Mr Benn said the Government was asking MPs to share responsibility for action which it knew would be taken without the authority of the UN Security Council.He told Mr Cook that the Russians and Chinese would not vote for the use of force. there is a difference of interpretation, possibly.”In his Commons speech, Mr Cook also warned that in the remote event of an Iraqi chemical or biological attack on Britain, “there would be a proportionate response”. However, he told MPs only last week that there was no question of a nuclear strike against Iraq.The Government faced repeated protests from the Labour benches during last night’s debate. The Foreign Secretary then told Michael Colvin, a Conservative MP, that existing UN resolutions “give rise to a logical interpretation” that force was already authorised.”Having said that,” Mr Cook added, “our own view is very strong, that there should be a further Security Council resolution to demonstrate to Saddam and to the rest of the world that any action that is taken by the United States and the United Kingdom is action that has the support of an international consensus.” While the Foreign Secretary was saying a resolution of the UN Security Council was required – a legal view backed by Lord Mayhew, Tory Attorney- General during the 1991 conflict, in a parallel Lords debate – an official Foreign Office spokesman told The Independent yesterday that a resolution would be “desirable”. He repeatedly refused to take the opportunity to back the Foreign Secretary’s line – saying he would not “unsay” what Mr Cook had told the House.The Independent has been told by a senior government source that while Mr Cook wants President Saddam to back down, and he recognises the value of a military reinforcement for diplomatic negotiation, he is more reluctant than his own department, the Prime Minister and President Clinton to resort to air strikes – which are most unlikely to win Security Council backing.Agreeing that there was a difference between Mr Cook’s position and the view from Washington, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said yesterday that while Britain stood “shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States … Write to Glenda Cooper, The Independent, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 1DL or fax us on 0171 293 2143 or e-mail gcooper independent.co.ukQuestion of priorities, page 5Leading article, page 18A challenge to Mr BrownWithout working women, many of them mothers, the world economy would collapse. A increasing slice of global household income depends on women’s efforts outside the home.

In most Western countries, “family” means an incessant struggle to balance work, home and children, in which most of the burden – still, whatever the alleged changes in men’s role and sensibilities – falls on women. It is time that this was recognised by the Government and acted upon Leading article page 18. A RIFT between Robin Cook and the Foreign Office over Iraq yesterday exposed deep problems between Britain and the United States over the authority for air strikes. Mr Cook told the Commons that military action would require United Nations approval. But that clashed directly with the line from Washington, Downing Street and even his own department – all of which were more gung-ho.
Because Saddam Hussein is already in breach of the UN Gulf War ceasefire resolution, requiring the dismantling of his weapons of mass destruction, the Washington view is that no further UN blessing is needed for military strikes.Opening the first Commons debate on the crisis, Mr Cook told Tony Benn – a leading Labour opponent of military action – that it would be “prudent” to get a further UN resolution. The allowance we propose would cost the Government less than the tax subsidy to homebuyers.

There is less state help with childcare costs in Britain than almost any other leading economy. The main help is through family credit, available to very few families.While in France local authorities and employers share costs and in Sweden public funds supply the main source of money, in the UK more than 90 per cent of formal child care is paid for by parents themselves.As a result, lone mothers in the UK have one of the lowest employment rates in Europe. While 41 per cent are employed in Britain, double that percentage are in work in France. In the Budget, the Chancellor is expected to make the childcare element of Family Credit more generous, and available to more families. This will lower a significant barrier to work for many women, especially single mothers.But we believe targetingchildcare help at only the very low-paid ignores the same cost for millions of others.

While the need is greater for the least well-off, there is an overwhelming case for additional government support for childcare.”Parents are ready and willing to work but often cannot because they can’t afford childcare,” says Colette Kelleher, director of the Daycare Trust.With women expected to account for 1.1 million of the increase of 1.5 million in the labour force by 2006, the issue will become even more pressing.t Add your support to our campaign. Yet we give tax relief to drivers who use their car for work, a tax allowance to married couples and the “bricks and mortar” subsidy of mortgage interest tax relief.But there is almost no help for parents who have, on average, to pay pounds 6,000 a year out of after-tax income for childcare – more than they spend on housing or food. Nearly a third of mothers have said they are discouraged from returning to work after childbirth because of its expense.The Government has emphasised the importance of setting the right priorities in tax and spending, and will publish a comprehensive review later this year. Projected messages of light, floating across the floor and up the wall, are definitely the marketing rage for 1998.Over the two-day period any number of further issues were explored, with companies as diverse as BSkyB, Nestle and Blackwell contributing.

What was clear was that all recognise the profundity of the shake-up to business that electronic commerce represents. The Internet channel will grow from nothing to $1,000bn in little more than 10 years No one can afford to sit back.. TODAY The Independent is calling on Gordon Brown to make a genuine investment in the nation’s children in next month’s Budget by helping their parents to afford high-quality childcare. The Chancellor has already signalled that he will make some improvements to government provision for childcare, mainly for lone parents, but it does not go far enough.