Markus Andrews

The SNP and the Scottish Greens are expected to confirm a deal to share power in Holyrood.The power-sharing agreement would bring the Greens into government for the first time anywhere in the UK. The deal would be the result of months of intense negotiations, which began in May after the SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority in the Scottish elections. A meeting of the Scottish cabinet will take place on Friday morning in which the agreement is expected to be finalised. Both parties have said that there will not be a formal coalition between them, however an agreement would see them work together on key issues. The specifics of the deal are expected to be announced later on Friday after the plans have been signed off by the Scottish cabinet. It could also see some Green MSPs appointed as ministers in Nicola Sturgeon’s government. Two Green MSPs, co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, are tipped to find roles as junior ministers under Ms Sturgeon. On Sunday, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said the two parties had been “trying to finish off those last bits of discussion”. When asked about what details the deal might include, Mr Harvie told the BBC: “Everybody is very keen to know the outcome, I don’t think you have very long to wait. “If we do agree something with the SNP it won’t be put into practice until our party members have had a vote … we’re trying to finish off those last bits of discussion.”The deal must be confirmed by Scottish Green members on 28 August, which is three days before Nicola Sturgeon is planned to address MSPs on her programme for government. Opposition parties have already criticised the arrangement, with the Scottish Conservatives describing the Greens as “extremists” who “don’t belong anywhere near government”. Labour condemned it as a “coalition of cuts”, saying that it “confirms the long-held suspicion that the Scottish Greens are just a branch office of the SNP”.Scottish Conservative net-zero spokesperson Liam Kerr said that the Green’s manifesto at the May election was a “doctrine to start a war on working Scotland”. The Greens had proposed to move away from North Sea oil and gas and end new road-building projects. A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “It’s no surprise that parties only interested in scoring political points would be alarmed about any suggestion of cooperation in the interests of people and planet.“People vote Green to get results, and over the last five years the Scottish Greens have achieved more from our manifesto than Labour and the Tories combined. We will continue to do that, whatever happens.”A spokesperson for first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Following the SNP’s record landslide election win in May, the first minister extended an open invitation to all parties to discuss areas where they thought they could work closely with the SNP in government … The fact that Labour and the Tories chose not to pursue that offer says far more about them than anyone else.” More

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has issued a defiant defence of his handling of the Afghanistan crisis – claiming he was too busy working on security issues to make a call on behalf of Afghan interpreters.Mr Raab has insisted he will not resign after failing to make a crucial call to help fleeing interpreters while on holiday in Crete, despite growing demands for him to quit.Senior government officials had reportedly advised that Mr Raab he should call Afghan foreign minister last Friday about the interpreters as the Taliban neared Kabul – but were told he was “unavailable” while on holiday.The foreign secretary issued a statement on Friday saying the call had been delegated to a junior minister because he was “prioritising security and capacity at the airport” while working in Crete.Mr Raab, who is facing calls from Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid Cymru to quit, said on Twitter that he wanted to respond to “inaccurate media reporting over recent days”.The foreign secretary stated: “On Friday afternoon, 13 August, advice was put to my private office (around 6pm Afghan time) recommending a call to the Afghan foreign minister. This was quickly overtaken by events.”Explaining why he failed to act on the request, Mr Raab said: “The call was delegated to a minister of state because I was prioritising security and capacity at the airport on the direct advice of the director and the director general overseeing the crisis response.”He added: “In any event, the Afghan foreign minister agreed to take the call, but was unable to because of the rapidly deteriorating situation. The government’s approach to prioritise security at the airport was the right one.”Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said Mr Raab’s explanation “simply doesn’t add up,” and accused him of “wasting our time making excuses”.She said: “This isn’t a defence from Dominic Raab – it’s a shameful admission of his own failure to act … It should have been an absolute priority to speak to the Afghan government and set out the immediate actions necessary to ensure the safe evacuation of Britons and Afghans.”“The foreign secretary’s statement fails to refute a single fact that has been reported – it serves only to confirm his decision to abdicate responsibility and grossly neglect his duties,” Ms Nandy added.Labour continues to demand more specific answers from the government on exactly when Mr Raab was on leave from official duties, if he attended a Cobra meeting on August 15, and if other ministers were authorised to approve intelligence operations.The party also questioned Boris Johnson’s involvement, asking Mr Raab if he spoke with Mr Johnson while he was away, and if the PM gave permission for him to leave the country.One Whitehall source told The Guardian the foreign secretary “refused to be contacted on basically anything” for over week while in Crete, adding that there was “an incredibly high bar to getting him to look at anything while on holiday”.It was initially reported that the Afghan foreign ministry refused to arrange a call about interpreters with a junior minister, pushing it back to the next day.But the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said no call took place. “Given the rapidly changing situation it was not possible to arrange a call before the Afghan government collapsed,” said a spokesman.Conservative MPs are said to be angry about Mr Raab’s handling of the crisis. “Raab was asleep at the wheel. Backbench MPs are absolutely livid about his ‘not my problem guv’ attitude, as if it was not his responsibility. It has really riled up colleagues,” one Tory MP told the Daily Mail.Defending the government over the failure to place the call, junior defence minister James Heappey said on Friday: “No one phone call would have changed the trajectory, either for the collapse of the Afghan government or the acceleration of the airlift.”Asked whether Mr Raab’s job was safe, the junior minister added: “That’s not a judgement for me. He has been very, very effective in what he has been doing in the last week.”Meanwhile, No 10 has said the prime minister will chair another Cobra meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan. More

The Taliban was “inevitably” going to assume political power in Afghanistan despite two decades of Nato involvement in the country, a UK defence minister has said.Armed Forces minister James Heappey said it was “always inevitable the Taliban would be part of the solution” – comparing the current situation to the peace process in Northern Ireland.Despite a UN warning that Taliban militants have been going door-to-door in their hunt for those who worked with Nato forces, the defence minister insisted the group was “part of the peace”.Mr Heappey told Sky News: “It makes me sick, of course it does, to see the scenes we’re seeing in Afghanistan, I gave some of the best years of my life and I risked my life in Afghanistan.”He added: “The fact the Taliban is part of the peace, as painful as that is for people like me who have served, was always going to be the reality.”The defence minister, who served in Afghanistan during his time in the British Army, compared the current need to engage with the Taliban to engagement with former provisional IRA figures in the 1990s.He told LBC radio: “The reality is that anyone who served knows that peace is imperfect. I severed in Northern Ireland and I know that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness who had been part of the provisional IRA became part of the government in the peace deal.”It comes as a UN document warned that the Taliban are targeting Afghans who worked for Nato forces or the previous government. The group are targeting “collaborators” according to a document by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which provides intelligence to the UN.Former MI5 chief Lord Jonathan Evans has said the Taliban takeover was likely to increase terrorism threat which will emerge in Afghanistan over “the coming months and years”.He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there are two problems – I think there is more operating space more likely to be available to groups like al Qaida, and there have been reports of Islamic State elements present in Afghanistan.”Lord Evans added: “If they get the opportunity to put down infrastructure to train and to operate then that will pose a threat to the West more widely … it probably does mean an increase in threat over the coming months and years.”Meanwhile, the governments is facing calls to do more and speed up the evacuation of remaining British citizens and Afghans who worked with UK forces, as the push to get people on flights continues.The defence minister said on Friday that 963 people have been evacuated from Kabul on the RAF “air bridge” in the last 24 hours. “We’re looking forward to delivering similar numbers today, tomorrow and over the days ahead.”Mr Heappey said it was unclear how long the UK evacuation plan will last as it is dependent on the “dynamic” circumstances. “We don’t have it in our gift to say it will last for five days, 10 days, 15 days.”He said he understood the Taliban are not turning people away from Kabul airport, noting: “Where they have done I’ve heard it’s more that they are being officious rather than malicious.”The Guardian reported that a group of around 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul were told they are not eligible for government protection because they were hired by a private contractor, the security firm GardaWorld.But Mr Heappey said the guards would be evacuated. “They have arrived at the airport this morning and we will be moving them out later today.”The minister insisted that people at all levels in the government are “working their backsides off” to evacuate people after he was questioned about foreign secretary Dominic Raab’s response to the Afghanistan crisis.Mr Raab is under growing pressure to resign over his failure to cut his holiday short as the Taliban advance. The crucial phone call he was urged to make to help evacuate interpreters in Afghanistan did not happen, the Foreign Office has admitted.Defending the government, Mr Heappey told Sky News: “No one phone call would have changed the trajectory, either for the collapse of the Afghan government or the acceleration of the airlift.”Asked whether Mr Raab’s job was safe, the junior minister added: “That’s not a judgement for me. He has been very, very effective in what he has been doing in the last week.” More

Labour has accused foreign secretary Dominic Rabb of hypocrisy after unearthed comments revealed he accused British workers of being the “worst idlers in the world”.The cabinet minister is under pressure to resign after failing to cut short his recent holiday in Crete as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban.Mr Raab was seen on the Greek beach on the island on Sunday afternoon as the militants seized control of the capital Kabul, according to reports.It has emerged that Mr Raab and other Tory MPs who are now senior cabinet ministers maligned “lazy” British workers in a book they co-authored in 2012.Britannia Unchained – Global Growth And Prosperity, co-written with home secretary Priti Patel, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and trade secretary Liz Truss, said: “Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world.”Mr Raab and fellow MPs also wrote: “We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor. Too many people in Britain, we argue, prefer a lie-in to hard work.”Giving an interview at the time of the book’s release, Mr Raab said: “People who are coasting – it should be easier to let them go, to give the unemployed a chance. It is a delicate balancing act, but it should be decided in favour of the latter.”Labour MP Kevin Brennan said: “Dominic Raab is a hypocrite. How dare he malign British workers like that – especially when he couldn’t be bothered to get off his sun lounger to make a phone call to save people’s lives in Afghanistan.Mr Brenna added: “He should resign but if he’s too stubborn, Boris Johnson should sack him.”One Whitehall source told The Guardian the foreign secretary “refused to be contacted on basically anything” for over week while in Crete, adding that there was “an incredibly high bar to getting him to look at anything while on holiday”.Asked about Mr Raab’s actions on Friday, junior defence minister James Heappey said people at all levels in the UK Government are “working their backsides off” to evacuate people from Kabul.Filmed walking into Downing Street on Thursday, a smiling Mr Raab was asked if he would resign – but told reporters: “No.” The foreign secretary previously told Sky News that he returned from holiday “as soon as the situation deteriorated and demanded it”The foreign secretary was reportedly “unavailable” when officials in his department suggested he urgently call Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar on 13 August – two days before the Taliban marched on Kabul – to arrange help for those who supported British troops.It was initially reported the Afghan foreign ministry refused to arrange a call with a junior minister, pushing it back to the next day.But a Foreign Office has confirmed that no one made the call. “Given the rapidly changing situation, it was not possible to arrange a call before the Afghan government collapsed,” a spokesman said. More

The crucial phone call foreign secretary Dominic Raab was urged to make to help evacuate interpreters in Afghanistan did not happen, the Foreign Office has admitted.Senior government officials had reportedly advised that Mr Raab should call Afghan foreign minister last Friday as the Taliban neared Kabul – but were told he was “unavailable” while on holiday.Responsibility was handed to a junior minister, and it was initially thought a delayed call had taken place on Saturday or Sunday as Kabul fell.But the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has admitted no call took place. “Given the rapidly changing situation it was not possible to arrange a call before the Afghan government collapsed,” said a spokesman.Mr Raab is facing mounting pressure to resign over his handling of the Afghanistan crisis as Labour warned there had been an “unforgiveable failure of leadership” by the government.The party has demanded details about the government’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan and the foreign secretary’s holiday to Crete while Kabul fell. It has set out a list of 18 urgent questions for Mr Raab and other ministers to answer.It comes as it emerged that the top civil servants at key departments are all currently on holiday. The Times reported that Sir Philip Barton, Matthew Rycroft and David Williams, permanent secretaries of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence, were on holiday amid the evacuations from Afghanistan.It is understood that the senior officials continued to work on Afghanistan while on leave, with another minister or an acting permanent secretary covering periods of leave.A government spokesperson said: “Departments across Whitehall have been working intensively at all levels in the last few days and weeks on the situation in Afghanistan.”Labour said it is requesting specifics on when Mr Raab was on leave from official duties, if he received advice from officials on the advisability of leaving, if he attended a Cobra meeting on August 15, and if other ministers were authorised to approve intelligence operationsThe party also questioned Boris Johnson’s involvement, asking Mr Raab if he spoke with Mr Johnson while he was away, and if the PM gave permission for him to leave the country.Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said: “For the prime minister and foreign secretary to be on holiday during the biggest foreign policy crisis in a generation is an unforgivable failure of leadership.”Labour, the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru have all called for Mr Raab to either quit or be sacked by the PM. They accused him of failing to “perform his basic duties” and argued he is “no longer fit” to represent the country.Filmed walking into Downing Street on Thursday, a smiling Mr Raab was asked if he would resign – but told reporters: “No.”Conservative MPs are said to be angry about Mr Raab’s handling of the crisis. “Raab was asleep at the wheel. Backbench MPs are absolutely livid about his ‘not my problem guv’ attitude, as if it was not his responsibility. It has really riled up colleagues,” one Tory MP told the Daily Mail.Defending the government over the failure to place the call for Afghan interpreters, junior defence minister James Heappey told Sky News: “No one phone call would have changed the trajectory, either for the collapse of the Afghan government or the acceleration of the airlift.”Asked whether Mr Raab’s job was safe, the junior minister told LBC: “That’s not a judgement for me. He has been very, very effective in what he has been doing in the last week.”Only one backbench Tory MP has publicly defended Mr Raab in recent days. Angela Richardson tweeted: “Thanks for everything you do. I know that you are working around the clock no matter where you are located … that means any time zone, anywhere.”Meanwhile, senior MPs have warned the government must ensure it meets its responsibility towards UK-linked workers “pursued into hiding” by Taliban forces.Labour’s Yvette Cooper, chair of the home affairs select committee, and Conservative Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence select committee, warned the scope of the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was “too narrow”.In a letter to the home secretary, they urged Priti Patel to provide more resources to support the issuing of visas to ensure those trying to leave Afghanistan do not face administrative delays which would be “unforgivable at this dangerous time”.The junior defence minister said 963 people had been evacuated from Kabul on the RAF “air bridge” in the last 24 hours. Mr Heappey said it was unclear how long the UK evacuation plan will last because of the “dynamic” circumstances.He said he understood the Taliban are not turning people away from Kabul airport, noting: “Where they have done I’ve heard it’s more that they are being officious rather than malicious.” More

Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government is set to announce a power-sharing deal with the pro-independence Scottish Greens on Friday, according to reports.The deal would see the Greens move into government for the very first time anywhere in the UK, following several months of negotiations with Ms Sturgeon’s party.Opposition parties challenged the Greens not to become “the SNP’s lackeys” ahead of an expected co-operation agreement between the two parties.Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “If the Greens are to be anything more than simply the SNP’s lackeys, they need to re-discover their principles and fight for a greener Scotland rather than roll over to the SNP every time the going gets tough.”Mr Sarwar added: “The grim reality is that this coalition isn’t a surprise, it is just formalising what we’ve seen for years – Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP hammering our public services with cuts, and the Greens nodding along.”Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish parliament in May that talks would begin on a co-operation agreement between the two parties after her party fell one seat short of a majority in Holyrood.With the Greens winning a record eight seats at the May election, the deal is expected to formalise a majority in favour of independence, as well as allowing the two parties work together on specific policies.The talks appeared to be winding down on Thursday evening. An email sent to the Scottish Greens’ members said the wording of the deal would be provided to them by August 20.The email sent to Green members said the final agreement was being mulled by civil servants and lawyers because a “New Zealand-style” deal – which would see a Green MSP as a minister in government – has never been in place before in Scotland.Last week Ms Sturgeon called on Boris Johnson to “reassess” plans for the new Cambo oil field near Shetland following an outcry by climate campaigners.The SNP leader said the UK government should reconsider drilling licenses for the waters around Shetland where no development had yet taken place.Ahead of the co-operation agreement, the Scottish Tories also issued a warning to the SNP government. Tory net zero spokesman Liam Kerr said the recent Green manifesto was a “doctrine to start a war on working Scotland” after it proposed a move away from North Sea oil and gas.Greens have insisted their proposals to end extraction and exploration in the North Sea would be part of a “just transition” and would include retraining for the workforce in the north east.“Patrick Harvie will push for the end of the oil and gas industry at the first chance he gets, abandoning the 100,000 jobs which depend on it,” said Mr Kerr.He added: “This deal is just another way for the SNP to push for another divisive referendum. The Scottish Conservatives will stand up for workers and families against this nationalist coalition of chaos.” More

A former national security adviser has criticised Dominic Raab’s failure to make a crucial call to help fleeing Afghan interpreters while on holiday, saying: ‘He should have made it’.Kim Darroch said officials only contacted ministers while they are on holiday if they considered it “absolutely essential” for them to intervene in a vital issue.“If they were recommending this call strongly, then I think he should have made it,” Sir Kim said.The intervention came after a defiant Mr Raab vowed to defy calls to resign, as he was filmed walking into Downing Street for a meeting at No 10.The phone call was delegated to a junior minister, as the Taliban neared Kabul last Friday – as the foreign secretary reportedly declined to intervene personally from his Crete hotel.Mr Raab is already under fierce pressure for failing to return from the Greek island until Monday morning, being seen on the beach the previous day – as the Afghanistan capital crumbled.Downing Street has so far refused to comment on the controversy and on whether Boris Johnson retains confidence in his foreign secretary.Sir Kim, who visited Afghanistan frequently, also suggested the quick collapse of the Afghan army should have been foreseen – after Mr Johnson said, only last month, there would be no Taliban military victory.There was an “exceptionally high desertion rate” coupled with “endemic corruption” in both national and regional governments, he told BBC Radio 4.It was also apparent that the Afghan army could not keep its “shiny new kit” in working order, without international support.Foreign Office experts had been “quite pessimistic about the capacity for the Afghan military to hold out for a sustained period”, Sir Kim said.He also warned that Joe Biden’s apparent refusal to accept Mr Johnson’s phone call for 36 hours at the start of the week exposed a special relationship not “in one of its really strong phases”.The resignation calls came after the Daily Mail reported that, while in Crete, Mr Raab was urged by his officials to speak with his Afghan counterpart, Hanif Atmar.Pressure was needed to secure help with the evacuation of translators who had worked with the British military, as the Taliban advanced on Kabul.But, according to the report, officials were told that Mr Raab was not available and that a junior minister, Zac Goldsmith, should make the call instead.As Lord Goldsmith was not Atmar’s direct equivalent, there was a delay until Saturday – and possibly Sunday, the day Kabul fell – before the request was made.The Foreign Office acknowledged that Mr Raab did not make the call, saying: “The foreign secretary was engaged on a range of other calls and this one was delegated to another minister.”Labour said he “should be ashamed” of his actions and questioned why he would not make a phone call if told “it could save somebody’s life”.Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “How can Boris Johnson allow the foreign secretary to continue in his role after yet another catastrophic failure of judgment?“If Dominic Raab doesn’t have the decency to resign, the prime minister must show a shred of leadership and sack him.”The Liberal Democrats called for Raab to “resign today”, while the Scottish National Party said his position is “completely untenable and he must resign, or be sacked”. More

Health secretary Sajid Javid said he is “confident” a Covid-19 jab booster campaign can start next month, despite a report that experts want more time to consider whether they are needed.NHS plans are in place to roll out third doses of the vaccine from 6 September for people who might “really need” another jab – but no official decision has been taken yet.“We are going to have a booster scheme, it will start sometime in September,” Mr Javid told reporters on a visit to open a hospital in Carlisle on Thursday.The health secretary said: “I couldn’t tell you exactly when because before we start it, as people would expect, we need to get the final advice from our group of experts, our independent scientific and medical advisers, the JCVI.”He added: “We’re waiting for their final opinion and, looking at everything and the timing of that, I’m confident that we can start in September when we will start with the most vulnerable cohorts and start offering that third jab.”The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) met on Thursday, and had been expected to discuss the potential for boosters for vulnerable people who might need another jab.But The Guardian reported an unnamed source saying planning for boosters did not mean it would definitely happen this autumn. “This is going to take more time and research. What we don’t want to do is make promises which then disappoint people,” said the source.Committee member Professor Adam Finn said a decision would be made soon and that those who are “very unlikely to be well protected by those first two doses” will need a third one.Asked about a booster campaign, Prof Finn told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the committee will be “imminently deciding that there will be some people who will need a third dose”.The JCVI expert added: “But I think we do need more evidence before we can make a firm decision on a much broader booster programme.”His comments on a wider rollout were echoed by another government adviser, Professor Peter Openshaw, who said further evidence is needed on any benefits that a third dose might bring – with trial results on booster jabs expected soon.Campaigners have urged the government to bring forward booster jabs for the clinically extremely vulnerable as soon as possible.Helen Rowntree, the head of research at Blood Cancer UK, said: “If this research shows a third dose does improve immune responses in people with blood cancer, it is vital that the government then rolls out booster jabs to this group with urgency.”Prof Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) which advises the government, also said high case numbers are still “very worrying” and warned that “we just don’t really know what’s going to happen” as winter approaches.The Nervtag expert told Times Radio on Thursday: “I think we’re all really anxious about what’s going to happen once we return to normality.”A further 113 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, and there were a further 36,572 lab-confirmed cases of the virus in the UK, the government said on Thursday.Prof Openshaw said he believes the government would be “loath” to bring back restrictions for winter, and said the issue is one of “increasing political polarisation” over the wearing of masks.The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England has risen, after a two-week period that had seen figures fall. The latest test and trace statistics showed 190,508 people tested positive at least once in the week to 11 August – up 6 per cent on the previous week.It comes as preliminary research suggests two doses of the Pfizer vaccine appears to have greater effectiveness initially against new Covid infections associated with the Delta variant when compared with the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab – but its efficacy also declines faster.The findings, which have not yet been peer reviewed, also suggest that those infected with the Delta variant after their second jab had similar peak levels of virus to unvaccinated people.Meanwhile, Prof Finn said it is “hard to predict” whether the general rollout of first and second doses will be extended to 12- to 15-year-olds in the UK.He said that because children rarely become seriously ill with the virus, it could be “a very marginal decision that they will benefit by being immunised”. More