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Trade secretary denies Priti Patel is ‘failing’ to sort out migrant crisisBoris Johnson is facing mounting anger from within his own party over social care reform, after it emerged poorer pensioners face paying more for the cost of care. The prime minister is said to be risking a damaging Commons rebellion following the publication of a policy paper revealing means tested support provided to some pensioners by local authorities will not count towards the £86,000 lifetime cap.It comes as Labour accused Priti Patel of “dangerous failures” over migrant crossings in the English Channel, with shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds suggesting that Boris Johnson “appears to agree” after the prime minister reportedly ordered a cross-Whitehall review into the issue.As hundreds of people were thought to have made the treacherous journey on Saturday, an anonymous Tory donor issued a warning that government’s handling of the crossings could “destroy” the Conservative Party and pave the way for the emergence of a new “Farage-style party”.Show latest update

1637506208Tory MP describes mixture of ‘anger and codeine’ after swearing at Owen PatersonA Tory MP has said that a mixture of “anger and codeine” led him to call Owen Paterson a “c***” while voting in Parliament earlier this month during a row over standards.Asked whether the report of him approaching Mr Paterson – who eventually resigned following a saga where he was initially found to have breached lobbying rules – was correct, Christian Wakeford told Times Radio: “It is. And 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, I guess, the quantum of anger in the party and that’s still high now.“But the fact that after all that kind of marching up the top of the hill, not once was there gratitude from Owen, not once was there, kind of, 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.”Mr Wakeford, who was elected to Bury South in 2019 with a majority of just 402, told the broadcaster 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.”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 14:501637504557Jess Phillips: One broken promise too far – the nation has turned on Boris JohnsonIn her latest column for Independent Voices, Labour’s Jess Phillips writes: It’s not been a cracking few weeks to be a politician. We have all been tarred with the brush of the dodgiest among us. While I am provably, in every regard, not Owen Paterson, essentially we are all considered to be Owen Paterson thanks to the Conservative Party’s ability to take us all down with him. Cheers, lads!It has always played well for them to make people hate politics; they have for a good few years dined out in the most expensive men only private members clubs on the back of hatred of the establishment. Anti-politics has very much been Boris Johnson’s jam, largely because he has always got away with breaking promises and lying in both his political and personal life. No matter who he hurts, somehow he has come out rosey.While I am not happy to be considered in the same sentence as Owen Paterson, I am pretty pleased that this completely unremarkable politician may finally be Boris Johnson’s undoing. Not just because of the dreadful way our prime minister behaved in response to his pal acting corruptly in his own interests, but because it seems to have finally tipped the country over the edge. It was one self-aggrandising lie too far and it has exposed an inept prime minister who breaks promise after promise.Read her thinking in full here:Andy Gregory21 November 2021 14:221637503621Culture of ‘victim blaming and shaming’ must end, Caroline Nokes saysThe culture of “victim blaming and shaming” must end, the Conservative MP Caroline Nokes has warned, revealing that journalists have scoured through her past sex life to “find some sort of defence” after she accused Boris Johnson’s father of inappropriately touching her.Speaking to Times Radio, the chair of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, Ms Nokes said that after the incident she, “like so many women, had that response of well, how will this impact upon me? How will talking about this have a negative impact on me? And even 18 years later, you can see people trying to turn it back on me, victim-blaming and shaming”.“Now, look, I don’t regard myself as a victim. I won’t be a victim,” Ms Nokes said. “But to read some of the things that have been said about me and you think well, OK, so clearly some people, some sections of the media, have decided that I’m the sort of woman it’s OK to sexually harass.”“I’ve seen a number of journalists try to trawl my past sex life as some sort of defence for someone doing that,” she said, adding: “We are literally in a culture that is trying to turn it on the woman, make it her fault, blame her, accusing her of making it a political vendetta”.Stating that it was for the party to decide whether to launch a formal investigation into Stanley Johnson, Ms Nokes said: “If anyone had said to me in 2003 that I should report it, I think my first question would have been to whom? How? What processes are there for me to make a complaint to the Conservative Party about a fellow candidate?“And I just didn’t know that there were any and I think I would probably struggle to identify who to complain to now to be brutally honest.”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 14:071637502208Channel crossings will cost Tories votes, Conservative MP saysAnger over the government’s handling of crossings in the English Channel will cost the Tories votes, Craig Mackinlay has warned, suggesting that ministers should consider offering troops to patrol the French coastline.“It is a key issue on the doorstep, I can tell you that, at the moment,” said the Conservative MP in Nigel Farage’s former seat of South Thanet.Asked whether the issue will cost the Tories votes, he told the BBC’s The World This Weekend show: “I feel it will. People are asking why our support has softened over the last few weeks across many polls. I knock on a lot of doors, I speak to a lot of people, I have a very full inbox, and I have to tell you that this issue is the one that is of most concern to people across my constituency certainly and in door-knocking I’ve done elsewhere as well across some of the by-elections that are in progress.“This is very much on people’s lips, because it just looks like state failure. There has to be a solution. We haven’t found it yet, and we’re trying to find the Holy Grail that’s going to stop this.”Arguing that “Poland has been very receptive to getting international help for strengthening up its Belarus border”, he suggested making “a very generous and open offer to the French authorities and say, ‘you’re struggling, how many of our police, Border Force and troops do you need to patrol this hundred mile of beach and stop this from happening?’”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 13:431637500526Social care proposals mean ‘everyone will be better off’, health secretary saysWith Boris Johnson facing a potential rebellion over his watered down social care plans, here’s what Sajid Javid had to say on the matter earlier this morning.The health secretary told the BBC that Sir Andrew Dilnot – who led a review into the future of funding social care a decade ago, and said those with fewer assets “will not see any benefit” from the proposed new funding structure – was only comparing his own proposals with the government’s plan.“No-one will have to pay more than £86,000, doesn’t matter who they are, where they live in the country,” Mr Javid said.But pushed that not everyone has assets of more than £86,000, Mr Javid replied: “That’s where we’ve set the cap, so to protect you from catastrophic costs, because most people’s care journey is not that long, most people’s care journey is a couple of years.“But one in, I think it’s around one in seven people, have costs higher than £86,000. What we have also done, which is very different to what Andrew had set out in his original plans, is we’ve got a much more generous means test.“So what our plans mean, taken together, is that everyone, everyone – doesn’t matter where they live in the country – will be better off under the new proposals that we set out, versus the current system. Everyone will be better off.”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 13:151637498767Johnson faces Commons social care rebellionThe prime minister is facing the prospect of a damaging Commons rebellion over social care reform, after it emerged poorer pensioners face paying more for the cost of care.Andrew Percy, the Conservative MP for Brigg and Goole, is among those said to be concerned about the policy.He questioned the impact of the change on poorer communities, particularly in the north, telling The Independent: “I’m very concerned of what I’ve seen of the changes so far.”Here is the story:Tom Batchelor21 November 2021 12:461637497467Opinion | Keir Starmer needs to plan for a hung parliamentWe have had two hung parliaments recently, in 2010 and 2017, but on each occasion the Tories found a partner with whom to govern in a reasonably secure way, writes John Rentoul.If there is another hung parliament, it is likely to be very different, and to produce the kind of politics we haven’t had since the Seventies. We had better relearn our recent history.Read his full piece here:Tom Batchelor21 November 2021 12:241637495784Government should ‘look again’ at social care plans, Tory MP saysThe government “should look again” at its watered down proposals for the social care cap, the former justice secretary Robert Buckland has suggested.Asked whether he was minded to vote for the changes currently put forward, which experts warn would mean that the poorest households in the country will not actually benefit from the cap, Mr Buckland told LBC: “Well I think the government should look again at this. I think that we’re in danger of putting the cart before the horse. “I think it’s far better to actually publish the social care white paper first, so that we can see what the new proposals are. What is the new system that we’re going to be funding? Let’s have a look at that first.”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 11:561637494047Labour accuses Priti Patel of ‘dangerous failures’ over Channel crossingsOur political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more on Labour’s criticism of Priti Patel’s handling of migration across the English Channel.Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News earlier: “We have thousands of people risking their lives in these most dangerous sea lanes, the most dangerous sea crossing in the world.“And if the rate continues as it is at the moment, if the rate of increase from last year to this year is repeated again next year, we’ll have as many people risking their lives in the Channel as there are people in Priti Patel’s constituency. Her incompetence on this issue is dangerous.”Andy Gregory21 November 2021 11:271637492261Government’s rail announcements ‘have disappointed virtually everybody’Ministers have managed to disappoint “virtually everybody” with their rail announcements this week, the vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has said – warning that Boris Johnson’s government will have to show evidence of their promises if they wish to stay in power.Lord Jim O’Neill, a former Treasury minister, told Sky News that the government had promised “60 or 70 times” to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) in full, saying: “In isolation if it would have just appeared from nowhere, it might not have been so bad, but given everything that’s followed since Boris Johnson became prime minister, as we can see with the reaction across the board, is pretty disappointing.”He added: “The downside of very strong expectations creation is that it does create belief and also a spirit and a desire and a passion. And so that’s partly what created the victory for them in the election, but if they want to stay in power they’ve obviously got to show some evidence of following through.”Asked whether the promised halving of some journey times was not a win, he said: “I’m yet to find a single technical expert that believes it’s deliverable.”Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more details on the backlash here:Andy Gregory21 November 2021 10:57 More

Sajid Javid has played down the need for the introduction of plan B Covid restrictions in England as parts of Europe reimpose measures in response to a surge in transmissions.The health secretary suggested the government was sticking “firmly” with the existing plan A — concentrating on the rollout of booster jabs — but stressed that ministers remained “cautious, not complacent”.Cases of Covid in the UK have been running at high levels since large swathes of restrictions were lifted in the summer, with the latest government figures showing over 40,000 new cases of the virus recorded on Saturday.Pressed on Sky News whether whether the government should be “dusting off” its plan B measures, which include mandatory face coverings, working from home advice and domestic vaccine passports, the health secretary emphasised the importance of the booster programme that was extended again this week.He added: “We made a tough decision at the start of the summer – others countries didn’t follow our course — and we decided that of course we want to start opening up and if you’re going to do that it’s best to do it in the summer. Other countries in Europe didn’t do that.“But in terms of any other potential measures, we’ve said all along that we’ve got Plan A, and that’s where we firmly are at the moment,” he stressed.“If we needed to take further measures with Plan B then we would do so, but we’re not at that point.”As some parts of mainland Europe experience an increase in infections — and the reimposition of lockdown in Austria — Mr Javid added: “As we all look forward to Christmas, it’s very sad to see cases surging in certain parts of Europe.“Now we’ve always known that this virus loves the winter, it likes the colder darker days that winter brings and we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to protect ourselves against that.“What’s made a real difference in the UK is our booster programme, our hugely successful booster programme.”Sir Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, added it was “unlikely” Britain would see a sharp rise similar to parts of Europe in the coming months, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: “We’ve actually had some spread going on since the summer.“I think it’s unlikely we’re going to see the very sharp rise in the next few months that’s just been seen — we’re already ahead of that, with this particular virus, the Delta variant”.In a separate interview with the BBC, Mr Javid also insisted there was “no plan” for increase travel restrictions and stressed that the UK would never look at mandatory vaccines for the general population – following protests against plans for similar measures in Austria.“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 said.He 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.” More

Labour has accused Priti Patel of “dangerous” failures over the issue of migrants crossing the Channel, claiming the home secretary was more concerned with “diplomatic spats” with the French government.It come after Boris Johnson was said to be “exasperated” with the situation and has drafted in the Cabinet Office minister, Steve Barclay, to oversee a cross-Whitehall review of migrants arriving on Britain’s shores.Over the weekend adults carrying children wrapped in blankets were seen arriving on the south-east coast of England with help from lifeboat crews. Over 24,000 people have arrived in the UK so far this year after making treacherous journey in small boats.Speaking on Sky News, Nick Thomas-Symonds said Ms Patel was “comprehensively failing in this policy and it appears the prime minister agrees because he seems to be putting a minister for the Cabinet Office in charge of a review of this”.The shadow home secretary added: “The home secretary’s failure is a dangerous failure.“We have thousands of people risking their lives in these most dangerous sea lanes, the most dangerous sea crossing in the world and if the rate continues as it is at the moment, if the rate of increase from last year to this year is repeated again next year, we’ll have as many people risking their lives in the Channel as there are people in Priti Patel’s constituency. Her incompetence on this issue is dangerous.”Mr Thomas-Symonds demanded a “workable deal” with Paris, claiming: “All she’s interested in is diplomatic spats with the French — that isn’t what we need”.Earlier this week, Ms Patel appeared to blame the EU’s open borders – established by the Schengen Agreement – for failing to check the movement of people through the bloc.Speaking to reporters during a visit to Washington, she said she was “constantly pressing” the French on the issue, but that they were “overwhelmed”.“Let’s not forget that the real problem on illegal migration flows is the EU has no border protections whatsoever – Schengen open borders,” she was quoted as saying.Mr Thomas-Symonds added that just one person risking their life in the English Channel was too many, as he suggested the government should reintroduce the Dubs scheme, which provided a safe route for unaccompanied children, and reinstate the full international aid budget to “tackles why people become displaced from their homes in the first place”.“We have to prevent people risking their lives in the English Channel because that is what is happening on a virtual daily basis at the moment, and Priti Patel is comprehensively failing to prevent that from happening,” he stressed.“My worry is that unless the government gets that right, that safe route right, we are going to end up in a situation with a possible tragedy next year of seeing people from Afghanistan in the English Channel, unless the government gets this right now.”However, Sajid Javid defended his cabinet colleague Ms Patel, saying she was doing a “huge amount of work” to break the smugglers’ business model.He added: “This country has a great track record, rightly so, of providing security and protection to those people who are genuinely fleeing persecution and we have done that recently with Afghanistan and it has been right to do that but we do have to ask ourselves that if people are trying to get to the UK from safe countries like France, are they genuine asylum seekers or not? “It is right to ask that and it is right to change the rules to take that into account and that’s what the home secretary is doing.” More

Sajid Javid has urged people between the ages of 40 and 49 to book a Covid booster jab from tomorrow in order to keep Covid surges seen in parts of Europe “at bay”.The extended eligibility of the booking service for boosters will also coincide with 16 and 17-year-olds being urged to book a second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine from Monday.Earlier this week, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised the government that all adults over 40 should be offered a third jab six months after their second – a recommendation that ministers accepted.Those eligible for a booster jab can book their appointments in advance, from five months after their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, in order to be vaccinated as soon as they reach the six-month mark, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.The department also highlighted data this week showing that two weeks after receiving a booster shot, protection against symptomatic infection in adults over 50 was over 93 per cent for those who had received an Oxford vaccine, and 94 per cent for those given the Pfizer.In total, over 14 million people have now received a booster jab across the UK, with the DHSC insisting that the programme, coupled with initial vaccinations, will ensure “we can enjoy Christmas safely”.Health secretary Mr Javid said: “Getting your Covid-19 booster vaccine is the best way to keep yourself and your loved ones safe this winter and will help to reduce the pressure on the NHS.“While the government is continuing to monitor a wide range of data to ensure the country remains protected, we have very sadly seen a surge in cases in parts of Europe.“The most important thing we can do to stop a similar rise in this country is get the jab – so please get your vaccines as soon as you can, so we can keep the virus at bay.”The past week has seen the reimposition of Covid restrictions in parts of mainland Europe in response to an exponential increase in infections, with Austria announcing a full national lockdown alongside compulsory vaccinations.Cases of Covid have been running at high levels since large swathes of restrictions were lifted in the summer, with the latest government figures showing over 44,000 new cases of the virus recorded on Friday.Speaking on the BBC, however, professor Andrew Hayward, who advises the government as a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said there were a number of differences between the UK and mainland Europe.“I think there’s a number of differences – the main one being that we’ve been running at very high levels of infection for a long time really, since July when we opened up, so we’ve really had a high plateau of cases, with associated hospitalisations and deaths,” he said.“Whereas Europe’s only really begun to increase since about the beginning of October, and now that’s built up speed and is in some parts of Europe becoming an exponential increase.”However, he said, “we’re still higher than the European average – there are countries in eastern Europe that are higher than us, as well as Austria and Germany. It’s catching up with us now. It’s a very different background.”Professor Hayward also stressed that the speed of the booster campaign could have a “substantial impact” on whether increased infections will translate into hospital admissions.Regarding the UK’s own position, he added: “We’ve got over 8,000 people in hospital with Covid, nearly a thousand of them on ventilators. We have, compared to Europe, far lower numbers of hospital beds available to put people in, so we are on a bit of a knife-edge with Covid here.“But when you add in all the other respiratory infections that come in the winter, when we’ve got high levels of population mixing, when you add in that huge backlog, the NHS is already in serious trouble. So I think we do need to be prepared to take action.” More

The prospect of Boris Johnson facing a fresh investigation into his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri is drawing closer after the businesswoman agreed to hand over her diaries to an ethics watchdog, according to reports. Ms Arcuri, who alleged earlier this year that she had a four-year romantic relationship with Mr Johnson when he was mayor of London, has agreed to let the monitoring officer at the Greater London Authority inspect parts of her diaries, the Observer says. The businesswoman handing over extracts of her diaries relating to her dealings with Mr Johnson when he was mayor reignites the prospect of an investigation for a potential criminal offence of misconduct in public office.The diary, shared with the Observer last week, is said to reveal that Mr Johnson overruled the advice of his staff in 2013 to attend an event promoting her tech venture Innotech and make her “happy”.In a diary entry from February 2013, Ms Arcuri claims he told her: “I just want you to know they came to me and I crushed them. They said: ‘You can’t do this Innotech in April.’ I said: ‘Yes, I can, I’ll be there.’”According to a separate entry, the then-mayor allegedly asked Ms Arcuri: “How can I be the thrust – the throttle – your mere footstep as you make your career? Tell me: how I can help you?”The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) last year examined whether Mr Johnson should face a criminal investigation into misconduct, but found no evidence he influenced the payment of thousands of pounds to the US businesswoman’s companies.Last week, Labour’s Angela Rayner urged the police watchdog to “look again” at its decision to rule out a criminal investigation into following fresh claims from Ms Acuri about their relationship while he was mayor. She said the diary entries merited “a full investigation” into whether Mr Johnson acted appropriately and the processes which led to around £126,000 of public funding being given to Ms Arcuri’s businesses.The GLA then contacted the Observer to assess whether the fresh evidence might constitute a criminal offence – if so, she will formally refer the matter back to the IOPC to make a decision as to whether the issue is to be investigated.In an email sent to Emma Strain, monitoring officer at the GLA, shown to the Observer, Ms Arcuri wrote: “I am prepared to show you or your investigators copies of the relevant pages.“However, I currently reside in the United States, so it would mean you or they [the IOPC] travelling here for that purpose. In that event, I would also be prepared to be interviewed, if that assists.”An alternative posed by Ms Acuri is to employ the help of journalist John Ware, with whom she has “entrusted” diary entries, to share the relevant passages with the GLA.In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror in March this year, the American businesswoman told of her four-year affair with the British prime minister between 2012 and 2016.Ms Arcuri said the pair shared a “physical and intellectual attraction” after meeting while she was a student in 2011 and he the mayor of London and married to lawyer, Marina Wheeler, with whom he has four children“We were in an intimate relationship for four years,” she said.“I loved him, and with good cause. But the man I thought I knew doesn’t exist any more.” More

Labour’s Anneliese Dodds has pledged to introduce tougher sentences for those who commit hate crimes against people on the basis of their sexuality, gender identity, or disability.Accusing the Conservatives of inaction on the issue, the party said it would reform existing laws to make the system more equitable – ensuring all hate crimes are “treated as an aggregated offence”.Under existing legislation courts can use enhanced sentencing in cases of hate crimes, which demonstrate hostility based on one of five “protected characteristics”, including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.However, in some cases where a crime is found to have been motivated by racial or religious hostility, they can be “upgraded” to aggravated offences – carrying tougher sentences – alongside cases of assault, harassment and criminal damage.In 2014 the Law Commission recommended that aggravated offences be extended to disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity, and last year proposed a consultation into reforming hate crimes.It recognised that “groups who are protected to a lesser degree – notably LGBT+ and disabled people – argue that this is wrong in principle, and has a damaging effect in practice”.Labour said it would change the law to ensure that “everyone who falls victim to hate crime is treated equally under the law, and that the perpetrators of anti-LGBT+ and disability hate crime can no longer dodge longer sentences”.Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance, the party’s chair and shadow equalities minister Ms Dodds said: “It is totally unacceptable that police recorded hate crimes against LGBT+ people have doubled in the last five years.“All victims of hate crime have a right to expect equal treatment under the law, but that’s not the case today,” she added.“Labour will fix this injustice by bringing in tougher, fairer hate crime laws so that every category of hate crime is treated as an aggravated offence – and those who commit hate crimes against LGBT+ and disabled people can no longer get away with softer sentences.“The Conservatives could have done this years ago, but they’ve sat on their hands as usual. There is little wonder that former members of their now defunct LGBT+ advisory panel have accused ministers of creating a hostile environment for LGBT+ people.”Ms Dodds also reiterated the party’s policy on reforming the Gender Recognition Act to enable self-identification – a reform dropped by the Conservatives last year – and called for an “outright” ban on so-called conversion therapies.“Labour recognises that trans rights are human rights,” she said. “So we would update the Gender Recognition Act to enable a process of self-identification while continuing to support the implementation of the Equality Act, including the single sex exemption. “We would ban conversion therapies outright immediately. And we would introduce these vital changes to hate crime laws that we’re announcing today. More

George Osborne has predicted that Boris Johnson will perform a U-turn on his widely criticised decision to scale back rail improvements in the north of England.Hitting out at the prime minister for lacking “ambition”, the former chancellor described the government’s proposals this week as “pretty disappointing” and highlighted the importance of marginal seats around Bradford and Leeds.His intervention comes after ministers unveiled long-awaited plans for rail services in the north of England and were accused of “betrayal” for breaking a pledge to build the HS3 line, between Manchester and Leeds, and the eastern leg of HS2, serving the Midlands and Yorkshire.Branding the scaled-back plans a “second-class option”, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said his party remained committed to building the eastern leg of HS2, while northern leaders demanded the integrated rail review be put to a free vote in the Commons.Mr Johnson, however, insisted this week that his critics were talking “total rubbish” and that there was some good news in the £96bn plans for the railways – referring to plans to electrify the Transpennine route and the Midland main line.Mr Osborne, who was chancellor during David Cameron’s premiership between 2010 and 2016, told the Financial Times: “Frankly, I don’t think high-speed rail in the east of England, up to Yorkshire, is dead yet.”He went on: “You’ve had the Labour Party commit very quickly to build it; I think the pressure will grow on the Conservatives because, actually, there are quite a lot of marginal seats around Bradford and Leeds.“I think the politics of that over the next two years will see – and it wouldn’t be for the first time – our prime minister execute a U-turn and come back to promising an eastern leg of HS2, just over a longer period of time.”While welcoming the £96bn overall upgrade for railways, the former chancellor, who chairs the Northern Powerhouse Partnership group, also said: “It’s not often you can say this about Boris Johnson, but he lacks ambition.”Responding to Mr Osborne’s comments, shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “George Osborne has confirmed what many of us have been saying – the government doesn’t have a plan to rebalance our economy.“It’s clear what we saw this week was the ‘great train robbery’. Boris Johnson must do the right thing and reverse Thursday’s decision. Now we know only Labour will deliver the investment the north needs: only Labour is committed to implementing HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail in full, and get[ting] all parts of the country firing on all cylinders.”On a visit to a Network Rail logistics hub on Thursday, Mr Johnson dismissed the charges of broken promises as “total rubbish”, insisting that the government would deliver on them “eventually”.“Of course there are going to be people who always want everything at once. And there are lots of people who are [going to] say, ‘Look, what we should do is carve huge new railways through virgin territory, smashing through unspoilt countryside and villages and do it all at once,’” he said.“The problem with that is those extra high-speed lines take decades, and they don’t deliver the commuter benefits that I’m talking about. We will eventually do them.” More

The UK government is reportedly mulling over a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing as concerns about China’s record on human rights grow.It comes after US president Joe Biden revealed this week he was “considering” staging a similar move with a final decision on attendance at the games expected before the end of November.While the move would inflame tensions with Chinese president Xi Jinping, a political boycott would be a tool to protest the well-documented abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the country’s Xinjiang province, including forced sterilisations, mass internment camps and forced labour.According to The Times, there is an “active discussion” within the UK government about whether to follow suit, after Conservative Party MPs wrote to the prime minister urging him to ban diplomatic representation at the Beijing games.Boris Johnson has previously ruled out a full sporting boycott of the Winter Olympics – despite concerns over the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority – telling MPs earlier this year the UK did not “normally” support sporting boycotts.The British Olympic Association welcomed Mr Johnson’s remarks in February, saying: “As we saw in Moscow in 1980, sporting boycotts don’t work. They penalise the athletes whilst leaving the greater political problems unaddressed or unsolved.”But earlier this week, former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who was one of the UK MPs sanctioned by China earlier this year, said it was “unthinkable that the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics should continue as normal” against the background of abuses against the Uyghurs.Writing for the Politics Home website, Mr Duncan Smith added: “Our athletes have played no part in choosing the venue for the Games, they should not be made to suffer for the moral ineptitude of the International Olympic Committee. “While many will boldly choose to speak out against the abuses, it is down to our political leaders to make clear that the Chinese government’s behaviour is unacceptable. “The British government must set an example to president Biden and announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Neither prime minister Boris Johnson nor any other government ministers or officials should attend the games. British diplomats should too be instructed to stay far away.”A government spokesperson told The Independent: “As the prime minister has previously said, the UK has long been opposed to sporting boycotts.“No decisions have yet been made about government attendance at the Beijing Olympics.” More