Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen, including Theresa May giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about Abu Qatada
There's another poll out today. It's from Ipsos MORI. Here are the headline figures.
Labour: 38% (up 1 point from last month)
Conservatives: 35% (down 1)
Lib Dems: 12% (up 1)
Labour lead: 3 points.
But perhaps the key thing is what the poll says about George Osborne. Here's an extract from the Ipsos MORI news release.
George Osborne's personal ratings as Chancellor have also fallen sharply. 58% are unhappy with the way he is doing his job (28% are satisfied), a year-on-year decline from 23% dissatisfied in June 2010 and 45% in March 2011. These are the worst ratings for a Chancellor Ipsos MORI has found since Ken Clarke in December 1994.
The only consolation for Osborne is that Clarke is generally reckoned to have been quite a good chancellor.
Here's an afternoon reading list.
• Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Beast think the West is moving leftwards.
As for Britain, where the Tory government I support embraced immediate fiscal austerity to avoid a pummeling by the financial markets, the best that can now be said is that a double-dip recession has been narrowly avoided - because growth in the first quarter of 2012 is forecast to be ... 0.1 percent. The country's AAA rating is also increasingly at risk, after a full-bore austerity regime ...The target for structural budget balance has been set back past the Coalition's original five year goal. The Tories will have to seek re-election after brutal austerity without having made a real dent on the actual debt problem. And if US political deadlock continues past the November election, the impact of sudden sweeping austerity in the US will likely tip Europe into an even deeper crisis ...
I may be wrong, and it doesn't thrill me, but my bet is that the West is moving leftwards for pragmatic reasons. And that America will not be immune. Pendulums swing, and the long free market period of 1979 - 2007 is giving way to a more government-based management of the unintended consequences of the right's initial success and subsequent over-reach. And if Obama doesn't use Europe as a warning sign for what Romney would bring to America, he'd be missing out on an important opportunity.
(Thanks to Ian70 in the comments for flagging this up.)
• Alastair Campbell on his blog thinks David Cameron's media blitz yesterday was a mistake.
Being on telly from PMQs. Fine. Being on telly from summits and big speeches with big points to make. Good. But stop being your own spokesman on running stories of the day.
Nadine Dorries has said all that before, about you and George being posh boys who don't get people's lives. That's the other thing that happens when the mood changes – things people ignored in good mood times suddenly gain traction in bad mood times.
But there was something a bit demeaning about seeing a Prime Minister sit there and have her words read to him, and 'hit back' with a hurt look and stories of his supermarket shopping so that he could reveal he knew the price of milk.
• Dave Hill at Comment is free on why he's voting for Ken Livingstone.
At first, Johnson's win was no catastrophe. He had Livingstone projects to complete and Labour government cash to spend. He made cuts but invested, too. Some termed his approach "Ken-lite". Johnson backed the London Living Wage – a voluntary higher rate than the statutory national minimum, reflecting the capital's crazy living costs – and lobbied for amnesties for irregular migrants.Then came the coalition and cold, hard austerity. Too many Londoners are paying a high price and, as a steelier Johnson seeks re-election, two cities are emerging in Dickens's bicentennial year. No Olympian triumph will make the one that is enduring hard times disappear. That London needs a champion and Johnson does not qualify.
• LabourList says Lucy Powell is stepping down as Ed Miliband's deputy chief of staff.
In the light of Theresa May's appearance before the home affairs committee, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, is now saying May took "significant risks" that could delay Abu Qatada's deportation. Here's an extract from her statement.
Abu Qatada should be deported as rapidly as possible and kept in custody in the meantime.
Yet the home secretary's evidence this morning shows she has taken significant risks which may make it harder not easier to deport Abu Qatada and directly contradicts the prime minister's claims yesterday.
The home secretary made clear she did not get any assurances from the court that said the deadline was Monday 16 April. Nor did she contact the court on Monday after the Home Office were told by journalists that the European court was saying the date was Tuesday instead.
The home secretary also admitted that she was "aware of speculation" over the deadline on Monday.
Why then did she still take the risk and go ahead with the statement?
Why did she not wait 24 hours so there could be no shadow of a doubt, and so she did not play into the hands of Abu Qatada's lawyers?
Here's David Cameron in a speech last November.
The fact that we export more to Ireland than to Brazil, Russia, India and China combined shows just how reliant we are on Europe.
Cameron has actually made this claim repeatedly. At one stage, I think, Nick Robinson even described it as Cameron's "favourite fact".
It's a powerful revelation. But there's a problem. It's not true.
And how do I know? Jeremy Browne (pictured), a Foreign Office, said so in a speech this afternoon. Here's his quote.
Most of our exports go to 'established markets' – such as the European countries, America, Japan and Australia. That explains the now well-rehearsed fact that we export more to Ireland than we do to the BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India and China – combined. I am told that not actually true, but does hold if you remove Russia from the club.
Browne is, of course, a Liberal Democrat. That means his promotion prospects don't depend upon his relationship with Cameron - fortunately.
UPDATE at 3.40pm: My Press Association colleague tells me that it was actually Stephanie Flanders, the BBC's economics editor, who described the Ireland/Bric figure as George Osborne's favourite fact. I may have muddled that up, unless Nick Robinson also described it as Cameron's favourite fact. Nevertheless, it is certainly a "fact" that Cameron has cited in public on several occasions.
Here, a little later than usual, is a lunchtime summary.
• Jeremy Hunt has been accused of acting as a "cheerleader" and operating a secret back channel with News Corporation executives to assist the passage of the company's bid for all of BSkyB. As the Guardian reports, the charges emerged during questioning at the Leveson inquiry over a series of emails submitted to the inquiry by Rupert Murdoch, News Corp chairman and chief executive. The hearing is still going on. You can follow it on our live blog.
• Theresa May, the home secretary, has suggested that she has nothing in writing to prove the the European court of human rights told the Home Office that the deadline for Abu Qatada to submit an appeal was last Monday. At a home affairs committee hearing, Keith Vaz, the chairman, asked her six times if she had emails or notes of a call to prove that the Home Office was told that Monday was the deadline. May repeatedly dodged the question. But she did insist that she had "unambiguous legal advice" from the government's lawyers saying Monday was the deadline. During the hearing Vaz made it clear that he did not hold her personally responsible for what appears to be an error, and Tory MPs on the committtee were generally supportive. In the hearing May also covered other subjects including delays at Heathrow, a possible new inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence investigation and internet surveillance. My colleague Alan Travis has been covering it on Twitter.
• A lawyer for Peter Hain, the Labour former Northern Ireland secretary, has questioned the legality of the Northern Ireland attorney general's decision to prosecute him for criticising a judge in his memoirs. David Dunlop told a court hearing in Belfast: "One issue is whether the offence of contempt the attorney general seeks to prosecute actually remains in existence in terms of common law." But John Larkin, the NI attorney general, defended his action. He said the contempt case against Hain involved public confidence in the administration of justice, rather than the interest of a judge in protecting his reputation. "Citizens are entitled to have confidence in the administration of justice; they should not be improperly deprived of this entitlement or have it endangered," Larkin said.
• Michael Gove, the education secretary, has rejected claims from Jamie Oliver that the extension of academies has undermined nutritional standards in schools. Giving evidence to the Commons education committee, he said: "I love Jamie Oliver. I would be interested to see any evidence to see any academy that has implemented lower quality food. All the evidence shows that they have raised the quality of food. I don't have any evidence they have been letting children down."
Keith Vaz is asking the final questions.
Q: When will you take a decision about the extradition of Gary McKinnon?
May says she has recently received fresh representation from McKinnon's lawyers.
Q: Are extradition arrangements between the UK and the US being reviewed, as David Cameron and Barack Obama agreed at their recent meeting?
May says this issue is being looked at.
Q: Will there be a new inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence case in the light of the corruption allegations?
May says there will be an urgent question in the Commons on this this afternon. The Guardian story yesterday implied she had already made up her mind, she claims. She hasn't. There are some issues that need to be "bottomed out" before she agrees to a new inquiry.
Q: Are you concerned about the number of cases of racism in the Met?
Yes, says May. She is always concerned about cases of racism.
Q: Are you happy that a supergrass has been rehoused at public expense? Are these reports accurate?
May says the CPS considered 'very carefully" the benefits of entering into this agreement. The police said there were considerable benefits. Co-operating with the police has been a long-standing feature of the criminal justice system.
Q: You are only the second female home secretary. Does it irritate you when the press concentrate on your shoes?
May says this affects other politicians too. People make comments about Ken Clarke's shoes, she says.
That's it. The hearing is over.
Labour's Bridget Phillipson goes next.
Q: Are you concerned that about the way Twitter has been used to name a rape victim?
Yes, says May. But she cannot give an answer today about what can be done about this.
Q: But you accept this could deter other women reporting rape?
Yes, says May.
Michael Ellis, a Conservative, asks May if she is planning to extend controls to things like Skype to stop criminals.
May says that is correct. She says people have been sending her their emails because they think she wants to read them. She doesn't, she says.
Labour's David Winnick asks May if she is proposing to extend surveillance.
May says she wants to apply the existing controls to new technology.
Julian Huppert, a Lib Dem, asks about extending internet surveillance.
Q: What are you going to be doing?
May says there are a lot of myths about what is planned. People think they will be reading email in real time. They won't.
The government can already monitor who is talking to whom by phone. But, as technology changes, people are communicating in different ways. She wants the intelligence services to be able to monitor these contacts.
Q: What do you want the law enforcement agencies to be able to do that they cannot do already? Most of this data is encrypted. Are you planning to place black boxes on internet service providers to allow this data to be decrypted?
May says this is a technical detail.
Keith Vaz says it might be helpful to have another session on this subject.
Q: Sir Tim Berners-Les said these plans would destroy human rights? Do you agree?
May says she does not know what plans he was talking about.
Labour's Steve McCabe asks about out-sourcing police services.
May says she is "open-minded" about this.
Mark Reckless goes next.
Q: You said that Border Agency officials who put border security at risk would be punished. Have people been punished?
May says there were disciplinary proceedings. The then head of the Border Force [Brodie Clark] has left.
Q: Did his punishment extend to six figures?
May says she cannot discuss his settlement.
Q: Why did you not read all the weekly updates on the new passport control regime being piloted?
May says she did read all the reports. But she accepts that, in his report into this affair, John Vine said that some reports were not sent to her. She could not read reports that were not put in her red box, she says. She does not know why she did not receive them.
Labour's Alun Michael goes next.
Q: You have split the UK Border Agency. There is not a Border Agency and a Border Force. What do they both do?
May says the Border Force protects the borders. The Border Agency implements the government's immigration policy, she says.
Q: But won't it be hard to define who does what?
May says these issues existed when the Border Force was part of the Border Agency.
By separating the Border Force, the government will ensure that it has a "clear focus" on protecting the border.
The Abu Qatada part of the hearing is now over. But May is taking questions on other issues.
First, Heathrow.
Lorraine Fullbrook is asking the questions.
Q: Are you sure you have got enough passport staff on duty at Heathrow?
May says there has been a lot of planning. There will not be one single peak day.
Q: Is there a fast-track system for athletes?
May says there will be a separate lane for "Games family members".
Vaz asks about Brodie Clark's article yesterday saying that May should go back to the intelligence-led system being piloted last year.
May says there was predictions that there would be huge delays at Easter. But those delays did not materialise.
Keith Vaz asks another question.
Q: Do you have assurances from Jordan in writing?
May says she has several letters which she could put to a court.
Q: Is Abu Qatada getting legal aid to take his case to the ECHR?
May says he is not receiving legal aid in relation to his ECHR proceedings. But he can qualify for legal aid in relation to the proceedings in the UK. May says the decision about whether he gets it is not up to her.
Q: How much legal aid has he received over the last nine years?
May says she does not know. But in recent years most of his legal actions have involved the ECHR, and they would have been privately funded.
Q: Do you plan to look at the way legal advice is given to you? Or do you think you are getting the best legal advice?
May says she is satisfied with the legal advice she is getting.
Mark Reckless, a Conservative, goes next.
Q: You say if you deport Abu Qatada now you will be breaking the law. Why?
May says the government abides by the international treaties that Britain has signed. The law requires the government to act in accordance with its published guidance. If if ignored this, it could be subject to judicial review.
If the government wants to deport someone, it has to give 72 hours' notice. If it did this, Abu Qatada would get an injunction. If the government ignored that, it would be breaking UK law.
Q: Are you certain he would get an injunction?
May says you can never be certain what decisions judges will take.
Q: But why don't you test this?
May says there could be a judicial review as well as an injunction. There would have been a point of law to test.
Labour's Steve McCabe goes next.
Q: If the court decides to accept the appeal, will that mean that the legal advice you received was wrong?
May says the court does not give reasons for its decisions. If it accepts the referral, it will not say why. So the issue of the deadline will not be part of that.
Q: So they could accept the appeal, without saying why?
May says she understands that that is normal practice.
Q: If the appeal is upheld, will Abu Qatada be able to sue the government?
May says the advice she has received is that the government acted properly.
Lorraine Fullbrook, a Conservative, is asking the questions now.
Q: Are you confident that Abu Qatada will be deported?
Yes, says May.
Q: Do you accept that he has to be removed lawfully?
Yes, says May. When he gets deported, it is important that he remains deported. The government has to act under the rule of law.
Labour's David Winnick is asking the questions now.
Q: Does it occur to you that Abu Qatada is laughing about all this?
May says she was always clear about the fact that Qatada could use legal procedures to delay his deportation for some months.
Q: So you do not accept the comments about this being a farce?
May says taking unambigous legal advice, acting on it and acting as quickly as possible to deport a dangerous individual is not farcical.
Q: What do you say to people who think it is quite likely that he will still be here at the end of the year?
May says it may take "many months" to get rid of him. But she is confident that he will be deported.
Even if the ECHR does not decide to accept an appeal, Qatada can take legal action in the UK.
The problem seems fixed. Back to Theresa May ...
I'm having some technical problems. I hope to sort them out soon.
Theresa May, the home secretary, is giving evidence to the committee now.
Keith Vaz, the chairman, starts. He says May has been invited to talk about various aspects of her job.
Q: Are you still enjoying your job?
Yes, says May.
Q: On Abu Qatada, the committee would commend the work you have done. Yesterday David Cameron says the European court of human rights have given the Home Office assurances about last Monday being the deadline. Do you have any emails or letters or notes of calls saying the deadline was 16 April not 17 April?
May says she will set out the situation.
As Cameron says, the Home Office was "of course" in contact with ECHR officials about the deadline.
May says her advice said the deadline was midnight on 16 April.
She was aware that there was some speculation on Monday night about the deadline.
The court always made clear that it was for the grand chamber to determine the deadline.
But she had "unambiguous" legal advice saying the deadline was on the Monday night. She accepted that. She decided to go ahead with the arrest of Abu Qatada on the Tuesday.
Q: You are saying you acted on advice. But you have 61 legal staff in the Home Office. Bindmans have two lawyers looking at this. The BBC's Danny Shaw was told the deadline was on the Tuesday. Can the government legal service give you an email or letter confirming the deadline was 16 April? If not, why did Bindmans know the deadline was different.
May says the court decided through the grand chamber's panel of judges when the deadline is.
The British government based its decision on article 43 and past precedent that Monday was the deadline.
She wanted to resume deportation at the first opportunity.
Q: You are not answering the question. Wouldn't it have been wise for the government legal service to get something in writing? Do you have anything in writing?
May says the decision about the judgement will be taken by the judges.
Q: So are you saying an application on 18 April would have been in time?
No, says May. She is saying the court takes the final decision.
Q: But there is no inherent jurisdiction to alter time limits. Have you gone back to your officials to ask them to look at the paperwork?
May says the only people who can decide what the deadline is are the panel of judges from the grand chamber. Both parties have to take legal advice on what the deadline is. May says her legal advice said it was on Monday.
Q: So you are telling the committe that there is nothing on file?
May says she is telling the committee that the judgment will be made by judges on the panel.
The Press Association have also reported Russell Brand's response to the Labour MP David Winnick, who accused Brand of treating the hearing like a variety show. (See 12.04pm.)
You're providing a little bit of variety though, making it more like Dad's Army.
The Press Association have filed a quick story on Russell Brand's evidence. Here is the start of it.
Comedian Russell Brand said he became addicted to drugs because of emotional and psychological difficulties, adding "it was rough".
The flamboyant film star said addiction should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal matter.
He called for "abstinence-based recovery" as he gave evidence about his own battle with addiction to MPs reviewing the government's drugs policy.
Brand has given frank accounts of his battle to overcome drug addiction and has said society needs to change the way it views addicts.
Brand, who arrived at the hearing wearing a black hat, gold chains and crosses and a torn black vest top, said he was not calling for "a free-for-all where everyone goes around taking drugs".
Addicts will always be able to get drugs, he said, whether they are illegal or not.
However he added he was not qualified to talk about legalisation.
Instead, he said addiction should be treated as an illness and society should recognise that addicts, with the proper help, can become active and useful members.
He said society should not "discard people, write them off on methadone and leave them on the sidelines".
Instead, society should "neutralise the toxic social threat they pose as criminals".
Asked if there should be a carrot and stick approach, he said it should be more about "love and compassion".
Speaking rapidly and addressing committee members by their first names, Brand dismissed suggestions that addicts cared where their drugs came from or the consequences of their production.
"I don't think they're going to be affected by that because they're normally on drugs," he said.
Asked about the role of celebrities, he said: "Who cares about bloody celebrities?"
Brand said that, instead, he wanted to offer people "truth and authenticity".
That's it. The session with Brand is over.
Theresa May will be up in half an hour.
Michael Ellis goes next.
Q: If you ignore minor offending, won't that lead to more serious offending?
Brand says being arrested is not a lesson. It is just an "administrative blip", he says.
Calling Ellis "mate", he says he needs to show some compassion. He says he can tell Ellis is a Tory from his question.
Keith Vaz says the committee is running out of time.
Brand says you can never run out of time. Theresa May might not show up. She might not know what day it is.
Labour's David Winnick tells Brand this is "not a variety show".
Lorraine Fullbrook, a Conservative, goes next.
Q: Are you in favour of decriminalistion?
Yes, says Brand.
Somers says he is in favour of decriminalisation. But he does not support legalisation, because there is no justification for the use of most drugs.
Q: What about cannabis?
Somers says that might be the one drug where you could make a case for legalisation. But he says he is not advocating its legalisation.
Julian Huppert, a Lib Dem, goes next.
Q: Do abstinence treatements work for all drug addicts?
Somers says abstinence would be a good aim for everyone. People on methadone do not lead stable lives, he says.
Q: Should there be less money spent on the policing of drug possession?
Brand says that is a "brilliant idea". He was arrested several times for possession. It would be better to spend the money on treatment.
Somers says an awful lot of money is wasted on small-time possession. Minor possession "is just part of the everyday life of being an addict".
There is a massive difference between legalisation and decriminalisation, he says. He is not in favour of legalisation.
Somers says children need more honest information about drugs.
It is no use going into schools and just saying drugs are bad, he says.
You have to give both the positive and the negative side of it ... Unless you're honest, people won't listen.
Bridget Phillipson, a Labour MP, goes next.
Q: Focus12 has three high profile patrons: Brand, Devina McCall and Boy George. Does that show more understanding of addiction? Or does that mean drug use has become socially acceptable?
Somers says some celebrities have made the situation worse by appearing to condone drug use.
Michael Ellis, a Conservative, goes next.
Q: Is addiction self-induced? And does it involve victims?
Brand says the victims of drug-related crimes need to be taken care of. He says he met a senior police officer recently who argued that addiction should be seen as an illness. Brand says he committed crimes when he was an addict. Chip Somers was an armed robber.
Q: So does there need to be a carrot and a stick?
Brand says there is no need for a carrot or a stick. Addicts need love and compassion.
Q: Celebrities play a role that is not insignificant.
Brand says he would argue their role is insignificant.
Q: Would you like to be a role model?
Brand says he has no control over the way his image is used in the media.
Q: But your behaviour affects how you are reported.
Brand says different papers will report the same event in different ways. He says celebrity is a "vapid, vacuous concept used to distract people from what is important".
Vaz intervenes.
Q: Do people need to know more about where drugs come from?
No, says Brand. People do not care about matters like this.
Brand starts with a cheery "hello" to members of the public who are in the room.
Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, starts the questioning.
Q: You say in your written evidence that you do not agree with legalisation because it is necessary to have a deterrent effect. Is that right?
Brand says he considers drug use more of a health issue than a legal issue. In some respects there may be a case for decriminalisation, he says. But he thinks the criminalisation of addicts is not helpful.
Q: You are a former heroin addict. Can you say how you became an addict, and how you got off it?
Brand said a "spiritual malady" was to blame. He was sad, lonely and unhappy. Drugs and alcohol seemed an answer. Once he addressed the underlying problem, he was able to get off drugs. He was treated at Focus12 where they promote "abstinence-based recovery".
Q: You were arrested roughly 12 times.
It was rough, says Brand.
Q: When you were arrested, did you have the support you needed?
Brand says there is "confusion and ignorance" around addiction. Lots of drug addicts are anti-social. They are a nuisance. When he was arrested, he felt the police were doing what they had to do.
Q: What do you think about legal highs? Are they the drug of choice for young people?
Brand says he does not know because he is not young enough any more. But he knows that young people will always want to get high.
We need to address the mental and spiritual problems leading people into taking drugs, he says.
Russell Brand is about to start. He is giving evidence with Chip Somers, chief executive of the Charity Focus12 which helped Brand deal with his addiction.
Russell Brand is about to give evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about drugs.
Here's the explanation from the committee as to why Brand has been called. It says he will give evidence "about his own experiences and about his latest project, a documentary of the nature of addiction and how it is viewed by society".
Ed Miliband has given an interview to James Macintyre for Prospect.
It's wide-ranging, but the line that interested me most was Miliband's admission that redistribution is not the only route to social justice. Here's the key quote.
The task for us is to show we understand we've got to change our economy. That's right because the social democratic project is not just about spending more money. It's about changing the way your economy works. And that's what responsible capitalism is all about. It's particularly important because other routes to social justice are more limited ... Social justice not just after the fact through redistribution ... Redistribution is important but it's not the only route to social justice.
I can't find the full article on the web yet, but I've got a copy and there are a few other points worth flagging up.
• Macintyre says some people "close to the Labour leader" have their doubts about Ken Livingstone. "Off the record, some close to the Labour leader are cool about Livingstone, pointing out that he became the party's candidate for mayor before Miliband became leader," Macintyre writes.
• He says Ed Balls has admitted privately that he would not have taken on News International in the way that Milband did last summer. Macintyre also quotes Miliband as saying there is a lesson in what happened for all politicians.
It's a lesson isn't it? It's a real lesson, for all politicians ... Orthodoxies are truths which everybody believes are just unbreakable, until they are broken. And when they are broken you can't find anybody who thinks it was wrong. Look, it's an interesting lesson about how you can change the terms of debate.
• Macintyre says Miliband would not comment on the Guardian story saying Labour were thinking of taking action to stop sitting MPs standing down to stand for election as mayors.
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 three stories that are particularly interesting.
Many Tory MPs complain the coalition does not have a minister willing to "take a bullet for the team", fielding questions across a wide range of subjects and stopping bad stories before they get out of control.
"A lot of them run for cover the moment there is any bad news," says one senior Tory MP, reflecting on a raft of stories which were allowed to escalate, ranging from the taxes on pasties, grannies and charities, to the mishandling of the possible fuel strike and the botched Qatada deportation.
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former media chief, says his boss knew the importance of delegating the job of defending the government.
"Cameron risks becoming a one-man band by comparison, unless he starts to liberate himself from the need to be his own spokesman the whole time," he said.
Baroness Warsi [the Conservative co-chairman] said: 'There are at least ten constituencies that we should have won at the last election, on the basis of the overall swing we achieved, but which we didn't win purely because they were seats with a much larger than average black and minority ethnic population.'
Lady Warsi admitted that many of her colleagues have been surprised to discover that they have far larger migrant populations in their constituencies than they previously realised.
She added: 'Somewhere like Solihull now has more than 5,000 British Muslims. These are upwardly mobile people.'
• James Kilner in the Daily Telegraph says Tony Blair has appeared in a video promoting Kazakhstan.
In the 67 minute film produced by Kazakh state television Mr Blair praised Kazakhstan, where he works part-time as a presidential adviser, for its progress since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"It's a country almost unique, I would say, in its cultural diversity and the way it brings different faiths together and cultures together," Mr Blair said in the video.
Councils in England and Wales have cut their pay bill by nearly 10% in real terms over the last year, according to the Local Government Association. Here's an extract from the news release it has sent out.
Councils in England and Wales have sliced £1.4 billion from their gross annual paybill, the latest Local Government Earnings Survey can reveal.The reduction represents a 9.7 per cent saving to council taxpayers in real terms and has been brought about by a combination of national pay restraint, the introduction of more efficient work practices – such as amending staff rotas to reduce hours and minimise overtime – and widespread workforce restructuring, which has seen the local government headcount reduced by 214,000 since December 2010.
Job cuts have been achieved largely through voluntary redundancy and not replacing workers after they retire or move to new jobs elsewhere. A significant number of compulsory redundancies have also contributed.
In addition, 90 per cent of councils reduced senior management costs by employing fewer people in senior posts or paying them less, while 79 per cent of all councils reduced the cost of middle managers.
The total gross paybill for councils in England and Wales for 2011-12 was £24.9bn. That was 5.2% down on the previous year, and 9.7% down in real terms (ie, taking into account inflation).
Borrowing figures are out this morning. Here's the start of the Press Association story about them.
Government borrowing reduced by nearly £11bn over the last financial year, despite a surprise rise in the figure for March.
Public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions such as bank bail-outs, was £18.2bn in March, up slightly on a year ago and against City hopes of £16bn, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
But the government still met the budget day forecast, announced by its tax and spending watchdog, for borrowing of £126bn in the year to the end of March.
This was down from £136.8bn the previous year, after revisions in previous months.
Earlier in the financial year, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted the borrowing figure would fall to £122bn but it effectively moved the goalposts after the economy worsened.
The reduction in borrowing over the year was made with the help of tax increases, such as the hike in VAT to 20% from 17.5% and cuts in Government spending.
March's borrowing figure, which showed the biggest rise since November 2010, helped push the Government's net debt back over the £1 trillion mark at 66% of gross domestic product (GDP).
And here's what Rachel Reeves (pictured), the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, is saying about the figures.
These figures show that last year George Osborne borrowed £9bn more than he planned to at the time of his spending review. The government is now forecast to borrow an extra £150bn because of the higher unemployment and slow growth their failed economic policies have delivered.
James Murdoch has just started giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry. My colleagues Josh Halliday and John Plunkett are covering it on a live blog.
On the Today programme this morning, Alistair Darling (pictured), the Labour former chancellor, launched a fresh attack on the Eurozone fiscal pact signed earlier this year. I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome.
I think the critical thing that has gone wrong here is the Eurozone has signed up to this daft treaty that requires them to impose austerity which is killing off growth, and without growth, of course you never will get your borrowing down. Spain is now back in recession, they can't meet this target of 3% borrowing in relation to GDP.The Dutch are probably one of the stronger economies. It looks like they are not going to be able to do it. France, it looks if there is a change of government they'll want to renegotiate the whole thing.
Surely the time has come now for the Eurozone to recognise the policies they are pursuing at the moment will not work, no-one believes it. Heavens - you've even got the IMF at the weekend holding up a war chest because it know it's probably going to have to bail the thing out.
Today the Times has splashed on a story headed: Tide turns in tax war as loophole is closed (paywall). Here's how it starts.
A landmark victory for Revenue & Customs to deny wealthy investors £117 million in tax relief has ushered in a new era of intolerance towards tax avoidance by the rich.
Eclipse 35, a film investment partnership whose members include Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was barred from claiming tax relief on a complex £1 billion deal with Disney.
If the 2007 scheme had succeeded, each of the 289 members of Eclipse 35 could have enjoyed an average of £404,000 in tax relief on a personal investment of £173,000. Other investors included Sven-Göran Eriksson, the former England manager, as well as bankers, chief executive officers and hedge-fund managers.
The decision of a tax tribunal could have a wide-reaching effect on dozens of other film schemes as well as other investments designed to achieve high tax reliefs, experts said.
However, one reader is unimpressed. He's posted this on Twitter.
Brit excitement at closing one minor tax racket.What about the billions in Channel Islands paying nothing.Who's serious?
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) April 24, 2012
Yup, that's right. Rupert Murdoch is trashing his own paper's splash.
There are two polls around today. Here are the figures.
Labour: 41% (up 5 points since ICM last month)
Conservatives: 33% (down 6)
Lib Dems: 15% (no change)
Labour lead: 8 points
This is Labour's highest rating in a Guardian ICM poll since May 2003.
Labour: 45% (up 4 points since YouGov in the Sunday Times)
Conservatives: 32% (down 1)
Lib Dems: 8% (down 3)
Labour lead: 13 points
Government approval: -40
The Today programme were leading this morning on the news that Newham council in London has asked a Stoke-on-Trent housing association to take on up to 500 families on housing benefit. Sir Robin Wales, the mayor of Newham, and Grant Shapps (pictured), the housing minister, were debating the issue.
According to PoliticsHome, Wales blamed benefit cuts.
We've got a waiting list of 32,000, we've got hundreds of people looking for places to stay and the result of government benefit cuts, which are still working through as well, means that many more people from wealthier parts of London are looking for places to live in London and they're just not there.
But Shapps accusd the Labour council of "playing politics" with the issue.
For starters rents are actually, at the moment, falling. They've been at lower than inflation for quite some time, these changes came in from last April, over a year ago. There's a huge fund, £190m of discretionary money, and I'd be interested to hear from Newham why they haven't called on more of that fund.
My colleague Polly Curtis is looking at this issue on her Reality Check blog.
We've got another instalment of Carry on Qatada today. Theresa May, the home secretary, is giving evidence to the home affairs committee about the Abu Qatada affair and, in the light of what David Cameron was saying yesterday, she has some explaining to do. The Daily Mail has got a typically punchy account here.
David Cameron unleashed new chaos over hate preacher Abu Qatada case yesterday.The Prime Minister claimed that the European Court of Human Rights 'told' the Home Office that the time limit for the radical Islamist to appeal against deportation would expire last Monday at midnight.
His claims were met with surprise in the Home Office and sparked accusations from Labour that he lied - forcing Mr Cameron to back track.
May is up at 12.30pm. I'll be covering the hearing in detail.
As for the rest of the day, here's the full agenda.
9.30am: Michael Gove, the education secretary, gives evidence to the Commons education committee about school improvement and child protection.
10am: James Murdoch gives evidence to the Leveson inquiry. We'll be covering the hearing on a separate live blog.
10am: Executives from the credit rating agencies Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.
10.30am: Glencore, the mining company, gives evidence to the Commons international development committee about paying tax in developing countries.
11.30am: Russell Brand gives evidence to the Commons home affairs commitee about drugs. At 12pm Peter Hitchens gives evidence on the same subject.
12.30pm: Theresa May, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about Abu Qatada.
12.30pm: Jeremy Browne, the Foreign Office minister, gives a speech on competitiveness and emerging powers.
2.30pm: George Osborne, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.
3pm: Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, gives a speech on the NHS Outcomes Framework.
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 before 12.30pm and another in the afternoon.
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