Category Archives: Grant Shapps

UK politics: Boris Johnson grilled by MPs at liaison committee – live

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Latest updates: the PM is facing questions at the liaison committee, which is comprised of the chairs of the Commons select committees

Betts asks Harrington how many people have actually arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Harrington says it is too early to say, but he says he may be able to tell the committee at the end of the week.

Harrington said that he agreed it took too long to fill in a visa application form. He said at the weekend he spent just under under an hour filling out one out himself, and he was in a more comfortable situation than the refugees who have to fill them out. He said the government was looking at what it can do to make the forms shorter.

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Benefit rises will take 18 months to catch up with inflation, OBR chair tells MPs – UK politics live

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Latest updates: warning comes as chancellor is to face Commons Treasury committee this afternoon amid criticism over his spring statement

Q: Is it right for trans women to be able to compete in women’s sports?

Starmer says that should be a matter for the sporting authorities.

I spent a lot of my working life dealing with violence against women and girls first-hand, and I know from that experience, just how important it is to fight for women and fight for equality.

We have had legislation in this country which makes it clear that in some circumstances, particularly at the moment under the law when you’ve gone through a process, you can be recognised in the gender of your choosing, that’s been the position for over a decade now ...

But I equally - I want to be really clear about this - I am an advocate of safe spaces for women.

I don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone in the long run.

What I want to see is a reform of the law as it is, but I am also an advocate of safe spaces for women and I want to have a discussion that is ... anybody who genuinely wants to find a way through this, I want to discuss that with, and I do find that too many people - in my view - retreat or hold a position of which is intolerant of others.

Of course there are circumstances and anybody who insults family members excites something quite emotional in all of us.

But, on the other hand, to go up and hit someone in that way is wrong, I’m afraid. It was the wrong thing to do.

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Grant Shapps urges P&O Ferries to U-turn on sacking of 800 workers

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The transport secretary is expected to close loopholes to ensure ferry companies pay the UK minimum wage

Grant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to “ratchet up the fight” after a weekend of protests.

The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage.

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UK grounds plane ahead of inquiry into possible Russian links

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Aircraft owned, operated or chartered by anyone connected with Russia are banned from flying to and landing in UK

UK authorities have grounded another plane to investigate possible links with Russia, the transport secretary has announced.

Russian airlines and private jets are prohibited from landing in the UK and it is a criminal offence for any Russian aircraft to fly or land in the UK.

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P&O Ferries told it could face unlimited fine if sackings unlawful

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Business secretary suggests company appears not to have followed processes for large-scale redundancies

The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has warned P&O Ferries it could face an unlimited fine if its summary sacking of 800 British staff is found to have breached the law, as protests against the company’s actions took place at ports across the country.

Writing to the company on Friday, Kwarteng said he wanted to express, “in the strongest possible terms, the UK government’s anger and disappointment”.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg says Ukraine war shows Partygate scandal was just ‘fluff’ – as it happened

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Brexit opportunities minister says people will find Partygate scandal ‘fundamentally trivial’ in the context of war in Ukraine. This live blog has now closed.

“I think people respect honesty,” says Rishi Sunak. A few weeks ago this would have been seen as an obvious dig at Sunak’s boss, but it did not sound like that today. He was talking about Treasury policy in the early days of the Covid pandemic, and how he felt it was important to admit that government policy would not be able to save all jobs.

Now he’s talking about the family dog. He was oppoosed to getting a puppy for a long time, he says, but when he became chancellor, he was spending so much time at work that he lost the moral authority to say no.

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UK politics live: Truss warns of ‘some economic hardship’ as she gives more detail of Russian sanctions

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Truss says officials ‘working through the night’ to draw up sanctions against oligarchs; Kwasi Kwarteng in Commons on economic crime bill

In a thread on Twitter, Rob Ford, the politics professor and co-author of Brexitland, a book explaining the attitudinal shifts (including on immigration) that led to Brexit, says that the public may be much more supportive of opening the borders to Ukrainian refugees than people (like Priti Patel?) assume. It starts here.

And here is one of Ford’s conclusions.

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Minister vows to close ‘loophole’ after court clears Colston statue topplers

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Grant Shapps leads calls to change law limiting prosecution of people who damage memorials

Britain is not a country where “destroying public property can ever be acceptable”, a cabinet minister has said, as Conservative MPs vented their frustration at four people being cleared of tearing down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said the law would be changed to close a “potential loophole” limiting the prosecution of people who damage memorials as part of the police, crime, sentencing and courts (PCSC) bill.

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‘We are sick of double speak’: French government intensifies attack on Johnson over Channel tragedy – live

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Latest updates: Macron slams Boris Johnson for trying to negotiate with him via Twitter as it cancels talks with UK officials over Channel crossings

The French government has accused Boris Johnson of “double speak”. In a briefing, the French government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, said that the proposal in Johnson’s letter to Emmanuel Macron for France to take back people who successfully cross the Channel on small boats was “clearly not what we need to solve this problem”.

According to PA Media, Attal also said that the letter doesn’t correspond at all” with the discussions Johnson and Macron had when they spoke on Wednesday. Atta went on: “We are sick of double speak.”

What would be completely unacceptable, a stain on our country and a scandal would be to see in future those whose parents have died being placed in inappropriate institutions, in elderly care homes or mental health institutions.

That would be something that I think would bring shame to our country as well as an utterly inappropriate lifestyle for those to whom we should be giving the best possible care.

This is not a bill about a condition, it is not about dealing with Down’s syndrome, it is about people who deserve the same ability to demand the best health, education and care as the rest of our society.

It is not on our part an act of charity, it is an act of empowerment and the recognition that all members of our society must have a right to respect, independence and dignity. That is why I brought this bill forward.

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Emergency Brexit powers for lorry queues to be made permanent

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Exclusive: ministers to make traffic provisions indefinite in expectation of further cross-Channel disruption

Emergency powers to handle post-Brexit queues of lorries heading for France are being made permanent, signalling the government expects further cross-Channel disruption.

Operation Brock, a traffic management system designed to cope with queues of up to 13,000 lorries heading for mainland Europe across Kent, was meant to end by October 2021, after being extended once when the Brexit transition period ended in December 2020.

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UK tightens borders and travel rules as variants spark new alarm

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PHE data indicates dominant variant ‘more likely to cause serious illness’ as Grant Shapps warns of threat to reopening on 21 June

Ministers have moved to tighten Britain’s borders as new data suggests the Delta coronavirus variant is much more likely to cause serious illness and is circulating more rapidly within schools.

With England’s reopening on 21 June hanging in the balance, the government removed Portugal from the green list of countries and added seven more countries to the red list – moves that provoked fury within the travel industry and left many holidaymakers in limbo.

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‘Safety first’: Grant Shapps on Portugal’s removal from travel ‘green list’ – video

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Portugal has been removed from the government’s ‘green list’ of destinations from which people can return to England without having to quarantine, and no extra countries have been added.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, raised concerns of a new coronavirus mutation and rising cases in Portugal, adding the UK had to put ‘safety first’ ahead of a national reopening on 21 June

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Covid travel rules: ‘green list’ of destinations announced for England – video

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Turkey, Maldives and Nepal are expected to be added to a red list while Israel will be among the green list countries, the UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced.

Popular travel destinations France and Spain were not included in the green list announced on Friday, but Shapps assured there would be a review every three weeks.

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England puts 12 destinations on Covid ‘green list’ for trips from 17 May

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Destinations on green list include Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Brunei and Israel

Portugal and Israel are among a dozen countries which have been placed on England’s first ever “green list”, allowing people to go abroad from 17 May and return home without the need to quarantine.

Announcing the first easing of tight restrictions on foreign travel in months, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said people would soon be able to book foreign holidays and make trips to see friends or relatives living overseas. He also announced plans to make digital vaccine passports available.

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Grant Shapps: NHS app will be Covid ‘vaccine passport’ for foreign travel – video

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International travellers will be asked to demonstrate their Covid vaccination and testing status using the NHS smartphone app, the UK government has confirmed, as the transport secretary promised to release a list of possible holiday destinations within a fortnight.

Grant Shapps said work had started on developing the app many people use to book appointments with their GPs so that it can show whether they have been vaccinated and tested for the virus 

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UK Covid live: No 10 says MPs won’t vote on 10-year sentences for travel ban cheats because law already in place

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Latest updates: PM says people will have to ‘get used to the idea of vaccinating, and then re-vaccinating in the autumn’

The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. Jessica Elgot and John Crace look at why the latest coronavirus travel restrictions might not work the way the government expects, as well as Robert Jenrick’s latest announcement on cladding funds. Plus, Helen Davidson and Jon Henley on how the world sees the UK’s Covid response.

Related: Hotel quarantine – too little too late? Politics Weekly podcast

As HuffPost’s Paul Waugh reports, at the lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman had difficulty justifying some of the work done by the three taxpayer-funded photographers now working from Downing Street.

Asked why the taxpayer should fund ‘vanity’ photographers who took these pix of the PM’s dog playing in the snow, No.10 spokesperson suggests Dilyn works for govt: “These photographers document the work of the government, as well as the work inside Number 10.” pic.twitter.com/UgdDF2Tdrp

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Eurostar warns of ‘risk to survival’ without government help

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The cross-Channel train service has seen a 95% fall in passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic

Eurostar has said it is facing an existential threat, as business leaders pleaded with the government to step in and save the “vital link” with Europe.

A 95% drop in passenger numbers has brought the cross-Channel train service to its knees, and the company reiterated on Sunday that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail had also been severely affected by the pandemic.

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Fears Covid vaccines would not work against South Africa variant led to travel curbs

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Minister says extra check on travellers introduced as ‘we simply cannot take chances’

Fears that Covid vaccines will not work against the new South African strain of the virus have prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland from abroad, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.

Outlining the new testing regime for England and Scotland, he told Sky News: “This is an extra check and we’re doing this now because there are these variants that we’re very keen to keep out of the country, like the South African variant, for example.

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France travel ban will not have major impact food imports in short term, says Grant Shapps – video

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France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain came as a surprise, the UK transport secretary has admitted, amid expected chaos at British ports. But Grant Shapps said the disruption would not cause food and medicine shortages in the short term because other freight routes remain available

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France’s ban on UK transport came as surprise, says Grant Shapps

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Transport secretary says UK aims to resolve issue ‘as soon as possible’ amid fears over new Covid strain

France’s 48-hour ban on freight hauliers from Britain was “surprising”, the UK transport secretary has said, amid expected chaos at British ports.

Although Grant Shapps said the disruption was not a “specific problem” in regards to food and medicine shortages in the short term, the government’s aim was to “get this resolved as soon as possible”.

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