The head of the TUC, which has organised thousands of people to rally against the cost-of-living crisis, has warned the prime minister not to put responsibility for it on workers.
“Let me say this to Boris Johnson – don’t you dare shift the blame for inflation on to working people,” she told crowds.
“Don’t you dare, not after a decade of austerity, privatisation and pay cuts. Don’t you dare tell working families we have to put up with more pain.”
Earlier, Mr Johnson said Britain would get through the crisis and “come through on the other side strongly” as he said he sympathised with people facing pressure.
The TUC says workers have lost almost £20,000 since 2008 because pay has not kept pace with inflation.
Meanwhile, home secretary Priti Patel said the “absolutely scandalous” European court decision that effectively grounded the first flight to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda was politically motivated.
Mr Johnson said the government would press ahead with its Rwanda plan, and defended Home Office plans to electronically tag some asylum-seekers arriving in the UK.
Boris Johnson’s former ethics adviser quit ‘over PM’s readiness to break law’
Former Downing Street ethics adviser Christopher Geidt has prompted fresh calls for Boris Johnson’s resignation, by declaring that his decision to quit his post was prompted by the prime minister’s willingness to deliberately breach international law.
In a second letter to explain his shock resignation on Wednesday, Lord Geidt said that the details of the row over steel tariffs which finally provoked his departure were a “distraction” from his real motivation. Andrew Woodcock reports:
Opinion: Return power to the people to tackle twin challenges
We face the twin challenges of building a country that fires on all cylinders and the climate emergency, writes Lisa Nandy for The Independent.
The solution must be tilting the balance of power back in favour of the people who have stake in the outcome We have to ensure every area has a local growth plan and the powers to deliver on it, and we must smash up a century of centralisation and restore power to people who can use it to rebuild their parks, libraries, high streets and youth clubs that make up the social fabric of a place:
Tory rebels to pile pressure on PM as by-election ‘disaster’ looms
Tory MPs warn a double by-election defeat on Thursday will pile further pressure on Boris Johnson’s leadership as the embattled prime minister tries to move on from the Partygate scandal:
Four-day week may work well, government admits, as pilot starts
Government officials have accepted that a four-day week “may work” for some businesses, as the world’s largest trial of shorter working hours kicks off in the UK, writes Jon Stone.
The Independent understands that officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are keeping a close eye on the pilot programme and have already met the study’s organisers to find out more.
Beware Ukraine fatigue setting in, warns Johnson
Boris Johnson has said the West must continue to support the Ukrainians as they seek to recover territory seized by Russia, saying it would be a catastrophe if President Vladimir Putin was able to claim victory.
After visiting Kyiv yesterday, the Prime Minister warned that Ukraine should not be encouraged to accept a “bad peace” which would simply be the prelude to a renewed Russian offensive.
Mr Johnson also defended his decision to pull out of a conference of northern Tories on Friday so he could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The timing of the visit led to accusations that he was snubbing the north ahead of a crucial by-election in Wakefield in West Yorkshire which the Tories are widely expected to lose.
However, speaking to reporters at RAF Brize Norton on his return, Mr Johnson said it was important to demonstrate the UK’s support at a time when the Ukrainians were “suffering terribly” in the face of the ongoing Russian offensive in the Donbas.
“I think it is very important to go to Ukraine at a particularly critical time. The worry that we have is that a bit of Ukraine-fatigue is starting to set in around the world,” he said.
Opinion: Trade war with Europe is the latest in PM’s string of deflections and deception
Boris Johnson is trying to bait the EU into a trade war as he also trashed the UK’s international reputation by breaking international law and amplifying division in Northern Ireland, writes Caolán Magee. Other recent deflections include imperial measurements on pint glasses, a smoking ban, and sending refugees to Rwanda:
Judges who blocked Rwanda flight racist, claims Priti Patel
The European judges who stopped the Rwanda deportations on Tuesday are racist, home secretary Priti Patel has claimed.
Rwanda has a recent history of genocide and human-rights abuses, she said, but it was rebuilding.
“If it was France, if we were sending people to Sweden, New York, Sydney, would they [the critics] change their mind?” she asked. “That actually speaks of inbuilt prejudice and, I would even go as far as to say, racism,” The Times reports.
Angela Rayner joins London demonstrators
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has joined protests in London calling for action on the cost-of-living crisis.
Ministers chasing headlines while making cuts, says Starmer
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused the government of chasing headlines over the Rwanda deportations plan – while planning cuts at the agency that fights people-traffickers.
Speaking about the government’s actions to try to halt the arrival of migrants on small boats, he said: “What I want is a serious response because nobody wants these journeys across the Channel to be made, these perilous journeys.
“Everybody want to clamp down on the gangs. That requires grown-up work with the French authorities and upstream work to actually tackle these gangs.
“You don’t do that if you’re a government that is asking the National Crime Agency to make cuts.”
Labour says the Home Office is considering 20 per cent cuts to the National Crime Agency.
Ministers have already slashed spending on the International Corruption Unit, part of the agency, by 13.5 per cent this year, and want to cut 91,000 jobs from the civil service.
