Markus Andrews

Justice secretary Dominic Raab has said a legal amnesty for people who fail to pay the TV licence fee which funds the BBC was an “attractive idea”.The cabinet minister told a Conservative Party fringe event that it could take between six to 12 months to get the huge backlog of court cases down to pre-pandemic levels.Asked if there could be “clemency” for non-payment of the licence fee – still a criminal offence – to help ease the backlog of court cases, Mr Raab said: “It’s an attractive idea.”The justice secretary added: “I’ll discuss it with [culture secretary] Nadine Dorries.”The government said earlier this year it would not move ahead with plans to decriminalise non-payment of the £159-a-year licence fee – but said the idea would “remain under active consideration”.A consultation on decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee found that evasion is currently handled “very efficiently in the Magistrates Court”.But the government said that it remained “concerned” that criminal sanctions for licence fee evasion creates “considerable stress and anxiety”.Mr Raab’s comments on the fee follows an attack by newly-appointed culture secretary Nadine Dorries on the “elitist” attitudes and “lack of impartiality” at the BBC.The minister claimed on Monday that she did not want a war with the broadcaster – but suggested it would have to agree to “changes” before the government agrees to the next licence fee settlement from April 2022.Asked whether the licence fee would still be compulsory in 10 or 20 years, she said: “Will the BBC still be here in 10 years? I don’t know … It is a very competitive environment at the moment.”However, Boris Johnson dismissed Ms Dorries comments on the broadcaster’s future on Tuesday – telling Radio 4’s Today programme: “[The BBC] is a great national institution, I’ve no doubt that it will be around for a long time to come.”It comes as a group of charity leaders have written to Ms Dorries over government plans after her predecessor Oliver Dowden vowed to tackle the “woke” agenda in the sector.Mr Dowden had said he wanted to see charities “totally focused on their important work” and that “the recruitment of a new Chair of the Charity Commission provides an opportunity for this refocus and resetting of the balance”.In an open letter, a group of more than 20 charity leaders told Ms Dorries: “We believe Mr Dowden’s comments showed his ambition to direct and control the work of the Charity Commission to achieve political ends.” More

Sajid Javid risks triggering an exodus of managers from the NHS with an assault on supposed underperformance in the health service, unions have warned.Reports today suggest that the health secretary is planning to sack managers who fail to clear backlogs of patients waiting for treatment and to take on new powers allowing him to seize control of hospitals. He was said to be ready to bring in business people from non-healthcare backgrounds to run NHS trusts.And it was reported that he could abolish the maximum waiting time limit for A&E, which in August was missed by a record amount, with just 77 per cent of patients seen within four hours, against a target of 95 per cent.Labour accused Mr Javid of trying to distract attention from the 1.25 per cent National Insurance rise being imposed on working people to pay for efforts to cut waiting lists, which have grown to record levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic.There are currently 5.6 million patients on NHS England waiting lists and experts have forecast that the number could reach 13 million before beginning to fall back.Mr Javid is expected to use his keynote speech to the Conservative annual conference in Manchester today to spell out how he intends to use the £36bn raised over three years by the NI rise to rein in the backlog.A senior government figure said he would make clear that part of the process would involve holding NHS managers to account.“Patients need to see tangible results and waiting times coming down,” the unnamed source told The Times. “The Department of Health cannot simply be a cheerleader for the NHS. It needs to rigorously hold it to account for the money it has been given.”On Monday, Mr Javid said that governments must stop “throwing cash” at the NHS, telling an event on the fringe of the conference: “it can’t just be about resources, there has to be … some significant reforms that make that money go a lot further.”The chief executive of Managers in Partnership, which represents health and care managers, warned that Mr Javid’s comments risked being “very counterproductive”.“We have a leadership team that, like other NHS staff, has gone through the wringer in the last 18 months,” Jon Restell told The Independent.“They are doing their level best now to get their services ready for reducing waiting times.“For this kind of thing to be coming out of government just before we go into winter will be upsetting for some NHS managers and will anger a lot of others.”Mr Restell said that a recent survey of NHS managers by his union found that 68 per cent had seriously considered quitting after the trauma and pressures of the past 18 months, while 37 per cent agreed with the statement: “I would like to leave the NHS as soon as possible.”“We have a lot of experienced managers wondering about whether this is the time to leave,” he said. “The last thing the health secretary needs right now is experienced managers deciding that if this is the sort of climate he wants to create they will call it a day.”Ministers had previously tried to reform NHS management by bringing in executives from non-healthcare backgrounds, but they had often struggled with the transition to jobs often done by managers with clinical and specialist backgrounds, he said.Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that Mr Javid was seeking to distract attention from the fact that the National Insurance hike was not accompanied by a “serious plan” to deal with the treatment backlog.“This is all just for Tory activists to try to desperately divert attention from the punishing, unfair tax rise Tory MPs have imposed on working people,” said Mr Ashworth.“How about the health secretary come up with a serious plan to bring waiting times down and recruit the staff needed?”Health Service Journal editor Alastair McLellan said that the suggestion that Mr Javid aimed to sack underperforming managers had caused “lots of stress” among healthcare professionals.But he added: “My take is that it’s just theatre to pave the way for Sa’id Javid’s conference speech and to divert criticism about the Health and Care Levy tax rise.“The Saj seems too sensible to believe that ‘targets and terror’ will get him anywhere.” More

Dominic Raab has vowed to end the “nonsense” of the Human Rights Act, claiming the legislation is allowing dangerous criminals to escape justice.The government will “overhaul” the Act before the next general election, the new justice secretary confirmed – although he stopped short of saying it would be repealed.To big cheers, Mr Raab attacked “criminals abusing human rights laws”, raising the alleged example of “a drug dealer convicted of beating his ex-partner”.“A man who hadn’t paid maintenance for his daughter, then successfully claimed the right to family life to avoid deportation,” he told the conference.“It is absolutely perverse that someone guilty of domestic abuse could claim the right to family life to trump the public’s interest in deporting him from this country.“We’ve got to bring this nonsense to an end. Before the next election, we will overhaul the Human Rights Act – to end this kind of abuse and restore some common sense to our justice system.”But Mr Raab was immediately accused of a “cynical” use of an example of violence against women to justify an attack on legislation that protects women’s rights.Gracie Bradley, the director of the campaign group Liberty, protested: “This is the government using extreme cases to take actions that will undermine the ability of all of us to hold the government to account and ensure our rights are respected.“We have to remember that the Human Rights Act is a tool that all of us can use. It helped the families of people who died in the Hillsborough disaster to secure justice for their loved ones.”Ms Bradley added: “It’s really quite cynical of Dominic Raab to be using that example of violence against women, domestic abuse, as justification for overhauling the Human Rights Act, when it has been instrumental in ensuring women’s rights.”It was also “a time when we’re having a really painful conversation about these abuses of power, including in respect of violence against women”, she said.Mr Raab, following his demotion from foreign secretary after the Afghanistan debacle, has responsibility for a review of the Human Rights Act.In the spotlight is the requirement for it to weigh up judgments from the European Court of Human Rights, long a source of Tory anger.Supporters of the Act fear he will go further than his more liberal predecessor Robert Buckland, who was sacked in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle last month.Back in 2009, Mr Raab said: “I don’t support the Human Rights Act and I don’t believe in economic and social rights,” a clip unearthed by Labour revealed.In his speech, the Justice Secretary said making communities safer and allowing women to feel safe walking home at night is his “number one priority”.He confirmed the expansion of the use of electronic tagging of drunks and drug-users and said prisoners could help plug workforce gaps, a move that would also reduce rates of reoffending. More

The Conservative Party co-chair Ben Elliot has refused to answer questions about allegations he has raised money from organising meetings between wealthy businessmen and his uncle Prince Charles.Mr Elliot has been accused of introducing clients of his concierge company Quintessentially to the future king if they spend tens of thousands of pounds on a membership scheme.Appearing the Tory conference in Manchester, the co-chair was asked repeatedly whether he was offering access to Prince Charles for money.“Please, please … I wish you would stop bothering me,” he told Sky News – also refusing to respond to questions whether there was conflict of interest between his company and his role as Tory fundraiser.It comes as the leading Tory donor Mohamed Amersi has suggested the party convenes a “special investigation” into the potential conflicts of interest surrounding Mr Elliot.Mr Amersi – who has this week denied involvement in a major corruption scandal after his name appeared in the so-called Pandora Papers – said the Conservatives should look into “lapses” in governance.“[Ben Elliot] has done a great job in terms of raising money,” the entrepreneur and philanthropist told Sky News. “If there are any lapses in governance … they can be easily structured and addressed.”He added: “Then the party and the board has to see whether [Mr Elliot] is somebody who’s willing and able to work within those structures. If the answer to that is yes, give him a chance. If the answer to that is no, then perhaps invite him to reconsider his position.”Mr Elliot has been accused of trying to solicit charity donations in return for access, but there is no suggestion that Prince Charles was aware of an alleged attempts to raise money.Mr Amersi has said that in 2013, Mr Elliot’s firm Quintessentially arranged for him to fly to meet Prince Charles over “an intimate dinner” at Dumfries House in Scotland.He later became a trustee of one of the Prince of Wales’ charities, and has since donated more than £1.2m to causes supported by the future king.Mr Amersi has also claimed the Tory donors’ group worked in a similar way to Mr Elliot’s private firm. “One needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben,” he told the Financial Times.A Conservative spokesperson said: “Ben Elliot’s business and charitable work are entirely separate to the voluntary work he does for the party. Donations to the Conservative Party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission.”Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Amersi advised Swedish telecoms firm Telia on a £162m deal with the daughter of Uzbekistan’s former ruler in 2010, according to the BBC and The Guardian – a payment later described by US authorities as a “bribe”.The Tory donor’s lawyers have denied that he “knowingly” helped facilitate any corrupt payments and had “no reason” to believe money given to Gulnara Karimova might be a bribe.And in a statement, Mr Amersi said he categorically rejected “any suggestions of wrongdoing” in his work as a consultant assisting Telia.He added: “Exhaustive investigations have been carried out into Telia by multiple governmental authorities and no allegations of misconduct or criminality have ever been made against me. My work as an adviser has always been conducted appropriately and legally.”Labour said the Tories should return donations from Mr Amersi. “It’s really concerning that the Conservatives have accepted hundreds of thousands of pounds from a man who appears to be closely linked to one of Europe’s biggest corruption scandals,” said Labour chair Anneliese Dodds. More

Boris Johnson has ruled out prosecuting misogyny as a hate crime, arguing it would overload the justice system and make the fight against rape and domestic violence harder.The prime minister called violence against women “the number one issue in policing” and argued the way forces approach it is “just not working”.But, asked about the campaign for misogyny to be made a specific hate crime, he replied: “Rather than introducing new laws, what you need to do is enforce the existing laws.”Mr Johnson added: “To be perfectly frank, if you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, you’ll just increase the problem.“What you need to do is get police to focus on the very real crimes,” he told BBC Breakfast, “the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel.” Most chief constables have backed making misogyny a hate crime in the courts, but Scotland Yard is seen by many as an obstruction to the change.Campaigners argue it would encourage women to report public harassment because they could have more confidence that it would be treated seriously.They believe it would also help to change the culture of police forces, amid widespread concern that women’s complaints are trivialised.Recording misogyny a hate crime was announced as a key reform for all police forces after the murder of Sarah Everard in March.But only 11 of the 43 forces in England and Wales have adopted the practice, despite Priti Patel, the home secretary, saying said others would follow suit.Chief constables say they have been waiting for Home Office guidance to outline specifically how it should be recorded and which offences should be included.But the prime minister instead stressed the ned for a culture change in police forces, by training more female officers.“One of the best ways you can see that change happen is make sure that you have more female police officers,” he said.“In the Met [Metropolitan police] now you are now running at 40 per cent. That is a good thing. I want to see those officers progress up the ranks and attain senior positions and change the culture.”The government is under huge pressure over what many see as a near-meltdown of the court system, after Covid followed years of huge funding cuts.In early 2020, there were 430 of the most serious cases waiting to go in front of judges for at least two years, but that number has risen to 1,882, according to Labour figures.No fewer than 516 of those are for violent or sexual offences – up from 61 last year, the Opposition said.David Lammy, the shadow Justice Secretary, said: “The Tories have cut the justice system to the bone and left the victims of crime in limbo for years as a result.“Women don’t have confidence in our justice system because our PM is treating victims of violence and sexual offences as an afterthought.” More

Boris Johnson has dismissed warnings of a 1970s-style economic crisis, describing the current goods and staff shortages as “an extremely interesting moment”.Despite growing fears of empty shelves at Christmas, the prime minister insisted the lack of labour – blamed for the scarcity of fuel and some foods – was “a sign of economic robustness”.He again ruled out a loosening of immigration rules to ease the problems, accusing businesses of being able to “mainline low wage, low cost, immigration” through EU membership.Labour said the prime minister was “so out of touch that he can’t see a crisis when it’s staring him in the face”.On Monday, Next chief and Brexit supporter Lord Wolfson, warned of goods and staff shortages triggering a wage and prices spiral and 1970s-style high inflation.But, asked if there is a crisis, Mr Johnson replied: “No”, while admitting there are “clearly stresses and strains” affecting the economy.He said: “I think that it’s an extremely interesting moment”, adding it was “a sign of economic robustness that the market is demanding labour in the way that it is”.The Conservatives have used their party conference to go to war with business, the prime minister insisting it is their job to fix problems in supply chains.Amid growing nervousness that companies will be able to find the staff they need, Mr Johnson was asked “do you believe that this is a crisis”, but told BBC Radio 4: “No.”“On the contrary, what you’re seeing with the UK economy – and indeed the global economy – is very largely, in the supply chains, the stresses and strains that you’d expect from a giant waking up.”Mr Johnson pointed to soaring gas prices and “the global shortage of lorry drivers”, saying: “These are some of the issues that we’re going to fix.”The Times reported that just 27 fuel tanker drivers from the EU have applied to work in Britain under the government’s emergency scheme to recruit 300, to tackle the petrol crisis.But Mr Johnson said that was incorrect, stating the figure is 127 – ahead of a further 4,700 on offer, under a slightly different scheme.“It’s a fascinating illustration of the problem of the shortage,” the prime minister told BBC Breakfast.“What we said to the road haulage industry was ‘fine, give us the names of the drivers that you want to bring in and we will sort out the visas’, he said.“They only produced 127 names so far. What that shows is the global shortage.”Holding firm on immigration, the prime minister said: “I’ve always been in favour of people who had talent and industry coming to this country I want to to see that.But he added: “What you saw in the last 20 years or more, there’s been an approach whereby a business of many kinds was able to mainline low wage, low cost, immigration for a very long time.“And in some ways that, of course, worked well – the people who came were fantastic hardworking people and did a wonderful job – but what that resulted in was the suppression, not just pay, but also of conditions.”Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said:“Boris Johnson is so out of touch that he can’t see a crisis when it’s staring him in the face.“Try telling the teacher who couldn’t get into school because she couldn’t find petrol that there’s no crisis.“Or the social care worker who will lose £1,000 a year when the government cuts Universal Credit tomorrow, and worrying if he can afford to heat his house.“The chaos millions of working people are currently facing hasn’t come about by chance. It’s a crisis made in Downing Street, and it’s the prime minister’s responsibility to sort it out.” More

Workers should get back to their offices or their colleagues will “gossip” about them in their absence, Boris Johnson has said.The prime minister accepted that he could not guarantee there were be no new flare-up of Covid-19, but said it was “right” to stick to his Plan A of allowing a return to more normal life and said he was “certainly encouraging” people to get back to their workplace.Current data indicated that there was no need to switch to the Plan B he set out last month, which envisaged the use of vaccine passports, mandatory face-coverings and work-at-home guidance if there was evidence of a spike in coronavirus cases putting pressure on the NHS.Mr Johnson revealed that cabinet secretary Simon Case had written to civil servants at 10 Downing Street to tell them to get back to their desks, though he admitted that not all had done so.He also took a swipe at environmentalist protesters who have blocked motorways in a campaign for improved insulation of homes, describing their actions as illegitimate and branding them “irresponsible crusties”. He backed home secretary Priti Patel’s plans for a crackdown, including the threat of six months in prison.Speaking to LBC radio, Mr Johnson was asked whether his “back to work” message meant he was certain that the coronavirus pandemic was on the way out.He replied: “We’ve got to be humble in the face of nature and we’ve got to recognise that the disease or a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us.“But the data I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A. That means opening up, but always continuing to do sensible things like washing your hands, having ventilation and making sure you’re sensible.“But we are certainly encouraging people to get back to work in the normal way.“I think that’s a good thing. I think that, for young people in particular, it is really essential. If you’re going to learn on the job, you can’t just do it on Zoom. You’ve got to be able to come in and know what everyone else is talking about, otherwise you’re going to be gossiped about and you’re going to lose out.“You need to be there, you need to have the stimulus of exchange and competition.”Mr Johnson admitted that not all Downing Street staff were back at their desks.But he added: “The cabinet secretary has written a pretty good letter, quite some weeks ago, to everybody telling them to get back to their desks.”Asked about Insulate Britain protestors who have been disrupting travel to work, the PM said: “That is insane.“There are some people who call those individuals legitimate protesters. They’re not. I think they are irresponsible crusties who are trying to stop people going about their day’s work and doing considerable damage to the economy.“Priti Patel is doing the right thing to bring in powers so that they can get six months or an unlimited fine, or section 60 powers to stop and search the whole area.” More

As European Union leaders gather for a summit on how to keep engaging with their Western Balkans neighbors, the bloc’s once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse.The European Commission made repeated promises that the future of six countries in the region lies within the 27-nation bloc. But progress has stalled on admitting Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia amid divisions among member countries and some bilateral issues.Nationalist populism has risen in Hungary and Poland, undermining unity. The entry of well over 1 million migrants in 2015 has exposed stark differences about how to manage them, sparking a major political crisis that has yet to be resolved. EU expansion has also been routinely sidelined by crises like the Greek financial meltdown and Britain’s drawn-out exit, leaving the bloc very focused on its own survival rather than taking in new members. The planned departure of longtime German chancellor Angela Merkel and next year’s presidential election in France have deprived the EU of clear leadership, adding to the decision-making burden.Although EU member countries are expected to reaffirm their commitment to the enlargement process during Wednesday’s meeting, they will stop short of providing a clear deadline, according to a draft document seen by The Associated Press. The deadlock is causing frustration among the candidates amid a flare-up of tensions at the border between Kosovo and Serbia, raising questions about the bloc’s commitment.“The dignity of the people has to be preserved, you know. We cannot beg, we cannot stand in the lobby of the European Union when culturally and geographically we are Europe,” said Predrag Tasic, a retired judge in North Macedonia. “Europe without Balkans, without this region, is not Europe.”The six are at different stages on the EU membership path. Montenegro and Serbia are the most advanced, having opened formal accession talks years ago. Albania and North Macedonia are awaiting the official opening of negotiations, and Kosovo and Bosnia are potential candidates. After EU leaders did not agree to go further in their negotiations with Serbia in June, the latest wrinkle focuses on Albania and North Macedonia. Those countries have fulfilled the criteria for beginning entry talks, but EU member Bulgaria opposes North Macedonia’s inclusion because of a dispute over language and national identity.Since the Albanian and North Macedonian bids are linked and launching accession talks requires unanimous approval from all EU nations, the veto has also prevented Albania from moving forward.“That actually is holding us hostage at a time where we have fulfilled all our tasks and wait to sit around the table with the European Union to kick off negotiations,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.Albania and North Macedonia were expecting to receive a green light to begin negotiations on joining Europe’s rich club two years ago, but their hopes were ruined at the time because of opposition from France and The Netherlands.The EU has always said that membership is based on a candidate’s progress in areas such as respect for the rule of law and democratic standards, or the implementation of socio-economic reforms. But in the case of Albania and North Macedonia, the merits acknowledged by the commission are not rewarded.“Blocking this process is not in the spirit of this commitment,” said North Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. “We took all necessary steps and we made all required reforms. We’ll take the additional acceptable steps to unlock EU’s enlargement and we expect that Bulgaria will unlock this process.”But the government in Sofia, which wants North Macedonia to formally recognize that its language has Bulgarian roots, has not given any sign that it is ready to lift its veto. And other EU countries have not shown a strong appetite for speeding up the process.Among the EU’s major players, only Merkel has been using her influence in support of Slovenia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU council and has made enlargement a priority of its tenure.The Albania and North Macedonia bids currently seem to be more popular outside the bloc, as senior U.S. officials have warned that Western adversaries like China and Russia would continue to gain influence in the region if the dispute remains unresolved. In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar, who oversees the Western Balkans, urged the EU to begin talks this year with the two countries.Serbia, the largest of the Western Balkan nations, has been forging close ties with China and Slavic ally Russia despite warnings from the West about the two powers’ influence in the region. Some in the West fear that Russia, which has been arming Serbia, could encourage authoritarian Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic to destabilize the still-volatile region.Public interest in the membership has gradually been dropping in Serbia, and its leaders have very often sent mixed signals about their true EU commitment.“All these years and even decades we have been listening about the membership promises from the EU,” said Serbian parliament speaker Ivica Dacic. “The question is which generation will see those promises being fulfilled. Why don’t they simply tell us, ‘we no longer want EU expansion,’ and we will accept it as a reality?”The prospect of membership has been a powerful driving force for reforms in the Balkans since the former Yugoslavia disintegrated into war in the early 1990s. Croatia and Slovenia have joined, but the EU has not expanded since 2013.The migration crisis is often cited by experts as one of the major reasons for the paralysis. There are fears that enlargement would create another influx of those seeking a better life.Lingering tensions between Serbia and Kosovo also don’t help. Five EU members — Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain — do not recognize Kosovo as a country.“It is vital that Kosovo and Serbia normalize their relations,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. “The EU-facilitated dialogue is the only platform to resolve the current crisis.”While the EU is not in a position to offer a clear perspective to the Balkans candidates, it can at least offer financial support.The bloc said it will provide some 30 billion euros (about $34.8 billion) to the region over the next seven years in a bid boost the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerate improvements in the environmental and digital fields.—-Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and AP photographer Boris Grdanoski in Skopje, North Macedonia, contributed. More