Policy Announcements, Thursday 1 March

Government

• The government last night won a key vote over plans to privatise parts of the probation service. There had been speculation that ministers could be defeated on the Offender Management Bill by a combination of Labour rebels and Conservative opposition. But MPs voted 293 to 268 in favour of the Bill - although the government's majority was cut from 62 to 25. The government also won a vote on an amendment tabled by Labour rebel Neil Gerrard by 267 to 111, a majority of 156. The amendment would have excluded firms and voluntary groups from carrying out "core" probation tasks
• The Government is to accept all the recommendations of the independent Casino Advisory Panel on the location of 17 new casinos - including the one regional casino in Manchester - Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell confirmed. Ms Jowell will formally lay a single draft order today, as the first stage in the process to ask Parliament to approve the panel's recommendations. The order confirms the seventeen local authorities who would be permitted to issue premises licences for the three types of new casino (regional, large and small) permitted by the Gambling Act 2005.
• The Commons is set to vote on whether the Trident nuclear weapons system should be replaced. Leader of the House Jack Straw told the Commons that the Trident debate would take place on Wednesday, March 14. The prime minister said in December that Britain must keep an independent nuclear deterrent by building a new generation of nuclear submarines, costing up to £20bn over 30 years.
• A new UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) report highlighting the UK's competitive position in the critical areas of climate change and environmental solutions was launched today by Trade and Investment Minister Ian McCartney. The UK: a world leader in environmental solutions is a business led review by UKTI's Environmental Sector Advisory Group (ESAG). The report highlights ten main advantages that differentiates the UK from its competitors in the £400bn international environmental goods and services (EGS) sector and provides case studies in each area.
• Community groups tackling gun crime and gangs will be able to apply for a share of £500,000 of Home Office funding from today. Each group is able to apply for up to £5,000 from the sixth round of the Connected Fund, which is focused on tackling gangs through educational, sporting and cultural activities. The aim of the fund is to help young people break away from gangs, provide support for victims and contribute to mentoring projects to keep young people out of trouble.

Conservatives

• George Osborne has warned fellow members of the shadow cabinet that they should not "spend our way out of Britain's problems". In a speech to the CBI in London, the shadow chancellor set out three "sound money" tests which the party's policies must pass. The first will be economic stability -maintaining low interest rates and low inflation. The second, he said, is "sharing the proceeds of growth" - the Opposition's policy of sharing funds from economic growth between public services and lower taxes. The third, the manifesto test, means all proposals will have to be cleared by the shadow cabinet and appear in the draft manifesto before they become official policy. Many suggestions from the party's policy groups - which have included offering tax cuts worth up to £21bn - would not pass this third test, Osborne said.

Liberal Democrats

• The Liberal Democrats have insisted green taxes will hit the rich rather than the poor. The party's environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, used an article in a new book to say that his plans for increases in air travel and vehicle excise duties will fall on those on higher incomes the most. Huhne's intervention is the latest contribution to a debate sparked by the chancellor's doubling of air passenger duty in his pre-Budget report last year.