Top news today: expenses, royal lobbying, federal UK
Author: Zoe Stavri
Published on Oct 18, 2012
In the news today, another expenses scandal is brewing, Prince Charles remains defiant about his lobbying, and analysis of the possibility of a federal UK.
EXPENSES SCANDAL: MPs BLOCK DETAILS OF NEW EXPENSES- A list of MPs exploiting an expenses loophole which allowed politicians to rent their taxpayer-funded homes to one another. Speaker John Bercow has written to the regulator Ipsa asking them not to publish these details. Should MPs be able to block disclosure of this information?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9615992/Expenses-scandal-MPs-block-details-of-new-expenses.html
I’LL KEEP NAGGING WHEN I’M KING- Aides of Prince Charles say it is his “right and absolute duty” to lobby ministers and will continue to do so when he takes the throne. The correspondence will be kept secret. Should monarchs have lobbying power at all?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219343/Aides-defiant-Charles-insist-duty-bombard-ministers-political-views.html#ixzz29dEqHkJw
HOLYROOD SHOULD BE STRIPPED OF ITS POWER TO IMPOSE NATIONAL COUNCIL TAX FREEZES, SAY LIB DEMS- Menzies Campbell has released a blueprint for a federal UK if Scottish independence is rejected in the referendum. One condition of this agenda would be giving councils freedom to set their own tax rates, bypassing a Holyrood freeze on council taxes. Do you think this move would be popular?
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/politics/holyrood-should-be-stripped-of-its-power-to-impose-national-council-tax-freeze-say-lib-dems-1-2584727
KEN CLARKE SUPPORTS STATUTORY PRESS CONTROL- Ken Clarke is the first cabinet minister to support statutory press regulation. Will this cause problems when the Leveson recommendations are published?
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3571787.ece