Markus Andrews

The culture secretary has endorsed calls by Tory MPs for the BBC to be made to play God Save the Queen at the end of daily programming. During an exchange in the Commons, Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell said that singing the national anthem was “something that provides a great sense of unity and pride in our nation”.”Will the minister take steps to encourage public broadcasters to play the national anthem, and ensure that the BBC restore it at the end of the day’s programming before it switches to News 24?” He asked.Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary who is responsible for the broadcaster, interjected, calling out that Mr Rosindell had asked a “fantastic question”. Ms Dorries has said aspects of the BBC could be put under review, including the future of the license fee.Her deputy, minister Nigel Huddleston, responded to Mr Rosindell’s question for the government, stating: “We fully support the singing of the national anthem. “The Her Majesty the Queen, and other expressions of patriotism, including the flying of the Union Jack. The more that we hear here, the national anthem song frankly, the better.”BBC One previously played the national anthem at the close of programming, but since 1997 it has broadcast on a 24 hour basis – with the old practice ceasing at the same time. Terrestrial BBC channels switch to showing the rolling news coverage in the early hours of the morning – usually around 1am on weekdays and 2am weekends. BBC News 24 is the old name for the BBC News channel, last used by the Corporation 14 years ago. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has vowed to press ahead with a planned National Insurance rise, despite opposition to the tax hike from his senior cabinet colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg.The Commons leader is understood to have spoken out against the rise at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, arguing that it could not be justified amid the mounting cost of living crisis.But Mr Sunak said on Thursday that ditching the 1.25 per cent tax rise – planned to help meet the cost of social care reforms and growing NHS backlog – would be irresponsible.“I have enormous respect for all of my colleagues,” he told reporters when asked about Mr Rees-Mogg’s apparent revolt. “It’s always easy to duck difficult decisions, but I don’t think that’s the responsible thing to do.The chancellor added: “I think people’s priorities are for us to invest in the NHS, to invest in social care. We need to make sure that those investments are funded sustainably, that’s what we’re doing.”A cabinet insider told the Financial Times that Mr Rees-Mogg felt “finding the savings would be more frugal and responsible” than raising taxes.Boris Johnson’s spokesman insisted on Thursday there were no plans to backtrack on the NI increase scheduled for April, and transport secretary Grant Shapps said the decision has already been made collectively as there is a “very good case” for the move to support health and social care.The hike in national insurance will come after inflation hit 5.1 per cent, more than double the UK’s 2 per cent target. Households are set to suffer another blow in April as the energy price cap is expected to be raised.Mr Sunak was also challenged on whether the government would bring forward new measures to help hard-pressed families worried about fuel bills.The government is reportedly considering extending the warm homes discount – which is currently gives a £140 discount to around two million people eligible people – to more people.“Of course I understand people’s anxiety and concerns about energy bills, in particular, that’s why we’ve put in place a series of ways to help people with energy bills,” Mr Sunak said. “There is support there for people.”Hinting that discount payments could be extended, Mr Sunak said: “We’re always listening and making sure the policies we’ve got will support people in the way we want it to.”Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the government should “more than double that [warm homes discount] to at least £300, but increase the eligibility to seven and a half million people, so many, many more people.”Labour has called on the government to cut VAT on energy bills, with deputy leader Angela Rayner telling the Commons on Wednesday that “even the Tory backbenchers have finally accepted Labour’s call to cut VAT” on energy bills.Some 20 Tory MPs and peers signed a letter in the Sunday Telegraph asking them to help consumers facing “fuel poverty” as gas and electricity payments continue to rocket.The head of the Resolution Foundation think tank said that families would face a £1,200 hit by April “from soaring energy bills and tax rises”. Chief executive Torsten Bell said: “So large is this overnight cost-of-living catastrophe that it’s hard to see how the Government avoids stepping in.” More

Michael Gove’s ex-wife Sarah Vine has said she wanted to “stop” him from ever becoming prime minister.The 54-year-old newspaper columnist – granted a divorce on Thursday – said she wanted to prevent the senior Conservative minister from winning the top job at No 10.“My ulterior motive throughout my entire life was to stop my husband being prime minister because I can’t think of anything worse,” she told Tatler.Ms Vine also told the magazine that Mr Gove’s “only mistress” was his political career. “The mistress wins in the end. It’s all about making sure she is happy.”She added: “In my case, despite all the rumours, his only mistress was politics. That’s what he is in love with. He is genuinely in love with politics.”The Daily Mail columnist also revealed that Mr Gove’s key role alongside Boris Johnson in leading the Vote Leave campaign was a key factor in their split.“My whole life fell away,” she said on the Brexit referendum. “I didn’t speak to many close friends. And that was another huge strain on the marriage. Marriage can take strain, but it cannot take that much.”Her comments came as a family court judge drew the marriage of the communities secretary and his wife to a close on Thursday.Judge Lynn Roberts granted Ms Vine a divorce decree on the grounds that the marriage had irretrievably broken down. Neither Ms Vine nor Mr Gove were at the hearing at the Central Family Court in London.A spokesperson for Mr Gove and Ms Vine announced in July 2021 that they couple were to split after almost 20 years of marriage.The columnist also said she empathised with Mr Johnson’s wife Carrie. “I do, because no matter what she does she’ll be criticised,” she said, before adding: “Oh yes, she knows what she’s doing, she’s got an agenda. She’s very much of that generation.” More

A Conservative MP has hit out at the courts after anti-racism protesters who toppled the statue of a slave trader were found to have committed no crime.Robert Jenrick, who acted unlawfully as a minister, said the decision to acquit four people of criminal damage would “undermine the rule of law”.As communities secretary Robert Jenrick was found to have broken the law by approving a £1 billion luxury development for a Tory donor. He left government last year, sacked in a reshuffle.The statue of Edward Colston was pulled down during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol. All four defendants admitted their involvement but denied their actions amounted to criminal damage because the statue itself was a hate crime – a claim which the jury upheld.Colston was involved in the enslavement over over 80,000 African people, of whom almost 10,000 were children – with an estimated 19,000 dying on ships bound for the Americas.But despite the court ruling that no criminal damage had taken place, Tory Mr Jenrick said on Wednesday night: “We undermine the rule of law, which underpins our democracy, if we accept vandalism and criminal damage are acceptable forms of political protest. They aren’t. Regardless of the intentions.”His claim echoes the failed arguments of the prosecution, which argued that it was “irrelevant” who Colston was, and the case was one of straightforward criminal damage.Transport secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday morning echoed similar views, telling LBC Radio: “We can’t have mob rule as the way forward.”Mr Shapps added: “We must live in a society where people can’t go around destroying public property and be able to walk away from it.”We are introducing via the police crime sentencing bill, new measures which would potentially plug a gap and make it absolutely clear.”The local police force accepted the verdict, with chief Superintendent Liz Hughes of Avon and Somerset Police, stating: “Having been presented with the evidence, a jury has now determined their actions were not criminal and we respect its decision.”Mr Jenrick served as communities secretary between 2019 and 2021. In May 2020 he accepted that he had acted unlawfully by approving a £1 billion luxury development at Westferry, proposed by Tory Donor Richard Desmond.The then cabinet minister had overruled the government’s planning inspector – and later admitted that he did so on an accelerated timescale so that Mr Desmond could avoid paying a £45m tax bill. Mr Desmond had privately lobbied Mr Jenrick over the issue.While the Tory MP has admitted that the decision was unlawful, he claims there was no “actual bias” in his approving the scheme. More

Boris Johnson is reportedly considering new measures to alleviate the pressure on rising energy bills, after the prime minister was warned families faced a cost-of-living “iceberg”.According to Sky News, ministers have concluded that “something needs to be done” before the 1 April hike in household bills, which coincides with a contentious increase in national insurance tax.It was also reported that Mr Johnson will take personal charge of meetings on the energy crisis next week before a decision is taken on any support ahead of 7 February.In April the price cap, which limits the amount that suppliers can charge, will rise. It is currently at an already record-beating £1,277.Despite previously floating the option of a blanket removal of VAT from domestic fuels bills during the 2016 Brexit referendum, the measure is unlikely to form part of extra government support, after the prime minister labelled it a “blunt instrument” on Tuesday.He added such a move would result in a cut in fuels bills “for a lot of people who perhaps don’t need the support in quite the direct way that we need to give it”, but told a No 10 press conference: “I’m not ruling out further measures.”According to the BBC, extending the winter homes discount, which offers those eligible a one-off £140 payment, to increase the number of people who can claim, is “under discussion with other options”.Tackled on the issue of rising energy costs for consumers on Wednesday, however, the prime minister’s official spokesperson suggested that there were not any imminent changes planned.“I’m not aware of any further changes at the moment, but obviously we keep it under review, we are listening to those most affected,” they added.It comes after concern over a hike in energy bills, which has caused unease in Conservative ranks, was raised at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, with deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner warning that families were facing a cost-of-living “iceberg”.Speaking on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, also said the government had been “slow to act” to help people who will struggle with rising bills, as he called for a “Robin Hood tax” on oil and gas super-profits.He also told the Today programme: “The warm home discount, which currently is £140 to two million people, I think we should more than double that to at least £300, but increase the eligibility to seven and a half million people, so many, many more people.“These are people on universal credit, people on disability benefits, people on pension credit. I want to make sure that working-age families with children get real help with their bills”.He added: “We’ve got to pay for it. But one of the other effects of the big rising global gas prices, as well as hitting people with their heating bills, is it’s resulted in record profits for the oil and gas sector.“And I think it’s reasonable to ask firms in the oil and gas sector for a one-off contribution to assist the most vulnerable in society, the less well-off and indeed, actually, energy-intensive industries. I really think the Government has been very slow to act. We’re seeing record profits.” More

Germany has found itself facing a series of challenges in its relations with Russia and China since taking office last month that are testing the new government’s foreign policy mettle.Among them are Moscow’s military buildup near Ukraine and the diplomatic fallout from a court verdict finding that the Russian government was behind the 2019 killing of a Chechen dissident in Berlin China’s pressure on a fellow European Union member has also prompted Germany to take sides against one of its biggest trading partners.The issues came to the fore during a flying visit that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made Wednesday to Washington, intended to highlight the common stance between her government and the United States on Russia. She arrived back in Germany on Thursday.But amid the show of unity, differences have emerged, too, with its close trans-Atlantic ally and within the German government itself.During last year’s election to succeed long-time German leader Angela Merkel, Baerbock campaigned on a foreign policy program that advocated a firmer line toward Moscow and Beijing on security and human rights issues. Her rival Olaf Scholz who became Germany’s chancellor after his Social Democratic Party won the vote, took a noticeably softer stance on Russia.Baerbock’s party, the Greens, has also been skeptical of Nord Stream 2, a recently completed pipeline to bring more natural gas from Russia to Germany that isn’t yet in use.The Greens’ position is driven partly by environmental concerns about continued reliance on fossil fuels. But of all major German parties it is also closest to the stance of the United States, which has warned that the pipeline risks increasing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.That skepticism isn’t shared by Scholz, however, whose center-left Social Democrats have lobbied strongly for the pipeline. With the Social Democrats the biggest party in the coalition government, it looks unlikely that Berlin will block gas from flowing through the pipeline unless Russia launches a military strike against Ukraine.Eyebrows were also raised this week when the German government announced that Scholz’s foreign policy adviser would meet his French and Russian counterparts to discuss the Ukraine situation. Some observers claim Scholz is keen to cut Baerbock’s foreign ministry out of direct talks with Moscow — a suggestion German diplomats have strenuously rejected.Baerbock drew the Kremlin’s ire last month, when she expelled two Russian embassy officials after a Berlin court ruled that Moscow was behind the daylight slaying of an ethnic Chechen man in the German capital two years earlier. Russia responded by expelling two German diplomats from Moscow.Baerbock, who had never held government office before becoming Germany’s top diplomat, vowed during the election campaign to pursue a foreign policy led by interests and values.This, and her pledge to make the defense of democracy a topic of Germany’s presidency of the Group of Seven leading economies this year, puts Baerbock on an awkward footing with China.On Wednesday, the 41-year-old’s remarks during a news conference in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reinforced those policy views, and likely drew gasps from German businesses back home who rely on exports to China.Asked whether Berlin backs U.S. criticism of China’s human rights record, Baerbock said Germany supports proposals “that products resulting from forced labor, resulting from grave human rights violations, that these products cannot enter the European market.”“And the same holds true when it comes to solidarity for Lithuania,” she said, referring to a spat between the small EU nation and Beijing. Lithuania’s decision to let Taiwan open an office in the country infuriated China, which considers the island part of its territory.The United States has long advocated for a stronger stance against its rival China, but during Merkel’s 16 years in office Germany often sought to balance its corporate interests against human rights concerns. Baerbock drew a clearer line this week.“We as Europeans stand in solidarity at Lithuania’s side,” she said. More

Urgent operations such as cardiac and cancer treatments are being delayed in hospitals as the NHS is stretched like never before, health leaders have warned. More than 20 hospitals in England have declared critical incidents due to increasing numbers of medics being forced to isolate, putting further pressure on a service already stretched by the spike in Covid cases.It came as a cross-party group of MPs warned of the consequences of Boris Johnson’s decision to “ride out” the Omicron wave without further restrictions, saying the backlog of almost 6 million patients on waiting lists in England would grow.Dr Stephen Webb, president of the Intensive Care Society, told The Independent: “Staff isolation and staff illness due to Covid restricts our ability to care for other patients. “We are hearing from our members that virtually all intensive care units (ICUs) are under strain primarily because of staffing constraints and this is resulting in many having to limit access for patients having urgent operations.“Patients who may need an urgent procedure – say a cardiology procedure – that patient will undoubtedly wait for longer in hospital until a spot becomes available for them to be transferred to.“That urgent treatment will be restricted because of staffing restrictions, and we have heard that is happening within intensive care units because ICUs have less staff to open beds. Those staffing shortages are not just in ICU.”On Wednesday Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, warned the health service was “stretched like never before”. Another 194,747 infections were recorded on Wednesday, and 334 more deaths.Education, transport and retail were also being hit, with some schools telling pupils to stay home as the Christmas holiday drew to an end.Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told MPs that teacher absences are expected to rise further from the 8 per cent recorded before the festive break.But Mr Johnson confirmed that there would be no tightening of restrictions on social and economic life to try to rein in the Omicron variant. And he boasted that it was his “balanced and proportionate” response to the highly contagious variant which had allowed England to “keep this country open, keep our economy moving more than any other comparable economy in Europe”.Rules on Covid testing were relaxed, with the removal of the requirement to confirm a positive lateral flow reading with a PCR test. But the change will do little to ease the burden of self-isolation, as the seven-day minimum period always began from the moment infection was first detected.Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, on Wednesday announced a reduction from 10 to seven days, in line with England, but Downing Street played down the prospect of a further cut to five days in line with advice that it would encourage a premature return to work which could result in more infections.Meanwhile, the requirement for vaccinated passengers to take a pre-departure test before travelling to England was removed from 7 January in recognition of the fact that Omicron is now endemic in the UK and other countries around the globe.New figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that an estimated 3.7 million people in the UK had Covid-19 in the week ending 31 December, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020. One in 15 people in England had the virus, rising to one in 10 in London.The 334 deaths was the worst of the Omicron wave and the highest since February last year, but was artificially inflated by a backlog of data from English hospitals which had gone unreported since 1 January.The Independent has seen an internal staff message from University Hospitals Dorset this week declaring a critical incident, in which the trust said it had “very limited number of beds” and the “few beds” it does have are not appropriate for patients, leading to the cancellation of some elective operations.Meanwhile, University Hospitals Birmingham told staff on Tuesday it has been forced to close all of its surgical theatres at Good Hope Hospital.Birmingham Community Healthcare Foundation Trust has told patients that it cannot accept any new referrals to its physiotherapy and occupational therapy services and is cancelling non-urgent referrals due to “significant pressures in the hospital and in the community”.One senior clinician told The Independent their trust had an increase in staff sickness by “hundreds” in just 24 hours and warned: “If the staff losses are sustained at this rate or worse accelerate, I’m not sure how we deliver anything“Currently [we are] doing everything we can not to cancel cancer operations and we still have a few elective wards that are Covid-free but if we continue to lose staff at this rate, it may happen.”Mr Johnson told MPs that hospital admissions were “doubling around every nine days” and the UK was experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases it had ever known.But he insisted that plan B measures – including the wider use of masks, Covid passes for mass-audience events and work from home guidance – were “helping to take the edge off the Omicron wave”.Current measures were “balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with Covid without letting our guard down”, he told MPs.And he said he believed that, by the planned review of plan B on 26 January, “life will return to something much much closer to normality [and] it won’t be necessary to have the restrictions that we currently have in place”.But Labour MP Afzal Khan told him England was in “an unsustainable situation”.“Last night, 17 hospitals across Greater Manchester announced they were suspending non-urgent surgery due to the impact of Covid-19 and at least 10 trusts across England have already been forced to declare critical incidents since Christmas,” Mr Khan told the House of Commons.“Last week the PM said he hoped we could ride out this wave but I don’t think our hard-working NHS staff or the government’s scientific advisers would agree.”Downing Street insisted that declarations by trusts of critical incidents “are not a good indicator necessarily of how the NHS is performing” as they might last in some cases for as little as a few hours.But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson acknowledged that the NHS was facing “a challenging number of weeks” and said the possibility of additional measures had not been ruled out as it was not yet known whether the UK or England had yet reached the peak of the Omicron wave.“It’s too early to judge what the full impact of Omicron will be, so it’s right that we keep measures under review as the public would expect,” said the spokesperson. “But as it stands – as the prime minister has been clear – we believe that we have the right package of proportionate measures in place.”An NHS spokesperson said: “While there is no doubt January will be a tough month for staff, the NHS has tried and tested plans in place to handle increased pressure and despite these anecdotal reports, services will continue to prioritise people with cancer, a suspected stroke or heart attack.“The NHS will continue Covid and non-Covid care so anyone who needs care should get in touch with the NHS as they usually would so they can get the support they need.” More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has reportedly called on Boris Johnson to abandon the planned rise in National Insurance in the face of the looming cost of living crisis.The leader of the House of Commons was said to have spoken against the tax rise at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying it could not be justified amid rising inflation and uncertainty over energy prices.Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was said to have refused to change course as it would mean having to find the money elsewhere.A cabinet insider said Mr Rees-Mogg felt “finding savings would be more frugal and responsible” than raising taxes, according to the Financial Times.The Telegraph said three government sources had confirmed that the exchange took place.The 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance is due in April, when the cost of living crisis is set to peak.It will come after inflation hit 5.1 per cent, more than double the UK’s 2 per cent target.Households are set to suffer another blow in April as the energy price cap is expected to be raised.The Resolution Foundation said the combined effect of rising bills and taxes would cost an average of £600 per household.The National Insurance rise was announced in September as a means to fund social care. It was expected to raise £12bn.The proposal was met by backlash from Tory MPs as being “un-conservative”. Ten Tory MPs voted against the proposals and many more abstained. Mr Rees Mogg is said to have privately warned against the change in September as he was concerned like many in his party after the chancellor put Britain on course for the highest tax burden since the 1950s. The prime minister and chancellor are facing growing pressure in their party to tackle the cost of living crisis before it gets worse.Some 20 Tory MPs and peers signed a letter in the Sunday Telegraph asking them to help consumers facing “fuel poverty” as gas and electricity payments continue to rocket. More