Category Archives: Politics

Green party MP Caroline Lucas to stand down at next election

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Former party leader says she wants to ‘dedicate myself fully to climate and nature’

Caroline Lucas has said she feels more optimistic about the environment than when she first joined the Green party in 1986, as she prepares to retire from parliament after 13 years as her party’s only MP.

Lucas told the Guardian she felt “gratitude” for her career as the Greens’ first ever MP, adding that she took heart that many of the causes she has long championed were now the policies of both Labour and the Conservatives.

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Former cabinet secretary urges Sunak to drop Covid inquiry legal challenge – live

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Lord Butler says there is ‘strong public interest in the inquiry being carried out constructively’

The North Sea oil and gas industry is in decline, the shadow business minister Seema Malhotra said, as she defended plans to block new drilling licences, a move criticised by trade unions. Aubrey Allegretti has the story here.

MPs will hold a debate on Monday on proposals to ban members from the parliamentary estate if they are being investigated for a criminal offence and are deemed to pose a risk to other people.

Last night the government was debating whether to hold a vote on Monday on proposals to ban MPs accused of violent or sexual offences from the estate — after backlash from some Tory backbenchers. One senior Tory MP told Playbook they opposed the plan because it would overturn “common practice that you are innocent until proven guilty”.

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Boris and Carrie Johnson ‘hosted friend at Chequers during Covid restrictions’

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Exclusive: friend ‘helped the couple plan their wedding’ in May 2021 when restrictions on indoor gatherings in place

Boris and Carrie Johnson hosted a close friend, who helped plan their wedding, overnight at Chequers when a number of Covid restrictions were in place, the Guardian has been told.

Dixie Maloney, a corporate events organiser, stayed at the former prime minister’s grace-and-favour country mansion on 7 May 2021 when indoor gatherings between different households were banned except when “reasonably necessary” for reasons such as work or childcare.

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Conservative donor has defamation case against Tory MP struck out

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Mohamed Amersi criticised by high court judge for his conduct in proceedings against Charlotte Leslie

A major Conservative party donor has had his defamation claim against a former Tory MP struck out by a high court judge, who criticised his conduct.

The telecoms businessman Mohamed Amersi, who has donated more than £500,000 to the party since 2018, sued Charlotte Leslie – the director of the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC), which was also a defendant – claiming several documents that were circulated to influential individuals between late December 2020 and early January 2021were defamatory of him.

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UK government under fire for investing overseas aid in fossil fuel firms

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Taxpayer’s money also going to companies found to be flouting human rights in Kenya and DRC, says Commons committee

The UK government is under attack for investing taxpayers’ money in fossil fuel companies, a hospital in Kenya accused of imprisoning patients who couldn’t pay for treatment, and a business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that exposed workers to dangerous chemicals and dumped untreated industrial waste.

MPs questioned the investments at a two-hour session in parliament on Tuesday, and excoriated Andrew Mitchell, minister for development, for making overseas aid available to a company owned by Africa’s richest man that is suspected of causing serious environmental damage.

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England ‘4,700 years from building enough onshore windfarms’

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Thinktank says effective ban on planning permissions means country is way behind on much-needed renewable energy

It would take almost 4,700 years for England to build enough onshore windfarms to help meet the UK’s clean energy needs unless the government lifts an effective block on new turbines, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Only 17 small-scale onshore windfarms have been approved in England since 2015 when the government changed planning laws to create a de facto ban on onshore windfarms, according to the thinktank.

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Covid inquiry reveals fresh battle for release of government messages – UK politics live

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Lawyer for Covid inquiry announces ‘regrettable’ delays in handing over of information by government

Q: What would the minimum wage for workers be under your fair pay agreement for care workers? (See 10.47am.)

Starmer says his sister is a care worker. He knows how hard the job is.

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Keir Starmer pledges ‘good, union jobs’ amid energy row with GMB

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Labour leader to address union’s conference after its leader attacks plan to ban new North Sea oil and gas extraction

Keir Starmer will pledge to put “good, union jobs” at the heart of Labour’s energy policy during a speech to one of its biggest donor unions after its general secretary criticised a proposed ban on oil and gas expansion.

He will speak at the GMB’s annual conference on Tuesday, a day after he tried to calm a growing rift with its leadership over Labour’s energy policy.

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Revealed: government looking at four more sites for asylum vessels

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Rishi Sunak confirms two more barges will house 1,000 people, as sources say discussions about other areas are taking place

Thousands of asylum seekers could be housed in vessels moored near Newcastle, Harwich, Felixstowe and the Royal London docks, the Guardian has learned.

Rishi Sunak confirmed on Monday that the government had acquired two more giant barges to house about 1,000 people seeking refuge in the UK.

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Covid inquiry legal challenge over WhatsApp messages to be heard ‘very soon’

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MPs told UK government’s attempt to avoid handing over evidence to inquiry had been ‘misinterpreted’

The high court will decide “very soon” whether ministers should be forced to hand over all unredacted files demanded by the Covid inquiry, MPs have been told.

In an attempt to allay concerns of a cover-up, the Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin faced down fractious MPs on Monday and denied there was any political involvement in the scrutiny of such material.

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No point in food price measures without targeting small stores, Which? warns

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Consumer group tells chancellor ‘blanket approach’ will not address poor households’ access to affordable food

UK ministers’ efforts to reduce soaring food shopping bills “won’t touch the sides” without measures to make small grocery stores more affordable for low-income households, the chancellor has been warned.

Which?, the consumer group, has written to Jeremy Hunt over concerns that a blanket approach to lowering supermarket bills will not address the problem of accessibility to affordable food, after reports that ministers are considering a voluntary price cap scheme.

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Blocking Jamie Driscoll as Labour’s mayoral candidate is ‘error’, says Unite

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Mayor of North of Tyne was told on Friday he is not on the longlist to be party’s candidate for North East

The Labour party’s decision to exclude a sitting Labour mayor from contesting a forthcoming mayoral contest has been described as a “major error” by Unite, the UK’s leading trade union.

Jamie Driscoll – often described as “the last Corbynista in power” since becoming the first mayor for North of Tyne since 2019 – learned on Friday that he had not made the longlist to be Labour’s mayoral candidate for the new north-east region.

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Search of Nicola Sturgeon’s home ‘proportionate and necessary’, says police chief

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Sir Iain Livingstone says move was not politically motivated and defends use of forensic tent outside house

Scotland’s chief constable, Sir Iain Livingstone, has said the decision to raid Nicola Sturgeon’s home in April and erect a large tent across the entrance was “proportionate and necessary.”

In an interview with the Sunday Times to mark his retirement, Livingstone denied that the move was politically motivated and said the search warrant was independently approved by a judge.

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Dua Lipa calls UK ministers’ comments on migrants ‘small-minded’

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The London-born singer of Kosovan-Albanian parents says the way Albanians have been discussed has ‘hurt’

Singer Dua Lipa has criticised the way ministers have discussed migrants as “shortsighted and small-minded”.

Lipa, born in London to Kosovan-Albanian parents, said the way the government has discussed Albanians caused her “hurt” as she called for “more empathy”.

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Boris Johnson is told legal advice funding would stop if he hinders Covid inquiry

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Cabinet Office lawyers warn ex-prime minister of consequences if he tries to ‘frustrate or undermine’ work of the investigation

Boris Johnson has been warned that he could lose public funding for legal advice if he tries to “frustrate or undermine” the government’s position on the Covid-19 inquiry.

Cabinet Office lawyers told the former prime minister that money would “cease to be available” if he breaks conditions such as releasing evidence without permission, the Sunday Times reported.

Johnson has been at the centre of a row as ministers launched a high court bid to challenge the inquiry’s demand for his unredacted WhatsApp messages and contemporaneous notebooks.

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Sunak under fire as ‘stupid’ Eat Out to Help Out scheme to be focus of Covid inquiry

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Leading scientist attacks prime minister as criticism mounts of government approach to science during the crisis

Rishi Sunak is facing a barrage of criticism in the run-up to the official Covid-19 inquiry as a leading scientist attacks his “spectacularly stupid” Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which is believed to have caused a sudden rise in cases of the virus.

The prime minister’s role as chancellor during the pandemic is under increasing scrutiny – as is that of his predecessor at No 10, Boris Johnson – in an escalating Covid blame game at Westminster as Lady Hallett prepares to open her investigation into the government’s pandemic response later this month.

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Labour needs an ‘honest debate’ about Brexit damage, union warns

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Unless Britain develops a closer relationship with the EU it will continue to haemorrhage investment and jobs, says the GMB

The leader of one of the country’s biggest unions has urged Labour to conduct an “honest debate” about the economic damage being caused to working people by Brexit, as evidence grows that it is fuelling inflation and driving jobs and investment abroad.

In an interview with the Observer, Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, which is one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, giving more than £1m a year, said politicians of all parties had been too afraid to admit the adverse consequences that leaving the EU was having on jobs and life in working communities.

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Woman sexually assaulted by MP condemns Labour’s complaints process

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Exclusive: Ms A’s comments come as another MP, Geraint Davies, faces allegations of sexual harassment

A woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a Labour MP has condemned the party’s complaints procedures as “fake” and “a political stunt” after the launch of a separate inquiry into claims against Geraint Davies.

The former member for Hartlepool, Mike Hill, was found by a tribunal last year to have victimised his former staff member, known as Ms A, after she spurned his advances. She said the party had initially ignored her complaints, then tried to cover them up, and had offered her little support during a four-year fight for justice.

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Train drivers’ 24-hour strike stops rail services in England

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About 40% of services expected to run on Saturday as 12,000 Aslef members hold second day of industrial action this week

Rail services across England have again come to a halt as 12,000 train drivers strike for the second time this week amid a long-running dispute with the operating companies over pay and conditions.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef are walking out for 24 hours on the majority of lines in England and some cross-border routes into Scotland and Wales, leaving only 40% of services running.

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Don’t Look Up director Adam McKay to triple donations to Just Stop Oil

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Hollywood director of climate crisis satire praised protestors for waking up ‘sleeping governments’ and will triple donations over weekend

The Hollywood director of Netflix film Don’t Look Up has pledged to triple donations to Just Stop Oil over the weekend, the group has said.

Adam McKay, who made the satire on the climate crisis as well as Step Brothers and The Big Short, said he stands with the protesters, praising them for waking up “sleeping governments”.

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