Manchester is named one of eight core cities to be given extra powers

Eight core cities,Manchester among them are to be helped through new “city deals” in which they will get greater control over the money they receive from central Government.

Plans announced this morning by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg,will allow councils to borrow for the first time against future tax receipts from business rates through a new Tax Increment Financing scheme.

Manchester joins Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Sheffield,in being piloted for this scheme details of which are expected to be published in a new Local Government Finance Bill in the next two weeks, with the powers in place by April 2013.

The new bill is expected to include giving each city a consolidated capital pot to spend "as they see fit" and allowing councils to take out bank loans on future developments - such as shopping centres or business parks that are expected to generate significant revenue - to pay for the investment work.

Commenting on the scheme,Nick Clegg said:

"Cities are the engines of economic growth. Whitehall should not be like an overbearing parent, throwing money at cities but refusing to let them stand on their own two feet. So we will have a bonfire of Whitehall controls to empower our cities to go for growth.

"We need our cities to be economic, social and cultural magnets - places people aspire to live. Firstly, cities will have greater freedom to invest in growth. Secondly, having power over transport, housing, broadband. Finally, the power to boost skills and jobs.

"Our cities have been straining at Whitehall's leash. They now have a once in a generation opportunity. I urge them to seize it and make it count."

However Hilary Benn MP, Labour’s Shadow Communities Secretary has described the scheme as a smokescreen for further big cuts to council funding being announced today by the Tory-led Government.

"These will particularly hit the most disadvantaged communities in England, which have already seen bigger cuts than less deprived areas. With local council jobs going – affecting twice as many women as men - cutting too far and too fast is forcing local authorities around the country to cut frontline services on which both residents and business depend. With all this happening, Nick Clegg's out of touch claim to be giving our big cities the key to their future is so hollow as to be meaningless."

Germany votes Yes-Will Peter Oborne be pleased

Nick Clegg will be pleased but not sure whether Peter Oborne will be swinging from the rafters.



The German Parliament has voted for the enhanced eurozone bailout fund. The motion was easily passed, with 583 MPs for and just 85 against.

Whether the Foreign secretary will be pleased will be another mute point for William Hague has described the euro as a "burning building with no exits" for some countries in the monetary union.

Interviewed for this week's Spectator he had been proved right in opposing the euro when he served as Conservative leader.

The vote will be seeing as freeing the way for European officials to focus on what next steps may be needed to stem the debt crisis.

Germany's move increases its guarantees to Euro Zone debt to 211 billion euros from 123 billion euros.


As for Mr Oborne,his behaviour on last night's newsnight programme was quite disgusting.

The Telegraph's political editor was primarily promoting his book,the Guilty men which throws hot coals at those who advocate Britain's entry to the Eouro.

Face to face with former FT editor Richard Lambert,whose paper was once a strong supporter of the policy,he threw his book on the table,accusing him of being one of the 'guilty men'

His strongest outburst though was reserved for Amadeu Altafaj-Tardio, a representative from the European Commission,who fortunately was not in the studio but on a live link from Brussels.

After telling the show that the Euro issue was primarily a political one,the said Oborne repeatedly called him an idiot in Brussels.

After three times,the "idiot" unclipped his mic and left the studio

This morning's top political stories

Nick Clegg's speech this afternoon to the Lib Dem conference is previewed in many of the papers.

According to the Guardian he will

unveil a compassionate response to the riots in his keynote speech by proposing that as many as 100,000 children at risk of going off the rails be offered a chance to attend two-week summer school prior to starting secondary studies. He will say the voluntary summer school can prevent children "falling through the cracks".

The Telegraph says that

In contrast to the tough rhetoric used by David Cameron against the rioters, Mr Clegg will say that “the odds are stacked against too many of our children”.

"It was about what they could get, here and now, not what lies in front of them, tomorrow and in the years ahead. [It was] as if their own future had little value," he will say.says the Independent

The Times says that The Lib Dems are keen to stress their different response to the riots from the more hardline approach to law and order of the Tories. Lord McNally, the party’s Justice Minister, said yesterday that he was “having to fend off” demands from David Cameron’s policy unit for stricter sentences to be included in the current sentencing Bill. “We are not fighting only one front,” he told Lib Dem representatives.

Meanwhile BBC News says that the Deputy Prime Minister will defend the government's economic strategy and his party's role in the coalition and is due to say his party will not change course on spending cuts but can do more to encourage growth.

He will argue,says the report,that the economic crisis shows the party made the "right call" in entering power with the Conservatives.

Elsewhere the Independent reports that an investigation has been launched into whether a Labour sympathiser within the Department for Education leaked emails from Michael Gove's senior advisers to the media.

David Cameron has personally intervened for the first time in the growing row over planning reform to assure campaigners that the environmental benefits of developments will be assessed before new projects are given permission reports the Telegraph.

It says that in a letter sent last night by Mr Cameron to the National Trust,he insisted that he is committed to the “magnificent countryside” and said the “beautiful British landscape is a national treasure”.Poorly designed and poorly located development is in no one’s interest,” Mr Cameron added.

The Mail has used its leader column this morning to launch an attack on the Lib Dems

Like flat-Earthers clinging to long- disproved theories, the Lib Dems blather on at their conference, in unshakeable denial of realities staring them in the face.

Staying with the Lib Dems the Times reports that Nick Clegg is preparing to ask for a bigger role for his party at the Home Office as Liberal Democrats brace themselves for the first major reshuffle.

The paper claims that the party are prepared to trade the senior role occupied in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by their Minister Of State Jeremy Browne for a beefed-up job under Theresa May.

Clegg doesn't rule out working with Brown

Nick Clegg was first out of the blocks this morning with the Prime spot interview on the Today programme.

The Lib Dem leader said his parties proposals to halve the deficit went much further than Labour’s or the Conservatives’and reiterated his view that in a hung parliament the party with the biggest mandate had the “moral right to seek to govern first though not ruling out a deal with Gordon Brown .

Reaction though has not been good.The Spectator's David Blackburn believes he blew a golden opportunity

Nick Clegg won’t get many opportunities to sell himself to voters and he has just been demolished on the Today programme. All things to all men, Clegg was all over the place. He couldn't give an exact answer when questioned about the size of the deficit, and the Lib Dems’ shifting position on the depth of cuts was exposed once again, recalling his autumn wobble on ‘savage cuts’. He also refused to rule out a VAT rise. Similarly, he could not expand on his plans for parliamentary reform beyond labels such as ‘radicalism’, ‘renewal’ and ‘the old politics’.

Clegg calls for consensus on the deficit

Nick Clegg has called for a cross-party Council of Financial Stability to agree the timetable and scale of deficit reduction.

Spaeking at the London Stock Exchange the Lib Dem leader said that

Government-as-usual will not, cannot, command the legitimacy to make the big decisions before us. The scale of the changes required is so great it will require a different way of taking decisions too.

He described the standard model of imposing cuts from on high as a recipe for Greek-style social and industrial strife.

The Council would include all the major parties, the Governor of the Bank of England, and the Head of the Financial Services Authority.

Lib Dems tackling education

Nick Clegg is doing the rounds this morning as the Lib Dems release new figures highlighting a previously unidentified performance gap between poor children based on which part of the country they live in.

The gap between the GCSE results of poor children in different parts of the country has dramatically widened over recent years. This gap is now bigger than the national performance gap between rich and poor children, and between poor children and the rest.

Speaking on the Today Programme the Lib Dem leader made clear that he would guarantee extra funding “come what may” to reduce class sizes which would be paid for by £1bn in savings from the quangos and £1.5bn from phasing out tax credits for above average income families.

Not all Welsh liberals read the broadsheets then

Thanks to Iain Dale who spotted this little gem from Welsh ramblings

News reaches us that Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was booed at his party's Welsh conference in Cardiff yesterday evening.
A conference insider told Ramblings that: "[Nick] Clegg said something fairly elitist like 'we're all broadsheet readers here' and he had boos."

Clegg -a bit miffed

A little snippet of information from James Forsyth over at Coffee House who says that Nick Clegg was not entirely happy with the fact that he was not meeting President Obama

'I am really annoyed,' [Clegg] told me. 'As it was not a state visit I understood I wouldn't get to see [Obama]. But when I found out Obama was meeting the Queen and David Cameron I got on the phone to David Miliband to ask him what was going on.
'Frankly, it doesn't look good for Cameron to see him and for me not to.'
At one point he turned to Cable and told him: 'If I do get to go, I will give Obama a copy of your book.'"

Needless to say,Clegg's office have both denied this conversation and that he tried to speak with David Miliband.

Lib Dems want Clegg out

Spotted by Tom Miller

Are our politics broken?

People in this country are governed by processes that feel alien to their lives; by the puerile and archaic pantomime that so often dictates the Commons; by a system that keeps power hoarded in Whitehall.

Nick Clegg writing at Newstatesman.com this week.Is his correct?Well certainly many people in this country feel disenfranchised by the whole political process and he adds that

While energy bills continue to rocket, while private debt continues to spiral, and while more and more small businesses close, the other two parties are back in their corners. Political point scoring is at an all time high. Punch and Judy have put their gloves back on.

and the solution

radically decentralising power, taking the price tag off power, and giving people much more control over their own lives.

Some tips for Labour

It might be a good idea if the Labour party doesn't pick up its copy of the New Statesman this week again.

Fisrtly Martin Bright has been to a morning star fringe meeting at the TUC conference and heard Derek Simpson of Unite, Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Bob Crow of the RMT,conclude that

The Labour government has alienated the party's core supporters by adopting a neoliberal, pro-business agenda of privatisation, deregulation and low taxation. It is no surprise that it is proving difficult to get the working-class vote out for Labour, they said, when the government has allowed the gap between rich and poor to widen so greatly. In times of growing economic uncertainty, ministers need to demonstrate that the Labour Party is still prepared to look out for those people who stand to lose most from the economic downturn.

and then looks forward to the next conference where Nick Clegg

will argue at his party's annual conference in Bournemouth that Brown's version of new Labour is the last throw of the social-democratic dice.

Meanwhile Dennis McShane look to the continent to see how the left are dealing with the crisis of socialism where in Germany

In a fit of despair at its slumping popularity, the main centre-left party in government decided to replace its burly party leader, whose poll ratings hovered around 25 per cent. A cerebral member of cabinet - best known as a staffer for the previous leader, a proven election-winner - was chosen in his place

Some good ideas but as with all Lib Dem initiatives-do the figures add up

Nick Clegg's about turn on tax and spend has not gone unnoticed.

The LibDems must be desperate. So depressing is their opinion poll performance at the moment that they are even resorting to talking common sense about tax and public spending. Not only is their leader Nick Clegg proposing tax cuts for the lower paid - a policy which any politician of social conscience should recognise as morally and politically compelling - but he even suggested on the Today programme this morning that the Government should be "tightening its belt".says Janet Daley on Telegraph.co.uk

Clegg earlier today launched "Make it happen" telling his audience that society after all was not broken and that being British we won't just give up on each other(Mmmmm.....sure we have got the right party here).

Stressing that he wanted to make Britain a fairer country,the party has pledged to reduce income tax from 20-16% the shortfall made up with green taxes and closing the loopholes.

Where he has tried to differentiate himself from the other parties is in a commitment to spend more on those in society that need it the most.

It is the scrapping of the 50p top tax rate and the extra 1p on tax that has determined this shift.

The question that must be asked though is too fold.Firstly will the Whitehall savings and closing of the loopholes make up the difference.Secondly will Green taxes just impinge on those that he is trying to help

More on the Lib Dems and the "by election"

Over at the Lib Dems,all is not bliss about Nick Clegg's decision not to contest the by election in Haltemprice & Howden:


The rumour is that the potential candidate David Nolan has not been informed of the decision before Clegg's announcement minutes after Davis' performance at lunchtime.

However the party machine is up and running and Mr Nolan has released the following statement

As David Davis is standing on the one single issue of opposing 42 day detention without charge and we happen to agree with him, the collective view of our Party is that we will not stand against him at this by-election.
As Lib Dem PPC for the Constituency, I fully support that decision.
However at the next General Election, when he will be standing on a Conservative Party Manifesto, we will oppose him vigorously.

and this from Simon Hughes

This morning, Nick Clegg and I spoke and formed a common view that, in these exceptional circumstances, it would be best not to put up a candidate in this by-election. I then consulted with the local and regional party chairs, explained the position and obtained their agreement to this course of action, which the Chair of the English Party also understands and supports

. adding

This morning, Nick Clegg and I spoke and formed a common view that, in these exceptional circumstances, it would be best not to put up a candidate in this by-election. I then consulted with the local and regional party chairs, explained the position and obtained their agreement to this course of action, which the Chair of the English Party also understands and supports.

Hat Tip Lib Dem Voice

Clegg will support the Tories in a hung Parliament

This morning's Telegraph suggests that Nick Clegg will support the Tories in the event of a hung Parliament.

In consultations with senior members of the party, he said he was prepared to take the necessary steps that would enable the Tories to form a minority administration.
Mr Clegg ruled out taking a Cabinet seat in a Conservative government in return for his support and instead would provide Mr Cameron with "supply and confidence" – meaning he would promise to back a Conservative Budget and would side with the Tories in any votes of confidence

The qusetion is why choose now to make the announcement.According to the report,he has decided that the public would not forgive for supporting a Labour administration.
So watch out for further announcements that David Cameron will be supporting proportional representation

Well knock me down with a feather! Vote Clegg get Cameron

says Bob Piper

Maybe this is what happens when you coem under fire from the Taliban.According to Westmonster

Nick Clegg has found a sure-fire way to get more hot sex: almost being shot by the Taliban. In an incident that will surely provide the Handsome One with enough ammunition to charm even the most chaste of ladies into his liberal bed, the Guardian has revealed how Mr. Clegg was forced to wear protective body army yesterday (though not of the Durex variety) after an airbase that he was visiting in Afghanistan was attacked by insurgents.

In and out without meeting a voter

Jonathan Isaby is covering Nick Clegg's whistle top visit to Crewe over at Three Line Whip and points out that he managed to do it without meeting any voters.

He did though

met his candidate, Elizabeth Shenton at the station for the photocall with the local press and headed for the car waiting for him (on a double yellow line).
On the point of getting into the car, his press officer dragged him back since the Sky News cameraman had failed to get there in time to get any footage

Before going for an interview at the Crewe Chronicle

Forget the bed post-what about Iraq?

Daniel Finkelstein alerts the public to another aspect of the Nick Clegg interview with Piers Morgan in GQ.

Perhaps we should be worried about his sexual conquests but even more about his views on Iraq

Piers Morgan: Was the invasion of Iraq illegal?
Nick Clegg: There's a strong case to suggest it was in breach of UN resolutions, yes.

PM: So, assuming it was illegal, would it be justified for Iraqis to exact revenge on Britain?
NC: I don't think you remedy an act of violence like that.

PM: If Iraq had invaded Britain illegally, you would have said it was morally justified for us to attack them back, wouldn't you?
NC: Yes, I probably would.

PM: So why is it not morally justified for them to attack us back?
NC: I wish it was that simple.

PM: If it is morally certain one way, surely it has to be the other way, too?
NC: No, you are repeating the error of Blair and Bush, this Old Testament view of moral rigidity that says you compound one thing with another.

PM: If Iran illegally bombs London next month, should we retaliate?
NC: Of course we should.

PM: But you say it is not morally justified for Iraqis to attack us?
NC: Because foreign affairs cannot be driven with absolute moral precision.

PM: I don't understand why Iraqis don't have a moral right to attack us if you say we illegally invaded them.
NC: I can see how people could construct a moral justification. But I don't think the morality of invading Iraq is expunged by them attacking us.

PM: I'm baffled. If Iraq invaded us, you would say it was morally justified to strike back, but it's not morally justified for them to do it to us even if our invasion was illegal?
NC: If you are invaded illegally, then clearly you feel you have a moral justification. But that isn't a sensible way to conduct foreign affairs. Bush and Blair waged war on Iraq through misplaced moral certainty.

So lets get this right.What would happen if Iraq invaded us?

A case of after the Lord Major's ball?

At the end of a difficult week for Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg,he faces a tough test in addressing the party's spring conference in Liverpool today.

Clegg will have to demonstrate that he is in control of his party after the eruptions of the week over the Lisbon treay, a cause not helped by Vince Cable's much plauded speach yesterday.

A case of follow that according to Sam Caotes over at Red Box

It was clever, funny and powerful enough to be a leader's speech. Vince Cable, suddenly an elder statesman of British political scene, was showing off his peculiarly effective speaking technique - reassuringly unpolished and unprofessional - at Liberal Democrat Spring conference.

James Forsyth over at Coffee house says it

showed how fortunate it was for the two main parties that he did not become leader either in 2006 or after Ming Campbell’s departure. He is able to deliver cutting criticism of the two main parties while staking out political positions that appeal to both Labour and Tory voters.

You can read the full text of the speach HERE

Alex Foster at Lib Dem voice says

At the end, conference were swift to get on their feet for a standing ovation as he left, both for a speech that was a splendid restatement of our entire fiscal policy and much of our social views, and a mark of respect for the great job he did at a difficult time as interim leader

.

Where does all this praise leave Clegg?

Reports are that he is going to emphise the differences between his party and the other two,being crotical of the Tories in pandering to public opinion.After all it is with that party that his MP's will face the greatest battle after the next election.He will also seek to show that the Lib Dems are the party of protest whether it be over Europe or being willing to break the law over ID cards.

But there is hope for the new leader,according to Martin Kettle writing in the Guardian

That is why, with the continuing eclipse of New Labour and only a modest resurgence of the Tory party, the most interesting dynamic in British politics remains - in spite of the party's occasional own best efforts - the Lib Dems. Intelligent observers, sympathetic as well as hostile, in the other two parties long ago understood that the shape of British politics in the next few years rests to a considerable degree on whether Clegg can get the Lib Dems back to the 22% that Kennedy secured three years ago.

A move too far for Clegg

Hidden away in Today's news about errant priests is Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's interview with the FT in which he considers

his Liberal Democrats could support a minority Conservative government after the next election, if David Cameron proposes genuinely “liberal” reforms in areas such as civil liberties, public service reform and the environment.
The Lib Dem leader on Friday sets out conditions under which his party would back the first Queen’s Speech of a minority government if the next election produced a hung parliament.

A dangerous course for the Lib Dems to be following and according to political betting.com

This is getting onto tricky territory and, clearly, Clegg is using his honeymoon period to get controversial ideas out early. It’s much harder to oppose a leader in his first six months than later. Certainly his predecessor, Ming Campbell, ran into serious trouble eleven months ago when at a conference in Harrogate he gave the strong impression that there could be no deals with the Tories.

No more so than the fact that Lib Dem voters are seen as being more anti Tory than anti Labour.If a vote for the party is seen as letting the Tories in,especially in the margibnalconstituencies,will there supporters desert to Labour in 2010?