Markus Andrews

Related video: Nando’s temporarily closes stores across UK due to supply issues The UK and the European Union can still find sensible solutions to issues over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the right political will, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said.“A positive and constructive future partnership is in everyone’s interests but it will only be delivered if there is a relationship of trust and a willingness to deliver on commitments entered into,” Mr Martin said after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.The EU had “demonstrated commitment, patience and creativity in its work to implement the withdrawal agreement and the protocol,” he added. It comes as supermarkets and hauliers have issued a warning to shoppers that supply struggles could mean they face long-term higher food prices.A shortfall of around 100,000 drivers, which has been driven by thousands of European drivers leaving during the pandemic and not returning, as well as “high numbers” of workers retiring, is being blamed for the trouble, hauliers told PA. Show latest update

1629961121Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling Brexit coverage. Stay tuned as we delve into the food shortages affecting Britain’s fat food chains and supermarkets. Sam Hancock26 August 2021 07:581629961445Food shortages could ‘cancel Christmas,’ industry warnsBritain’s post-Brexit supply chain crisis could “cancel Christmas” and continue to cause food shortages well into 2022, industry leaders have warned.Boris Johnson’s government has been urged to ease immigration rules so some EU citizens who left the UK during Brexit can return and help fill major gaps in the workforce, report Adam Forrest and Holly Bancroft. The head of the Co-op supermarket said on Wednesday that current food shortages were the worst he had ever seen, while Iceland’s boss warned that supply disruption could see Christmas “cancelled” for some families this year.Read the full piece:Sam Hancock26 August 2021 08:041629961948‘We’re working incredibly hard,’ says foodservice group bossCoral Rose, managing director of the Country Group foodservice group, spoke to BBC R4’s Today programme this morning.She explained how food shortages were impacting their customers, which include care homes and schools, and what was being done to try and remedy the situation. “We have two problems: supply of products into our warehouses and supply from our warehouses to customers,” Coral Rose, managing director of the Country Group foodservice group, told BBC R4’s Today programme earlier. “When we are having trouble getting the supply of a particular product, we’ll then speak to someone else and try and source it from elsewhere. So, we might not be able to get the customer the brand they like but we do everything to ensure they can supply their customers.”It isn’t easy, though, Ms Rose warned. “We’re working incredibly hard and we have to ensure, for example, that for every substituted product, there is no change to allergens , because that’s very important to take note of. So we’re trying our very best.”She added: “We’re taking drastic action, such as buying smaller delivery vehicles to ensure drivers don’t need special HGV licenses, because there is going to be increased pressure as schools reopen and people continue to holiday in the UK.”Asked if this was “bad” for the environment, due to the risk of increasing the number of cars on the road, Ms Rose admitted it “wasn’t the ideal situation” but said it was “all we can do to service our clients” properly. Sam Hancock26 August 2021 08:121629963070Businesses call for relaxation of post-Brexit visa rules – reportMinisters are under pressure to relax post-Brexit migration rules to unblock Britain’s worst supply-chain crisis since the 1970s, with business leaders warning that continued disruption could ruin Christmas, according to a report.Industry bosses said urgent changes to the visa system were required as retailers struggle to keep shelves stocked, and restaurants run out of food and drink in the meltdown triggered by Covid and Brexit, according to The Guardian.Estimates put the shortage of workers needed to drive lorries, handle goods in warehouses and pick fruit and vegetables at hundreds of thousands. Company bosses and trade groups are now warning that if ministers refuse to allow more EU workers into the UK, they risk a deeper crisis this winter.An analysis of ONS labour market figures by the newspaper confirms the extent of the fall in eastern Europeans in the UK workforce since the start of the pandemic, and after Britain left the EU earlier this year.The number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in the UK, who would typically fill food production roles, has plunged by almost 90,000 since the end of 2019, the investigation found. Employees from eight eastern European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, have fallen by more than 100,000, or 12 per cent too.Meanwhile, industry sources told the paper that in addition to lorry driver shortages, there was a lack of tens of thousands of seasonal agricultural workers, and 14,000 needed in meat-processing plants. More

Labour has accused Boris Johnson of being “allergic to the truth” after the Conservatives finally revealed the complex process used to pay for lavish renovations at his Downing Street flat.A Tory donor provided more than £52,000 to cover some of the costs in refurbishing the prime minister’s residence, according to party accounts published on Thursday.Tory HQ said it initially provided a “bridging loan” of £52,802 to cover the works after being invoiced by the Cabinet Office last June.The party was then “reimbursed in full” by Lord Brownlow last October, before Mr Johnson “settled the costs” incurred by the donor in March 2021 – but only after details had emerged in the press in February.No 10 repeatedly refused to reveal the original source of funds for the work, initially insisting that Mr Johnson alone had “covered the cost”.Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner responded: “These latest revelations prove that the prime minister appears to be allergic to telling the truth about the dodgy dealings and the web of conflicts of interests, secret loans and cover-ups that hang over him like a bad smell.”Revealing the details on page 25 of the 26-page accounts, the Conservatives pointed to a review by the prime minister’s own ministerial standards adviser, Lord Geidt.He found Mr Johnson acted “unwisely” in allowing the refurbishment to go ahead without “more rigorous regard for how this would be funded,” but did not breach the ministerial code.A Cabinet Office report in July said more than £28,000 was spent on painting and sanding floorboards – coming close to the £30,000 limit of public funding. But it also mentioned “additional invoices” for work carried out by interior designer Lulu Lytle.The bill for the extra work was paid by the Cabinet Office, before it was billed to the Conservative Party, before Lord Brownlow reimbursed the party, before Mr Johnson met “all final costs”, according to Tory HQ’s latest annual report.Dominic Cummings, former chief adviser at No 10, alleged that Mr Johnson had planned to have try to get donors to “secretly pay” for the refurbishments in an “unethical, foolish” and “possibly illegal” plan, which No 10 has denied.A Tory spokesman said: “As stated, the party provided a short-term bridging loan that was reimbursed to the party in full.”Meanwhile, Labour has written to the Electoral Commission to demand an investigation into the prime minister’s use of a taxpayer-funded jet to travel to the north-east for a campaign visit.Questions were raised over Mr Johnson’s April visit to Hartlepool to campaign for the Tory candidate, after it emerged that the Conservative Party recorded “nil” spending on the PM’s travel despite him having flown by jet from London to Teesside Airport.No 10 and the Conservatives insist no rules were broken, since the jet was used to fly Mr Johnson to the north-east for an official visit to Middlesbrough, while the PM travelled from Middlesbrough to Hartlepool in his official car.Ms Rayner said: “The questions hanging over ‘flatgate’ make it even more important that a full investigation into the prime minister’s SleazyJet flights is begun immediately so we get to the bottom of whether any rules and laws were broken, and if a Tory donor has secretly been picking up the tab for the prime minister’s private jet too.” More

The “overwhelming majority” of people eligible for evacuation by the RAF from Kabul airport – around 15,000 people – have now left Afghanistan, Boris Johnson has said.Mr Johnson said that there was now little time left before the UK’s 1,000-strong military presence at the airport itself needs to withdraw, but said that they would do “everything we can to get everybody else”in the time remaining.The prime minister was speaking against the backdrop of an increasingly chaotic situation in Kabul, with UK government ministers warning of the danger of “imminent” terror attacks by groups such as the Islamic State off-shoot Isis-Khorasan.Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to the Permanent Joint Headquarters in north London, where he met military personnel co-ordinating the evacuation effort, Boris Johnson said around 15,000 people had already been evacuated by British troops.“In the time we have left, which may be – as I’m sure everybody can appreciate – quite short, we’ll do everything we can to get everybody else,” he said.Asked about the terror threat to UK troops and civilians, Mr Johnson said: “I think we have to be transparent about the risks, that we have to be realistic about what’s going on, and you’ll appreciate that there are Islamic State Khorasan province (Isis-K) terrorists out there.“I can’t go into the details, clearly. But we have to be mindful of the security of our personnel, but also of the Afghan people who are trying to get out.”Earlier on Thursday armed forces minister James Heappey warned that a possible terror attack at the airport could come within “hours” – calling the threat “credible and imminent”.Mr Johnson stressed that 31 August deadline for evacuation would not mark the end of the UK’s efforts to help those who wish to flee Afghanistan.The prime minister said that although the “lion’s share” of eligible people had now been removed from the country, he recognised “there will be people who still need help”.Asked about reports of the Taliban stopping people who wish to leave by blocking roads, Mr Johnson said he hoped “the Taliban understand that if they want to engage with development aid, they want to unlock those billions of funds … then the safe passage for those who want to come out is the key precondition.”Mr Johnson has come under pressure to step up preparations for what MPs and charities warn could be a “humanitarian catastrophe” after the closure of the airport. The prime minister said the next challenge would be to help Afghan refugees “integrate into our society”.He added: “The real job now is to make sure they have the housing, they have the skills, they have the opportunities to integrate into our society. As you know, our labour market … it currently offers many opportunities, but we must make sure that they’re ready, and that’s another whole job.” More

Five ministers in Boris Johnson’s government are being investigated by parliament’s sleaze watchdog over free tickets for this year’s Brit Awards.International trade secretary Liz Truss, work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey and Foreign Office minister James Cleverly are among the senior Conservative MPs under scrutiny for allegedly failing to reveal they were given tickets worth up to £900 each.Culture minister Caroline Dineage and science minister Amanda Solloway are also being probed by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over complementary tickets for May’s music industry bash.In all eight MPs – including Tory backbencher Nickie Aiken and Labour MPs Conor McGinn, Chi Onwurah and Alex Sobel – will be investigated over whether they broke the code of conduct over the Brits tickets.The rules require all MPs to update the register of members’ financial interests within 28 days of receiving any gifts, payments or hospitality.Mr Cleverly, Mr McGinn, Ms Aiken all registered their tickets more than a month later, meaning they were technically in breach of the rules. But in the case of the other MPs, the freebies have yet to appear on the register of interests.Ms Onwurah told The Mail she had already apologised for her failure to declare the tickets, saying: “It was an administrative oversight, nothing more, and it has now been declared.”An unnamed MP told the newspaper they had “held their hands up” after realising the declaration was late and admitted: ‘It’s just embarrassing.”The Brit Awards took place on 11 May, when strict Covid restrictions were still in place. But around 4,000 spectators were allowed into London’s O2 Arena to watch Sir Dua Lipa and Sir Elton John as one the government’s pilot scheme events.Ms Aiken’s ticket was worth £900 and was paid for by UK Music Ltd, while Mr Cleverly’s £850 ticket was given to him by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).It emerged last month that MPs enjoyed free tickets worth more than £100,000 for major sports and music events this summer, as they took advantage of the pilot scheme for the return of large events.Dozens of MPs took up free tickets to the Euro 2020 matches at Wembley, the England versus Pakistan cricket tie, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix.Campaigners highlighted the many of the free tickets handed to MPs came from gambling companies. Defence minister Ben Wallace received a ticket and hospitality for the England-Denmark Euros semi-final worth almost £3,500 from Entain Operations Ltd.Matt Zarb-Cousin, director of the Clean Up Gambling campaign, said the industry appeared to have used sporting events as “an excuse for wining and dining MPs” ahead of a review of the Gambling Act, as the government considers further restrictions on advertising.A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council, the industry body, said: “The regulated betting and gaming industry supports a range of sports, including football, and this funding has proved vital during the pandemic. All hospitality is within the rules and fully declared.” More

The UK and the US have issued a warning to any remaining citizens in Afghanistan to stay away from Kabul airport due to an “ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack”.A possible terror attack at the airport could come within “hours”, Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey warned on Thursday morning – calling the threat “credible and imminent”.The defence minister described the terror threat to people outside Kabul airport as “lethal” amid concerns over an attack by an affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, Isis-K.Follow Afghanistan news LIVE: Latest updates as suspected suicide bombing outside Kabul airport“I can’t stress the desperation of the situation enough – the threat is credible, it is imminent, it is lethal,” Mr Heappey told BBC Breakfast. “We wouldn’t be saying this if we weren’t genuinely concerned about offering Islamic State a target.”The minister told LBC: “I was given lines today for what might happen if the attack happened while I was doing this media round.”He added: “Daesh, or Islamic State, are guilty of all sorts of evil. The opportunism of wanting to target a major international humanitarian mission is just utterly deplorable, but sadly true to form for an organisation as barbarous as Daesh.”Mr Heappey said British intelligence about the “imminence and credibility” of an attack by the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan had “grown significantly” this week. “There is real lethality to the plans we’re aware of,” he added.It is not yet clear how the terror warning might disrupt evacuation plans. Britain was set to make one last push to bring nearly 2,000 Afghan interpreters and staff out of Kabul on Thursday, in what was expected to be the final day of the RAF’s airlift operation.Officials in London insisted that the timing of the last UK evacuation flight has not yet been decided, but defence secretary Ben Wallace made clear in a conference call with MPs on Wednesday evening that time was running very short.Mr Wallace was reported to have told MPs that Afghans hoping to seek asylum in the UK would be better off now heading for the border and trying to make their way to a third country such as Pakistan or Iran.Mr Heappey said there will be 11 more flights out of Kabul on Thursday, but declined to say whether there will be more on Friday, citing the security of troops.“We will do our best to protect those who are there. There is every chance that as further reporting comes in we may be able to change the advice again and process people anew but there’s now guarantee of that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“The window of opportunity to evacuate people is closing. It’s not as simply a case of we can pause, deal with the [terrorist] threat and pick up where we left off.”The Foreign Office issued an alert on Wednesday evening stating: “Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice.”The US Embassy in Kabul advised US citizens at a number of gates at the airport to “leave immediately”, noting “security threats outside the gates.” The Pentagon said on Wednesday that more than 10,000 people remained at Kabul airport waiting to be evacuated.EU nations have offered stark warnings about the waning days of a massive airlift to bring people out of Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.France said it would halt its evacuations on Friday while Denmark said its last flight had already left Kabul’s airport. Danish defence minister Trine Bramsen bluntly warned: “It is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul.”Eight RAF flights managed to lift 1,988 people from Kabul within the past 24 hours, Mr Heappey said, taking the total since the Taliban began its march to power to just over 12,200. More

The government should ban on new intensive poultry farms in an effort to save rare animal species from being wiped out, experts say.Ministers must declare “peak poultry” within a year, phasing out industrial chicken from school and hospital menus, because the meat is damaging biodiversity and fuelling the climate crisis, it’s claimed.Chicken are reared on vast quantities of soya, grown in South America, where swathes of forests are cleared to produce feed for industrially farmed animals.Campaigners from the Soil Association say species being put at risk of extinction because their habitats are being lost include jaguar, northern tiger cats, giant anteaters, giant armadillos and three types of monkey.The damage has shot up because the UK’s consumption of poultry has risen significantly in recent years as consumers have switched away from red meat on health and environmental grounds.UK consumers eat nearly a billion chickens a year, reared in at least 1,000 intensive poultry units nationwide, an increase of more than 30 per cent in a decade, research has shown.The Soil Association is calling on the government to ensure UK consumption and production of poultry peaks within 12 months, then falls. The organisation’s chiefs want ministers to:Phase out industrial chicken meat from schools and hospitalsImmediately ban new intensive poultry unitsAnd support producers to switch to nature-friendly and higher-welfare production systemsThe government says it is introducing “world-leading” legislation banning products grown in illegally deforested areas and is forcing businesses to examine their supply chains.Rob Percival, Soil Association head of food policy, said: “We’re gobbling our way through some of the planet’s most precious ecosystems, sacrificing iconic wildlife for the sake of soya and an ultra-processed chicken nugget.“Just as the climate crisis demands we rapidly reach ‘peak oil’ and transition to renewable sources of energy, the nature crisis demands we reach ‘peak poultry’ and transition to more nature-friendly, sustainable farming systems.”An Ipsos Mori poll this month found six in 10 UK adults wanted a ban on imports linked to deforestation, and a Soil Association survey found strong support for a ban on industrial livestock units.Research from Greenpeace among others has repeatedly highlighted the destruction caused by soya production on rainforests, savannah and wetland ecosystems – vital wildlife habitats – in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Mr Percival called it devastating.

There simply isn’t enough land to go aroundRob PercivalDr Flavia Miranda, professor at the University of Santa Cruz-UESC and an IUCN-affiliated wildlife veterinary expert, said: “Soyabeans have been destroying our country due to the loss of critical wildlife habitats.“In just a few decades, nearly half of Brazil’s landscapes have been transformed into pastures and agricultural land, leaving only about 22 per cent of the biome.”The UK’s overseas “soya footprint” covers an area approaching the size of Wales, according to the Soil Association.Mr Percival added: “We need roughly a tennis court of soya per person to fulfil our demand for grain-fed meat.“With UK poultry consumption roughly double the global average, and demand for grain-fed meat rising globally, there simply isn’t enough land to go around. Our diets need to change.”Last year international scientists suggested introducing taxes on meat consumption and production to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises.And the UK Climate Change Committee called for a 20 per cent drop in meat and dairy consumption by 2030.If the UK is to be a credible host for the Cop26 climate talks, Mr Percival said, it was vital to “address our contribution to deforestation and wildlife loss abroad and get our industrial poultry problem under control”.A government spokesperson said: “The UK has a long and proud history of supporting action to combat deforestation and promote sustainable land use. Our new due diligence measure in the Environment Bill will clean up our supply chains by making it illegal for UK businesses to use key commodities produced on illegally deforested land. “This is just one piece of a much larger package of measures we are putting in place to tackle deforestation, and we are working internationally to tackle the drivers of deforestation and protect the world’s vital intact forests. “As part of our presidency of Cop26, we are building a global alliance of countries committed to working together to tackle this important issue, and this new dialogue will be instrumental in making this happen.” More

Hoteliers and meteorologists in Crete say they are baffled by Dominic Raab’s claim that he couldn’t have been paddleboarding on holiday while Kabul fell because the sea was “closed”.The foreign secretary denied reports that he was seen swimming and using a paddleboard on the last day of his holiday on the Greek island.He has faced strong criticism for not returning when the situation in Afghanistan began to deteriorate and the Taliban took control of Kabul.“The stuff about me being lounging around on the beach all day is just nonsense,” he told Sky News. “The stuff about me paddleboarding – nonsense. The sea was actually closed, it was a red notice.”But Lena Michalaki, whose GDM Island Hotel in Kato Gouves is a short walk from the luxury resort where Mr Raab was stayed with his family, told The Independent: “As far as we are aware there aren’t any beaches that have been closed. The beach in front of the hotel is open to the public all summer.”She added: “There wasn’t any issue in Crete all season that might have been the cause for beaches to close”.Greek meteorologist Thodoris Kolydas said: “We did not have any significant weather phenomenon in the area of Crete between 12-15 Aug. The winds were north, with a maximum of 6 to 7 Beaufort [25-38mph] and the weather was locally cloudy”.And Alexandros Roniotis, whose Cretan Beaches website lists information about the island’s sandy stretches, went even further: “No beaches were closed. Only some gorges during the big fires, but no beaches.”An official at Mr Raab’s department later suggested the minister was referring to red flags warning of strong currents at “a beach” — but were unable to say if it was the beach at his resort.Questioned on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about claims that his department asked him to return home on Friday August 13, Mr Raab said: “I was not asked by my officials. I was not directed home.”He went on: “I’m not going to add any more to the speculation in the media. What I can tell you is that from that period I was engaged from a hotel room, my family was on the beach, not me. I checked in on them episodically, but the idea that I was lounging on the beach is just nonsense.”I was in a hotel room, engaged on Cobra, directing and working with my emergency response team and talking to the director and the director-general, engaged with international partners.”Mr Raab said that with the benefit of hindsight that he would not have gone on holiday during the unfolding crisis.”If you’re the Foreign Secretary, I’m travelling all the time for work purposes, I always need to be able to grip crises that arise, and that’s what we were doing,” he said. “With the benefit of hindsight I would have been back earlier, but we were all surprised by the scale and the pace of the collapse of the situation.”A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “As we have consistently said, the foreign secretary has been overseeing the FCDO’s response to the situation in Afghanistan throughout, including engaging with international partners and directing the FCDO’s emergency response centre.” More

Britain was making one last push to bring nearly 2,000 Afghan interpreters and staff out of Kabul on Thursday in what was expected to be the final day of the RAF’s airlift operation.With tensions rising as the 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of foreign forces approaches, one military source said there was “a very high risk of a terrorist attack” by suicide bomb or small arms fire against the UK’s 1,000-strong contingent in the final days before their departure.The UK is speaking with Taliban representatives in Afghanistan and the Gulf, both to facilitate the evacuations and seek assurances on the safety of those remaining, but ministers have acknowledged that the chaos in Kabul makes it inevitable that some of those eligible to come to the UK will be left behind.Officials in London insisted that the timing of the last UK evacuation flight has not yet been decided, but defence secretary Ben Wallace made clear in a conference call with MPs on Wednesday evening that time was running very short. Under an agreement with Washington, Britain is required to end its presence on the ground at the airport ahead of the final pull-out of US troops and military equipment, which the Pentagon said would occupy the final couple of days before the departure deadline set by president Joe Biden.A total of 10,291 individuals of 38 nationalities, including more than 5,500 Afghans and their families, have been evacuated by Britain since 13 August at a rate reaching 2,000 a day. The US operation to fly out more than 80,000 people is history’s biggest airlift, topping the numbers brought out of Vietnam at the fall of Saigon in 1975. Over a 24-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday, 90 packed aircraft left Kabul at a rate of one every 39 minutes.More than 10,000 people were at Kabul airport waiting to leave, with the commander of the UK evacuation mission Brigadier Dan Blanchford describing “shocking” scenes of “families and individuals having to fight through some pretty desperate conditions” to get through the gates.Speaking from Kabul, Brig Blanchford said: “I couldn’t be more proud of the men and women I’ve got on the front line here, who have seen and witnessed some pretty heartbreaking scenes. Over the last 72 hours and before they continue to work round the clock to ensure that we’re able to assist as many of the at-risk Afghans and personnel as possible to get them safely out of Afghanistan to a place of safety.”The Pentagon said it would keep trying to get people out “for every day and every hour that we’ve got” – but warned that capacity will be set aside in the final two days “to prioritise the military footprint leaving”.Meanwhile, Boris Johnson was coming under pressure to step up preparations for what MPs and charities warn could be a “humanitarian catastrophe” after the closure of the airport, as thousands of left-behind Afghans flee from the threat of retribution from a hardline fundamentalist regime in Kabul freed from remaining restraints on its actions.One senior MP who served as a soldier in Helmand province, Labour’s Dan Jarvis, told The Independent that preparations to support the reception of a potential flood of refugees in neighbouring countries like Pakistan had so far been “sluggish”. As president of the G7 group of global powers, Boris Johnson has a responsibility to lead the drive for a concerted international response and to secure guarantees from the Taliban over the coming days that humanitarian organisations will be able to operate safely within Afghanistan, he said.And Conservative former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell told The Independent it was “essential” that the international community prepare now for “a significant exodus of destitute Afghans across the border into Pakistan and Iran”.The executive director of the UN World Food Programme, David Beasley, warned: “There’s a perfect storm coming because of several years of drought, conflict, economic deterioration, compounded by Covid.” About 14 million people are threatened with starvation, he added.David Miliband, the president of the International Rescue Committee, said that the current focus on the situation at the airport must not distract from the plight of Afghans elsewhere in the country.“There needs to be action now to address the country’s growing humanitarian crises; 18.4 million Afghans are already critically dependent on aid, including 10 million children,” said Mr Miliband. “The World Food Programme has warned that core food supplies could run out by October, as acute hunger is rising across the country. The number of people made homeless by the conflict has jumped by 53 per cent from 360,000 to 550,000 in August alone.”Current pledges from G7 nations “fall far short of addressing the scale of need in the country”, and richer nations must follow the lead of the UK and G7 in stepping up funding for life-saving support on the ground, he said.As many as 200 MPs of all political stripes raised concerns in the conference call with Mr Wallace about cases of individuals in fear of persecution because of their international links or work on human rights and the education of women.“There is a huge amount of nervousness about what happens the other side of 31 August,” said one MP on the call. “There will be a lot of political pressure on the government to do whatever they can to create the conditions where a lot of people are not going to be murdered because of their previous service.”Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said that “every hour and day we’ve got” will be used to help people flee. But he refused to rule out the possibility of UK forces having to complete their departure by the end of Friday and acknowledged that some people eligible for evacuation would be left behind.France said it was likely to end operations in the coming hours or days, while chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament that “the end of the air bridge in a few days must not mean the end of efforts to protect Afghan helpers”. A senior German diplomat said the Taliban had offered assurances that Afghans with legal documents will be able to travel on commercial flights beyond the end of the month. Speaking after the G7 summit, Mr Johnson made safe passage for refugees his top demand from the Taliban, holding out the prospect of financial and diplomatic support – as well as the release of “huge” frozen assets – if the new rulers in Kabul show a respect for human rights and swear off support for terrorism.The UK has established contacts at a number of levels with Taliban representatives, but without a clear command and control structure in the militant group, sources in Whitehall admit that it remains uncertain what stance the new regime will take after foreign troops depart.While the UK has doubled its aid to £286m, there is no question of the UK setting up camps or seeking to bring individuals out of the country after the conclusion of the current airlift. Preparatory talks have begun with countries in the region on the establishment of “processing hubs” for Afghans who may be entitled to resettlement in the UK, which are expected to involve small units deployed to UN refugee camps or based at local embassies and consulates.Mr Jarvis told The Independent: “It is now an urgent political priority to engage with the new Taliban regime and impress on them the need to tolerate and accept the operations of humanitarian NGOs and to allow safe passage out of the country.”He called on Mr Johnson as chair of the G7 to lead a drive to create an international contact group of nations willing to support humanitarian efforts in the region.“It seems that the regional engagement has been quite sluggish on this,” said Mr Jarvis. “There needs to be high level political engagement with Pakistan’s political leadership as part of a concerted international effort to exercise the maximum amount of leverage.“Nobody is excited about the prospect of dealing with the Taliban, but we are invested in that country, we have a leading role to play as part of a stabilisation effort. As chair of the G7, the prime minister should be playing a leading role in seeking to coordinate that activity because if that doesn’t happen the humanitarian catastrophe that will develop will be severe.” More