Markus Andrews

People could still lose their homes under Boris Johnson’s revised social care plans, a government minister has admitted.Speaking on Monday morning Paul Scully said he hoped nobody would have to sell their house but that the number would certainly be “fewer” than now.Boris Johnson had previously pledged that the change to the social care system would mean nobody would have to sell their houses to pay for care.But last week while MPs were focused on the Westminster sleaze scandal the government slipped out changes to its proposals.Under the revised policy poorer pensioners will not, after all, be able to count means-tested payments by the state for their care towards a total cap of £86,000.The change means people on higher incomes will be more likely than people on lower incomes to benefit from the cap.It also means that people in more expensive houses would have almost all their assets protected while those in lower value homes would lose almost everything.”There will be fewer people selling their houses and hopefully none,” business minister Mr Scully told Sky News when asked about the change.Pushed on whether anyone would have to sell their homes to pay for care Mr Scully replied: “I can’t tell you what individuals are going to do.”What I’m saying is the social care solution is all about getting a cap above which you do not need to pay – that gives people certainty.”Speaking ahead of an MPs’ debate and vote on the proposals, Mr Scully added: “It will depend on different circumstances.”If you hit the cap you will not have to pay any more money for your personal care – I think that is a fair, balanced approach for taxpayers and people who are having to pay for what is a really expensive, at the moment, form of care through social care.”The PM’s official spokesperson would not rule out the possibility of people being forced to sell their homes, when speaking to journalists later, saying only: “I can’t predict individual decisions.”The spokesperson denied that the decision not to count means-tested benefits as contributions towards the cap amounted to a change in government policy, insisting that it had always been part of Mr Johnson’s plan and that ministers had simply delayed setting out the details until last week.He said that the intention was to “get the balance right between protecting the minority who face catastrophic care costs and the cost to the taxpayer overall”.The prime minister believes that people have the right to pass on their homes to their children after their death, he said.Some Conservative MPs have threatened to rebel against the changes, which will hit many seats won by the party for the first time in the 2019 election – the so called “red wall”.Boris Johnson has said the current social care system is “very, very unfair” and that the new system is “generous”. More

Boris Johnson was left floundering today when he lost his place in a high-profile speech to business leaders.The prime minister was rendered speechless for 20 seconds as he searched through his text, muttering “forgive me, forgive me”.The normally fluent PM had already stumbled over his words several times during the speech to the CBI at the Port of Tyne, in which he asked executives whether they had ever visited Peppa Pig World and made “vroom vroom” car noises as he described the acceleration of an electric vehicle.He also came close to swearing when he said he doubted people would permanently want to work from home except for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – “an acronym I won’t repeat”.As he told business leaders of his confidence that workers will want to return to the office, it became clear that he had lost his place in the speech as he appeared to ad lib briefly before shuffling through the pile of A4 sheets on the lectern in front of him.Not only will young people want to be in the office to learn from co-workers, but also “there are sound evolutionary reasons that Mother Nature does not like working from home”, he said, in what appeared to be an improvisation on his text.His audience was silent during the lengthy pause as he told them “With safer streets, with great local schools, with fantastic broadband…” before finally finding his place and continuing “…people will have the confidence to stay near the place that they grew up to start businesses”.Even after he worked out where he was in the speech, the PM continued to shuffle the papers in front of him and stumble over his words, and at times it appeared he was struggling to fill gaps in the text with hastily dreamt-up comments.At one point he told his audience of high-powered bosses: “Yesterday I went – as we all must – to Peppa Pig World.Launching into a paean of praise for the Hampshire theme park inspired by the popular pre-school children’s cartoon, the PM asked: “I don’t know if you’ve been to Peppa Pig World? “Hands up who’s been to Peppa Pig World.”As few of the CBI bigwigs lifted their hands, the prime minister commented: “Not enough. It’s fantastic. I was a bit hazy, but I was fine in Peppa Pig World. I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place.“It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on mass transit systems, I notice, even if they are a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.” More

Cabinet ministers “broke down in tears” upon hearing of the death of Sir David Amess, Boris Johnson has said, as he paid tribute to the MP ahead of his funeral.A horse-drawn hearse carrying the Conservative’s body will pass through his constituency of Southend West before Monday afternoon’s service.His friend and party colleague Mark Francois is to deliver a eulogy at the private ecumenical service at St Mary’s Church in Prittlewell, before a second service at Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday.Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe will read a statement on behalf of the Amess family.The father-of-five, who was stabbed to death while holding a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on 15 October, was a devout Catholic. More

Boris Johnson has been urged to stop MPs from avoiding tax on their second jobs by channeling the proceeds via low-tax personal companies.At least 10 MPs are being paid a total of £1 million through such arrangements, an investigation by The Times newspaper found. The approach can reduce tax bills for higher earners by potentially avoiding the 45 per cent top rate of tax on personal income.Corporation tax has been cut in recent decades and companies now pay 19 per cent on their profits – a fact which can be used to the advantage of people seeking to pay less.The approach is entirely legal but has raised eyebrows because MPs set the rates of tax in the first place.Margaret Hodge, a Labour MP who led an inquiry into tax avoidance while chair of the Public Accounts Committee, branded the arrangements “completely outrageous”.She told the newspaper: “We, as MPs, determine the tax everyone has to pay and for some in our midst to choose to use personal service companies in this way is particularly scandalous.”Alastair Graham, who previously chaired the committee on standards in public life also said the arrangements “should be stopped as soon as possible”.The government has pledged to tighten the rules around second jobs and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab revealed on Thursday that MPs would face caps on either the hours they can spend at them or pay they can take home from them.It follows a vote by MPs on Wednesday for the Commons standards committee to review the regulations and recommend updates to their code of conduct by January.The row over outside earnings erupted into the open this month after Tory MPs voted to tear up the rules to protect MP Owen Paterson, who was found to have broken lobbying rules. The government U-turned on the move after a backlash. More

New homes, supermarkets and workplaces will be required to install electric vehicle charging points as standard from 2022, under new regulations to be announced by Boris Johnson.Ahead of the ban on the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles in 2030, the prime minister will say the move will result in an extra 145,000 charging points each year before the end of the decade.According to the latest available figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), the UK has just 25,927 public electric vehicle charging devices available, including 4,923 rapid chargers.The action forms part of the government’s attempts to reach the legally binding net zero target by 2050 and comes after a report earlier this year by the Competition and Markets Authority suggesting at least 280-480,000 public charging points will be needed by 2030.The organisation also warned of the risk of “charging deserts” in remote locations and that suitable charging can be a “postcode lottery”.In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on Monday, Mr Johnson will make clear the regulations, to be laid in parliament before the end of 2021, will also force buildings undergoing large-scale renovations with 10 or more parking spaces to install charging points.“This is a pivotal moment – we cannot go on as we are,” the prime minister will tell the conference. “We have to adapt our economy to the green industrial revolution.”He will say: “We will require new homes and buildings to have EV charging points – with another 145,000 charging points to be installed thanks to these regulations”.In his own speech to the CBI conference on Monday, Sir Keir Starmer will outline his commitment to “chase down every penny we spend” under a Labour government with the creation of a new Office for Value of Money.“Just as every one of you scrutinises the cost side of your business, constantly asking yourself if investments are paying off, we will do the same on behalf of the tax-paying public,” the Labour leader will say.He will also accuse the government of having “absolutely no plan to make Brexit work”, adding: “Labour is not planning a rematch, but it is obvious that a poorly-thought through Brexit is holding Britain back.”As the UK government seeks to renegotiate the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol – a key part of the Brexit agreement – Sir Keir will say: “Trust matters in international negotiations, but with this prime minister that ingredient is missing.“Instead what you get is a series of pantomime disputes, which is no good for British business or for the British people.”In an attempt to flesh out his slogan of “make Brexit work”, the Labour leader will add: “We would seek regulatory equivalence for financial services, and mutual recognition of professional qualifications, because we absolutely recognise the importance of looking after our world-class financial and professional service businesses.“We would seek to maintain Britain’s data adequacy status, making our data protection rules equivalent to those in the EU, to secure UK digital services companies’ competitiveness.”He will say: “We’d also seek a better long-term deal for UK hauliers to ease the supply chain problems we are seeing. I believe all of this is achievable by robustly defending our interests, and patiently negotiating”. More

A Tory MP has admitted swearing at Owen Paterson earlier this month at the height of the standards row, saying the incident was fuelled by a mixture of “anger and codeine”.Christian Wakeford was reported to have called his former Conservative colleague a “c***” during a vote in parliament. Asked about the incident, the Bury South MP told Times Radio the report of him approaching Mr Paterson was correct, saying: “It’s been a mixture of quite a lot of anger and codeine. I clearly have a broken ankle at the moment, it’s not the best mix.“But I do think it went to show … the quantum of anger in the party, and that’s still high now.“But the fact that after all that … marching up to the top of the hill, not once was there gratitude from Owen, not once was there … apologies or repentance. The fact he went out to the press and said ‘I will do exactly the same again’ – I think I’m not the only one who would have wanted to use language of that nature to him.”Westminster has been engulfed by a sleaze row prompted by the government’s botched attempt to protect Mr Paterson from suspension over his breach of lobbying rules. Mr Paterson subsequently resigned as an MP, but the row has led to intense scrutiny of parliamentarians and their outside work.Mr Wakeford, whose majority is just 402, told Times Radio that his inbox suggested there was a level of public anger at the saga. He added that even though the language in the row over standards had been toned down, the sentiment was still there.“We should never have been in a position of that nature,” he said.“And whether it was or it wasn’t, it felt like we were trying to get him off the hook when actually he was bang to rights in the report, so that didn’t sit comfortably with a lot of colleagues.”Additional reporting by PA More

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic has accused the UK of “political posturing” and urged Brexit minister David Frost and his negotiating team to stop “bringing … new problems to the table”.With differences remaining on ways to solve issues relating to Northern Ireland, Mr Sefcovic said that “if there is a genuine problem” with the protocol, “we can find the solutions” – but said that the two sides would have to work together.Appearing on The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC, Mr Sefcovic was asked why he could not accept proposals that goods which were not going to leave Northern Ireland should be treated in one way while goods that may cross into the Republic should be handled differently.He said: “Would the UK accept not to have the overview of what’s coming to the UK market? Would they accept it? I don’t think so.“And you just simply have to understand that, if something is coming to the EU single market, we have to have an overview.” More

Health secretary Sajid Javid has ruled out mass mandatory coronavirus vaccination, saying that it is not something that the government would ever “look at” bringing in. His comments came after demonstrators took the streets across Europe to protest against tighter coronavirus restrictions put in place to curb growing infection rates. Austria has made coronavirus vaccines compulsory and announced a new lockdown. The nationwide lockdown will start on Monday and will initially last for ten days.In Germany, ministers have admitted that introducing compulsory vaccination could be “unavoidable”. Germany’s federal tourism commissioner Thomas Bareiß told DPA news agency: “In retrospect, it was wrong not to see that right from the start. The hope at that time is understandable, but it was not realistic.”The Prime Minister of Bavaria also said that “in the end we will not be able to avoid compulsory vaccination.”Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Mr Javid said that the UK was “fortunate” to have less hesitancy around vaccines than other countries. He said: “It is up to Austria, other countries, to decide what they need to do. We are fortunate that in this country, although we have vaccine hesitancy, it is a lot lower than we are seeing in other places.”Mr Javid added: “I just think on a practical level, taking a vaccine should be a positive choice. It should be something, if people are a bit reluctant, we should work with them and encourage them.“In terms of mandatory vaccines for the general population I don’t think that is something we would ever look at.”The government has made the coronavirus vaccine compulsory for some key workers, such as care home workers. The deadline for care home workers to be fully vaccinated is 11 November. Frontline NHS staff will also have to have had both vaccine doses by 1 April. Mr Javid also played down the need for more restrictions to be put in place in the coming weeks. He told Sky News that England was “firmly” in Plan A, saying: “If we needed to take further measures with Plan B then we would do so, but we’re not at that point.”He added: “As we all look forward to Christmas, it’s very sad to see cases rising – surging in parts of Europe. We’ve always known that this virus, it loves the winter, it likes the cold, darker days that winter brings and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to protect ourselves against that.”From Monday, people aged above 40 will be eligible to receive a booster jab. 16 and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab next week. Europe is experiencing a fourth wave of coronavirus infection ahead of Christmas and Greece is among other countries that have reintroduced tougher restrictions. Greece has barred unvaccinated people from all commercial indoor spaces, such as cinemas, museums and gyms. More