| Newspaper review Cameron's conference speech examined in detail bbc.co.uk |
7/7 inquest: how investigators traced the bombers after attack Inquest hears how a sharp-eyed detectives spotted the July 7 bombers on CCTV four days after the attack. telegraph.co.uk |
Scotland and Wales: It's damaging and reckless •In Scotland, nationalists and Labour unite to warn of damage to economic recovery and job losses•Welsh nationalist party says the plan lacks 'any sort of respect'The devolved governments in Scotland and Wales are to lose about £5bn in their funding despite being protected from the heaviest and deepest cuts in public spending.The national administrations in Edinburgh and Cardiff will have their funding reduced in real terms by 10.6% and 11.4% respectively over the next four years, while their grants on capital projects to build new roads, bridges and schools will be 41% smaller in real terms.Ministers in both cities denounced the cuts as "too fast and too deep", while economists at PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted at least 71,000 public sector jobs could be lost in Scotland over the next four years as a result of the central government's planned reductions.The Welsh government described the loss of almost £900m to next year's spending plans as a "hammer blow" and the Scottish finance secretary, John Swinney, said the loss of £800m for next year's capital projects put 12,000 jobs at risk and "endangered" the economic recovery.While the two devolved governments will unveil detailed budgets next month UK ministers insisted the comprehensive spending review (CSR) was less severe than expected. The Scottish government had predicted it would lose £1.2bn next year but in fact will be cut by £900m in total – a figure disputed by Swinney.Many departments in Whitehall, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Foreign Office and Department of the Environment, Food and Fisheries, were cut by more than a quarter, the Wales Office said.Cheryl Gillan, the Welsh secretary, said the Welsh government still received more per head than any part of England except London. "This is a fair funding settlement for Wales," she said. "But like elsewhere, tough funding decisions will have to be faced in Cardiff Bay." And Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, said: "For Scotland, this is a fair deal in tough times. Spending on frontline services will be reduced by less than in England, Wales or Northern Ireland."George Osborne, the chancellor, also offered the Scottish government a further concession by promising to release more than £190m held by the Treasury from Scotland's share of fossil fuel levies – a sum added to all gas and electricity bills.The cash, kept by the Treasury until now because it had previously counted it as part of Scotland's block grant, will be doubled to £500m with a further £250m from the proposed green investment bank, UK ministers said.Funding for the devolved governments has benefited because Whitehall spending on health and schools in England will increase, which in turn influences how much Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast receive under the formula used by the Treasury to fix their block grants.The comprehensive spending review (CSR) will leave the Scottish government with a total of £27.7bn to spend by 2014-15 compared with £30bn at its highest in 2009-10. Scottish funding will fall most sharply next year, down to £24.8bn for day-to-day costs on core areas such as health, education, policing, courts and public transport.Capital spending – on roads, bridges and new hospitals – will be cut to £2.5bn compared with £3.4bn this year.In total, capital funding will fall by 38% over the next four years, drawing furious protests from Scottish ministers and the Scottish Labour party. The Scottish National party and Labour were united in claiming these cuts would severely damage the recovery. Labour said the budget cuts would put 100,000 jobs at risk in Scotland and Swinney said the review proved "very directly to people in Scotland the danger of leaving decision-making to the UK government. What we have is a damaging blow to economic recovery."Several hours before Osborne unveiled his spending cuts, the latest quarterly figures for Scotland's GDP showed the economy grew by 1.3% between April and June, a figure bolstered by a 10.4% increase in the construction sector. While overall unemployment has continued to rise, bankruptcies also fell, suggested Scotland's economy is now improving.The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, which is in coalition with Labour running the devolved government in Cardiff, said that imposing such deep cuts was reckless. The party's leader in Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd, said: "Nobody could describe this as any sort of respect agenda. By cutting too deeply, too soon, the Con-Dem UK Government have made the wrong decision."Scottish politicsWelsh Assembly GovernmentScotlandWalesSeverin Carrellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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