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Blair dismisses quit claim report Tony Blair has dismissed reports he told Gordon Brown he would quit before the next general election. "You don't do deals over jobs like this," the prime minister told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme. According to a new book, Brown's Britain, Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004. Mr Blair said the claims were "reheated from six months ago" and that he was concentrating on running the country. Mr Blair said: "I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this - you don't. "What both of us are actually concentrating on are the issues that concern the country." The book, by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston and serialised in the newspaper, said the pair had "mutual animosity and contempt" for each other. It claims Tony Blair felt by November 2003 he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war and that he was no longer an asset to the Labour Party. And that at a dinner hosted by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott he told Mr Brown of his intention to stand down. According to Mr Peston the prime minister said: "Help me to get through the year and I will then stand down." But he then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from allies in the Cabinet and the suspicion that the chancellor was deliberately manoeuvring against him, according to the book. Mr Peston told BBC News: "My understanding is that they are not nearly as close or as friendly as they once were. "What the book says is there is now a pretty profound mutual mistrust, mutual animosity. "I think in public you see this double-act pretending everything is alright, but in private I don't think the relationship is good because Brown, understandably, feels deeply betrayed - particularly over this issue of the leadership." But, in a wide-ranging BBC interview covering issues such as the Asian tsunami disaster, the Middle East peace process and Northern Ireland, Mr Blair said: "When you get to the top in politics you get this huge swell around you. "All sorts of people make all sorts of claims and counter-claims." He admitted to a "sense of frustration" about the allegations which he said had been made "countless times". There has been fresh speculation of a rift recently, following their separate responses to the Asian tsunami. These rumours were fuelled by Mr Blair's decision to hold his monthly media conference at the same time as a long-planned speech by Mr Brown on UK plans to tackle global poverty with a new "Marshall Plan" for Africa. There was speculation the pair were trying to outdo each other's response to the disaster. But the prime minister said he had discussed these claims with the chancellor and dismissed them as a "load of nonsense". Former welfare minister Frank Field MP said the prime minister should sack Mr Brown, but did not believe Mr Blair was strong enough to do so. Tory leader Michael Howard accused the prime minister and Mr Brown of "squabbling like schoolboys". He told Sky News' Sunday with Adam Boulton: "This is the politics of the playground and Britain really does deserve better." The Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said the personal ambition of Mr Blair and Mr Brown was "getting in the way of good government". "Either they need to grow up and put their squabbles to one side or they cannot expect the electorate to support a divided government at the next election." During the interview Mr Blair also said the former home secretary David Blunkett would play a "big role" at the general election.

Petrol duties frozen, Brown says Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced a freeze on fuel duty in his pre-budget speech to the Commons on Thursday. Mr Brown told the House that government policy is to raise fuel duty at least in line with inflation each year to fulfil environmental commitments. But this financial year, because of "volatility in the oil market", he said the duty would be frozen. During 2000 many motorists campaigned against the rises but environmentalists believe less duty means more pollution. He said: "It is our policy that each year fuel duties should rise at least in line with inflation as we seek to meet our targets for reducing polluting emmissions and fund our public services. "But this financial year because of the sustained volatility in the oil market I propose to match the freeze in car vehicle licence duty with a continuation on the freeze on the main road fuel duties." The RAC welcomed the news, calling it an "early Christmas present" for motorists. But the organisation urged drivers to continue to shop around to get the best price for petrol. Environmental group Transport 2000 said the freeze sends the wrong message to motorists. "We are concerned that although Britain leads the world in rhetoric about climate change it often fails in practical action," said a spokesman. In 2000 the People's Fuel Lobby caused chaos by blocking roads with slow-moving convoys after Mr Brown threatened to raise fuel taxes. The chancellor did not raise duty that year, but despite threats of more protests in 2003, he added 1.28p per litre.

Milburn defends poster campaign Labour's election chief Alan Milburn has defended his party's campaign posters amid Tory claims the ads were nothing short of "sly anti-Semitism". Mr Milburn said he appreciated people's concerns, but insisted that "what they were was anti-Tory" and "not in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic". He was responding to Tory spokesman Julian Lewis who said the ads were part of a wider trend of smearing the party. Labour has withdrawn two controversial posters and launched four new designs. A row was sparked after the party published posters appearing to depict Michael Howard, who is Jewish, as Fagin, and as a flying pig, amid claims they were anti-Semitic. The posters were labelled a "big misjudgement" by the Conservatives who said Labour's "first shot in the election has badly backfired". The posters were among a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who were asked to vote on their favourite. Labour has taken them off its website, saying members preferred other posters. The party's four new designs, launched on Tuesday, steer clear of the Fagin or flying pig images, but make clear that Labour is sticking to its strategy of targeting the Tory leader personally, with reminders of his record in office. The posters were among a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. In the Commons, Tory spokesman Mr Lewis suggested the posters were part of a wider trend and reminded MPs that Labour chairman Ian McCartney last year described shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin as a "21st Century Fagin". "Given the outrage that that smear caused then, how could you have thought anything other than the fact that what you were doing in reviving it in your poster advertisements was nothing more and nothing less than a calculated campaign of sly anti-Semitism?" Mr Milburn replied that they were not anti-Semitic. "What they were was anti-Tory and I make no apologies at all for making clear to the British public exactly what the Conservative plans would mean," he said. "I fully understand and indeed respect the views of those who have concerns about any poster designs that have appeared on the Labour Party website." The Fagin and pigs might fly posters were taken off Labour's website on Monday after supporters voted for their favourite poster featuring Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin holding a blackboard reading 2+2=5. A Labour spokesman later said their removal from the party's website was not affected by the row.

Tory 'stalking horse' Meyer dies Sir Anthony Meyer, the Tory backbencher who challenged Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership in 1989, has died. He was 84, had been suffering from cancer for many months, and died at his London home. That failed "stalking horse" leadership challenge made it easier for Michael Heseltine to mount his own bid. That in turn paved the way for John Major to move into 10 Downing Street, after the second ballot. Meyer's constituency party, Clwyd North West, which he had represented as an MP for more than 20 years, deselected him as a result of that challenge. Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer was born on 27 October, 1920. Educated at Eton, and at New College, Oxford, he served in the Scots Guards from 1941 to 1945 and was wounded in tanks in Normandy. He worked under Edward Heath on Europe at the Foreign Office and subsequently won the Eton and Slough seat for the Tories in 1964 - by 11 votes. Labour regained the seat two years later, and Meyer had to wait until 1970 before he could re-enter Parliament. His prospects of a front bench slot remained remote because he tended to defy the party line.

Goldsmith denies war advice claim The attorney general has denied his statement to Parliament about the legality of the Iraq war was drafted by Downing Street officials. Lord Goldsmith said Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan played no part in drafting the answer. He added the answer represented his view that the war was legal, but was not a summary of his advice to the PM. The government has resisted calls to publish the full advice, saying such papers are always kept confidential. In a statement, Lord Goldsmith said: "I was fully involved throughout the drafting process and personally finalised, and of course approved, the answer." He said the answer had been prepared in his office with the involvement of Solicitor General Harriet Harman, two of his own officials, three Foreign Office officials, a QC, Christopher Greenwood and the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg. "No other minister or official was involved in any way." He suggested the claim that Lord Falconer and Lady Morgan had drafted the answer were the result of a mis-transcription of his evidence to the Butler Inquiry into pre-war intelligence. "As I have always made clear, I set out in the answer my own genuinely held, independent view that military action was lawful under the existing (UN) Security Council resolutions," he said. "The answer did not purport to be a summary of my confidential legal advice to government." Former foreign secretary Robin Cook said Lord Goldsmith's admission that his parliamentary answer was not a summary of his legal opinion suggested Parliament may have been misled. "The attorney general may never have presented his answer as a summary, but others certainly did," he said. "What is clear from his statement today is that he does not believe that it was a full, accurate summary of his formal opinion." Earlier, Tony Blair dismissed questions about the attorney general's advice, and said his Parliamentary statement had been a "fair summary" of his opinion. "That's what he (Lord Goldsmith) said and that's what I say. He has dealt with this time and time and time again," Mr Blair told his monthly news conference in Downing Street. He refused to answer further questions on the issue. On the question of whether such papers have always been kept confidential, Tory MP Michael Mates, who is a member of the Commons intelligence and security committee and was part of the Butler inquiry, told the BBC: "That, as a general rule, is right, but it's not an absolute rule." He said there had been other occasions when advice had been published, most recently regarding Prince Charles's marriage plans. The government could not pick and choose when to use the convention, he said. Mr Mates added: "This may be one of those special occasions... when it would be in the public interest to see the advice which the attorney general gave to the prime minister." The claims about Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan's involvement were made in a book published this week by Philippe Sands QC, a member of Cherie Blair's Matrix Chambers. He also says Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair on 7 March 2003 that the Iraq war could be illegal without a second UN resolution sanctioning military action. A short statement about Lord Goldsmith's position presented in a written parliamentary answer on 17 March 2003 - just before a crucial Commons vote on the military action - did not suggest this. Former minister Clare Short, who resigned from the government over the Iraq war, said the ministerial answer was the same statement that was earlier shown to the cabinet as it discussed military action. She said the full advice should have been attached, according to the ministerial code, and demanded a Lords inquiry into the matter. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say they still want the publication of the full legal advice given by the Attorney General. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said Lord Goldsmith's statement still did not clear up the outstanding issues. "If his original advice of 7 March accepted that military action might be illegal, how was it that he resolved any such doubts by the time the Parliamentary answer was published on 17 March?" he said. "Only the fullest disclosure will now do."

Mrs Howard gets key election role Michael Howard's ex-model wife, Sandra, is to play a leading role in the Conservative election campaign. Mrs Howard will make solo visits to target seats as well as accompanying her husband on his helicopter campaign trail criss-crossing the country. Mr Howard will host a news conference at the party's London HQ every morning, Tory co-chairman Liam Fox said. "We want Michael to be as accessible as possible," Mr Fox said, adding that the party was not afraid of scrutiny. The Tory leader wanted to meet as many ordinary members of the public, Mr Fox said. Tony Blair has also said he is intending to get out and talk to as many people as possible during the election campaign. But Labour campaign chiefs say there are no plans for Mr Blair to hold a daily news conference. Mr Fox responded by accusing the prime minister of "hiding away from the scrutiny of London's media". The Liberal Democrats also say they are planning to hold daily news conferences with Charles Kennedy. On Mrs Howard's role, Mr Fox said: "Sandra has already been campaigning with Michael on a number of visits and has been undertaking short visits herself. "That pattern will continue. It's worked very well up until now." Mrs Howard made her debut speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth last October. She used her speech on the fringe to highlight the work of a drugs charity, Addaction, which she supports. Mrs Howard has also appeared along side her husband on TV chat shows. During an interview on ITV1's This Morning she said she often criticised her husband for not showing the side of him that she knows.

McConnell in 'drunk' remark row Scotland's first minister has told a group of high school pupils that it is okay to get drunk "once in a while". Jack McConnell was speaking to more than 100 secondary pupils from schools in the Highlands about the problems of binge drinking and drink promotions. He has been criticised by the SNP for encouraging young people to get drunk. But the Scottish Executive has insisted Mr McConnell was speaking about adults and his comments were "a recognition that people will get drunk". The first minister's comments came in a question and answer session at Glenurquhart High School in Inverness, attended by pupils from a number of secondary schools. A Highland councillor who was at the event has also defended Mr McConnell. Margaret Davidson, the independent member for the Loch Ness West, said the first minister was speaking in a very general way and she was sure he was speaking about adults at the time. When one pupil asked Mr McConnell how the executive proposed to tackle under-age drinking, began his response with the quip: "I'm sure there's no under-age drinking in the Highlands." He went on to speak about the evils of binge drinking and railed against irresponsible drinks promotions. He said: "I hope I'm not going to be seen as preaching to anybody here but the really serious problem at the moment is binge drinking and the impact it has on people's health and their ability to control what's happening round about them." Mr McConnell said he regularly saw reports on the effects of binge drinking sprees which ended in assaults or even rapes, and on the health consequences of binge drinking. "The one thing we are going to do something really serious about is binge drinking and irresponsible drinks promotions that can help lead to that," he said. "Far too many pub chains in particular are selling far too much booze far too cheaply and encouraging people to drink it far too quickly. "We are go to clamp down on that and make those promotions illegal in the hope that people can enjoy a drink sensibly over the course of an evening." He added: "By all means get drunk once in a while - but do not get into a situation where people are being encouraged to get completely incapable just to save some money and drink more quickly." SNP Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon said: "This is an incredible gaffe by Jack McConnell. "We all know that under-age drinking is an issue in Scotland but it is quite staggering that any politician, particularly the First Minister, should encourage young people to get drunk. "The first minister should withdraw these remarks immediately." But an executive spokeswoman insisted Mr McConnell had made the remark with adults, not youngsters, in mind. "He was talking in the context of adults binge drinking and irresponsible drinks promotions - which are for the over-18s," she said. "It was just a recognition that people will get drunk, but that binge drinking and drinks promotions that encourage it are not acceptable."

Crisis 'ahead in social sciences' A national body designed to tackle skills shortages in key subjects should be set up, a committee of MPs has said. There was an "absolute crisis" in the recruitment of statisticians and other social science experts, the Commons science and technology committee added. "Major problems" are expected over the next 10 years as the social science workforce continues to age, it said. The committee was reporting on the work, strategy and spending plans of the Economic Social Research Council. The council aims to promote and support strategic research for social science postgraduates and provide social scientists to meet the needs of the country. It also liaises with the government and industry over their social science needs. In its report on the council's work the committee said: "We are deeply concerned by the skills shortages afflicting, in particular, the qualitative branches of social sciences. This mirrored previous concerns the committee had expressed on shortages in the fields of maths and chemistry, it said. "It is hard to see how significant progress towards rectifying these shortages can be made through the deployment of Economic and Social Research Council's limited resources. "If the government is serious about addressing skills shortages in key subjects it needs to find a more effective mechanism to achieve this." A national "strategic capabilities fund" to address shortages in key areas should be set up in response, the committee added.

Guantanamo four questioned The four Britons freed from US custody in Guantanamo Bay are expected to be allowed a visit by one relative. Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga, Feroz Abbasi and Richard Belmar were held for three years, accused of al-Qaeda links. Mr Begg's father, Azmat, said he had been told he could see his son for 20 minutes and would say he was "a hero". The men are being held at London's Paddington Green police station, where they are expected to be questioned by UK anti-terror officers. But Louise Christian, the lawyer representing Mr Abbasi and Mr Mubanga, said the families would be reunited with the men away from the station. Before being driven by police from Birmingham to London, Azmat Begg said he was concerned for his son Moazzam's mental state and was looking forward to giving him a hug. As Azmat Begg arrived at the London police station, there appeared to be some confusion as to the visiting arrangements. Police have said they have a duty to investigate the men, who were arrested on their return to the UK. But Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said evidence obtained by MI5 while the four were in Cuba was "absolutely" inadmissible in UK courts. In an interview with the Independent, Sir John said his officers would have to find other evidence before the suspects could be tried in the UK. He told the newspaper: "If an admission is made, it is a totally different ball game... it could be used as evidence. "The options are: if there is enough evidence they will be charged. If not they will be released as soon as possible." The men have been allowed to meet their lawyers. Louise Christian said that after being "tortured and abused" at Guantanamo Bay, the men's arrest was unfair and inappropriate. She told BBC News she remained very concerned about their psychological state. Gareth Peirce, lawyer for Mr Begg, said she was shocked at the condition of the men and appalled that the authorities felt the need to detain them. Washington has claimed all four were "enemy combatants" who trained at camps run by al-Qaeda. The Pentagon says they were freed after the UK government promised they would not be a threat to the national security of the US or any of its allies. The detainees were immediately arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 when they landed at RAF Northolt, west London, on Tuesday. Massoud Shadjareh, from the Muslim Safety Forum, said: "What sort of homecoming is this? They are innocent people." The Muslim Council of Britain urged that the men should receive counselling and medical help. "We want these men to be returned into the arms of their waiting family," said Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the council.

Kennedy calls for Iraq exit plans Tony Blair should set out a proper exit strategy from Iraq in the wake of next Sunday's elections in the country, Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has said. In a speech focusing on issues arising from the re-election of George W Bush, Mr Kennedy said Iraq had become a "crucible of militant terrorism". He wants to see a phased withdrawal of UK troops "as soon as the situation allows", he said in London. Any exit strategy must "augment and support" the democratic process. "There are some who are of the opinion that the mere presence of British and American troops in Iraq feeds the insurgency," he said. "There is some truth in that, especially after the initial mistakes that were made - the heavy-handedness of operations like Fallujah, and the well-publicised instances of abuse at the hands of coalition forces." Mr Kennedy pointed out that the Netherlands, Portugal and the Czech Republic, which all have troops operating in the southern sector of Iraq, have announced their imminent withdrawal "regardless of the situation on the ground". He accused Mr Blair's government of "being less than straightforward" over its plans. "Next week the prime minister should make a statement regarding the elections in Iraq," Mr Kennedy said during his City of London speech. "He should set out a proper exit strategy, including the phased withdrawal of British troops, as the security situation allows." Mr Kennedy also argued that British troops deployed in Iraq should be replaced with forces from other countries - "especially Islamic countries".

Boris opposes mayor apology Ken Livingstone should "stick to his guns" and not apologise for his "Nazi" comment to a Jewish reporter, Tory MP Boris Johnson has insisted. Mr Johnson also claimed Tony Blair's intervention in the row was "an attempt to reassure Jewish voters". London mayor Mr Livingstone says he is "standing by" his remarks which likened an Evening Standard journalist to a "concentration camp guard". But the prime minister says it is time for Mr Livingstone to say sorry. Labour's Mr Livingstone has said his comments may have been offensive but were not racist, and said earlier this week he would not apologise even if Mr Blair asked. Later the prime minister said: "A lot of us in politics get angry with journalists from time to time, but in the circumstances, and to the journalist because he was a Jewish journalist, yes, he should apologise." However, Mr Johnson, who was forced to apologise last year for an article in the magazine he edits about Liverpudlians grieving over the death of British hostage Ken Bigley, said Mr Blair "should butt out of" the row. "I don't see why the prime minister has to get involved in this," The Spectator editor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It's a dispute between Ken Livingstone and a reporter on the Evening Standard." Mr Johnson, MP for Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, said he suspected Labour was now trying to reassure Jewish voters "because of this curious way in which Labour seems to be trying to curry favour with disillusioned Muslim voters who may be disillusioned about the war". "Ken doesn't think he's got anything to say sorry for and if that's really his feeling, then I think that he should stick to his guns," he said. Mr Johnson apologised last October for perpetuating an "outdated stereotype" of Liverpool in the leader article on the death of Mr Bigley. The article in the magazine suggested grieving Liverpudlians were wallowing in their victim status. It also attributed blame to drunken Liverpool football fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 96 died. Mr Johnson told Today: "It's perfectly true that I got into the grovelling game myself and when I apologised there were some things that I felt I ought to say sorry for ... there were also other things I didn't think I should apologise for," he said. "But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic."

Tory expert denies defeatism The Conservatives' campaign director has denied a report claiming he warned Michael Howard the party could not win the next general election. The Times on Monday said Australian Lynton Crosby told the party leader to focus on trying to increase the Tories' Commons presence by 25 to 30 seats. But Mr Crosby said in a statement: "I have never had any such conversation... and I do not hold that view." Mr Howard later added there was not "one iota" of truth in the report. The strategist helped Australia's PM, John Howard, win four elections. Mr Howard appointed Mr Crosby as his elections chief last October. Mr Crosby's statement said: "The Conservative Party has been making an impact on the issues of lower tax and controlled immigration over the past week." It added: "The Labour Party will be wanting to do all they can to distract attention away from the issues that really matter to people."

Lib Dems target first-time buyers The Liberal Democrats have unveiled plans to build 100,000 new "affordable" homes on publicly owned land. The party's scheme would allow people to buy a share in a home through a mutual home ownership trust, as a way of getting onto the housing ladder. The Lib Dems would also encourage the conversion of existing buildings in an effort to protect greenfield sites. Labour has already announced plans to help first-time buyers and the Tories would extend right-to-buy schemes. All the major parties are focusing on the issue in the run-up to the election after a survey suggested first-time buyers could not afford a home in 92% of UK towns. The Lib Dems say their "mutual homes" would let people buy a share of a property, usually worth about 5% of the building costs. Party leader Charles Kennedy said the homes would be affordable because they would be built on surplus public sector land, donated by central or local government. People would also only have to pay for the cost of the building and not the land, he added. They would spend about 30% of their monthly salary on rent and buying extra shares in the property. When they moved house, they would be able to cash in on any rise in property prices by selling their share. It would also allow councils to vary discounts to tenants given the right to buy their council homes so local needs were taken into account. Mr Kennedy said: "Mutual homes will offer people the opportunity to build up an equity stake in a home gradually, investing only as much as they can afford." There are also plans to prevent high house prices forcing people out of their local communities. The kind of "golden share" used by the Lib Dems in South Shropshire could be rolled out more widely. Under the plan, councils secure deals with developers where they keep a 1% share in a property scheme so properties cannot be sold on the open market. Instead, they are sold at "build cost" to people who the local council decides have local needs. The party says its help for first-time buyers can be funded at no extra cost to the taxpayer. But the plans involve changing the VAT system, which the party says often makes it too expensive to renovate existing buildings. The Conservatives claimed the plans would amount to an extra tax of up to £11,000 on every new house. "This is typical of Lib Dem hypocrisy," said Tory shadow local government secretary Caroline Spelman. "They claim that they want to help people on to the property ladder, but the small print of their policies reveal how they intend to price even more people out of the housing market." The flagship Tory proposal on housing policy is to give a million more housing association tenants the right to buy their homes. Labour has said it will allow 300,000 council and housing association tenants to buy a share in their homes. Housing Minister Keith Hill said much of the Lib Dem plans mimicked the government's strategy. "However, as usual, the Lib Dems' proposals are completely uncosted," he said. Mr Hill said he also asked whether the Lib Dems would match Labour's promise to spend £42bn on making refurbishing and repair council homes by 2010.

Immigration to be election issue Immigration and asylum have normally been issues politicians from the big parties have tiptoed around at election time. But no longer. Both Labour and the Tories have signalled their intention of making them central to their election campaigns. They have been struck by the level of concern amongst voters about the issues, with internal surveys showing they have the potential to swing large numbers of votes. That was also true at the last general election and the issue did briefly become a campaigning issue. But it sparked the probably predictable furore with claims politicians were either stoking up xenophobia or, alternatively, running scared of addressing the problem. But this time around it looks set to be one of the core battlegrounds with both the big parties competing to set out tough policies. The Tories are already committed to imposing annual limits on immigration, with a quota for asylum seekers and with applications processed outside the UK. Labour has already branded the proposal unworkable but party strategists have seen the Tories seizing a poll advantage over the issue. Now Home Secretary Charles Clarke has come up with alternative proposals for a points system to ensure only immigrants who can benefit the economy will be granted entry, and to kick out more failed asylum seekers. That has been attacked by the Tories as too little, too late and for failing to tackle the key issue of the numbers entering the UK. The Liberal Democrats have not been drawn too deeply into the argument but have called for a Europe-wide policy on immigration. But, while all the parties appear to agree the time has come to properly debate and address the issue, there are already signs they will run into precisely the same problems as before. Former union leader Sir Bill Morris has already accused both the big parties of engaging in a "bidding war about who can be nastiest to asylum seekers". "My concern is that, whilst the Labour Party and the Conservative Party will take a constructive approach to the debate, right-wing political parties, picking up on statements like `burden to Britain' will exploit this and create a lot of fear and uncertainty". It is precisely that concern - and the possible suggestion the issue is playing to the far right's racist agenda - that will provoke strong reactions from many concerned with this issue. The challenge for the big parties is to ensure they can engage in the debate during the cut and thrust of a general election while also avoiding that trap.

Blair sees greater Bush consensus George W Bush will display a more consensual approach to world politics as he begins his second term as US President, Tony Blair has said. The prime minister said Mr Bush had learned military force was not the only way to fight terrorism. He understood that "the best prospect of peaceful co-existence lies in the spread of democracy and human rights", Mr Blair told the Guardian newspaper. Mr Bush was sworn in at a ceremony in Washington DC on Thursday. Echoing the new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the prime minister said there has been a clear evolution of US policy since the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Mr Blair had personally seen the change over time in conversations with Mr Bush. The president understood that while military and security measures were important, there also needed to be a multilateral approach to solving the world's problems. Turning to critics' fears that the US was poised for further military action, Mr Blair refused to give succour to suggestions it was preparing for strikes against Iran. The prime minister conceded that the US had "what appears to be a harder position" towards the state than Europe. But the prime minister pointed out that until now the US had allowed Britain, France and Germany to take the lead in trying to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. Following claims that US forces had worked inside Iran to identify potential targets, Mr Blair was asked if the SAS had also been in the country. "We never answer questions about special forces, but do not take that as indicating an affirmative," said Mr Blair. Mr Blair said he believed the president was keen to work with other countries while trying to spread democracy and human rights. "It is significant, in my view, that he is coming to Europe as his first foreign visit," said Mr Blair. Following his inauguration, Mr Bush is due in Europe at the end of January.

Plaid MP's cottage arson claim A Plaid Cymru MP believes UK security services were involved in some arson attacks blamed on Welsh extremists. It is 25 years since the start of 12 years of fire-bombings, attributed to a shadowy group known as Meibion Glyndwr. Plaid Cymru's Elfyn Llwyd has suggested the security services could have been involved, with the intention of discrediting the nationalist vote. Ex-Welsh Office Minister Lord Roberts of Conwy denied security services were involved. In March this year, North Wales Police reopened the case, saying materials kept during their investigations would be examined to find whether it would yield DNA evidence. Meibion Glyndwr - which means "sons of Glyndwr" - began burning property in December 1979 in protest at homes in rural Wales being sold as holiday cottages to people from England. The group was linked to most of the 220 or so fire-bombing incidents stretching from the Llyn Peninsula to Pembrokeshire. The campaign continued until the early 1990s. Police were accused in some quarters of targeting anyone who was a nationalist. Although one man, Sion Aubrey Roberts, was convicted in 1993 of sending letter bombs in the post, the arson cases remain unsolved. As a solicitor, Elfyn Llwyd represented Welsh singer Bryn Fôn when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the arson campaign. Fôn was released without charge . But now, as MP for Merionnydd Nant Conwy and Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary Leader, Mr Llwyd has argued that some of the terror attacks may have had the involvement of the security services and not Meibion Glyndwr. He believes that elements of the British security services may have carried out renegade actions in order to discredit Plaid Cymru and the nationalist vote ahead of elections. The claim is made in an interview for BBC Wales' Maniffesto programme to be shown on S4C on Sunday. Mr Llwyd said that the sophistication of many of the devices used in the attacks compared to the crude nature of many others, suggests a degree of professionalism which could only have come from individuals who knew exactly what they were doing. He said: "What I'm saying is that the role that they took wasn't the appropriate one, i.e. like an agent provocateur and perhaps interfering and creating a situation where it looked like it was the nationalists that were responsible." The programme also heard from Lord Roberts of Conwy, who was a Welsh Office minister at the time. He denied that the security services played any improper role. Mr Llwyd's theory has also been questioned by Plaid Cymru's former President, Dafydd Wigley. He accepted that the fires damaged Plaid Cymru's public image but believed that the security services had their hands full at the time with the IRA and animal rights activists. - Maniffesto can be seen on S4C on Sunday, 12 December, at 1200 GMT.

Act on detention ruling, UK urged The government must act quickly on the Law Lords' ruling that detention of foreign terror suspects without trial is unlawful, Mary Robinson has said. The former UN commissioner for human rights and Irish president told Radio 4's Today the government's response would be scrutinised internationally. "It would be very troubling if the government did not accept the judgement and then work within it," she said. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said detainees will not be freed at present. Speaking to Parliament on his first day in office as home secretary following David Blunkett's resignation, Mr Clarke said: "I will be asking Parliament to renew this legislation in the New Year. "In the meantime, we will be studying the judgement carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the House of Lords." Mrs Robinson said the Law Lords' ruling was "in line with international legal opinion" and praised their "very decisive" eight to one majority. "What the Law Lords did was acknowledge the role of the government, but say that there had been a disproportionate use, that it amounted to executive detention and it was discriminatory because it didn't apply to British citizens," she said. Mrs Robinson warned that a lack of action by the British government could lead to further action in legal arenas such as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. "If the government were not to accept this ruling then there is further redress, including possible damages for the individuals who could claim that the government either was tardy or was resisting the implications of the judgement of the Law Lords." She said a meeting of the Club of Madrid - a group of former world leaders - to be held in the Spanish capital on the March anniversary of the train bombings there would probably discuss the ruling and its implications. "I have no doubt that this judgement will be looked at, both as a very positive step in clarifying the law and restating the fundamental principles, but also the response of the British government will be under quite a clear international scrutiny there." The detainees took their case to the House of Lords after the Court of Appeal backed the Home Office's powers to hold them without limit or charge. The government opted out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to a fair trial in order to bring in anti-terrorism legislation in response to the 11 September attacks in the US. Any foreign national suspected of links with terrorism can be detained or can opt to be deported. The Law Lords said the rules were incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights as they allowed detentions "in a way that discriminates on the ground of nationality or immigration status". The case was heard by a panel of nine law lords rather than the usual five because of the constitutional importance of the case.

Blair to face MPs amid feud talk Tony Blair faces his first prime minister's questions of 2005 after a week of renewed speculation about his relationship with Gordon Brown. Meanwhile, the chancellor is leaving Britain on a high-profile tour of Africa to highlight poverty issues. But before doing so, he insisted he still trusted Mr Blair, despite claims to the contrary in a new book. Labour MPs have warned against disunity and Tory leader Michael Howard may well take up the theme in the Commons. The Tories have already accused the prime minister and his chancellor of behaving like "schoolboys squabbling in a playground". Michael Howard is likely to want to capitalise further on the spat when he goes head-to-head with the prime minister in the Commons. At a campaign poster launch on Tuesday, Mr Brown was joined by Alan Milburn, who Mr Blair controversially put in charge of election planning in place of the chancellor. Later this week the prime minister is due to set out the themes of his party's next election manifesto, which for the past two polls have been drawn up by the chancellor. Mr Brown, meanwhile, is visiting Tanzania, Mozambique and Kenya to highlight the plight of many Africans hit by Aids, war and famine - issues which Mr Blair has also spoken out on. The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made in journalist Robert Peston's new book. Mr Blair told MPs and peers: "I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need." Labour's Paul Flynn said the pair had had a "scorching" from MPs. On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Prescott told BBC News: "They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line." The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. Mr Blair then changed his mind in June 2004, after Cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. In Mr Peston's book Mr Brown is alleged to have told the prime minister: "There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe."

UK rebate 'unjustified' - Chirac French president Jacques Chirac has called the UK's £3bn rebate from the European Union "unjustified". Speaking after a summit meeting he said unless it was put up for discussion the EU would never be able to reach agreement on its medium term finances. Earlier Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the UK was prepared to veto any bid to reduce the rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. He said it remained justified because less EU farm money came to the UK. Mr Chirac told reporters in Brussels: "One can only have a reasonable budgetary balance if we put back on the table the British cheque. It can no longer be justified. It was from the past." But a UK Government official responded: "Even with the rebate, the UK pays two and a half times more than France contributes to the EU budget. Without it we would pay 14 times as much as France. "There can be no deal on future financing which does not protect the rebate." The 25-member EU is gearing up for tough negotiations on its budget plans for the period 2007-2013, with the bloc's Luxembourg presidency hoping to strike a deal at a June summit. Earlier Conservative Graham Brady said the rebate was a "crucial test" of how firmly ministers were prepared to stand up for Britain. EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has indicated he wants the rebate to come to an end. Mr Straw said that as well as the veto over the rebate the UK wanted to keep a tight rein on national contributions. The UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden want the EU budget to be capped at 1% of member states' combined national incomes - the European Commission has urged an increase to 1.26%. Mr Straw has said the EU commission's proposal would mean a 35% hike in the budget. Shadow Europe minister Mr Brady said: "I believe it is essential that Britain keeps the rebate and I think it's a crucial test of how firmly the British government is prepared to stand up for Britain internationally in Europe. "The UK is already one of the biggest net contributors to the EU ." The foreign secretary meanwhile said the "justice" of the rebate remained. "We have one of the lowest net receipts of any EU country because of the relatively small size of our agriculture sector and its efficiency. "That continues to be the case." UK Independence Party leader Roger Knapman said the rebate was "set in stone" and there was no reason to negotiate about it. "It is extraordinary to do it at this time, just as we are becoming the biggest contributor to the EU. If we lose our rebate as well, the British taxpayer is going to be bled at such a rate that I think everyone will go off the European project." EU leaders are holding talks in Brussels on how to re-energise the sluggish European economy. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting his EU counterparts to finalise a package of measures aimed at stimulating growth and boosting employment ahead of a series of referendums on the European Constitution. The plans could introduce a free market into everything from computer services to construction. Critics - including Germany and France - believe liberalisation could result in companies shifting staff to cheaper bases in Eastern Europe, undercutting large EU economies and undermining social protections. There are also concerns about the number of workers from eastern European countries who will head west, exacerbating the already high unemployment levels in Germany. Mr Straw insisted there was nothing to fear from the services directorate. "European countries overall have benefited hugely from the free market in goods," he said. "What we are now talking about is developing that market into an internal market in services." Britain's low unemployment meant there was less "neurosis" about people coming from eastern European countries. "In countries like Germany and France, where frankly because of a tighter social market they have much higher levels of unemployment, there is increasing anxiety about other people coming in," he said.

Howard dismisses Tory tax fears Michael Howard has dismissed fears from some Conservatives that his plans for £4bn tax cuts are too modest. He defended the package, saying it was a plan for the Tories' first Budget and he hoped to be able to go further. The Tories on Monday highlighted £35bn in "wasteful" spending they would stop to allow tax cuts, reduced borrowing and more spending on key services. Labour and the Liberal Democrats say the party's sums do not add up and claim it would cut frontline services. The Tory tax plan follows complaints from some of the party's MPs that Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin have taken too long to unveil the proposals. Now they have promised a figure but have yet to reveal which taxes would be targeted. Tory backbencher Edward Leigh said the proposals were a step in the right direction but he told the Financial Times: "I would come up sooner with much greater tax cuts." Interviewed on BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show, Mr Howard said: "It is perfectly true that I am being attacked on one side by people who think we ought to be promising much, much bigger tax cuts and spending cuts. "On the other side, there are people who say we won't be able to achieve these tax cuts. "I think we have got it about right." Mr Howard said voters faced a clear choice at the next election between more waste and more tax under Labour and Tory value for money and lower taxes. He added: "I would like to be able to do more, and over time I am sure we will be able to do more, but at the start, we have got to recognise there is a limit to what we can do in one go, in our first Budget. "I have got to be responsible about this." The latest Tory plans came as campaigning for the election - widely expected in May - gathered pace. The Liberal Democrats launched their pre-election platform, with leader Charles Kennedy saying his party was the "authentic opposition", particularly on the Iraq war, council tax and university tuition fees. Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable also branded the Tory plans as "fantasy economics". Labour hit back at the Tory proposals even before their publication with election coordinator Alan Milburn accusing Mr Howard of producing a "fraudulent prospectus". The party on Tuesday challenged the Tories to publish the full report from David James, the trouble-shooter they asked to identify possible savings. But the Tories are in turn demanding that Tony Blair spell out which taxes he would raise if he wins the election.

Campaign 'cold calls' questioned Labour and the Conservatives are still telephoning the millions of people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing "cold calls". The parties say they can stick to the rules by ensuring that their calls are not marketing - for instance by asking about people's voting intentions. The Lib Dems are asking the watchdog overseeing the rules to stop the calls. The information commissioner's office says surveys are allowed but people had to be told if personal data was kept. Telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run-up to the general election. But seven million telephone numbers are on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) lists, which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Both schemes are run by the Direct Marketing Association and backed by EU directives on privacy and electronic communications. The rules on marketing calls apply as much to politicians as to private sector companies. But that does not mean Labour and the Tories are not calling people signed up to the TPS. A Labour Party spokesman told the BBC News website the party avoided those on TPS lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising. But that did not happen for "voter identification" calls. "When we ask which party they will vote for, that is not marketing and we have very clear legal advice that it is not," he said. "So it is not covered by the Telephone Preference Service." He said the party always asked people if they would be happy to be contacted again and if they said no, they were not rung again. A Conservative spokeswoman said the party stuck to the rules when it rang TPS subscribers. She said: "We do apply TPS but in line with the law. We would not do things that are not allowed in the law." Assistant information commissioner Phil Jones said it was classed as marketing if political parties telephoned people to encourage them to vote for them. But "classic market research", such as a poll of voter intentions, did not constitute direct marketing, he said. "If a party is calling someone who is registered on TPS and records their voting intention with a view to using this information in the future, this should be clear to the voter concerned," said Mr Jones. "If a party rings a person who is registered on TPS to ask about their voting intention and goes on to encourage that voter to support them, the party may well be in breach of the regulations. "In summary, whether a party calling TPS registered voters to check their voting intentions will breach regulations will depend on the script used and whether the script is followed." Mr Jones said the watchdog received "very few complaints" on the issue. Earlier, Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor wrote to the watchdog saying: "The advice we have received on several previous occasions is that such phone calls are illegal." He says evidence from local Lib Dem parties around the country suggests there are "significant" numbers of such calls. "I hope you can therefore take swift and efficient action to ensure that this ceases," he tells the commissioner. Mr Taylor argues there should be new guidelines so all parties can act in the same way if the watchdog believes the rules allow parties to ring TPS numbers about voting intentions and later urge those people to vote for them.

Kennedy predicts bigger turnout Voters' "pent up passion" could confound predictions of a low turnout in the coming general election, Charles Kennedy has said. The Liberal Democrat leader predicted concerns over Iraq and other international and domestic issue would express themselves during the campaign. His comments come as an inquiry looks at how best to boost voter turnouts. Ex-foreign secretary Robin Cook said people were not apathetic but fed up of "pager politics" and not being heard. He, like Mr Kennedy, pointed to the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against plans for the Iraq war. Mr Cook, who is giving evidence to the Power inquiry into voter turnout rates, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme it was not fair to blame the public who were "more interested in politics than ever before". "They are turned off by the way we do politics in Britain. There's a message there for politicians." He urged politicians to avoid negative campaigning and to "speak more from the heart". "We should be not so afraid to say what we stand for." He also criticised the cult of personality politics: "There's far too much interest in celebrities. "Politics are in danger of becoming another branch of the celebrity industry." The government has tried a number of things in an attempt to boost voter turnout, which fell to 59% in the last general election in 2001. This has included bringing in directly elected mayors to head local authorities and trialling postal voting.

MP's shock at long lost daughter Labour MP Stephen Pound has told of his shock and his joy on learning he fathered a daughter when he was "out of control" during the "wild" 1960s. Lucy, 36, tracked down Mr Pound after her birth mother told her he was known as "Precious" at school. Despite being told he was a "nutter who died at sea" she found a reference to Mr Pound on Friends Reunited. Lucy's mother kept her pregnancy secret and had her adopted at four weeks. Mr Pound found out about it last year. That happened when Lucy wrote to his Parliamentary office saying she believed he was her father. Mr Pound, who is now married with two other teenage children, said: "I was a nutter and I was a sailor but I wasn't dead." He said his first reaction was to wonder if he was victim of a "set-up" but he then realised all the dates fitted. "It was a pretty horrible thing with a pretty happy ending. I felt guilt in the marrow of my bones," said the Ealing North MP. "I don't blame Lucy's mother. I was pretty much out of control. I was 18 when she was conceived. It was a different time - it was pretty wild." Mr Pound says he rang Lucy as soon as he got her letter, they met up and have been in contact ever since. Describing that first meeting at London's King Cross station, he said: "The earth went from under my feet ... We were walking across the Euston Road and I took her arm to take her across and there was an immediate connection. "We were finishing each other sentences." Lucy, who was adopted by a family from Essex, wants to remain anonymous for the sake of her adoptive father and her children. Mr Pound said his wife Maggie had been fully supportive and their two children Emily, 16, and Pelham, 14 were pleased to have an older sister.

More reforms ahead says Milburn Labour will continue to pursue controversial reforms if it wins a third term in power, the party's election chief Alan Milburn has said. He pledged Labour would encourage more people to achieve their aspirations. "What we want is for more people to earn and own," Mr Milburn told BBC Radio 4's Today show. Tory Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin called Labour "a brilliant machine for talking about things" but said it did not deliver policies the country needs. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats' President Simon Hughes said: "New Labour has lost people's confidence in a way Old Labour never did." Mr Milburn told Today that Labour wanted policies which encouraged increased social mobility in Britain. Pressed on incapacity benefits, he said the tax and welfare system must "provide the right incentives to people". "No-one is talking about driving people into work but what we do know is there are one million people on incapacity benefit who want the opportunity to work, providing the right level of support is there for them". However, backbench Labour MP Karen Buck warned against proposed changes in such benefits. She told the Today programme: "If the policy is seen as being about how do you make the feckless poor go back to work then it is not going to work, on the one hand. And it is not going to improve our electoral chances on the other." Mr Milburn also sought to draw a line under the controversy about reports of a feud between Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair. He stressed that Mr Brown would play the same role that he did in the last election. Mr Milburn gave more details of planned reforms in a speech to Labour's Fabian Society, in which he also praised Mr Brown as one of the leaders of the party's reform process. In the speech, he backed choice in schools and hospitals, wider home ownership and changes to the welfare system. Mr Milburn insisted that government reform must continue. "Our task is to rebuild the New Labour coalition around 'one nation politics' that recognise, while life is hard for many, all should have the chance to succeed," he said. "There is a glass ceiling on opportunity in this country. In our first two terms we have raised it. In our third term we have to break it." Voters turned on the party when it failed to reform industrial relations in the 1960s, he also told his audience. Oliver Letwin said the government had failed to deliver in any of the key public services, such as cleaner hospitals, discipline in schools and putting more police on the streets. He said ministers had not delivered cleaner hospitals, with 5,000 people dying from infections last year. New Labour had failed on school discipline because it had not implemented serious reforms so that teachers could run schools, and which would give parents choice, he went on. For the Lib Dems, Simon Hughes said many pensioners are means tested for the money they needed and students who were told there wouldn't be tuition fees and more debt "have been given exactly the opposite". He added: "Under New Labour, all households are still paying unfair council tax rather than a fairer alternative."

EU fraud clampdown urged EU member states are failing to report fraud and irregularities in EU funds on a consistent basis, the UK's public spending watchdog has said. The National Audit Office said although the latest figures showed reported fraud was falling, the EU still had no common definition of fraud. It also expressed concern that, for the 10th year, the European Court of Auditors had qualified the EU accounts. The NAO urged the government to push for improvements in reporting fraud. It said member states needed to be more accountable on how money was spent. The report said: "Member states still do not report fraud and other irregularities to the European Anti-Fraud Office on a consistent basis. "As the court has now qualified its opinion on the Community accounts for a decade, it is essential for all the authorities involved to contribute to the strengthening of the audit of EU revenue and expenditure and improving accountability for the financial management and use of EU resources." It said there were 922 cases of reported fraud or irregularities in EU funds in the UK in 2003, worth £38.5m (52m euros), up from 831 cases worth £35.7m in 2002. At the same time, reported fraud throughout the EU dropped from 10,276 cases worth £808m to 8,177 cases worth £644m. Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said Britain had to set an example when it assumed the EU presidency. "Any fraud in other member states is potentially fraud against the UK taxpayer, given that we are the second largest net contributor to the Community," he said. "Departments responsible for administering EU funds need to make sure that they're doing everything possible to weed out improper spending. "The government must take the opportunity afforded by the UK presidency of the EU to press the Commission and other member states to take an equally robust stance against fraud and irregularity, and raise overall standards of financial management." A spokesman for the European Anti-Fraud Office said the organisation agreed with the NAO's assessment of fraud reporting. "The quality of reporting does differ from member state to member state, and there is room for improvement," spokesman Jorg Wojahn said. He added that there is generally good co-operation with member states and the anti-fraud office on specific cases of fraud, with the statistics studied by NAO providing a "good overview for planning strategic ways of detecting fraud".

UK's 'useless' quangos under fire The UK has 529 quangos financed with billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash - many of which are useless or duplicate each other's efforts, a report claims. Essential Guide to British Quangos 2005 author Dan Lewis said at least 111 of the appointed bodies had been set up since Labour won power in 1997. He urged a limit on the number of quangos that could be set up by any individual government department. Tories and Lib Dems welcomed the report and called for a "slimming down". Conservative deregulation spokesman John Redwood said: "The research endorses our policy of destroying unwanted and unnecessary quangos, and slimming down the rest. "A Conservative government will axe 162 quangos, as part of its drive for more efficient and more accountable government." Lib Dem spokesman Ed Davey meanwhile said instead of the "bonfire of quangos" New Labour had promised, there had been an "explosion" of them. "For over two decades, under both Tory and Labour governments, these unaccountable agencies have mushroomed. "Liberal Democrats would abolish many, merge others, and make any that remain properly accountable." Labour representatives were unavailable for comment. The quango guide follows last year's government-commissioned Gershon Report which recommended significant cuts in bureaucracy across the public sector. Mr Lewis wants a public inquiry into regional development agencies which cost £1.8bn a year - cash he says which "appears to be almost entirely wasted". As well as a departmental limit on quangos he also wants a statutory five-year limit on any such body with executive powers. He also listed what he dubbed the nine "most useless quangos". They were the British Potato Council, the Milk Development Council, the Energy Savings Trust, Agricultural Wages Committees, the Wine Standards Board, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the Football Licensing Authority, Investors in People UK and the Economic and Social Research Council. Mr Lewis branded the existence of the 60-employee Potato Council, set up in 1997 to research and promote overseas potato markets, "surprising". He said the £80m spent annually on the Energy Savings Trust, which promotes renewable energy, would be better spent on eight million boiler jackets for British homes. And he argued it was "absurd" to charge farmers for Agricultural Wages Committees, which set working and wage standards in the industry, when many were prepared to take advantage of immigrant labour prepared to work for £1 an hour. "If a football team can afford to pay £27m for Wayne Rooney, why should the taxpayer - not all of whom like football - be forced to fund the Football Licensing Authority to the tune of over £1.1m a year?" Mr Lewis asked. The report is published by the Efficiency in Government Unit - a joint effort by right of centre think tanks the Economic Research Council and the Centre for Policy Studies. It says before a new public body is set up, an assessment should be made whether its proposed role is already carried out by an existing charity or other private organisation.

Tories outlining policing plans Local communities would be asked to go to the polls to elect their own area police commissioner, under plans unveiled by the Conservatives. Party leader Michael Howard said the new role would replace "inconspicuous" police authorities. He said the new office would not supersede the job of a chief constable. The Lib Dems said the plan could let extreme groups run policing, while Labour criticised "extravagant" Tory promises on policing. Responding to the plans, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank and file officers, said it was essential operational independence was retained. Jan Berry said: "It is a service, not a political football to be kicked around every time an election approaches. "These plans could result in those with extreme political views dictating what actually happens on the ground," she warned. Outlining his crime manifesto, Mr Howard said elected police commissioners would be more accountable than police authorities which are made up of local councillors and magistrates. "The commissioner will have the powers which existing police authorities have," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "The trouble is, and it's no reflection on the people who are on the police authority - they are good people - but hardly anyone knows who they are." Mr Howard said the authorities were not "providing the local accountability that we want to see" and that elected police commissioners would be more visible. Critics fear the move could hand control of the police to single-issue campaigners who would ignore the needs of the wider community. Lord Harris, who sits on the executive of Association of Police Authorities, said the plans seemed to suggest chief constables should be told what to do by a single politician. "That is overturning nearly 200 years of the way in which we have organised policing in this country to avoid the politicisation of policing decisions," he said. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said the plan was dangerous and "could create conflict between chief constables and elected officials". Mr Oaten said local people had too little control over policing but a far better solution would be for elected councillors to draw up a "minimum policing guarantee" with their chief constables. A Labour Party spokesman criticised Michael Howard's record, saying police numbers had fallen by 1,132 when he was home secretary. He said: "Today the Tories are making more extravagant promises on the police without making clear how they would pay for them, other than through fantasy savings to the asylum system." The Tories insists the commissioner role would not be like that of an American sheriff. Other Tory law and order plans include building more prisons and making criminals serve full jail sentences.

Brown names 16 March for Budget Chancellor Gordon Brown will deliver his Budget to the House of Commons on 16 March, the Treasury has announced. The Budget, likely to be the last before the General Election, will be at 1230 GMT on that Wednesday, just after Prime Minister's question time. The annual event is when the chancellor outlines the government's taxation and broader economic predictions. It is likely to set out much of the tax and spending battleground for the election, widely expected on 5 May. Next month's Budget will be Mr Brown's eighth since Labour came to power in 1997. If a May election is called, there could be as little as 18 days between the Budget and the announcement of a date for the election. A shortened Finance Bill would have to be rushed through Parliament with all-party support to allow the Government to continue collecting revenue. The full Finance Bill, with the Budget measures in it, would then be returned to the Commons after the election, if Labour secures another term in office. As Mr Brown announced the Budget date in a short ministerial statement, accountancy firm Ernst & Young urged him to put politics aside and focus on the long-term requirements of the economy. "In the Budgets that were given immediately before the last six elections, taxes were cut by the incumbent chancellor and, in many cases, taxes were increased soon after the election result," said Aidan O'Carroll, E&Y's UK head of tax.

Hunt demo at Labour meeting Pro-hunt supporters are set to protest at Labour's spring conference. The Countryside Alliance says it expects up to 4,000 supporters to demonstrate against the hunting ban. They have agreed to keep to a demonstration site on the other side of the River Tyne from the conference venue in Gateshead. A bid to overturn the law banning hunting with dogs in England and Wales has begun in the Court of Appeal. The ban comes into force on 18 February. The Court of Appeal is expected to rule early next week on whether the alliance's challenge has succeeded. Richard Dodd, regional director of the Countryside Alliance, said he expected between 2,000 and 4,000 supporters in Tyneside to make their protest, with hunt horns and placards. Campaigners have been asked not to bring any animals or alcohol. Mr Dodd said he did not believe there would be any repeat of the trouble which marred the pro-hunt demonstration outside Parliament in September. "We are holding a static demonstration, just to remind Labour that we are not going away," he said. Northumbria Police said the pedestrian Millennium Bridge, by the demonstration site, will be shut if necessary. But Assistant Chief Constable David Warcup has liaised with several protest groups and said all negotiations had gone well. Fathers 4 Justice, pensioners' rights activists and Stop the War campaigners were also expected to demonstrate during the three-day conference which starts on Friday. Pro-hunt campaigners claims the 1949 Parliament Act - which extends the right of the House of Commons to overrule the House of Lords - was itself invalid because it was never passed by peers. The High Court last month ruled the act was valid and the proposed hunting ban was lawful. Pro-hunt supporters formally launched their second legal challenge to the ban in London's High Court on Thursday. The Countryside Alliance has lodged papers seeking a judicial review on human rights grounds. Animal welfare groups have welcomed the ban, many of whom have campaigned for a ban for decades saying hunting is cruel and unnecessary.

Mandelson warning to BBC The BBC should steer away from "demonising" ex-Downing Street media chief Alastair Campbell, Peter Mandelson has said. The European commissioner and former Labour minister was speaking amid claims that Mr Campbell is part of a Labour "dirty tricks" campaign. That charge was denied by Mr Mandelson, who said the Tories were afraid of Mr Campbell's campaigning skills. He warned the BBC that attacking Mr Campbell had brought it trouble before. That was a reference to the Hutton inquiry following a BBC story claiming Downing Street "sexed up" Iraq's weapons of mass destruction dossier. The affair prompted the resignation of BBC chairman Gavyn Davies, director-general Greg Dyke and reporter Andrew Gilligan. Labour has attracted media criticism for using new freedom of information laws to dig up information about Tory leader Michael Howard's past. Mr Mandelson, a former Labour communications director, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I understand why the Tories will be gunning for Alastair Campbell because they fear his campaigning skills. "What I understand less is why the BBC should be joining with the Tories in driving that agenda. "In my experience of these things, parties which shout about dirty tricks and the like tend to do so because they fear a direct hit in some vulnerable part of their political anatomy. "I suggest the BBC concentrates on the issues and helps the public to understand the policies and the choices that are at stake in the election rather than engages in the process politics, the trivialisation of the campaign. "I think the BBC would be much better advised to leave all this stuff well alone, concentrate on the issues as I say, not resume their demonisation of Alastair Campbell - we all know where that led before." Mr Campbell is acting as an adviser for Labour, which denies engaging in personal campaigning. Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox said Mr Campbell's return and Labour poster plans attacking Mr Howard - recently withdrawn from the party's website - were a sign of "abusive politics". "The government, despite the fact that they would say want to go forward, not back, seem intent on talking about history rather than their own record or even more importantly, about the future," he said on Sunday. Labour peer Baroness Kennedy, who is chairing the Power Inquiry into political disengagement, said people already thought politicians engaged in dirty tricks. "This feeling of distrust is going to be enlarged if this campaigning on all sides is conducted in the way that it looks as if it just might," she said.

Blair and Blunkett Sheffield trip Tony Blair is to join Home Secretary David Blunkett in a visit to Sheffield on Thursday. Mr Blunkett's conduct is being looked at to establish whether he abused his position in relation to his ex-lover. The Parliamentary standards watchdog is looking at his decision to give Kimberly Quinn free rail tickets. He is also being investigated over the visa application of Mrs Quinn's ex-nanny. The visit to Sheffield will be seen as a show of unity by Mr Blair. On Wednesday during Prime Minister's Questions, Tory leader Michael Howard went on the offensive over comments Mr Blunkett is alleged to have made in a new biography. He is understood to have made a series of criticisms about his Cabinet colleagues from the prime minister down. Mr Howard said Mr Blunkett had complained he had inherited a "giant mess" when he took over at the Home Office from Jack Straw, now foreign secretary. The Tory leader went on: "He doesn't stop there: he thinks the culture secretary's weak; he thinks the trade secretary doesn't think strategically and he thinks the education secretary hasn't developed as expected. "He says the prime minister doesn't like being told the truth and the chancellor - no doubt the prime minister will agree with this - is a bully." Mr Blair retorted voters remembered the record of a government and no comments by politicians. The home secretary has already admitted he was wrong to give the two first class tickets, given to him as an MP, to Mrs Quinn and has since paid the £180 back. He has apologised for "a genuine mistake" and says he will write to the watchdog to answer further questions. The rail tickets are meant to help MPs' spouses get between Westminster and their constituencies. After his inquiry, Parliamentary watchdog Sir Philip Mawer will report to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee, the group of MPs who will recommend to the full House of Commons what action - if any - should be taken against Mr Blunkett. The separate inquiry by ex-senior civil servant Sir Alan Budd is investigating whether the home secretary helped fast-track a bid by Mrs Quinn's nanny, Leoncia Casalme, to stay in the UK. Last week, Mr Blunkett won the first round of a High Court battle with Mrs Quinn for access to her son. Mr Blunkett declined to comment about his own position, saying the inquiry was under way and the High Court had stressed his right to privacy did not affect his job in improving security and stability. Downing Street has stressed Mr Blair's support for the home secretary.

Report attacks defence spending The Ministry of Defence has been criticised over the soaring spending costs and growing delays of its top equipment projects. A National Audit Office report on the 20 biggest projects says costs have risen by £1.7bn in the past year. It says there is "little evidence" the MoD's performance had improved, despite the introduction of a "smart acquisition" policy six years ago. A senior defence official told the BBC lessons were being learned. The NAO's annual report showed the total cost of the 20 projects covered was expected to reach £50bn - 14% higher than originally planned. The total delays amounted to 62 months, with average individual delays rising by three months. Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said the problems showed the principles of the scheme known as smart acquisition had not been consistently applied. "Many problems can be traced to the fact that the MoD has not spent enough time and resources in the assessment phase," the report says. The NAO found that projects launched since the start of the scheme were showing the same worrying tendencies as the older "legacy projects", such as the Eurofighter. A senior defence official, speaking to the BBC's defence correspondent Paul Adams, said that although the figures were still not good enough, the report reflected unrealistic expectations early on in the project cycle. This year's overspend was significantly less than last year's £3.1bn total, and the Defence Procurement Agency - which is responsible for buying defence equipment - was improving. Lord Bach, Minister for Defence Procurement, said he was "obviously still disappointed with the cost and time increases shown", but insisted that the Defence Procurement Agency had "undertaken a huge amount of work to expose any underlying problems on projects". The latest findings follow a string of critical reports issued within the last 12 months, and, according to our correspondent, contain few new surprises. Turning around the Defence Procurement Agency "was a little like trying to turn around a super tanker - it takes a very long time indeed", he said. Our correspondent said it was the same projects, including the Joint Strike Fighter, the Nimrod and A400M aircraft and the Type 45 Destroyer, which were resonsible for the bulk of the cost over-runs and delay. But he added some projects, such as the C-17 heavy lift aircraft and Successor Identification Friend or Foe (SIFF), were showing good performances.

Nat Insurance to rise, say Tories National Insurance will be raised if Labour wins the next election, Tory leader Michael Howard has claimed. Tony Blair has said he does not want higher tax rates for top earners but on Wednesday said other tax promises would be left to Labour's manifesto. Prime minister's questions also saw Mr Blair predict that new plans would probably cut net immigration. He attacked Tory plans to process asylum claims abroad - but Mr Howard said Labour had proposed the idea too. The Commons questions session again saw the leaders of the two biggest parties shape up for the forthcoming election campaign. The Tories have promised £4bn in tax cuts but have yet to say where they will fall. Mr Howard pointed to the Institute for Fiscal Studies' predictions that Labour will need to increase taxes to cover an £11bn gap in its spending plans. He accused ministers of wasting money on unsuccessful attempts to curb bad behaviour and truancy in schools and on slow asylum processing. It was no good Mr Blair claiming tax pledges were being left to the manifesto as he had given one to MPs on Tuesday about the top rate of income tax, argued Mr Howard. Pointing to national insurance, he added: "Everyone knows tax will go up under Labour: isn't it now clear which tax it would be?" Mr Blair instead hailed Labour's achievement in using a strong economy to invest in public services. "When we have money not only going into extra teachers and nurses but equipment in schools and hospitals, that money is not wasted," he said. On the tax questions, he added: "We will make commitments on tax at the time of the manifesto." Home Secretary Charles Clarke this week published plans for a new points system for economic migrants, with only high-skilled workers allowed into the UK from outside the European Union. Mr Blair said abuses would be weeded out and chain migration, where families automatically get the right to settle with immigrant workers, would end. That would probably create a fall in the migrant numbers, he said. The prime minister ridiculed the Tory plans for asylum quotas and for processing all asylum claims overseas. He challenged the Tories on which country would house their processing centres - what he called a "fantasy island". Mr Howard read from a letter about the government's own plans at the European Council of Ministers for processing asylum seekers outside the EU. But Mr Blair said: "All the other countries could not agree on the way forward, nor could the UN."

Hague's six-figure earnings shown The rewards of leaving front-bench politics are shown in the latest annual register of members' interests. The register shows former Tory leader William Hague earning up to £820,000 on top of his MPs' salary, much of it from speaking fees. His former shadow chancellor Michael Portillo makes up to £560,000 a year - partly because of speeches and TV work. Ex-health secretary Alan Milburn earned up to £85,000 from speeches, articles and advice while not in the Cabinet. Mr Milburn was away from the frontbench for just more than a year between stepping down as health secretary and becoming Labour's election supremo. His declared interests include £20,000 from newspaper articles and fees of up to £35,000 for four speeches. He also commanded a salary of between £25,000 and £35,000 for being on investment company Bridgepoint Capital's European advisory committee. His time out of office will, however, have lost him his £71,433 minister's salary. Mr Hague's work outside Parliament included two one-man shows, which with other speaking fees netted him up to £480,000. He also earned up to £195,000 for a weekly column in the News of the World, and between £5,000 and £10,000 for presenting BBC'2's Have I Got News for You. Mr Hague was also paid an undisclosed amount for the newspaper serialisation of his biography of William Pitt the Younger and up to £135,00 for work as an adviser to various companies. Former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo makes some of his money as a non-executive director of BAE Systems. He is to stand down as an MP at the next election. And former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was paid between £45,001 and £50,000 for the paperback edition of his book about his resignation from government. His declared income of up to £205,000 also includes payments for being a consultant to the Tote and for his regular column in the Guardian newspaper. The register also shows former Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe declaring a £100,000 advance for her third and fourth novels. She also received up to £30,000 for acting as the Guardian's agony aunt and between £5,001 and £10,000 for appearing on ITV's Celebrity Fit Club. David Blunkett has become a paid adviser to Indepen Consulting Limited now he is not home secretary - he helps them with seminars about the relationship between government and business. He earns between £5,001and £10,000 for the work. Tony Blair's entry confirms that King Abdullah of Jordan paid for him to fly from a holiday in Egypt to official discussions - and for a sightseeing tour to Wadi Rum. Tory leader Michael Howard's only fresh entry is a Christmas hamper from the Sultan of Brunei. He also declares a trip to Mexico last year to address executives of News International, and helicopter and private jet travel paid for by supporters. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy registered donations to his office from supporters, a free ticket to last year's Bafta awards and rent from a single-bedroom flat in London. The register only contains new information for December 2004 - but Monday saw the publication of the annual review of the register, with the year's details. The payments are shown in bands of up £5,000, making it difficult to calculate the exact earnings.

UKIP outspent Labour on EU poll The UK Independence Party outspent both Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the European elections, new figures show. UKIP, which campaigned on a slogan of "Say no to Europe", spent £2.36m on the campaign - second only to the Conservatives' £3.13m. The campaign took UKIP into third place with an extra 10 MEPs. Labour's campaign cost £1.7m, the Lib Dems' £1.19m and the Greens' £404,000, according to figures revealed by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday. Much of the UKIP funding came from Yorkshire millionaire Sir Paul Sykes, who helped bankroll the party's billboard campaign. Critics have accused the party of effectively buying votes. But a UKIP spokesman said Labour and the Conservatives had spent £10m between them on the last general election. "With the advantages of public money the others have, the only way the smaller parties can get their message across is by buying the advertising space," he added.

Howard taunts Blair over splits Tony Blair's feud with Gordon Brown is damaging the way the UK is governed, Tory leader Michael Howard has claimed in a heated prime minister's questions. Mr Howard asked: "How can they fight crime when they are fighting each other?" That question was later unveiled as the headline for new Tory campaign posters. But Mr Blair dismissed the talk of splits and said people's priorities at the next elections would be on the economic successes achieved by Labour. "He can stick up whatever he likes on billboards about something in a book but what the public will concentrate on are the low mortgages, low inflation, low unemployment that we delivered and that he failed to," he said. The chancellor is currently on a high-profile tour of Africa to highlight new anti-poverty plans. But before doing so, he insisted he still trusted Mr Blair, despite claims to the contrary in a new book. Brown's Britain, by Robert Peston, says there is mutual animosity between the two men. It claims Mr Blair said in November 2003 he would stand down as prime minister before the next election. But he went back on his pledge after support from Cabinet allies and suspicion that Mr Brown was manoeuvring against him, it says. Mr Peston's book claimed that Mr Brown told Mr Blair: "There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe." Mr Blair directly denied that quote on Wednesday. He again insisted there could be no deals about the premiership but twice declined directly to say whether or not he had offered to quit. The Tory leader countered that such agreements had been struck twice at dinners with the chancellor. He declared: "He is the deals on meals prime minister. No wonder the chancellor is not a happy eater." He continued: "How can there be discipline in schools when there is no discipline in government, how can they clean up our hospitals when they don't clean up their act?" Mr Blair said he would not respond to "tittle tattle in books" and promised to hail Labour's record on the economy, waiting lists and law and order "from now until polling day". Later at their poster launch Tory co-chairman Liam Fox said his party would exploit opportunities to show how "juvenile" the prime minister and chancellor were. Labour staged a show of unity at its own poster launch on Tuesday, where Mr Brown was joined by Alan Milburn, who Mr Blair controversially put in charge of election planning in place of the chancellor. But Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told BBC News: "The government is clearly split at the top. This kind of cosmetic exercise does not persuade anybody." Later this week Mr Blair is expected to outline the direction of his party's next election manifesto. The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made Mr Peston's book.

Campaign 'cold calls' questioned Labour and the Conservatives are still telephoning the millions of people who have signed up to make sure they do not get marketing "cold calls". The parties say they can stick to the rules by ensuring that their calls are not marketing - for instance by asking about people's voting intentions. The Lib Dems are asking the watchdog overseeing the rules to stop the calls. The information commissioner's office says surveys are allowed but there is a "grey" area if personal data is kept. Telephone call centres are expected to be used as never before by all the three major parties in the run-up to the general election. But seven million telephone numbers are on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) lists, which ban unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Both schemes are run by the Direct Marketing Association and backed by EU directives on privacy and electronic communications. The rules on marketing calls apply as much to politicians as to private sector companies. But that does not mean Labour and the Tories are not calling people signed up to the TPS. A Labour Party spokesman told the BBC News website the party avoided those on TPS lists when telephoning people about membership or fundraising. But that did not happen for "voter identification" calls. "When we ask which party they will vote for, that is not marketing and we have very clear legal advice that it is not," he said. "So it is not covered by the Telephone Preference Service." He said the party always asked people if they would be happy to be contacted again and if they said no, they were not rung again. A Conservative spokeswoman said the party stuck to the rules when it rang TPS subscribers. She said: "We do apply TPS but in line with the law. We would not do things that are not allowed in the law." A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said it would be classed as marketing if political parties telephoned people to encourage them to vote for them. But the rules did allow polling organisations to telephone people about their voting intentions if they recorded them only as part of a bigger set of statistics, not person by person. "If a political party was doing that than it may be that also would not be marketing," he said. The spokesman said it might be considered unsolicited marketing if a party recorded voting preferences with a view to marketing information in the future. The spokesman said there was "no yes or no" answer and the area was "pretty grey". He added: "If someone complained, then we would investigate that. Political parties are aware of the regulations. At the last by-elections, we reminded them." Lib Dem chairman Matthew Taylor has now written to the watchdog saying: "The advice we have received on several previous occasions is that such phone calls are illegal." He says evidence from local Lib Dem parties around the country suggests there are "significant" numbers of such calls. "I hope you can therefore take swift and efficient action to ensure that this ceases," he tells the commissioner. Mr Taylor argues there should be new guidelines so all parties can act in the same way if the watchdog believes the rules allow parties to ring TPS numbers about voting intentions and later urge those people to vote for them.

Brown ally rejects Budget spree Chancellor Gordon Brown's closest ally has denied suggestions there will be a Budget giveaway on 16 March. Ed Balls, ex-chief economic adviser to the Treasury, said there would be no spending spree before polling day. But Mr Balls, a prospective Labour MP, said he was confident the chancellor would meet his fiscal rules. He was speaking as Sir Digby Jones, CBI director general, warned Mr Brown not to be tempted to use any extra cash on pre-election bribes. Mr Balls, who stepped down from his Treasury post to stand as a Labour candidate in the election, had suggested that Mr Brown would meet his golden economic rule - "with a margin to spare". He said he hoped more would be done to build on current tax credit rules. He also stressed rise in interest rates ahead of an expected May election would not affect the Labour Party's chances of winning. Expectations of a rate rise have gathered pace after figures showed house prices are still rising. Consumer borrowing rose at a near-record pace in January. "If the MPC (the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee) were to judge that a rate rise was justified before the election because of the strength of the economy - and I'm not predicting that they will - I do not believe that this will be a big election issue in Britain for Labour," he told a Parliamentary lunch. "This is a big change in our political culture." During an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Balls said he was sure Mr Brown's Budget would not put at risk the stability of the economy. "I don't think we'll see a pre-election spending spree - we certainly did not see that before 2001," he said. His assurances came after Sir Digby Jones said stability was all important and any extra cash should be spent on improving workers' skills. His message to the chancellor was: "Please don't give it away in any form of electioneering." Sir Digby added: "I don't think he will. I have to say he has been a prudent chancellor right the way through. Stability is the key word - British business needs boring stability more than anything. "We would say to him 'don't increase your public spending, don't give it away. But if you are going to anywhere, just add something to the competitiveness of Britain, put it into skilling our people'. "That would be a good way to spend any excess." Mr Balls refused to say whether Mr Brown would remain as chancellor after the election, amid speculation he will be offered the job of Foreign Secretary. "I think that Gordon Brown wants to be part of the successful Labour government which delivers in the third term for the priorities of the people and sees off a Conservative Party that will take Britain backwards," Mr Balls told Today. Prime Minister Tony Blair has yet to name the date of the election, but most pundits are betting on 5 May.

Chancellor rallies Labour voters Gordon Brown has issued a rallying cry to supporters, warning the "stakes are too high" to stay at home or protest vote in the next general election. The chancellor said the poll - expected to fall on 5 May - would give a "clear and fundamental" choice between Labour investment and Tory cuts. He told his party's spring conference the Tories must not be allowed to win. The Conservatives and Lib Dems insisted that voters faced higher taxes and means-testing under Labour. To a packed audience at Gateshead's Sage Centre, Mr Brown accused shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin of plotting cuts that were the equivalent of sacking every teacher, GP and nurse in the country. Laying into the Conservative's record in government he said: "I give you this promise - with Labour, Britain will never return to the mistakes of ERM and 10% inflation, 15% interest rates, £3bn in lost reserves, 250,000 repossessed, one million in negative equity and three million unemployed. "Never again Tory boom and bust. "This will be the central dividing line at the election, between a Conservative Party taking Britain back and planning deep cuts of £35bn in our services, and a Labour government taking Britain forward, which on a platform of stability will reform and renew our hospitals, schools and public services and, I am proud to say, spend by 2008 £60bn more." Turning to the economy, the chancellor promised to continue economic stability and growth in a third term in power. He also pledged to continue the fight against child and pensioner poverty. And he promised help to get young people on the property ladder. "My message to the thousands of young couples waiting to obtain their first home is that housing is rightly now at the centre of our coming manifesto," he said. "And the next Labour government will match our low mortgage rates with a new first-time buyers' initiative." In the speech, which prompted a standing ovation, he also promised to end teenage unemployment within the next five years. He also highlighted plans for 100% debt relief for the world's poorest countries, a national minimum wage for 16 and 17-year-olds, the creation of a network of children's centres and flexibility in maternity leave. Responding to the speech, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, George Osborne, said: "This was more talk from Gordon Brown. "We've heard it all before. Instead of talking about the future he kept on talking about the past. "He completely failed to say which taxes he would put up to fill the black hole in his spending plans. "There will be a simple choice at the election - value for money and lower taxes with the Conservatives, or more waste and higher taxes under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown." Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable warned the picture was not as rosy as Mr Brown would like to portray it. "For all his trumpeting of Labour's management of the economy, Gordon Brown's record is very mixed," he said. "Gordon Brown has created a system of massive centralisation and bureaucracy, a system which subjects millions of people to means testing, and a system of taxation which is extremely complex. "For all his positive words, Gordon Brown is faced with economic problems looming on the horizon, not least the unprecedented levels of personal debt facing the nation." Also in Gateshead, the prime minister took questions sent in by e-mail, text message and telephone as part of Labour's attempt to engage the public in their campaign. Mr Blair told the audience he believed the Iraq war would have made Britain a safer place if its emerging democracy succeeded and that he wanted to bring troops home as soon as possible, but not before the job was done. He also said he wanted to carry on as PM "because I still think that there are big changes our country needs".

Tories opposing 24-hour drinking The Tories say plans to extend pub opening times should be put on hold until binge drinking is under control, despite backing a law change last year. Spokesman David Davis said ministers had failed to make his party aware of concern among senior police that plans would cause more anti-social behaviour. Notts police chief Steve Green said innocent people would suffer. But Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said a delay would be "disastrous" and she accused the Tories of opportunism. The government would go ahead with the changes which would give police more power to tackle excessive drinking, she added. Earlier chief constable Green questioned how his officers would be able to practically apply powers allowing them to shut down problem premises. "If you look at the Market Square in Nottingham, if a fight takes place which licensed premises do you go and lay the responsibilty at the door of?" he asked on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme. He warned that if drinking establishments were allowed to open until three or four in the morning the police would have to take officers off day shifts in order to do their job effectively at night. Earlier this year the Royal College of Physicians said it opposed the plan to extend drinking hours when there was already an "epidemic" of binge drinking. Minister Richard Caborn said the government was tackling the causes and the symptoms of the problem by allowing more powers to close down problem premises. It is hoped that allowing pubs and clubs to stay open longer will stagger closing times and end the current situation where drinkers spill on to the streets all at once. Earlier Tony Blair defended the plans against criticism from one of his own backbenchers. "My view of this is very clear: we should have the same flexibility that other countries have and then we should come down really hard on those who abuse that freedom and don't show the responsibility," he told MPs. "The law-abiding majority who want the ability, after going to the cinema or theatre say, to have a drink at the time they want should not be inconvenienced, we shouldn't have to have restrictions that no other city in Europe has, just in order to do something for that tiny minority who abuse alcohol, who go out and fight and cause disturbances. "To take away that ability for all the population - even the vast majority who are law abiding - is not, in my view, sensible." This week a judge claimed easy access to drink was breeding "urban savages" and turning town centres into no go areas. Judge Charles Harris QC made his remarks as he sentenced three men for assaults carried out while drunk and high on drugs after a night out.

Abbas 'will not tolerate' attacks Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not tolerate attacks such as last Friday's suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. In an interview ahead of a meeting in London to discuss Palestinian reforms, Mr Abbas said such attacks were against Palestinian interests. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was exerting "a 100% effort" to end the violence, Mr Abbas added. The attack, which killed five, was the first of its kind since he took office. Mr Abbas confirmed Israel shared information with the PA in the hunt for the organisers of the attack. The Israeli government refuses to accept Syria's denials that it was implicated in the nightclub bombing. Israeli officials gave an intelligence briefing to foreign ambassadors on Monday, explaining Syria's alleged involvement. British foreign minister Jack Straw said there had been a "continuing stream" of information suggesting Palestinian militant groups were operating from within Syria. In an email interview in the British newspaper the Independent, Mr Abbas said: "We believe peace is possible now and we are ready to negotiate with Israel to reach a true and lasting peace based on justice and international legitimacy." He added: "We have an opportunity and it would be irresponsible if we, the Israelis, or the world allow it to slip away." Tuesday's meeting on Palestinian reform is being hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Also due to attend are US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, World Bank officials and foreign ministers from 23 European and Arab countries. The conference was a "vital step" in renewing the peace process, Mr Straw said. "It's a high-level attendance, which reflects the sense of momentum and opportunity created by recent events," he added. A spokesman for Mr Blair said the Prime Minister expected the conference to discuss "a comprehensive, co-ordinated and, above all, practical work plan for both the Palestinian Authority and the international community". Israel will not attend, but is said to be closely watching the outcome.

Ex-PM Lord Callaghan dies aged 92 Former Labour prime minister Lord Callaghan has died on the eve of his 93rd birthday. He passed away at home in East Sussex, just 11 days after his wife Audrey died aged 91. Lord Callaghan, who leaves a son and two daughters, was the longest living former British PM in history. He entered Downing Street in 1976 after the resignation of Harold Wilson. Prime Minister Tony Blair called him a "giant" of the Labour movement. He held each of the major offices of chancellor, home secretary, foreign secretary and prime minister during his career and became Lord Callaghan of Cardiff in 1987. Chancellor Gordon Brown said the former PM would be "mourned throughout the world". "It was a commitment to public service that brought Jim Callaghan into Parliament in 1945, and while Jim rose to the top he never forgot his roots." Former cabinet colleague Lord Hattersley said his first reaction on hearing the news was "immense sadness". "It was not a major surprise - I knew what a blow the death of his wife Audrey was a few days ago," he said. "He was a decent kindly man who helped me and my generation of politicians immensely. "The Labour party and the country will be poorer without him." Conservative peer Lord Heseltine said that despite their political differences, he and Lord Callaghan became friends. "You don't get to the premiership unless you have a streak of determination," he said. "But I saw the other side of Jim Callaghan, he became a personal friend in a way, and my family and I were very fond of him." Tory leader Michael Howard said he would be remembered with "affection and respect". Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "When I was first elected in 1983 as the youngest MP, he was the "Father of the House" and as such took a very keen interest in my early days in Parliament. "He was always full of warmth and wisdom." Born in 1912 and educated at Portsmouth Northern Secondary School, Lord Callaghan became a clerk at the Inland Revenue. He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1942 and rose to the rank of lieutenant. Elected for a Cardiff constituency at the 1945 general election, he represented Cardiff seats for more than 40 years. After serving as a junior minister in the Attlee government, he became chancellor of the exchequer when Labour returned to power in 1964. With sterling under pressure, he resisted devaluation for three years, before being forced into it in 1967. His political career was not without controversy. When he refused to support prime minister Harold Wilson and Dame Barbara Castle over the latter's trade union manifesto, In Place of Strife, in 1968, he said: "I am not going to resign. They will have to throw me out". When home secretary, he ordered British troops to march into the streets of Belfast to protect Catholic civilians amid rising violence - a decision that has dominated British politics into the 21st century. As foreign secretary in the early 1970s, Lord Callaghan kept an open mind about the UK's entry into the Common Market, seeing the advantages of the UK's entry. He once travelled to Idi Amin's Uganda in 1975 to plead for the life of a British lecturer, Dennis Hills, who was under a death sentence for treason. His political life was often tempered by battles against the hard left of the party. In the autumn of 1978, before the "Winter of Discontent" when trade unions carried out strikes that brought the country to a standstill, Lord Callaghan refused to hold an early election which may have delivered a Labour victory. As garbage lay uncollected in the streets and hospital staff, council workers and even gravediggers stayed off work, Lord Callaghan failed to predict the mood of the country. When Britain went to the polls in 1979, Tory leader Margaret Thatcher was swept into power in a landslide victory, and Lord Callaghan resigned as Labour leader.

Howard pitches for UK ethnic vote Michael Howard is to make a pitch for Britain's ethnic vote urging people who feel "taken for granted" by Tony Blair to vote Conservative. He will say Conservatives "share the same values" as the UK's minorities. And that he wants to build a "better Britain" where everyone, whatever the colour of their skin or religion, can "make the most of their talents". But the Tory leader will argue against positive discrimination saying it is "outdated and unjust". "It sets family against family and it leads ethnic communities to doubt their own abilities," he will argue. Mr Howard - himself the son of immigrants - will acknowledge that racial discrimination still exists in the UK. "People from ethnic communities, for example, still earn less than their white counterparts," he will say before arguing the answer to helping everyone to get on was "free enterprise, free trade, free speech". The Tory leader will also call for religious tolerance arguing that Hindus and Sikhs as well as Muslims got "caught in the downdraft of Islamaphobia which was one of the terrible side effects of 9/11". Mr Howard will make his speech during a visit to support Tory Parliamentary hopefuls Robert Light and Sayeeda Warsi - "the first British Muslim woman" selected to run for MP as a Conservative candidate. He will attack Labour's record in government over issues such as tax and he will set out Tory plans for an immigration quota to be set by MPs. Mr Howard will also attack the Lib Dems for wanting to abolish faith schools, introduce compulsory sex education from the age of seven, and "give contraceptives out in schools from the age of 11". "So I say to all those people from ethnic minorities who feel Mr Blair and the Liberal Democrats take their votes for granted - come join us," he will say. Lib Dem president Simon Hughes branded Mr Howard "arrogant and wrong" for claiming the Tories were the "natural party" for Britain's ethnic minorities. "Given the Tories' considerably reduced support in urban areas, where many black and Asian Britons live, during their time in power, the evidence simply does not support his claims that the Conservatives are the party for these communities," he said.

Blair ready to call election Tony Blair seems certain to end weeks of phoney war on Monday and announce there will be a general election on 5 May. The date has been pencilled into the diaries of politicians and political journalists for many months and, despite occasional panics that the prime minister was on the verge of calling a snap poll, it has not shifted. Over the weeks, there have been any number of signs that 050505 was going to be the day Mr Blair would go for an historic third term. And the calling of a special political cabinet meeting has only added to the belief that the announcement is imminent. The prime minister and his campaign boss Alan Milburn have already insisted the election will be fought on the economy and what they claim is a stark choice between Labour's stability and investment against Tory cuts and boom and bust. And Chancellor Gordon Brown has stepped into the front line of the campaign - to the relief of many of his supporters in Westminster - to underline that economic message. And it is certain one of the big arguments at the centre of the election battle will be around the big parties' tax and spend policies. During the phoney campaign, Labour got into trouble over its central claim that Michael Howard was planning £35 bn cuts in public services. The prime minister found himself struggling to explain how a smaller, slower increase in spending planned by the Tories compared to Labour's plans was a cut. And it looked like the Labour campaign - which was already being criticised for being thrown into defensive mode by Mr Howard on issues such as immigration and health - was on the rocks. Then deputy Conservative Chairman Howard Flight was reported to have suggested Mr Howard was secretly planning even bigger "cuts". He was sacked for his gaffe, but the damage had been done and the faltering Labour campaign was back on track. A second central argument will be over taxation, with the Tories claiming the Chancellor has to fill a black hole at the centre of his finances and will be forced to raise taxes if Labour wins again. Mr Brown slaps that aside, claiming his forecasts are accurate and that previous claims of looming economic disaster have proved inaccurate. As usual, the Liberal Democrats will have to fight to get their voice heard over the sounds of battle between the two big parties. But leader Charles Kennedy believes he has set out a distinctive manifesto with plans for a tax rise for the wealthiest to finance extra spending and the abolition of the council tax in favour of a local income tax. Other issues are certain to play a part - immigration and asylum, the war on Iraq, law and order and education, for example. But, as ever, it will be the economy that will almost certainly decide the outcome. And, whatever that outcome, 2005 is set to be a far more lively, even bitter campaign than 2001's non-event.

EU China arms ban 'to be lifted' The EU embargo on arms exports to China is likely to be lifted in the next six months despite US objections, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said. The 15-year-old ban was imposed in the aftermath of China's crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square. Mr Straw told a Commons select committee human rights concerns over China remained. But he said it was wrong to put China under the same embargo as countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma. In December, the EU pledged to work towards lifting the ban but said it was not ready to do so yet. The EU's move was welcomed at the time by Beijing, which described the embargo as a "product of the Cold War". German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted. Britain has been more cautious on the issue, but on Wednesday Mr Straw said he also wanted it to end. "I have long understood China's argument, that to lump them in with, say, Burma and Zimbabwe is not appropriate and I don't think it is," he told the joint committee on Strategic Export Controls. He said "it is more likely than not" that the ban would be lifted before Britain takes over the presidency of the EU from Luxembourg in July. But he said an EU code of conduct would prevent an increase in the number of arms being exported to the country. "If it is lifted we will end up with as effective arms controls in relation to China as we have now." Mr Straw said the US government was suspicious of "the motives of some other countries within the EU" in wanting the ban lifted. But he said many of Washington's objections were based on a "lack of information and understanding" of how export control guidelines worked in EU countries. And "intense discussions" were taking place with US officials to convince them it was the right thing to do. Washington is thought to fear it would lead to a buying spree for arms that could be used by China to threaten its diplomatic rival Taiwan. US officials say they are not satisfied the mechanisms in the EU code of conduct are robust enough to prevent abuses. US Undersecretary of State John Bolton is meeting British officials this week to press the case for keeping the embargo.

Minister defends hunting ban law The law banning hunting with dogs in England and Wales is enforceable and "very clear", Alun Michael has said. The rural affairs minister said it would become obvious if people flouted the law, which came into force on Friday, and pretended they were not. Some 270 hunts met legally on Saturday killing a total of 91 foxes - only four were accidentally killed by hounds. But anti-hunt campaigners said there had been widespread intimidation of activists monitoring hunts. Countryside Alliance chairman John Jackson said that Saturday had been a "massive demonstration by the rural community of support for hunting". People had turned out "to show en masse that the Hunting Act was a bad law", he said adding that foxes and other animals had been killed "legally" as far as he was aware. Although hunting with dogs is now a criminal offence, exercising hounds, chasing a scent trail and flushing out foxes to be shot are still legal. Addressing claims that the new law was unenforceable, Mr Michael told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "There has been a lot of spin about this by those that support hunting. "The reality is that the law is very clear. You can't chase wild mammals with a pack of dogs, whether the wild mammal is a fox or a deer. "If people do so and pretend they're not it's going to become very clear. You can't hunt accidentally." Mr Michael also denied the hunting ban had led to a breakdown of trust between the government and rural communities. He said most people living in the countryside were more concerned with issues like the economy, the health service and their children's future than hunting. But the League Against Cruel Sports claimed the new act had been broken even though the numbers of foxes killed had fallen. Thousands of hunt supporters turned out at 270 hunts across England and Wales on the first day of the ban, with anti-hunt groups sending out 100 monitors to check the law was not being broken. There were only four arrests - over alleged hunting of hares in Wiltshire - although it was not clear whether they were made under the Hunting Act. They have been released on bail but police say they may face prosecution under new poaching laws. But Penny Little, who monitored the Bicester Hunt in Oxfordshire, said she had witnessed "gratuitous, spiteful killing of foxes". If people tried to "run circles around this law" the only outcome would be that it was tightened up, she said. Mike Hobday, from the League Against Cruel Sports, said video evidence of the law being broken would be passed onto police. He said intimidation seemed to have been widespread and called on hunts to do more to stop their supporters intimidating anti-hunt activists videoing hunts. But Mr Jackson, who had been at the Bicester Hunt in Oxfordshire, denied there was any intimidation.

Child access laws shake-up Parents who refuse to allow former partners contact with their children could be electronically tagged under plans being considered by ministers. Curfews and community service orders were other options which could be used if court orders to allow parental access were defied, Lord Falconer said. The constitutional affairs secretary outlined some of the plans on Tuesday. He denied fathers' activists had forced the changes, telling the BBC "there is a recognition that something is wrong". Between 15,000 and 20,000 couples go to court to resolve access disputes each year, although in nine out of 10 separations there is no court intervention. Lord Falconer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped voluntary mediation could help solve disputes before they reached court. But he opposed compulsory mediation, saying that it would lead to many people taking part with the wrong attitude. Other plans include: - Parenting plans to give advice on access arrangements, based on real-life examples that have worked in the past - Extending in-court conciliation - more informal hearings before contested court cases - Better access to legal, emotional and practical advice by telephone and internet - Legal aid changes to give incentives for early resolution of disputes. Judges can already jail parents who breach contact orders but that was a "nuclear option" which was rarely used as it was not seen as being in the child's interests, a spokesman said. The aim of the new legislation was to provide a "medium range" of penalties, such as fines, community service orders, compulsory anger management or parenting classes or curfews. Failure to comply with these measures could result in offenders being electronically tagged. On the possibility of tagging uncooperative parents, Lord Falconer said: "Tagging may be going too far, but let's have a debate about that." Full details of the new powers will not be revealed until a bill is published "in the next two weeks," a spokesman said. The government's proposals have met with disapproval from fathers' rights groups. John Ison, from the controversial group Fathers 4 Justice, said: "It is very disappointing. What we have got is a cynical case of recycling existing legislation." Jim Parton, from Families Need Fathers, said the new proposals "lacked compulsion". "We would like to see couples develop a plan and then have it as a source of a court order - then you know where you stand, you know what the minimum access is. "Otherwise, you see people make agreements which then fall apart." Mr Parton said he had been told by Children's Minister Margaret Hodge there was not enough time to pass the bill through parliament before the general election, which is likely to take place in May. The Conservatives have called for an equal split between parents on access to be made law. Theresa May, shadow secretary for the family, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government's plans were "inadequate" and were "papering over the cracks of the current system". She said a Conservative government would bring a "radical reform" of the family courts, as well as enforcing a "legal presumption of co-parenting and compulsory mediation". "We want to make courts the last resort, rather than the first resort," she added. The government says children cannot simply be divided up "like property" when a marriage collapses. The Liberal Democrats have argued for flexibility in deciding access rules, rather than having "rigid targets".

'Last chance' warning for voters People in England, Scotland and Wales must have registered by 1700 GMT to be able to vote in the general election if it is held, as expected, on 5 May. Those who filled in forms last autumn should already be on the register - but those who have moved house or were on holiday may have been left off. There will also be elections for local councils and mayors in parts of England on 5 May. The deadline for voters to register in Northern Ireland expired on Thursday. Completed registration forms can be handed into local authorities throughout the day on Friday, and some will accept them by fax. As well as for English county councils, polls for unitary authorities at Bristol, Isle of Wight and Stockton-on-Tees and mayors at Doncaster, Hartlepool, North Tyneside and Stoke-on-Trent are also scheduled for 5 May. Last week Preston City Council reported that more than 14,000 of its voters were not registered. Its electoral roll fell by 17.5% in a year - the biggest dip in the UK. An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said: "Political decisions are made on your behalf every day but only by using your right to vote at an election can you really have a say on the issues you care about. "If you want your voice to be heard on 5 May you will need to have registered by Friday 11 March." Council tax payers are not eligible to vote without registration, officials have stressed.

Labour seeks to quell feud talk Labour's leadership put on a show of unity at a campaign poster launch after MPs criticised Tony Blair and Gordon Brown over reports of their rift. Mr Brown was joined at the launch by John Prescott and Alan Milburn, the man controversially put in charge of election planning by Mr Blair. A private meeting on Monday saw normally loyal MPs warn that feuding could jeopardise their election hopes. It follows a new book charting disputes between prime minister and chancellor. The event was the first time Mr Milburn has shared a platform with the chancellor since taking Mr Brown's traditional poll planning role. But the pair chatted amicably and Mr Brown insisted he was happy with his current campaign task. Asked about how he would deal with claims that he did not trust the prime minister, Mr Brown replied: "You can see that our record on the economy is about the British people trusting us to run the economy." He refused to comment on the new book, saying nobody should be distracted from the business of government. Mr Brown later told reporters: "Of course I trust the prime minister." Downing Street cited that comment when reporters' suggested Mr Brown had pointedly failed to deny claims he had once told Mr Blair: "There is nothing you could ever say to me now that I could ever believe". Labour's new posters say Britain is enjoying the lowest inflation since the 1960s, lowest unemployment for 29 years and the lowest mortgage rates for 40 years. They urge voters not to let the Tories take things backwards. Mr Milburn promised a poll campaign "which is upbeat, confident and above all else optimistic about the future of our country". Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox derided the photo call, saying: "The show of unity was the worst acting I have seen since Prisoner Cell Block H." Labour had broken promises by raising taxes 66 times and brought the slowest economic growth in the English-speaking world, he said. The prime minister and chancellor faced backbench discontent at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party over claims made in journalist Robert Peston's new book. Mr Blair told MPs and peers: "I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need." Labour's Paul Flynn said the pair had had a "scorching" from MPs. On Tuesday, deputy prime minister Mr Prescott told BBC News: "They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line." The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. Mr Blair then changed his mind in June 2004, after Cabinet allies intervened and amid suspicion the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. Mr Prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. "Of course as a waiter for 10 years I have a professional ability here," he joked.

MPs to debate 'euthanasia laws' MPs are preparing to debate a bill which critics claim would legalise euthanasia "by the back door". The bill would give legal force to "living wills", where people say they want medical treatment withheld if they become severely incapacitated. The Mental Capacity Bill has broad support from charities who say it would give better safeguards over treatment. But Christian groups say it could mean doctors withholding food and fluids even if they think it inappropriate. Ministers insist the Mental Capacity Bill - for England and Wales - would not change laws on assisted suicide and contains a presumption in favour of preserving life. The bill would establish a legal presumption that everybody can make decisions about their own treatment unless proved otherwise. It would allow people to give somebody the power of attorney to make decisions on their behalf, which could be challenged by doctors. Critics fear it could allow "killing by omission" through withdrawing treatment. An amendment to the bill - specifically preventing decisions that would bring about death - has been tabled by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. Ninety one MPs have signed a petition backing the amendment. MPs could vote on it later on Tuesday, during the bill's report stage debate. The Bill will then go to a third reading and be debated in the Lords, before becoming law. The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) and Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) said the Mental Capacity Bill would allow euthanasia by the "back door". Peter Saunders of the CMF said it believed advance refusals should be only advisory, not legally binding. "CMF is concerned that patients will make unwise and hasty advance decisions to refuse food and fluids without being properly informed about the diagnosis and the expected course their illness will take," he said. The LCF's Andrea Williams said there were "too many loopholes that could be abused by unscrupulous doctors". Ex-Labour minister Frank Field told BBC Two's Newsnight programme there was a danger people would feel under pressure to "do away" with themselves so relatives could inherit their assets. Constitutional Affairs Minister David Lammy said laws affecting 750,000 people with dementia needed updating. Mr Lammy told BBC News Labour MPs would not get a free vote as the law was being strengthened, not changed. "We are against euthanasia, we are against assisted suicide but we are in a situation now where people can make living wills and that has the force of the common law," he said. "Doctors are saying they want more clarity. Patients are saying they want more clarity." The Making Decisions Alliance, which includes the Alzheimer's Society, Age Concern, Mencap and the National Autistic Society, said misunderstandings over the bill had to be cleared up. "It will not change the current law on euthanasia and will actually provide a series of better safeguards when decisions are made for people who lack capacity," the alliance said in a statement. The British Medical Association also backs the bill, saying it just gives incapacitated people the same rights as others. Debate on legalising euthanasia has intensified in the UK because of cases like that of motor neurone patient Diane Pretty. She died two years ago after losing a legal battle to allow her husband to help her commit suicide.

Kilroy unveils immigration policy Ex-chatshow host Robert Kilroy-Silk has attacked UK policy on immigration saying Britain's open door approach is hitting low wage "indigenous" workers. The Veritas leader said the only people to benefit from immigrants from places like Poland were employers, landlords, members of the 'metropolitan elite'. The MEP said his party would only admit foreigners who were required because they had specific skills to offer. And he argued asylum cost £2bn a year for 14,000 successful applicants. Mr Kilroy-Silk said that worked out at £143,000 per successful asylum seeker. He said Veritas wanted to grant an amnesty for all those in Britain claiming asylum and who have children and deport everyone else. Britain should take its fair share of asylum seekers under the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, he argued. And Mr Kilroy-Silk said he wanted to spend an extra £500m a year to help provide for refugees abroad.

Will the Budget bring out smiling voters? As Tory spokesman Oliver Letwin said - any chancellor would use his pre-election budget to offer some vote winning sweeteners, wouldn't he. And everyone does, indeed, expect Gordon Brown to do just that in his last budget before the expected polling day of 5 May. There will be plenty of talk about taking no risks with the economy or handing out irresponsible giveaways. But Mr Brown will stun Westminster and break just about every historical precedent if he fails to do something designed to put a smile on voters' faces and make them more inclined to back Labour in the election. And there has already been speculation about possible tax reductions for the poorest and increasing the threshold on stamp duty in this week's Budget. The aim of his package will be to keep any disillusioned core Labour voters in the fold, while ensuring the middle England voters who gave Tony Blair two election victories don't desert him at the third poll. And, needless to say, there will be plenty of analysis of what impact the Budget will have on Mr Brown's own ambitions to replace Mr Blair as prime minister at some point after a third win. But there is a shadow hanging over this pre-election performance - in the shape of £11 billion or thereabouts. That is the size of the financial "black hole" the Tories, backed by some independent forecasters, believe Mr Brown will have to fill with tax increases after the election. The opening shot in that battle was fired at the weekend with claims a Treasury leak suggested Mr Brown was ready to slap capital gains tax on home sales to raise some of that cash. It was immediately denied, but the Tories remain suspicious, claiming that, as Mr Letwin said, if the money does not come from there, where will it come from. Mr Brown will undoubtedly claim the forecasts are simply wrong and that he will have absolutely no need to raise taxes after the election, should Labour win. Previous gloomy forecasts proved wrong, he will argue, while suggesting that only by sticking with him can Britain continue to have a sound economy, low unemployment and high public spending. The opposition will reject that by claiming they can keep the economy sound, increase spending and cut taxes at the same time. The Liberal Democrats will also promise to run a sound economy, but based on increased taxes to fund spending and, amongst other things, abolishing the council tax in favour of a local income tax. And there will be prolonged argument over which of the parties can make the greatest savings in Whitehall and beyond to fund their policies. But probably what that all boils down to is a simple question of which of the parties the voters most trust to keep the economy stable and avoid any unpleasant surprises in the coming years. And it is probably still the answer to that one question that will overwhelmingly decide the outcome of the general election.

Kennedy to make temple address Charles Kennedy is set to address 2,000 people at a Hindu temple as part of an appeal to ethnic minority voters. The Liberal Democrat leader will visit the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple in Neasden, north west London. He will say Labour "can no longer lay exclusive claim to the votes of Britain's ethnic minorities". Mr Kennedy will also highlight the anger among people of "all races" over the Iraq war and call for a "balanced approach" to tackling terrorism. Saturday's speech comes days after the Lib Dems launched their ethnic minority mini-manifesto. Mr Kennedy is to tell the audience: "Many people in Britain, of all races, cultures and religions, were angry about the way we were taken to war in Iraq. "And they saw the principled stand the Liberal Democrats took at the time." He will also say that the Lib Dems want to "restore Britain's reputation on the world stage" by fighting international poverty and climate change, and protecting human rights. Mr Kennedy will say that a "balanced approach" to tackling terrorism would mean "tough measures to make Britain safe - but not at the expense of people's fundamental legal rights like has happened at Belmarsh". He will say it also means acting through the United Nations on terrorism. Mr Kennedy held talks with Tony Blair on Friday over government plans to hold terror suspects under house arrest. He said afterwards that the Prime Minister had offered some "movement" to address his concerns. The plans face trouble in the Lords if Conservative and Lib Dem opposition continues.

Labour targets 'hardcore truants' A fresh crackdown on persistent truants in England has been launched by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly. Serial truants make up one in 13 pupils. Previous initiatives brought 40,000 pupils back to school since 1997, according to official statistics. Parenting contracts, penalty notices and "fast track" prosecution systems have been used to tackle what has been a stubborn problem. It is thought that nearly half a million children skip school each day. Tories say Labour's previous success regarding the issue came because it tackled the easy part of the problem by reducing authorised absence, where parents are permitted to take children out of school. Such absences are often due to family holidays. However, serial truants avoid the classroom despite government schemes costing £885m. Those missing classes are more likely to become involved in crime as well as failing academically. Measures such as parenting contracts and penalty notices were adopted by most local education authorities last term and come into force in the remainder this term. In one local education authority alone 800 parents were warned they would receive a penalty notice unless their child's attendance improved. The tough stance paid off with just 24 issued, while attendance improved in 776 cases. Truancy has been reduced by 5% at the 128 worst hit schools through the government's Behaviour Improvement Programme. This is the equivalent of 200 pupils back in classes since September. The new measures come on top of national truancy sweeps - the sixth of which will take place on Monday. Police and education welfare officers patrol problem hotspots picking up truants and returning them to school. Held twice each year, in addition to routine local patrols, previous country-wide sweeps have apprehended 31,000 pupils dodging school. In almost 14,000 of those cases, the youngsters were accompanied by their parents. A Department for Education and Skills source said: "Every day in school counts. "It is clear form these figures that schools and local education authorities are now seizing the tools we have given them to improve school attendance and crack down hard on the very small numbers of pupils which account for almost half of the nation's truancy."

Blair prepares to name poll date Tony Blair is likely to name 5 May as election day when Parliament returns from its Easter break, the BBC's political editor has learned. Andrew Marr says Mr Blair will ask the Queen on 4 or 5 April to dissolve Parliament at the end of that week. Mr Blair has so far resisted calls for him to name the day but all parties have stepped up campaigning recently. Downing Street would not be drawn on the claim, saying election timing was a matter for the prime minister. A Number 10 spokeswoman would only say: "He will announce an election when he wants to announce an election." The move will signal a frantic week at Westminster as the government is likely to try to get key legislation through Parliament. The government needs its finance bill, covering the Budget plans, to be passed before the Commons closes for business at the end of the session on 7 April. But it will also seek to push through its Serious and Organised Crime Bill and ID cards Bill. Mr Marr said on Wednesday's Today programme: "There's almost nobody at a senior level inside the government or in Parliament itself who doesn't expect the election to be called on 4 or 5 April. "As soon as the Commons is back after the short Easter recess, Tony Blair whips up to the Palace, asks the Queen to dissolve Parliament ... and we're going." The Labour government officially has until June 2006 to hold general election, but in recent years governments have favoured four-year terms.

'Debate needed' on donations cap A cap on donations to political parties should not be introduced yet, the elections watchdog has said. Fears that big donors can buy political favours have sparked calls for a limit. In a new report, the Electoral Commission says it is worth debating a £10,000 cap for the future but now is not the right time to introduce it. It also says there should be more state funding for political parties and candidates should be able to spend more on election campaigning. There were almost £68m in reported donations to political parties in 2001, 2002 and 2003, with nearly £12m of them from individual gifts worth more than £1m. The rules have already been changed so the public can see who gives how much to the parties but the report says there are still public suspicions. The commission says capping donations would mean taxpayers giving parties more cash - something which would first have to be acceptable to the public and shown to work. "While we are not in principle opposed to the introduction of a donation cap, we do not believe that such a major departure from the existing system now would be sensible," says its report. If there was to be a cap, it should be £10,000 - a small enough amount to make a difference but which would have banned £56m in donations between 2001 and 2003. Even without changes the commission does urge political parties to seek out more small-scale donations and suggests there should be income tax relief for gifts under £200. It also suggests increasing state funding for parties to £3m so help can be extended to all parties with at least two members in the House of Commons, European Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland Assembly. And it suggests new ways of boosting election campaigning, seen as a way of improving voter turnout. All local election candidates should be entitled to a free mailshot for campaign leaflets, says the watchdog. And there should be a shift in the amount of money allowed to be spent at elections from a national level to a local level to help politicians engage better with voters. The report suggests doubling the money which can be spent by candidates, while cutting national spending limits from £20m to £15m. The commission also says the spending limits for general elections should cover the four months before the poll - as happens with other elections. Electoral Commission chairman Sam Younger said: "There is no doubt that political parties have a vital role to play in maintaining the health of our democracy and for this they need to be adequately resourced. "Our research has shown that people want to be more informed about party politics and that they want politicians to be more visible and accessible. "The public are reluctant for the state to fund parties but at the same time are unhappy with large private donations." He called for a wider public debate on party funding to find the consensus needed for radical changes to the current system.

Blair pledges unity to Labour MPs Tony Blair has sought to reassure Labour backbenchers that nothing will stand in the way of the party's bid for a third term in power. Mr Blair was speaking to MPs amid fresh rumours of a rift with Gordon Brown. A new book says the prime minister went back on a pledge to Mr Brown to stand down before the next general election. The chancellor has said he is focused on winning the poll and is due to join election supremo Alan Milburn for a Labour poster launch this week. Mr Blair told the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday: "I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need." The prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other and seemingly in good spirits at the start of the meeting which lasted around an hour. A new book, Brown's Britain by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, says Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown after Cabinet allies intervened in June 2004. It has caused a new wave of concern among Labour MPs gearing up to defend their seats in an election, widely expected to be held in May, and several members are understood to have lined up to express their discontent at the PLP meeting. Health Secretary John Reid earlier warned that Labour members would not easily forgive anybody fuelling damaging speculation. He told BBC News: "Those who co-operate or inspire these books, in my view, have to know that, whatever the short-term political or personal advantage that they think they might secure, they always do it by damaging the record, the unity and the re-election chances of the Labour Party and the government." Mr Blair on Sunday dismissed claims of broken promises, saying: "I've dealt with this six months ago. I said then you don't do deals over jobs like this - you don't." In a separate BBC interview, Mr Brown said he and the prime minister would not be distracted by "gossip". "It's very important that we all do what we can in a unified way to ensure the election of a Labour government," he said. On Monday, Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The prime minister is determined that he will get on with the business of government because he believes that what people want." Mr Brown says he discussed the election campaign with Mr Blair on Saturday and promised to play his part. Mr Peston said the pair had "mutual animosity and contempt". Mr Blair had decided in November 2003 he would quit because he felt he had lost voters' trust because of the Iraq war. He had then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from Cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him. Mr Brown allegedly said he could no longer believe anything Mr Blair told him. Conservative co-chairman Liam Fox likened the two men to "self-obsessed schoolboys". Liberal Democrat parliamentary chairman Matthew Taylor said their personal ambition was "getting in the way of good government". Ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock said Mr Blair and Mr Brown could only deal with the media frenzy by continuing to say they would not allow a row to damage Labour or British interests. He told BBC Radio Five Live that Mr Brown would never encourage any kind of insurrection or coup.

Thousands join strike in Wales Thousands of civil servants were on strike across Wales on Friday in protest at planned job cuts. A range of services in Wales were affected as civil servants in Wales joined the UK-wide strike. The strike, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union, was the biggest by civil servants in a decade. The action follows Chancellor Gordon Brown's announcement in July that 104,000 jobs would be cut, with around 6,000 of those expected in Wales. The worst-affected area in Wales will be the Department of Work and Pensions where 2,000 jobs are threatened. Across Wales, pickets were held by striking civil servants with protests in towns and cities including Cardiff, Bangor, Aberystwyth and Wrexham. Gordon Brown issued a defiant statement about the strike, saying the action would not affect the government's "determination" to make savings in order to increase investment in healthcare, education, transport and the fight against crime. "Our decisions mean more police, more teachers, more doctors and more nurses," he said. "We will provide help with information, relocation and retraining to help staff move into frontline work within the public sector, but we will not be diverted from these necessary changes so that we can make this essential investment." The UK-wide action hit Jobcentres, benefit agencies, pensions offices and driving test centres. The strike also affected the Welsh assembly building in Cardiff Bay, where only pass-holders were allowed in. Pickets were in place across Wales, with protests around the country. PCS Union spokesman Jeff Evans said: "In Wales the civil service is major employer, there are more civil servants employed in Wales proportionately than in any other part of the country. "Our protest is about defending jobs and also local services across the country. "Parts of Objective One areas and Welsh-speaking areas will be particularly affected by these cuts." The chancellor has said that the cuts will allow funding for more teachers and police. Piers Freelove is senior benefit officer on the picket line at Companies House, in Cardiff. He said: "The majority of people have decided not to come in because of the threat to their jobs. "I joined the civil service to provide services as well as get a decent pension, as we thought, and pay, and it's those services that are being threatened as well as our jobs. "People like pensioners need a face-to-face service not an impersonal service on the phone which is what they want to impose." PCSU deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning, who was on the same picket line, said: "We're asking for them to negotiate not just to make announcements. "There's a sensible way to do things and at the moment they're not even talking about how to go about it sensibly." "The ballot was for one day's action. No further action is anticipated without a further ballot of staff." The Welsh Assembly Government said: "This is a strike about national civil service issues. It is not about specific issues local to Wales or the assembly.

Blunkett unveils policing plans People could be given the mobile phone number of their local bobby under an overhaul of policing in England and Wales unveiled by David Blunkett. The plans include a dedicated policing team for each neighbourhood and a 10 point compulsory customer charter. The home secretary said targets would be put in place to ensure that the public got a good response from police. Local people would also be able to "trigger" action on specific problems if they felt nothing was being done. Local councillors would have to show certain conditions had been met before invoking the power. And police could refuse the request if the complaints were frivolous, would only cause annoyance or would pose too heavy a burden on resources. Mr Blunkett said a new three digit number would be created for non-emergency phone calls to police. The best performing police services would get more cash and extra freedoms, he said, but he would not shirk from stepping in where the public was being failed. The home secretary's powers to suspend or sack chief constables are being reviewed after Mr Blunkett's battle with Humberside chief David Westwood over intelligence failures on Soham murderer Ian Huntley. Opposition parties also want more local policing to tackle nuisance behaviour and other crime but they accuse ministers of tying the police up with paperwork. Tory spokesman David Davis said the proposals were "little more than a taxpayer-funded PR exercise" ahead of a general election predicted for next May. Police forces were already "buried" under existing government initiatives and there was little in the latest plans to reassure them," said Mr Davis. Earlier Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said the government was right to want to increase the links between local people and the police. "But these measures will only work if they're matched with a cut in the amount of paperwork - and investment in modern equipment to keep the police out on the streets." Before delivering a statement to MPs, Mr Blunkett was joined by Tony Blair at Welling School, in south east London, which is at the heart of a community policing initiative. Mr Blunkett said he wanted "to go back to a time when I was very young, when you expected the police to be part of the community and the community to be part of policing and where people were joined together in partnership making it work". The prime minister said the law-abiding citizen should be in charge of the community and "not the minority who want to cause trouble". Mr Blunkett already boasts about producing record police numbers. He has also started to recruit 25,000 Community Support Officers (CSOs) and the new plans would allow all police forces to give them the power to detain suspects. An extra £50m was promised on Tuesday so 2,000 new CSOs can be recruited now rather than next year. Within two years, every force will be expected to keep to a "coppers' contract" on what kind of service the public can expect. A Mori poll this summer suggested policing, unlike health and education, was the one major public service where people were less satisfied the more contact they had with it. The plans also include the idea of allowing people join police forces at different levels rather than the traditional way of making everybody spend specific amounts of time as a constable before being promoted. There will also be "specific exercises" to encourage black and Asian people to join the police at senior ranks.

Concerns at school diploma plan Final appeals are being made for the government not to ditch the reform plan for England's secondary schools put forward by the Tomlinson report. The government's response to the plan for a four-tier diploma to replace all existing 14-19 qualifications is expected next week. Some are worried it could be scuppered if, as Tony Blair and Ruth Kelly have suggested, GCSEs and A-levels stay. Sir Mike Tomlinson himself was briefed only this week. He is said to be feeling more comfortable about what the government is likely to say than if he had read only what was in newspapers in the earlier part of the week. But the government was said to be still rewriting its response on Friday. "It will be a tragedy if the government comes through with a half-hearted response," said the chairman of the Commons education select committee, Labour MP Barry Sheerman. His main concern was the reports that there would be a diploma - but only to replace existing vocational qualifications. "We must tackle head-on the structural mess that is our secondary education system," he wrote in the Times Educational Supplement. "It is not the case that the academic stream in secondary is fine while the vocational route is desperately weak." The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has also told the government not to "compromise". The QCA said the potential "step-change in participation and attainment" lay in the integrity of the whole diploma. "Any partial implementation of the proposals would, in our view, compromise that integrity," said its chairman, Sir Anthony Greener. It is a sign of the QCA's concern that its advice went to ministers last December but was publicised only recently. But people understand that a White Paper response is government policy and has to command wider ministerial support than if it were coming only from the Department for Education and Skills. They may be content if it does not "close too many doors" in writing - whatever spin is put on it. The chief inspector of schools, David Bell, also said recently that GCSEs and A-levels should go. "One of the reasons why I'm so strongly in favour of these terms disappearing over time is that it's good for the symbols of change to be seen right across the system," he said. "If we don't say this is a sea-change in education, we will miss a great opportunity." Universities and head teachers in both the independent and state sectors have also backed the Tomlinson proposals, which include having higher grades at advanced level to differentiate between the brightest students. A note of concern has been expressed repeatedly by the employers' organisation, the CBI, which complains of a lack of skills. In an attempt to address this, the Tomlinson plan is for tests in "functional" maths and literacy - decidedly not GCSEs. It has been suggested the government will take steps of some sort to meet firms' concerns on this score. Another dissenter is Sir Mike Tomlinson's predecessor as chief schools inspector, Professor Chris Woodhead, who has said there is no need for such a "massive upheaval". The Conservative Party has put forward plans to revert to a system of having only the brightest percentage of students each year getting the top A-level grade, no matter how well the others have done.

Security papers 'found in street' An inquiry is under way after files containing security details about the Pakistani president's visit to London were found by a member of the public. The files are believed to contain detailed security arrangements for Gen Pervez Musharraf's visit this week, including police codes. Scotland Yard said the policing operation had been reviewed. A spokesman said President Musharraf's safety had not been compromised, as the papers had been handed in promptly. "We cannot discuss who was responsible for the documents, only that they contained the policing arrangements for the official visit," said the spokesman. The papers are believed to have been found by a member of the public in a street in Mayfair and given to the Mirror newspaper. The police spokesman said the newspaper handed the report over on Monday. The force's Directorate of Professional Standards is investigating the circumstances surrounding the loss of the documents, he said. Gen Musharraf held talks with Tony Blair on Monday. He arrived in Britain on Sunday night after flying from the United States, where he met President George W Bush. He is due to visit the Pakistani community in Manchester on Tuesday afternoon.

Opposition grows to house arrests The Conservatives have expressed "serious misgivings" about government plans for keeping UK and foreign terror suspects under house arrest. Michael Howard said he would not back the Home Secretary's plans for "control orders" which include home detention. "I do not believe that anyone should be deprived of their liberty on the say so of a politician," he said. The Lib Dems also oppose the proposals, but ministers insist they are proportionate to the terror threat. The government proposed the idea and a range of other new powers after the laws lords said current detentions without trial broke human rights laws. New Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has backed the control orders, saying: "I'm sorry. It is a dilemma, but there is only one choice." But Mr Howard said: "We have serious misgivings about both their effectiveness in protecting life and their consequences for the British way of life." He argued that people accused of terrorist offences should be brought to trial and be held in prison - not at home - while they await trial. Mr Howard said he feared "internment without trial creates martyrs" and could be "a very effective recruiting sergeant" for terrorists". His party plans to move an amendment to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill next week that would give a judge responsibility for assessing evidence and ensuring a balanced case is presented to the court. He called on the prime minister to "enter into constructive discussions" with his party to find a "better way forward". Controversy over the issue continues after a foreign terror suspect held in the UK without trial or charge since December 2001 was freed from jail. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said there was not enough evidence to keep the Egyptian man, known only as C, certified as a terrorist suspect. On Monday, the legal team for two Algerian suspects being held without trial told a court the men did not want bail if it meant being put under house arrest. Most of the terror suspects are detained at Belmarsh Prison in London. The Liberal Democrats say they also oppose house arrests and questioned the human rights implications of the measure. Home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's a matter of principle for us that we can't have a situation where the Home Secretary is able to impose house detention now on UK nationals as well as foreign nationals." The Lib Dems believe the Home Secretary should allow phone tapping evidence in prosecutions. "We think there could be a role for some form of control order - tagging, surveillance, limitation on use of mobile phones - but not with the Home Secretary's say so. That must be done with a proper judicial process, a judge involved in making those decisions," said Mr Oaten. Mr Clarke has rejected that idea saying intercept evidence is only a small part of the case against terror suspects and could put the lives of intelligence sources at risk. He said prosecutions were the government's first preference and promised the powers would only be used in "serious" cases, with independent scrutiny from judges.

Peers debate Crown succession law Peers are debating proposals to change the rules governing the succession to the throne. Labour peer Lord Dubs' Succession to the Crown Bill aims to end the right of male heirs to succeed to the crown even if they have an older sister. The private member's bill would also abolish the ban on heirs to the throne marrying Roman Catholics. The Fabian Society's Sundar Katwala said the change was "long overdue" and that he expected a "warm response". The political reform group's general secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme there were some "very out-dated features" at the heart of Britain's constitution. "In 1998 the government said in principle it supported the idea of ending gender discrimination and that it would consult on how to come forward with its own measures. "We hope they are warm towards it and don't say this is the wrong time." He pointed out that it was 30 years since the sex discrimination act and urged politicians on all sides to back the bill. Mr Katwala added: "This is long overdue. Parliament will have to do it eventually, the government, and I hope all of the political parties, might think this is a very simple thing to have in their manifestos." But he acknowledged that even if the bill did win support, it was unlikely to become law because the legislative programme is likely to be squeezed by the coming general election. He said he hoped the bill would be a "gentle nudge" to the government and suggested it would "demand a response". The bill, which is in the Lords for its second reading, has been adopted by former chief whip Ann Taylor in the Commons. The rule of succession is regulated not only through descent and tradition but also by the Act of Settlement which confirmed in 1701 that it was for Parliament to determine the title to the throne.

New foot and mouth action urged A senior Tory MP has criticised agriculture department Defra's "lackadaisical" approach to planning for a future foot and mouth outbreak. Public accounts committee chairman Edward Leigh was giving his reaction to a report by a government watchdog on lessons to be learnt from the crisis. The National Audit Office said Defra had improved its capacity to deal with future livestock disease outbreaks. But Mr Leigh said the department was "dragging its heels". That comment referred to the setting up of a scheme to share any future compensation costs with industry. He also said Defra had been "dreadfully slow" in paying some of its bills dating from the foot and mouth crisis. The outbreak, which began in 2001, led to the slaughter of 6.5 million animals, devastated many farms and rural businesses, and is estimated to have cost the UK up to £8bn. "Four years after the outbreak, Defra is yet to begin its planned review of some of its contractors' costs, and £40m of invoices remain unpaid," Mr Leigh said. Mr Leigh also pointed out that the introduction of an IT system to help control future outbreaks had been delayed. In November it emerged European Commission compensation amounted to just over a third of the money the UK government had hoped to get as reimbursement for the billions lost through the foot and mouth crisis. Ministers had hoped to get £900m from the European Union Vet Fund to help with animal slaughter and other costs but in the end was granted £349m. That was because the UK had valued the culled animals at between "two and three times" the commission's assessment of their likely market value. National Audit Office chief Sir John Bourn said a new compensation scheme was now being looked at. On the issue of the unpaid invoices, Sir John said Defra had paid 97% of the £1.3bn submitted by contractors since 2001, "but has not agreed a final settlement with 57 contractors pending the results of its investigations". Mr Leigh said being "better prepared" would also help avoid the need for "mass funeral pyres which provided an unsettling images of the 2001 outbreak". A Defra spokesman said: "We welcome the report. It acknowledges the progress the department has made since 2001 - particularly on contingency planning and our improved capacity and preparedness for combating another major disease outbreak. "However, the department is aware that there are some areas requiring further work and we are working to resolve them as soon as is practicable."

Kennedy looks to election gains They may not know quite how to describe their position in British politics - the real opposition, the valid opposition, the effective opposition or the authentic opposition. But the Liberal Democrats are entering the expected 2005 election campaign determined to prove it is they, not the Tories, who are now the real threat to Labour. As Tory leader Michael Howard kicked off his election campaign, the Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy dismissed the Conservatives as a "fading" force. And he insisted there was "no limit" to his party's ambitions in the coming poll. And he can produce some pretty impressive recent election results to back up his optimism for an election which he believes might just see his party doing big things. Sensible third party leaders are usually cautious about making any predictions about how they will do come the big test. And Mr Kennedy was not falling into that trap when he fired up his campaign from the party's Westminster HQ. He would make no predictions other than that he expected the Lib Dems to increase both their votes and their Commons seats at the election. The gap between Labour and the Tories was now so narrow - as proved, he claimed, by the defection to Labour of Robert Jackson - that only his party offered a genuine alternative. On the war on Iraq, identity cards, student fees and the council tax, there was nothing to chose between the two big parties whereas the Liberal Democrats offered costed, sensible alternatives. He was also happy to break the two party consensus on taxation by promising to increase income tax on those earning more than £100,000 a year to pay for the scrapping of student fees, the introduction of free personal care for the elderly and replacing the council tax with a local income tax. He was also happy to offer a pledge that he would be doing no deals to "prop up" either of the other big parties after the election. There was a time when such optimistic sounds coming from the third party could be dismissed as self-delusion. That is no longer the case with the Liberal Democrats. The other parties will still insist that the Lib Dems are no hopers whose greatest effect on the poll will be to boost the hopes of their opponents by denying them otherwise winnable seats. Labour, in particular, fears that disillusioned supporters may switch to the Lib Dems allowing the Tories to win some seats. But Mr Kennedy is clearly hoping for a more significant outcome than that. He will not talk about the big breakthrough, although there are those who believe this could well be the election that sees his party crossing some sort of symbolic threshold. They would argue that, by the time of the election after next, the Liberal Democrats may genuinely have replaced the Tories as the party challenging Labour for power. The Lib Dems will hope to have made advances because of their consistent stand against the war on Iraq. But Mr Kennedy believes his new manifesto will also offer sensible, costed and achievable policies on things like the council tax, crime and asylum that will underpin his claim that his party really is the only opposition worth the name.

Profile: David Blunkett Before he resigned the position of home secretary on Wednesday, David Blunkett had been in charge of a substantial body of government portfolios including race, policing and immigration. His responsibilities in running the Home Office included civil emergencies, security, terrorism and expenditure. Named home secretary after the 2001 general election, Mr Blunkett had seen the focus on his office intensify. The attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 heightened concern for security and immigration in particular. A Labour loyalist from a working class background Mr Blunkett, 57, had been unafraid of pushing for tough changes to Labour policy. Recently the issue of identity cards had provoked controversy with questions raised over cost and invasions of civil liberties. Mr Blunkett was also at the centre of a humiliating scandal involving the former immigration minister Beverly Hughes. Having received his full backing, Ms Hughes was forced to resign in April over abuses in the visa processing system, which she claimed to be unaware of. Mr Blunkett's own comments on immigration had prompted censure - he told refugees from Afghanistan and Kosovo to "get back home" to start rebuilding their countries. And he also urged people from ethnic minorities to develop a "sense of belonging" in Britain, telling them to speak English at home. Avoiding political correctness is second nature to the former home secretary, who spurns a metropolitan elite and "airy fairy libertarians" and earlier in the year coined the phrase "liberati", as an amalgam of "glitterati" and "liberal". Yet in January of this year he courted further controversy over his seemingly liberal reclassification of cannabis, from a Grade B to Grade C status drug . Before the recent furore, Mr Blunkett had always appeared more interested in politics than his personal life. Mr Blunkett told the Daily Telegraph in 2001 that he continued to wear his wedding ring, in spite of being a divorcee, as "a useful way of ensuring that people don't casually think I am available". He added: "I am not available because I am just getting on with the job." Mr Blunkett entered Parliament for Sheffield Brightside in 1987, after first contesting the Sheffield Hallam seat in 1974. He is one of very few blind MPs, and was the first to reach the front bench and the Cabinet. His relaxed performances - with his guide dog by his side - at the despatch box, in the Labour Party's National Executive, and on the conference platform made it easy to forget his disability. Mr Blunkett himself described not being able to see as simply "an inconvenience". Using Braille for speeches, and briefed by his officials on tape, he also has a sharp tongue at times, and a pragmatic approach to politics. Mr Blunkett was schooled in Sheffield where he led the city council for seven years before entering the Commons. He chaired the Labour Party nationally, and was a unifying force in the 80s and 90s, shadowing health and education. In Tony Blair's first government Mr Blunkett was put in charge of education and employment, where he won big increases in funds for schools, while insisting on improved standards of literacy and numeracy. He was prepared to stand up to the teaching unions - which sometimes heckled his speeches - and his policy of charging university students for tuition fees was not popular. In the Labour Party he has been regarded as a loyal colleague, a conciliator who avoids factions, and a man whose humour and determination make him widely popular. There have been wry smiles as well. In 1999, his then guide dog Lucy threw up in the Chamber during the speech of his Tory opponent. Lucy was replaced by her half-sister, Sadie, a black Labrador-curly-coated retriever cross, in 2003 after nearly a decade by Mr Blunkett's side.

E-University 'disgraceful waste' A failed government scheme to offer UK university courses online has been branded a "disgraceful waste" by MPs. The e-University was scrapped last year, having attracted only 900 students at a cost of £50m. Chief executive John Beaumont was paid a bonus of £44,914, despite a failure to bring in private sector backers. The Commons education select committee called this "morally indefensible" but the government said the e-University project had "improved understanding". A Department for Education and Skills spokeswoman said the venture had been "ambitious and ground-breaking, but take-up had not been "sufficient to continue with the project". She added: "UK e-Universities was not the only organisation to have lost out on private sector investment in the collapse of the dotcom boom." The select committee found that those responsible for founding the e-University in 2000 had been caught up in the "general atmosphere of enthusiasm" surrounding the internet. Initial business plans forecast a quarter of a million students joining within a decade, bringing in at least £110m in profit. But virtually no market research was carried out and just £4.2m was spent on worldwide sales and marketing of courses. Some £14m went on developing the technology to make the e-University work. This was used by just 200 students, the rest preferring to work through existing university websites. With no significant private investors and no direct accountability to a government minister, the e-University had had "too much freedom to spend public money as it wished", the report found. Committee chairman Barry Sheerman said: "UK e-University was a terrible waste of public money. "The senior executives failed to interest any private investors and showed an extraordinary over-confidence in their ability to attract students to the scheme." The report warns that the government should not be scared off investment in innovative but potentially risky schemes by the failure of the e-University, but "should learn the lessons from this disaster".

Green fear for transport ballot The Green Party is concerned thousands of residents may not be able to vote in Edinburgh's transport referendum. Edinburgh City Council is to ballot constituents on proposals to introduce congestion charging in the capital. But Green MSP Mark Ballard fears people not on the council's edited electoral register may miss out. Local authorities can only send ballot papers to those on the edited list over non-statutory matters, such as the transport referendum. Therefore, residents who have exercised their right to have their details left off the list could miss the chance to vote. However, there is still time for those who are not on the list to contact the council and make sure they are sent ballot forms ahead of February's voting deadline. Mr Ballard said: "This vote will set the future of transport in Edinburgh for decades to come. "It is therefore vital that as many residents as possible in Edinburgh City and the surrounding areas, are registered to vote in the ballot. "Many people are not aware that they may miss out on their chance to have a say. "Everyone involved in this debate - both for and against - wants the ballot to be as fair and representative as possible, and that means encouraging people to take part." The ballot will ask residents to vote for or against the council's proposed congestion charge scheme and a host of transport improvements to be funded by it. The outcome of the referendum will be known next month after the ballot forms are sent out and returned to the council. Towards the end of February, the council will meet to decide whether to proceed with an application to Scottish ministers for approval for its planned congestion charging scheme and the other parts of its transport package.

Howard 'truanted to play snooker' Conservative leader Michael Howard has admitted he used to play truant to spend time with his school friends at a snooker hall. Mr Howard said his time at Jack's Snooker Hall in Llanelli in the 1950s had not done him "any lasting damage". But he told the Times Educational Supplement that truancy was "very bad" and said "firm action" was needed. Mr Howard also called for a return to O-levels and more classroom discipline. Mr Howard eventually left Llanelli Grammar School - and the snooker hall - to go to Cambridge University. He said: "I don't think it's done me any lasting damage. Nor has it made me a snooker world champion. "There might have been some occasions when we left early of an afternoon. "I'm just being honest. I think truancy is a very bad thing and that firm action should be taken to deal with it." Another player who has failed to win snooker's world championship - Jimmy "the Whirlwind " White - has previously admitted missing lessons, instead spending his days in smoky halls. "Tony Meo [another player] and me used to spend all of our spare time there," Mr White said, "We loved the game and the atmosphere. "School went out of the window. I went for a while and then started taking time off." Mr Howard's fellow Welshman Ray Reardon - known by his fellow professionals as "Dracula" - won the snooker world championship six times, having left school at 14 to work as a miner. And Terry Griffiths, like Mr Howard from Llanelli, won the tournament in 1979. It is not known whether the two of them ever clashed cues at Jack's.

Blair 'damaged' by Blunkett row A majority of voters (68%) believe the prime minister has been damaged by the row over David Blunkett's involvement in a visa application, a poll suggests. But nearly half those surveyed said Mr Blunkett should return to Cabinet if Labour won the next election. Some 63% of respondents in the Sunday Times poll thought his former lover - Kimberly Quinn - acted vindictively and 61% that he had been right to resign. YouGov polled a weighted sample of 1,981 voters online on 16-18 December. Mr Blunkett resigned as Home Secretary on Wednesday after an inquiry uncovered an e-mail showing a visa application by Mrs Quinn's former nanny had been speeded up. Sir Alan Budd's inquiry also found Mr Blunkett's account of events had been wrong. Almost a quarter (21%) of those polled for the Sunday Times said he should return to the Cabinet straight after the election. One in four said he should be back in the Government's top ranks within a year or two while 39% opposed a comeback. Three-quarters said Mr Blunkett was right to go to court for the right to see Mrs Quinn's son - whom he says he fathered - and just 14% voiced sympathy for Mrs Quinn. A total of 53% of those polled said they had sympathy for Mr Blunkett, with 40% saying they did not. Forty-three per cent thought Mr Blunkett had done a good job as home secretary and 17% disagreed. Meantime, 32% said Mr Blair was a good prime minister and 38% disagreed. A majority, 52%, said Chancellor Gordon Brown had done a good job and just 16% disagreed. A second poll for the Independent on Sunday found that support for all political parties remained largely unchanged after the Blunkett controversy. Labour lead the Conservatives by 39% to 34% with the Liberal Democrats on 19%. CommunicateResearch interviewed 401 people before David Blunkett's resignation and 601 afterwards. Some 82% said Mr Blunkett had set a good example by wanting to take responsibility for the child he says is his, but 42% backed his legal action compared to 45% who thought it was unbecoming. Thirty per cent said the affair showed Mr Blunkett could not be trusted as a minister while 63%, disagreed.

Tsunami 'won't divert Africa aid' UK aid to help the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster will not take much needed relief from Africa, Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised. Mr Blair told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost show the money spent on the tsunami would not "invade" the money Britain wanted to spend on Africa. Questioned about the disaster, he said his faith in God had not been shaken. He added he would give new figures on the number of tsunami-related British deaths to the Commons on Monday. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday that about 440 Britons were either dead or missing in the disaster. Mr Blair told Sunday's programme: "Since Jack Straw gave those figures a couple of days ago they haven't moved a great deal, which should give us some hope that we are beginning to reach the peak of the numbers. But we just can't be sure. "It is just an immensely difficult job to get absolutely accurate figures, all countries are struggling with this." He said the £50 million originally allocated from the Department for International Development was now "well on the way" to being spent. But the exact allocation could not be clarified until the World Bank had completed its assessment of the needs of the countries affected. Within the next few weeks a clearer picture would emerge of the long-term costs of reconstruction, he added. But he pledged that Africa - which sees a "preventable" tsunami-size death toll every month from conflict, disease and poverty - would not be neglected. As Britain takes up its presidency of the G8 group of leading nations, Mr Blair said ministers had a big agenda for Africa. "For the first time we have a plan that won't just deal with aid and debt but will also deal on issues of governance within African countries and conflict resolution," he said. "A lot of the problems in Africa come from conflict, that again are preventable, but only with the right systems in place."

Police chief backs drinking move A chief constable has backed the introduction of 24-drinking, saying police had a responsibility to ensure people could benefit from a law change. However, Norfolk police chief Andy Hayman also warned that a great deal of preparatory work was still needed. "I don't subscribe to the views of some of my colleagues who are coming out and objecting to it," he said. His comments come after the Liberal Democrats backed Tory demands that the government's plans be put on hold. Andy Hayman said he did not agree with politicians and senior police officers who have objected to the plans, which come into force on 7 February. "I feel that is a premature position to be taking," he said. Among those who have criticised the plans are the UK's top policeman Sir John Stevens. The Metropolitan police chief said last week that the plans for 24-hour drinking should be re-examined because of a binge drinking "epidemic". However, Mr Hayman said: "It would be totally unacceptable in my view for a chief constable to say, 'I'm very sorry'. He said that police should make sure that responsible people who wanted a change could benefit from more liberal legislation. "My view is that I have got a responsibility to create an environment where that can happen, " he said. However, he believes a lot of preparatory work is still needed to be done by police, local authorities and the drinks industry before the nation was ready for 24-hour drinking. But he is confident problems in the early days can be "ironed out". He believed the majority of people favoured this law change and "we have to accept that lifestyles are changing". But aspects such as transport, and basic things such as making sure public toilets are open all night had to be taken into account. Prime Minister Tony Blair has defended the Licensing Act, saying it is wrong to deny people the relaxed hours enjoyed elsewhere in Europe because of a "tiny minority" of violent binge drinkers. A six-month transitional period starts on 7 February during which time venues can apply for extended licences. The Conservatives have called for 24-hour drinking to be shelved until the problems of binge drinking are solved. On Monday, the Lib Dems also called for a delay. Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "It would clearly be prudent to allow the police and local authorities more time to prepare for flexible drinking hours." Chief constable Mr Hayman acknowledged that binge drinking did cause problems. "If you come to Norwich on a Friday or Saturday night you will see things going on that will you make you feel ashamed. "However, I want industry to succeed in Norwich and I want Norwich to be the recognised nightspot of East Anglia. "There is no way I want to say we cannot manage it or police it. We can."

Clarke plans migrant point scheme Anyone planning to move to the UK will have to pass a test to prove they can contribute to the country, Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said. He is proposing a points system similar to Australia's but would avoid the quota system planned by the Tories. Mr Clarke, who will unveil his plans on Monday, said economic migration helped the UK but "needed proper policing". The Lib Dems say they will look at his plans, but Tory Liam Fox said his party offered a "clear choice" on the issue. The Conservative Party Co-Chairman said the British electorate had a choice between a Labour government that had "done nothing for eight years and will not set a limit" on immigration and a Tory one that would impose quotas. The home secretary said, by 2008, he wanted everyone given a visa and entering the UK to have their fingerprints taken, to "ensure we can know everybody who is in the country". Speaking on BBC One's Breakfast with Frost, he said "economic migrants are of great value to this country", but stressed that proper policing was needed to ensure that they do not become a "burden on society". He said: "We will establish a system ... which looks at the skills, talents and abilities of people seeking to come and work in this country, and ensures that when they come here they have a job and can contribute to the economy of the country." The home secretary, whose five-year blueprint for immigration and asylum is expected to be published on Monday, also rejected claims that the immigration debate encouraged bigotry. "The issue of who does come into this country, and whether they are entitled to be in this country, who does settle here, how we have border controls, is a perfectly legitimate aspect of public debate," he said. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "Whilst it is good that Labour has rejected the Tory idea of quotas on asylum, the jury is still out on the Home Office's ability to deliver a fair and efficient asylum system." Mr Howard has said Britain should take its fair share of the world's "genuine refugees". But he claims the current asylum system is being abused - and with it Britain's generosity. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, called on Mr Clarke to denounce the suggestion Britain's hospitality was being tested by immigration. "Tell that to the 44,000 doctors in the NHS and the 70,000 nurses without whom we would really see what pressure on the health service means," he said. "Ditto the teachers, from South Africa, Australia, Jamaica, who are reducing the sizes of our classes and schools." The Refugee Council said Mr Howard's proposals would mean there would be no safe haven in the UK.

Malik rejects all-black MP lists A call for ethnic minority shortlists to boost the number of black and Asian MPs has been rejected by one of Labour's most senior Asians. Shahid Malik, who is on Labour's ruling NEC, accepted people's frustration but said there should be targets not lists to boost representation of minorities. Just 13 of Britain's 659 MPs are from ethnic minority groups, he added. Commission for racial equality chief Trevor Phillips argued on Sunday the time had come for such shortlists. That came after it emerged that one of Britain's most ethnically diverse constituency, West Ham, was to get a women-only shortlist for the next election following an NEC ruling. Mr Phillips said changes to the race relations legislation might allow political parties to reserve seats for under-represented groups. For example in West Ham, this might allow only women and minorities to seek to be candidates. "If we get to the other side of the general election and find that minorities are not represented, we have to say that after 20 or 30 years of talking about this, we cannot go on the same way," he said. He added: "It would be terribly disappointing if in the least white constituency [West Ham] in the whole of Europe we didn't have a minority candidate." Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Malik, who is himself running for the seat of Dewsbury, acknowledged that so far women-only shortlists had failed to deliver a boost in the number of ethnic minority candidates. But he argued: "I do think that there currently things that parties can do and which they aren't doing... for example setting targets to ensure that existing democratic structures are more reflective." Labour MP Diane Abbot, who backs Mr Phillips' proposal of shortlists, said she had been elected along with three other ethnic minority MPs - Keith Vaz, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant - in 1987 but it took another 10 years before another black woman was able to win a seat. That was a rate of progress Ms Abbott described as "painful". "I am a little older than Shahid and served on the National Executive Committee in the 1990s - I was the first black person on the NEC ... crossing our fingers and hoping we are going to get more black and Asian MP hasn't worked," she said. "The shortlist strategy works for women and I believe that it can be made to work for black and Asian people." On Tuesday Labour chairman Ian McCartney said his party was "ambitious" to improve black and Asian representation. "We haven't ruled out all-black shortlists and welcome a debate in the party about this," he said.

Blunkett hints at election call Ex-Home Secretary David Blunkett has given fresh clues that the general election will be announced on Monday. He told BBC Radio Five Live: "I'm out in my constituency getting ready for what we presume will be an announcement very shortly at the weekend." He clarified that he meant he would be in his Sheffield seat this weekend, not that he expected an election call then. Tony Blair is tipped to ask the Queen on Monday to dissolve Parliament ready for a 5 May poll.

Commons hunt protest charges Eight protesters who stormed the House of Commons chamber during a debate on the Hunting Bill have been charged with disorderly conduct. The men were arrested in September after bursting into the chamber causing a hunting ban debate to be halted. Those charged included Otis Ferry, the 22-year-old son of rock star Bryan Ferry and Luke Tomlinson, 27, a close friend of princes William and Harry. They were charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, police said. Five of the eight men held an impromptu news conference outside Charing Cross Police Station on Monday evening, after the charges were formerly put to them. The men's solicitor Matthew Knight, said that at no time had it occurred to the men that they were committing a criminal offence. "There is no offence of trespassing in the House of Commons - it is not a criminal offence," he said. "If Parliament wanted to make entering the House of Commons chamber on foot a criminal offence it should have done so, but it can't do so retrospectively. "We are not prosecuted for that. We are prosecuted for a Public Order Act offence. We are not guilty of it." They will appear at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on 21 December, a police spokesman said. Otis Ferry, a former Eton pupil and joint leader of the South Shropshire Hunt, said: "I have no regrets. "We have done nothing wrong beyond the obvious which was to stand up for our rights and not act like a sheep like the rest of the country." One of the men, David Redvers, 34, from Hartpury, Gloucestershire, said he and the other seven protesters would plead not guilty to the charges. The other protesters are John Holliday, 37, a huntsman from Ledbury, Herefordshire, Robert Thame, 34, who plays polo with Princes Charles in Team Highgrove, auctioneer Andrew Elliot, 42, from Bromesberrow, near Ledbury, point-to-point jockey Richard Wakeham, 34, from York, and former royal chef Nick Wood, 41. The 15 September protest came on the same day as a huge pro-hunting demonstration in Parliament Square. Four of the men ran out from behind the speaker's chair while another wrestled past a doorkeeper from a different entrance. The five tried to confront MPs before they were bundled out of the chamber and later led away handcuffed by police. Three others had been intercepted by security staff as they tried to join the five in the chamber. Speaker Michael Martin later said the men had used a forged letter to gain access to the House of Commons and had been helped to get close to the chamber by a parliamentary pass holder. In November, the use of the Parliament Act meant a total ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales. However, many pro-hunt activists remained defiant after the law was passed, saying they would ignore the ban and continue to hunt. Last week, the Countryside Alliance said more than 250 hunts would meet legally the day after the ban on hunting with dogs comes into force. The alliance said the 19 February meets would show the new law was "impossibly difficult to determine" and open to different interpretations.

Labour attacked on Howard poster Labour has been accused of using anti-Semitic images in posters which critics claim depict Tory leader Michael Howard as Fagin. The poster shows Mr Howard hypnotising people with a pocket watch, saying: "I can spend the same money twice." The image prompted concern from the editor of the Jewish Chronicle but Labour insists it is simply anti-Tory. Labour later took the image off its website, saying an alternative idea had proved more popular with party members. The party will now use focus groups to test a poster showing Mr Howard and shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin with a blackboard reading: "2+2=5". The hypnotism poster has been compared to the portrayal of the Dickens character Fagin in the stage version of the musical Oliver! There was controversy over another poster choice offered to Labour members. It showed Mr Howard and Mr Letwin - who are both Jewish - as flying pigs. Mr Howard did not comment on the anti-Semitism claims when asked about the poster on Monday. Instead, he pointed to how Tony Blair had in 1997 complained about "personalised abusive campaigning". Mr Howard told Greater Manchester Radio: "It is such a pity that Mr Blair doesn't practise what he preaches." Jewish Chronicle editor Ned Temko said there had been a mixed reaction to the first poster but e-mails from Jewish Chronicle readers showed deeper concern about the hypnotism image. "Shylock and Fagin are inextricably linked to notions of centuries-old prejudice," he told BBC Radio 4's World At One. "Whatever the idea is, I think it's a difficult exercise to use images like that and to argue that you can divorce them from their historical context or meaning." Mr Temko said he blamed "cock-up not conspiracy", saying he did not detect inherent anti-Semitism in any of the parties' election campaigns. The poster is among one of a series of ideas shown to Labour members, who have been asked to choose which one should be used ahead of the election. Labour MP Louise Ellman said the hypnotism image was insensitive but urged people not to rush to call things anti-Semitic when they only challenged Tory economic policies. Labour campaign spokesman Fraser Kemp said the poster had been misunderstood. The image simply portrayed Mr Howard as a hypnotist, he argued. "Concern has been expressed and clearly we have to take those views on board but I would emphasise that if you see the posters, the common theme... is that the Tories are trying to con you." A Labour spokesman later said the timing of removing the controversial image from the party's website was not affected by the row. "This has been up on the website for two weeks and there has only been a fuss in the last four days so a substantial number of people voted before there was any fuss," he said. But a Conservative spokeswoman said: "This poster campaign - which was offensive to many people - was a big misjudgement by Labour's campaign team."

Amnesty chief laments war failure The lack of public outrage about the war on terror is a powerful indictment of the failure of human rights groups, Amnesty International's chief has said. In a lecture at the London School of Economics, Irene Khan said human rights had been flouted in the name of security since 11 September, 2001. She said the human rights movement had to use simpler language both to prevent scepticism and spread a moral message. And it had to fight poverty, not just focus on political rights for elites. Ms Khan highlighted detentions without trial, including those at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and the abuse of prisoners as evidence of increasing human rights problems. "What's a new challenge is the way in which this age-old debate on security and human rights has been translated into the language of war," she said. "By using the language of war, human rights are being sidelined because we know human rights do not apply in times of war." Ms Khan said such breaches were infectious and were now seen in almost very major country in the world. "The human rights movement faces a crisis of faith in the value of human rights," she said. That was accompanied by a crisis of governance, where the United Nations system did not seem able to hold countries to account. The Amnesty secretary-general said a growing gap between the perceived influence of human rights group and what they could actually achieve was fuelling scepticism. "Public passivity on the war against terror is the single most powerful indictment on the failures of human rights groups," she said. Ms Khan said the movement had failed to mobilise public outrage about what was happening to the human rights system. There needed to be a drive to use simpler language, talking about the basic morality of the issues rather than the complexity of legal processes. Such efforts could make the issues more relevant to people across the world, she said. The human rights groups also had to recognise there were new groups which had to be tackled in new ways as power dripped away from state governments. Al-Qaeda, for example, was not going to be impressed by a traditional Amnesty letter writing campaign. More also needed to be done to develop a human rights framework for international business corporations. Amnesty International members voted in 2001 to extend the organisation's work from political and civil rights to cover social and economic rights too. Ms Khan said the human rights movement would make itself irrelevant if it turned away from the suffering caused by economic strife. "We would be an elitist bunch working for the elites, for those who cannot read the newspaper of their choice rather than those who cannot read," she said. Despite her concerns, Ms Khan dubbed herself a "hope-monger", saying she was confident the passions of the human rights movement could overcome the new challenges.

Howard backs stem cell research Michael Howard has backed stem cell research, saying it is important people are not frightened of the future. The controversial issue was a feature of the recent US presidential election, where George Bush opposed extending it. But the Tory leader argued there was a moral case for embracing science which could help victims of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neurone disease. "I believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses," he said. The use of embryonic stem cells in the UK is already allowed. Stem cells are master cells that have the ability to develop into any of the body's tissue types. Scientists hope that by growing such cells in the laboratory they can programme them to form specific tissue such as kidney, heart or even brain tissue. Mr Howard acknowledged there were genuine concerns about stem cell research. But he argued: "We mustn't be frightened of change or nostalgic about the past - we must be optimistic about the future. "Politicians must create the right framework so that the great potential of science can be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. "With the life expectancy of the average Briton now around the mid-70s, society has a responsibility to enhance the quality of people's lives as they grow older. "I know many people are concerned about stem-cell research. They are fearful of meddling with what they see as the stuff of souls. "I respect those concerns. But I also believe we have a duty to offer hope to the millions of people who suffer devastating illnesses like Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, Alzheimer's and - as we saw in the papers today - now possibly heart problems." Mr Howard acknowledged there were "no easy answers" over such an issue but it was necessary to "have the courage to do what we know to be morally right". He added: "Of course, stem cells are still a recent discovery. More research needs to be done. But we must look at their potential in a responsible and grown-up way. The hopes of millions of people rest on what could be achieved." Former Superman actor the late Christopher Reeve was an advocate for the research after he was paralysed in a horse riding accident. Mr Howard made his remarks during a speech in Westminster to the Conservative National Women's Committee on ambitions and values.

Visa decision 'every 11 minutes' Visa processing staff are sometimes expected to rule on an application every 11 minutes, MPs have said. Pressure was placed on staff to be efficient, rather than to do a thorough examination of an application, the Public Accounts Committee found. Every officer had an annual target of 8,000 applications - equivalent to 40 a day or one every 11 minutes. MPs want research into whether UK visa holders leave at the end of their stays, or vanish into the black market. Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "There is a worrying tension between quick processing and proper control over the visas issued. "Entry clearance staff are expected to deal with a visa application in about 11 minutes which is surely too little time to look closely at the supporting documents. " The committee's report also discussed the Romanian and Bulgarian visas scandal which led to the resignation of immigration minister Beverley Hughes last year. Committee members said the Home Office had been wrong to dismiss concerns from visa staff abroad who feared the system was being abused. Investigations carried out in the wake of Ms Hughes' resignation found more than 7,000 people had entered the UK under the business visa scheme for Romanian and Bulgarian "entrepreneurs". Mr Leigh said the Home Office should now consider removing those who had not set up a valid business. A Home Office spokesman said the system had been toughened and tightened since the investigation. He added "that the traditional system of a dual decision making process for all pre-entry applications will be replaced by a single pre-entry check at post, which will be simpler and more robust against abuse than the current system".

Brown's poll campaign move denied The government has denied reports that Gordon Brown is preparing to oust Alan Milburn as Labour's election supremo. Work and pensions minister Alan Johnson said it was wrong to suggest the chancellor would usurp Mr Milburn, adding they would "work as a team". A report in the Sunday Business claimed Mr Brown has been asked to take charge of media strategy, while Mr Milburn would move to a behind-the-scenes role. Labour has always maintained Mr Brown would have a central campaign role. But many Labour backbenchers are said to be dissatisfied with the way election campaigning has gone and have said they wanted to see the chancellor take a bigger role. Some commentators say the Tories have grasped the initiative, putting Labour on the back foot, having to respond to Conservative policy announcements. These claims follow various opinion polls which suggest the Tories have been gaining on Labour. Party strategists are believed to want to bring Mr Brown to centre-stage having seen support rise, in private polling, after his Budget last week. But another report in the Sunday Telegraph claims Mr Milburn is unwilling to allow any new role for the chancellor to come at his expense. Mr Johnson told BBC News: "Gordon Brown will play a central role in any election campaign. "They were wrong when they said Milburn was ousting Brown and they're wrong now if they are saying Brown is ousting Milburn. We work as a team." Mr Milburn has repeatedly said the chancellor was key to the campaign and dismissed claims of a rift. Neither Downing Street nor the Labour Party would comment directly on the reports.

'No-one can define new hunt ban' The new law banning hunting with dogs is "so poorly drafted" no-one can define the offence, pro-hunt MPs say. The accusation came after it emerged a Devon man had been told he could use his four dogs to "chase away unwanted animals" from his farm. Because he did not intend to kill deer or foxes it was not hunting. Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik said ministers had invented a new category of hunting - chasing away - and asked how police were supposed to interpret the rules. North Devon landowner Giles Bradshaw was put in touch with the Middle Way Group, of which Mr Opik is a co-chairman, after he had been in contact with the rural affairs ministry, Defra. He had asked whether his technique of using his four dogs to frighten off deer and foxes would be outlawed under the Hunting Act. Mr Bradshaw was initially told it was an offence - prompting him to complain. The Middle Way group also said Mr Bradshaw would be put in a position where he would have to buy a rifle to shoot animals that would have previously gone free. In a later conversation Mr Bradshaw was told that according to Defra's lawyers chasing away unwanted animals was "not in fact hunting as described in the Hunting Act 2004 therefore you would not be committing an offence". Mr Opik said: "Hunting with dogs and flushing are not defined in the Hunting Act. "Now Defra have also invented a completely new category of hunting - 'chasing away' which isn't even covered by the Act. "However, all these activities involve the use of dogs to chase wild mammals. "How is the village bobby who sees a group of people with dogs supposed to distinguish between illegal hunting, exempt hunting, drag hunting, unintentional hunting, a hunt exercising hounds or simply chasing away?" Tory MP Peter Luff, another co-chairman of Middle Way, said that the legislation was "so poorly drafted nobody appears able to properly define the offence". "It is no wonder the government desperately wants to move on from this disastrous law. However, I seriously doubt the countryside will be that accommodating." Mike Hobday, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "There is no confusion, it is a matter of simple common sense. "If Mr Bradshaw is setting his dogs to chase wild animals then he is hunting them and that will be a criminal offence. "If all the dogs are doing is barking at the deer, then nobody can define that as hunting."

Labour in constituency race row Labour's choice of a white candidate for one of the UK's most multi-racial seats proves the need for all-black short lists, says a race group. Local councillor Lyn Brown was selected for West Ham, east London, in a contest between two white and five ethnic minority women. An Operation Black Vote spokesman said they now wanted to meet Labour party chairman Ian McCartney for discussions. Mr McCartney recently announced party consultation on all-black shortlists. However, Labour has so far unable been unable to comment on the implications of the West Ham result. Ashok Vishwanathan of Operation Black Vote, which aims to increase ethnic minorities' participation in the political process and their representation, said the result again showed all-women shortlists were not effective in getting minority women selected. "I think all-black shortlists are the only way to cut to the chase and address the lack of minority candidates," Mr Vishwanathan said. Last month the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) also called for ethnic minority shortlists in certain circumstances. A CRE spokesman said the organisation had nothing to add on the shortlist issue specifically but would be working with all the political parties to address the under-representation of ethnic minorities in Parliament. "We will be raising it with each of the party leaders on a formal basis and helping them find the most appropriate way forward," the spokesman said. Ethnic minorities make up 8% of the United Kingdom population but only 2% of MPs - 13 out of 659 - are from a visible minority group. Twelve of them represent Labour, and one is a Liberal Democrat. If ethnic minorities were represented in the House of Commons in proportion to their numbers in the population, there would be 42 ethnic minority MPs.

Brown calls for £5.5bn Aids fund Gordon Brown has called on rich nations to fund a £5.5bn ($10bn) plan to fight the Aids epidemic and find a vaccine. On the fourth day of his six-day tour of Africa, the UK chancellor predicted a vaccine could be found by 2012 if the world stepped up its funding pledges. Doubling the £400m being spent yearly on finding such a vaccine could advance it by three years and save six million lives, Mr Brown said on Thursday. He hopes to use the UK's G8 presidency to push the issue forward. "I believe that the generation that provided the finance to combat, cure and eradicate the world's deadliest disease of today - and today the world's least curable disease - HIV/Aids - will rightly earn the title 'the great generation'," Mr Brown said in a speech during his African tour. The problems of HIV/Aids were inseparable from poverty, he added. "At least $10 billion per annum (£5.5bn) is needed to address the HIV/Aids crisis in low and middle income countries. "Existing financial commitments on their own will not stop the pandemic. "The UK's proposal for an International Finance Facility is so important - increasing world aid flows by over $50 billion (£27bn). A doubling of world aid to halve world poverty." Mr Brown also said he had agreed with the Italian finance minister Domenico Siniscalco to push forward with plans for the world-wide sharing and co-ordination of research into the disease. Currently the private sector was only spending £60m a year on seeking an inoculation and the market needed boosting, Mr Brown said. He called on industrialised nations to commit themselves to buying the first 300m vaccines at a cost of $20 each, thereby boosting the market for inoculations. This would be a "large enough inducement to create much stronger interest from both large and small pharmaceutical firms", Mr Brown added. More must also be done to finance the treatment and care of those living with HIV/Aids and their families, he said. But Aid charity Actionaid criticised Mr Brown's preoccupation with finding a vaccine and called on G8 nations to fund HIV/Aids treatments. The charity's head of HIV/Aids in Britain, Simon Wright said: "While encouraging the pharmaceutical industry to discover an HIV vaccine is important, a failure to provide any funding for HIV treatments condemns a generation of people to death. "HIV is decimating African countries, killing the most productive adults who should be working, caring for children and building the economy. An HIV vaccine is probably at least 10 years away. Treatments are needed now." On Wednesday, Mr Brown visited slums in the Kenyan capital Nairobi . He will visit an HIV/Aids orphanage in Tanzania and a women's credit union in Mozambique before chairing a meeting of the Commission for Africa in Cape Town. The chancellor has already unveiled proposals for a G8 aid package which he has likened to the Marshall Plan used by the United States to rebuild Europe after World War Two.

Blair and Brown criticised by MPs Labour MPs have angrily criticised Tony Blair and Gordon Brown amid renewed reports of a rift between the two men. A meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party saw a succession of normally loyal members warn that feuding could jeopardise Labour's election hopes. The PM insisted nothing would derail Labour's campaign, despite a new book saying he has upset his chancellor by backing out of a pledge to stand aside. Mr Brown will again be in the public eye at the party's new poster launch. In what the party had hoped would be perceived as a show of unity, he is due to line up alongside Alan Milburn - the man controversially appointed as the party's election supremo - and deputy leader John Prescott for the event in London on Tuesday. Relations between Mr Brown and Mr Milburn are widely reported to be cool ever since Mr Blair brought the latter back into the Cabinet to run Labour's election campaign, a role successfully carried out by Mr Brown in both 1997 and 2001. Mr Blair told the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday: "I know from everyone here, in Cabinet and government, nothing is going to get in the way of a unified Labour Party with a unified position and winning the third term people desperately need." The prime minister and his chancellor arrived within seconds of each other for the meeting of the PLP and were seemingly in good spirits as it started. New speculation about the state of their relationship was sparked by claims in Brown's Britain, by Sunday Telegraph journalist Robert Peston, which suggested Mr Blair went back on a pledge to make way for Mr Brown. Labour's Paul Flynn said Mr Blair and Mr Brown had a "scorching" from MPs adding: "It was a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting like no other." Backbencher Stephen Pound said some MPs had threatend to expose those fuelling the reports if Mr Blair and Mr Brown did not "stop this nonsense, this poisonous briefing". Lord Campbell-Savours, a former MP, challenged Mr Brown to deny reports that he had told the prime minister he did not believe anything he said. Mr Prescott said MPs were entitled to complain about discipline after reading recent press reports. "They told us very clearly, it was the troops telling the leaders: get in line," he told BBC Radio 4's Today on Tuesday. Mr Prescott said there were occasional disagreements in any government. But he argued Mr Blair and Mr Brown could work successfully together and had produced a strong economy and better public services. The new book claims Mr Prescott hosted a dinner in November 2003 where the prime minister told Mr Brown he would stand down before the next election because he had lost trust over the Iraq war. He had then changed his mind in June 2004, following intervention from Cabinet allies and suspicion that the chancellor was manoeuvring against him, writes Mr Peston. Mr Prescott said there was a dinner but the discussions were confidential. "Of course as a waiter for 10 years I have a professional ability here," he joked. Mr Blair has insisted he has done no deals over the premiership while Mr Brown says he will not let "gossip" distract him from helping a unified election campaign. The Conservatives say the two men are behaving like squabbling schoolboys and the Liberal Democrats claim personal ambition is obstructing good government.

Kilroy-Silk attacked with slurry Euro MP Robert Kilroy-Silk has had a bucket of farm slurry thrown over him by a protester in Manchester. The UK Independence Party member was arriving for a BBC radio show when the attacker emerged from behind a bush. Fellow guest Ruth Kelly MP was also hit by the slurry. Mr Kilroy-Silk said the man, who later disappeared, claimed he was "doing it in the name of Islam". In January, Mr Kilroy-Silk quit his BBC One show for remarks he made about Arabs, who he called "suicide bombers". Mr Kilroy-Silk had already been taken off air by BBC bosses for the comments, in which he also described Arabs as "limb-amputators, women repressors". The remarks prompted outrage among Muslim groups. The slurry attack took place on Friday as Mr Kilroy-Silk and Ms Kelly, a Cabinet Office minister and Bolton West MP, arrived at Manchester High School for Girls for the recording of BBC Radio 4's Any Questions. The police were called but the attacker had disappeared by the time officers arrived. They are treating the incident as assault. The programme's host, Jonathan Dimbleby, later told the audience the MEP had been covered from "head to toe". Mr Kilroy-Silk was still able appear to appear on the show after being loaned a change of clothes. He told reporters he was "very angry" and planned to press charges if his attacker was caught. He said the man shouted: "You've offended my religion, I'm doing this in the name of Islam." "As I started to turn round a guy tipped a bucket of farmyard muck over me and then threw the rest of it over me and the car," Mr Kilroy-Silk said. "I was totally covered, it was all through my clothes, and it stank to high heaven. It went all inside the car and splattered Ruth Kelly." A BBC spokesman said: "He took his seat as Jonathan Dimbleby was introducing the show. Fortunately someone at the school had a change of clothes to let him have." Greater Manchester Police said people near Mr Kilroy-Silk had also been hit by the waste. Officers took statements at the scene, but no arrests have been made. Police say the suspect ran off after towards Wilmslow Road after committing the offence but is believed to have been driving a red Vauxhall Corsa earlier. The suspect is described as white, aged 30 to 40, with a ginger beard. Police want to hear from anyone who has any information. Mr Kilroy-Silk, an MEP for the East Midlands, resigned the UK Independence Party whip in the European Parliament in October, after criticising UKIP and stating his ambition to be leader. However, he remains a member of the party. He said on Friday he hoped to be elected party leader before Christmas. "I think that is sufficient time for us to put in process what is necessary... in time for us to fight and have a significant impact upon the General Election." But a UKIP spokesman said that would be impossible under the party's constitution, which requires 70 days before any leadership ballot can take place.

Howard denies split over ID cards Michael Howard has denied his shadow cabinet was split over its decision to back controversial Labour plans to introduce ID cards. The Tory leader said his front bench team had reached a "collective view" after holding a "good discussion", but admitted it was "not an easy issue". He had decided to support the plans as the police said they would help fight terror, crime and illegal immigration. The Lib Dems have pledged to oppose the bill when it is debated next Monday. Tory sources say senior party figures had argued vociferously against the ID card scheme. Among those reported to have serious reservations over the strategy were senior shadow cabinet members David Davis, Oliver Letwin and Tim Yeo. But Mr Howard denied Mr Yeo, his transport and environment spokesman, said the plans "stink". He also said he was confident shadow home secretary Mr Davis would "set out the position very clearly" when he stands up to debate the matter next week. Mr Howard said the police had said ID cards could "help them foil a terror bomb plot in which people could lose their lives". He added: "When the police say that you have to take them seriously". He acknowledged there were "good libertarian arguments" against the cards, but said the shadow Cabinet had weighed up all the "conflicting interests" before reaching its decision. "I don't pretend that it is an easy decision but at the end of the day a decision has to be taken." He also denied he was afraid of looking "soft" on the issue, compared to Labour. The Conservatives announced their support for the government plans on Monday evening. Sources within the party told the BBC Mr Howard had always been in favour of ID cards, and tried to introduce them when he was Home Secretary. But the Tories insisted they would hold ministers to account over the precise purpose of the scheme. They said they would also press Labour over whether objectives could be met and whether the Home Office would be able to deliver them. And they pledged to assess the cost effectiveness of ID cards and whether people's privacy would be properly protected. "It is important to remember that this bill will take a decade to come into full effect," a spokesman said. Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten has branded the ID scheme a waste of money and "deeply flawed". He said: "This has all the signs of Michael Howard overruling colleagues' concerns over ID cards." The chairman of the Bar Council, Guy Mansfield QC warned there was a real risk that people on the "margins of society" would be driven into the hands of extremists. "What is going to happen to young Asian men when there has been a bomb gone off somewhere? They are going to be stopped. If they haven't [ID cards] they are going to be detained." Tory ex-minister Douglas Hogg said he opposed the plans for ID cards branding them a "regressive" step which would intrude into the lives of ordinary citizens without any counterbalancing benefits. He predicted ultimately carrying the cards would become compulsory and that would lead to large numbers of Britain's ethnic minorities being stopped by police.

Talks aim to avert pension strike Talks aimed at averting a series of national strikes over pensions reforms will take place this weekend. Five public sector unions will hold private talks with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at Labour's spring conference in Gateshead. They want the government to withdraw regulations - due to be introduced in weeks - which would raise the pension age for council workers from 60 to 65. Up to 1.4m workers could take part in a strike already earmarked for 23 March. However, all sides are anxious to avoid a major confrontation in the run up to the general election, said BBC labour affairs correspondent Stephen Cape. In four days, Britain's biggest union Unison will start balloting 800,000 local government workers on strikes. Other public sector unions have pledged to follow. It is just weeks before new regulations are introduced to raise the pension age of local government workers. The five unions meeting Mr Prescott want the government to withdraw these regulations. This would allow months of tough negotiations to follow, said our correspondent. But a spokesman for Mr Prescott warned that the changes to the local government pension scheme would have to go ahead in April. Privately ministers believe this will be the "less painful" option, our correspondent added. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will co-ordinate any industrial action with up to six other public sector unions. PCS leader Mark Serwotka warned last week that there could be further walkouts unless there was a government rethink. "For a government that lectures everyone on choice - choice on public service, choice on this and choice on that - isn't it ironic that they're saying to public sector workers there is no choice," he said. "If you want the pension you were promised when you started you must work for an extra five years - that is working until people drop. "In the 20th century, it's completely unacceptable." Unison's 800,000 workers, the Transport and General Workers' Union's 70,000 and Amicus' 20,000 are among those being balloted about a 23 March walkout. Mr Prescott held a private meeting with senior union figures last week. It is understood no deal was offered in that meeting but there was room for further negotiations.

Assembly ballot papers 'missing' Hundreds of ballot papers for the regional assembly referendum in the North East have "disappeared". Royal Mail says it is investigating the situation, which has meant about 300 homes in County Durham are not receiving voting packs. Officials at Darlington Council are now in a race against time to try and rectify the situation. The all-postal votes of about two million electors are due to be handed in by 4 November. A spokesman for Darlington Council said: "We have sent out the ballot papers, the problem is with Royal Mail. "Somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong and these ballot papers have not been delivered. "The Royal Mail is investigating to see if they can find out what the problem is." A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: "We are investigating a problem with the delivery route in the Mowden area of Darlington. "This is affecting several hundred properties, which have failed to receive ballot papers. "We are working closely with the council and will do all we can to help rectify the problem. "No-one will not receive their ballot paper as special hand deliveries will take place where necessary. "We are unaware of any other problems of this kind to do with the regional assembly vote." The Darlington Council spokesman added: "Initially we had complaints from a couple of residents in Mowden to say they thought they should have had their ballot papers by now. "We then made further investigations and it became clear this was a bigger issue." A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission told BBC News Online that letters were being sent out to those homes affected. She said the commission was satisfied that measures had been put in place to ensure all voters received ballot papers in time. So far a total of 569,072 ballot envelopes have been scanned by bar code at counting offices across the North East.

Councils prepare to set tax rises Council tax in Scotland is set to rise by an average of about 4% in the coming year, BBC Scotland has learned. Authorities will decide final figures on Thursday when projected increases will be more than twice the rate of inflation, which is currently 1.6%. The finance minister has urged councils to limit increases but they have warned that they will struggle to maintain services unless funding is increased. They say much additional government money is for new initiatives. Scottish Finance Minister, Tom McCabe MSP, said: "Last week in parliament I announced an additional £419m for core expenditure to local government in Scotland. "That's a 5.5% increase and sits against an inflation rate of 1.6%, so I think we have quite rightly said to councils this year that we would at the very least ask them to exercise restraint." Mr McCabe is also looking for local authorities to become more efficient and save money in coming years. He told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live programme: "Here in Scotland we have 32 councils who all have their own individual collection systems for council tax, they have their own payroll systems and their own human resource systems. "We think there has to be opportunities there for rationalisation and using the money saved to reinvest in frontline services." The councils' umbrella organisation Cosla, which provided BBC Scotland with the indicative figures for next year, warned that councils would face a continuous struggle to maintain services. Mr McCabe has promised them about £8.1bn next year. "However, most of the increase is targeted to new initiatives and councils will experience difficulties in maintaining core services," a Cosla spokesman said. Cosla says that it is willing to work with the executive on finding efficiency savings but that these will not be enough to maintain services. They say the funding plans for the next three years will see councils lose more of the share of public spending. The Conservatives accuse the Scottish Executive of using the council tax to raise funds because it is too afraid to raise income tax. The Tory finance spokesman, Brian Monteith MSP, said: "Its a form of disguise... yet again we see that council tax is being used as a way of passing on costs. "Scared of actually using its three pence income tax that it could put up, what we've seen over the years is more and more burdens being put onto local authorities and the council tax payer having to pick up the bill." There are also warnings that unless funding to councils is increased in the next few years then services may have to be reduced. Linda Knox, Director of the Scottish Local Authority Management Centre at Strathclyde University, said: "With this current settlement the increase is slowing. At the same time, the burdens on councils are greater than they were. "The settlement figures don't include pay increases and the executive is also requiring a substantial figure - in the area of £325m - in efficiency savings across the settlement period." Education will be protected from any cuts but Linda Knox says this will mean other services will suffer. She said: "In practice, that will mean a 4-5% cut for other services. On the face of it the settlement looks like an increase of about 9.7% but by the time you take into account other factors its probably only about 1% in real terms."

Hospital suspends 'no Welsh' plan An English hospital has suspended plans to stop treating Welsh patients who have waited more than three months. Hereford County Hospital had earlier said that from the new year patients waiting longer than this would be taken off waiting lists for hip and knee operations. GPs in Wales had feared patients could be pushed to the back of another queue. But after talks with Powys Health Board the hospital called off its plan until health chiefs meet early in January. Hereford Hospital Trust caused an outcry when it sent out a letter telling patients that for financial and administrative reasons it planned to turn down some orthopaedic patients. Shocked health officials in Powys said this meant they would be left with the prospect of patients and doctors having to find new appointments in other hospitals. Andy Williams, chief executive of Powys Local Health Board, had said it was "a totally unacceptable way to behave". Mr Williams had said he did not think it was a Welsh-English issue, but said Hereford hospital was "struggling financially and trying to pass the problem back to Powys". He had told BBC Radio Wales: "I have written straight back to the trust... to insist they withdraw this threat and treat the patients I am paying them to treat." But after the hospital had agreed to the suspension, Mr Williams said he was optimistic a compromise could be reached which would ensure Welsh patients continued to be treated there. He said the problem had been caused by the difference in waiting time targets between England and Wales. The target is 12 months for Welsh patients, but just three months in England. The contract with the Powys health board was worth £7m a year for the hospital and accounts for 12% of its patients. In a statement before the suspension of the idea, the Welsh Assembly Government said the situation was "unacceptable". "But Powys Local Health Board is committed to ensuring our patients receive the care that is appropriate," said the assembly government. "Although we will be challenging Hereford's decision we will put in place appropriate care for our patients. They will be contacted by their GPs in the next week." Earlier, David Rose, Chief Executive of Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust, had said: "It is with real regret that we have taken this step. "We want to continue providing an excellent and fast service to Powys people but can only do this if we are paid to provide the service. "In 2005 our waiting time will fall to a maximum of 6-months and we want Powys people to ask to be referred to our modern hospital. "We appeal to Powys Local Health Board to allow Powys people to choose Hereford for their treatment."

Galloway plea for hostage release Ex-Labour MP George Galloway has appealed for the release of aid worker Margaret Hassan, kidnapped in Iraq. Mrs Hassan, 59, who led Care International operations in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad on 19 October. Mr Galloway was expelled from the Labour party because of his staunch opposition to the war on Iraq. He denied an earlier report that he planned to make a direct appeal to the kidnappers via the Al-Jazeera Arabic television channel. Speaking in London on Saturday at the first annual delegate conference of his newly-founded party, the Respect Coalition, he said: "I have deliberately not involved myself before in any of these situations. "But this woman has been a prominent opponent of both the war and the preceding years of sanctions. "I am prepared to do anything I can to help save her life." A spokesman later said Mr Galloway had friends in common with Ms Hassan, who he described as a prominent anti-war activist, and that he was "willing to do anything - go to Iraq or be an intermediary or anything that's necessary". Since her abduction, several videos of Mrs Hassan have been broadcast by Al-Jazeera. The latest footage showed Mrs Hassan asking for British troops to be pulled out of Iraq. She also urged Care International, the aid agency she works for, to close its office in Baghdad, and appealed for Iraqi women prisoners to be freed. Care has since closed down all its operations in Iraq.

Asylum children to face returns The UK government is planning to return asylum seeker children without parents to Albania. The trial scheme, which could start in weeks, may be extended to apply to children from other countries. Children's charities have reacted with alarm, saying the policy amounts to forcible removal and may not guarantee the safety of those affected. But the Home Office says it may be in the children's best interests if it reunites them with their communities. The pilot, included in the government's five-year immigration plan, aims to return unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from Albania who have failed in their asylum claims. Since 2002, at least 9,000 under-18s have arrived in the UK to seek asylum without other family members. These children automatically become the responsibility of social services. Up to now, ministers have held back from final removal orders against unaccompanied children until after they are legally adults at 18. At least a dozen Albanian-born teenagers are thought to have been identified for return, according to sources, although there is no public confirmation of numbers. Those selected could either be returned to their families, should they be traced, or placed in the care of other Albanian authorities. Separate negotiations to establish a family tracing and returns scheme are believed to be underway with another country. Under the 1989 Children Act, public bodies have a duty to act in the "best interest" of a child in their care. Laura Brownlees of Save the Children said there were grave concerns, not least because of the well-documented trafficking of children into crime and prostitution in Albania. "If children are going to be returned then there should be proper assessments and decisions on a case by case basis," she said. "We do not think there are structures in place [to receive returning children in Albania]. 'If these decisions are not in the best interests of the child, then that is a forced removal because the child will not have any choice in the final decision." In its five-year immigration plan, announced on Tuesday, the government said it was addressing "the difficult issue" of returning unaccompanied asylum seeking children. A spokesman for the Home Office said it was wholly wrong to suggest that the plan was to return children "and leave them to rot". "We are developing a returns programme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children whose asylum and humanitarian protection claims have been refused," said the spokesman. "We have been exploring how we can establish reception and longer-term care arrangements in countries of origin and believe that it's possible to return children in a way that is in their best interests and is safe and sustainable. "We do not believe that it is right, or in keeping with children's legislation, that children who can return should remain in the UK indefinitely separated from their families and communities." The spokesman stressed the UK would abide by its international human rights obligations. Only those children who could be provided with a carefully planned reintegration package would be returned, he said. But Andrew Hogg, spokesman for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, said ministers had so far failed to reassure agencies. "From what is so far known, we strongly oppose the scheme because the welfare and best interests of the child will not properly be taken into account," said Mr Hogg. "In Albania particularly there is no statutory child care or protection structure. "The Medical Foundation has many serious concerns, including the assessment process for suitability for return, the degrading of best interests of the child principles and of child welfare, and the lack of safeguards in the chosen countries." A spokesman for the Albanian embassy in London said it was the first it had heard of a scheme, but did not rule out that there had been an agreement between the two countries.

'UK will stand firm on EU rebate' Britain's £3bn EU rebate is not up for renegotiation at next week's European Council summit, Jack Straw said. The foreign secretary told MPs the rebate, secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, was "entirely justified". New European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has suggested the cash could be shared out among net contributors to the EU budget. Mr Straw acknowledged some countries in the newly enlarged 25 nation EU still had to "see the light" on the rebate. But the foreign secretary told the Commons foreign affairs committee: "Our position is very clear: it is entirely justified and it is not for negotiation." He added that he did not think there would be a political price to pay for the UK's stance - Britain contributed more and received less than other EU states. The two-day European Council summit in Brussels begins on 16 December and is widely expected to mark the beginning of a lengthy negotiating period over the EU's budget for 2007-13. The wrangling could stretch into 2005, even 2006. The UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden want the EU budget to be capped at 1% of member states' combined national incomes - the Commission wants it to be 1.26%. Mr Straw said the EU commission's proposal would mean a 35% hike in the budget. "I don't know of any national government thinking of increasing its budget by that amount," he added. The foreign secretary said he hoped the talks next week could produce a date in 2005 for the beginning of negotiations with Turkey about possible EU membership although that there would be no prospect of a date for joining for some time.

Labour MPs' fears over squabbling If there is one thing certain to stiffen the spines of Labour MPs it is the prospect of losing their seats at a general election. And it was largely that fear that led to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown being read the riot act during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. The views expressed by both backbenchers and Labour peers over the claimed squabbling between the two men starkly demonstrated the widely-held view within the Labour party that the two most powerful figures in the government are jeopardising the next election. As one hugely-disgruntled backbencher said before the meeting: "It is time they realised it's not just my seat they are threatening but if they go on like this they could put the election in doubt." It is a sentiment that is now running throughout the Labour benches with MPs eager to underline the message to their leaders to stop the squabbling and get on with the job at hand. As Paul Flynn said: "What has deeply upset the party is in this time of all times, when we wanted to come together, we wanted to lead on the global issues, to change politics for the next decade, the whole thing was wrecked by a piece of childishness by the two main people in the party, two people we greatly respect." Stephen Pound echoed the message, saying: "We know that the one thing that could entirely jeopardise what we are trying to achieve, not for the Labour Party but for this country, is the appearance of division. We remember the 1980s". They backed the suggestion that unless the squabbling stopped, the people briefing on behalf of the two men would be "named and shamed". The dressing down appears to have done the trick, with Mr Brown joining his alleged rival Alan Milburn - who the prime minister put in charge of election planning in Mr Brown's stead - and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at an election poster launch. But the effect of all this is to have achieved two things. Firstly, nobody is attempting to suggest any more that the stories of the rift between the chancellor and the prime minister are fictions created by the media and authors. Even Mr Prescott admitted that, had he still been a backbencher, he would have been giving Mr Blair and Mr Brown the same message. Secondly it has also underlined the view that the election campaign has, to all intents and purposes, kicked off. But whether the telling off and the subsequent change in behaviour by the two men will do any good - or can even be sustained through the campaign - remains to be seen. Even as the MPs were expressing their fears it emerged that, while Mr Brown is in Africa for a week, the prime minister is to deliver a keynote speech on election themes for a third term. And he is expected to repeat his recent insistence that the next manifesto will be "New" Labour through and through. Similarly, some were pointing out that the chancellor, during the election poster launch, once again refused to deny the claim that he told the prime minister he could never trust anything he said. None the less, what some believe now is that the effect of the warnings from the backbenchers will actually be to silence the Brown camp, effectively strengthening the prime minister's hand. For example, will those Brownite briefers suggest their man is unhappy at the prime minister's timing or subject matter, as may have been the case in the past? What all seem agreed on, however, is that this sniping simply cannot be allowed to go on through the election campaign. Mind you, we have heard similar pledges before.

Jowell rejects 'Las Vegas' jibe The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, has hit out at critics of the Gambling Bill. She told the Guardian newspaper there would be no "Las Vegas-style" super-casinos, as rumoured in the press. Meanwhile Labour backbencher Stephen Pound labelled casino-related regeneration schemes "a pile of pants". The MP for Ealing North claimed the legislation would encourage a mafia-like culture of vice and corruption, in an interview on BBC Radio 4. "You look at some of the people who are involved...they aren't in there to regenerate Blackpool. They are in it to fill their boots," Mr Pound told the Today programme. "I just really think that we have made a terrible mistake here. And over all of it hangs the shadow of the men in the chalk-stripe suits with names that rhyme with spaghetti," he said. Ms Jowell complained of the "scale of misrepresentation" in the media over the bill in her interview with the newspaper, her first since the bill was launched. The culture secretary said a four year consultation period had produced a consensus on the need to "protect children and the vulnerable" in a swiftly changing sector. Ms Jowell insisted: "We have a good track record for extracting planning gain in this country, for instance in social housing." And continued: "We can be proud to have one of the lowest rates of problem gambling in the world. I intend to keep it that way." Ms Jowell will set out her position when the Bill is debated in the Commons on Monday. In prime minister's questions last week Tony Blair assured Parliament that 90% of the bill was about tightening up the regulation of the gambling industry.

BNP leader Nick Griffin arrested The leader of the British National Party has been arrested as part of a police inquiry following the screening of a BBC documentary. A party spokesman said Nick Griffin was arrested on Tuesday morning on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred. West Yorkshire police confirmed they had arrested a 45-year-old man from outside their area. BNP founding chairman John Tyndall was arrested on Sunday on the same charge. In July, the BBC documentary Secret Agent featured covertly-filmed footage of BNP activists. Mr Griffin is the twelfth man to be arrested following the documentary. Nine men from West Yorkshire and another man from Leicester have been arrested and freed on bail. Seven of the men had been held variously in connection with suspected racially aggravated public order offences, conspiracy to commit criminal damage and possession of a firearm. Two men, both from Keighley, were arrested in September on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage. A 24-year-old man from Leicester was detained on Monday on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred. A BNP spokesperson said Mr Tyndall, from Brighton, was arrested following a speech he made in Burnley, Lancashire, and was released on police bail.

What really divides the parties So what is the gap between Labour and the Tories nowadays? One Starbucks, one Rymans and one small Greek cafe as it happens. Both parties have now completed their moves to new headquarters, with Labour creating its election hub just three doors away from the Tories' new headquarters in Victoria Street, just down the road from the Commons. That should make things a little easier if and when the crack-of-dawn election press conferences kick off. Unlike 2001, there should be no need for colleagues to have taxis gunning their engines outside, or to buy scooters, to get themselves between the tightly-timetabled events. And, to all intents and purposes, we already appear to be in that general election campaign. Certainly the press conference hosted by election co-ordinator Alan Milburn, in the rather compact new conference room - still smelling of new carpet and with the garish New Labour coffee mugs as yet unstained - had all the hallmarks of an election event. "Welcome to the unremittingly New Labour media centre," he said. And I'll bet he hadn't checked that one with Gordon Brown. Along with Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson and Minister for Work Jane Kennedy, he then went on to tear into the Tory plans to scrap the New Deal welfare-to-work scheme, which they claimed would lead to an increase of almost 300,000 in unemployment. And they ridiculed the claims made on Monday by Michael Howard that he could save £35 billion of Labour waste and inefficiency to spend on public services while also offering £4 billion of tax cuts. Labour has come up with a figure of £22 billions worth of efficiency savings so, understandably perhaps, believe Mr Howard must be planning cuts to squeeze the extra £13 billion. These figures, based on the two parties' own detailed studies, will be battered to within an inch of their lives during the campaign. Wednesday was just the start.

Retirement age could be scrapped The "myth that ageing is a barrier" to contributing to society needs to be "exploded", the work and pensions minister has said. This was why the government was considering scrapping the retirement age entirely, Alan Johnson said. It was also committed to "stamping out" age discrimination and would outlaw it, he told a conference on ageing. All three parties have been wooing older voters with both the Tories and Lib Dems pledging higher pensions. Mr Johnson told Age Concern's Age Agenda in London the government was "seriously considering" introducing pensions based on residency rather than national insurance contributions. This idea has been adopted by the Lib Dems as policy, while the Tories have pledged to boost pensions by restoring the link between earnings and pensions. Mr Johnson's speech comes after he last week unveiled plans to find a consensus on how to reform the country's pension system. This would be based on a series of principles including tackling pensioner poverty and fairer pensions for women, he said. Speaking at the London conference he said: "Generalised stereotypes of people past state pension age as dependant, incapable and vulnerable are a particularly pernicious form of age discrimination". The government wanted to tackle this by moving to a culture where retirement ages were "increasingly consigned to the past". "We're sweeping them away entirely for people under 65, and we're giving those above that age a right to request to work past 65 which their employers will have to engage with seriously. "And the review in 2011, which will look at whether it is time to sweep retirement ages away entirely, is to be tied to evidence ... showing that retirement ages are increasingly outmoded". Mr Johnson said his department had a long-term aspiration of moving towards an 80% employment rate. This would involve an extra one million older people joining the work force, he said.

'Errors' doomed first Dome sale The initial attempt to sell the Millennium Dome failed due to a catalogue of errors, a report by the government's finance watchdog says. The report said too many parties were involved in decision-making when the attraction first went on sale after the Millennium exhibition ended. The National Audit Office said the Dome cost taxpayers £28.7m to maintain and sell in the four years after it closed. Finally, a deal to turn it into a sport and entertainment venue was struck. More than £550m could now be returned to the public sector in the wake of the deal to regenerate the site in Greenwich, London. The NAO report said that this sale went through because it avoided many of the problems of the previous attempt to sell the Dome. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said a good deal had been secured. "Delivery of the many benefits secured through this deal will continue the substantial progress already made at the Millennium Village and elsewhere on the peninsula," he said. But Edward Leigh, who is chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, warned the government would have to work hard to ensure taxpayers would get full benefit from the Dome deal. He said: "This report also shows that the first attempt to sell the Dome proved a complete fiasco. Every arm of government seems to have had a finger in the pie. The process was confused and muddled." He added: "Four years after the Millennium Exhibition closed, the Government finally has a deal to find a use for what has been a white elephant since it closed in a deal that, incredible as it may seem, should bring in some money and provide a benefit for the local area and the country as whole. However, it was more a question of luck that a strong bid turned up after thefirst abortive attempt." NAO head Sir John Bourn said: "In difficult circumstances following the failure of the first competition, English Partnerships and the office of the deputy prime minister have worked hard to get a deal."