Government
- Tony Blair poured scorn yesterday on a proposal advanced by Gordon Brown's close political allies for putting the NHS under the control of an independent board free from day-to-day ministerial interference. The prime minister said the idea of taking the NHS out of the hands of politicians might sound good. But handing power to an independent board, representing the service's vested interests, could become a device for avoiding tough decisions. The proposal for NHS independence was advanced by Mr Brown's supporters in the run-up to the Labour party conference as a key change in health policy that the chancellor wanted to make if he took over as prime minister. It paralleled his well received decision in 1997 to give control of interest rates to the Bank of England's independent monetary committee. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2069363,00.html
- The gap between what voters in the south-east of England pay in tax and get back in public services has widened sharply since Tony Blair won power a decade ago today. The calculations by the Financial Times set an ominous backdrop for Labour ahead of Thursday's local elections. While the prosperity of the south-east has long meant its residents pay more into the exchequer than they get out, the region's net contribution to the national Budget has increased sharply since 1997. This perceived inequity could help to explain why Labour is likely to do badly this week in southern England, where thousands of crucial swing voters have seen their standard of living rise more slowly than the economy has grown. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a2bd6eb4-f77f-11db-86b0-000b5df10621.html
EU
- Plans for a common European corporate tax system will provoke a clash in Brussels tomorrow amid claims they could undermine na-tional tax sovereignty and stop poor countries luring investment through tax breaks. Charlie McCreevy, European Union internal market commissioner, is expected to lead the protests, arguing the project is complex, detrimental to some countries, and could lead to a concentration of tax powers in Brussels. But Laszlo Kovacs, EU tax commissioner, will insist that a common corporate tax base will make it easier for companies to trade across borders and boost jobs and competitiveness. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c52797ee-f780-11db-86b0-000b5df10621.html