Markus Andrews

MPs vote to approve controversial social care proposalsThe government’s proposed changes to England’s social care system are a form of “inheritance tax on the north,” according to deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, who has accused ministers of making her “constituents and the poorest pensioners lose their homes to protect millionaires’ mansions”.Changes to the health and care bill, pushed through in the Commons last night by a slim majority of 272-246, will save the government £900m a year by making a proposed cap on lifetime social care costs significantly less generous for poorer pensioners, while allowing wealthy home-owners to pass the majority of their assets on to their children.Ms Rayner suggested in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon that the entire scheme is a “con” and, if approved by peers, it will put a disproportionate burden on the nation’s poorer families.Meanwhile, senior Tory figures – including ex-party leader William Hague – have criticised a speech Boris Johnson gave on Monday as being “a bad incident” and “not a great moment” for the PM. Mr Hague went as far as suggesting the address to business leaders at the CBI annual conference was “excruciating”.Follow our live coverage belowShow latest update

1637678599PM not unwell, says No 10 after shambolic CBI speechDowning Street has insisted Boris Johnson is well, after his stumbling delivery of a speech to the CBI prompted questions over whether he was suffering the effects of stress or ill-health.The prime minister was asked by an ITV reporter if “everything was OK” in a TV interview following his shambolic address, to which the PM said his address “went over well”. Meanwhile, a Tory MP told The Independent the PM’s demeanour during the speech – when he fell silent after losing his place and stumbled over words – was “very worrying” and that he “seemed to have lost the plot”.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more:Sam Hancock23 November 2021 14:431637677835Downing Street reiterates warning over ‘some’ Christmas gift shortagesTurkey supplies are safe this Christmas but shoppers could still face “some issues” getting all the presents on their lists, Downing Street has indicated.Boris Johnson’s cabinet discussed the potential issues facing the country this winter, ranging from pressures on the NHS to what would be on festive dinner tables.The PM’s official spokesman said that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Stephen Barclay, had told ministers the country faced a combination of the usual winter pressures and the pandemic.Mr Barclay, who is leading cross-Government work on the issues, told ministers: “We face the dual challenge of managing the regular pressures the colder and wetter months can bring alongside the additional challenge of an ongoing global pandemic and the knock-on effects this is having, including on global supply chains and energy supply,” Downing Street said.Matt Mathers23 November 2021 14:301637677810David Amess funeral: Pope hails ‘devoted’ MP to colleaguesLast bit from Sir David Amess’ funeral now, where the Pope praised the Tory MP’s “devoted years of service”.The message from Pope Francis praised the politician for his “deep concern for the poor and disadvantaged” and called on mourners to “reject the ways of violence” and “combat evil with good” following the devout Catholic’s death.Politicians including Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and three former PMs, paid their respects to the father-of-five at the service in central London on Tuesday morning, following a private funeral held in Southend-on-Sea, Essex a day earlier.Read the full report by Thomas Kingsley, who was at Westminster Cathedral, and Holly Bancroft here:Sam Hancock23 November 2021 14:301637677059Johnson thanked for proscribing Hamas as terror groupIsrael’s president has thanked Boris Johnson for proscribing Hamas as a terrorist organisation as they met in Downing Street for talks touching on post-Brexit trade.The prime minister told Isaac Herzog on Tuesday that the “difficult and controversial” decision on Hamas was “almost immediately vindicated” following a fatal attack in Jerusalem’s Old City.Sitting next to Johnson in No 10’s Pillared Room, Mr Herzog said: “Thank you very much for your resolution on proscribing Hamas.“It’s a very important message to tell organisations and those who are inclined to radical… and undermine the situation in the Middle East.”Mr Johnson responded: “On Hamas, I think we took the right decision. It was a difficult and a controversial decision.“And by the way I think it was a decision that was almost immediately vindicated by the appalling incident we saw in Israel. Absolutely, terrible thing.”Matt Mathers23 November 2021 14:171637676093Tory councillor to pay Corbyn ‘substantial’ damages over Liverpool terror attack tweetA Conservative councillor has agreed to pay “substantial” damages and legal costs to Jeremy Corbyn for a tweet containing a fake photograph of the former Labour leader at the scene of the Liverpool terrorist attack.Paul Nickerson, a councillor on East Riding of Yorkshire Council, has apologised and taken “full responsibility” for the doctored tweet, which showed Mr Corbyn laying a poppy wreath at the burning taxi outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital, and was captioned with the word “unsurprisingly”.Mr Nickerson said the post gave the “completely untrue impression” that the Islington North MP supports terrorist violence and said the tweet was “wrong”.Mr Corbyn said the tweet “did a disservice to all those affected by the attack and their loved ones” and said he would use the settlement to support charities close to his heart.Matt Mathers23 November 2021 14:011637675104ICYMI: Watch Patel accuse Labour of standing up for ‘unlimited migration’ Priti Patel accuses Labour of standing up for ‘unlimited migration’Sam Hancock23 November 2021 13:451637673966Covid stamp duty holiday cost £6.4bn and helped rich house buyers in south, analysts sayThe stamp duty holiday introduced because of Covid cost the Treasury £6.4bn and mainly helped rich house buyers in the south of England, analysts say.Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick reports: Matt Mathers23 November 2021 13:261637673904Councils forced to take unaccompanied children from small boatsFollowing my earlier post (12.10pm), here’s Matt Mathers with more on councils being asked to play their part in the migrant crisis.Councils across England will be forced to take child asylum seekers who have arrived in the country without parents or guardians, in new plans set to be announced on Tuesday by Priti Patel.Ministers are writing to more than 200 local authorities telling them that the voluntary National Transfer Scheme (NTS) is to become compulsory – meaning young people will be moved out of hostels and into permanent accommodation.The changes come as the home secretary faces growing pressure from No 10 and senior Tory MPs to stem the flow of people making the treacherous journey across the Channel in search of a better life. Sam Hancock23 November 2021 13:251637673199Gove to meet PM over social care staff crisisMichael Gove says he will meet health secretary Sajid Javid and Boris Johnson this week for “urgent” talks on the recruitment and retention of social care workers.It comes amid warnings that shortages are leaving vulnerable people without support and compounding pressures on the NHS.On Monday, the communities secretary told county council leaders that of “the many and formidable” challenges facing local government, adult social care is the most urgent. He also admitted that the government needs to do more to improve the system and provide adequate resources.NHS leaders, charities and councils have warned that a shortfall of about 120,000 care workers is leading to support being scaled back and preventing people being discharged from overstretched hospitals.“[This] urgency is shared by Sajid [Javid] and by the prime minister, and we’ll be talking this week about what it is that we can do in order to better support the sector to ensure that we have the tools available for both the retention and the recruitment of talented and committed people in the social care workforce.”There have been repeated calls over recent months for the government to take immediate action to address the shortage of care staff. This shortage is said to have been caused by a combination of pandemic burnout, compulsory Covid-19 vaccinations and higher rates of pay being offered for unskilled jobs.Additional reporting by PASam Hancock23 November 2021 13:131637672722UK could face ‘challenge’ on supply of presents this Christmas – No 10Let’s get an update on Christmas. Britain could face “challenges” over the availability of presents this festive season due to disruption to global supply chains, Downing Street has admitted.But minister Steve Barclay assured Cabinet this morning that concerns over supplies over festive food like turkeys has now been “alleviated” by action on temporary visas, reports our political editor Andrew Woodcock.Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting at Downing Street, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster referenced assurances from the British Poultry Council that there will “definitely” be enough turkeys for Christmas.Sam Hancock23 November 2021 13:05 More

The stamp duty holiday introduced because of Covid cost the Treasury £6.4bn and mainly helped rich house buyers in the south of England, analysts say.Rishi Sunak’s policy also punished first-time buyers by increasing competition and by sending property prices soaring even further out of their reach, they conclude.The analyses comes after the end of the 15-month holiday – introduced in July 2020, when the chancellor feared the pandemic would hit the housing market – and is based on official data.The property agent Savills put the bill at £6.4bn – almost twice the predicted £3.8bn when the tax break was announced – and said roughly half the benefits went to buyers of homes worth more than £500,000.MoveStreets, a property search app, highlighted a stark north-south divide – which meant London and the south east gained four times as much as the three northern regions.It said the biggest winners were homebuyers in the south east (£1.2bn) followed by London (£1bn), putting them streets ahead of the north west (£300m), Yorkshire (£218m) and the north east (£66m).Furthermore, with the stamp duty holiday the prime reason for a boom in house prices since the summer of 2020, homebuyers were warned they are now effectively tens of thousands out of pocket.The comparison site GetAgent.co.uk said the average price rise was £37,156 or 14.8 per cent – and even higher in the north west (20.7 per cent) and north east (17.8 per cent).Colby Short, its chief executive, warned: “Many will be wondering whether it was really worth it?“To rub salt in the wound, those now entering the market are facing a considerably tougher task as a result of the astronomic levels of house price growth seen since summer of last year.”The Treasury staunchly defended the holiday, saying: “Our temporary stamp duty cut helped to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs which rely on the property market by stimulating economic activity.”But George Dibb, head of the IPPR think tank’s Centre for Economic Justice, said: “Even before the pandemic, house prices in the UK were too high for most people – yet the stamp duty holiday further boosted prices.“Getting on the housing ladder is now harder than ever, and those struggling to save for a deposit will be rightly angry that government policies have made this even more difficult.”And Lucian Cook, Savills’ head of residential research, suggested the Treasury would “look back on it and realise it’s been quite a generous tax break at a time when the market is quite strong”.In March this year, Mr Sunak extended the stamp duty holiday until the end of June for purchases up to £500,00 and until the end of September for those up to £250,000.The Treasury said the property market was worried about around 160,000 home sales stuck in limbo and at risk of falling through if it ended immediately. More

Britain could face “challenges” over the availability of presents this Christmas due to disruption to global supply chains, Downing Street has admitted.But minister Steve Barclay assured Cabinet this morning that concerns over supplies over festive food like turkeys has now been “alleviated” by action on temporary visas.Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting at Downing Street, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster referenced assurances from the British Poultry Council that there will “definitely” be enough turkeys for Christmas.After months of pressure, the government relaxed immigration rules in September, making 5,500 visas available for foreign workers as a temporary measure to help the meat processing industry prepare for the holiday season.In a presentation to Cabinet on the challenge of dealing with the ongoing global Covid pandemic and its effects on supply chains, on top of managing regular winter pressures, Mr Barclay said that government action “has alleviated concerns over potential turkey shortages in the run up to Christmas”, a No 10 spokesperson said.Asked whether that meant that British families’ Christmases will not be disrupted by supply chain problems, the spokesperson said: “Yes, certainly on that specific point with regards to the food supply, that is the view that we have. The action we’ve we’ve taken  on things like temporary visas has helped alleviate some of the pressures we have seen.“We know it will be challenging for a number of different sectors and we’re working with them closely.”The spokesperson was asked whether the sectors affected included Christmas present supply. He replied: “We remain confident that we are taking the right action to deal with the supply challenges that we’re seeing globally.“That’s not to say that individual sectors won’t face some some issues, as will be seen in other countries. “ More

Boris Johnson’s bizarre speech to business leaders “wasn’t a great moment” and was “excruciating” to watch, two senior Conservatives have said.Speaking the morning after the poorly-received address, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said there were “things we can do better”.Ex-Tory leader William Hague said watching the speech had provoked “lots of clenching” and described it as a “bad incident”.It comes as senior Tories ask questions about Mr Johnson’s leadership amid a series of blunders.The prime minister fumbled his lines in a speech to the CBI, an otherwise unusual address peppered with references to children’s cartoon character Peppa Pig.Mr Hunt, a senior MP who is a possible backbench contender to replace Mr Johnson in the event of a challenge, however said Westminster was always full of “noises” and “complaints” about the government.It comes after a torrid few weeks for the government, kicked off by the Owen Paterson sleaze scandal, criticism over the cancelling of Northern infrastructure projects, and a revolt over social care.”It wasn’t a great moment and it hasn’t been a great month for the Government,” Mr Hunt told Times Radio.”I’m sure there are things that we can do better. But I was in the Cabinet for nine years from 2010 and frankly there’s never been a time when there weren’t noises off in Westminster, there weren’t backbench MPs with complaints about the way the Government is operating.” More

Business groups and local councils are protesting at a hidden £1.65bn post-Brexit cut to development funding in the North, in a fresh blow to Boris Johnson’s claims to be “levelling up” the country.South Yorkshire is poised to lose £900m and Tees Valley and Durham £750m over six years, the organisations are telling Michael Gove – because the UK left the EU.The ‘Red Wall’ areas, plus Lincolnshire, were in line to receive the cash because they have become relatively poorer since the last spending round which finished last year.The government pledged to match lost EU funding after Brexit – to “tackle inequality and deprivation”, it said – but is now accused of a second broken promise.One organisation providing advice and finance for growth opportunities, the National Enterprise Network, said it was the latest blow to job creation after the loss of other investment grants.“Our network cannot support economic growth or fulfil its potential with the existing patchwork of funding,” chairman Alex Till told The Independent.More than 100 groups – ranging from local councils to charities and businesses – raised the alarm over the low level of grants from the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF), in a meeting with MPs.Now the chair of the SPF all-party parliamentary group, Stephen Kinnock, has attacked “smoke and mirrors” over funding, alleging: “It seems that, rather than levelling up, the UK government is intent on levelling down.”In a letter to Mr Gove, the Labour MP has urged the levelling up secretary to intervene – pointing out that Cornwall is receiving the higher funding.Yet Cornwall (with a GDP per head of 70.9 per cent of the UK average) is now more prosperous than either South Yorkshire (70.3 per cent) or Tees Valley and Durham (67.3 per cent).Steve Fothergill, national director of the Industrial Communities Alliance, bringing together councils in mainly former coal and steel areas, said: “It’s not that Cornwall doesn’t deserve its money.“It’s that, in the absence of Brexit, other parts of England would now be lined up to receive the same high level of EU funding as Cornwall. There is a very great risk that these areas will now be treated less favourably.”Mr Kinnock’s letter reads: “South Yorkshire, Tees Valley and Durham and Lincolnshire would have qualified for very substantial additional EU funding because of their deteriorating GDP figures.“These three areas now run the risk of being treated much less favourably than would have been the case in the absence of Brexit.”Mr Kinnock adds: “The potential losses are huge – over a seven-year programming period, perhaps as much as £900m for South Yorkshire and £750m for Tees Valley & Durham.”The row follows the Budget announcement that the SPF – the replacement for EU structural funds – will receive just £2.6bn over 3 years, not the £4.5bn needed to avoid overall losses.It comes on top of many existing criticisms of the SPF, which had already been delayed for one year – costing poorer areas of the UK around another £1.5bn.Hard-pressed local councils and other groups were also required to compile bids, which led to them “wasting time and resources” on 600 failed applications, Mr Kinnock’s letter says.The calculation of £1.65bn of lost funding has been reached from the population size of South Yorkshire and Tees Valley and Durham – noting that Cornwall receives around £650 per head more.The department for levelling up, housing and communities described the claims of a loss of funding as “unfounded”, but without explaining why.“The UK Shared Prosperity Fund – worth over £2.6bn – will, at a minimum, match the size of EU funds in all nations, helping people across the UK to access opportunity and better their skills,” a spokesperson said. More

The real social care crisis – a chronic lack of funding and staff – is being ignored while controversy rages over the watering down of promises to cap lifetime costs, Jeremy Hunt says.The former health secretary warned the government must act, even as it is poised to reject his bid for independent experts to assess how many staff are needed – because it would be too expensive.Mr Hunt is tabling an amendment to the health and care bill, on Tuesday afternoon, to require ministers to publish the assessments, but predicted it would not be accepted.“For people working on the frontline in social care, the workforce crisis, the core funding received by local authorities, are actually much more pressing issues and we should be talking about those as well,” he said.The amendment is backed by around cross-party MPs, including Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, and more than 60 organisations and charities,Experts would report if too few people are being trained to deliver services, but Mr Hunt said of the government: “They are unlikely to accept this amendment today. They’re worried about cost.”He told BBC Radio 4: “We’re going on a bit of a diversion. There is a crisis in social care and it’s not really about how we calculate eligibility for the cap – it’s about the funding that local authorities get.”Mr Hunt was speaking after Boris Johnson won the Commons vote on the diluting of care reforms – forcing less well-off pensioners to pay higher bills – but with his majority slashed from 77 to just 26.The former health secretary predicted the defeat will not be overturned in the House of Lords, but warned of public anger, saying: “It makes it a harder package to sell to the whole country.”One crossbench peer and health expert, Baroness Finlay, suggested peers will try to improve the help being offered on lifetime costs, depending on an impact assessment.“It may be that we will say to the Commons, ‘can you think again?’. It may be that we come up with constructive amendments to improve what is on the table at the moment because, clearly, there’s a lot of disquiet,” the professor of palliative medicine said.And Mr Hunt said the government will have to concede ground in the future, saying: “In time, people will successfully make the case for the way the cap is calculated to be more generous.But he played down the long-term impact of the prime minister’s shambolic speech to the CBI conference, saying David Cameron and Theresa May had faced far worse criticism.“It wasn’t a great moment and it hasn’t been a great month for the government,” Mr Hunt told Times Radio.But he added: “I was in the cabinet for nine years from 2010 and, frankly, there’s never been a time when there weren’t noises off in Westminster, there weren’t backbench MPs with complaints about the way the government is operating.” More

Boris Johnson’s controversial social care scheme cleared the House of Commons by a margin of 272-246 on Monday night.The majority of 26 was well below Mr Johnson’s 80-seat majority, with notable absentees including former PM Theresa May and ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt.The measure now faces further opposition as it moves to the House of Lords, where Baroness Finlay has said peers will “scrutinise” the government’s reforms “very carefully”.She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning: “It may be that we will say to the Commons, ‘can you think again?’ … because, clearly, there’s a lot of disquiet”.Changes to the Health and Care Bill announced just days ago will save the government £900m a year by making a proposed cap on lifetime social care costs significantly less generous for poorer pensioners, while allowing wealthy home-owners to pass the majority of their assets on to their children.But what does the impact look like for those hardest hit if the bill becomes a reality and is approved by the House of Lords?The Independent is hosting an expert ‘ask me anything’ event with Ian Hamilton, a researcher in the Department of Health Sciences, University of York. Ian is an Associate Professor of addiction and lectures in mental health and is keen to take your questions about the potential impact this social care bill could have on those hardest hit across the country.Ian will be on hand on Wednesday, 24 November between 1pm and 2pm to take your questions. All you have to do to take part is submit your question to Ian in the comments section below.Register to submit your question in the comments box below. If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments section to leave your question.Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they will be hidden until Ian joins the conversation to answer them.Then join us live on this page from 1-2pm as he tackles as many questions as he can within an hour. More

Boris Johnson saw his House of Commons majority slashed in a key vote on social care, as 19 Tory MPs joined Labour to vote against a controversial scheme branded “Robin Hood in reverse” and dozens of others stayed away.Although the prime minister’s proposals cleared the House of Commons by a margin of 272-246, the majority of 26 was well below Mr Johnson’s 80-seat majority, with notable absentees including former PM Theresa May and ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt. The measure now faces further opposition as it moves to the House of Lords, where former pensions minister Baroness Altman is among Tories threatening to rewrite Mr Johnson’s plans. She told The Independent the scheme was “a perfect example of protecting the very well off and taking money away from those who are not well-off”.Changes to the Health and Care Bill announced just days ago will save the government £900m a year by making a proposed cap on lifetime social care costs significantly less generous for poorer pensioners while allowing wealthy home-owners to pass the majority of their assets on to their children.Labour and some Tory MPs accused the PM of going back on his promise that no-one would be forced to sell their home to pay for care, after it became clear that means-tested contributions made by local authorities on behalf of some pensioners will not count towards the £86,000 cap.As a consequence, adults with assets worth up to £106,000 will gain little compared to the current system and significantly less than under the scheme initially announced by Mr Johnson in September.Meanwhile, those with assets of £186,000 or more will be able to pass the bulk of their property on to their children after their death. Hardest hit are areas of the north and Midlands where house prices are lower than in the affluent south.Some Conservative ministers and MPs came back to the Commons for the 10pm vote from the party’s lavish fundraising Winter Ball, where donors paid thousands of pounds to mingle with senior Tories. An auction of promises saw one ballgoer bid £35,000 to play cricket with chancellor Rishi Sunak and other paid £25,000 for a karaoke evening with foreign secretary Liz Truss.Labour health spokesman Justin Madders told the Commons the scheme was “Robin Hood in reverse”, taking from the poor to give to the rich.Naming a string of so-called “red wall” areas won by the Tories from Labour – including Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland and Stoke-on-Trent – Mr Madders said: “This isn’t just a few people in those constituencies who will lose out. “It’s thousands of people in each constituency, mainly in the Midlands and the north of England, who will be forced to sell their homes while those in the more affluent areas of the country will get to keep theirs.“That’s not fairness. That’s not fixing social care. That is a betrayal.”Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake told MPs: “There is no doubt that the way the cap works for those with more modest assets is less generous. How can that be fair?”Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the package overall was a significant improvement on the current system of paying for care.But Mr Hunt – now chair of the Commons Health Committee – added: “It is nothing like as progressive as we had hoped for.”Following the result of the vote, Labour’s shadow care minister Liz Kendall said: “Tonight, Tory MPs broke the promise they were elected on that nobody would have to sell their home to pay for care. Instead they voted to tax ordinary working people, while the wealthiest in our country are unaffected.“Once again Boris Johnson’s failures translate into working people paying the price. Families in this country deserve better.”And former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the “remarkable collapse in Tory vote” was a demonstration of “collapsing support for Johnson on Tory benches”, claiming that talk was already under way among Conservative MPs about his replacement.Tory MPs who voted against Mr Johnson’s plan included former cabinet minister Esther McVey, ex-chief whip Mark Harper and ex-health minister Dan Poulter, along with “red wall” MPs Chris Green (Bolton West), Mark Jenkinson (Workington), Damien Moore (Southport), Holly Mumby-Croft (Scunthorpe) and Christian Wakeford (Bury South).Other rebels were Peter Aldous, John Baron, Philip Davies, Kevin Hollinrake, Philip Hollobone, Andrew Lewer, Julian Lewis, Jason McCartney, Mike Penning, Andrew Percy and William Wragg.The author of a definitive report on social care reform, Sir Andrew Dilnot, told MPs last week that the government’s proposals would leave 60 per cent of older people needing social care worse-off than under his proposals. And he said it would “hit people in regions of the country with lower house prices, so there is a north-south axis to this”.And older people’s charities voiced disappointment, with Age UK saying the plan “waters down Sir Andrew Dilnot’s original proposal to save the government some money”, while Silver Voices said it was “regressive in its impact on poorer households”.Ahead of Monday’s vote, Mr Harper warned the amendment “potentially disadvantages the less well-off and those of working age with life-long conditions”.Backed by Tory backbencher Anne Marie Morris, he urged health ministers to withdraw the scheme and return with proposals in the upcoming social care white paper, to allow time for full scrutiny.Meanwhile, the government accepted an amendment tabled by Mr Hunt and backed by nearly 50 health and care organisations, which will require ministers to publish independent workforce projections every two years to ensure that numbers of clinical staff in training are in line with future demand. 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