UK's coalition govt faces first ballot test

UKs unlikely coalition faces first electoral test
LONDON (AP) — It’s the first Ballot Box test of Britain’s unlikely Coalition Government — a Special Election that pits Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party against his Liberal Democrat partners and gives voters a chance to vent over plans to dramatically slash public spending. Thursday’s vote in the northern England district of Oldham East and Saddleworth follows a bitter local battle during Britain’s election in May that resulted in the fir...

UK's unlikely coalition faces first electoral test
It's the first Ballot Box test of Britain's unlikely Coalition Government — a Special Election that pits Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party against his Liberal Democrat partners and gives voters a chance to vent over plans to dramatically slash public spending. Thursday's vote in the northern England district of Oldham East and Saddleworth follows a bitter local battle during Britain's election in May that resulted in the first Legal Challenge since 1911 to a vote due to ill...

Coalition 'faces test in Oldham'
The by-election in Oldham represents the first chance for voters to pass judgement on the Coalition Government, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said. Mr Miliband was campaigning in Oldham East and Saddleworth for a third time ahead of Thursday's by-election. He told party volunteers voters could "send a message" about Tuition fees, police cuts and the VAT rise. David Cameron has rejected claims the poll amounts to a Referendum on the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition. The by-election w...

Polls point to Labour win in Oldham
Labour Party leader Ed Milliband waves to party supporters in Oldham while canvassing with local Candidate Debbie Abrahams. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was today breathing a sigh of relief after two polls showed his party 17 points ahead of the Liberal Democrats in the byelection in Oldham and Saddleworth that takes place on Thursday. The Conservatives are trailing badly in third place. David Cameron conceded today that the year ahead will be difficult, addin...

UK Labour seeks extension of 50 pct bank bonus tax
Britain's main opposition party called Monday for the government to extend a 50 percent tax on Bankers' bonuses — while the U.K's Coalition Government appeared split over how to deal with the politically touchy issue. Resentment over the huge bonuses earned by some bankers runs deep in Britain after Taxpayers invested billions in keeping banks afloat during the Credit Crisis. The issue has been stirred up by recent reports that Stephen Hester, chief executive of the part-nationalized Royal...

UK Labour seeks extension of 50 pct bank bonus tax
LONDON (AP) - Britain's main opposition party called Monday for the government to extend a 50 percent tax on Bankers' bonuses—while the U.K's Coalition Government appeared split over how to deal with the politically touchy issue. Resentment over the huge bonuses earned by some bankers runs deep in Britain after Taxpayers invested billions in keeping banks afloat during the Credit Crisis. The issue has been stirred up by recent reports that Stephen Hester, chief executive of the part-nation...

Clegg vows to restore civil liberties in Britain
Reporting from London — Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg pledged Friday to restore "our great British freedoms," saying that too many basic liberties had been eroded in the name of keeping Britain safe from Terrorism. Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats who last year teamed with Conservatives to form a new Coalition Government, accused previous Labor Party governments of a relentless assault on Civil Liberties, pledging to reverse it. "The British people have become accustomed to...

UK Labour seeks extension of 50 pct bank bonus tax
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main opposition party called Monday for the government to extend a 50 percent tax on Bankers’ bonuses — while the U.K’s Coalition Government appeared split over how to deal with the politically touchy issue. Resentment over the huge bonuses earned by some bankers runs deep in Britain after Taxpayers invested billions in keeping banks afloat during the Credit Crisis. The issue has been stirred up by recent reports that Stephen Hester, chief ex...

Lib Dems not giving up, says Nick Clegg
Source: BBC Nick Clegg has defended the work of the Coalition Government, saying people will take a "more rounded view" of its achievements by the next election. The deputy Prime Minister, whose Liberal Democrat party has fallen in the polls, said the "idea that we are just giving up is absolute nonsense". Mr Clegg also said there was a "clear liberal direction to this government". ... Mr Clegg, whose party's ministers have been criticised for voting in favour of a rise university Tuition fees i...

British PM says trusts deputy, but not friends
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he trusted his deputy Nick Clegg but would not go so far as to say they were friends, in an interview out Saturday. Cameron told the Daily Mail newspaper that both his Conservatives and Clegg's Liberal Democrats had taken a risk in governing together. Asked if he would describe himself and Clegg as friends yet, Cameron replied: "Hmm. Well, we wouldn't go to the cinema together, quite, but we've had him and (his wife) Miriam round for supper." Cameron has...

Clegg Admits Defeat: UK Control Orders to Remain in All But Name
With his political star already clearly fading, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg saw another defeat today when his much publicized effort to end the practice of “control orders,” the British term for House Arrest without charges, has been a failure. This comes less than a week after his party was touting the secret “Compromise” deal as a big win, but now reports say that the program will remain essentially unchanged, except that they will stop calling them ̶...

Politics live blog - Monday 10 January
Nick Clegg, who he has decided that 'alarm clock Britons' are the new key constituency for the Liberal Democrats. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/AFP/Getty Images 8.02am: Are you an "alarm clock Briton"? If so, that means Nick Clegg is after your vote. Apparently he has decided that "alarm clock Britons" are the new key constituency for the Liberal Democrats. It's his version of the "the squeezed middle", the phrase Ed Miliband is using to describe the voters he's trying to woo. Essentially, th...

Britain's Cameron holds talks with China's Li
China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang smiles during a tour of the Pelamis Wave Power factory in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the first of a four-day visit to the United Kingdom Sunday Jan. 9, 2011. Li, considered a potential future premier, has already visited Germany and Spain, where he signed a slew of deals and promised to keep buying Spanish Debt. China's deputy premier was in London Monday for trade talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, but one top British official indicated that the thorny subjec...

Lib Dems not giving up - Clegg
Nick Clegg has defended the work of the Coalition Government, saying people will take a "more rounded view" of its achievements by the next election. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that bosses of state-owned banks must be "sensitive" over bonuses. Mr Clegg, whose party's ministers have been criticised for voting in favour of a rise university Tuition fees in England, despite campaigning against this at the last election, said the policy would eventually come ...

Miliband backs Johnson judgement
Labour leader Ed Miliband has defended shadow chancellor Alan Johnson after he appeared not to know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers. Mr Miliband also said the shadow chancellor had the right "instincts" to create Economic Growth. On Sky News on Sunday Mr Johnson said the "secondary class one-rate [National Insurance contributions] for employers" would have gone up 1% to 21% had Labour won the General Election. Asked at the Press Conference whether this threw ...

The LWOT: Obama considers ignoring Congressional Gitmo ban; UK to modify but continue control orders - by Andrew Lebovich
Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation bring you a twice weekly brief on the legal War on Terror. You can read it on foreignpolicy.com or get it delivered directly to your inbox -- just sign up here. The Investigative Journalism website ProPublica reported Jan. 3 that President Barack Obama was considering issuing a "signing statement" declaring his intention not to abide by provisions of a new defense spending bill limiting his authority to transfer Guantánamo Bay detaine...

Banks must be 'sensitive' to concerns about bonuses, says Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg campaigning in the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat last week. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Banks bailed out by the Taxpayer such as RBS should be "sensitive" to public concerns about high executive bonuses, Nick Clegg said this morning. But the deputy Prime Minister declined to spell out any specific action the government might take if this message was ignored, saying only: "We are in discussions with the banks." Pressed on the subject on BBC Radio 4's Today p...

Cameron insists on hands-off approach as Diamond deal revives banker's bonus row
Barclays' new chief executive Bob Diamond, who may receive an £8m Bonus despite MPs' objections. Photograph: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images Barclays risks inflaming the row over executive pay by awarding a potential £8m Bonus to Bob Diamond, its new chief executive, who is already well-known for his multimillion-pound pay deals, at a time of Public Sector Job Cuts and austere economic conditions. As Diamond prepares for a showdown with MPs at Tuesday's appearance before the Treasur...

Ed Miliband calls on government to extend banker bonus tax
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 January 2011 13.19 GMT Ed Miliband criticised the banking levy, saying it will bring in less than half what Labour's bank Bonus tax brought in last year. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA The opposition leader, Ed Miliband, today called on the government to extend a £3.5bn tax on Banker's bonuses or risk letting the banks off with an effective Tax Cut over the next year. His intervention came amid reports that the big banks could award nearly £7bn in bonuse...

PM 'must act to green Whitehall'
David Cameron must take the environment to the heart of Whitehall if he wants to make the coalition the greenest government ever, say MPs. The environment department (Defra) is currently responsible for ensuring the environment is considered in the government's decision-making processes. However, the MPs say Defra is not best placed to hold other departments to account on their policies. The Cabinet Office should take on the role instead, the MPs recommend. The Environmental Audit Committee...

Control orders deal will see end to house arrest
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 January 2011 20.00 GMT Nick Clegg believes the deal will fulfil his party's manifesto pledge to scrap control orders, and hopes to win the support of two influential Lib Dem peers. Photograph: Wpa /Getty Images A tripartite meeting between David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Home Secretary, Theresa May, appears to have agreed a replacement regime for control orders that will see an end to House Arrest and a greater assumption that suspects will be prosecuted. Clegg be...

British PM says trusts deputy, but not yet friends
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he trusted his deputy Nick Clegg but would not go so far as to say they were friends, in an interview out Saturday. Cameron told the Daily Mail newspaper that both his Conservatives and Clegg's Liberal Democrats had taken a risk in governing together. Asked if he would describe himself and Clegg as friends yet, Cameron replied: "Hmm. Well, we wouldn't go to the cinema together, quite, but we've had him and (his wife) Miriam round for supper." Cameron has...

Is Nick Clegg too late in waking up to 'alarm clock Britain'?
“Alarm clock Britain.” That, apparently, is the name for the people Nick Clegg will appeal to in his attempts to drag the Lib Dems back from the brink this year. On the radio this morning, the DPM spoke of “the people who this government is supporting, who are getting up early, working hard, trying to make ends meet, trying hard for their family - their community, their country matter to them.” He went on to point out some of the pocket-book policies the Coalition has enacte

Britain Vows To Change 'Embarrassing' Libel Law
Britain's plaintiff-friendly Libel laws have become an international embarrassment, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Friday, vowing to change rules that have made the country a "libel Tourism" destination for angry corporations and foreign celebrities. In a Speech on Civil Liberties, Clegg said the existing laws, which place the burden of proof on defendants, have a chilling effect on journalism and scientific debate. It is "simply not right when academics and Journalists are effectively bu...

MQM Rejoins Pakistani Coalition Govt
Less than a week after formally moving into the opposition, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) did a 180 today, announcing that they are rejoining the government and putting an end to the brief attempt at minority rule. The move was chiefly a function of the government backing off its plan to abandon a number of planned economic reforms, which included reducing the massive subsidies on fuel, and is rumored to have also included some unspecified political concessions. The reverse on the subsidi...