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For the Conservatives, the move could be seen as a way to broaden the party's appeal outside England, whilst the Ulster Unionists would hope it might help them recover some of the ground they have lost to the DUP.

If we really wanted every email to include a photograph of the person sending it then we could rewrite the standard and change the code, and if we really wanted to link email addresses to entries in the national ID database we could. The real danger is not that politicians ask for things that the current network architecture cannot support, but that the network could be changed to make those things possible.

He is the only one of the three leadership contenders to say that he would not rule out supporting a referendum on Scottish independence.

“Some of the MPs are afraid of the prospect of the next Holyrood leader being elected on the back of their votes, so they want to keep out of it.”

McCabe has not had a reputation for strategic thinking or intellectual brilliance, but his analysis of the constitutional deficiencies of the Scottish Labour leadership is devastating in its directness and clarity. He has said what Wendy Alexander never managed to say. It is the most important Labour strategy statement in decades, and should be nailed to the door of every Labour constituency association in Scotland.

In Scotland and Wales it is recognised that their devolution is a process which is not yet complete. All parties there, including the Conservative Party, are promising more powers and a general expansion of status and remit for their National Parliaments and governments. So the outstanding question, to my way of thinking, is what is going to happen in England!

The Tories must now commit to working through it - exclusively - and resist the temptation of unilateral proposals or bilateral deals.

For me, abandoning CASD would be a real, meaningful step toward the NPT’s disarmament obligation (and the pretty much unanimous view in Whitehall is that this is crucial to building a coalition to prevent proliferation).

If the MPs, led by the Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, are to be successful, they will have to amend that piece of legislation and, by doing so, would change the rules for the Scottish Parliament as well.

Mr Woodward has been tipped to take over as Defence Secretary — one of the plum Cabinet jobs. It is a proposed move that has caused dismay and resentment in some sections of the Labour Party, since Mr Woodward has been in their ranks for less than a decade. He defected from the Tories as an MP in 1999 and was given a safe Labour seat two years later. And the current Defence Secretary, former NIO Minister Des Browne, is being weighed up for a return to Belfast as the head of the new department.

There is another possible development which might alter the SNP's focus. Labour leaders at Holyrood are waiting for Jack McConnell's decision on when he intends to stand down as the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw so he can go to Malawi as the UK's High Commissioner.The former first minister has said he won't make a decision until he gets confirmation of his appointment from the Foreign Office.If the Foreign Office endorses his appointment, his contract should come to him soon, which means he could stand down in the next couple of months, forcing a by-election for Holyrood on the same day as the Glenrothes poll.

“I am looking at all sorts of ways which we could encourage business and it is just not sustainable to have an economy which depends on over two thirds of its GDP effectively depending on public

f devolution proceeds, the government will abolish the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and subsume it into the Ministry of Justice, which is headed by Jack Straw.

I reject this ration-book view of talent and opportunity. It was a bad recipe for the 20th century and is a disastrous one for the 21st.

Like many of Mr Blair's speeches from the mid-1990s, Mr Osborne's address was beautifully constructed and politically clever. The speech also falls apart after a moment's scrutiny.

Law lords right to stand against cowardly abuse

He was instrumental in rejecting post-election overtures from the First Minister, Alex Salmond, about a possible SNP-Lib Dem coalition because the Nationalists were demanding such a plebiscite.But after he was elected leader yesterday, Mr Scott softened his stance on a referendum, saying it was something he was prepared to consider."We will see what legislation the SNP come forward with," he said.

"Through this pact, he has linked his party to identity politics and tribal headcounts rather than dealing with the issues and building a modern, shared society," Dr Farry said. "The Conservatives are now signed up to a message that what matters above all else is that unionists are returned in elections irrespective of the issues."

Only 16 gave direct responses to the new tax. Of these, ten favoured LIT and five supported the council tax.