Top of the list of proposed measures will be the possibility of an automatic ban for motorists caught speeding if they are over the limit by a significant margin.

Lowering the permitted alcohol level is another option, as well as introducing a ‘drug-drive’ limit. 

Road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP said the Government is “on the side of the the safe motorist” and stressed that the number of fatalities and injuries on UK roads was coming down, but there is more to do to promote safer driving.

He said: “We know that we can do more and that we can reduce the numbers of people being killed and seriously injured and that means looking at speeding, drink driving, drug driving, careless driving and people not wearing seatbelts.

“We will be asking for opinions, we will be looking at the evidence because, again, drinking, we say, is responsible for around 500 of the 3,000 deaths.”

Read more at the Daily Mirror.

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has slammed the Ministry of Justice for making the system of compensation for vistims of violent crime so bureaucratic that fewer than 5% of victims have applied for the compensation they are entitled to.

Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservtaive chair of the Committee, said: “There are long, difficult forms and it then takes more than 17 months to get compensation.

“Up to 20% of people employ solicitors but this service is supposed to be free. Bearing in mind, these people have been traumatised by violent crime - they can receive up to £250,000 but they are getting nothing.

“I suppose that somebody at the Treasury doesn’t mind very much, because the money just stays in the public sector and it can be spent on other things.

“But I can’t believe that’s the motivation - I don’t think anybody is that Machiavellian.

“I suspect that this is just a rather dopey, not well-regarded part of the ministry, without high-flyers working in it, and it’s very poorly managed - and that’s the simple answer.

“I doubt if anyone will be sacked from this useless authority.”

Read more at the BBC website.

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Darby has insisted: “I don’t use GLA resources. Whatever time I use there [at City Hall] for the BNP, I have to make up. I don’t use up paper. I use my own laptop.”

“I don’t need an office. I can do [BNP] work on the train, I can work in my car. What do you expect? When a BNP member is elected, they’re not going to have a Communist or Liberal Democrat working for them.”

The BNP has been in the media spotlight since its membership list was published online yesterday. The party has been desperately trying to get the list taken down from websites which are displaying it - like this one for example.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said yesterday: “It probably says something about the BNP that people don’t want to have it known that they are a member.”

Read more at The Times.

She is a popular governor of John McCain’s home state and was at least on the “long list” of candidates to be Obama’s running mate.

She has been a long-time supporter of Barack Obama but this will be seen as another effort, along with the attempts to persuade Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state, of the new administration reaching out to prominent female politicians in the US and putting them in serious policy roles.

There has been talk that Robert Gates will stay on as defense secretary, at least in the short-term, but no word yet on Republican appointments that are expected as Obama reaches across the aisle to the GOP to create a bi-partisan team. There is expected to be a role for former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel who broke with his own party and refused to endorse John McCain.

Daschle accepted the offer, according to two Democratic sources close to Daschle and with intimate knowledge of the decision.

An experienced Washington politician and well-respected figure who backed Obama very early on in the primary campaign, Daschle recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care, and he is working with former Senate leaders on recommendations to improve the system.

He is set to play a key role in Obama’s first administration as the new president seeks to reform the US healthcare system to expand insurance coverage so it is affordable for all, although not mandatory.

Stevens, who turned 85 on Tuesday, was trailing Mark Begich, the Democratic mayor of the capital of the state Anchorage, by 3,724 votes when the result was declared after a two-week count of absentee and early voting ballots.

He was the longest serving Republican in the Senate but had faced calls from senior GOP leaders to step aside after his conviction just before the election.

He is a former judge and was deputy attorney general in Bill Clinton’s administration. He would become the first African-American to hold the important Cabinet post if the news is confirmed and he is approved by the Senate next year.

To the delight of many Obama mentioned gays and lesbians in his victory speech just like he did in his now-famous 2004 keynote address to the Democratic convention. Last year he said:

“While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”

On his transition website he has laid out his and Joe Biden’s plan on LGBT rights, including:

• Expanding hate crimes legislation.
• Support for the Employment Non-Discrimation Act (ENDA).
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples (including the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act).
• Repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” policy.
• Ensuring adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation.
• Developing a comprehensive new national HIV/AIDS policy and confronting the stigma - too often tied to homophobia - that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

For full details see www.change.gov/agenda/civil_rights_agenda

Jacqui Smith said: “My proposal is that men should think twice about paying for sex. The reason they should do that is actually the majority of women don’t want to be involved in prostitution.”

She added: “Trafficked women don’t have a choice, men do”.

Read more at the BBC.

Mr Clegg has also gone out of his way to attack Conservative plans to halt spending and introduce tax cuts as the Lib Dems seek to reposition as a party of tax cuts and halted spending themselves.

Mr Clegg said: “After months of wandering aimlessly on economic policy David Cameron has finally performed a full U-turn.”

“Today’s announcement is economic madness. No-one can predict the length and depth of this recession so making promises for two years time is foolish.

“What is clear is that they have no solutions for today’s problems - that’s why they can only make pie in the sky promises for the future.”

Clegg continued; “If we want to help our economy now, we must immediately cut taxes for those on low and middle incomes and pay for it by closing tax loopholes exploited by the very wealthy.

“If we are also to borrow to help kick-start the economy this must only be for one off capital projects that will benefit our country, not only today, but also in the future. We must not simply borrow to plough money into unsustainable spending or tax cuts.”

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