“Sir Keir Starmer will hand the vote to millions of EU citizens if Labour wins the next general election, the Telegraph can reveal. Under manifesto plans for the biggest expansion of the franchise in almost a century, Sir Keir will launch a “package of proposals” including votes for settled migrants and 16 and 17-year-olds. The move could force the Conservatives out of London altogether and unseat Boris Johnson if he stands again for Parliament in 2029.” – Sunday Telegraph
“Former home secretary Priti Patel has blamed the Conservative Party’s leadership for heavy local election losses in a speech. Ms Patel said she was sorry that it was “errors and mistakes sometimes of us in Westminster and our actions that have cost our party dearly”. She was among several high-profile Tory MPs who spoke to the Conservative Democratic Organisation, a new grassroots pro-Boris Johnson group. The Tory Party said it had no comment.” – BBC
>Today: ToryDiary: Do the West Midlands point towards the future Conservative electoral coalition?
“The Bournemouth rebels have also called for Mr Sunak to cut taxes from their historically high level – including the controversial tourist tax which has hit the economy by removing the VAT refund for overseas visitors – but Mr Sunak urges patience. ‘Of course, I want to bring down taxes, I’m a Conservative, I believe in lower taxes. I want people to work hard and to be able to keep more of what they earn. That is something that is incredibly important to me from a kind of values perspective and as soon as we can, I want to do that for people. So, we’re going to bring down inflation, grow the economy, get a reduced debt and as we’ve done all those things, then we are going to cut taxes.’ ” – Interview with Rishi Sunak, Mail on Sunday
“The cabinet is divided over immigration policy as ministers brace themselves for migration to reach a record. Forecasts have suggested that the net figure for last year, to be published this month, could be as high as a million. To see off a feared backlash from MPs and the wider party, ministers are drawing up plans to stop family members from joining overseas master’s students at British universities. The number coming under that provision has risen more than tenfold in four years, from 12,806 in 2018 to 135,788 in the year to December. However, some feel they need to go further and are arguing for a rise in the salary threshold for immigrants. Skilled workers are eligible for visas if the job pays £26,200 — 20 per cent below the median salary of £33,280.” – Sunday Times
“Boris Johnson’s allies expect him to cut a deal with the privileges committee that will result in him being suspended from parliament for less than 10 days — below the threshold that would trigger a career-ending recall petition. Although the former prime minister has had no formal contact from the committee, it is understood that, to avoid a harsher penalty and the prospect of a damaging by-election, he will accept a finding that he misled the Commons.” – Sunday Times
“Britain must boost defence cooperation with Taiwan and use “hard power” to protect it from Chinese aggression, Liz Truss will say during a historic visit to the island this week. The former prime minister is expected to say that if the West wants to avoid a war erupting in the South China Sea it must “get real” about military cooperation, taking a “coordinated approach” on what arms are sent to Taiwan.” – Sunday Telegraph
“The nursing union leader is demanding a double-digit pay rise for the profession in a U-turn on her previous position. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), had called for her members to accept the government’s offer of 5 per cent. However, they rejected the deal by 54 per cent to 46 per cent and are preparing a ballot on whether to strike again. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, Cullen has now called on Stephen Barclay, the health secretary, to reopen negotiations and said the talks need to “start off in double figures”. This weekend, she will tell her members she underestimated them.” – Sunday Times
“Turks are voting in the most pivotal elections in their modern history, to decide if Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains president after 20 years in power. His main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, promises to scrap many of the powers acquired by President Erdogan after he survived a failed coup in 2016. Buoyed by a broad opposition alliance, he has a real chance of winning. But this race has become so intense and the stakes so high that campaigning went up to the wire.” – BBC
Other political news
“There is still adequate time for a proper full review of all the EU legislation we inherited, especially if the present sunset provisions are extended for a few months. It is now clear that a significant proportion of the mere 600 EU laws in the schedule in the bill for revocation are not and never were of any legal or political national UK interest. They include fishing matters between the EU and the Cook Islands or Vietnam. The unelected Lords should not be used to radically change legislation already passed with a big majority in the elected House of Commons. Nor should the Commons’ own specialist committee be bypassed in this arrogant way.” – Bill Cash, Sunday Telegraph
“The fastest-growing category of claimants is now those with “No Work Requirements”, totalling some 3.5 million today. Almost two out of three of these are individuals out of work due to long-term sickness and disability, with the greatest increase coming in mental health conditions. Given their circumstances, they are exempt from welfare rules designed to help or encourage people into work. Yet health practitioners know work can be a strong health treatment, particularly for those suffering from depression or anxiety, which are treatable. While many may never be able to work, and should be treated with compassion and support, official survey data shows that at least 700,000 say that they would like to work with the right support.” – Iain Duncan Smith, The Sun on Sunday
“It’s not just about EU laws. There is a far broader concern — forcefully expressed by Sir James Dyson in The Times yesterday — that when it comes to business and innovation, Britain is simply not at the races. In 2012 the economist Andy Haldane gave a speech highlighting the increased scale of financial regulation. He pointed out that the ratio of regulators to financial service workers had increased from 1:11,000 in 1980 to 1:300 in 2011. I don’t have access to his methodology, but from counting up the numbers in various annual reports, I put the figure today at roughly 1:75. In other words, the number of regulators may have quadrupled in just over a decade. Likewise, the average FTSE 350 company report is 64 per cent longer than it was five years ago, because of all the extra reporting requirements — which helps explain why so few companies are listing here.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times
“People want to feel secure before they start a family. When they can’t get on to the housing ladder, when producer-driven regulations make our childcare the most expensive in the developed world, when taxes are high, the birthrate falls. The lockdown, which exacerbated the sense of uncertainty, drove it down further, despite early predictions to the contrary…Simply returning to our default setting as a species – that is, wholeheartedly celebrating each new arrival – would change the political climate.” – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph