19 November 2012 Last updated at 09:23 ET

Silk report: UK government to 'seriously consider' tax proposals

Welsh Secretary David Jones (l) said the report from Paul Silk (r) would be taken 'very seriously indeed' by the UK government

Serious consideration will be given to a report calling for Wales to have its own tax system, the UK government says.

The Silk Commission's report says a referendum should be held on allowing the Welsh government to vary income tax.

Welsh Secretary David Jones said work would begin straight away to decide which, if any, of the report's proposals are introduced.

But he denied it was part of a slide towards ever greater devolution.

He said an analysis of the Silk report would start immediately and that his department had already spoken to the Treasury and First Minister Carwyn Jones.

The report says the Welsh and UK governments should share responsibility for income tax rates, but only if voters consent to the changes in a referendum.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in Westminster promised to set up an inquiry into how the Welsh government is funded.

The Silk Commission began its work following the Yes vote in the referendum in March last year to give the assembly more law-making powers.

David Jones was asked if it was part of a "slippery slope" towards ever greater devolution.

But he said: "I don't think it can be suggested that there is anything that has been sprung upon the Welsh people. They were always aware that this was part of the process."

He hailed a "very thorough piece of work" from the all-party Silk Commission. Whitehall and Cardiff would look at the proposals "to decide which if any are appropriate to take forward", he said.

"We are taking it very seriously indeed," he added.

"It's a powerful piece of work which we will be giving very careful scrutiny to."

The Welsh government welcomed a recommendation to give it powers to borrow money.

First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "I have long argued that there would need to be a referendum before powers to vary income tax rates were devolved and I am glad to see that the commission has endorsed this view.

"We will look carefully at the proposal to move towards devolution of some powers over income tax - provided the people of Wales have the final say."

'Balanced'

At a press conference in Cardiff Bay, commission members repeatedly stressed they had produced a "balanced" report.

The commission's Labour member Sue Essex, a former Welsh finance minister, said: "This is not a pie in the sky thing we are talking about. It's possible, it's doable in Wales."

Her party's shadow Welsh secretary Owen Smith recently said that income tax powers "probably oughtn't be devolved right now" and warned they could leave Wales worse off.

After the report was published on Monday, he said it was right to recommend a referendum.

"In assessing those recommendations, we will need to test not only whether the proposals are in the financial interest of the Welsh people but also whether they pass the test of enabling an equitable and sustainable financial settlement for the whole of the UK," Mr Smith said.

Nick Bourne, the former leader of the Conservatives in the assembly who sits on the commission, said his party would get on board with the proposals.

"It's good for Wales, it's good for the United Kingdom. Why wouldn't they be comfortable with this?" he said.

Tory finance spokesman in the assembly, Paul Davies, said: "We believe that this5 is a comprehensive package of reforms to make the Welsh government more accountable for its decisions."

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams said: "We have been arguing for greater devolution for over a century. This is the latest step in our long campaign for a federal UK.

"It will strengthen Wales and help make a real difference to the lives of people across the country."

Plaid Cymru said the report does not go far enough.

Party finance spokesman Ieuan Wyn Jones said corporation tax should also be devolved - something the commission rejected unless the tax was devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"Currently we have little or no room to manoeuvre within the straightjacket of a block grant," Mr Jones said.

'Bureaucracy'

David Lermon, director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said: "We are more cautious about the recommendations relating to the partial devolution of income tax.

A referendum is recommended before income tax varying powers are devolved to the assembly

"They will inevitably introduce greater complexity and bureaucracy into the UK tax system, two qualities that the tax system already has in abundance."

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) applauded a call for the full devolution of business rates.

FSB Wales head of external affairs Iestyn Davies said: "It is now imperative that this recommendation is acted upon to pave the way for a fairer, more progressive and wide-reaching change for the business community in Wales."

The Electoral Reform Society suggested the current 60 assembly members might not be enough to scrutinise the Welsh government if it got tax powers.

Steve Brooks, Director of the Electoral Reform Society Wales, said: "We need a strong National Assembly that's able to hold the government's feet to the fire, and scrutinise how taxes are raised, public money is spent, and laws made."

Spencer Birns, head of commercial operations at Cardiff Airport, said: "The ability to control long haul air passenger duty rates is just one tool in the armoury we have to improve air passenger services to and from Wales and increase passenger traffic."

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18 November 2012 Last updated at 21:55 ET

PM to crackdown on 'time-wasting' appeals

David Cameron has accused objectors of bringing 'hopeless cases' to review

The right to legally challenge government policies will be limited to help bolster the economy, David Cameron is expected to say later.

Opponents will have less time to apply for judicial review, face higher fees and will have their chances of appealing halved.

The minister will tell business leaders this is so "people think twice about time-wasting" to delay developments.

He will call for wartime thinking when "rules were circumvented".

Wartime spirit

In a speech to the CBI in London on Monday, Mr Cameron will say the country is in the "economic equivalent of war" and needs the "same spirit."

He will argue for less bureaucracy as the emphasis is put on the pursuit of economic growth.

The prime minister is expected to say the legal right to a judicial review of decisions, including major infrastructure projects, will be scaled back, insisting: "We urgently need to get a grip on this".

It is unclear yet how much the fees would rise by for review applications or how far the three-month time limit for applications might be cut.

But he will add that "instead of giving hopeless cases up to four bites of the cherry to appeal a decision, we will halve that to two."

Downing Street figures show more than 11,000 applications for judicial review were made in 2011, compared to just 160 in 1975. Around one in six applications were granted.

He is expected to accept the government is "too slow in getting stuff done," amid concern about interested parties and that civil servants in Whitehall must appreciate delays are felt in "businesses going bust, jobs being lost" and "livelihoods being destroyed."

He will draw an analogy with how the country responded to fighting Hitler.

"When this country was at war in the 40s, Whitehall underwent a revolution.

"Normal rules were circumvented. Convention was thrown out. As one historian put it, everything was thrown at 'the overriding purpose' of beating Hitler.

"Well, this country is in the economic equivalent of war today - and we need the same spirit. We need to forget about crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' - and we need to throw everything we've got at winning in this global race."

Earlier this year the government published a new planning framework designed to streamline planning.

But a draft version of the framework was amended, amid fears from countryside groups that swathes of green belt land were being put at risk.

Elsewhere at the conference Labour leader Ed Miliband is also due to make a speech in which he will warn Britain is "sleepwalking" into leaving the European Union, a move which could undermine the UK's economy and leave it "voiceless and powerless".

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14 November 2012 Last updated at 21:49 ET

Syria conflict: David Cameron to hold security talks

Aid agencies estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting

Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Credible alternative?
• Can US reshape opposition?
• A new normality in Damascus
• Ceasefire in name only?

Prime Minister David Cameron is to chair the National Security Council later to discuss the conflict in Syria.

Senior UK ministers will consider military, humanitarian and diplomatic options for dealing with the violence and the growing refugee crisis.

The prime minister visited a refugee camp on the Jordanian border last week.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the situation was reaching what one Downing Street adviser called the "something must be done stage".

The prime minister, his deputy Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and the foreign and defence secretaries are all expected to attend the meeting.

Among the options that could be discussed are a no-fly zone, supplying anti-aircraft weapons to Syria's opposition and encouraging other countries in the region to give arms, the BBC understands.

This week France became the first Western power to recognise Syria's opposition coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Syrian opposition groups struck a deal in the Qatari capital Doha to form a broad coalition to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

'Horrendous' suffering

The US and the UK have both signalled support for the coalition but stopped short of recognising it as a government-in-exile.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent also this week estimated that 2.5 million people had been displaced within Syria, doubling the previous figure used by aid agencies.

Israel's military has said its tanks scored "direct hits" on Syrian artillery units after mortar shells fell near an army post.

It came after Israel fired warning shots after it said a Syrian shell hit another of its army posts on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

When he visited the refugee camp, Mr Cameron said the UK was to begin talks with armed Syrian rebels in a bid to unite the opposition to President Assad.

The prime minister said the suffering of the refugees was "horrendous".

Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad's rule began in March 2011.

Mr Cameron gave the go ahead for UK military action when it came to supporting rebels in the Libyan revolution in 2011.

British aircraft carried out 3,000 missions - 2,000 of them strike sorties, about one-fifth of the Nato total.

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14 November 2012 Last updated at 13:05 ET

David Petraeus will testify to Congress on Benghazi

President Obama news conference

The former director of the CIA, David Petraeus, will testify to Congress about the attack on the US consulate in Libya, a leading senator says.

Dianne Feinstein said Gen Petraeus would give evidence only about September's Benghazi attack, in which four Americans were killed.

He would not testify about his resignation over an affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, she added.

Republican senators have called for a joint committee to probe the attack.

Confirmation that Gen Petraeus will attend a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee comes after days of reports focussing on the fallout from the revelation that he had an extramarital affair with Mrs Broadwell.

Following his resignation it then emerged that Jill Kelley, who filed a harassment report over emails she received that led to the discovery of the affair, was in contact with Marine Gen John Allen.

The link to Gen Allen - currently commanding US forces in Afghanistan and nominated to be the top Nato commander in Europe - prompted the US defence secretary and the White House to stress they have complete confidence in him.

But Mr Panetta requested that Gen Allen's nomination as Supreme Allied Commander of US and Nato troops in Europe be placed on hold, saying it was the "prudent" thing to do.

Gen Allen has denied any wrongdoing and has spoken to Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to emphasise he is innocent of misconduct, a spokesman for Gen Dempsey said.

Divisive issue

Gen Petraeus could appear before congressional committees as early as Thursday, although no final date for a hearing has been confirmed.

Ms Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the general would be asked about the Benghazi attacks, which took place while he was in charge of the CIA.

The attack - initially blamed on a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic film - remains a divisive issue in Washington and a focal point of Republican anger.

Arizona Senator John McCain led a group of Republican senators on Wednesday calling for the establishment of a special committee to investigate the deaths of the four Americans, which included the Ambassador Christopher Stevens, in Benghazi.

They said there was need to find out whether there had been a cover-up over the attack, which Senator Lindsay Graham referred to in the same breath as Watergate and the Iran/Contra scandal.

Meanwhile, acting CIA Director Michael Morell began meetings with legislators in the Senate on Tuesday to answer questions about Gen Petraeus' resignation.

Legislators are concerned about a possible breach of national security after it was reported that classified material was discovered on Mrs Broadwell's computer.

However, FBI officials have said the agency concluded in its investigation that there had not been any security breach.

President Barack Obama is also due to make his first public comments on the scandal at a news conference scheduled for 13:00 EST (18:30 GMT), before meeting business leaders.

He hopes to concentrate on his economic agenda and discuss plans for reaching a deal to avoid a package of spending cuts and tax rises known as the "fiscal cliff".

'Honorary consul'

While Gen Petraeus attempts to focus on Benghazi, Pentagon investigators are also examining as many as 30,000 pages of Gen Allen's documents.

They are said to include extensive communication between the general and Mrs Kelley, a 37-year-old, married Florida socialite.

The emails are now understood to have included pet names such as "sweetheart" or "dear" but were not sexually explicit or seductive, the Associated Press reports.

In May, Mrs Kelley reported anonymous, harassing emails to the FBI. The agency launched an investigation that traced the emails to Mrs Broadwell and revealed her affair with Gen Petraeus.

Mrs Kelley has been described as a "social liaison" for the MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. Home to the US Central Command, both generals have served at the base in recent years.

The Kelleys are said to have developed close friendships with Gen Petraeus and Gen Allen, both of whom wrote letters supporting Mrs Kelley's twin sister, Natalie Khawam, in a messy custody battle for her son.

Mrs Kelley is known to have thrown extravagant parties for the officers posted there and in August was appointed as an honorary consul representing South Korea, ABC News reports.

It is reported that her Mercedes car displays consular licence plates reading "JK1".

In a recording of a phone call to police on Monday, Mrs Kelley asked for diplomatic immunity to have media crews waiting outside her house removed.

"I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well," Mrs Kelley can be heard saying.

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10 November 2012 Last updated at 11:50 ET

Gmail probe led FBI to CIA chief David Petraeus's affair

BBC's Adam Brookes: "This is an extraordinary fall from grace for Petraeus"

CIA director David Petraeus's extra-marital affair, which forced him to resign, was uncovered during an investigation into a potential breach of his Gmail account, reports say.

Unnamed officials said the FBI was checking his private account when it found Mr Petraeus was having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Mr Petraeus described his behaviour as "unacceptable" for the leader of the nation's main intelligence agency.

President Barack Obama has praised him.

His resignation came just three days after President Obama's re-election.

The four-star general became CIA boss in 2011 after heading international forces in Iraq and later in Afghanistan.

He was the highest-profile military officer of the post-9/11 years, winning plaudits for his role running the "surge" in Iraq and implementing a counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

He left his command role in Afghanistan in mid-2011, resigning from the US Army to head the CIA after Leon Panetta became defence secretary.

'Extremely poor judgment'

Shortly after Mr Petraeus resigned, reports emerged that the FBI had uncovered the affair during the course of an investigation into a potential breach involving his emails.

The FBI was monitoring Mr Petraeus's email account to check whether Mrs Broadwell had access to it, administration officials were quoted as saying.

FBI agents then met Mr Petraeus to discuss the investigation.

Announcing his decision to stand down, the former general was full of contrition.

Paula Broadwell graduated from the same West Point academy as Mr Petraeus

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair," Mr Petraeus said in a statement.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation."

Mrs Broadwell is a Harvard University research associate and PhD candidate at King's College, London.

She has a military background, graduating from the same West Point Academy as Mr Petraeus. She is married to radiographer Scott Broadwell and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

She spent months alongside the then-general in Afghanistan while researching her 2011 book, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. The book was widely seen as a positive account of his leadership methods.

Last week Mrs Broadwell wrote a piece for Newsweek entitled General David Petraeus's Rules for Living.

Obama praise

In his statement, Mr Obama said Mr Petraeus had "provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades", citing both his time as CIA director and as a top general.

"By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger."

"Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work."

Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said the president had not known about the Petraeus issue during the campaign, and that the former general had come to Mr Obama after the election to offer his resignation.

CIA deputy director Michael Morell will serve as acting director of the agency, the White House confirmed. Eventually Mr Obama must nominate a new director to head the agency, who will then need to be confirmed by the Senate.

Mr Morell, who is well respected at both the White House and on Capitol Hill, also served as acting director following the departure of former CIA chief Leon Panetta.

He is expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee at a hearing scheduled for next week on the deaths of US personnel during an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The CIA faces a potential period of instability after Mr Petraeus' resignation, as it also deals with a budget squeeze.

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9 November 2012 Last updated at 15:31 ET

CIA director Petraeus stands down over affair

David Petraeus retired from 37 years in the military to become CIA director

CIA director David Petraeus has resigned from his post because of an extramarital affair.

In a statement, Mr Petraeus said he had submitted his resignation to President Barack Obama, and that he had shown "extremely poor judgment".

He said: "Such behaviour is unacceptable... as the leader of an organisation such as ours".

Mr Petraeus became CIA boss in 2011 after heading international forces in Iraq, then in Afghanistan.

He was the highest-profile military officer of the post-9/11 years, winning plaudits for his role running the "surge" in Iraq and implementing a counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair," Mr Petraeus said in a statement.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation."

In a statement, Mr Obama said Mr Petraeus had "provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades", citing both his time as CIA director and service to the military.

"By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger."

"Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work."

CIA deputy director Michael Morell will serve as acting director of the agency, the White House confirmed.

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8 November 2012 Last updated at 09:31 ET

David Cameron warns of 'witch-hunt' over child abuse claims

David Cameron: "There is a danger this could turn into a witch-hunt"

David Cameron fears a "witch-hunt" against gay people as a result of child abuse allegations circulating online.

The prime minister made his comment after being unexpectedly handed a list of names on ITV1's This Morning, which the presenter said were being mentioned online as paedophiles.

The PM, who did not look at the names, said anyone with any information about paedophiles should go to the police.

He was addressing historic claims of a paedophile ring linked to No 10.

The issue was raised by Labour MP Tom Watson in the Commons a fortnight ago.

There have also since been claims by a victim that an unnamed prominent Conservative politician from the Thatcher era was involved in abuse in north Wales.

Presenter Phillip Schofield told the prime minister that there were lots of allegations circulating online about people who might have carried out abuse.

Online gossip

Mr Cameron said that he had heard "all sorts of names being bandied around".

During the live interview, the presenter handed the PM a card with the names on it, saying that they were people Mr Cameron knew and asking whether he would be talking to them.

Mr Cameron replied with a warning: "There is a danger, if we're not careful, that this could turn into a sort of witch-hunt, particularly against people who are gay and I'm worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now - giving me a list of names that you've taken off the internet."

Mr Cameron said that if anyone had any information about anyone who was a paedophile "no matter how high up in British society they are - that's what the police are for".

Downing Street sources said Mr Cameron's fears about a "witch-hunt" were prompted by his objection to online gossip associating homosexuality with paedophilia.

A senior aide to the prime minister said blameless people who were not connected to any child abuse investigations currently being carried out were being targeted by online gossip.

It was "important allegations are handled properly - and people's reputations are not unnecessarily smeared", added the source.

A string of official inquiries have been launched into child abuse allegations since revelations about the activities of BBC television star Jimmy Savile.

Earlier this week, Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new police inquiry into allegations of child abuse in north Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

Separately, Mrs Justice Macur will investigate the terms of the Waterhouse abuse inquiry, which began in 1996.

The Conservative Party has confirmed it is investigating reports linking one of Margaret Thatcher's former close aides to the allegations.

Child protection charity the NSPCC has called on the government to commit to an over-arching "lessons learned" review to pull together the findings from all the current inquiries into child abuse, once they are completed.

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