miércoles, 9 de enero de 2013

PMQs and release of the coalition's pledge audit: Politics live blog - The Guardian (blog)

We've got the first PMQs of 2013 today. And we've also got the publication of a government audit of coalition pledges. The government has been "marking its own homework", in the Leveson jargon, but, according to the Daily Telegraph, the results could be embarrassing. The Telegraph knows because it photographed the Number 10 adviser Patrick Rock walking up Downing Street holding a confidential memo about this in full view. Here's an extract from the story.

On Tuesday, Patrick Rock, Mr Cameron's political adviser, was seen carrying a "restricted" document that warned that the full version of the Mid-Term Review would contain an annex identifying "problematic areas" and lead to "unfavourable copy" identifying "broken pledges".

The document suggests that the annex could be "published without fanfare" on the government's website several days after the release of the main review. This was planned to stop "difficult points" overshadowing the "favourable coverage" ...

The restricted document drawn up over the weekend discusses the advantages and disadvantages of releasing the annex.

It said: "We would get some credit for transparency which is [in] line with the government's general approach. This could be contrasted with [Gordon] Brown's penchant for secrecy. I wouldn't make much of this point since the media aren't given to much generosity towards any government on such matters but I mention it for what it's worth."

Another section discusses how Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg could explain "broken pledges".

It says: "[We can] robustly argue that having looked at a particular issue more closely we have decided not to proceed with this or that pledge. We can argue that this is evidence of a mature and responsible approach to government. This argument will not, however, hold water very easily for some of the abandoned pledges e.g. numbers of special advisers."

A section of the document entitled "points against publication" concludes that "on balance" publication of the annex would lead to "unhelpful stories" and "unfavourable copy".

I'll be covering the audit in detail when we get it.

Here's the full agenda for the day.

9.30am: Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, publishes details of his plans to reform the probation service. As Alan Travis reports in the Guardian today, Grayling will propose "the wholesale outsourcing of the probation service with private companies and voluntary sector organisations to take over the rehabilitation of the majority of offenders by 2015".

10.15am: Nick Clegg gives evidence to the Lords constitution committee about constitutional reform.

12pm: David Cameron and Ed Miliband clash at PMQs.

12.30pm: MPs begin debating a Labour motion calling for a statutory code of practice to govern the relationship between publicans and pub companies. Yesterday, ahead of the debate, Vince Cable, the business secretary, announced that he would introduce such a code, policed by an adjudicator.

2pm: Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, Norman Lamb, the care minister, and Steve Webb, the pensions minister, give evidence to a Lords committee on the impact of demographic change.

Afternoon: Downing Street publishes an audit saying how many of the coalition's pledges have and haven't been met.

As usual, I'll also 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 after PMQs, and another in the afternoon.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm at @AndrewSparrow.

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