Boris Johnson news – live: Buy Christmas food now, UK told as ministers call on German residents to drive HGVs

Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling political coverage. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates from Westminster.

Financier Malcolm Offord, who has gifted £147,500 to the Conservative Party, has been appointed as a junior minister at the Scotland Office.

Since he is not an elected official, he will be given a lifetime peerage so that he can assume the role.

The move has seen Boris Johnson accused of “rampant cronyism”, with Fiona Hyslop, an MSP for Linlithgow, noting the irony of Mr Offord’s recent failed bid to became an MSP.

“You have more chance becoming a Tory Scotland Office minister if you are rejected by voters in a Scottish election than elected by them,” she tweeted.

The Scottish Greens also hit out at the prime minister, with its MSP Gillian Mackay branding the decision “a disgrace,” reports Rory Sullivan.

Government departments have been accused, once again, of being dishonest when it comes to reporting meetings taken by senior government ministers.

The Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank said its analysis of data published between July 2015 and March 2021 relating to who ministers, civil servants and special advisers meet and hospitality received, showed that some departments are not meeting their transparency commitments.

IfG found the Foreign Office, Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to be the worst performers, citing instances of the wrong data being published, as well as incomplete and late data.

It said the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not publish any information on meetings held by ministers or officials between September 2020, when it was first set up through a merger, and September this year. And it said the Home Office has published the required data on senior officials’ meetings in just three of 23 quarters between the 2015 election and March 2021.

The Treasury described the purpose of five meetings held by its permanent secretary between July and September in 2018 only as “meeting”, according to the think-tank.

A report from IfG says: “Departments’ transparency releases on senior leaders are often late, of poor quality, and are sometimes difficult to find. Things have got worse during the pandemic, but performance was already patchy.”

The government is “continuing to work closely” with the pig industry amid an apparent shortage of butchers which could impact food supplies over Christmas, a report suggests.

Ministers are considering plans to ease visa restrictions for up to 1,000 foreign butchers, according to The Times, which added that home secretary Priti Patel had so far resisted the move to recruit non-UK workers.

A spokesman for the Department For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the PA news agency it was aware of labour shortages.

“We understand the importance of seasonal labour and we are aware of the challenges that the pig industry has faced in recent months because of the Covid-19 pandemic and labour shortages, and Defra has been working closely with the pig and processing sectors during this time,” he said.

The Times reported the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) said the industry is short about 15,000 workers, with has forced its members to just focus on keeping supermarkets stocked with basic cuts of meat.

A BMPA spokesperson was quoted as saying: “We really should have been producing Christmas food from about June or July onwards this year and so far we haven’t, so there’ll be shortages of party foods and things like pigs in blankets. Anything that is labour-intensive work could see shortages.”

It comes amid sustained disruptions to the UK economy, which have reportedly been bubbling away for months, including labour shortages, new immigration rules affecting HGV drivers, Brexit and the lingering effects of Covid.

Some commentary from a meat industry official now, who said he believes the UK is heading into an “acute welfare disaster very quickly” with the country facing a “mass cull of animals”.

Rob Mutimer, chairman of the National Pig Association, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the issue had gotten “very considerably worse over the last three weeks”.

Due to butcher shortages, he said pig farms of all sizes are running out of space to keep their animals “which is a real worry coming into winter”.

Asked what a culling situation would involve, he said: “It involves either shooting pigs on farm, or taking them to an abattoir, killing the animals, and actually disposing them in the skip at the other end of the chain. So these animals won’t go into the food chain. They will either be rendered, or if not, sent for incineration. So it’s an absolute travesty.”

Mr Mutimer added that his pigs are usually around 115kg when they go to slaughter, but are now getting up to around 140kg.

“The pens and the sheds and everything just weren’t designed for animals of this size and we’re really heading into an acute welfare disaster very quickly,” he said.

Carrie Johnson will give a speech about the importance of defending LGBT+ rights at the Conservative Party conference next week.

The prime minister’s wife will also be the guest of honour at the Pride reception at the conference in Manchester, prompting the LGBT+ Conservatives hailed Ms Johnson as both a “good sport” and a “longstanding ally” of campaigners, Adam Forrest reports.

“Carrie is a longstanding ally, and has always been a good sport to LGBT+ Conservatives,” said Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the group. “She even judged our virtual lip-sync last conference. We’re thrilled she’ll be joining us in person this year in Manchester.”

Ubder-18s will no longer be allowed to get Botox and dermal lip fillers for cosmetic reasons under a new law in England, it has been revealed.

The Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act, which was brought into force in England on Friday, means it will be illegal to administer the products to or book an appointment for those under 18, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The department said failure to comply “could result in a criminal prosecution and an unlimited fine” and added the law applies to those visiting from outside England or who have the permission of someone aged over 18.

Treatments can, however, still be approved by a medical practitioner to be carried out by a doctor, nurse, dentist or pharmacist on those under 18 with a clinical need.

Then health minister Nadine Dorries announced the law last month following a significant spike in the number of young people attempting to achieve a so-called “Instagram face”.

Ms Dorries, now the culture secretary, wrote in the Daily Mail on September 5: “No child needs cosmetic procedures unless for medical reasons. Their physical and mental development is not complete.”

An update on the ongoing fuel crisis now. A government minister has admitted shortages at petrol filling stations may persist for another “week or so”.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said there was still strong demand for fuel in some parts of the country and that Boris Johnson will have to review the situation if it deteriorates further.

“My latest briefing is that the situation is stabilising, that we are seeing more forecourts with a greater supply of fuel and hopefully that, as demand and supply come better into balance over the next few days – week or so – that we will see a return to normality,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s Today.

“I think if things started to deteriorate further, obviously the prime minister and the secretary of state for energy, whose responsibility this is, will have to review the situation.”

Turning to the tankers delivering fuel, Mr Malthouse said: “Obviously there only so many tankers that can be used to get this fuel around. They are trying their best to get around as fast as possible. There is co-ordination now across the country looking at where there are pockets of supply problems and demand strength and trying to bring the two into balance.”

Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick is “willing to change” and can lead reforms at the force, the policing minister has claimed.

The police chief is under intense pressure to resign after details emerged of serious failures in the build-up to Sarah Everard’s killing, saying the murder had brought “shame” on her force, writes Adam Forrest.

But policing minister Kit Malthouse defended the commissioner – saying she had “one of the top three most difficult jobs in the country” and remained the “right person for the job”.