Good morning and welcome to The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics from Scotland and elsewhere.
Today’s top stories
- SNP to vote against English Sunday opening plans
- Cameron sets out EU renegotiation demands
- MPs to vote on Trade Union Bill
- Scots stores in business rates job loss warning
- Report due on police response to M9 crash
06.00 BBC Radio Four Today headlines
David Cameron sets out EU demands in London speech… Athletics chiefs give Russia till Friday to respond to doping charges … UN says 15 million people will need food aid in Ethiopia following drought … SNP MPs to vote against Sunday opening in England and Wales due to fears wages will be driven down across the UK … An increasingly warped sense of humour is a sign of impending dementia says study … Home Office accused of delays and poor decision making in immigration cases … And Seaworld is to phase out its killer whale displays.
07.00 BBC Good Morning Scotland headlines
Report due on police emergency call handling in response to M9 crash; Justice Secretary to make statement to Parliament … Cameron publishes EU renegotiation demands … MPs pass Scotland Bill … Russia asked to respond to doping claims … Easyjet chief executive calls for tightened security at airports around world … Dumfries councillors asked to back controversial flood defence scheme at Whitesands.
The front pages
Some 40 firms including John Lewis, Boots, and Marks & Spencer have written exclusively to The Herald warning jobs could be lost because of the “unsustainable burden” of business rates. While they call on all parties to promise an overhaul in their Holyrood manifestoes, political editor Magnus Gardham reports, John Swinney, Finance Secretary, has defended Scotland’s business tax regime as “already the most competitive in the UK.”
“I’m lucky to be here after my heart stopped 10 times in one day” is the declaration of mum Tina Hughes in the Evening Times. Mrs Hughes is now campaigning for defibrillators in all public places.
The National begins its comprehensive coverage of the Alistair Carmichael election court case with a report on the first day of what is expected to be a four day hearing.
The Daily Mail continues its expose of public sector pay levels with the story of an NHS chief in Colchester billing her employers for a £5700 safari she had to cancel due to a cancer care waiting times crisis on her watch.
The Financial Times reports the fears of David Bennett, former head of Monitor, the regulator for health services in England, that the public are “close to the limit” of what they are prepared to pay in tax for the NHS, and other forms of funding, including top-up insurance, may have to be considered. “Something’s got to give,” he tells the paper.
The Daily Telegraph splashes on a warning from Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, on an extension of surveillance powers. Mr Cook said giving security services a “back door” to emails would also let in criminals and fail to halt terrorists. “We don’t think people want us to read their messages,” he says.
The Daily Record has the story of a writer who travelled from London to Glenrothes to attack a young woman who had given his self-published book a bad review on an internet site.
Britons’ cost of living would fall by 8% if Britain quits the EU, an economist, Professor Patrick Minford, tells The Daily Express.
The i has more on the athletics doping scandal and says Russia could be banned from the Rio Olympics. The Times details the World Anti-Doping Agency report, including its conclusion that the London 2012 games were “sabotaged”.
The Scottish Sun reports on claims by experts that bomb detectors being used in Sharm el-Sheikh are fake.
The Guardian has a picture of a jubilant National League for Democracy supporter in Myanmar as Aung San Suu Kyi’s party heads for victory.
The Scotsman marks the final Commons stage of the Scotland Bill. Kate Devlin, UK political correspondent, has all the action from the six-hour debate in her report for The Herald.
The Independent says the world is “halfway to climate disaster” after a one degree Celsius rise in average global temperatures.
Camley's cartoon
The Russian doping scandal catches Camley's eye
Need to know
It is a truth universally unacknowledged that the more a story is spun in advance the less there is to it. David Cameron’s publication today of a letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has been more widely trailed than the results of a Strictly Come Dancing dance-off. Oh the tension as it was revealed he would be setting down some red lines. My, how Tom Cruise must have grinned as the PM claimed his EU renegotiation plan was not “Mission: Impossible”. After talking tough in the Sundays to soothe the sceptics, Mr Cameron is expected to adopt a “can do” tone today as he outlines the four areas in which he wants to see progress, including restricting benefits to EU migrants and exempting Britain from ever closer union. Read The Herald report here. Speech in London 09.00.
Talk of the steamie: from the comment pages
- Colette Douglas Home in The Herald says it is time to stand up to self-serving elites, with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) among those in her sights. David Leask, chief reporter, says don’t use “fat cat” myths to smear public services. Iain Macwhirter calls the Scotland Bill “the most blatant fiscal trap” for 300 years.
- Michael Gray in The National lays into tax avoiders while Cat Boyd says it is time to accept the war on drugs has failed.
- In the Telegraph, Philip Johnston says David Cameron’s juggling act on Europe is designed to avoid a Thatcheresque stand off.
- Hugo Rifkind in the Times argues that tourism could be the strongest diplomatic lever against terrorism, while Kenny Farquharson gives the lowdown on his top ten album countdown.
- In The Guardian, Aditya Chakrabortty asks why Britain is rolling out the red carpet for India’s leader Narendra Modi.
- The Sun says Seb Coe has yet to prove he is the man who can clean up athletics.
- David Mundell, Scottish Secretary, takes to the Mail to say all parties should pull together to make the Scotland Bill work.
- Finally, Peter Jones in The Scotsman says the country should celebrate becoming more fiscally powerful.
The Diary
Holyrood
Committee meetings: Justice; Public Petitions; Welfare Reform; Delegated Powers and Law Reform; Interests of MSPs (Amendment) Bill.
Chamber: statement from Justice Secretary Michael Matheson on M9 crash report; Scottish Government debate on Trade Union Bill; members’ business debate from Alex Johnstone MSP on minimum room sizes in new-build homes.
Westminster
David Cameron delivers speech on the EU and publishes letter of demands
MPs to vote on Trade Union Bill
BBC’s James Purnell before Lords Committee
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond speech on energy and climate change policy, Washington DC.
Chancellor in Brussels for EU economic ministers council
Former Tory minister Kenneth Clarke gives speech to Resolution Foundation in London on “the shrinking state”.
Investiture ceremony, Buckingham Palace. Recipients include Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Hughes, Captain Daniel Ferguson for Services in Afghanistan and Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Garrow for Services in the Field.
House now in recess till November 17
Afore ye go
London mayor Boris Johnson visits the Google campus in Tel Aviv and tries out a simulator for size.
"I have only ever bought your shoes and I am loath to do so again, or recommend your shoes to others.”
Letter from Angela Rayner, Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne after a shop ran out of £175 Star Wars shoes with tiny R2-D2s in the heels. The missive, on Commons notepaper, walked all the way to The Sun. Ms Rayner now goes by the nickname “Shoebacca”.
“Everything I am wearing, apart from underwear and socks, is vintage.”
George Galloway on BBC Daily Politics.
“Too much information.”
Presenter Jo Coburn responds
“This is utter madness. Who was the idiot who thought this up? He should be sacked!”
Sir David Amess, Tory MP for Southend West, is upset about Starbucks’ decision to swap its Christmassy cups for plain red ones. (Briebart London website)
"Stop making fools of yourselves".
David Cameron responds to an anti-EU protest by two 19-year-olds during his CBI speech yesterday.
Thank you for reading The Midge, your first bite of the day’s politics from Scotland and elsewhere. See you tomorrow.
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