Breaking: Osborne’s expense claims to be investigated by Standards watchdog
From our UK edition
More from PoliticsHome. UPDATE: Paul Waugh has a copy of the original complaint.
Uk politics
Thursday
Advertising cuts
From our UK edition
If you're stuck for something to do during this sweltering afternoon, then it's well worth flicking through David Cameron's speech to the Local Government Association earlier. Aside from a few mentions of handing "much more power" to local governments (which could be taken as merely transferring power from one bureaucracy to another), it's a good example of how much more confident and clear the Tory message on spending cuts has become. The passage which stands out - although it may not actually be the snappiest - is where Cameron draws a comparison with the private sector: "Imagine if some of our biggest business brands followed the logic of our government.
Tories move to raise the standard of teachers
From our UK edition
Michael Gove’s speech today is another sign that the Tories are serious about raising educational standards. In it, Gove proposes a series of measures to improve the quality of teachers trained by the state. Under a Conservative government, those in state-run teacher training would not be allowed to retake the literacy and numeracy tests multipile times. Primary school teachers would need at least Bs in both English and Maths GCSEs (remember that in the state sector primary school teachers are generalists not specialists). Also, those who do post-graduate teacher training will have to have a 2.2 or better. Personally, I’m sceptical of the whole concept of teacher training. Teach First suggests that at the very least it can be radically slimmed down.
Brown primes his new dividing line
From our UK edition
With Brown shifting his position on spending by the minute, it's worth highlighting this snippet from today's Guardian: "Treasury ministers, in particular, believe they can look at whether there will be a need for cuts at the time of the pre-budget report in the autumn. They intend to use the report to show the scale of projected future savings, as well as how frontline services and new priorities can be protected by switching resources. Labour still believes the Tories have made a political mistake by committing themselves to public spending cuts so early." It rather supports Fraser's prediction that, following all their talk about "envelopes" and "projections," the Government will suddenly start saying those "cuts" aren't necessary after all.
