Former PM says he will provide unredacted messages directly to the inquiry in letter to Lady Hallett
Earlier we reported on Boris Johnson’s willingness to provide unredacted WhatsApps to the Covid 19 inquiry directly.
In a letter to the chair on Friday, Johnson said: “I am not willing to let my material become a test case for others when I am perfectly content for the inquiry to see it.”
Continue reading...Former PM bypasses government’s attempts to keep unredacted communications secret
Boris Johnson has bypassed the government’s attempt to keep his unredacted WhatsApp messages secret by handing them over directly to the Covid inquiry.
In a move that will further frustrate Downing Street, the former prime minister circumvented the Cabinet Office, which is seeking to hold up the process by launching legal action.
Continue reading...Youssef Mikhaiel is at risk of forced removal to Egypt before he marries Sarah Bradley
A couple planning to marry soon could be forcibly separated by the Home Office because they are not cohabiting before their wedding.
Sarah Bradley, 29, a British digital marketing teacher, and Youssef Mikhaiel, 28, an Egyptian man who graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in aeronautical engineering, met in February 2022 through a Christian dating app.
Continue reading...Cabinet Office serves notice on inquiry chair at 4pm, the deadline she had set for it to hand over files
Ministers have launched an unprecedented high court attempt to avoid handing over Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries to the government-commissioned public inquiry into the handling of Covid.
In a move immediately condemned by bereaved families and opposition MPs, the Cabinet Office told the inquiry, headed by the retired judge Heather Hallett, that there were “important issues of principle” over passing on information that might not be relevant.
Continue reading...Officials acknowledge ‘genuine concerns’ in wake of MPs’ suspension over allegations of harassment
Female Labour staff are said to be fearful of using the party’s official complaints process, prompting concern among senior officials as a long-serving MP is suspended over allegations of sexual harassment.
Labour figures have acknowledged the “genuine concerns” of female colleagues, and have issued a “cast-iron commitment” to take any action necessary that will restore faith in the party’s processes.
Continue reading...Shadow ministers say green prosperity plan should pay for capital spending such as housing or transport infrastructure
Senior Labour figures are urging Keir Starmer to give the go-ahead to a series of infrastructure projects as part of the party’s £28bn green prosperity plan, even if they are not strictly environmental in nature.
Shadow cabinet ministers have asked the Labour leader and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to expand the fund’s green mission and use it to pay for a series of capital spending projects, such as housing or transport infrastructure.
Continue reading...The Russian businessman is the father of Evgeny Lebedev, who was given a peerage by Boris Johnson
Ukraine has imposed sanctions on Alexander Lebedev – the former KGB intelligence officer whose son Evgeny sits in the House of Lords – in connection with Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The national security and defence council in Kyiv imposed sanctions on Lebedev Sr last October. The decision – first reported by Tortoise media – emerged on Thursday and follows a decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Continue reading...Ex-partner of Lord Ashcroft’s son discharged gun at Henry Jemmott in 2021 as the pair drank together
The Canadian socialite and former partner of the son of the billionaire and Conservative party grandee Michael Ashcroft has been fined after killing a police officer in Belize.
Jasmine Hartin, 34, was ordered to pay £30,000 by the supreme court in Belize City for manslaughter by negligence. She must also undertake 300 hours of community service and film a video about the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions”.
Continue reading...Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting says the PM should ‘comply with the inquiry and do it today’
Here is a round-up of the day’s headlines so far:
The Labour party has accused Rishi Sunak of being “slippery” in the row over whether the government will hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and other documents to the Covid inquiry. The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has told Sky News the prime minister should “comply with the inquiry and do it today”.
The government has “absolutely nothing to hide” from the Covid inquiry and intends to be “absolutely transparent”, a cabinet minister has said, after Rishi Sunak faced accusations of attempting to cover up the actions of senior MPs during the pandemic. The Covid inquiry, led by the retired judge Heather Hallett, has used its powers to request unredacted notebooks, diaries and WhatApp correspondence between Boris Johnson and 40 senior government figures.
Labour’s plans to ban ex-ministers from lobbying the government for five years after leaving office are “encouraging” but need to go further, lobbyists have said. Along with the lobbying ban, the party is considering a five-point plan that would see former ministers fined for breaking lobbying rules and a new Integrity and Ethics Commission with the power to enforce standards across public life.
Rail services in parts of England have ground to a halt with the first of three train strikes this week taking place as the long-running dispute between the unions and the government over pay, jobs and conditions continues. A 24-hour strike by members of the driver’s union Aslef is under way and a further day of industrial action is planned for Saturday, the day of the FA Cup final.
Rishi Sunak should resurrect the help to buy scheme and lower national insurance in a bid to woo younger voters, a Tory MP has said. Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, said graduates under 40 should be paying a lower rate of tax as he claimed younger voters were more concerned with money than social issues.
Britain’s future is outside the EU, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said, as he promised to make Brexit work. Writing in the Daily Express newspaper, Starmer – who campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum – also said he would not be seeking a return to freedom of movement.
The British businessman Dale Vince is a “perfectly legitimate person” to take money from and his donations to Just Stop Oil do not change Labour’s position on the climate activist group, the shadow international trade secretary has said. Nick Thomas-Symonds said his party had been “extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil” and that Vince was perfectly entitled to “give money to other causes”, PA reported.
Keir Starmer has been told by trade union Unite that any plan to block new North Sea oil and gas developments must not leave workers “paying the price”. Unite, the party’s single biggest donor, told the Labour leader that such a move could risk a “repeat of the devastation” caused by the closure of coalmines, PA reported.
Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) could be scrapped if the UK government does not U-turn on its decision to exclude glass from the plans, Humza Yousaf has warned. The first minister said the Scottish government is looking at options on how the scheme can progress without damaging Scottish businesses, but if no alternative can be found, the proposals may not continue, PA has reported.
Continue reading...PM challenged as Cabinet Office battles to withhold Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages from Covid inquiry
Rishi Sunak has been accused of attempting to cover up the actions of ministers during the pandemic as the Cabinet Office intensified its battle to withhold Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages from the Covid inquiry.
The prime minister insisted his government has been cooperating with the investigation but is facing increasing calls from experts and MPs – with some coming from within his own party – to hand over evidence without redactions.
Continue reading...Statutory caps were brought in under Heath, now the government wants a voluntary store scheme to meet Sunak’s pledge to halve inflation
A cost-of-living crisis. Pressure on the government to step in to help hard-pressed consumers. Calls for supermarkets to cut prices on staple food items. Substitute Rishi Sunak for Ted Heath, step into a time capsule and journey back to Britain in 1972.
Let’s be clear: ministers are not considering imposing the sort of statutory price controls on a loaf of bread, a pint of milk or a bar of soap that were put in place half a century ago. Not now and not ever, according to Whitehall sources. But it has emerged that Sunak and his team are certainly not averse to the big supermarkets coming up with their own voluntary agreement to reduce the cost of the weekly shop.
Continue reading...Health secretary Steve Barclay not confirming when strategy to increase numbers of doctors and nurses will be published
NHS leaders have raised concerns about the delay to the long-awaited workforce plan, after the health secretary, Steve Barclay, refused to give a deadline for its publication amid rumours it is considered too costly.
The plan, which was expected to be published on Tuesday, appears to have been delayed, according to the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery.
Barclay blamed the pandemic and “various things that have been happening in recent years” for the delay during broadcast interviews over the weekend. He had previously promised that the plan to increase the number of doctors and nurses would be published before the next general election.
Cordery said the plan, which has already been postponed from last year and aims to fix the UK’s crumbling healthcare system by plugging chronic staff shortages, was needed “as quickly as possible”.
Highly skilled officers in England and Wales to be replaced by less qualified staff under MoJ proposals
Plans to disband specialist teams that deliver treatment courses for sex offenders have prompted fears public safety will be jeopardised.
Under the Ministry of Justice proposals, which are being fiercely resisted internally, behaviour programmes for a wide variety of offenders would be delivered by staff who are not fully qualified probation officers.
Continue reading...‘Equal pay generation’ of female workers abandoned by Tories, says Anneliese Dodds, who commissioned research
The so-called equal pay generation of female workers born near the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act are unlikely to see the gap close during their working lives, a Labour analysis has shown.
Research carried out for Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, calculated that such is the slow rate of change with equal pay for women in their 50s, the gender pay gap will not close before 2050 at the current trajectory.
Continue reading...After a year of walkouts and failed talks, the unions, ministers and operators are as far apart as ever
Almost a year since the first national rail strike was called, another series of stoppages loom. Passengers who have been spared the usual round of disruptive bank holiday engineering works this weekend won’t be so lucky in the second half of the half-term break. Strikes by drivers and crew will more or less wipe out services on Wednesday and Saturday, shred schedules on Friday, and add a bit of scattergun disruption in between.
This time in 2022, the mere prospect of the biggest rail strike in decades was causing consternation. Now, though, the latest guaranteed upheaval has not even produced a round of talks between unions and industry – let alone ministers – to try to head off the disruption.
Continue reading...The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk
Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.
A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Researchers analysed works run by nine water and sewerage companies in England and Wales
Eleven billion litres of raw sewage were discharged from a sample of 30 water company treatment works in one year, new research suggests.
The study aimed to reveal the volume of discharged effluent released from storm overflows by water firms. Companies are not forced to reveal the volume of raw sewage released during discharges. They are only required by regulators to provide data on the number of discharges and the length of time they lasted.
Continue reading...Policy was uncovered by defenders of two women repeatedly detained when trying to re-enter the UK
A secret Home Office policy to detain people with the right to live in the UK at air and seaports has been found to be unlawful in the high court.
The policy applied to those with unpaid NHS debts and was only uncovered through evidence gathered from charities and lawyers fighting the cases of two mothers who were repeatedly detained.
Continue reading...High inflation likely to push interest rates above 5% and force up mortgage and loan payments just ahead of election
Rishi Sunak has been warned the UK economy could be in recession next year as stubbornly high inflation pushes interest rates to more than 5% before the next general election.
Setting the stage for a further rise in borrowing costs on mortgages and loans for millions of households, economists predicted the Bank of England could be forced to drive Britain’s economy into a recession to tame inflation.
Continue reading...Family say couple were not offered support to evacuate despite living near British embassy in Khartoum
An 85-year-old British citizen was shot by snipers and his wife died of starvation after they were left behind in Sudan, their family has said.
Abdalla Sholgami, who owns a hotel in London, lived with his 80-year-old wife, Alaweya Rishwan, who is disabled, close to the UK’s diplomatic base in Khartoum, the BBC said.
Continue reading...