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| Damian Green grilled by MPs over Heathrow delays: Politics live blog | Damian Green grilled by MPs over Heathrow delays: Politics live blog |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 11.00am: Damian Green, the immigration minister, is about to give evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the delays at Heathrow. | |
| You can watch the hearing here. | |
| 10.53am: 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. | |
| • Jim Pickard and George Parker in the Financial Times (subscription) says Liam Byrne, the shadow work and pensions secretary, is expected to be demoted in Ed Miliband's forthcoming reshuffle. | |
| More importantly, Mr Miliband is expected to demote Liam Byrne, currently work and pensions spokesman and head of Labour's policy review. "As good as Liam is, those are two big jobs for one person," said one senior party figure. | |
| The Blairite Mr Byrne fell out with Mr Miliband over the issue of benefits reform, in particular when he made a major speech without alerting the leader's office earlier in the spring. Afterwards he announced he wanted to stand for Birmingham mayor, a plan that imploded when the city voted against having one a fortnight ago. | |
| Allies of Mr Miliband say that he no longer feels the need to mollify figures in the party when he disagrees with them. They use the analogy of how in the early days his attempts to pacify MPs were like carrying a "Ming vase" on the lurching deck of a boat – but now he feels emboldened. | |
| Labour MPs have criticised the policy review under Mr Byrne for its bureaucratic process and lack of eye-catching ideas. The party is holding a "national policy forum" next month and is hoping to be able to publicise some new policies by the autumn conference. | |
| • Christopher Hope in the Daily Telegraph says the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales has said the government's plan to remove child benefit from high earners could be a disaster. | |
| The Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales has told the Treasury that the controversial plan to deny the benefit to families with a high earner "is seriously flawed in principle and in practice". | |
| In a confidential report seen by The Daily Telegraph, it urged ministers to rethink the plans when the Finance Bill is voted on by MPs later this month. The institute, which represents 116,000 chartered accountants, claimed that unless the Government found a more workable alternative, the tax plan could be an "operational and reputational disaster". | |
| The popular benefit is worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 a week for every sibling. It is taken up by 97 per cent of eligible parents. But from January, any family with a parent earning more than £50,000 a year will lose a proportion of their entitlement. Any family with a single earner on more than £60,000 a year will not receive it at all. | |
| The institute claimed that the plans were doomed because it involved combining the benefits system, which is based on households, and the tax system, which is based on individuals. This meant "using the tax system to claw back from one individual a benefit paid to another", it said. An additional 500,000 people would have to fill out self-assessment tax returns, the institute warned. HM Revenue & Customs would have to claw back wrongly paid child benefit through tax codes, but this could take up to three years, it added. If a couple separated in the interim it could be "impossible" to get the money back. | |
| • Rowena Mason in the Daily Telegraph says the public accounts committee has found that up to £1bn is being spent finding jobs for unemployed people who may have found work without state help. | |
| In a report, the Public Accounts Committee will raise concerns about the Coalition's Work Programme, which pays private companies to find jobs for unemployed people. | |
| One of the major worries is that companies are getting paid at least £400 just to assess each candidate, when many would be in the same situation "without the programme". | |
| Some of those unemployed people would already have found jobs of their own accord, while others will remain on benefits that continue to be funded by the taxpayer. | |
| The report will say payments for people who did not need the programme amount to nearly £1bn and could "potentially" be even higher - the equivalent of £40 for every household in Britain. | |
| • Robert Winnett in the Daily Telegraph says a big City firm is claiming that the austerity programme is a "myth". | |
Tullett Prebon, a bond trader, said that "public expenditures have hardly been reduced at all" and that claims of a "big cut in public spending is bare-faced deception". | |
| Figures highlighted by the firm show that public spending actually rose during 2010-11 and fell by just 1.5 percent last year. | |
| Government spending is more than £22 billion higher than it was in 2008 when the financial crisis erupted. | |
| • Rachel Sylvester in the Times (paywall) says the government contains too many ministers who are clever but not sensible. | |
| George Osborne is certainly clever — there are few more intelligent or engaging people with whom to discuss politics — but is he sensible? A former special adviser, he likes to joke that the "guild" of professional politicians must be protected and he prides himself on being a master craftsman of the trade. Ever since he scored a political victory by unveiling a plan to cut inheritance tax in his 2007 party conference speech, he has become obsessed by wrong-footing his opponents with tactical announcements. Like Roald Dahl's Enormous Crocodile he is sometimes so proud of his "secret plans and clever tricks" that he fails to spot the elephant traps. | |
| His latest wheeze was the cut in the 50p top rate of tax. It may have been economically justifiable and cheering to the Tory Right, but it failed to understand the public mood in these difficult times. Not very astute. This week the Chancellor is blaming business for not doing enough to get the country out of recession, sending out ministers, in a bizarre buck- passing exercise, to tell companies to stop whingeing . That's just too clever by half. One Tory minister says: "There's a danger George becomes Gordon. He likes playing the chess game several moves ahead and that can turn into tactical manoeuvring." | |
| 10.21am: The Department for Education has said that schools will be banned from using biometric information about their pupils without their parents' consent. The full details are in this DfE news release. And here's a statement from Nick Gibb (pictured), the schools minister. | 10.21am: The Department for Education has said that schools will be banned from using biometric information about their pupils without their parents' consent. The full details are in this DfE news release. And here's a statement from Nick Gibb (pictured), the schools minister. |
| Biometrics in schools is a sensitive issue. We want schools to be in no doubt of their responsibilities when it comes to young people's personal data. | Biometrics in schools is a sensitive issue. We want schools to be in no doubt of their responsibilities when it comes to young people's personal data. |
| I have heard from many angry parents after they have learned that their children's personal data was being used by schools without their knowledge. The new legislation gives the power back to parents, as it requires parental consent before the information can be collected. | I have heard from many angry parents after they have learned that their children's personal data was being used by schools without their knowledge. The new legislation gives the power back to parents, as it requires parental consent before the information can be collected. |
| In the age of the internet, identity and the integrity of biometric data are of increasing importance. Young people need to understand from an early age the sensitivity of such personal data. The provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the accompanying advice to schools will help to reinforce that message. | In the age of the internet, identity and the integrity of biometric data are of increasing importance. Young people need to understand from an early age the sensitivity of such personal data. The provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the accompanying advice to schools will help to reinforce that message. |
| 10.10am: The CPS are charging Rebekah Brooks, her husband Charlie and four others with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The full CPS news release is about the prosecution is here. There are more details about the story on our Leveson inquiry live blog. | 10.10am: The CPS are charging Rebekah Brooks, her husband Charlie and four others with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The full CPS news release is about the prosecution is here. There are more details about the story on our Leveson inquiry live blog. |
| 9.24am: Today's YouGov polling is interesting. Here are the headline figures. | 9.24am: Today's YouGov polling is interesting. Here are the headline figures. |
| Labour: 45% (up 2 points since YouGov in the Sunday Times) Conservatives: 31% (no change) Ukip: 8% (no change) Lib Dems: 7% (down 3) | Labour: 45% (up 2 points since YouGov in the Sunday Times) Conservatives: 31% (no change) Ukip: 8% (no change) Lib Dems: 7% (down 3) |
| Labour lead: 14 points | Labour lead: 14 points |
| Government approval: -42 | Government approval: -42 |
| This 14-point lead is the largest Labour have had in a YouGov poll since the general election. But the most important figure is probably one in the table showing what the voters think of the parties on particular issues (pdf). Labour are ahead of the Conservatives (by 27 points to 26 points) on the question of which party would be best at handling the economy in general. This is often considered the most important indicator and, as the YouGov tracker (pdf) shows, this is the first time Labour have had a lead on this since the 2010 election. Looking at the other economic indicators, Labour are also ahead on taxation by 5 points and on unemployment by 15 points. | This 14-point lead is the largest Labour have had in a YouGov poll since the general election. But the most important figure is probably one in the table showing what the voters think of the parties on particular issues (pdf). Labour are ahead of the Conservatives (by 27 points to 26 points) on the question of which party would be best at handling the economy in general. This is often considered the most important indicator and, as the YouGov tracker (pdf) shows, this is the first time Labour have had a lead on this since the 2010 election. Looking at the other economic indicators, Labour are also ahead on taxation by 5 points and on unemployment by 15 points. |
| 9.00am: It's nice to be able to start the morning with something that might cheer my readers. Regular readers will know that parrotkeeper and PorFavor have been very keen to find out what has happened to Michael Gove's promise to deliver a King James Bible to every school. Well, at last I'm able to bring them some news. Or at least my colleague Patrick Wintour can. He's posted this on Twitter. | 9.00am: It's nice to be able to start the morning with something that might cheer my readers. Regular readers will know that parrotkeeper and PorFavor have been very keen to find out what has happened to Michael Gove's promise to deliver a King James Bible to every school. Well, at last I'm able to bring them some news. Or at least my colleague Patrick Wintour can. He's posted this on Twitter. |
| Michael Gove's King James bible has finally reached schools,including church schools. | Michael Gove's King James bible has finally reached schools,including church schools. |
| — Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) May 15, 2012 | — Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) May 15, 2012 |
| If I get any more on this exciting development, I will, of course, let you know. | If I get any more on this exciting development, I will, of course, let you know. |
| As for the Westminster agenda, here's what's on the list. | As for the Westminster agenda, here's what's on the list. |
| 9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes life expectancy figures. | 9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes life expectancy figures. |
| 9.45am: Tim Loughton, the children's minister, delivers a speech on the child exploitation action plan. | 9.45am: Tim Loughton, the children's minister, delivers a speech on the child exploitation action plan. |
| 10am: The Crown Prosecution Services announces whether Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and six others will be charged with perverting the course of justice. | 10am: The Crown Prosecution Services announces whether Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and six others will be charged with perverting the course of justice. |
| 10am: Sky presenter Adam Boulton and Lord Wakeham, the former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, give evidence to the Leveson inquiry. | 10am: Sky presenter Adam Boulton and Lord Wakeham, the former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, give evidence to the Leveson inquiry. |
| 11am: Damian Green, the immigration minister, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about immigration controls at Heathrow. Other witnesses include Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, BAA, the Immigration Services Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union. I'll be covering Green's evidence in detail. | 11am: Damian Green, the immigration minister, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about immigration controls at Heathrow. Other witnesses include Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, BAA, the Immigration Services Union and the Public and Commercial Services Union. I'll be covering Green's evidence in detail. |
| 11am: Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, announces plans to reduce equalities-related regulations in response to the government's Red Tape Challenge. | 11am: Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, announces plans to reduce equalities-related regulations in response to the government's Red Tape Challenge. |
| 11.15am: Charles Hendry, the energy minister, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee about nuclear power. | 11.15am: Charles Hendry, the energy minister, gives evidence to the Commons energy committee about nuclear power. |
| 11.45am: Ed Miliband speaks at the Royal College of Nursing annual conference. | 11.45am: Ed Miliband speaks at the Royal College of Nursing annual conference. |
| 2.30pm: Peter Luff, the defence minister, gives evidence to the Commons defence committee about defence procurement. | 2.30pm: Peter Luff, the defence minister, gives evidence to the Commons defence committee about defence procurement. |
| Of course the real story is on the continent, where the Eurozone crisis continues and George Osborne, the chancellor, is attending a meeting of EU finance minister. My colleague Graeme Wearden has all the latest on his Eurozone debt crisis live blog. | Of course the real story is on the continent, where the Eurozone crisis continues and George Osborne, the chancellor, is attending a meeting of EU finance minister. My colleague Graeme Wearden has all the latest on his Eurozone debt crisis 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. |