The upcoming Online Harms Bill must be as effective as possible in tackling the scourge of online abuse.
Today’s ConservativeHome Newslinks
Sunday 28 February 2021
Budget 1) Sunak "plotting" tax raids on online deliveries and the self-employed
"Rishi Sunak is plotting a new tax on online deliveries next month and a raid on the self-employed later this year, The Telegraph can reveal. The Chancellor will use Wednesday's Budget to announce a £5 billion fund to help high street pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops that have remained closed as a result of the Covid lockdown. On March 23 – dubbed "tax day" in Whitehall – he will then unveil a series of consultations on further tax increases to start paying for the £300 billion cost of dealing with the virus crisis. The Telegraph has learnt that this will include options to tax online retail more heavily, including the possibility of a new green tax on every internet delivery, alongside other online tax ideas. However, it is understood that he has turned his back on a mooted windfall tax on the "excess profits" of internet companies." - Sunday Telegraph
Conservatives poll lead increases to seven points - The Observer
Budget 2) £5 billion "rescue plan for the high street
"The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is to offer 700,000 shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels and other businesses, grants of up to £18,000 each as part of a £5bn rescue scheme to prevent mass bankruptcies. News of the plan – to be announced in Wednesday's budget – comes as Sunak faces increasing pressure to avoid or postpone significant corporation tax rises, as companies struggle to weather the latest Covid-19 lockdown in a strong enough state to reopen. While there were questions last night over the extent to which the grants were extensions to schemes due to finish at the end of March or new beefed-up initiatives, the move reflects growing panic in government that many small firms on the high streets and elsewhere are now on the brink of extinction." - The Observer
Budget 3) "Stealth" tax rises on income in a "pathway" to plug black hole
"Rishi Sunak is to set out plans to raise income tax by £6 billion as he outlines a "pathway" to finding an extra £43 billion a year to plug a black hole in the nation's finances. The chancellor will announce in the budget on Wednesday that he is freezing for at least three years the point at which people start paying the basic rate of income tax —£12,500 — and the £50,000 threshold at which they begin paying the higher 40p rate. That will mean 1.6 million people are pushed into a higher tax bracket before the next general election, due in 2024. The chancellor will say he needs to raise more than £40 billion to tackle the budget deficit and protect the economy from rising rates of interest on government borrowing." - Sunday Times
Filling the fiscal black hole may have to wait as the real target is already the next election - Sunday Times
Budget 4) Starmer accused of "betrayal" for opposing Corporation Tax rise
"Sir Keir Starmer will be guilty of a 'shameful betrayal' of Labour values if he forces his MPs to vote against Tory tax rises in Wednesday's Budget, it was claimed last night. Left-wing MP Jon Trickett launched the scathing attack after his party leader declared that this was not the time to increase the burden on families and businesses. The Yorkshire MP, a frontbencher under ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, said: 'Voting against tax rises on some of our largest companies would be a shameful betrayal of Labour's time-honoured principles." - Mail on Sunday
What is the point of this vacuous and confused Labour Party? - Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
Starmer showed great promise, but Labour won't win without some policies - Michael Chessum, The Observer
Budget 5) Redwood: Lower tax rates mean higher tax revenues
"When Ireland taxed company profits at the very low rate of 12.5 per cent, it collected much more tax from companies as a proportion of its economy and total revenues than we do. This was because large and profitable companies – and billionaires – are able to rebase parts of their business, such as where they book global revenues, in low-tax countries. George Osborne, as Chancellor, reduced the UK's corporation tax rate progressively. Each time he cut, he collected more tax. The fact is that putting up tax rates can actually lead to less revenue...What business needs now is full order books. What people need is confidence in the future and the offer of well-paid jobs. This requires tax cuts – not tax rises." - John Redwood, Mail on SundayOther comment
Sunak must not become another Mr Butskell - Leader, Sunday Telegraph
Look after the recovery — we can balance the books later - Leader, Sunday Times
The Tories will be the party of big spending so long as new MPs kowtow to their inboxes - Robert Colville, Sunday Times
The Magic Money Tree can't go on for ever - Liam Halligan, Sun on Sunday
Don't let pandemic losers slide further in a K-shaped recovery - Will Hutton, The Observer
Coronavirus 1) Vaccine cuts risk of being hospitalised by more than 90 per cent
"Just one vaccine shot reduces the risk of being hospitalised by Covid-19 by more than 90 per cent, according to stunning new findings. Public health officials have told Ministers that the remarkable results apply for both the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with the British jab proving slightly more effective. It represents another huge boost to Britain's world-beating vaccine rollout, which has now achieved nearly 20 million first injections. The hugely successful inoculation programme is threatened only by the small minority who are still refusing to have the jab. Yesterday Prince William urged Britons to ignore conspiracy theories about the supposed dangers of the vaccine, warning of 'rumours and misinformation' on social media. The Duke of Cambridge issued the warning during a video call with his wife Kate to two clinically vulnerable women who have been shielding with their families since March." - Mail on Sunday
I've had the Covid jab - and all it cost me was my freedom - Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
Half of voters want vaccine to be compulsory - Mail on Sunday
I hate to say it, but Britain's doing OK. Even Germany envies us... - Ed Cumming, The Observer
Coronavirus 2) US approval for Johnson & Johnson single-shot jab
"US regulators have formally approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, the third jab to be authorised in the country. The vaccine is set to be a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer. Trials found it prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included. The vaccine is made by the Belgian firm Janssen. The company has agreed to provide the US with 100 million doses by the end of June. The first doses could be available to the US public as early as next week." - BBC
While no one can be required by law to have an immunisation, anyone who refuses must accept the consequences - Liam Fox, Mail on Sunday
Coronavirus 3) Unions threaten to disrupt school reopening
"Militant teachers are hatching a last-minute strike plot to disrupt the full re-opening of schools, we can reveal. Hard-line union activist Martin Powell-Davies is backing industrial action ballots on the eve of all kids returning to class. In a rallying call, he says school chiefs will be "failing in their responsibilities" on health and safety grounds by opening their doors if Covid cases don't drop dramatically. The executive body of the 450,000-strong National Education Union has been called on to back his plans." - Sun on Sunday
32m Covid tests by post to reopen schools - Sunday Times
Coronavirus 4) Flexible season tickets "to be offered" to help back to offices effort
"Commuters are to be offered flexible season tickets by June at the latest as part of the Government's plan to get workers back to offices. The new flexi-tickets – which will save workers hundreds of pounds – will be introduced in time for June 21, when the Government is due to relax its "work from home" message. The tickets can be used for two or three days a week and will be designed to fit in with the new expectations of millions of new home workers. A Department for Transport (DfT) source told The Telegraph that the flexible rail season tickets will be available to buy at stations in England "in the first half" of this year." - Sunday Telegraph
Donelan warns universities against "dangerous" censorship
"Universities which allow books to be censored on reading lists are risking a Soviet-style fictionalisation of history, the Government has warned in the latest front in the so-called culture wars. Michelle Donelan, the Universities Minister, said that removing key texts from reading lists was "a very dangerous and odd road to go down, and certainly it has no place in our universities". Last year Oxford University students warned that reading lists should come with 'trigger warnings' and called on the university to publish guidance for faculties to consider whether articles on reading lists amount to 'hate speech'." - Sunday Telegraph
Sarwar wins Scottish Labour leadership race
"Anas Sarwar has been announced as the new Scottish Labour leader. Glasgow MSP Mr Sarwar defeated Monica Lennon, the only other candidate in the race. The contest was triggered after Richard Leonard resigned as leader, saying it was in the best interests of the party for him to stand down. Mr Sarwar takes charge of the party ahead of the Scottish Parliament election, which is scheduled to be held on 6 May. Mr Sarwar, who is the first non-white leader of a major political party in the UK, got 57.6% of the vote, while Ms Lennon got 42.4%." - BBC
"New evidence" that Sturgeon's team leaked name of Salmond accuser
"Unpublished evidence lodged with an inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair has raised fresh concerns that the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, misled parliament, in breach of the ministerial code. It indicates that her team was aware of harassment complaints against her former boss and closest friend several weeks before she told parliament she became aware of them. The material from Salmond's former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, also supports claims made by the former first minister that Sturgeon's administration leaked the identity of one of the women complaining about him — claims that Sturgeon rejected last week." - Sunday Times
Sturgeon v Salmond round two: what the first minister must do to avoid a knockout - Sunday Times
New poll shows there is no longer majority for independence - Sunday Express
The Union made us enlightened and wealthy. Why try to destroy it? - Matthew Syed, Sunday Times
SNP poison is on display and it could herald the end of toxic nationalism - Douglas Ross, Sunday Express
We should remember Charles Kennedy, a good man, cruelly treated, and listen to his like again – Kirsty Strickland, Scotland on Sunday
Hannan: Why did Facebook ban my article?
"Last week, I wrote a piece for the John Locke Institute (JLI), a high-minded organisation that runs summer schools and seminars, mainly for sixth-formers, offering in-depth tuition in the humanities subjects. I advanced the view that the epidemic had made us more collectivist, and that the post-lockdown world would be relatively authoritarian. The JLI bought advertising on Facebook to promote the piece. Facebook first authorised the advertisements, then pulled them without explanation...I take the view that Facebook, as a private company, can run whatever adverts it likes. But let's be absolutely clear that it is now a publisher – a publisher with an agenda. Any notion that Facebook (or Twitter, or YouTube) is simply a platform has gone." - Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph>Today: Maria Miller on Comment: Death and rape threats, abuse, revenge porn. It's time for Government to get tough with the social media giants.
News in brief
Are the Tories about to ditch one of their biggest policy achievements? - Kate Andrews, The Spectator
Public backs new taxes on wealthy and business - Independent
Mark Carney has some explaining to do - Peter Franklin, Unherd
The feud of Sturgeon and Salmond could ruin the SNP's separatist cause - Daniel Johnson, The Article
Denying Shamima Begum's return is a victory for national security - Matt Dryden, CapX
"Rishi Sunak is plotting a new tax on online deliveries next month and a raid on the self-employed later this year, The Telegraph can reveal. The Chancellor will use Wednesday's Budget to announce a £5 billion fund to help high street pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops that have remained closed as a result of the Covid lockdown. On March 23 – dubbed "tax day" in Whitehall – he will then unveil a series of consultations on further tax increases to start paying for the £300 billion cost of dealing with the virus crisis. The Telegraph has learnt that this will include options to tax online retail more heavily, including the possibility of a new green tax on every internet delivery, alongside other online tax ideas. However, it is understood that he has turned his back on a mooted windfall tax on the "excess profits" of internet companies." - 
"Rishi Sunak is to set out plans to raise income tax by £6 billion as he outlines a "pathway" to finding an extra £43 billion a year to plug a black hole in the nation's finances. The chancellor will announce in the budget on Wednesday that he is freezing for at least three years the point at which people start paying the basic rate of income tax —£12,500 — and the £50,000 threshold at which they begin paying the higher 40p rate. That will mean 1.6 million people are pushed into a higher tax bracket before the next general election, due in 2024. The chancellor will say he needs to raise more than £40 billion to tackle the budget deficit and protect the economy from rising rates of interest on government borrowing." - 
"When Ireland taxed company profits at the very low rate of 12.5 per cent, it collected much more tax from companies as a proportion of its economy and total revenues than we do. This was because large and profitable companies – and billionaires – are able to rebase parts of their business, such as where they book global revenues, in low-tax countries. George Osborne, as Chancellor, reduced the UK's corporation tax rate progressively. Each time he cut, he collected more tax. The fact is that putting up tax rates can actually lead to less revenue...What business needs now is full order books. What people need is confidence in the future and the offer of well-paid jobs. This requires tax cuts – not tax rises." - John Redwood, 
"Just one vaccine shot reduces the risk of being hospitalised by Covid-19 by more than 90 per cent, according to stunning new findings. Public health officials have told Ministers that the remarkable results apply for both the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with the British jab proving slightly more effective. It represents another huge boost to Britain's world-beating vaccine rollout, which has now achieved nearly 20 million first injections. The hugely successful inoculation programme is threatened only by the small minority who are still refusing to have the jab. Yesterday Prince William urged Britons to ignore conspiracy theories about the supposed dangers of the vaccine, warning of 'rumours and misinformation' on social media. The Duke of Cambridge issued the warning during a video call with his wife Kate to two clinically vulnerable women who have been shielding with their families since March." - 
"Militant teachers are hatching a last-minute strike plot to disrupt the full re-opening of schools, we can reveal. Hard-line union activist Martin Powell-Davies is backing industrial action ballots on the eve of all kids returning to class. In a rallying call, he says school chiefs will be "failing in their responsibilities" on health and safety grounds by opening their doors if Covid cases don't drop dramatically. The executive body of the 450,000-strong National Education Union has been called on to back his plans." - 
"Universities which allow books to be censored on reading lists are risking a Soviet-style fictionalisation of history, the Government has warned in the latest front in the so-called culture wars. Michelle Donelan, the Universities Minister, said that removing key texts from reading lists was "a very dangerous and odd road to go down, and certainly it has no place in our universities". Last year Oxford University students warned that reading lists should come with 'trigger warnings' and called on the university to publish guidance for faculties to consider whether articles on reading lists amount to 'hate speech'." - 
"Unpublished evidence lodged with an inquiry into the Alex Salmond affair has raised fresh concerns that the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, misled parliament, in breach of the ministerial code. It indicates that her team was aware of harassment complaints against her former boss and closest friend several weeks before she told parliament she became aware of them. The material from Salmond's former chief of staff, Geoff Aberdein, also supports claims made by the former first minister that Sturgeon's administration leaked the identity of one of the women complaining about him — claims that Sturgeon rejected last week." - 
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