 50p top rate of tax, when George Osborne will cut it and whether he will replace it with a new 45p top rate. |
| But, in an article for PoliticsHome, the Conservative MP Mark Pritchard (pictured), secretary of the 1922 committee, says the 40p rate should also go. Here's an extract. | But, in an article for PoliticsHome, the Conservative MP Mark Pritchard (pictured), secretary of the 1922 committee, says the 40p rate should also go. Here's an extract. |
| The chancellor must unleash this aspiration by scrapping the 50 pence and 40 pence upper rates and replace it with a single 38 pence higher rate. The 50 pence tax is a job destroying tax, is fundamentally un-Conservative, and economically dumb in that it acts as a punitive deterrent to all would-be entrepreneurs and investors. It is posture politics. Similarly, the 40 pence rate eats into middle earner's disposable income and their ability to spend in the wider economy. | The chancellor must unleash this aspiration by scrapping the 50 pence and 40 pence upper rates and replace it with a single 38 pence higher rate. The 50 pence tax is a job destroying tax, is fundamentally un-Conservative, and economically dumb in that it acts as a punitive deterrent to all would-be entrepreneurs and investors. It is posture politics. Similarly, the 40 pence rate eats into middle earner's disposable income and their ability to spend in the wider economy. |
| 9.30am: There's already been plenty of reaction to David Cameron's proposal to semi-privatise the roads. Here's a round-up. I've taken the quotes from the Press Association and PoliticsHome. | 9.30am: There's already been plenty of reaction to David Cameron's proposal to semi-privatise the roads. Here's a round-up. I've taken the quotes from the Press Association and PoliticsHome. |
| From Maria Eagle (pictured), the shadow transport secretary | From Maria Eagle (pictured), the shadow transport secretary |
| Giving companies the power to rip off motorists even more is not the answer. Motorists are already facing the highest fuel prices ever, and now they're facing the prospect of being ripped off by having to pay tolls on existing roads ... People only need to look at our railway industry to see what happens when you go down this kind of path. Instead of it being cheaper it now costs three times as much as any other railway. Passengers and taxpayers are getting ripped off. That's what I fear's going to happen if this goes ahead in the way in which the government are looking at it. | Giving companies the power to rip off motorists even more is not the answer. Motorists are already facing the highest fuel prices ever, and now they're facing the prospect of being ripped off by having to pay tolls on existing roads ... People only need to look at our railway industry to see what happens when you go down this kind of path. Instead of it being cheaper it now costs three times as much as any other railway. Passengers and taxpayers are getting ripped off. That's what I fear's going to happen if this goes ahead in the way in which the government are looking at it. |
| From Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation | From Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation |
| We should cautiously welcome the prospect of private-sector involvement. There are just not enough public resources to provide the capacity we need and this offers the chance to make long-term plans for a utility every bit as important as things like water, power, electricity and the railways. | We should cautiously welcome the prospect of private-sector involvement. There are just not enough public resources to provide the capacity we need and this offers the chance to make long-term plans for a utility every bit as important as things like water, power, electricity and the railways. |
| From Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists | From Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists |
| British drivers simply don't trust the government to come up with a new way of paying for roads that will not lead to increased costs in the long run. Drivers already pay far more in taxes and duties than they get back in investment in new roads. | British drivers simply don't trust the government to come up with a new way of paying for roads that will not lead to increased costs in the long run. Drivers already pay far more in taxes and duties than they get back in investment in new roads. |
| New roads are safer, but what is needed is the release of more existing motoring taxes as part of a long-term investment plan to target pinch points and eliminate the maintenance backlog. | New roads are safer, but what is needed is the release of more existing motoring taxes as part of a long-term investment plan to target pinch points and eliminate the maintenance backlog. |
| Tolls can be an attractive proposition to many low-mileage drivers but only if current taxes are cut to compensate for new charges. Past governments have a poor track record of removing tolls once private contracts have expired. The Dartford Crossing should have been free once the original debt was paid but tolls remain in place. | Tolls can be an attractive proposition to many low-mileage drivers but only if current taxes are cut to compensate for new charges. Past governments have a poor track record of removing tolls once private contracts have expired. The Dartford Crossing should have been free once the original debt was paid but tolls remain in place. |
| From Conservative MP Matthew Hancock | From Conservative MP Matthew Hancock |
It's very clear that no-one is talking about tolls on existing roads ... What people are talking about is either getting new roads built by having tolls on them and then also trying to get private companies to do more to improve existing roads. Here it is about leveraging in investment. | It's very clear that no-one is talking about tolls on existing roads ... What people are talking about is either getting new roads built by having tolls on them and then also trying to get private companies to do more to improve existing roads. Here it is about leveraging in investment. |
| 9.18am: Stephen Twigg (left), the shadow education secretary, has put out this comment about Maggie Atkinson's school exclusions report. | 9.18am: Stephen Twigg (left), the shadow education secretary, has put out this comment about Maggie Atkinson's school exclusions report. |
| No child, however challenging, should be left behind. There is something systematically wrong if schools are breaking the exclusions law in this way. This is often at the expense of poor, black or special needs children. | No child, however challenging, should be left behind. There is something systematically wrong if schools are breaking the exclusions law in this way. This is often at the expense of poor, black or special needs children. |
| The children's commissioner has done some of our most vulnerable children a service in exposing the 'ghosting' of pupils from school to school and unrecorded exclusions. The government and Ofsted need to take robust action to address her recommendations and ensure our schools do not fail challenging children. | The children's commissioner has done some of our most vulnerable children a service in exposing the 'ghosting' of pupils from school to school and unrecorded exclusions. The government and Ofsted need to take robust action to address her recommendations and ensure our schools do not fail challenging children. |
| 9.00am: As the pre-budget leaking, briefing and speculation continues at full pelt, spare a thought for poor John Bercow. The Speaker is determined to ensure that ministers make important announcements at the despatch box in the Commons, and not on the Today programme or on the front pages of the national newspapers, and last year he revealed that he kept George Osborne on his feet for three hours at the autumn statement last year, by extending questions for as long as possible, as "punishment" (my phrase) for the fact that so much of it was revealed in advance. Osborne clearly does not give two hoots, because this year there seems to be more pre-budget briefing then ever before. We've had the announcements about regional public sector pay and sunday working hours, and we've got a fairly clear idea what to expect on 50p, raising the tax allowance and the "tycoon tax" (although it is not clear to what extent these stories were briefed by the Treasury, and to what extent they came from other sources). Yesterday Osborne was on the Andrew Marr Show talking about the budget. And this morning David Cameron is actually giving a whole speech about an infrastructure proposal that you would expect to hear about in the budget statement. As the Today programme covered it, Bercow must have been spluttering into his cornflakes. I wouldn't be surprised if he has something to say about this later. | 9.00am: As the pre-budget leaking, briefing and speculation continues at full pelt, spare a thought for poor John Bercow. The Speaker is determined to ensure that ministers make important announcements at the despatch box in the Commons, and not on the Today programme or on the front pages of the national newspapers, and last year he revealed that he kept George Osborne on his feet for three hours at the autumn statement last year, by extending questions for as long as possible, as "punishment" (my phrase) for the fact that so much of it was revealed in advance. Osborne clearly does not give two hoots, because this year there seems to be more pre-budget briefing then ever before. We've had the announcements about regional public sector pay and sunday working hours, and we've got a fairly clear idea what to expect on 50p, raising the tax allowance and the "tycoon tax" (although it is not clear to what extent these stories were briefed by the Treasury, and to what extent they came from other sources). Yesterday Osborne was on the Andrew Marr Show talking about the budget. And this morning David Cameron is actually giving a whole speech about an infrastructure proposal that you would expect to hear about in the budget statement. As the Today programme covered it, Bercow must have been spluttering into his cornflakes. I wouldn't be surprised if he has something to say about this later. |
| I'll be covering the Cameron speech in detail later. And it's also an important day for the health bill. Here's the full agenda for the day. | I'll be covering the Cameron speech in detail later. And it's also an important day for the health bill. Here's the full agenda for the day. |
| 8.30am: Tony Blair gives a speech on business and economic opportunities in Africa. 10am: Crime correspondents give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. The witnesses include Jerry Lawton of the Daily Star, James Murray of the Sunday Express and John Twomey of the Daily Express. 11.30am: David Cameron delivers a speech on infrastructure. As Nicholas Watt reports, Cameron will clear the way for a multibillion-pound semi-privatisation of trunk roads and motorways as he announces plans to allow sovereign wealth funds from countries such as China to lease roads in England. | 8.30am: Tony Blair gives a speech on business and economic opportunities in Africa. 10am: Crime correspondents give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. The witnesses include Jerry Lawton of the Daily Star, James Murray of the Sunday Express and John Twomey of the Daily Express. 11.30am: David Cameron delivers a speech on infrastructure. As Nicholas Watt reports, Cameron will clear the way for a multibillion-pound semi-privatisation of trunk roads and motorways as he announces plans to allow sovereign wealth funds from countries such as China to lease roads in England. |
| 2.30pm: Maggie Atkinson, the children's commissioner, publishes her school exclusions inquiry report. As Jeevan Vasagar reports, it will say that headteachers have admitted illegally excluding pupils from school, including one "extreme" case in which children in their final GCSE year were sent home at Christmas and told not to return until their exams. | 2.30pm: Maggie Atkinson, the children's commissioner, publishes her school exclusions inquiry report. As Jeevan Vasagar reports, it will say that headteachers have admitted illegally excluding pupils from school, including one "extreme" case in which children in their final GCSE year were sent home at Christmas and told not to return until their exams. |
| 2.30pm: Theresa May, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons. | 2.30pm: Theresa May, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons. |
| After 3pm: Peers start debating the third reading of the health bill. Labour will try to block the bill and there will also be a vote on a call from Lord Owen for the bill to be delayed until the government fully responds to the information tribunal's ruling saying the bill's risk register should be published. My colleague Randeep Ramesh will be covering the proceedings in detial on his health bill live blog. | After 3pm: Peers start debating the third reading of the health bill. Labour will try to block the bill and there will also be a vote on a call from Lord Owen for the bill to be delayed until the government fully responds to the information tribunal's ruling saying the bill's risk register should be published. My colleague Randeep Ramesh will be covering the proceedings in detial on his health bill live blog. |
| As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon. | As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon. |
| If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. |
| And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. | And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog. |