Boris Johnson says no-confidence vote win ‘decisive’ despite mass Tory rebellion
In the wake of the damaging confidence vote on his leadership, Boris Johnson is expected to attempt to turn the political tide with a raft of policy announcements aimed at easing the housing crisis.
Days after 41 per cent of his own MPs voted to oust him, the prime minister will reportedly set out plans on Thursday to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants, and to allow people to use housing benefits to secure and pay a mortgage.
Mr Johnson was branded a “lame duck” prime minister as he faced MPs in the Commons for the first time since the vote on Monday night, with SNP leader Ian Blackford likening him to Monty Python’s Black Knight, who claimed fatal wounds were just flesh wounds, and saying: “It’s over, it’s done.”
But a defiant Mr Johnson claimed he had “picked up political opponents all over” because his government had “done some very big and very remarkable things which they didn’t necessarily approve of” – and joked that his political career had “barely begun”.
Labour MP among those criticising PM’s reported housing benefits plan
Shadow minister Jess Phillips is among those questioning how Boris Johnson’s reported policy to allow people to use housing benefits to pay their mortgates will work in reality, given that individuals with more than £16,000 in savings and investments do not qualify for the benefit.
“It’s almost as if Boris Johnson doesn’t do much benefits casework,” the Labour MP quipped.
And Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell tweeted:
Failure to consult government barrister on Brexit protocol plan is ‘unprecedented’, former minister says
MPs have expressed fury amid new fears the government plans to breach international law with plans to tear up the Northern Ireland protocol, Kate Devlin and Andrew Woodcock report.
Leaked correspondence today showed a senior legal adviser warned it could not be argued “credibly” that there was no alternative to unilaterally overriding Mr Johnson’s Brexit agreement.
Reports also emerged that Sir James Eadie, the government’s independent barrister on national legal issues, had not been consulted on whether the planned bill will break international law.
A former cabinet minister told The Independent that not asking Sir James’s opinion on such an important matter was “unprecedented”.
Allies warn Boris Johnson not to reward disloyalty by placating rebels
With rumours of a post-confidence vote reshuffle rife in Westminster, allies of Boris Johnson have warned him not to reward rebels who sought to end his premiership on Monday night.
One ministerial ally said: “Reach out to them? F**k off. What kind of message would that send?”
“There are only so many jobs in government. You cannot afford to reward disloyalty. For a start, it does not work. You don’t pull people over to your point of view that way. People don’t become more loyal when they join the government, but they can become less loyal when they leave it.
“And the message it sends would be terrible. That you reward those who are disloyal, who vote against you remaining prime minister? He should be rewarding loyalty instead, and there are a few people who do not appear to have been particularly loyal so far, which could create space.”
Another suggested there was no need to widen the cabinet because there was no alternative candidate to Mr Johnson, who could appeal to all sides of the party.
“Who is there who can appeal to hardline Brexiteers and those who backed remain better than Boris? I don’t see anyone stepping forward.”
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin and political editor Andrew Woodcock have the full story here:
PM to announce plans for people to use housing benefits to pay mortgages, reports suggest
Boris Johnson will reportedly seek to allow people to use their housing benefits to buy homes, as part of a set of policy announcements tomorrow aimed at easing the housing crisis.
The prime minister is expected to use a speech in Lancashire to announce plans to tear up rules stopping people from declaring the benefit as part of their income when applying for a mortgage and using it to make monthly payments.
One minister dubbed the policy “benefits to bricks” and claimed it would enable young people to pass mortgage lenders’ affordability checks, according to The Times.
Housing association homes sold under new scheme will be replaced, Michael Gove says
Shelter’s chief executive Dame Polly Neate has previously said Boris Johnson’s “hare-brained idea” to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants is “the opposite of what the country needs”, warning: “There could not be a worse time to sell off what remains of our last truly affordable social homes.”
Speaking to ITV News on Wednesday evening, housing minister Michael Gove appeared to suggest that Mr Johnson was committed to ensuring that new homes are built to replenish the stock of properties sold under the scheme.
“We both need to build more social housing and help people into ownership,” Mr Gove said. “When Conservative governments in the past were successful in extending home ownership, they were also building council and social homes as well – that’s what Winston Churchill did, that’s what Harold Macmillan did.
“We’ve got to get back to that and the prime minister is determined that we have a Churchill/Macmillan-style approach.”
The Times reports that Mr Gove is said to have secured an agreement that each home sold will be replaced by a new one.
Boris Johnson to confirm plans for ‘right to buy’ for housing association tenants
Boris Johnson is set to confirm plans to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants as he seeks to repair his fortunes after a Tory revolt against his leadership.
The prime minister will use a major speech in Lancashire tomorrow to announce new measures to potentially help millions onto the property ladder.
He will also commit to detail “reforms to help people cut costs in every area of household expenditure” over the coming weeks as he seeks to ease the impact of soaring prices.
Rishi Sunak ‘tells Tory MPs he will cut taxes when it is right to do so’
According to the Spectator’s deputy political editor Katy Balls, Rishi Sunak has spoken to Tory MPs this evening at a 1922 Committee meeting, which saw the chancellor receive “a decent reception” with “supportive questions”.
Mr Sunak is reported to have echoed Boris Johnson’s insistence earlier today that he wanted to cut tax, but only once he believes it a “responsible” time to do so, with the chancellor quoted as saying he would “never, on an act of blind faith, do them at the expense of the fundamental soundness of our economy or public finances”, adding that “tax cuts are the reward for a government that is prepared to make difficult choices elsewhere … I promise you we are”.
Giving their take on the meeting, one MP present told the magazine that the bulk of the party accepts the days of the magic money tree are over, with spending discipline and lower taxes described as vital going forward.
Opinion | If Boris Johnson wants to go down in a blaze of glory, he needs to do the unthinkable and resign
In her latest Independent Voices piece, our columnist Salma Shah suggests that Boris Johnson should “try going down in a blaze of glory and do the unthinkable”. She writes:
“Please don’t come at me with your tedious takes about how he’ll never do the honourable thing and leave his post. This is not a suggestion to lobotomise him in the hopes of changing the habits of a lifetime. Resigning would simply upend everyone’s assumptions and create enormous chaos, something he seems rather good at.
“The lack of an alternative leader has been a strong and plausible line of defence thus far. Why not put it to the test and see whether it stacks up? Could he reinvigorate his position by wrongfooting disgruntled backbenchers and take the fight to the wannabes? Would he risk it all to gain it back again? He’s got little to lose.”
You can read her thinking in full here:
UK plan to tear up Northern Ireland Protocol would be ‘historic low point,’ Irish PM warns
Here is more detail on the comments by Irish premier Micheal Martin to the European Parliament today, which have been labelled “tone deaf” by the DUP (see post at 6:14pm).
With Boris Johnson’s government expected to bring controversial legislation on the Northern Ireland Protocol within days, Mr Martin said: “I have said many times that there are solutions to practical problems under the protocol if there is a political will to find them.
“But that requires partnership. It requires the UK government to engage with good faith, seriousness, and commitment. Unilateral action to set aside a solemn agreement would be deeply damaging.
“It would mark a historic low point, signalling a disregard for essential principles of laws which are the foundation of international relations. And it would, quite literally, be to the benefit of absolutely no one.
“Without a spirit of partnership, there would have been no peace process in Northern Ireland.
“Without trust, without engagement, without a willingness to see things from the point of view of others, there would have been no Good Friday Agreement, no quarter-century of peace in Northern Ireland in which young people have been able to grow and to flourish as themselves.
“All of us in positions of leadership owe it to them not to treat lightly what was so hard-won.”
Liz Truss’s plans to override Brexit protocol are ‘agitator legislation’, unionist leader says
UK Government plans to override parts of the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland amount to “agitator legislation”, the Ulster Unionist Party leader has told a House of Lords committee.
Doug Beattie told the Lords sub-committee on the Northern Ireland Protocol that while the UK government plan would have a “detrimental” impact on relations with the European Union in the short-term, it might drive both sides back to the negotiating table.
Boris Johnson’s government has said it intends to use domestic law to override parts of the protocol, with a bill expected to be published in the coming days.
