MPs 'will not be forced to support gay marriage’

MPs will not be forced to vote in favour of legalising gay marriage, a Cabinet minister has said, as the Government promised to listen to critics of the plans.

Francis Maude told The Daily Telegraph that the Government would listen to critics and would not force MPs who oppose the plans to vote for them 

A formal Home Office consultation is being launched to examine how reforms to civil marriage laws could be introduced.

Homosexual rights campaigners have welcomed the plans, which have been championed by the Prime Minister and would give the country some of the most advanced equality laws in the world.

However, the proposals have provoked criticism from Christians, including the Archbishop of York and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.

Conservative MPs and ministers have also expressed their concerns over the plans, with some said to be prepared to resign over the issue.

Francis Maude, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, and a supporter of the reforms, told The Daily Telegraph that the Government would listen to critics and would not force MPs who oppose the plans to vote for them.

“The consultation will come out, we will listen to what people say as a government,” he said. “Obviously, it is an issue of free votes and MPs will form their own views. My views are pretty well known.”

Mr Maude, whose brother died from Aids, has been persuaded that the Conservatives’ past opposition to gay rights had become a symbol of the party’s “intolerance” that made the Tories seem “unacceptable and unelectable”.

However, his views are not shared by all in the party. One minister told The Daily Telegraph: “We do not need to be having this debate.”

David Burrowes, the Conservative MP for Enfield, Southgate, warned that churches could face legal action forcing them to hold gay weddings.

In a commentary for The Daily Telegraph website , Mr Burrowes, said: “This debate is as much about freedom for people to express their belief as it is about equality.

“Whilst I applaud commitment and fidelity in all relationships, in the case of same sex couples marriage is not the right vehicle. Civil partnerships present a great way for gay couples to publicly express their love for one another.”

The consultation on the plans was being launched as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales suggested the minister responsible, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister Lynne Featherstone, had missed the point in the debate.

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, said that her argument that neither the Church nor the state “own” marriage ignored the “ethical consequences”.

“Defending the Government’s proposal, the equalities minister insisted that marriage 'is owned neither by the state nor the Church ... it is owned by the people’ as if this was an argument that removed the need for further discussion of the proposal’s ethical consequences,” he said.

“On the contrary, there is a clear and constant argument from reason for defining marriage as being between a man and a woman, corresponding to the underlying pattern in our nature of the complementarity of male and female, their potential fertility and subsequent responsibility for the care of children.”

Meanwhile, Tony Blair, the former prime minister who converted to Catholicism, has been rebuked by the Vatican over his support for the reforms.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who heads Pope Benedict’s Council for the New Evangelisation, said Mr Blair needed to “examine his conscience carefully”.

Coalition lacks vision, says Vince Cable

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has admitted in a leaked letter that the Government lacks “a compelling vision of where the country is heading” after the financial crisis.

Business Secretary Vince Cable criticises the Government’s failure to develop a coherent industrial policy 

The Liberal Democrat minister described elements of the Government’s economic policy as “frankly, rather piecemeal” and said it was not clear how Britons would “earn our living in the future”.

The leaked letter, sent by Mr Cable to David Cameron and Nick Clegg last month, is evidence of a growing rift between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats over economic policy in the run-up to the Budget. Senior Liberal Democrats have broken with recent convention by being increasingly vocal in their demands for new taxes on expensive properties to fund greater tax breaks for low-paid workers.

There are also growing disagreements over policies to boost economic growth with the Conservatives blaming Mr Cable for blocking initiatives to cut unnecessary red tape for private firms.

In his five-page letter sent to the Prime Minister and his deputy on Feb 8, Mr Cable criticises the Government’s failure to develop a coherent industrial policy.

After praising Coalition measures to restore the public finances, the letter says: “I sense, however, there is still something important missing: a compelling vision of where the country is heading beyond sorting out the fiscal mess; and a clear and confident message about how we will earn our living in the future.”

• The Business Secretary said that his experience working in the oil industry at Shell had taught him about the “difficulties of long-term planning”. He added: “But that experience did teach me the importance of thinking a decade or two ahead, beyond the electoral angle, which our top industrialists are clamouring for.”

Mr Cable warned that multinational firms may scale back their activities in Britain, in response to a “lack of strategic pro-growth thinking in previous administrations”. He blamed the Government for not doing enough to identify and support “key technologies” and said ministers should be “willing to identify British success stories”. The minister also pointed out that, despite having strong small and medium-sized companies, “we have produced no Amazon, no Google and no Intel.”

One of the only firm recommendations made by Mr Cable is that the Government should “recognise that RBS will not return to the market in its current state”. He therefore proposed that part of the nationalised bank be turned into a “British business bank” that would back companies identified as being of “strategic importance”.

He also said that more should be done to boost house-building. The letter said: “The economy will continue to struggle while the construction industry remains so depressed. By contrast, the big recovery in the 1930s was driven by a combination of new industries (cars and chemicals) and construction: estates of semis and lots of council housing.

The letter was leaked just hours after Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, made a speech that called for a new industrial strategy for Britain.

Last night, John Cridland, the CBI director-general, said: “We need to learn lessons from the past, look again at how to make industrial policy work in practice, and put it firmly back into our plans for stimulating growth.”

The document baffled several senior Conservatives as Mr Cable is responsible for many of the policy areas he highlighted as problems. George Osborne is understood to be increasingly exasperated by Mr Cable, whom he sees as a major obstacle to boosting economic growth. Many senior businesses are now liaising directly with the Treasury and Downing Street as they do not feel the Department for Business is representing their needs.

Mr Cable began the day yesterday by openly discussing normally confidential budget negotiations. He said the Lib Dems would accept the scrapping of the 50p higher rate of income tax — if the Coalition introduced new taxes on property or wealth.

The Business Secretary said: “There is a broad understanding that if the 50p rate were to go, and I and my colleagues are not ideologically wedded to it — it should be replaced by taxation of wealth.

“The wealthy people of the UK have got to pay their share, particularly in times of economic difficulty. There are vast numbers of extraordinarily valuable properties around the country netting very large gains for their owners, many of whom come from abroad incidentally, and are not taxed at all.

“You get people with multi-million pound properties paying exactly the same in council tax as somebody living in a three-bed semi. That system doesn’t work at all.”

He also confirmed the Lib Dems were negotiating with Conservative colleagues over new ways to tax the wealthy. He said: “How exactly that is configured is a detailed matter for negotiation but that principle must be upheld.

“The mansion tax is actually a very economically sensible way of doing it.”

Senior Conservatives believe that the Lib Dems have “got carried away” in openly discussing wealth taxes. It is understood that Mr Osborne believes that the Coalition is a “long way away” from being in a position to announce any major change in the tax system. The Budget is expected to agree only to look at the possibility of property taxes on multi-million pound properties replacing the 50p rate.

A senior Tory source said: “Very little work has been done on any of these options and it is far from clear that these measures would raise enough money.” In a speech last night, the Chancellor said that he would not put Britain’s economic credibility at risk by offering “unfunded giveaways” in this month’s Budget.

“By facing difficult decisions head on, we have won the credibility which will allow us to constrain inflationary pressure, support long-term low interest rates and provided the stability that creates the space for private sector investment.

“I have a Budget in two weeks time. I can tell you: we are not going to put that credibility and stability and low interest rates at risk. The days of unfunded giveaways are over.”

Adverts for cheap alcohol could be banned

Supermarkets could be banned from advertising cheap alcohol under Coalition plans.

The Government is to announce its new 'alcohol strategy' within weeks

The ban, which would form part of the Coalition’s alcohol strategy, would see an end to retailers such as Tesco and Asda advertising money-off deals on beer, wine and spirits.

Promotional deals by supermarkets such as ‘3 bottles of wine for £10’ or half-price lager have been seen as contributory factors to the increase in binge drinking in the UK.

The move, which is still under discussion, would see the outlawing of TV and poster ads pushing cheap alcohol.

Supermarkets have used such advertising around ‘events’ such as football tournaments, bank holidays or Christmas in order to drive sales.

Last year British drinkers were expected to consume more beer from supermarkets than from pubs for the first time. This was partly due to the cost of a pint in the pub rising, but also to do with ever-decreasing prices in supermarkets.

A partial ban on advertising was implemented in Scotland last year, restricting alcohol advertising around supermarket premises.

An investigation by Alcohol Focus Scotland prior to the ban found that supermarket promotions and discounts increased sales by around 25 per cent.

The move in England and Wales would be part of a wider initiative by the Government to crack down on excessive drinking.

An aide to David Cameron told The Daily Telegraph: “The alcohol strategy will be published in a month or so. The PM has made very clear that he thinks the availability of cheap alcohol is a problem. It is not secret that this is an issue that the PM is concerned about.”

The Prime Minister also plans to introduce a minimum price for alcohol of 40p a unit.

The moves are likely to be opposed by drinks manufacturers, and particularly those in the beer and cider industries, whose sales would be hit by the new rules.

The Prime Minister is thought to be keen to push the changes through despite opposition from Andrew Lansley, the health minister, who believes that minimum pricing would hit people on low incomes hardest.

Retail groups said that attempts to cut down on binge drinking by raising the cost of alcohol would be unlikely to work.

Stephen Robertson, the director general of the British Retail Consortium, which represents the UK’s supermarkets, said: “Increasing the cost of alcohol would not achieve its desired goal of curbing alcohol abuse. People who abuse alcohol are not sufficiently susceptible to price for it to make any difference.”

“If the average yob chooses to drink ten cans of lager on a Saturday night and the price of a can is £1, then a 10 per cent increase is only going to cost him an extra pound.

“It is like reducing speeding by putting up the price of petrol.”

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association , said that it is committed to helping the Government tackle alcohol misuse.

However it said that initiatives such as minimum pricing is not the answer.

“Minimum unit pricing is a blunt tool which would both fail to address the problem if alcohol misuse and punish the vast majority of responsible drinkers. As Government ministers acknowledge, it is also probably illegal,” said a spokesman.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that details of the alcohol strategy are still being put together.

Eurovision surprise: Engelbert Humperdinck is UK entry

Engelbert Humperdinck, the 75-year-old crooner, is to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Engelbert Humperdinck in his heyday, as host of The Engelbert Humperdinck Show 

It has become an annual television ritual: the UK’s humiliation at Eurovision.

Boy bands, pop flops, rappers and a former X Factor finalist have all bid for glory, only to end up with egg on their faces and the ignominy of being beaten by an Israeli transsexual or a Finnish heavy metal act.

This year, the brains behind the UK entry have taken a radical new direction. Step forward Engelbert Humperdinck, the 75-year-old crooner who last had a top 20 hit in 1972.

The man christened Arnold George Dorsey - but known to his admirers as The Hump - will carry the hopes of the nation in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 26.

After years of failure with young acts, it is hoped that Humperdinck’s decades of experience will win over the 125 million viewers expected to tune in.

And when it comes to the murky political world of Eurovision voting, Humperdinck could prove to be the UK’s secret weapon.

The septuagenarian singer of Release Me, The Last Waltz and Quando Quando Quando remains popular in a number of the countries competing - and voting - in the song contest. Last year he toured Belgium, Romania, Russia, Israel and the Netherlands.

The BBC, which screens the contest, hinted at the tactical nature of the choice. Derek McClean, the Corporation’s creative director of entertainment, said: “Engelbert has an incredible musical history and heritage, especially in the UK and Europe.”

There is no denying Humperdinck’s global status. Possibly the only international music legend to divide his time between homes in Los Angeles and Leicester, and definitely the only one named after a 19th century German opera composer, he has sold over 150 million records.

His achievements include four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe for entertainer of the year, 63 gold and 24 platinum records, plus a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His first hit Release Me, topped the charts in January 1967 and he had a further number one that year with The Last Waltz.

With his sideburns and smouldering good looks, Humperdinck became a heart-throb. He was a close friend of Elvis Presley and hung out with Jimi Hendrix.

He fell out of fashion in the late 1970s but continued to tour. His career is now undergoing something of a renaissance and a new album is planned for this year.

The Eurovision single, yet to be announced, has impressively cool credentials: it will be written and produced by the team behind Adele, Mary J Blige and Lana Del Rey.

Humperdinck, who turns 76 at the beginning of May, said: “It’s an absolute honour to be representing my country for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. When the BBC approached me, it just felt right for me to be a part of an institution like Eurovision.

“I’m excited and raring to go and want the nation to get behind me.”

Katie Taylor, head of entertainment and events at the BBC, said: “Not since the ‘70s have we had such an established international musical legend represent the nation.”

That decade saw the likes of Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John sing for the UK, followed in 1981 by winning act Bucks Fizz.

But the past 20 years have seen only one UK win - Katrina and the Waves in 1997 - and the recent record has been woeful.

In 2003, Jemini scored the dreaded “nul points”. Former X Factor finalist Andy Abraham came last in 2008, and 19-year-old Josh Dubovie repeated the trick in 2010.

Last year, the BBC ended the practice of the UK’s entry being chosen by public vote, instead nominating the boy band Blue. They finished in 11th place.