Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

Labour chiefs are to take control of the selection of candidates for the general election in a bid to increase the proportion of women MPs.

The TUC proposed a package of tax-raising measures that they say could raise up to £110 billion a year this week, as Gordon Brown committed the Government to cutting the budget deficit in half by 2014 in the Queen’s Speech.

The Tories are squaring up to abolish the TV licence fee if they are elected next year.Conservative Intelligence, the private £1,000-a-year newsletter run by the ConservativeHome website, says this would be a quick hit to save £100 million of taxpayers money by abolishing the costs of collecting the licence and chasing up evaders.

Britain’s controversial privatised rail franchises contain an extraordinary clause which means the Government has to pay out public money to private companies in the event of industrial action.

The Unite union has agreed to join a new joint body where Government, unions and carmakers will be charged with encouraging investment in the auto industry and the development of green vehicles in Britain, Tribune has learned.

Pressure is growing on the Government to return Northern Rock, which has been bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £14.5 billion, to the mutual sector – to turn it back into a building society rather than floating it on the stock market or making it the subject of a private sale.

Labour Party activists and anti-fascist campaigners insisted this week that voters had “moved away” from the British National Party in Barking, after BNP leader Nick Griffin announced he would stand for Parliament there in next year’s general election.

As doubts over the ability of the long-awaited Copenhagen conference to deliver a new international deal to combat climate change mounted this week, European trade unions slammed international leaders for drifting towards a “predictable defeat”.

Unite assistant general secretary Les Bayliss was this week expected to be nominated as a candidate for Unite general secretary by his faction, Workers Uniting Group, after winning votes at a clear majority of hustings meetings. As Tribune went to press, a steering group meeting was expected to confirm his candidacy.

Russia last week took a decisive step forward to strengthen its position as Europe’s leading supplier of gas by concluding a transit agreement with Slovenia.