Senior Conservatives will stage a Commons showdown in a last-gasp bid to force ministers to rethink the looming reversal of the £20-a-week universal credit uplift, tabling an amendment to block the annual uprating of pensions unless funds are diverted to stop the cut.
Elsewhere, ministers are eyeing a post-Brexit return to imperial measurements, with shops to be again allowed to sell products in pounds and ounces only, some 55 years after the UK first moved to adopt the metric system. Other new “freedoms” contained under the proposals are plans to permit the voluntary printing of the crown stamp on pint glasses and the introduction of digital driving licences.
It came as former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King warned Brexit will ultimately have a bigger impact on the food and drink industry – which he described as “mid-crisis” – than the Covid pandemic, suggesting that rising prices and the supply chain woes currently triggering shortages as are part of “the new normal.”
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s new Cabinet met for the first time on Friday morning following the reshuffle. The prime minister is reported to have told them to “spit out the orange peel” in a rugby-themed “half-time pep talk” and joked about having seen a lot of delivery rooms, appearing to compare the “delivery” of his government’s agenda with the “superhuman effort” of giving birth.
Responding to our chief political commentator’s analysis that Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey is “needlessly giving up bargaining power” by ruling out a pact with the Tories likely years ahead of an election, The Mirror’s Whitehall correspondent recalls a similar statement made by Nick Clegg.
Read John Rentoul’s analysis here:
Voices: Imperial weights and measures – what next, stone tablets in the classroom?
In response to the news that the government plans to remove EU laws stating goods cannot only be priced in pounds and ounces, Victoria Richards, senior commissioning editor for Independent Voices, writes:
“At last, a way to bring joy to the people after the past 18 months of pandemic hell; a way to really make them smile. Forget empty supermarket shelves, lorry driver shortages, unemployment and the continued health crisis, and let’s focus on what really matters: the imperial system!
“Give the people what they want, what they demand, what they’ve not been able to sleep for thinking about – a proper set of scales and the crown stamp on a pint glass! There. We can all breathe easy now.”
Gove’s delay to planning reforms ‘will mean more young people in overpriced rented homes’
Michael Gove’s decision to review a radical overhaul of the planning system has been greeted with horror by campaigners for affordable housing, who warn that delays in removing obstacles to home-building will consign ever more young people to overpriced rented homes.
But the pause was welcomed by countryside campaigners as a chance to make a “fresh start” after the fury sparked by the “deeply unpopular” proposals drawn up by Mr Gove’s predecessor. Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:
Michael Gove to consult Tory backbenchers over paused planning reforms
In one of his first moves as the government’s new housing secretary, Michael Gove is expected to pause his predecessor’s “radical” overhaul of the planning system in order to consult with critics on the Tory backbenches.
It was reported last week that Robert Jenrick had decided to water down proposals to scrap the planning application process and replace it with a zonal system, denoting land either “for growth, for renewal or for protection”, which he insisted would “provide secure housing for the vulnerable, bridge the generational divide and recreate an ownership society”.
It followed Tory concerns that the proposed reforms played a role in the party’s shock defeat at the hands of the Liberal Democrats in the Chesham and Amersham by-election in June, described by then Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling as a “warning shot” from voters.
Tory rebels seek to hijack formality vote on pensions to force halt to universal credit cut
As promised earlier, our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more on the last-ditch Tory bid to stop the looming cut to universal credit:
MPs have tabled an amendment to the annual uprating of pensions, which would block the increase unless funds are diverted to stop the benefit reduction.
A defeat would not bind the government to abandon the cut – but Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green, who are behind the move, hope it would nevertheless force ministers to act.
The vote on Monday is crucial, to uprate pensions and other benefits next April, and is normally considered a formality with little drama. The amendment would prevent that uprating going ahead if they can persuade more than about 40 fellow Tories back them – a formidable task.
Read more details on what is currently our headline story here:
UK and UAE strike deal to target people financing terrorism
The UK and the UAE have struck a deal to target people financing terrorists and serious organised crime gangs, with the agreement signed by Priti Patel and her counterpart Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh billed as the first of its kind.
The pact will work to identify and stop transfers of dirty money by “enhancing intelligence sharing” and carrying out joint operations between the two countries, the Home Office said, focusing on “high risk sectors” like dealers of precious metals and real-estate, and looking into cryptocurrencies.
The home secretary said the agreement “bolsters both our countries’ efforts in going after the terrorists and serious and organised crime gangs that seek to do us harm”.
Downing Street has announced a slew of junior ministerial appointments as Boris Johnson continues to rearrange his frontbench.
James Cartlidge has been appointed parliamentary under secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice and as an assistant government whip.
Tom Pursglove has been handed the job of parliamentary under secretary of state jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice while former nurse Maria Caulfield takes up the same position at the Department of Health and Social Care.
David Rutley has taken up a position as junior minister at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is hosting the G7 Speakers summit this weekend.
It will take place in Astley Hall near Chorley, where he has been MP since 1997.
ICYMI: Boris Johnson jokes he has as many children as Jacob Rees-Mogg, in first meeting of new Cabinet
Boris Johnson joked about the number of children he has, at the first meeting of his new cabinet – suggesting he has as many as Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The prime minister has consistently refused to confirm he has a second child out of wedlock, which would mean he has 7 and will reach 8 when his pregnant wife Carrie gives birth.
Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has more details below:
Full report: Rabb and Truss in row over home secretary’s grace and favour country house
A row has broken out at the top of Boris Johnson’s reshuffled cabinet over who should have access to the elegant Chevening country house in Kent.
The 17th-century manor is traditionally used as the country retreat for the foreign secretary, in a similar way to the prime minister’s Chequers getaway in Buckinghamshire.
Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports:
