The go-ahead for publication of the report into the sleaze allegations against Neil Hamilton, the former Tory minister (pictured), is expected to given next week at the first meeting of the Commons select committee on standards and privileges. The committee also has to carry out its own investigation on the evidence in the report by Sir Gordon Downey, Parliamentary Commissioner, and it is likely to call Mr Hamilton to give evidence, before producing its own findings.
Gerald Howarth, a Tory MP and friend of Mr Hamilton, yesterday objected that the committee included new members, who would have no experience of Commons procedures Colin Brown. The decision on whether to sue should be made by the Government, she insisted.
A group of health authorities led by Croydon in south London had earlier appeared ready to sue the tobacco industry, buoyed up by last week’s historic pounds 225bn legal settlement in America. US tobacco companies have agreed to pay the money into a compensation fund to help cancer victims in return for legal immunity. Health minister Tessa Jowell has warned health authorities not to sue tobacco companies for the costs of treating smokers’ illnesses. Mrs Jowell said she did not want to see health authorities tied up in costly legal action.

He had spoken to the chief whip, Nick Brown, yesterday afternoon and had been told he would not be disciplined for speaking out against his party, he said Fran Abrams. Claims by a rebel Labour MP that he was threatened with expulsion over devolution could be investigated by Westminster’s powerful Standards and Privileges Committee, it emerged last night. As the row over allegations by Llew Smith exploded into an angry exchange of letters between William Hague and the Prime Minister, a member of the committee suggested that Mr Blair should look to his laurels. Peter Bottomley, a former Conservative minister, said that if Mr Smith complained to the committee as he had threatened to do, it should take the matter seriously.
Last night, Mr Smith said he was considering his next move, but confirmed he was considering a complaint to the Standards and Privileges Committee. His work on the council has been praised by Mr Prescott, the MP for Hull East.Mr Randall stood down as an MP just before the election after a battle with Mr Black whom he was suing for libel because Mr Black alleged he was unsuitable to be an MP.Mr Black issued a statement last night saying that the Labour Party had informed him that it was a “technical and administrative suspension to enable the inquiry to proceed.” He declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.. A council spokesman said that he would continue as housing chairman because the suspension only related to Labour Party posts.A Labour Party source said: “We are going to use this incident to carry out a full-scale inquiry into Hull as we have been worried about events there for some time.” The remit is understood to include investigation of complaints about Mr Black’s expenses when he was Lord Mayor two years ago. Mr Black has denied any wrongdoing.A letter obtained by The Independent detailing the complaint from Mr Cherry says that he and Mr Harris were leaving the celebration when they were jumped on and abused by a group which included Mr Black.Mr Black is a controversial local figure having pushed through the country’s first Housing Action Trust, a Tory initiative that involved part-privatising council estates.

The council denied this vehemently.Earlier this month, Pat Doyle, the leader of the council, said that he had asked the NEC to hold an investigation so that “the detractors (anonymous or named) will be asked to produce evidence to substantiate specific complaints”.Mr Black, who is also housing chairman of the city council, has been suspended by the NEC from holding any party office until an investigation into the affair is completed. Labour’s National Executive Committee is investigating allegations that John Black, who is chairman of the Hull city party, attacked a former Humberside councillor, David Harris, and, John Cherry, the agent of the former Hull MP Stuart Randall, at a victory rally a week after last month’s election.
The NEC is conducting a wider investigation into affairs in the Labour- dominated council which has been hit by a number of allegations of impropriety, including a statement last year by Mr Randall that the council was “corrupt”. A prominent Labour politician and friend of John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, has been suspended by the Labour Party over allegations that he assaulted three people at an election victory party. Actual government borrowing this year and next could well be lower than the Budget “Red Book” will indicate because the economic boom will boost tax revenues.Don Macintyre, page 19. The move will harm profits in the short term, but the proceeds could be channelled back to companies.The Chancellor will set out a new approach to future Budgets. He will draw a parallel between the transparency he has introduced to the setting of interest rates, by making the Bank of England independent and accountable, and the need for the same kind of openness about taxes and spending.In his speech on Wednesday he will also set out the Government’s intention to run a macroeconomic policy that delivers stable growth and low inflation, setting this in the context of the need to remain competitive in a global market.The recent assessment of the Treasury’s economic assumptions by the National Audit Office made it plain that Mr Brown has taken a cautious approach to public finances.

The most likely alternative would be to introduce a flat-rate tax credit on pension contributions.This ties in with the approach being taken by the welfare-to-work task force, headed by Martin Taylor, chief executive of Barclays. The Chancellor favours boosting low incomes through tax credits in order to get around the way the loss of benefits reduces the incentive to work.Welfare-to-work will be the core theme of the Budget, and Mr Brown will give details of the training and education schemes to be offered to 18- to 25-year-olds with the money raised from the windfall tax on the privatised utilities. The Chancellor is expected to confirm the scrapping of universal child benefit for 16- to 18-year-olds, in return for means tested educational allowances.With an emphasis on creating jobs and boosting investment in the long term in his Budget speech, Mr Brown is expected to encourage companies to retain profits for investment rather than paying them as dividends by ending the dividend tax credit claimed by pension funds. Tax relief on pension contributions, which channels about pounds 6bn a year to top rate taxpayers, is a longer-term candidate for reform. The Chancellor and John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, yesterday met in private to discuss the inclusion of “green taxes” which will form a key part of the Budget.They discussed a hike in the duty on petrol and diesel, and it is believed there will be increases in other environmental taxes, such as the landfill tax, while VAT on loft insulation is expected to be cut in line with the reduction in VAT on domestic fuel from 8 per cent to 5 per cent.Senior ministers believe that Britain, like California, will not object to taxes that are seen as environmentally friendly, making Mr Prescott’s superministry, in charge of the environment, transport and the regions, a vehicle for new tax revenues.Tony Blair staked out the Government’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gases in his speech to the United Nations on Monday, in a clear signal that more green taxes are on the way. The long-term options being considered include road tolls, road pricing, and replacing the road fund licence with higher petrol duties.The Chancellor is expected to confirm the Government’s manifesto pledge to introduce a 10p starting rate of income tax.Mr Brown will indicate plans to shift away from expensive tax reliefs and allowances that disproportionately help the well-off.The most vulnerable of these are mortgage interest tax relief and the married couples’ allowance, which between them cost pounds 5.5bn a year. He will also announce radical plans to reshape the entire Budget process.