Markus Andrews

Carrie Johnson will give a speech about the importance of defending LGBT+ rights at the Conservative Party conference next week, it has emerged.The prime minister’s wife will also be the guest of honour at the Pride reception at the conference in Manchester.The LGBT+ Conservatives hailed Ms Johnson as both a “good sport” and a “longstanding ally” of campaigners.“Carrie is a longstanding ally, and has always been a good sport to LGBT+ Conservatives,” said Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the group. “She even judged our virtual lip-sync last conference. We’re thrilled she’ll be joining us in person this year in Manchester.”The event in Manchester is being held in partnership with Stonewall – the charity that has odds with the government and several top public bodies over its “diversity champions” scheme.Liz Truss, the equalities minister, reportedly pushed for government departments to withdraw from Stonewall’s scheme – which gives employers training to embed LGBT+ inclusion – over concerns about value for money.Media regulator Ofcom, one of the bodies that withdrew from the scheme, said its involvement might pose “a conflict or risk of perceived bias”.The government has received fierce criticism for delays in implementing a ban on gay conversion therapy – promised by Boris Johnson almost two years ago and announced in the Queen’s Speech this year.News of Ms Johnson’s speech comes as a group of lawyers and experts called on the government to criminalise all conversion therapy practices – including prayer. The Forum, chaired by Helena Kennedy QC, said the argument that victim appears to have consented should not be a defence.“Individuals who seek out conversion practices in the hope of being ‘cured’ are not made aware of the severe psychological harm to which they are exposed, and so cannot give informed consent,” said a report by the group.There is also frustration that ministers have ruled out any changes to Gender Recognition Act to make it easier for transgender people in England and Wales to have their gender legally recognised.Ms Johnson’s speech to the Tory faithful will mark a rare public intervention by Ms Johnson, the party’s former communications director.She is known to champion the cause animal rights and conservation causes, and works as director of communications at the wildlife charity Aspinall Foundation.The Aspinall Foundation came under scrutiny in August, when it emerged that the charity had lobbied the government in an attempt to purchase a game reserve in Africa.In January 2021, the Aspinall Foundation announced that Ms Johnson would take over as the head of communications of the charity.The prime minister and Ms Johnson married in a ceremony in Westminster Cathedral this year after the birth of their son, Wilfred. She is pregnant with their second child.Mr Johnson finally admitted on US television last week that he is the father of six following years of speculation about the number of children he has. More

Boris Johnson’s proposed ban on “inhumane” conversion practices must avoid exemptions for religious settings and “consenting” adults, a major report has warned.Signed by leading lawyers, LGBT+ campaigners and cross-party MPs, it urges swift and immediate action from the government after repeated delays, to avoid further lives being damaged and lost.The Conservative MP Crispin Blunt said the delays risked undermining ministers’ “good intentions”, insisting: “Further government prevarication is no longer defensible”.Theresa May first vowed to eradicate so-called “conversion therapy”, a discredited practice which seeks to suppress an individual’s sexual or gender identity, over three years ago — a pledge Mr Johnson also committed too.In the summer, ministers said they would begin a consultation on the issue in September on the issue before introducing legislation to Parliament, but it is now not expected until at least the end of October.Probing how ministers can legislate to ban the practice, the report demands that government must avoid loopholes, after the prime minister was accused of doing so in April.The Cooper report — named after the human rights barrister Jonathan Cooper who died while producing the document — recommends a hybrid approach to banning the practice, using both criminal and civil law.It urges ministers to define “conversion therapy” and suggests, instead, the term “conversion practices” be used, “as they are far from therapeutic and often occur in a religious or cultural setting, not just a medical one”.Jayne Ozanne, a former government LGBT+ adviser whose foundation commissioned the work, said: “Whilst there have been many who have sought to muddy the water and question whether it is possible to define ‘conversion therapy’, the forum is clear that is should related to ‘any practice that attempts to suppress, ‘cure’ or change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity”.Practices, the report adds, can include exorcisms, pseudo-scientific counselling sessions, corrective rape, threatened with forced marriage, being prayed over as a form of “healing” and other forms of physical and verbal abuse.It suggests that an exemption for religious conversion practices, such as prayer for the purpose of “suppressing, curing, or changing their sexual orientation or gender identity, would undermine the efficacy of the prohibition”.And it adds: “There can be no exemption of ‘consenting’ adults who seek out conversion practices despite the harm involved.“This is because the pressure and imbalance of power involved mean that such ‘consent’ cannot be truly free or autonomously exercised. Allowing these to continue would put a significant number of vulnerable people at risk”.In correspondence with the Evangelical Alliance — representing 3,500 churches across Britain — earlier this year, Mr Johnson reiterated the pledge contained in the Queen’s Speech to “end the scourge” of the discredited practice.However, in comments criticised by campaigners, he said: “We will continue to allow appropriate pastoral support (including prayer), in churches and other religious settings, in the exploration of their sexual orientation or gender activity.”The prime minister added: “I do not want to see clergy and church members criminalised for normal non-coercive activity”.One of the signatories of the report, the Conservative MP Mr Blunt said: “The continued delay casts doubt over the government’s good intentions and Global Britain’s leadership on LGBT rights.“These recommendations can and should be implemented without delay, for whilst we wait countless lives are being impacted as it implies the UK thinks it is alright to try and ‘fix’ anyone’s sexuality and gender identity.“This distinguished legal forum, reinforced by cross-party consensus from politicians closely engaged on this issue, have delivered a recommended solution that can bring immediate protection to those threatened by conversion practices and prosecution of perpetrators if necessary. Further government prevarication is no longer defensible”.The CEO of the LGBT+ charity Stonewall, who described the practice as “barbaric”, added: “It has been more than three years since the government committed to ban conversion therapy, and now the Cooper report has laid out how this can be done. “There the government must take these recommendations on board and publish their consultation without further delay.”A government equality hub spokesperson said: “As this report acknowledges, the government is fully committed to introducing a ban which protects people and stamps out conversion therapy in this country.“We are engaging with victims and stakeholders as part of this process and we will shortly be launching a consultation seeking views on our plans”. More

Councils are facing an £8 billion funding blackhole by 2024/25 just to keep local services running at today’s levels, local government leaders have claimed. An analysis by the Local Government Association says local authorities will faces extra cost pressures, mostly related to social care, that will push their finances to the brink.James Jamieson, the LGA’s chair, called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to set out how much funding they would never over the next few years so that they could plan ahead.And he called for the creation of a £1 billion Community Investment Fund to prop up the parts of council budgets related to the government’s so-called “levelling up” agenda. “Councils continue to face severe funding and demand pressures that will stretch the local services our communities rely on to the limit,” the top councillor said. “Securing the long-term sustainability of local services must therefore be the top priority in the Spending Review.”He added: “If we are to come out of this pandemic with a society that is truly levelled up, the vital services that councils provide must be at the heart of it. Councils need certainty over their medium-term finances, adequate funding to tackle day-to-day pressures and long-term investment in people and transforming places across all parts of the country to turn levelling up from a political slogan to a reality that leads to real change for people’s lives.”Of the extra funding that needs to be found the LGA says £1.1 billion per year is related to adult social care, £0.6 billion to children’s social care and £0.9 billion to all other council services whose costs will increase.Mr Sunak’s autumn budget will be diverted on 27 October following a Treasury review of spending carried out over the coming month.A government spokesperson said: “The government has allocated more than £12 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic – with more than £6 billion available to spend as they see fit – recognising that councils are best placed to deal with local issues. “We have taken historic action to fix the social care crisis that governments have ducked for decades – the Health and Social Care Levy will raise £12bn a year to fund the NHS and social care. “The Spending Review will continue to focus on supporting jobs and delivering the public’s key priorities.” More

Cressida Dick must resign to restore women’s confidence in the Metropolitan Police, senior politicians said on Thursday after details emerged of the failures that led to an officer falsely arresting a woman to kidnap and murder her.The chair of parliament’s women and equalities committee, Tory MP Caroline Nokes, joined former Labour justice secretary Harriet Harman and a chorus of others in calling for the commissioner to step down over Sarah Everard’s killing.The Met chief was forced to admit the crimes of Wayne Couzens had broken the bond of trust between the public and police.“There are no words that can express the fury and overwhelming sadness that we all feel about what happened to Sarah,” she said outside the Old Bailey where Couzens was given a whole life-sentence. “I am so sorry.”Couzens, who murdered Ms Everard after kidnapping her in south London under the guise of an arrest, had been known by police colleagues as “the rapist” because of his behaviour – and had already been questioned about an alleged sex offence shortly before he killed his victim.Five officers are reportedly under investigation for sharing offensive material with Couzens in a WhatsApp group before the killing.The force also admitted on Thursday that a 2015 allegation of indecent exposure linked to Couzens was missed during his vetting process, and that investigations continue into whether he was responsible for other unsolved crimes.It later took the extraordinary step of issuing safety advice to women who are suspicious of male officers, suggesting they “shout out to a passer-by, run into a house or wave a bus down” if in fear.Ms Harman, who chairs parliament’s joint human rights committee, told the commissioner in a letter it was “not possible” for her to stay in post as “women’s confidence in the police has been shattered”.Adding to the pressure, Ms Nokes told The Independent: “It is clear that change is needed in the Met, to make sure the confidence of women is restored. Rebuilding the trust that is needed will be an enormous challenge for Cressida Dick, and one I am not convinced she can meet.”Yvette Cooper, who chairs parliament’s home affairs committee, said there should be a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the “deep failures in policing” that allowed Couzens to serve as an officer, as well as the wider culture in the service. Explaining her call for Dame Cressida to quit, Ms Harman said: “There have been many warnings about perpetrators of male violence against women within the police force, which she has not acted on, and she has not heeded.“It was on her watch that Wayne Couzens’ offences, that he’d carried out, sexual offences, a few days before, were swept under the carpet, by his colleagues and not investigated. So, she also responded by saying he was a ‘bad ’un’, like it was one bad apple. I think she showed that she is not the person to be the change that is necessary.”Writing to home secretary Priti Patel, Ms Harman spelt out a seven-step plan to reform the police in the wake of the killing.The MP said all serving police officers against whom there was an allegation of violence against women should be routinely suspended.She said any officer who admitted or was found guilty of such an offence should be immediately dismissed from the force, that all recruits should be pre-screened for their attitudes towards women, and that officers who transfer between forces should face checks.The Labour MP said: “I think the home secretary will ask herself: does she as home secretary need to make absolutely certain that that precious bond of trust between women in London, and the police is absolutely secure as home secretary, she is found to know that that is her responsibility.“She’s bound to know that there needs to be dramatic, and immediate action and she will also know that she will not be able to rely on Cressida Dick to take these forward with determination. And therefore, I think that she will want to ask Cressida Dick to resign.”Ms Patel was asked whether the Commissioner should resign, and replied: “There are important questions and questions that I’ve been asking, and challenges: we have to be honest about this in particular to this case, but also the conduct of that serving officer and conduct of policing more broadly. “So, I will continue to work with the Metropolitan Police and the commissioner to hold them to account as everybody would expect me to do.”Ms Harman’s view is a break from her party line, as leader Sir Keir Starmer as repeatedly defended the commissioner and said she should not be replaced. He had told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme earlier on Thursday: “I have worked with Cressida Dick over many years in relation to some very serious operations when I was director of public prosecutions. I was pleased that her contract was extended and I support her.”But another senior police officer, former Met chief superintendent Parm Sandhu told Times Radio that “the buck stops with the boss and the boss is Cressida”.She added: “This has happened on her watch. We need a new set of fresh eyes, somebody who’s going to be independent, who’s not going to be afraid of turning over those stones and finding those awful reptiles underneath it.”And former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott added: “Harriet Harman is right. Women should be able to trust the police. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick must resign.” More

Voters across all parties overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage to £15, a new poll has found.Sixty-five per cent of the public support the policy, which caused a row at Labour’s conference this week after Keir Starmer set himself against it.Just 14 per cent of the public say they are opposed to the idea, which has strong support across the political spectrum.Pollster Survation found that 76 per cent of Labour voters and 59 per cent of Tories support the rise, which would significantly raise take-home pay for millions of workers. Just 9 per cent of Labour voters and 23 per cent of Tories were opposed.And the plan is popular in England’s so-called “red wall” heartlands, with 65 per cent in the midlands and 62 per cent in the north saying they back it.Labour leader Sir Keir was hit by a shadow cabinet resignation on the eve of his conference speech after he ordered shadow employment secretary Andy McDonald to oppose the £15 policy in a meeting with trade unions. Mr McDonald quit, saying his position had become “untenable”.But raising the minimum wage to £15 over the next few years was ultimately approved by the Labour conference with the support of members and trade unions, against the wishes of the leadership. Sir Keir has yet to say whether he will honour the vote in Labour’s next manifesto.Labour has only called for an increase to a £10 an hour minimum wage, the same as in its 2019 manifesto – but this is unlikely to represent a significant rise by the time of the next election.In fact, a Conservative pledge to raise the minimum wage to two-thirds of median earnings would see the rate increased to around £10.50 on current figures, ahead of the letter of Labour’s proposal. More

Boris Johnson has been accused of “rampant cronyism” after it emerged that a major Conservative donor will be made a peer and a government minister.Financier Malcolm Offord, who has gifted £147,500 to the Conservative Party, has been appointed as a junior minister at the Scotland Office.Since he is not an elected official, he will be given a lifetime peerage so that he can assume the role.Mr Offord’s appointment comes just months after he failed in his bid to become an MSP in the Holyrood elections in May.Fiona Hyslop, an MSP for Linlithgow, noted the irony. “You have more chance becoming a Tory Scotland Office minister if you are rejected by voters in a Scottish election than elected by them,” she tweeted.Meanwhile, Stewart Hosie MP, one of her SNP colleagues, said the Conservatives’ decision to give roles and peerages to party donors “shows contempt for democracy”.He suggested that “rampant Tory cronyism” was “engulfing” Westminster, adding that Scotland would be better out of the union.The Scottish Greens also hit out at the prime minister, with its MSP Gillian Mackay branding the decision “a disgrace”.However, Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, defended the move, saying that Mr Offord would help the country’s economic recovery through his “wealth of valuable business experience”. “I very much look forward to working with Malcolm over the coming months and years, as we invest in Scotland to grow our economy and create jobs,” he added.It is not the first time Mr Johnson has faced a backlash for elevating an unelected figure to government.He was criticised at the start of his premiership for giving a peerage to Nicky Morgan so that she could serve as culture secretary, even though she did not stand in the 2019 general election.Zac Goldsmith likewise entered the House of Lords to serve as a minister, while David Frost, the former chief Brexit negotiator, entered cabinet in March 2021, six months after he received a peerage.The prime minister’s decision to appoint Conservative donor Peter Cruddas also caused a scandal, especially after it was revealed that he donated £500,000 to the party three days after becoming a peer in February 2021.Additional reporting by PA More

Anti-vaxxers are said to have met Tory MP Sir Graham Brady last week in a meeting where they called on the Covid vaccine rollout to be suspended.A group claimed they met with a senior Tory MP last Tuesday, during which they criticised the current vaccination programme – which is estimated to have saved hundreds of thousands of lives so far.The anti-vaxxers have made false claims against the Covid pandemic and vaccines in the past, including denying the existence of a pandemic and that vaccines are dangerous.Mark Sexton, an ex-police officer who has spoken at anti-lockdown protests, posted a video claiming he was among a group who met with a senior Tory MP on 21 September. He said it was put to this MP that the Covid vaccine rollout should be paused “as a matter of urgency” and should “at no point” be given to children. One of the meeting’s participants, an undertaker John O’Looney, has since claimed this MP was Sir Graham Brady, who heads the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee.According to The Times, Sir Graham would not confirm whether the meeting took place.He said he supported vaccines and that listening to views “does not amount to an endorsement”, the newspaper reported.The senior Tory has been a vocal critic of lockdowns and face masks – once claiming the purpose of the latter was “social control”.A video posted on Facebook shows a group of people – including Mr Sexton – claiming to have met with a senior Tory MP and called for the Covid vaccine rollout to be suspended.Among these includes Dolores Cahill, an academic who claimed last year there was “no pandemic”, and Anna de Buisseret, a lawyer who has called vaccines “bioweapons”.The Independent has contacted both Sir Graham and the Conservative Party for comment. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is proud of the £70bn furlough programme which helped workers across the UK throughout the Covid pandemic.The scheme ends on the last day of September after supporting some 11.6 m workers over the past 18 months.However, the government faces calls to provide further financial help for the thousands of people who have relied on the scheme until this point, including those who have not managed to reenter the workplace.Sunak insisted everyone has now returned to work, and there will be support beyond the furlough scheme focused on giving people the skills and opportunities for employment.Speaking on a visit to a factory in North Yorkshire, the chancellor said: “I’m so proud of what [furlough] has achieved. It has protected millions of people’s livelihoods at a difficult time.“But I’m also really proud of everyone who has shown such resilience over the last year-and-a-half through this. Everyone is now back at work, and that’s a fantastic thing.”As the furlough scheme comes to an end, uncertainty remains for almost one million workers who were expected to still be receiving its support at the end of September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.’Impossible’ to estimate how many people would lose their jobs as furlough ends, says Simon ClarkeThe Bank of England and other economists have warned there is likely to be a rise in unemployment due to new redundancies, and recovering industries such as hospitality and tourism.There are fears businesses that have struggled to regain pre-pandemic dynamic may lay off employees once the financial support stops.Rest Less, a platform offering advice and help for the older people, said the pandemic had had a devastating impact on over-50s, with many at risk from redundancy.Founder Stuart Lewis said: “With more than half a million people aged 50 or older still on furlough at the last count, we may well see hundreds of thousands of hardworking, experienced older workers enter redundancy and, ultimately, find themselves looking for a new job in the run-up to Christmas.”Sunak argued whilst it was natural for the furlough scheme to come to an end, the government was “not done supporting people”.He added: “Our plan for jobs is literally throwing the kitchen sink at helping people get the skills they need and find new opportunities.”“We also announced today a half-a-billion pounds programme to provide support to people, to help them get through the winter. We appreciate that the prices of some things have gone up rapidly.”And the half-a-billion pounds will help three or four million of our most vulnerable families with £100 or £150 over the winter period. And I know that will make a difference to people at what is a difficult time.” More