Boris Johnson’s government has ditched plans to limit MPs’ earnings from second jobs in a major rethink over the issue which sparked a sleaze scandal at Westminster, claiming that a pay cap would unfairly stop parliamentarians doing jobs which do not bring “undue influence”.
The move – marking a stark reversal in tone from comments made by ministers during the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal – came as transport secretary Grant Shapps announced the government was investigating a number of yachts linked to Russian oligarchs currently moored in the UK.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson was landing back in the UK empty-handed this morning, having failing to secure commitments from Saudi Arabia to step up oil production to ease cost-of-living pressures, on a visit overshadowed by the announcement of three further executions in the desert kingdom.
Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator” in his search for oil – but Foreign Office minister James Cleverly claimed it was “ridiculously distasteful” to compare Saudi Arabia with Russia.
Outrage over strip-searching of black girl shows UK ‘cares about ethnic minorities’, says minister
Public outrage over the case of the black schoolgirl who was strip-searched by the Metropolitan Police shows that Britain is “a country that cares about ethnic minorities”, the equalities minister has said.
Labour’s shadow equalities minister Taiwo Owatemi said the government’s new strategy to tackle racial inequality “fails to deliver” for black children – citing the case of Child Q, the black schoolgirl who “faced the most appalling treatment at the hands of the police, with racism very likely to have been an influencing factor”.
However, Ms Badenoch replied: “What we do know is that everybody is rightly appalled and outraged by what happened to Child Q. That is an example of a country that cares about ethnic minorities, and about children in the system.”
Ms Badenoch said she believed that the UK is “fairest and most open-minded country in the world” as she set out the new strategy by Boris Johnson’s government – and insisted that “most of these racial disparities are not driven by individual acts of prejudice”.
Labour said the strategy was “hopelessly ineffectively and short-sighted” since it was based on flawed Sewell report. My colleague Adam Forrest has the full story here:
Sir Keir Starmer attacks Boris Johnson for ‘breaking his promise yet again’ on MPs second jobs
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “breaking his promise yet again” over today’s U-turn on a pay cap on MPs’ second jobs – as proposed during the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal.
“Yet again we’ve got this prime minister saying one thing and doing another. He said he was going to deal with second jobs, there was going to be this cap – that was his proposal in the height of this scandal of his own making,” Sir Keir told the BBC.
“And now, as soon as he gets the opportunity, he’s breaking his promise yet again. It goes to the heart of the problem with this prime minister, which is this problem of trust and moral authority.”
People of Britain have never known the truth about Russian money, Labour MP says
Welcoming the government’s new clampdown on lawsuits – known by the acronym, “Slapps” – which are used to silence journalists, Labour’s Chris Bryant told the Commons: “This is all really good stuff and I’m delighted that we are moving in the right direction.”
The MP for Rhondda added: “The real trouble that we have had in this country is that the people of Britain have never known the truth about Russian money.
“Because journalists, broadcasters, sometimes politicians and government have been too frightened to go to court because they know that the pockets on the other side are so deep, that they are terrified that they will either lose their own home or they will lose their business, or the government will lose millions of pounds on behalf of the British taxpayer.”
He asked Dominic Raab whether the UK will need new legislation on the seizure of goods, saying: “We will need to seize assets … if you just take Chelsea Football Club, we will not be able to sell it on until we have seized it.”
The justice secretary replied that Mr Bryant “has been one of the leading lights in relation to Slapps and I will certainly look very carefully at the, I think, important specific points he has made.”
Government’s new proposals to tackle oligarch ‘lawfare’ branded ‘too little, too late’ by Labour
The government’s proposals to clamp down on Russian oligarchs allegedly “abusing” the UK courts system to “muzzle” journalists and other individuals are “too little, too late”, Labour has warned.
Outlining his new proposals in the Commons to reform libel laws in order to tackle Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (Slapps), Dominic Raab said that those with “blood on their hands” will no longer be free to “hide in the shadows”.
But shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: “These measures, welcome though they are, are too little, too late. Labour called on the Government to fix this problem way back in January … The Conservatives’ track record is, frankly, problematic. They ignored the Leveson Inquiry when it called for low-cost litigation for claimants and defendants in media cases.
“Instead, they sided with Putin’s oligarchs against British journalists and campaigners, until it was far too late.”
Mr Raab retorted that it was “a bit surprising on an issue of such seriousness that he resorted to the usual partisan political points”, adding: “In fact, in January when he said the Labour Party called for this, the ministers in the Ministry of Justice had already made clear that we were actively working on proposals and, indeed, I had made it clear in the House in February.”
No 10 says limits on MPs second jobs is for parliament to decide
The decision on whether to place limits on second jobs for MPs should be up to parliamentarians, not the government, Downing Street has said.
In a submission to the Commons standards committee – currently consulting on new rules for second jobs – the government said its “initial view” was “that the imposition of fixed constraints such as time limits on the amount of time that Members can spend on outside work would be impractical”.
Asked about ministers’ previous comments supporting a time limit, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “You will remember we proposed a ban on services as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant, and likewise proposed for having appropriate safeguards to ensure MPs are serving their constituents both in constituencies and in the House. And that’s what we set out in our response.”
He added: “At the time of this issue, there are a number of options considered by ministers, government, and another proposed by others as well. We set out what the government position was at the time and it’s in line with what was published by the committee yesterday.”
He said: “We’ve set out our position and it’s now for the committee, and then the House, to come to a view.”
Government must help P&O staff, says Labour
Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said P&O’s “scandalous” decision serve notice to 800 staff was “a betrayal of the workers that kept this country stocked throughout the pandemic”.
She added:”The Conservative government must not give the green light to this appalling practice, and must act to secure the livelihoods of these workers.”
My colleagues on The Independent’s travel desk are providing live updates on the situation here:
Starmer says it seems PM ‘achieved very little’ with Saudi Arabia trip
Asked whether he would have gone to Saudi Arabia to ask for Riyadh to produce more oil if he was Britain’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said: “The prime minister has achieved, it seems, very little out of this trip.”
Speaking to broadcasters in central London, the Labour leader said: “While of course we all want the prices to come down – there is a crisis – you don’t have a strategy that is built around going cap in hand from one dictator to another dictator.”
Raab: Crackdown on oligarchs abusing courts is ‘David and Goliath struggle’
Dominic Raab has set out plans to stop Russian oligarchs “abusing” the courts to silence critics by changing rules on so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), Adam Forrest reports.
“It’s the modern-day struggle David and Goliath – individual journalists, authors and academics pitted against oligarchs, some of whom, some, bankroll the Kremlin,” he told MPs.
“We cannot and we will not allow our courts and our justice system to be used by those kleptocrats to intimidate and harass those who lift a lid on their murky dealing and wrongdoings.”
DWP to close 42 UK offices – putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk
More than 1,000 civil servant jobs are at risk of being axed after the Department for Work and Pensions unveiled plans to close dozens of offices across the UK.
The government will close 42 DWP sites by the end of June, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said – a move which it said would put at least 1,100 jobs at risk.
My colleague Matt Mathers has the story here:
More than 150,000 register interest in sponsoring Ukrainian refugees, No 10 says
More than 150,000 people have now registered their interest in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, according to No 10
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said that “we will see what that translates to” when the programme formally launches on Friday.
He said 6,100 visas had been issued through the Ukraine Family Scheme as of Wednesday afternoon.
