Overview
- On Tuesday Prime Minister Andy Burnham told MPs he will make stronger public control of services and utilities a central government priority to drive growth.
- He asked No 10 North to open devolution talks with Cornwall Council as the first test of a wider plan to transfer powers and investment to places.
- The government has revised its prisons early-release scheme so the killers of PC Andrew Harper are excluded and ministers pledged a £110 million package to create hundreds of new places plus measures to deport foreign national offenders and manage indefinite-sentence cases.
- Financial markets pushed long-dated gilt yields to multi-decade highs, which raises the cost of borrowing for the Treasury and prompted Chancellor John Healey to warn of difficult Budget choices and to defer some defence spending decisions to the spending review.
- Burnham said he will apply a decade-long, Greater Manchester‑style ‘triple helix’ plan linking business, universities and government to reindustrialise regions, but delivery for jobs and services will depend on how the Treasury copes with tighter fiscal pressure.