Markus Andrews

Health secretary Sajid Javid today confirmed that the Covid-19 booster campaign has started and pledged to “level-up” health in England.Speaking at a think tank event in Blackpool on Thursday afternoon, Mr Javid confirmed that the first person had received a jab under the scheme that will see millions of eligible people offered a Pfizer vaccine.Catherine Cargill, who works at Croydon University Hospital in south London, was one of the first to get a vaccine under the new campaign that targets frontline key workers, anyone aged 50 and over, and those with severe health conditions.She said: “I’ve just had my booster vaccine, my Pfizer vaccine, and I have had it ahead of the winter season to make sure I am protected, to make sure I can carry on working, I can carry on spending time with my family, and so I can carry on with my studies.“I would definitely want to encourage you to get your booster shot when you are invited to do that.”Hospital hubs have now started inoculating key workers and GP-led vaccination services are set to follow in the coming days, followed by vaccination centres and pharmacy-led sites who will join the campaign next week.As well as announcing the start of the NHS booster campaign, Mr Javid was keen to emphasise the “two backlogs” the country faces as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.He told attendees at The Centre for Social Justice event that the first and “priority” is the 5.5million people on NHS waiting lists, but that the other issue was dealing with a “social backlog in mental health and public health”Mr Javid said: “Passing the peak of the pandemic has been a bit like a receding tide, revealing the underlying health of our nation. It’s revealed some fractures within and in many cases the pandemic has deepened those fractures.”He pointed to disparities in Covid admissions between the most and least deprived parts of the country, and the difference in mortality rates between white people and people from black, Asian and ethnic minority groups.He added: “These are symptoms of a different disease, the disease of disparity.”The health secretary said as part of efforts to “level-up” health in the country and fix inequalities in health outcomes he was launching the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).He said it had a mission to “level-up health and ensure everyone has a chance to live happy and healthy lives”.Mr Javid said it would focus on “preventable health conditions” such as obesity, drugs, alcohol and tobacco, but would also look at “health inequalities and access to health services”, as well as probing “wider factors” that impact poor health, such as education, housing and environment.He added: “While I said we can’t level up economically without levelling up in health, it’s equally true that we can’t tackle health disparities without tackling wider disparities too.”Mr Javid also addressed mental health, saying “too many people” had experienced loneliness and isolation over the pandemic, while numbers waiting for routine mental health treatment have soared.Additional reporting by PA More

Labour climate campaigners have accused the party leadership of a “stitch-up” after their motion on a Green New Deal was blocked from debate at this month’s annual conference.The motion, submitted by 21 constituency parties and backed by the left-leaning Momentum movement, was rejected by the conference arrangements committee days ahead of the Brighton gathering, when Keir Starmer is expected to clash with supporters of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.Corbyn’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told The Independent that the move would “demobilise and demotivate a large section of our membership”, particularly among younger voters, at a time when the party roll has been shrinking.But party sources insisted the Green New Deal remains a Labour commitment. With many motions submitted by members and affiliates, the issue will be on the priorities ballot when the final subjects for debate at conference are decided. Labour for a Green New Deal blamed party staff for keeping the Green Jobs Revolution motion off the agenda, while other less radical proposals were allowed to go through.Momentum co-chairs Gaya Sriskanthan and Andrew Scattergood said there was no doubt that responsibility lay with Starmer and his new general secretary David Evans, and called for a demonstration in protest on the first day of the conference on 25 September.It is understood that the Labour for a Green New Deal motion was opposed on the grounds that it was too wide-ranging, as it took in commitments from Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto including the nationalisation of key industries like energy and rail as well as the creation of a National Care Service and free broadband.LGND co-founder Chris Saltmarsh said: “By interfering to block this motion, the CAC and party staff have stifled the will of members.“It makes a mockery of party democracy and further exacerbates unnecessary division between the leadership and the Labour membership. It also sends entirely the wrong message to voters: that Keir Starmer’s Labour is uninterested in the bold solutions we need to tackle the climate crisis.“This anti-democratic decision must be overturned now.”In a joint statement, Ms Sriskanthan and Mr Scattergood denounced the decision as “a disgraceful rejection of our responsibility to each other, to younger generations and to the rest of the world”.“Tackling climate change requires systematic transformation, and our policies in this area cannot be siloed into isolated, ineffective parts,” they said.“There can be no doubt this was a stitch-up to keep progressive policy off the agenda.“While the right had a majority at today’s meeting of the committee, the recommendation to remove the Green New Deal motion came directly from Labour Party staff. “Responsibility lies with David Evans and with Keir Starmer, who pledged in his leadership election campaign to put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do.“It is now well known in the Labour Party that the pledges Starmer stood on are worthless, and it will soon be known to an entire generation of people who are looking to political leaders to stand up and take action against climate change. Without the support of these people, Labour will never again get into government.” More

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was finishing a major shakeup of his government on Thursday, shuffling his team of middle-ranking and junior ministers after making big changes at the top.Johnson appointed multiple women to ministerial jobs, a day after appointing Foreign Secretary Liz Truss — only the second time a woman has served as Britain’s top diplomat. Lawmakers Amanda Milling and Kemi Badenoch were named as junior ministers in Truss’s Foreign Office, while Penny Mordaunt got a job at the trade department.The shuffle shows a Conservative government eager to move on from 18 months of pandemic disruption — and eyeing an early election. Britain is not scheduled to hold a general election until 2024, but the government changes suggest Johnson wants to go to voters at least a year sooner.“This looks like the team that he wants to take into an election,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London On Wednesday Johnson fired several underperforming Cabinet ministers, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab — moved to the justice department — and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson relegated to the back benches.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace denied Johnson had sacked ministers “because they’re incompetent,” but simply wanted to “refresh his team.”Raab’s replacement, Truss, is a former trade minister and favorite of the Conservative Party grassroots who has won praise for her work negotiating trade deals with Australia and Japan since Britain left the European Union last year. New Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi was recently vaccines minister, responsible for inoculating the country against the coronavirus. Both have reputations for getting things done.Johnson also moved one of the most experienced and ambitious ministers, Michael Gove, to oversee the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The department is key to Johnson’s promise to “level up” the U.K., spreading prosperity beyond the wealthy south that is the traditional Conservative heartland. That promise helped Johnson secure a big election victory in 2019 by winning votes in Labour Party-dominated parts of the north of England. Now, he has to show he can deliver.“Michael Gove’s appointment suggests there really is an anxiety on the part of the government to make levelling up more than merely rhetoric,” Bale said. “He’s gone to a ministry that doesn’t traditionally get a big hitter, and he’s certainly that.”Another sign Johnson has his eye on an early election is the choice of lawmaker Nadine Dorries to head the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A populist right-winger, Dorries has criticized “left wing snowflakes,” and in 2012 was suspended by the Conservative Party for taking time out from her job as a lawmaker to fly to Australia and appear on the reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here.”The appointment suggests Johnson intends to continue the populist tactic of pushing divisive “culture war” buttons over issues such as Britain’s imperial history.Bale said Dorries’ appointment was the political equivalent of “Twitter trolling.” “It’s achieved its purpose,” he said. “It’s got the liberal left enraged and it’s sent a message to the populist right that the Conservative Party is still on their side and the ‘war on woke’ is a forever war.” More

Albania’s parliament was to vote late Thursday to approve the new, female-dominated cabinet of Prime Minister Edi Rama with 12 of the 17 jobs going to women, making Albania a global leader in terms of the percentage of women in government positions. Rama, who secured a record third consecutive term in April, has pledged to return the country to economic growth, focusing on tourism and agriculture. His Socialist party holds 74 of 140 seats in parliament, and his choice of ministers was expected to be approved. Cabinets are always named several months after general elections in Albania, in a system designed to allow for a smoother transition of power.“This new government will enter history as the cabinet with the highest number of women,” Rama said in his speech.The 57-year-old politician has included women in top positions throughout his career, including during his tenures as culture minister, mayor of the Albanian capital Tirana and as prime minister, a position he has held since 2013.“With the confidence vote of the new cabinet Albania ranks in first place of the United Nation’s general classification for the number of women in the government,” he said.According to latest U.N. figures available, dating from January 2021, Nicaragua topped the list at the time with 10 women among 17 cabinet members. Even then, Albania had ranked in 5th position with 9 women in a 16-strong cabinet.However, Rama warned that no minister would be favored due to their gender, and that the length of their terms would depend solely on their performance in their posts, “without gender discrimination.”Independent analyst Lutfi Dervishi said the next move should be to have women in the top posts of president and prime minister, which he said would change the outer world’s view of Albania “as a conservative society, or a mostly Islamic one run by corruption.”“There is a general perception that women are less inclined to corruption and abuse of post,” he added.But some noted the lack of experience of some of the new cabinet members. Independent analyst Aleksander Cipa said public opinion was critical as some of the new appointees “come from anonymity” and were not known for any noted professional success or political career.Rama has had “a constant preference in his political and executive career” with naming women to key positions around him, Cipa said, adding that this practice could be done in part for public relations reasons.“He has felt better (working with women) due to his individual authority and he is more controlling in partnership with governing ladies,” he said.The new government’s main challenges will be completing the process of rebuilding after a deadly earthquake in November 2019, and coping with the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy, which saw a 3.3% GDP fall in 2020. Rama has also pledged to continue fighting corruption and drug trafficking, boosting growth to at least 4% annually, raising salaries and lowering unemployment.His government aims to turn the country into an energy producer and exporter, and to diversify energy with solar and wind products. Newcomer Delinda Ibrahimaj was appointed to run the country’s finance and economy portfolios.Olta Xhacka keeps her post of foreign minister, as do Culture Minister Elva Margariti and Education Minister Evis Kushi.Another newcomer, Frida Krifca, will run the Agriculture Ministry, with a goal of achieving $1 billion in agriculture products exports.The new parliament speaker is also a woman, Lindita Nikolla, a former education minister.Albania, with its population of 2.8 million, has been a NATO member since 2009 and hopes to launch full membership negotiations with the European Union later this year. More

France has hit out at Australia’s decision to abandon a £43bn deal for French submarines in favour of a new security pact.The French government reacted angrily to news Australia, the UK and the US have entered an alliance that will involve building a nuclear-powered submarine fleet and wide-ranging projects on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign affairs minister, claimed the move was a “stab in the back” from Australia, telling Franceinfo: “We had established a trusting relationship with Australia, and this trust was betrayed.”The EU’s high representative, Josep Borrell said the bloc had not been consulted on the security pact, even as Brussels unveiled its own Indo-Pacific strategy.He said the decision by the Australian government to abandon the submarine deal with France meant that it was important for the EU to build its own approach to the region.“We must survive on our own, as others do,” Borrell said as he presented the strategy, talking of the importance of “strategic autonomy” “I understand the extent to which the French government must be disappointed.” However, British prime minister Boris Johnson insisted the UK’s relationship with France was “rock solid” when asked in parliament on Thursday.The so-called Aukus deal has also angered China, which accused the trio of “severely damaging regional peace and stability, intensifying an arms race, and damaging international nuclear non-proliferation efforts”.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said countries should not build partnerships that target third countries and that China would “closely watch the situation’s development”.The move has been widely interpreted as an attempt to check China’s growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.However, the prime minister insisted Britain’s new defence pact was not intended as an “adversarial” move against China.He told the House of Commons: “It merely reflects the close relationship that we have with the United States and with Australia, the shared values that we have and the sheer level of trust between us that enables us to go to this extraordinary extent of sharing nuclear technology in the way that we are proposing to do.“It is true that that this is a huge increase in the levels of trust between the UK, the US and Australia.“It is a fantastic defence technology partnership that we are building – but it is not actually revolutionary.”Downing Street declined to comment on the collapsed Australian contract for conventional subs, saying this was a matter between Paris and Canberra.The prime minister’s official spokesperson added: “We continue to have a very close relationship with France, we have long standing security and defence relationships with France.“We have members of the armed forces working side by side right now and that will continue to be the case.”The spokesperson said defence secretary Ben Wallace had been in contact with his French counterpart, but there were no plans for a phone call between Boris Johnson and French president Emmanuel Macron.He confirmed the Aukus deal was discussed by Mr Johnson with US president Joe Biden and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in a three-way meeting at the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, but played down suggestions this was the decisive moment in the agreement, which he said had been “an undertaking of several months”.Mr Johnson’s spokesperson suggested the UK’s ability to seal the deal could be regarded as a benefit from Brexit.“We are able to move in this in this way now that we’re not part of the European Union, and that is to the benefit of the British people,” he said.The UK’s commitment to Nato remained unchanged by the Aukus deal, he said.And he rejected suggestions it might undermine the “Five Eyes” intelligence relationship by creating an “inner circle” of three members while excluding Canada and New Zealand.The EU’s strategy will focus on trade, greater digital cooperation with Japan, South Korea and Singapore, support for climate change initiatives and a greater diplomatic presence to uphold the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It also plans to collaborate with Japan, India and Australia on transport links, in particular in the aviation and maritime industry, to link the bloc more closely to Asia.This comes after the EU on Wednesday launched a new plan to rival China’s Belt and Road infrastructure strategy, which it calls “Global Gateway”An 18-month process will now take place to consider technical and practical aspects of the AUKUS plan, and work out precise details of where work will be undertaken and jobs created, said the spokesperson.But he said there would be “extensive work” in the UK, creating “hundreds and hundreds” of jobs and generating tens of billions of investment over the lifetime of the project.Additional reporting by agencies More

Related video: China condemns Aukus treaty as ‘irresponsible act’ that ‘intensifies arms race’ A diplomatic row has broken out between the UK and France after the British government formed an alliance to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia with the US, which Paris described as a “stab in the back”.Defence Secretary Ben Wallace insisted Britain did not “go fishing” for the pact while the French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused the Australians of a betrayal because the alliance meant they scrapped a multi-billion deal for France to provide subs.The UK, US and Australia agreed to co-operate on the development of the first nuclear-powered fleet for the Australian navy in a ground-breaking agreement dubbed Aukus.But this meant that Canberra ripped up a deal worth around £30bn that was struck with Paris in 2016 for France to provide 12 diesel-electric submarines.It comes as Boris Johnson carried out a cabinet shake-up on Thursday with a reshuffle of more junior ranks following an overhaul of some of the top positions.Show latest update

1631800986Patel meets with Border Force after holding onto home sec jobPriti Patel has met Border Force officers as migrants continue to cross the English Channel to the UK from France by boat.The home secretary was seen out in the Channel on Thursday, the day after it was confirmed she would remain in her role as part of Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle.It is understood she took part in a private meeting with law enforcement teams who are on the front line tackling illegal migration.Her trip to Dover came as crossings continued for the fourth consecutive day this week.Matt Mathers16 September 2021 15:031631800073NHS in Scotland facing toughest test in decades , Sturgeon saysScotland’s ambulance service and NHS faces the most challenging winter in a lifetime, Nicola Sturgeon has warned.The first minister told MSPs the coronavirus pandemic has left the health service feeling the pressure “acutely” but insisted her government would be focused on resolving the worsening issues “every day” over the winter period.Challenged repeatedly at First Minister’s Questions about reports of people waiting hours and even days for ambulances to attend emergencies, Ms Sturgeon acknowledged the situation was “not acceptable” but stressed there was work and investment attempting to address the problems.She said: “The pandemic has created the most challenging conditions for our National Health Service probably since the National Health Service was created and that is being felt acutely in Scotland, it has been felt acutely in countries across the UK and the rest of the world.“There are, right now, over 1,000 people in our hospitals with Covid.“That puts additional pressure on our hospitals and that feeds through into longer turnaround times for ambulance services, and, of course, the ambulance service is often the frontline response for those who need hospital care – for Covid or for anything else.”Matt Mathers16 September 2021 14:471631799246Cop26 president insists summit will be an ‘all UK’ eventThe president of Cop26 has insisted the climate summit will be an “all of UK” event despite suggestions Number 10 is trying to sideline Scotland’s first minister.Alok Sharma said he wanted the event, which will world leaders come to Glasgow for key talks on how to limit global warming, to be something the whole of the United Kingdom could be proud of.His comments come in the wake of reports that advisers at No 10 and the Cabinet Office have been seeking to sideline Nicola Sturgeon’s role, amidst fears she may seek to use the event as an “advert” for Scottish independence.But Mr Sharma told MSPs on Holyrood’s Net Zero Committee: “I very much want to see this as an all of UK Cop, something that we can all collectively be very proud of.”He added: “We will be welcoming the world to Glasgow and this is an opportunity to showcase what the United Kingdom has to offer.”Matt Mathers16 September 2021 14:341631798273Nearly 5 million EU citizens allowed to remain in UK under settlement schemeNearly five million people have been allowed to continue living and working in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme so far, according to the latest official estimates.Home Office figures show that, as of the end of June, 4,908,760 people had been granted an immigration status to remain in the country after freedom of movement ended following the Brexit transition period.EU citizens – as well as people from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and their families had been asked to apply to the scheme by the June 30 deadline.Quarterly data published on Thursday suggest more than 5.5 million people (5,548,440) had applied by that date.Matt Mathers16 September 2021 14:171631797223‘Stab in the back’: France hits out at Aukus alliance with fears it threatens Indo-Pacific partnershipsFrance has hit out at Australia’s decision to abandon a £43bn deal for French submarines in favour of a new security pact.The French government reacted angrily to news Australia, the UK and the US have entered an alliance that will involve building a nuclear-powered submarine fleet and wide-ranging projects on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.My colleagues Chiara Giordano and Andrew Woodcock report: Matt Mathers16 September 2021 14:001631795887China says Ausuk ‘severely damaging regional peace and stability’China has reacted with fury to the newly formed Ausuk alliance between the UK, Australia and the US.Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the three countries were “severely damaging regional peace and stability, intensifying an arms race, and damaging international nuclear non-proliferation efforts”.“China always believes that any regional mechanism should conform to the trend of peace and development of the times and help enhance mutual trust and cooperation … It should not target any third party or undermine its interests,” he told a briefing in Beijing.Tom Batchelor16 September 2021 13:381631793367Give EU nationals in UK a physical document, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland tell Home OfficeThe Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments have urged the Home Office to provide EU nationals in Britain with a physical document to prove their post-Brexit immigration status, or risk “confusion and discrimination”.A letter to immigration minister Kevin Foster, sent jointly from Scotland’s Europe minister, Wales’s social justice minister and the Northern Ireland executive’s first and deputy first ministers on Wednesday, warns of “a number of difficulties” EU citizens are facing in not having physical proof of their status.Following Brexit, EU and EEA nationals and their family members who wished to stay in Britain have had to apply to the EU settlement scheme or otherwise face automatically becoming undocumented.The Independent’s social affairs correspondent May Bulman has the details.Joe Middleton16 September 2021 12:561631792797PM set to meet with Nancy PelosiBoris Johnson will host Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, for a bilateral meeting to discuss Anglo-American relations on Thursday, Downing Street has confirmed.The meeting will be in person, with Ms Pelosi then due to join Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle in his Chorley constituency for the G7 Speakers’ Conference on Friday.Joe Middleton16 September 2021 12:461631791698‘Unconscionable’ universal credit could plunge half a million households into poverty, warns top UN officialThe decision to cut universal credit by £20 a week is “unconscionable” and could plunge hundreds of thousands of households into poverty, a top United Nations official has warned.Ministers have come under continued pressure to reverse the decision to end the £20-a-week uplift introduced to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic, with recipients expected to lose out on £1,040 annually if the cut goes ahead, writes The Independent’s Chiara Giordano.Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty, has warned the move breaches international human rights law and could cause half a million low-income households, including 200,000 children, to fall below the poverty line.Joe Middleton16 September 2021 12:281631790832Aukus pact was discussed at G7, say No10Downing Street has said the deal between the UK, US and Australia for nuclear-powered submarines was discussed by them during the G7.The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “In terms of meetings between the three leaders, there was a meeting at the G7.“I wouldn’t say there was one single meeting that did it, this has been something that has been an undertaking of several months, it’s a culmination of that work.”Joe Middleton16 September 2021 12:13 More

A health minister is facing demands to release thousands of electronic messages potentially relating to coronavirus testing contracts, after it emerged that a mobile phone previously said to have been lost or broken had in fact been given to a family member.Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner called on Boris Johnson to sack Lord Bethell over what she said amounted to a breach of security rules, and demanded that all of the messages should be secured for scrutiny by the promised public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus outbreak.As part of a legal challenge relating to controversial £87.5 million testing contracts with Abingdon Health, the government revealed in July that some of Lord Bethell’s communications had been conducted via WhatsApp and text messages held only on his private mobile.But when lawyers from the Good Law Project demanded that the messages should be retrieved and preserved, they were told initially that the phone had been lost and then that it was broken, making the records inaccessible.Now the campaign group has received a letter from government lawyers stating that the phone was in fact handed over to a family member when the health minister upgraded to a new one.And an initial trawl through messages held on the device found 36,000 containing key words which the GLP argues could indicate they are linked to procurement contracts.However, Lord Bethell’s lawyers said they expected a large majority of these messages to be unrelated to the contract discussions and said that they “would not anticipate there being a substantial amount of documents to disclose arising from the current review by the time it has concluded”.Jolyon Maugham of the GLP said: “Back in June, No 10 issued a blanket denial that ministers ever used private email accounts for Government business. But now their own lawyers have confirmed searches of Lord Bethell’s three private email addresses using keywords relating to Covid contracts turned up hits of between 18,000 and 36,000 separate documents that may be relevant to the case.“How on earth do we move from a blanket denial by No 10 that ministers were using private email accounts for government business, to an admission that a single minister may in fact have used his private email for tens of thousands of official emails?”And he added: “It’s far from clear that personal phones used extensively for government business can safely be handed over to family members – one assumes children. What steps did Lord Bethell take, for example, to ensure that highly sensitive material couldn’t be retrieved by a specialist? And if he did delete it, did he ensure he’d passed on all the relevant information to the Department of Health before doing so?”Ms Rayner said: “Lord Bethell has shown contempt for the British people by dishing out taxpayers’ money to his mates in private and then trying to cover it up. At the height of the pandemic the first priority for ministers should have been saving lives, not enriching their mates.“It is vital that the Information Commissioner’s investigation gets to the bottom of this racket, and this investigation must be extended to other government departments and other ministers. These emails must be secured for the public inquiry so we know exactly what has been going on in secret.“After he has handed over these emails, Lord Bethell should clear his desk. He has breached security rules, broken the ministerial code and ignored basic standards of integrity and transparency in public office. If he had any shame he would resign and if the prime minister had a backbone he would sack him.”There was no immediate response from the Department of Health to The Independent’s request for a comment.Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson declined to comment on an ongoing legal case.But he added: “We have set out our position with regards to ministers being  able to communicate with each other with a variety of forms of communication as long as they follow the rules that are published clearly.” More

The decision to cut universal credit by £20 a week is “unconscionable” and could plunge hundreds of thousands of households into poverty, a top United Nations official has warned.Ministers have come under continued pressure to reverse the decision to end the £20-a-week uplift introduced to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic, with recipients expected to lose out on £1,040 annually if the cut goes ahead. Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty, has warned the move breaches international human rights law and could cause half a million low-income households, including 200,000 children, to fall below the poverty line.In a letter to the UK government, he urged ministers to reconsider the proposed cut “since it is prima facie doubtful whether the removal of the £20 uplift conforms to international human rights law and standards”.Mr De Schutter told the Guardian it was “unconscionable at this point in time to remove this benefit”.He also warned £20 a week “makes a huge difference and could be the difference between falling into extreme poverty or remaining just above that poverty line” for many of those receiving universal credit.Labour urged Conservative MPs who oppose the welfare cut to “do the right thing” and back a vote calling for the government to scrap the plans on Wednesday.MPs supported the motion by 253 votes to zero, but it is non-binding and does not force the government to act.Boris Johnson refused to explain how claimants can make up the lost £20 a week, after cabinet minister Therese Coffey on Monday got her sums wrong and claimed recipients would only need to work an extra two hours a week.The prime minister declined to say whether the true figure was higher or lower after experts concluded the answer was up to nine hours.Ministers plan to begin phasing out the uplift from the end of September, based on individual claimants’ payment dates. More