Politics Live: Danny Alexander statement on public sector pensions
Rolling coverage of the day's political developments as they happen including the Treasury secretary's statement to MPs
11.42am: Nick Clegg has just told MPs that the government is not removing the civic duty to vote. Contrary to what has been claimed, it is not an offence under current law not to register to vote, he said. But under the current law it is an offence not to provide information about voters in a household. That offence will remain, he said.
11.36am: And, while we're on the subject, Politics Live readers are not the only people worrying about Nick Clegg. At ConservativeHome the Tory MP Peter Bone about who would take over the government if David Cameron were to be killed in a terrorist attack. Bone raised this at defence questions yesterday and did not get an answer. He's not happy.
What the country has a right to know is who would take over in the unfortunate circumstances of the death of a prime minster and a terrorist attack. Now I don't mind if it is the home secretary, foreign secretary or chancellor, but we need to know and we need a line of succession. This is not something that can be decided upon after an attack it should be known in advance and made clear to any terrorists that whatever happens the country will know who is in charge in the immediate aftermath.
The one person who is not fit to do this job and should have no place in such a succession is the deputy prime minster.
11.34am: Nick Clegg is about to take questions in the Commons. Knowing the deep affection and respect many of you have for him, I'll be keeping a close eye on the proceedings.
11.19am: Here's the latest on public sector pensions.
Paul Noon, general secretary of Prospect, the union for public sector professionals, told Sky that th! e Novemb er strike created "a shift in the atmosphere" and that subsequently "proper negotiations started". I've taken the quote from PoliticsHome.
We won't be taking strike action while the discussions are continuing. We still hope to reach agreement, but ultimately if we get nowhere as a trade union we don't have anywhere else to go. Our members tell us very strongly is they absolutely resent imposed additional pension contributions at a time when they have been suffering a pay freeze, their costs are rocketing, they feel and I feel that that's hugely unjust."
And the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has confirmed that it has signed the "heads of agreement" with the government over pension. This means that in principle it will take the government's offer back to its members.
10.52am: You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here.
As for the rest of the papers, here are two articles that are particularly interesting.
The purpose of Mr Cameron's premiership remains a puzzle. What comes across from insiders' accounts is an impatience both with grand philosophy and with technical detail. The prime minister likes his meetings short 20 minutes is ideal. He does not want to be overburdened with paperwork. He frets about his thinning hair. His great advantage, though, is that he looks and sounds the part of prime minister.
(The FT is a good, serious paper, but it's not immune from trivia. In commenting on the prime minister's hair, Stephens is reviving a great FT tradition.)
Rachel Sylvester in the Times (paywall) says we need ASBOs for the super-rich.
Perhaps it's time for the Prime Minister to reinvent Tony Blair's Respect agenda. He could introduce a version of the ASBO for the rich a RASBO that would be served on anybody who acts against the interests of the wider community. A civil rather than a criminal order, it could catch the tax avoiders as well as the tax evaders, the ill-mannered along with the illegal.Yes, like the original ASBOs, RASBOs could become a "badge of honour" and be criticised as a form of "punitive populism". But they would be a way of society expressing its displeasure about certain forms of behaviour. Everybody, rich or poor, should uphold the spirit of our society as well as abide by the letter of its laws.
10.45am: And here's Rachel Reeves, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, commenting on the HM Revenue & Customs report. (See 9.27am.)
I've taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
No family would be able to negotiate their tax bill with Her Majesty's Revenues & Customs; it seems to be one rule for the big businesses and another for everybody else. That's not fair, that's not right. And the government have got to get a grip on this ...The public accounts committee have revealed a number of things. There's the relationship between some of the big businesses and government or the civil service that don't seem appropriate lots of lunches and dinners between senior civil servants and the people that they're supposed to be inspecting. The s! ystem wh ere the same people are negotiating and then signing off the tax bills of companies that should be done by different people.
10.33am: The People's Pledge, the cross-party campaign for a referendum on the EU, has signed up Ian McKenzie, a former aide to John Prescott, as its communications director.
10.21am: Here's some more reaction to today's report on the "far too cosy" relationship between HM Revenue & Customs and large companies. (See 9.27am.)
This is from Stephen Williams, co-chair of the Lib Dem parliamentary Treasury committee.
The taxman must collect all the tax that is due. Special treatment or even the perception of special treatment for big corporations is simply unacceptable.
It is sometimes understandable in highly complex tax disputes that HMRC settles out of court. But when it comes to public money being lost through vast tax settlements, the taxman needs to be more transparent. The public must be able to see they how they are negotiating with big companies so they can see if special treatment is being given.
And this is from Emma Boon, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
This report again calls into question whether HMRC is fit for purpose. Ordinary taxpayers often feel that they are treated harshly when they make genuine mistakes because of our complicated tax system; the [public accounts committee] findings will increase suspicions that big businesses are treated differently.
The taxman will always struggle to effectively enforce a tax code that is one of the longest and most complicated in the world and the only way to ensure that more individuals and big businesses pay their fair share is to simplify the system a! nd reduc e the number of loopholes.
There may be times when confidentiality is needed, but it would be unacceptable if HMRC was using this as an excuse to avoid being completely transparent about its decisions.
10.03am: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has just published its report on public order policing. It says that in some circumstances the police would be justified in shooting arsonists.
Here's the Press Assocation story about the report.
Arsonists attacking commercial properties with links to people's homes could be shot by police during future riots, an official review of police tactics said today.
The use of firearms could be justified given the "immediacy of the risk and the gravity of the consequences", legal advice published in the review said.
Plastic bullets and water cannon could also be used by officers facing riots similar to those seen this summer, the review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) added.
Police need to be better prepared, trained and ready to protect the public if they are to improve their response to similar scenes of violence and looting in the future, the review found.
It called for clear rules of engagement to establish "an agreed envelope of available tactics and associated use of force, that are likely to maintain public support".
These rules could include making clear that armed police could use firearms with live ammunition during "arson attacks on commercial buildings with linkage to residential dwellings".
The review added that plastic bullets could also be considered when barricades and missiles were used by protesters, during violent attacks on the public in the presence of police, and when other emergency services are threatened.
They could also be used when petrol bombs are thrown or during arson attacks.
All of these scenes were experienced by officers this summer.
The review added that water cannon were an "effective means of dispersal and incur fewer injuries ! to the p ublic" in static and slow-moving scenarios.
They are a "good option to protect vulnerable areas and premises", but it conceded there were none on mainland UK, cost more than 1 million each and need to be deployed in twos to be effective.
Water cannon also have to be protected by officers and need access to water as they can empty in "a matter of minutes" if used continuously.
It comes in sharp contrast to a report by the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday which said it would have been "inappropriate as well as dangerous to have employed water cannon and baton rounds".
Their use "could have escalated and inflamed the situation further", the MPs said.
You can read HMIC's press release about its report here.
And you can read the full report here (pdf).
9.57am: Our Leveson live blog is now up and running. Piers Morgan will not be giving evidence until late in the afternoon.
9.51am: Gransnet, a social networking site for grandparents set up by the Mumsnet crowd, is hosting a webchat with Vince Cable, the business secretary, at 1.30pm. You can post a question on the site here.
9.35am: Train fares will rise by an average of 5.9% in January, the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) said today. This is from the Press Association copy.
The increase is higher than the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation, which was 5.2% in November.
Michael Roberts, chief executive of Atoc, said: "Money raised through fares helps pay for new trains, faster services and better stations.
"The long-standing ! governme nt approach to sustaining rail investment is to cut the contribution from taxpayers and increase the share paid for by passengers.
"The industry is working together to continue cutting costs as a way to help limit future fare rises and offer better value for money for taxpayers over the longer term."
Here's the Atoc news release, with a Q&A explaining why the fares are going up and where the money is going.
And here's Atoc's online fares guide.
9.27am: The headlines this morning have been dominated by the public accounts committee scathing report about the "far too cosy" relationship between HM Revenue & Customs and large companies like Vodaphone and Goldman Sachs. Rajeev Syal's Guardian story about the report is here, and the report itself is available here.
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has put out this comment.
At last confirmation of what has been long said - that the government is too lax when it comes to collecting the money corporations owe this nation.
Some 25bn is being squandered because the government prefers to go easy on its friends in the City. But now, in this time of severe austerity, this lenience is costing ordinary people heavily. Jobs are going, services are being cut, the challenge of making ends meet is biting into everyday life.
This is not just a question of efficient management of the nation's finances, but also one of managing them in the interests of the many. George Osborne and the Treasury have been exposed - they need to shape up urgently! because their credibility is in ruins.
9.00am: It's the last day the Commons is sitting before the Christmas break and the main event will be a statement by Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, on the public sector pensions talks. As Dan Milmo reports, the dispute which saw more than 1 million people go on strike last month, is moving towards a resolution.
Unions representing health, civil service and local government workers agreed to consider outline deals, while talks with education representatives were adjourned and will continue in the new year, according to the National Union of Teachers. The largest public sector union, Unison, confirmed it would not set strike dates while it consulted on the proposals, as labour movement sources acknowledged Monday's developments headed off the prospect of a further public sector general strike in the new year. However, there was dissent from one important player, as the biggest civil service union, the Public and Commercial Services union, rejected a deal.
I'll be covering the Alexander statement in detail.
Otherwise, it's reasonably busy. Here's the schedule.
10am: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary publishes its review of public order policing.
10am: The Leveson inquiry resumes. Piers Morgan, the former Daily Mirror and News of the World editor, gives evidence, as well as Sharron Marshall, former TV editor of the News of the World, solicitor Julian Pike, of Farrer and Co, Matthew Bell, co-owner of Ferrari Press Agency, Chris Johnson, who runs Liverpool-based Mercury Press, and Steve Turner, general secretary of the British Association of Journalists. Morgan is giving evidence in the afternoon.
10.30am: Friends of the Earth and two solar panel companies launch a legal case against the government's decision to cut subsidies for solar electri! city.
11am: Sir Scott Baker, chair of the extradition review panel, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.
11.30am: Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, takes questions in the Commons.
11.45am: Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.
12.30pm: Nick Herbert, the policing minister, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about policing reform.
12.30pm: Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, makes a statement in the Commons about public sector pensions.
2.20pm: Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, gives evidence to the joint committee on human rights on the government's human rights policy.
As usual, I'll be covering all the breaking political news, as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary before the Alexander statement and another in the afternoon.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow.
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