Councils learn of funding cuts today
Jobs and services will be lost as councils start to feel the full impact of the squeeze with massive cuts to grants announced today. Concerns have been raised that councils in the Midlands and the north may be hit harder than the south. Tony Travers, local government expert at the London School of Economics, is quoted: “This will be the worst financial settlement for local councils since 1945 or perhaps ever. Town halls will face the certainty of significant cuts to services however they manage to improve efficiency in the medium term.”
Times p8, Guardian p2, FT p3, Mail p26

War on graffiti and fly-posting
Councils will be given new powers to tackle graffiti, fly-posting, and illegal advertising billboards in the Government’s Localism Bill today. It will also give residents radical new powers to save pubs and post offices from closure. People will be able to nominate libraries, gyms, pubs, post offices and shops for special status on a ‘community assets’ list while local authorities will be forced to consider outsourcing services to community groups and charities.
Telegraph p10, Guardian p2, FT p2 (Saturday – Mail p27, Independent p19, Sun p2, FT p2, Telegraph p14, Guardian p22)

Comment: Power is properly restored to the town hall, says Eric Pickles
Column by the Communities Secretary which says the Localism Bill will return town halls to their ‘former glory’, ushering in a return to the days when local councils were the centres of their communities.
Telegraph p24

Coalition’s extra pupil cash is a con, says Labour
The Government’s promise to give schools extra money for every child they take from the poorest homes will result in some in the most deprived areas losing cash, shadow schools secretary Andy Burnham claims. He said: “There is no extra money for schools. So this premium, which was meant to be additional money for the most deprived, will simply recycle funds from one school to another. It is robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Guardian p1, Independent p21

Public sector workers face pay and pensions cuts
Hundreds of thousands of public sector recruits will have their pay and pension rights cut today under plans to encourage charities to take over state provisions. Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, is to remove regulations that effectively give new workers the same terms and conditions as those formerly employed by the public sector.
Times p16

Baby P’s mum in DVD boast
A senior social worker thanks the mother of Baby P for being “completely honest” during an interview taken four months before his death in footage which will be broadcast on BBC Panorama for the first time tonight. Sue Gilmore, the senior manager at Haringey Council who oversaw the case, appears to accept readily Tracey Connelly’s explanation that the child ‘banged his chin’ when he ‘caught himself on the table’.
Mirror p12, Sun p15, Telegraph p17, Independent p9, Mail p27

Polar brrr
Bitter polar winds will hit Britain this week and paralyse the country for another month. The nation will be battered with eight inches of snow and 50mph winds from the Arctic, which will last until at least January 9.
Daily Star p12, Telegraph p6, Sun p12, Mail p9

Blairs’ country home swimming pool wins planning approval
Aylesbury Vale District Council has given planning permission for the redevelopment of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s £5.75 million country estate in Buckinghamshire.
Telegraph p6

An Indian fakeaway
A takeaway owner who claimed his Indian restaurant had won awards annually for 16 years has been hit with a £4,000 fine. Ebad Hussein boasted recommendations from guides including Time Out and the AA stretching back to 1994 but trading standards officers noticed Connoisseurs Indian Tandoori in Paddington, West London, had not been mentioned since 1999.
Sun p20

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