Ed Miliband urged to join London demo tomorrow on Living Wage

Ed Miliband MP is being urged to join a demonstration tomorrow in the London borough of Hammersmith on the Living Wage.

The LW has been taken up by Ed has a cornerstone of his campaign.

Around 100-125 people will be walking through Hammersmith broadway tomorrow to campaigning for all the shops to pay the living wage.

They will be meeting at St Paul’s Church just outside Hammersmith tube at 4pm, and then move in teams to the different arteries of the broadway.

More details: the Hammersmith and Fulham borough organiser, Jonny at .

Tories accused of being “confused” on rape anonymity in debate

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy today accused the government of giving a string of “confusing” statements about their plans on giving anonymity to rape defendants.

“This has been brought up time and time again in the chamber, we’ve had a very confusing and mixed set of responses from the various ministers that have answered,” she told the House of Commons.

She wanted to know when the government was planning to bring forward the legislation

Equalities minister Lynn Featherstone said in response that the debate would happen “at an appropriate point.”

Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson said it was a “crucial issue” for the Home Office.

“The Lord Chancellor told the House the other day that he voted for anonymity in 2003. I voted against that, that’s still my view. At some stage I’d like to know the home secretary’s view.”

He said the government ought to be examining the frequency of false allegations of rape compared with other offences, rather than bringing forward the anonymity plans.

Ms Featherstone said: “In the first instance, I’m sure my Rt Hon friend the home secretary and the secretary of state of justice will indeed be looking at what sort of research is necessary prior to bringing in a debate to the House.”

via PoliticsHome

Cameron to fly the England flag… but watch Clegg’s reaction

On Wednesday David Cameron pledged that the England flag would fly over over Downing Street for the duration of the World Cup.

It was in response to a request by Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi. But watch Clegg’s enthusiastic reception to Cameron’s plans…

Imran at LibconTrick points out:

…the Prime Minister is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, comprising four footballing nations, three of whom detest the English football team, and has a duty to show some dignity.

Who cares about that little fact eh?

Lawson calls Osborne’s public consultation on cuts a “stunt”

Lord Lawson today told BBC Radio 4 he thought George Osborne’s plan to have a public consultation on spending cuts was a “spending ploy”.

The public consultation, I think, is essentially a PR ploy, it may be a very good PR ploy.

He added that the consultation “musn’t in any way slow down the process of cutting expenditure.”

It is the government’s job to decide what must be done.

Nothing should be ring fenced, everything should be judged on its merit.

via PoliticsHome

Unite union calls for all Labour leadership candidates to be on ballot

Unite conference overwhelmingly adopts motion calling for all declared candidates on ballot for Labour leadership election

Following a packed fringe meeting at which John McDonnell spoke, an emergency resolution was put before the Unite conference in Manchester this morning and was overwhelmingly carried calling upon Labour MPs to nominate to ensure all candidates are on ballot paper.

The resolution follows statements of support for John McDonnell’s candidacy by a large number of delegates. Union delegates argued that having a full range of candidates on the ballot paper would give their union members a democratic say over the future of the Labour Party.

The point was forcefully made in the debate that without John on the ballot paper, union members from the Party’s largest affiliate would be denied a democratic voice in this election.

From a press release

Pressure group says 15% of new Tories from lobbying background

Nearly fifteen per cent of all new Tory MPs elected on May 6th come from lobbying backgrounds, according to the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency today.

Nineteen of the 143 newly-elected Conservative MPs worked as lobbyists, including close allies of David Cameron. George Eustice, formerly associate director at Portland PR and Cameron’s former spokesman, is the newly elected MP for Camborne and Redruth. His colleague at Portland, Charlotte Leslie, took Bristol North West.

Also among the crop of lobbyists turned MPs are Priti Patel, former director at Weber Shandwick and MP for Witham; Damien Collins, who came from Lexington Communications to take Folkestone and Hythe; Penny Mordaunt, former associate at Hanover and MP for Portsmouth North; Robin Walker, former partner at Finsbury and MP for Worcester and Oliver Colville who ran his own PR company specializing in regeneration and is now MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

On the Labour benches, eleven new MPs had been working as lobbyists, including Emma Reynolds, senior consultant at Cogitamus and now MP for Wolverhampton North East and Thomas Docherty, account director at PPS Group and now MP for Dunfermline and West Fife. There are no new Liberal Democrat MPs with lobbying backgrounds.

Spinwatch spokesman David Miller said:

Only the swift introduction of an effective register can allay concerns that the Tories are up to their necks in lobbying. It is time for David Cameron to show that he means what he says when it comes to lobbying and transparency in politics.

Transparency campaigners warned that Cameron now had to honour his pledge to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, which will include financial disclosure and provisions on the ‘revolving door’.

From a press release

The Tory right are happy about the 1922 win, and so am I

James Forsyth at the Spectator says ‘The Tory right asserts itself‘. Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome is also ecstatic that Graham Brady has been elected chair of the 1922 committee.

So am I.

The more powerful and assertive the Tory right gets, the more it will weaken the coalition and expose Cameron’s hand. Let’s be clear, strategically: Cameron doesn’t really like the Tory right. He knows he has to remain centrist to keep the government together and that’s where he likes to be. You think he wants to go around pleasing Mongtomerie, Heffer and the rest of the Tory right? Not really.

It also won’t bode well for the future of their coalition: if the Libdems take fright at the growing strength of the socially conservative Tory right, then they either bleed some serious support or they avoid a coalition in the future.

And so, paradoxically, the left should be cheering on the Tory right and hoping they create trouble. That is the surest way to create discord in the coalition and a dysfunctional government. It’ll also teach the Libdems who they have actually gotten into bed with.

Watch: satire of new Tory-Libdem coalition and their previous remarks

By the blogger and comedian Nathaniel Tapley.
Warning: contains swearing.

UKIP tops chart in lost deposits at election: nearly quarter million

The General Election saw nearly £1 million in lost deposits from candidates achieving less than 5% of the vote. The biggest losers were the small parties, with UKIP losing 458 deposits, costing them £229,000.

The Green party was hit by a £164,000 loss, 265 lost deposits cost the BNP £132,500 and the English Democrats were out of pocket by £53,000.

In contrast, the Conservatives lost just two deposits, Labour five and the Liberal Democrats didn’t lose any.
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Watch: Now Boulton loses it with Ben Bradshaw