Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson’s government has launched a huge recruitment campaign to fill more than 100,000 empty roles in England’s ailing social care sector.A TV advert and social media campaign will tell the public “there’s no better time to become a care worker” as ministers attempt to stave off the dire staffing shortage in the sector.The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the ‘Made With Care’ ads will run for the next five months in a bid to encourage people to pursue a “exciting and rewarding” career in the sector.Care providers have warned that they are at “breaking point”, with some struggling to provide safe care due to the acute shortage of workers.The Care Quality Commission said many are quitting for better paid roles in hospitality and tourism, and warned of a “serious and deteriorating” situation in both recruitment and staff retention.Experts in the sector say burnout from the last 18 months of the pandemic, low and uncompetitive levels of pay, and the requirement for care home staff to get vaccinated against Covid are all pushing staff to leave.The new TV advert, featuring real care workers, will premiere on Wednesday and run until November 21 on ITV, Sky and Channel 4 – with the government promising the roles available offer both “variety” and “flexible hours”.Health secretary Sajid Javid said a career in social care is “rewarding and inspiring”, adding: “We need more people who possess the core values this workforce embody so strongly – kindness, compassion and resilience – to look after our friends and family with dignity and respect.”According to workforce body Skills for Care, on average 6.8 per cent of adult social care roles were unfilled on any given day in 2020-21 – around 105,000 vacancies.Vacancies have been rising steadily since May, and are now above pre-pandemic levels. Skills for Care’s latest annual report also found that turnover was high, at 28.5 per cent, equating to approximately 410,000 people leaving over the course of the year.Care home leaders have urged the government to lift its post-Brexit visa restrictions on low-paid foreign workers to help ease the crisis – having reported a rise in the number of EU workers leaving to return home.Care England has asked ministers should reduce the qualifying salary level for overseas staff from £25,600 and add care workers to the shortage occupation list. “Quite simply care providers are at breaking point,” said Prof Martin Green, chief executive of Care England in September.The government has pledged to invest £5.4bn into social care between 2022-23 and 2024-25 as part of reforms to health and social care funding announced in September. This includes a £500m workforce fund, with a further £162.5m fund to help recruit and keep social care staff.Meanwhile, new research by Carers UK has found that three in 10 unpaid carers across Britain are currently struggling to make ends meet.Providing unpaid care while struggling with rising living costs is pushing thousands of families across the country into poverty, the charity has warned the government.More than half (52 per cent) of unpaid carers surveyed by the charity said they feel anxious or stressed about their finances, while 31 per cent are finding it hard to make ends meet, according to the charity’s latest report, The State Of Caring 2021.A fifth (21 per cent) fear they may not be able to cope financially over the next year. One respondent told the charity: “I don’t have luxuries, can’t afford life, car insurance or house insurance. At 60 I shouldn’t be using food banks.” More

The Ministry of Defence has wasted billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money by failing to improve its “broken” system for buying expensive equipment, a scathing report by MPs has found.The report detailed MoD spending on 20 projects worth £163bn, including the “catastrophic” £5.5bn Ajax armoured vehicle programme by General Dynamics, which left more than 300 personnel needing hearing tests because of excessive noise and vibration and has delivered just 14 of the 589 units ordered in 2014.Delays totalling 21 years have affected 13 programmes ranging from A400M transport aircraft and Crowsnest and Marshall radar systems to the Morpheus tactical communication and information system, the Warrior armoured vehicle upgrade and Spearfish torpedos, the Commons Public Accounts Committee found.Late delivery of expensive and hi-tech equipment meant troops relying on ageing and near-obsolete kit, with old frigates having to be upgraded while the Royal Navy waited for promised replacements.The committee said it was “extremely disappointed and frustrated” by the continued poor track record of the department, which is run by defence secretary Ben Wallace, and said that the Treasury and Cabinet Office should step in to impose an “urgent rethink” of its “broken” procurement systems.The cross-party panel of MPs said the ministry had failed to convince them that the extra £16.5bn awarded in Rishi Sunak’s 2020 spending review would not simply be used to “plug financial holes” in existing programmes, rather than deliver new capability for taxpayers.In 14 out of 20 cases, the MoD handed out contracts wholly or partially to a small group of suppliers without going through competitive tendering processes, even when there was no national security ground for doing so, the report found.The MoD also failed to control contractors or ensure that they absorbed a share of additional costs as the bills for new kit spiralled upwards.As a result, taxpayers were left bearing “too much of the financial risks for failure”.The report called on the MoD to reduce its exposure to risk by opting more often for “off-the-shelf” kit rather than commissioning untested new equipment.In response, it said: “The department does not make enough demands of its suppliers to share the financial risks as well as the rewards of contracting for major equipment capabilities.“Suppliers should contribute their fair share of development funding to equipment programmes so they are sufficiently incentivised to deliver.”Despite 13 formal reviews of defence procurement policy in 35 years, the MoD had failed to learn from experience and improve performance. Its current forecast for cash savings through its new strategic partnership programme comes to just £160m over 10 years – less than 0.1 per cent of total spend. Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier said: “Despite years of official inquiries and recommendations and promises of learning and change, we have still heard nothing from the MoD to give any assurance about our biggest concern, which is now that last year’s lauded and substantial uplift to the department’s budget will not simply be used to plug financial holes across its programmes.“It seems no matter who we ask across the ministry, whatever their particular responsibilities, they all point to this same additional funding as a solution to their problems.“MoD senior management appears to have made the calculation that, at the cost of a few uncomfortable hours in front of a select committee, they can get away with leaving one of the largest financial holes in any government departments’ budget, not just for now, but year after year. This committee is determined that this state of affairs cannot, and will not, continue.”The report said that MoD ministers and officials had failed to convince the committee that they were taking the cash haemorrhage “seriously” and would not simply “throw good money after bad”.MPs were “deeply concerned” about the department’s inability to answer basic questions about its spending projects, and accused it of “complacency” about programmes which had been marked red because of concerns they would not deliver to plan.The MoD admitted that it “does not routinely monitor value for money of programmes”, the report said. More

Boris Johnson’s government has been urged to push for an expanded package of financial “reparations” for countries facing the worst damage from the climate crisis.Although wealthy nations have committed to providing $100bn (£73bn) a year for developing countries by 2023, most of the money will come in the form of loans.The Green Party said £50bn a year was needed in grants for the poorest countries by the end of decade – and called on the UK to take special responsibility for “reparation” payments as a former colonial power.Greens’ co-leader Carla Denyer said a far more generous climate finance plan was needed to help low-income countries, or the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow will end in failure.“Real leadership and responsibility means pledging £50bn a year by 2030 – in grants, not loans – to support low-income countries adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis and help them transition to a clean green future.”She added: “It is essential that climate finance is paid in the form of grants rather than becoming another opportunity to exploit the countries of the Global South.”The prime minister has made climate finance for developing nations one of his four top priorities for the crucial Cop26 summit, using the slogan “coal, cars, cash and trees”.But there was anger when it emerged last week that wealthy nations would not achieve a long-promised $100bn annual target for the fund for developing countries until 2023 – three years later than expected.The UK is currently contributing £2.3bn a year, but as The Independent revealed in July, the cash will be swiped from the overseas aid budget – despite a requirement that it be “additional” to current aid spending.Campaigners have warned that without a clear means of accounting, countries are free to decide what they consider to be climate finance as part of the $100bn pledge. The funding channels include developed countries’ aid budgets, as well as private money and loans.The Green Party claimed that western countries which have historically benefited from exploitation of developing countries which now face the most damage from climate change should be “compensated” with transparent grants.Azzees Minott, chair of the Greens of Colour group, pointed to Britain’s leading role in the industrial revolution and emissions from the spoils of Empire. “Britain has a special responsibility to the world for historic emissions that are causing loss and damage across the Global South,” she said.Co-leader Ms Denyer added: “Boris Johnson’s pledge doesn’t go far enough, and worse still, rings hollow given the huge cut his government recently made to the international aid budget.”The decision to cut the overseas aid budget from 0.7 to 0.5 per cent of the national income has undermined its chances of success at Cop26, development experts told MPs on Tuesday.Mark Miller, from the Overseas Development Institute, told the international development committee: “It’s the ability to demonstrate global leadership. At this time in particular, during this once-in-a-generation development crisis, the UK has not been able to take leading commitments.”The UK government’s top adviser has also warned the cut was likely to damage negotiations at the summit.Lord Deben, chair of the Climate Change Committee, told The Independent on the eve of the conference that the UK had “caused climate change more than anyone else”, but not done enough to secure global funding for those now hit hardest by its effects. More

Ambitious plans to create a huge pool of money to invest in a green future will turn the UK into “the world’s first net zero-aligned financial centre”, with companies managing $130 trillion of assets committing to the goal of holding global warming below 1.5C, Rishi Sunak has said.But campaigners warned that the chancellor’s landmark plan falls short of what is needed to halt the climate crisis and risks amounting to no more than “greenwash” for a sector which has profited massively from decades of pollution.Mr Sunak faced demands to give financial watchdogs legal powers to enforce commitments made by more than 450 firms from all parts of the financial industry to align their investments with the Paris Agreement climate goals.And Greenpeace UK said Mr Sunak was coming to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow with “a marketing slogan” in place of the transformative action that was needed for the finance sector.The groups’ head of politics Rebecca Newsom said: ”The world’s first net zero-aligned financial centre would be one in which financial institutions and companies are required by law at the outset to bring their lending and investments in line with the global goal to limit warming to 1.5C.“Instead, these new rules seem to allow plenty of wriggle room for financial institutions to continue with business as usual, rather than ‘rewiring’ the system as the chancellor claims. The chancellor is once again falling short of what the climate emergency requires.”Convening the largest ever meeting of finance leaders on climate change on Wednesday, the chancellor will set out a fresh push to decarbonise the City of London, stating that it is the UK’s “responsibility to lead the way” in a push to “rewire the entire global financial system for net zero”.Under the proposals, there will be new requirements for UK financial institutions and listed companies to publish transition plans detailing how they will adapt and decarbonise as the UK moves towards to a net zero economy by 2050. A Transition Plan Taskforce made up of industry and academic leaders, regulators, and civil society groups will draw up a “gold standard” for transition plans to guard against greenwashing.The initiative came as Boris Johnson told the Cop summit that a “big shift in the balance of power” was coming, as consumer pressure and decisions by financial institutions lead to disinvestment in companies involved in deforestation and polluting energy. Companies committing to green action will have “a democratic consumer price to pay” if they break their pledges, said the prime minister.The director of the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, Dr Ben Caldecott, described Mr Sunak’s announcement as “huge” and said it would “spur demand for green finance and accelerate decarbonisation, not just in the UK but wherever UK firms do business”.And the chief executive of the Green Finance Institute, Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas, said it marked “the day that green finance has reached a point of critical momentum”, with “unprecedented” sums now committed to the transition away from a fossil fuel economy.“The task before us now is to come together in radical collaboration to unlock investment opportunities at speed and scale so we can channel this wall of capital into real economy outcomes that not only positions the UK as the world’s first net-zero financial centre but also delivers a just and resilient net-zero global economy,” said Dr Thomas.But experts said the new commitments are so weak that City banks, fund managers and insurers will be able to increase the amount of fossil fuels they finance.As part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) deal brokered by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, banks do not have to cut their financing of climate-damaging investment in the short term. Instead they can keep to their commitment by decreasing the “carbon intensity” of their lending.The watered-down requirement means that a bank or investment fund could lend money for new gas power plants, while reducing funding for coal, thereby cutting its carbon intensity, despite the fact that scientists now largely agree that all new fossil fuel investment needs to stop if average temperature rises are to be kept below 1.5C.“More than $130 trillion in assets under management and not a single rule to prevent even one dollar from being invested in the expansion of the fossil fuel sector,” said Lucie Pinson, chief executive of Reclaim Finance.“Once again, the financial sector is willing to puff itself up with hot air commitments instead of enacting the concrete cuts in oil, gas and coal financing we really need.”The plan is weakened further by the fact that signatories will be able to “mark their own homework”, according to the Green Party.“They may give themselves a smug A* but the world’s citizens are giving them a big fat fail as they continue to finance the very industries that are driving us to destruction,” said the party’s former MEP Molly Scott Cato.Bank lobbying groups also played a key role in developing the guidelines that they are now committing to, research by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) showed.CEO, which tracks Brussels lobbying, found that important contributors to the research fronted by Mr Carney included the Net Zero Banking Alliance, a group led by some of the world’s largest financers of fossil fuel projects globally including JP Morgan and Europe’s leading coal investor, Barclays.CEO researcher Kenneth Haar said: “What we see happening here is basically a privatisation of crucial parts of the international climate policy.“Even if a financial firm continues to invest massively in fossil fuels, which will be the case without strong regulation, it can still be actively included in the UN agenda on private finance and climate change. Sadly, the upcoming Cop26 looks set to become the biggest finance greenwash event in history.”And Brid Brennan, researcher at Transnational Institute (TNI) said: “While global popular demand to governments has urged a decisive pullback from the brink of climate change disaster, corporate financiers and polluters have pursued a strategy of privatisation of the UN system and are now positioned to derail any substantive disinvestment from fossil fuels and instead set to implement a big corporate greenwash bonanza.”The E3G climate change thinktank said that the introduction of mandatory net zero transition plans was “a big step forward”, and said that the work of the new taskforce will be “instrumental” in ensuring that all listed companies and financial institutions put in place high-quality plans.The think tank’s Kate Levick said: “Financial regulators will have a crucial role to play in enforcing these transition plans to ensure they are credible.”Mark Campanale, of the Carbon Tracker financial think tank said: “The true cost of reducing emissions for companies would wipe billions off their fixed assets of the fossil fuel system we’ve built up over 200 years of industrialisation. The pipelines, the oil rigs, the coal-fired power stations, the LNG ships will be written off … so destroying value for shareholders.“Disclosure of asset write-downs cannot be voluntary. Companies and their auditors must be honest about the concrete financial risks.” More

Cross-party MPs are calling on the Home Office to grant asylum seekers the right to work after six months, saying it is “nonsensical” that there are people in the UK who want to work but are not being permitted to.Tory MP David Simmonds, along with the Bishop of Durham and MPs from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, have written an open letter stating that the ban on work for people seeking asylum must be “urgently lifted” in order to alleviate the UK’s “recruitment crisis”.The letter, seen by The Independent, states: “We are united in our belief that asylum seekers whose application has been outstanding for six months should be given permission to work […] It’s common-sense, fiscally responsible, and supports people living here to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.”Currently, asylum seekers in the UK are not normally allowed to work while their claims are being considered, and instead have to rely on the Home Office for their accommodation and essential living needs.Even if they are granted permission, they are usually only allowed to work in jobs on the Shortage Occupation list, which is comprised of skilled, mainly post-graduate professions, which make up only one per cent of the jobs market. Many asylum seekers do not qualify for any of these jobs.The latest Home Office data shows the backlog in asylum applications is increasing, with 54,040 applications (76 per cent) waiting for an initial decision for more than six months in June 2021 compared to 22,187 (54 per cent)  in June 2019.Separate figures obtained by The Independent earlier this year shows that over 1,200 asylum seekers currently in the system have waited more than five years for a decision, with 399 more than a decade.Research carried out by the Lift the Ban coalition – which includes businesses, economic think tanks, recruitment firms, trade unions and refugee organisations – estimates that removing the ban would save the economy about £181m per year.Referencing the fact that many wait for more than five years, the letter states: “That is five years that they are not allowed to work and five years that they are forced to rely on asylum support. In the meantime we have a recruitment crisis.“Asylum seekers will not solve this crisis but it seems nonsensical that in these times, there are people in this country who want to work and we are not permitting them.”The MPs also warn that people are kept in a “state of limbo” and “constant anxiety” while they await the outcome of their application.“We need to be thinking about the integration of refugees as soon as they make their asylum application, it cannot be something that is considered after they have languished in the asylum process for months on end or even years,” they say.“Work strengthens people’s chances of being able to integrate into their new communities, live in dignity and make the most of their potential.  It makes them less vulnerable to forced labour, exploitation and modern slavery.”In December 2018, the-then home secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament that he would like to review the ban on work for asylum seekers. When asked about asylum seekers’ right to work in July 2019, prime minister Boris Johnson said the Home Office was currently “reviewing that matter” and that his government would be “making an announcement shortly”.Last November, the-then immigration minister Chris Philp said a review was “ongoing” and that he would “report back as soon as [the Home Office was] able to complete it”.However, when asked if the department was looking into the matter during an evidence session with the Home Affairs Select Committee last Thursday, second permanent secretary for the Home Office, Tricia Hayes, said there were “no plans” to do so.The Home Office later told The Independent Ms Hayes had “misspoken” and that the review was in fact “ongoing” – but campaigners expressed concern that her response indicated the department was not taking it seriously.A Home Office spokesperson said that to allow asylum seekers the right to work sooner than 12 months would “encourage economic migrants to take dangerous journeys, putting lives at risk and enriching heinous people smuggling gangs”.But the MPs’ letter states that while granted asylum seekers the right to work may be a “pull factor” for more people to claim asylum, “very weak” claims would be decided before six months and those people would therefore not be granted permission to work.“The UK is currently an outlier in enforcing a 12 month wait period for work and then placing strong restrictions on which employment can be taken up, the UK would purely be introducing conditions akin to our European neighbours,” the letter adds. More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has come to the defence of a Conservative MP who was caught “repeatedly” using his position “to promote the companies by whom he was paid”.Owen Paterson is facing a six-week suspension from parliament and a possible recall by-election, after he was found by Parliament’s standards commission to have committed an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules.But speaking on his regular podcast Mr Rees-Mogg, who is leader of the Commons, raised concerns about the investigation into the former Cabinet minister.His comments, which come ahead of a vote on Wednesday on whether Mr Paterson should be suspended, raise the prospect that government could use its parliamentary majority to block action against him.It comes as Tory MP allies of Mr Paterson tabled two amendments in a bid to block consequences for their colleague.One of the amendments, tabled by Andrea Leadsom, suggests the case against the MP should be reviewed. The other, put forward by Julian Lewis, says no further action should be taken on “compassionate grounds” given the recent death of his wife.But Labour said the bid to protect their colleague showed the Conservatives were bringing back “the worst of the 1990s Tory sleaze culture” .Mr Rees-Mogg meanwhile expressed sympathy with Mr Paterson’s complaint that 17 witnesses who wanted to speak in his favour were unable to give oral evidence at the standards commissioner’s inquiry.“It is always very important that systems appear to be fair, and therefore if somebody has witnesses, it would normally appear to be fair that those witnesses should be heard,” he said in a segment on his regular ConservativeHome podcast. More

Campaign groups are protesting they have been shut of the Cop26 talks on a scale never seen before – despite a pledge it would be “the most inclusive ever”.Just four tickets were allocated to cover around 30 negotiating sessions, ActionAid said, in a huge shock to organisations which were not warned until they arrived in Glasgow.Many of the sessions are described as “open”, but are in a section of the sprawling summit venue where non-ticket holders are barred.“We have never been excluded like this before at previous Cop summits,” said Teresa Anderson, climate policy coordinator at ActionAid.Earlier this year, Alok Sharma, appointed the event’s president by Boris Johnson, promised the Glasgow gathering would be “the most inclusive Cop ever”.The summit has already been criticised as whitest and most privileged ever after visa problems, a lack Covid vaccines and changing travel rules prevented many on the frontline of the climate crisis from travelling.Ms Anderson said civil society groups recognised that some sessions had to be closed, but called the allocation of just four tickets “outrageous”.“Preventing civil society from watching governments and holding them accountable could have real climate consequences with communities on the front line of the climate crisis suffering the most,” she said.“Even though this is a critical moment for the planet’s future, it’s becoming harder than ever to hold polluters’ feet to the fire.”Downing Street has been asked to respond to the criticism.In May, Mr Sharma, pledged: “I have always been very clear that this should be the most inclusive Cop ever.“I have been travelling around the world and it is very clear to me that people want to see a physical Cop, in particular developing countries want this to be face to face.”Campaigners say activists have been thwarted in their attempts to reach Cop26 by a “hostile attitude” from the Home Office towards those travelling from developing countries, with many visa applications refused.There has also been a failure to honour a pledge to offer Covid vaccines to all delegates, leaving many to search for jabs in countries with few of them.Until this month, travel was effectively banned from countries on the UK’s red list – and there has been an accommodation crisis in Glasgow, despite attempts to link up travellers with people with spare rooms. More

France fines two British fishing boats amid row with UKBeing granted the correct paperwork to fish in British waters is a “matter of life and death” for those working in the Channel, French fishermen have said, amid ongoing talks to settle a licences row between Paris and Britain. Jeremy Lhomel, a fisherman based in the costal town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, told reporters today he and others had sent off the necessary paperwork to prove they have previously fished in UK waters, but never heard anything back. He went after British ministers for acting in “bad faith” as a result. The UK has promised to hold “intensive” fisheries talks with France, following Emmanuel Macron’s decision not to sanction British vessels starting on Tuesday. In a statement earlier, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, would be flying to Paris on Thursday to meet with Clement Beaune, France’s European affairs secretary, in a bid to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, Downing Street has confirmed the detained British trawler, which sparked this entire row, has not been released by French authorities and remains in the port of Le Havre, northern France. This is despite environment secretary George Eustice telling Sky News earlier the “vessel has now been released”.It came as DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson pushed back his threat to collapse power-sharing at Stormont over the party’s opposition to the Northern Ireland protocol, saying he was prepared to give negotiations “a little more time” because they seemed to be progressing.Warning that “real and decisive progress” in the talks between the UK and Brussels must be made within weeks, he said: “It would be churlish in the face of that progress to now move precipitously in relation to what I have warned about if we don’t get the outcome that we need.”Follow our live coverage belowShow latest update

1635870646That’s us wrapping up the liveblog for today, thanks for following with us.You can find all of The Independent’s latest articles on UK politics here.Or else keep scrolling to read about the day’s events, as we reported them.Andy Gregory2 November 2021 16:301635838849Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage from Westminster and further afield. Stay tuned for the latest updates on the ongoing post-Brexit fishing dispute between the UK and France. Rory Sullivan2 November 2021 07:401635839013Macron backs down on fisheries threats For the time being, France has decided not to follow through with threats to close its ports to British fishing vessels and increase custom checks. Emmanuel Macron said that he would see whether progress was made on fisheries talks on Tuesday. The ongoing row between the UK and France concerns the number of fishing licences given to French fishermen to operate in British waters. Rory Sullivan2 November 2021 07:431635839897Eustice ‘welcomes’ de-escalation of post-Brexit rowAfter Emmanuel Macron, the French president, postponed introducing punitive sanctions yesterday evening, the environment secretary George Eustice said: “We welcome obviously the fact that France has stepped back from the threats that they were making last Wednesday.“We had an agreement on fisheries that we all concluded at the end of last year — we’ve been implementing that in good faith. There’s now around 1,700 EU vessels licensed to fish in our waters.” Asked whether it was a backdown by Paris, he replied: “It’s a decision from the French to step back from the threats that they made last Wednesday — we welcome that.“We’ve always said we want to de-escalate this, we’ve always said we have an ever open door to discuss any further evidence the EU might have for additional vessels they want licensed,” he told Sky News. He added of a British boat detained last week by French authorities: “I understand that that vessel has now been released.“There’s going to need to be further discussions. There clearly was an administrative error at some point — we haven’t quite got to the bottom of that yet — but yes that vessel I understand is being released.”Environment Secretary hails ‘welcome step’ as France backs down on British vessels banRory Sullivan2 November 2021 07:581635840617PM ‘bluffing all along’ with Brexit, says French politician A politician in Emmanuel Macron’s party has accused Boris Johnson of “bluffing all along” with Brexit. Asked by the BBC if the prime minister has been bluffing, Bruno Bonnell, of En Marche!, said: “Of course he is, as usual, he’s been bluffing all along.”He added that Mr Johnson has been “continuously pretending that Brexit will have no impact, no effect, on the UK lifestyle”.Rory Sullivan2 November 2021 08:101635841839DUP push back threat to collapse Stormont over NI protocol The DUP will not withdraw ministers from Stormont yet in protest at the Northern Ireland protocol, its leaders has said.Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had previously said he would collapse the executive at the start of November. Explaining his decision to delay the move, he said he was prepared to give negotiations “a little more time” because they seemed to be progressing.“It would be churlish in the face of that progress to now move precipitously in relation to what I have warned about if we don’t get the outcome that we need,” he said.The DUP leader added that he expected “real and decisive progress” to be made within weeks. More