Good morning and welcome to The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics from Scotland and elsewhere.
Home Secretary Theresa May presents the draft Investigatory Powers Bill to the Commons today
Today’s top stories
- Draft Investigatory Powers Bill published
- MPs issue hand-written warning to taxman over efficiency
- MSPs vote 96 to 17 to scrap Trident
- Tax credits divide takes centre stage at Holyrood
- Westminster united in tributes to Charles Kennedy MP
06.00 BBC Radio 4 Today Headlines
MPs condemn HMRC for failing to tackle tax evaders … English Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt issues pay offer for junior doctors as BMA ballot looms … Investigatory Powers Bill published … VW scandal deepens to include petrol cars … Robin Williams' wife speaks of his suicide.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland Headlines
Investigatory Powers Bill published … Institute of Civil Engineers calls for road tolls to tackle £2 billion backlog of repairs … BBC Scotland probe into CIA rendition flights denied access to police progress report … HMRC performance described as “woefully inadequate” by MPs … Threatened steel workers take jobs fight to Holyrood today as debate held on future of industry … And most parents resort to bluffing when it comes to helping their children with homework questions on science, maths and engineering, says new study.
The front pages
The Herald, like The Evening Times and The Sun, leads on Harry Clarke, the driver of the Glasgow bin lorry that killed six people in Glasgow last year, apologising “unreservedly” for his part in the tragedy.
The Evening Times also has the story of a Bishopbriggs teenager who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis only to find she had a cancerous tumour in her chest. Francesca Mancini will speak of her experiences at the Beatson Ball on Friday.
The National carries photos of the 17 MSPs who “backed the bomb” by voting against a motion to scrap Trident.
The Times splashes on the draft surveillance laws to be presented to the Commons today ... The Daily Record nominates December 9 as “judgment day” for Rangers’ Dave King. It is then, the paper reports, that a judge will decide if the Rangers chief should be jailed on a contempt charge for allegedly breaching a gagging order ... The Financial Times splashes on the Public Accounts Committee’s damning report on HMRC, and reports on the opening of internet giant Amazon’s first bricks and mortar bookshop in Seattle ... The Independent says Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard could be on his way back to the club from LA … The Scotsman has the vote against Trident at Holyrood … The Daily Telegraph and the Scottish Daily Mail lead on the death of a newborn baby after acquiring an infection at the new South Glasgow Hospitals Campus. The front page picture in the Telegraph is of Charles Kennedy’s former wife, Sarah, and son, Donald, at the MP’s memorial service in Westminster yesterday… The i carries claims of an ex-Met boss that the end of neighbourhood policing in England is nigh … The Scottish Daily Express fears 2015 could be one of the deadliest years on Scottish roads with 10 people killed in the last nine days alone … Finally, The Guardian leads on Jeremy Hunt’s 11 per cent pay rise offer to England’s trainee doctors, and there is a picture of teenager Essena O’Neill who has caused a furore by quitting Instagram, where she has half a million followers, saying it “is not real life”.
Camley's Cartoon
Read why Michelin is set to plough £50m into its factory in Oor Wullie's home city of Dundee
Behind the news
Its critics call it the snoopers charter. To the Prime Minister, deploying a rhetorical flourish that would surely have raised a Smiley eyebrow, the new law “goes to the heart of the Government's duty to keep the British public safe”.
The draft Investigatory Powers Bill, to be presented to the Commons today by Home Secretary Theresa May, seeks to regulate how much the state can look into the communications of citizens, and who should oversee the monitoring, all with the aim of defeating terrorism and other serious crime. At the moment, reports the Times, senior ministers sign warrants allowing the intelligence agencies to monitor phones and computers. Last year, it notes, more than seven a day were signed. Under May’s law a new commission of senior judges will have a right to veto any such move.
The Guardian focuses on the likely requirement in the bill for internet firms to store the details of customers’ website visits. It notes that “two and a half years after the disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden (above) on the scale of secret mass surveillance in Britain undertaken by the security agency, GCHQ, the bill will for the first time put into ‘comprehensive and comprehensible’ legislation the existing ‘bulk collection’ powers of the security and intelligence services”.
As civil liberties campaigners prepare to go through the bill line by line, a key question for today will be what the man who arguably started all this thinks of the supposed safeguards built into the bill. This morning, a check of the Twitter account of Edward Snowden, the world’s most famous privacy campaigner and Glasgow University rector, reveals him so far silent on the matter, with his most recent post to his 1.59 million followers two days ago. Don’t be shy now, Eddie.
Taxing times: like journalists, the men and women of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have grown accustomed to never winning popularity contests but the pasting they take today from the Commons public accounts committee is ferocious even by PAC standards. Customer service has gone from “abysmal” to worse, says the committee’s report; there have been only 11 prosecutions for offshore tax evasion in the past five years; and upstanding citizens who want to do the right thing have a 50-50 chance of their calls to HMRC centres even being answered.
The PAC report comes at a particularly sensitive time for the UK Government when it is being forced to think again on tax credit cuts. Given Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s insistence during his leadership campaign that billions in taxes were going uncollected while honest workers were battling with austerity, one might expect HMRC to come up in PMQs today. Tax credits cuts will also be the focus of a Scottish Labour Party debate in Holyrood today entitled Supporting Scotland's Children.
Charlie remembered: The Herald has a gallery of pictures and a full report from the memorial service held in London yesterday for former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy (above), who died in June. The event was testimony to the respect and affection in which Mr Kennedy was held, with guests hailing from across the political spectrum.
Former Conservative minister Kenneth Clarke, Labour’s Alastair Campbell, and UK Justice Secretary Michael Gove were among those who heard tributes to the former Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP’s talents in the chamber and the broadcast studio, his “great courage” in speaking out against the Iraq war, and his kindness to others. Pride of place at St George’s Cathedral in Southwark, south London, went to Mr Kennedy’s former wife, Sarah Gurling, and the couple’s son, Donald.
The Diary
Scotland
- Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale visits a Glasgow school to speak about the party’s education policy
- Publication of Fraser of Allander economic commentary on Scotland's current and forecasted GDP and growth performance.
Holyrood
- Public Audit Committee takes evidence on the Auditor General for Scotland report on the audit of Coatbridge College: Governance of severance arrangements. Witnesses include Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland.
- Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee: Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill. Witnesses include: Robert Aldridge, Chief Executive, Homeless Action Scotland.
- Finance Committee: Scottish Fiscal Commission Bill. Witnesses include Robert Chote, Chairman, Office for Budget Responsibility.
- Local Government and Regeneration Committee: Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill.
- Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee: Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. Witnesses include Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment.
- Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee: Work, wages and wellbeing in the Scottish labour market. Witnesses include: Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training.
- Finance, Constitution and Economy questions
- Scottish Labour Party Debate: Supporting Scotland's Children
Westminster
- Prime Minister’s Questions
- Home Secretary Theresa May publishes the Investigatory Powers Bill
- Scottish Questions
- Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond appears before European Scrutiny Committee on EU reform
- Treasury Committee on benefits of the EU
- Westminster Hall debate on the Dickens file
- Work and Pensions Committee on benefit delivery
- Lords Questions on impact of tax credit cuts
- Constitution Committee on devolution and the Union with John Curtice
Afore ye go
“The debate is wide open. What I do know is the British people will not vote for unilateral disarmament. And that reality has to be dealt with.”
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock (above) on Labour’s North-South, Leader-Leader split on Trident
“Somehow, I always imagine that Trump spends the evenings with his forehead pressed against the cold glass of an aquarium, talking telepathically to the tormented albino squid in which he has hidden his soul.”
Frankie Boyle (above) on Republican presidential hopeful The Donald, The Guardian
Thank you for reading The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics from Scotland and elsewhere. See you again tomorrow.
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