Boris Johnson news – live: ‘Don’t have bullies in government’, ex-top civil servant tells PM amid Patel row

Boris Johnson is failing to demonstrate that he is in control of the country following a series of embarrassing news stories in recent days, according to our chief political commentator John Rentoul.

This week was supposed to act as a reset for Mr Johnson’s government but has been defined by rows over devolution and the report into alleged bullying by home secretary Priti Patel.

John writes:

“Johnson is left struggling to make it look as if the government is getting on with the job of making life better for the voters. The most important part of that at the moment is showing that coronavirus is under control, but while waiting for the scientific and medical advisers to tell him what he can do when the current lockdown ends in England, and while the world waits for vaccines, he has tried again to convince us that he has a plan beyond day-to-day survival.”

You can find his full piece below:

Rebuilding the economy after the coronavirus crisis will require a “collective endeavour” similar to the fight against the pandemic, the chancellor has said.

Rishi Sunak called on people to use the same “spirit” which was needed to tackle the health threat posed by Covid-19 and warned “tough” sacrifices would be necessary for some time to come.

“The restrictions that we are facing, the sacrifices that we have had to make. They are tough now and they will remain tough for some time,” Mr Sunak told the Scottish Conservative conference.

“But the threat of this pandemic will pass. And when it does we will then need to take that spirit of collective endeavour onto the task of rebuilding Scotland and the rest of our country together.”

The UK and Canada have agreed a “rollover” deal to continue trading under existing terms once the Brexit transition period comes to an end, the government has announced.

The Department for International Trade said Boris Johnson and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had sealed an “agreement in principle” during a video call on Saturday.

Our political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, has the full story below:

The SNP’s deputy leader has called on Boris Johnson to apologise for “insulting the democratic choice of the people of Scotland” following his comments on devolution earlier this week.

Keith Brown said Mr Johnson’s address on Saturday to the Scottish Conservative Party was a “nothing speech” which demonstrated how little he cared about Scotland.

“Zero effort, zero consideration, zero thought, just 10 minutes of hollow nothingness beyond more weasel words of deflection from his blunder in revealing he thinks devolution has been a disaster,” Mr Brown said.

“Instead he should have apologised for insulting the democratic choice of the people of Scotland and for the litany of toxic Tory policies, from austerity to a disastrous Brexit in the midst of a devastating pandemic.”

He added: “Once again, untrustworthy Johnson has demonstrated the Tories don’t care about the needs of the people of Scotland. The only way to properly protect Scotland’s interests is to become an independent, European country.”

Our reporter, Colin Drury, has more details below on David Cameron and Tony Blair’s warning against cutting the UK’s foreign aid budget:

Boris Johnson has said rival politicians in different parts of the UK need to continue to work in partnership “making use of vaccine stocks, test kits and new technology” to end the coronavirus pandemic.

“Covid-19 doesn’t care about constitutional arrangements and whatever our political differences,” Mr Johnson said.

“We all need to work together at this time to protect the health and jobs of the people of Scotland.”

He added that there was “hope” in the fight against the pandemic but devolved administrations needed to work together over the coming months.

“The cut and thrust of normal political debate will return in full when the threat of the virus has abated. And we all will welcome that, the clamour and vibrancy of a healthy democracy,” the prime minister said.

“But when we take up the political cudgels again, let’s never forget what we have achieved as a country through cooperation – through working across the whole of the United Kingdom to face down a deadly threat that respects no tier of government or boundaries.”

Boris Johnson has objected to reports of his comment that devolution in Scotland had been a “disaster” this week, claiming that his remarks had been reported “not entirely accurately”.

He told the Scottish Conservative virtual conference on Saturday that his “round, unvarnished view” was that “the way the SNP have handled devolution in Scotland has been a disaster”.

“Just because I have criticised the performance of devolution does not mean I want to oppose devolution as a concept. I’m a former mayor of London, I know how effective devolved powers can be,” he said.

“The key is to have policies to show how devolution can work for Scotland, for the people in Scotland, rather than the SNP obsession with making devolution work against the rest of the UK.”

The youth wing of the Labour Party has launched an attack on Sir Keir Starmer over his decision to not reinstate the whip to Jeremy Corbyn following the lifting of the former leader’s suspension from the party.

“Thousands of young people were inspired to join & support our movement by @jeremycorbyn, in a world with few politicians like him,” the group said in a statement on Twitter.

“The removal of the whip despite the lifting of Jeremy’s suspension is a betrayal of them & blatant factional interference in disciplinary matters.”

They added: “Instead of disregarding due process, @Keir_Starmer should immediately reinstate the whip and end these attacks on the left so that we can get on with the task of delivering a socialist Labour government to transform this country.”

People should be sceptical about the government’s plans to “level up” parts of the country with its Spending Review next week, according to Labour’s Jess Phillips.

Writing for The Independent, Ms Phillips says:

“This week we will be told all about big construction projects, and the new gadgets, that the government is going to invest in. Boris Johnson will probably hang from a crane, asking us to be positive about the future of this place or that. But the important question everyone should ask him is – how and when will any of this really improve most people’s lives?”

You can find her full piece below:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the Conservatives to not freeze pay for public sector key workers in next week’s spending review: