5,000 soldiers face redundancy – Media roundup: June 18th, 2013

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5,000 soldiers face redundancy

Thousands of members of the armed forces will receive redundancy letters tomorrow – as Government defence cuts continue to bite. Up to 5,300 serving soldiers in the Army will lose their jobs – including comrades of murdered soldier Lee Rigby in 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The savage cuts will be confirmed as the PM holds talks in Northern Ireland with other world leaders over whether Britain should arm Syrian rebels. And they come days after General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the Army, said further cuts could harm Britain’s ability to win wars. – Mirror

Lib Dems under pressure to support Labour over Robin Hood Tax

The Liberal Democrats will on Tuesday face pressure to break ranks with their coalition partners by voting in favour of the principle of a financial transaction tax. Labour, which is to press for a Commons vote on the issue, called on the Lib Dems to help create a consensus on the so-called Robin Hood tax which would in turn encourage the US to support the measure. Chris Leslie, the shadow Treasury minister, will seek to embarrass the Lib Dems when he tables an amendment to a European Union document which will be presented to MPs after the decision of 11 EU member states to introduce the tax. The document notes that the government is mounting a challenge in the European court of justice against the EU proposal for an FTT which could involve a 0.01% levy on bond and share transactions. The Labour amendment has been worded carefully to make it more difficult for the Lib Dems to refuse to support it. The amendment calls on the government to support the principle of an FTT and to work with other global financial centres, including the US, to reach consensus on a “modest rate without creating negative economic consequences”. – Guardian

Other highlights

• Forget the excuses, here’s how Britain can tax the rich – Polly Toynbee, Guardian
• Ed Miliband must hold out against an EU referendum – Donald Macintyre, Independent
• Dorries wants to go on stritcly (seriously) – Political Scrapbook
• David Cameron’s grim rule of grisly austerity is slain by Labour-led red Wales – Kevin Maguire, Mirror
• The Tories are about to privatise police cells – FT
• U-turn if you want to, Ed Miliband’s still a dud – Dan Hodges, Telegraph
• Tristram Hunt: ‘We’ve got to become the most interesting party’ – Guardian