The EU Commission is not open to renegotiating the Northern Ireland protocol, its vice-president has said.
Boris Johnson’s government continues to blame that section of the Withdrawal Agreement for trade friction between Great Britain and the territory.
“We will not renegotiate the protocol as the UK requested,” Maros Sefcovic told a virtual event on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the prime minister’s conference speech about his vision for a “high-wage economic revival” has been condemned as “economically illiterate” bluster by a leading think tank.
Amid severe staff shortages widely blamed on Brexit, Mr Johnson rebuked businesses for reaching for the “same old lever of uncontrolled immigration” and suggested British workers should be prioritised instead.
After he spoke to Tory delegates at the party’s conference in Manchester on Wednesday, the free market Adam Smith Institute criticised his words as “vacuous and economically illiterate”.
The organisation added that it was “reprehensible” for him to suggest that asylum-seekers make the country poorer. “This dog whistle shows that this government doesn’t care about pursuing evidence-based policies,” it said.
GoFundMe page set up for Tory MP after salary complaints
A GoFundMe page has been set up for a Tory MP who complained his salary was too low.
It has so far received £70 in donations.
Peter Bottomley MP recently told the New Statesman wants politicians’ pay to rise from £80,000 to £100,000.
The fundraising effort, set up in jest by Simon Harris, hopes to bridge this gap.
“Support this Tory MP struggling on £80k a year,” the page description reads.
“I am raising £20,000 for Sir Peter Bottomley who has courageously admitted that he is ‘struggling’ on the current MP’s salary of £80,000 per year,” it adds.
No return to school ‘bubbles’, education minister promises
There will be no return to the “bubble” system in schools, the education minister has said.
Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News: “I don’t want to return to bubbles. Because actually you saw the fall off in attendance which really does harm mental wellbeing, mental health of children.”
His comment comes after roughly 200,000 children missed classes last week due to Covid-19.
Minister’s karaoke song choice ‘insensitive’, claims Khan
It was “insensitive” of a minister to sing (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life as a cut to universal credit came into effect, the mayor of London has said.
Sadiq Khan spoke out after it emerged that work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey sang the ballad early on Wednesday in Manchester.
He said: “All of us are entitled to have a good time and let our hair down.
“There’s nothing wrong with going to karaoke and singing accordingly.
“I think it’s a bit insensitive to sing a song – having the time of your life – on the eve of these cuts.
“I’m hoping it was just an oversight, I’m hoping it’s nothing more than that. I’m hoping it’s not the Secretary of State deliberately being insensitive, and I think I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.”
A social worker can earn more than an MP, claims Tory politician
“A good social worker” can earn more than a politician, a Tory MP has complained.
Peter Bottomley, the longest-serving male MP, caused a backlash after he suggested that politician’s salaries were “desperately difficult” for some of his peers.
The Father of the House said he had not expected the New Statesman to run his comments.
However, he later told LBC he stood by them, adding that “a good teacher, a good social worker or a good trade union official” would be “significantly worse off” if they became a politician.
Shadow child poverty secretary Wes Streeting said he was “infuriated” by Mr Bottomley’s initial remarks, particularly since they coincided with the government’s cuts to universal credit, which experts predicts will cause tens of thousands of children to fall into poverty.
“This is my problem with the Tories – it’s not that they’re evil, bad people who go into work every day thinking ‘How can we plunge more kids into poverty?’ but, as Peter Bottomley‘s comments show, they just don’t know what life is like for a hell of a lot of people in this country and they make policies that are actively hurting people who are going out, working hard, trying to make the best for their family and are really struggling.”
Food bank users see little chance of ‘high wage’ economy
Boris Johnson promised yesterday to build a “high wage, high skill” Britain.
But food bank users see little chance of this happening.
Zoe Tidman heard the thoughts of a group at a food bank in south-west London:
Labour ‘better on business taxes’ than the government, says CBI boss
Labour is looking “better on business taxes” than the Conservatives, the head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said.
Speaking at a CBI-led event on Thursday, Tony Danker said: “The crisis we have is every single piece of business taxation seems to be going up and I don’t think that’s a great plan for growth.”
He also suggested that there was a “serious pressure on wages” as the labour market is as “hot as hell”.
His remarks come after Keir Starmer’s party promised to scrap “unpopular” business rates, while the government raised the national insurance levy.
Leader of Welsh opposition takes time off to recover from Covid
The leader of the Welsh Conservatives is taking time to recover from coronavirus, he has said.
In a statement, Andrew RT Davies, said: “As some of you are aware, over the past fortnight I’ve been fighting a dose of the flu and subsequently coronavirus.
“I’m starting to recover but I will admit it’s knocked me for six and has had an impact on my mental well-being.
“Like many men, I’ve always believed I had a shield of invincibility, and like many who have struggled, I’ve contemplated whether I should make this public.
“However, as a leader, I believe you should set an example and I want to be open and honest – in the good times and the bad – as I know many people have struggled and will do with their mental health.
Paul Davies will assume his duties during his absence.
Companies hike prices
Firms are increasingly passing on soaring costs to consumers as the supply chain crisis wreaks havoc across the economy, with official figures revealing that one in 10 firms has hiked prices.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said its latest business survey showed nearly a third of companies have faced a higher-than-normal increase in the cost of materials, goods and services – with construction, services and manufacturing firms the worst hit.
As firms battle against rising costs of everything from energy to staff wages, they are resorting to increasing price tags to consumers to weather the inflation pressures.
The latest ONS survey showed that 10% of businesses reported increasing the price of goods and services in early September – up from 8% in mid-August and 4% in late December.
Of these, nearly a quarter (23%) were retailers across the wholesale and consumer-facing sectors and 25% in the manufacturing industry.
Boris Johnson said this week inflation fears were “unfounded”.
EU Northern Ireland proposals ‘very far-reaching’
New proposals on the Northern Ireland Protocol proposed by the EU will focus on animal checks, customs, medicine supplies and providing a voice for Northern Irish representatives in the EU, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic has said.
“It’s a very simple proposal but from our perspective these would be really, I would say, very far-reaching proposals,” he said.
“I sincerely hope that it will be seen as such by our UK counterparts and they engage constructively in our discussion, because I think we have to move from the tough political rhetoric, from the threats we hear all the time, down to the business that actually solves the problems.”
He added: “We want Northern Ireland to benefit from the access to the biggest trading bloc in the world. We want to make sure that there will be no hard border.
“The protocol is not the problem. On the contrary, it is the only solution we have.
“Failing to apply it will not make problems disappear, but simply take away the tools to solve them.”
Supreme Court ruling ‘deals blow to SNP’s indyref2 plans’
Nicola Sturgeon’s aim of a second referendum on Scottish independence without consent from Westminster has been dealt a blow by a Supreme Court ruling stating that Holyrood overreached its powers by trying to introduce two new bills that were incompatible with UK law, according to unionist legal experts. Matt Mathers reports:
