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The front page of the Daily Mail demands, “Stand up for your country, Mr Cameron”. The paper says, “The Prime Minister caused dismay by appearing to side with President Obama as another £5billion was wiped off the value of BP shares in the escalating row over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.” It quotes Mr Cameron saying: “I completely understand the U.S. government’s frustration because it’s catastrophic for the environment.” The Telegraph‘s front page takes a similar angle: “Cameron fails to back BP in fight with Obama”. But the paper quotes London mayor Boris Johnson who demanded a halt to the “beating up” of one of Britain’s biggest firms following a “catastrophic accident”.
The Financial Times sees it differently writing that the PM has “leapt to BP’s defence”. All three papers quote George Osborne who followed up Cameron’s remarks by saying, “The prime minister is clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America.” BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has been summoned to meet President Obama at The White House next Wednesday.
The Times front page outlines that “Millions may lose out in reform of child benefits”. Labour’s Frank Field, who has been appointed the Government’s new poverty adviser, said means-testing child benefit should be “one of the options”. He also said the Government was looking at ending payments to more than seven million families when their children reach the age of 13. In an interview with the paper, Mr Field said there was a clear case for providing more money in the early years to help mothers to stay at home after their child was born. Under the option to stop benefit at 13, families with two children would lose more than £10,000 over six years, while the Government would save more than £3 billion a year. Mr Field also wants to replace the current measure of child poverty with a “life chances” index measuring parenting, school readiness — such as being able to hold a crayon or sit still — and progress through education.
The Guardian‘s front page reveals that, “38 years on, Bloody Sunday killings to be ruled unlawful”. The 12-year inquiry into the deaths by Lord Saville is to be published next Tuesday. Thirteen unarmed civilians, all of them male, were shot dead at a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry in January 1972. A 14th man died of his wounds several months later. The paper speculates that the conclusions will put “severe pressure on the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland to prosecute soldiers.” One unionist MP who did not wish to be named described the conclusion of unlawful killings as a “hand-grenade with the pin pulled out that is about to be tossed into the lap of the PPS” in Northern Ireland. Left Foot Forward has analysis of the enquiry later today.
The Daily Mail reports remarks by Tory Minister Bob Neill that, “Those in greatest need ultimately bear the burden of paying off the debt.” Unveiling a £1.2 billion package of cuts to councils, Local Government minister Bob Neill suggested the poorest areas would suffer the most. The paper contrasts his remarks to the Tory slogan on tackling the deficit: “We’re all in this together”. David Blunkett told the Commons, “I’m astonished at the severity of cuts to be made over the next nine months; and equally aghast at the blatant acknowledgement that the coalition knows it will be the most disadvantaged and deprived that will be hit hardest.” Sir Jeremy Beecham, chairman of the Labour group on the Local Government Association, which represents councils, described Mr Neill’s comments as “a disgrace”.
The Guardian and Independent cover the success of the Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party who came third in the Dutch general election. In what the Independent calls “shock gains”, the Freedom Party increased its seats from nine to 24. Party leader Gert Wilders said, “The impossible has come true … More security, less crime, less immigration, less Islam – that is what the Netherlands has chosen.” The pro-business VDD party took 31 seats to Labour’s 30. The biggest party in the current coalition, the Christan Democrats, were heavily defeated and saw their total fall from 41 to 21. The Guardian outlines that the result left the 150-seat parliament evenly split between right and left, probably requiring four parties to coalesce to form a stable majority. The paper says, “putting Wilders in the cabinet would mean a Dutch minister entering the dock later this year to be tried for inciting racial hatred by likening Islam to Nazism. Last year he was barred from entering Britain by the Home Office.”
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5 Responses to “Politics Summary: Friday, June 11th”
Hitchin England
New post: Politics Summary: Friday, June 11th http://bit.ly/akZYvF via @leftfootfwd
Politics Summary: Friday, June 11th « The best Labour blogs
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Mr. Sensible
I think those cuts being proposed are an absolute disgrace.
The cat is well and truely out of the bag.
I see that the government’s claims about protecting services are being challenged in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/10/conservative-cuts-services-transport-spending
In Nottinghamshire, this isn’t new.
As I said yesterday, perhaps Mr Osborne ought to cut VAT on Highschool Musical memorabilia. Will, perhaps you ought to suggest that Jack Straw uses that one or suggests it to Ms Harman.
Elsewhere, I saw 3 interesting stories on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/politics/10268241.st
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/10285617.st
And:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/10284695.st
Mr. Sensible
Oh goodness, something seems to have happened to the links.
They are:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/politics/10268241.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/10285617.stm
And:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/10284695.stm
Hopefully they work this time!
Mr. Sensible
BTW, why the patriotism over BP in the papers?
You cannot defend the indefensible, and I support what the President is saying.
The Chief Exec didn’t exactly make things easy for himself, did he.