Category Archives: Politics

Government ‘pushing universities out of teacher training’ over leftwing politics

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Higher education leaders say ministers think departments are full of ‘Marxists’, as top universities fail accreditation process

Leaders in higher education said this week they believed the government was trying to push universities out of teacher training for political reasons because ministers thought their education departments were “hotbeds of leftwing intellectualism” and full of “Marxists”.

Under changes announced last summer, all initial teacher training providers in England must be re-accredited by the Department for Education to continue educating teachers from 2024. However, two-thirds of providers, including some top universities, were told this month that they had failed the first round of the new accreditation process. The DfE said last week that just 80 providers, out of 216 who are understood to have applied, had made the cut.

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‘We’re going to lose, we deserve it’ – the view from inside the Tory party

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Senior Conservatives fear that, whether the PM stays or goes, the opinion poll deficit is not now recoverable

It’s supposed to be make-up-your-mind time for Conservative MPs. But having waited six months for Sue Gray’s report into law-breaking parties across Westminster, many are still grappling with whether to clear Boris Johnson’s path to the next general election – or oust the man who won them an 80-seat majority.

What is already clear is that boastful proclamations from Johnson’s supporters this week claiming the prime minister’s position was safe have proved premature.

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Boris Johnson confident Tory MPs back him to survive as party leader and prime minister – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. Boris Johnson changes ministerial code to axe need to resign for rule breaches

The Conservative MP Paul Holmes, who represents Eastleigh, has announced that he is resigning as a parliamentary private secretary in response to the revelations in the Sue Gray report.

Holmes, who was elected in 2019, was PPS to Priti Patel, the home secretary. A PPS – an unpaid ministerial “bag carrier” – is not a member of the government, but is considered part of the “payroll vote” and obliged to support the government in all divisions. Being a PPS is normally a stepping stone towards becoming a minister.

Revelations from the Sue Gray report that staff and cleaners were not treated properly is both disappointing and unacceptable. It is right that the prime minister apologised to staff. It clearly showed a culture in No 10 that was distasteful, and I am glad that there have been several reforms that Sue Gray has welcomed.

It is clear to me that a deep mistrust in both the government and the Conservative party has been created by these events, something that pains me personally as someone who always tries to represent Eastleigh and its people with integrity. Whether that is taking up your issues in parliament or helping people with their problems closer to home, since 2019 we have completed over 12,000 pieces of constituency casework. It is distressing to me that this work on your behalf has been tarnished by the toxic culture that seemed to have permeated No 10.

I’m not going to pretend that this is going to fix everything for everybody immediately. There are still going to be pressures. But it’s a very, very substantial commitment by the government to getting us through what will be, I’m afraid, still a bumpy time with the increase in energy prices around the world.

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Boris Johnson calls for Ukraine to be sent more long-range rocket systems

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Prime minister says MLRS rockets can help embattled forces but stops short of UK offering M270 system

Boris Johnson has said Ukraine should be supplied with long-range multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to help Kyiv’s embattled forces prevent Russian invaders from gaining ground in the Donbas.

But the prime minister stopped short of committing the UK to sending the powerful M270 rocket system, which Kyiv has been pleading for from Britain, the US and other Nato members for several weeks.

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Boris Johnson changes ministerial code to avoid need to resign over breaches

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New rules say ministers can apologise or temporarily lose pay for breaking code, which PM is accused of doing

Boris Johnson is changing the rules to let ministers avoid resigning if they break the ministerial code, allowing them to apologise or temporarily lose their pay instead.

The prime minister, who is facing claims of breaching the code, published a policy statement on Friday saying it is “disproportionate to expect that any breach, however minor, should lead automatically to resignation or dismissal”.

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Sunak U-turns on ‘energy profits levy’ in £15bn cost of living package

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Chancellor’s measures, including tax on oil and gas companies, criticised as too late and a ‘drop in the ocean’

Rishi Sunak bowed to months of pressure over the cost of living crisis with a £15bn package of support, part-funded by executing a remarkable U-turn to impose a windfall tax on energy companies.

Announcing the measures on Thursday, in a bruising week for the government, the chancellor said his “significant set of interventions” would help the poorest in society – with a one-off £650 payment for 8 million families on means-tested benefits, alongside an extra £200 for all energy bill payers that will not have to be repaid.

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More Tory MPs call for PM to go as No 10 tries to limit Partygate report fallout

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Boris Johnson’s allies rally to his defence as one former minister says he ‘will not defend the indefensible’

Four more Conservative MPs called for Boris Johnson to resign on Thursday over lockdown-breaking parties, as Downing Street sought to contain the political aftermath of the Sue Gray report.

The prime minister’s allies reiterated the defence that his attendance at a series of gatherings for departing staff was permitted as work duties. His official spokesman argued that Covid guidelines did not specifically rule out leaving drinks.

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Partygate: more Tory MPs call on Boris Johnson to resign after Sue Gray report – UK politics live

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Government attempt to move on with cost of living announcement undermined as three backbenchers say PM should go

Speaking on Times Radio this morning Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, repeated the point he made on the Today programme about the need for the cost of living support package to be targeted at those most in need. (See 9.25am.) He also said Rishi Sunak should ensure that his measures were not inflationary. He said:

There’s a very strong case for giveaways to help those who are struggling most. But if you’re going to do that, because of the dangers associated with inflation, there’s a case for tax rises elsewhere so that there isn’t significant additional money swirling around in the economy.

Now we do have some tax rises coming in this year, so the chancellor is already taking some money out of the economy. But I think he does need to think quite hard about that balance and the risks associated with inflation. What you generally don’t want to do in the face of lots of inflation is chuck lots more money at the economy.

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CPS guidance ‘makes things worse’ for rape survivors, victims’ commissioner says

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Vera Baird calls for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in Australia

New guidance designed to give rape victims confidence to get therapy before their trial “makes things worse” for survivors and lessened their protections, according to the victims’ commissioner, Vera Baird.

The guidance issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aims to “alleviate victim concerns that accessing counselling could damage the prosecution case,” but Baird echoed concerns from campaign groups that they, in fact, reduce protections and called for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in Australia.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Rishi Sunak to announce windfall tax on energy firms

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One-off levy to fund support package amid cost of living crisis which could include increase in benefits

Rishi Sunak will push the button on a controversial windfall tax on energy companies on Thursday, as he lays out measures to ease the pain of rising household bills.

The chancellor has confirmed speculation he will announce fresh support for Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis. The measures are expected to help the poorest households as rampant inflation pushes up the price of everything from food to fuel.

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Partygate live: Boris Johnson says no plan to resign over Sue Gray report despite Tory MP calling for him to step down

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Prime minister feels it is his ‘job to get on with my job’ despite report detailing major leadership failures at No 10

This is from Nikki da Costa, a former director of legislative affairs at No 10, speaking up on civil servants whose reputations, she fears, will be tainted by the Sue Gray report.

Tom Harwood from GB News is now also saying the report has arrived in Downing Street. It is 37 pages long, he says.

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Tory MPs suspect cover-up over ‘Abba party’ in Boris Johnson’s flat

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Frontbencher says PM ‘getting away lightly’ after Sue Gray says she did not fully investigate alcohol-fuelled gathering

Conservative MPs fear a “cover-up” over potentially the most damaging event of the Partygate scandal after Sue Gray admitted she did not fully investigate an alcohol-fuelled gathering in the flat shared by the prime minister and his wife.

The six-month inquiry concluded with an acknowledgment from Gray that little was known about what took place in the flat above 11 Downing Street on 13 November 2020, with food, alcohol and loud Abba music reported.

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Nurse fined £10k over NHS pay protest in lockdown wins compensation

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Greater Manchester police agree to withdraw penalty notices issued to two nurses for socially distanced protest in March 2021

Two NHS nurses have won compensation from Greater Manchester police (GMP) after being fined over a socially distant protest about NHS pay during lockdown.

Karen Reissmann, a 61-year-old mental health nurse who worked throughout the pandemic, received a £10,000 fixed penalty notice for organising the protest on 7 March 2021 over the government’s proposed 1% pay rise for NHS workers.

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Tory MPs’ staff tell Boris Johnson abuse is treated as ‘mere gossip’ in parliament

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Exclusive: Letter urges PM and party to do more to tackle sexual abuse, harassment and bullying

Serious sexual abuse, harassment and bullying accusations made against MPs are treated as “mere gossip”, dozens of Conservative staffers have said, as they urged Boris Johnson and party HQ to do more to tackle the problem.

The group of staff working for Tory MPs said “behaviour committed by a few individuals but tolerated by others has stained the reputation” of parliament.

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‘The fear still lives with me’: three years at mercy of the hostile environment

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After an error on a visa application form, Sarah slipped into immigration limbo

Six years ago, when she was 24, Sarah received an unexpected letter from the Home Office telling her she faced arrest and removal from the UK within seven days. She was so terrified that she climbed out of the back window of the house where she was living, taking her seven-year-old son with her, and they became homeless.

Sarah, who asked for her real name not to be published, had been in the UK since she arrived in 1994 as a two-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She had attended primary and secondary school in the UK and was working and paying taxes in London, but her uncertain immigration status had not been resolved when she was a child. As an adult she was required every three years to pay fees of about £1,000 to apply for visas that would allow her to remain. An error on her 2016 application form meant the visa was refused, but the fees were not refunded and she could not afford to reapply, and she slipped into immigration limbo. Even now, 28 years after arriving in the UK, she is still battling to get British citizenship.

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Six in 10 people in UK believe government ‘ignores rules’

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People in the UK and Poland rated their governments worst on matters of trust and legitimacy in an EU-funded study

People in the UK are more likely than those in other European countries to say that their government ignores rules, according to a large six-state survey, with ‘Partygate’ probably to blame.

The EU-funded study found that 62% of people in the UK think their government ignores rules and procedures, compared with an average of 44% and well above the next highest, Poland (50%), where the administration has been accused of authoritarianism.

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Rwanda plan challenged over alleged failure to identify risks for LGBTQ+ refugees

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Pre-action letter questions Home Office claims that east African country is ‘generally safe’

Priti Patel’s plan to send refugees on a one-way ticket to Rwanda is being legally challenged over the government’s alleged failure to identify risks facing vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+ people.

A pre-action letter sent to the Home Office on behalf of the pressure group Freedom from Torture questions government claims that the east African state is “generally a safe country” for refugees.

The government’s claim that Rwanda is “generally” a “safe third country” is irrational.

It relies upon apparent pre-determination or bias.

The home secretary has breached her duty not to induce breaches of the European convention on human rights by her agents.

Removing asylum seekers to Rwanda is beyond Patel’s legal authority because it is contrary to the refugee convention.

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Shapps refuses to deny Johnson suggested Sue Gray abandon publication of her report – UK politics live

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Latest updates: Grant Shapps, transport secretary, does not deny Times report as row grows over further Partygate photos

At cabinet this morning Boris Johnson praised Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, for helping people get back into work. Johnson believes work is the best route out of poverty and, with unemployment at its lowest level for almost 50 years, he is using this as part of his attempt to show there is a Tory response to the cost of living crisis.

According to PA Media, Johnson opened cabinet by saying:

I want to give a special shout out to Thérèse Coffey, the secretary of state for DWP, because under her plans, the Way To Work scheme, since we launched it this year it has got 380,000 people off welfare and into work. That’s the way forward.

I want to see people not on benefits, I want to see them in work - that’s the Conservative answer and that is the answer we are offering to the people of this country.

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Rishi Sunak reportedly considering windfall tax on electricity generators

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Levy could be extended beyond oil and gas producers to help households in cost of living crisis

Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering imposing a wider windfall tax on electricity generators, as well as on oil and gas producers, that could bring in billions of pounds to help households struggling with soaring food and energy costs.

The chancellor has instructed Treasury officials to work on plans for a potential tax on more than £10bn of excess profits made by electricity generators, including windfarm operators, according to sources cited by the Financial Times.

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Partygate: Boris Johnson under pressure to explain meeting with Sue Gray

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Prime minister met Gray in run-up to long-awaited report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street

Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure to explain a meeting with Sue Gray before her report into lockdown breaches in Downing Street, after a cabinet minister declined to deny he had queried whether it should be published.

The report, which is expected to be handed to No 10 on Wednesday, is said by sources to be deeply critical of the prime minister and senior civil service leadership over the culture that developed in No 10 and eventually led the Metropolitan police to issue 126 fines.

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