Review of the Papers, Thursday 16 August

**Government  **

• The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed. The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests. http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,2149643,00.html
• Parking wardens will be banned from clamping cars for single offences as part of the biggest overhaul of parking rules in more than a decade. Under new regulations, councils have been told that they should not set targets for raising revenue from parking fines or the number tickets to be issued. Clamps can only be used when a vehicle repeatedly breaks parking rules and it has not been possible to collect payment for penalties, Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, has ruled. The new guidelines are contained in a consultation document sent out to councils last week, which emphasises that clamps should "only be used in limited circumstances". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2267853.ece
• Independent and selective state grammar schools are overwhelmingly responsible for the rise in A-grade passes at A-level, the head of Britain's biggest exams board reveals today. The growing divide in achievement means the gap in performance between the country's top-performing selective schools - state and private - and the rest is now at its widest for more than a decade. The trend is expected to be exacerbated following the publication of A-level results for more than 250,000 sixth-formers this morning. It also comes in the wake of a report for the education charity the Sutton Trust, which reveals the gap in performance between private and state schools is higher in the UK than any other country in the Western world. In an interview with The Independent, Mike Creswell, the director general of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, said the biggest rises in A-grade passes were among independent and selective state grammar schools. http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2866779.ece
• Police forces yesterday supported a ban on drinking in public and an increase in the price of alcohol. Nearly 200 MPs now want the Government to stop supermarkets selling cut-price drink after a senior policeman appealed for action to tackle drunken youths. Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Cheshire, called for the crackdown after Garry Newlove died after confronting a gang outside his home last Friday. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=VXWSJEVDUV0PJQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2007/08/16/ndrink116.xml

Conservatives  

• The Conservatives are to launch a sustained assault through the rest of the summer and autumn on what they claim is Gordon Brown's failure to spread wealth beyond the City of London to hard-working families in the regions, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, reveals today. In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Osborne denies that the party's policy review report on economic competitiveness, due out tomorrow, by the Thatcherite former cabinet minister John Redwood, represents a lurch to the right. Instead, Mr Osborne, who is attending the launch, will use it to hammer home the message that too many middle-income people are missing out on the riches of the capital. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2149493,00.html