The Conservatives will again be seen as the “nasty party” unless they halt their furiously contested £4bn cuts to foreign aid, Ruth Davidson has warned.
The former Scottish Tory leader accused Boris Johnson of ducking a promised vote for MPs because he will lose it, amid a fresh push by Tory rebels to try to force a vote before the Commons enters its summer recess in less than three weeks’ time.
Meanwhile, despite praising Labour’s candidate Kim Leadbeater, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested that Sir Keir Starmer deserves the credit for the party’s narrow electoral victory in Batley and Spen, which – setting aside the Tories’ two recent victories in Copeland and Hartlepool – saw the largest swing to a governing party in a by-election for 39 years.
Ms Reeves’ defence of the Labour leader came as she unveiled her first major policy intervention – revealing a post-Brexit plan for the UK to “buy, make and sell” more in Britain, which she denied amounted to “slapping a Union Jack” on public procurement.
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Tory revolt threatens Rishi Sunak’s plans to slash £20-a-week from Universal Credit
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more on the Tory revolt facing the Chancellor over his plans to axe the £20 Universal Credit uplift.
He reports that the pressure – led by six former work and pensions secretaries – could see the government defeated on the controversy, with scores of ‘Red Wall’ MPs also deeply unhappy about reversing the increase, brought in when the pandemic struck.
Ministers had said recently that the £5bn cut will go ahead at the end of September as intended, rejecting warnings that thousands of families will be pushed into poverty as “purely speculative”.
The cut would hit six million households and push 200,000 more children below the breadline, the Child Poverty Action Group fears.
Homeowners to be given 15 years to sue rogue developers, housing secretary confirms
Homeowners are to be given 15 years – up from the current six – to take legal action against builders and developers who carry out “shoddy workmanship” on their properties, Robert Jenrick has confirmed
The housing secretary said the shift, reportedly included in the Building Safety Bill which is due out on Monday, came after a realisation that some household appliances have better guarantees on them than new homes.
But, as pointed out by Newsnight’s policy editor Lewis Goodall, many affected homeowners will be unable to afford any such legal action, regardless of whether the law permits it.
Speaking on the BBC earlier today, Mr Jenrick insisted that the “lion’s share” of the 469 buildings identified as fitted with dangerous cladding in the wake of the Grenfell tower tragedy would qualify under the 15-year retrospective law.
Rishi Sunak urged to make Universal Credit uplift permanent
Six former Conservative work and pension secretaries have spoken with “one voice” to urge Rishi Sunak to make permanent the pandemic-inspired £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit.
Former Tory leader and architect of Universal Credit and the Bedroom Tax, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, along with five of his successors – Stephen Crabb, Damian Green, David Gauke, Esther McVey and Amber Rudd – have penned a letter in a bid to persuade the Chancellor to stick with the £5bn benefits investment even after coronavirus restrictions have been eased.
The extra cash for benefit claimants was brought in as an emergency spending measure during the Covid crisis but is due to expire on 1 October, having already been extended for six months at the March Budget.
But Sir Iain warned that a failure to keep the uplift in place permanently would “damage living standards, health and opportunities” for those that “need our support most as we emerge from the pandemic”
Tories will be ‘nasty party’ again unless foreign aid cuts halted, Ruth Davidson warns
Ruth Davidson is warning Boris Johnson that the Conservatives will again be seen as the “nasty party” unless savage cuts to overseas aid are halted, our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports.
The “horrific pictures” of famine in Ethiopia will repel voters, the former Scottish Tory leader said – accusing the prime minister of ducking a promised Commons vote because he will lose it.
Tory Rebels are convinced they will, eventually, find a route to table an amendment to legislation – after the Commons Speaker demanded a vote – but the government is currently blocking a showdown.
Stop ‘unnecessary’ safety work on high-rise buildings ordered after Grenfell tragedy, Cabinet minister says
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has this report on Robert Jenrick’s announcement this morning that the government wishes to stop “unnecessary” safety work on high-rise buildings ordered in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.
The housing secretary said it was time to “instil proportionality” into the repairs programme, saying that “only three people” a year die in high-rise fires, adding: “You have a much greater chance of dying in a house or a bungalow than you do in an apartment.”
Boris Johnson ‘actively considering’ U-turn on foreign aid vote, report suggests
In an apparent bid to head off another amendment by Tory rebels, Boris Johnson may reportedly be about to U-turn on his rejection of a Commons vote on his deep and hotly contested cuts to foreign aid.
According to The Sunday Times, the prime minister is “actively considering” plans to allow MPs a binding vote on the £4bn cuts before parliament rises for the summer recess at the end of this month.
While he is yet to give his official view on the proposal, the paper reports that he has been advised to grant the vote.
“We did much worse than we thought we would do in Batley and Spen” one Tory grandee was quoted as saying. “It’s clear there are no votes to be won on this issue in the red wall seats and there is a feeling among colleagues that we are turning back into the ‘nasty party’.
“It’s not just the cut to aid, but the chumocracy claims and Hancock’s resignation, which all bundled together have an aroma of nastiness about them.”
Last month, Mr Johnson defied Speaker Lindsay Hoyle’s demands for MPs to be given a binding vote as he dismissed calls from Tory backbenchers, including Theresa May, for the government to meet its own promises on international aid as “lefty propaganda”.
Shadow chancellor denies by-election leaflet featuring PM and Narendra Modi was a ‘dog whistle’
Rachel Reeves has denied that a Labour leaflet featuring Boris Johnson and Indian premier Narendra Modi – widely considered to be hostile to Muslims in his country – was a “dog whistle” to Muslim voters in Batley and Spen.
“If you look at some of the actions by Boris Johnson, during the course of this pandemic, one of the things that stand out very sharply is the failure to close the borders properly to protect us from new variants of virus including the Delta variant,” the shadow chancellor told Sky News.
“Boris Johnson wanted his trade visit to India to get a trade deal, but he put at risk the vaccine rollout and allowed new variants to enter the country. That is not responsible, that is not acting in the national interest.”
She continued: “Labour called on the government to close down that border to protect the UK, long before the Prime Minister eventually woke up to the reality, the rising number of cases, and the risk to our successful vaccination programme.”
Tory Party co-chair Amanda Milling has called on Labour to apologise.
Health minister defends parliamentary pass for Gina Coladangelo
Lord Bethell has written to the House of Lords’ commissioner for standards to apparently pre-empt a Labour complaint over his sponsorship of a parliamentary pass for Gina Coladangelo, reportedly some 72 hours after he was appointed a parliamentary undersecretary at the Department of Health.
According to a copy of the letter posted to Twitter by The Sunday Times’ Gabriel Pogrund, the Tory peer said: “Gina Coladangelo provided me with unpaid parliamentary research support, helping me to draft speeches, engaging with stakeholders and assisting with my communications.”
The Independent’s senior football correspondent is currently among those on social media contrasting Priti Patel’s recent comments about the issue of fans booing England’s national football team for taking the knee with her show of support for their victory over Ukraine last night.
Labour’s economic plans ‘infused with fake patriotism’, expert suggests
Labour’s new “buy British” economic policies appear to sit within a UK political environment currently “insular and infused with fake patriotism”, according to one trade expert.
Noting that the plans are “in line with European and US fashion for economic intervention”, David Henig – the UK director of the European Centre for International Political Economy – suggested they “[play] into the continuing wrong narrative that the UK makes nothing” and “does nothing for most workers”.
He added: “I fear that is the UK politics for the time being – insular and infused with fake patriotism because for whatever reason we aren’t proud of what our economy actually produces, don’t want to talk about real trade and the EU, or questions of distribution.”
