Markus Andrews

Labour is demanding an apology from Boris Johnson after he said Britain owed its escape from reliance on coal energy to Margaret Thatcher’s closure of the mines in the 1980s.The prime minister was reported to have chuckled as he made the comment about his Tory predecessor’s wholesale closure of pits, which led to the bitterly divisive miners’ strike of 1984-85.Speaking during a visit to a wind-farm off the coast of Scotland, Mr Johnson said that the UK’s dependence on coal for its electricity had fallen from 70-80 per cent in his childhood to less than one per cent now largely “thanks to” Lady Thatcher.“We’ve transitioned away from coal in my lifetime,” he said. “Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country, we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy called on the PM to apologise.“These are shameful comments from the prime minister, and reveal the Conservative party’s utter disregard for the communities still scarred by Thatcher’s closure of the mines and failure to deliver good new jobs in their place,” she said.“Without investment in good, green jobs as we move away from fossil fuels, the Conservatives risk repeating the mistakes of the past. It is vital that the green transition is a fair transition.“The prime minister should apologise.”Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also condemned the comments.“Lives and communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet,” she tweeted.“To treat that as something to laugh about is crass and deeply insensitive.” More

Boris Johnson today signalled he will not block the development of a controversial new oilfield in the North Sea, despite insisting he is seeking an “ambitious” agreement to rein in climate change at a global summit he will host in Glasgow this autumn.Oil giant Shell and private equity-backed Siccar Point Energy are expected to receive final approval to go into production at the Cambo field shortly before the United Nations Cop26 conference in Glasgow, where almost 200 countries will be asked to sign up to measures to limit global warming to 1.5C.Friends of the Earth Scotland today handed an 80,000-signature petition to 10 Downing Street warning that development of the field would “run roughshod over the UK’s commitments to meeting its climate targets”.And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said on Wednesday that the project should not get the go-ahead, calling for a “hard-edged” timetable to end oil and gas extraction.But asked whether he would stop exploitation of the field, off the coast of Shetland, Mr Johnson said: “This was a contract that was signed in … 2001 and we can’t just tear up contracts. There’s a process to be gone through.”Speaking during a visit to a wind farm off Scotland’s northeast coast, the prime minister said there was a need to “transition as fast as we reasonably can” away from oil and gas.But he said that the move to greener forms of power generation should be “smooth and sensible”.North Sea oil had been a “huge part of the UK economy for decades now”, the prime minister told reporters. “We recognise that and there has got to be a smooth and sensible transition. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t massive opportunities to increase the use of green technology.”Friends of the Earth say that developers want to extract 170 million barrels of oil from Cambo in the first phase of operations alone, the emissions from which are equivalent to running a coal power station for 16 years. And the field is expected to operate until 2050 – the point by which the UK government has committed to reaching net-zero emissions.The license to develop the field was awarded in 2001, but it is awaiting final approval to go into production from regulator the Oil and Gas Authority.Mr Johnson claimed in a BBC interview on Wednesday not to be aware of the upcoming decision on the Cambo oilfield.He said that the UK needed to find ways of extracting clean energy from “the wealth of the North Sea”, adding: “We have to recognise the value of hydrocarbons but we have to realise that it is going to change”.Friends of the Earth Scotland climate and energy campaigner Caroline Rance said: “A licence was granted to explore the Cambo field for oil 20 years ago but there is no contract to drill for oil and gas unless the prime minister and his government grant it.“Yesterday he didn’t know what the Cambo field was, and today he says there is a contract when there isn’t. All this is revealing is that the prime minister is not taking seriously the urgent need for a transition away from fossil fuels.”Sir Keir on Wednesday attacked Mr Johnson as being “missing in action” in the lead up to the Cop26 conference, and told journalists there needed to be a firm timetable laid out to end the extraction and exploration of oil and gas in the North Sea.Mr Johnson acknowledged that the COP26 goal of setting a 1.5C cap on warming would be “tough” to achieve, but insisted that he would not downgrade the target.“We will not reduce the level of our ambition for Cop, in order to set an ambition that we know we can meet,” said the prime minister.“I’m going to be as ambitious as possible for Cop26 in Glasgow. I want the world to recognise the extent of the challenge, and I want everybody to try to rise to meet it in the way that I just set out with those ambitions. We must be as ambitious and as tough as possible and that’s what we’re going to do.”Pressed on whether he would set a deadline for ending fossil fuel extraction, Mr Johnson said that the UK had already transitioned away from coal “thanks to Margaret Thatcher, who closed so many coal mines across the country”.The PM said that when he was a child about 70 to 80 per cent of all electricity had been coal-generated – with this falling to 40 per cent by the time he became London mayor.“Since then, it’s gone right down to 1 per cent, or sometimes less,” the prime minister said.“We’ve got a fantastic record in the UK of going to renewables. We were the first country to set a target of net zero by 2050. And if you look at Cop, the agenda is very, very clear and it’s incredibly exciting.“What you’ve got is countries representing 70 per cent of the world’s GDP have now committed to reducing to net zero by 2050. You’ve got countries coming forward with bigger and bigger nationally determined contributions for reducing CO2.” More

London’s mayor has said that not wearing a face mask on the Tube should become a criminal offence.Sadiq Khan has urged the government to set in place a bylaw that would legally require face masks to be worn on public transport in the capital. He said that he hopes this measure would reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus and increase confidence in returning to the office and the West End.Since 19 July, when Covid restrictions were eased across the country, wearing a face covering on public transport in London has been a “condition of carriage” – not a legal requirement.This means that while Transport for London’s (TfL) 400 enforcement officers can prevent passengers from boarding public transit – or ask that they leave for failing to wear a mask – they lack the ability to impose fines.Speaking on the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Mr Khan said: “We are trying to lobby the government to allow us to bring in a bylaw, so it will be the law again, so we can issue fixed penalty notices and we can use the police service and the BTP to enforce this.”“All the evidence is that face masks do make a difference,” he said, citing research conducted by the WHO, the UK’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the American Centre for Disease Control. He said that face masks were particularly useful for those who have an asymptomatic infection and risk spreading it to others, adding that face masks could also decrease the chances of catching the virus.Mr Khan said that under the national mask mandate on public transport, more than 212,000 people were spoken to about not wearing masks on London transit, and thousands of fixed penalty notices were issued.He added that data showed that around 86 per cent of Londoners were following the rules.Speaking about the spread of Covid-19, Mr Khan said that wearing a mask helped in “two big ways”.“One is, of course, public safety, it reduces the transmission of the virus. And two is public confidence, and we do want people to be confident using public transport.”“The good news is we’ve asked Imperial College to come and regularly test public transport to see if there’s Covid. And thankfully, there’s been not one example of Covid being found on public transport – at the touch points, on the surface, on the escalators.“So public transport is safe. What gives people even more confidence is if they know people are wearing face masks.“We need people coming back to the West End,” he said, “we want to encourage people to return to their offices.”“They are not going to do so if they don’t feel public transport is safe.“I’m hoping the government understands, on the issues of public safety and public confidence, we want to be able to use the law to make sure people do wear face masks in spaces where you can’t keep your social distance for obvious reasons.”Before the mask requirement was lifted last month, Mr Khan lobbied the government to keep the current rules in place to reduce the spread of coronavirus on public transport. While he was unsuccessful in keeping the mandate in place, when announcing the rule change, the government said that it “expects and recommends” face masks to be worn by people in crowded and enclosed areas.Public support for mask wearing in indoor spaces remains high, with 64 per cent of adults in the UK saying they would like face masks mandates to remain in place on public transport and in shops until coronavirus is controlled worldwide.TfL has said that compliance with face coverings remains high, but anecdotally, many passengers say they have seen a drop in the number of people wearing masks on public transport. More

Boris Johnson urges 16- and 17-year-olds to get Covid vaccineKeir Starmer has branded Boris Johnson and his government “climate delayers”, as he warned that the biggest threat to international efforts to stem global warming is no longer outright denial but failure to act with the necessary urgency.Speaking to The Independent, the Labour leader said the prime minister was “letting the country down” with his inaction on climate change, less than 100 days before he is due to host the United Nations Cop26 global warming summit in Glasgow.Both the PM and Mr Starmer are on day trips to Scotland. Johnson is in the northeast and visits a renewables project, while the Labour leader is heading to a wind farm near Glasgow, with his Scottish counterpart Anas Sarwar. Elsewhere, Dominic Cummings has claimed he was offered seat in the House of Lords by the PM. Mr Cummings also said the prime minister wanted to give his wife Carrie on a government job with “lots of foreign travel”, according to an interview in The Spectator.Show latest update

1628161449Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s live politics coverage.Matt Mathers5 August 2021 12:041628161537Calls for scrapping of ‘ambiguous’ amber list travel restrictionsThe government’s “amber list” status governing travel restrictions to Britons’ favourite holiday destinations should be abolished, a leading business organisation has demanded.The amber list – which covers Spain, Greece, Italy and the USA, to be joined on Sunday by France, the UAE and India – is creating confusion at a time when businesses need “confidence and clarity” in order to recover from the pandemic, said the British Chambers of Commerce.Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports: Matt Mathers5 August 2021 12:051628161774Full report: Boris Johnson offered me a seat in the House of Lords, says Dominic CummingsOur policy correspondent Jon Stone has the story: Matt Mathers5 August 2021 12:091628162016Giving lots of money to Tory party ‘not an immoral act’, says ministerDonations to the Conservative Party from a wealthy group known as the advisory board should not be “painted as some sort of immoral act”, a government minister has said.Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the wealthy group of Tory donors “have views about the things that will make the country prosper” – but denied that they could influence government policy.My colleague Adam Forrest reports: Matt Mathers5 August 2021 12:131628162704Starmer criticises government Covid travel restrictions The leader of the Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer, has called out the way in which the government has handled the Covid-19 travel restrictions.“Anybody who has been trying to organise a holiday this summer has got their head in their hands because almost on a daily basis we’ve had a changing system, changing colours, U-turns left right and centre,” said Sir Keir speaking on the final day of his visit to Scotland.“We’ve been saying since the beginning of the summer have a simplified system. We may be edging towards it and I feel very strongly for those families and I hope that that helps them going forward.“But the big question I have for the government is why on earth have we had to go through this chaos to get there?“And it’s not the first time. Last summer we had the chaos of the exams, at Christmas we had the chaos of the Christmas mixing and now we’ve had the summer of chaos about travel and holidays.“Every time there’s a predicable problem the government goes through a wall of chaos before it begins to sort it out.”Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 12:251628163604‘Higher than ever’ risk of riots in UK, says LabourThe risk of a repeat of riots that scarred London and other major towns and cities exactly ten years ago is “higher than ever”, Labour has said.Sir Keir Starmer’s party accused Boris Johnson’s government of failing to tackle the conditions which led to the eruption of violence across Britain in 2011 – warning that the country remained a “tinderbox”.A report released by Labour to coincide with the tenth anniversary found that the number of “forgotten families” where many of the young people involved came from was likely to have doubled in the past decade.Adam Forrest reports: Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 12:401628164994Labour questions links between Elliot and Huawei PR firm Labour has further questioned the business interests of Ben Elliot, the Conservative party’s co-chairman. This comes after it was discovered that a PR firm he co-founded has lobbied the government on behalf of Chinese telecoms company Huawei, health firm Iceni Diagnostics and subprime lender Amigo in the last twelve months.Labour said they wanted more transparency about Mr Elliot’s ownership of a stake in Hawthorn Advisors, a PR firm which he co-founded in 2013 and which he continues to hold a minority stake in. The public should be allowed to know what access Hawthorn has “got to the corridors of power and what it used that access to lobby for”, said Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour party. She also said that details of any meetings between Hawthorn and the government should be made public.“The lobbying rules that exist today aren’t fit for purpose under the crony Conservatives,” she said.“We need urgent reform to ensure that it cannot be one rule for high-ranking Conservatives and their chums, and another rule for everyone else.”Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 13:031628165755Plan for vaccine passes for nightclubs ‘not a bluff’, says ministerPlans to require vaccine passports for entry to nightclubs and other venues from September are not a “bluff”, cabinet minister Grant Shapps has insisted.Mr Shapps said that people considering whether to get jabbed should recognise that “there are simply things that you will not be able to do” unless they are vaccinated, including travelling outside the UK.Clubs were allowed to reopen on 19 July without requirements for proof of vaccine status, but Boris Johnson has said that he will make them mandatory by the end of September.Andrew Woodcock has more:Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 13:151628166731Air travel executive calls for government’s international travel rules to be simplifiedWillie Walsh, director general of the International Air Travel Association, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “I think a simpler system is definitely what is required to avoid confusion in the case of consumers, and to provide some form of certainty for people who are wanting to travel, and in some cases absolutely need to travel.“This expensive and unnecessary testing I think needs to be challenged and I think the government should demonstrate why they require it.”He added: “I think there is a valid reason and a concern, and I would accept that maybe for some of these high-risk countries that have been identified you can make the argument that some form of testing should be done, but I don’t think you can justify requiring 2.2 million people to undertake PCR tests when only 8,000 of those are subsequently sequenced.”Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 13:321628167672Plea for sanctuary for Afghan journalists at risk of Taliban reprisalsSome of the UK’s most prominent media organisations have issued a plea to Boris Johnson for help for Afghan journalists, translators and support staff who have worked with them over the 20 years of British military presence in the country.In a joint letter to the prime minister and foreign secretary Dominic Raab, 23 newspapers, broadcasters and media organisations – including The Independent – called on Mr Johnson to follow the example of president Joe Biden, who has given Afghan journalists and media staff with US links access to a refugee programme.They appealed for the creation of a special visa programme for Afghan media workers with UK links who are at risk as the Taliban attempts to retake the country following the withdrawal of Western troops.Andrew Woodcock reports:Eleanor Sly5 August 2021 13:47 More

Boris Johnson has come under fire during his visit to Scotland from fishing leaders, who told him that his Brexit deal had “fallen short of expectations”.Fisheries leaders warned of a “haemorrhage” of foreign workers in the industry in the wake of the UK’s departure from the EU’s single market and customs union on 1 January.And he heard complaints about new red tape and delays resulting from Brexit which have hit the industry north of the border.The prime minister was joined by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Scotland Office minister David Duguid and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross for a meeting with heads of a number of fishing organisations in Fraserburgh on Thursday.Scottish Seafood Association chief executive Jimmy Buchan challenged Mr Johnson over the number of staff lost to the industry as a result of Brexit, which has dramatically reduced the number of seasonal workers in Scotland and had an impact on the seafood sector.Following the meeting, Mr Buchan said: “I sought an assurance that the government would work closely with us to resolve the critical shortage of labour.“He agreed that a campaign was required to encourage young people into the industry and on the need for direct action to stem the haemorrhage of overseas workers that has occurred since 1 January.”Mr Buchan was also among the sector leaders to tell the PM his EU trade deal, which allowed EU fleets largely unchanged access to UK waters until 2026, had fallen “far short of expectations”.Elspeth Macdonald, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said Mr Johnson had a duty to support the sector between now and when the access of EU fishermen expires.“The prime minister has spoken previously of an El Dorado of fish from 2026 onwards but we are seeking a commitment from him to deliver much better opportunities for the Scottish fleet in the meantime as well as in the longer term,” said Ms Macdonald.“In the short term it will be a case of survival for the industry, but we want to thrive, and to ensure that we can build back this industry we need to start planning now.”Ms Macdonald also raised concerns about clashes between the interests of the fishing community and the growing offshore energy sector, ahead of a visit by Johnson and Kwarteng to a wind farm in the North Sea.“More renewable energy is clearly vital in the fight against climate change, but we need also to recognise that fish is a healthy protein foodstuff with a very low carbon footprint compared with all other animal and many plant-based sources,” she said.“As well as the lack of fishing opportunities, the industry is facing a spatial squeeze as offshore wind grows.“The wind blows in many more places than fish swim, and for both sectors to flourish, decisions must be made that allow for us to co-exist successfully.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

The government’s “amber list” status governing travel restrictions to Britons’ favourite holiday destinations should be abolished, a leading business organisation has demanded.The amber list – which covers Spain, Greece, Italy and the USA, to be joined on Sunday by France, the UAE and India – is creating confusion at a time when businesses need “confidence and clarity” in order to recover from the pandemic, said the British Chambers of Commerce.The call came as Boris Johnson came under growing pressure for further simplification of the traffic light scheme, with calls from industry and Conservative MPs for cheaper testing requirements on travellers returning to the UK.The CBI said that the addition of seven countries to the quarantine-free green list and the removal of France’s “amber-plus” status from 8 August offered “some relief” for hard-pressed travel companies.But the organisation’s chief policy director Matthew Fell warned that the sector faces “a long road to full recovery” and called for an urgent move to a strategy which allows a more comprehensive resumption of travel in a way which is “safe, simple and certain”.And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of creating a “wall of chaos” with its overly complicate system.BCC director of policy James Martin said that changes to the traffic light system announced by transport secretary Grant Shapps late on Wednesday were “welcome news” for travel businesses.But he said that it is time for the amber category to be ditched in favour of a simple red-or-green system under which UK nationals could clearly see the countries they can safely visit and those to which travel is not recommended.Under current rules, travellers from green list countries – which include Iceland, Malta and Gibraltar, to be joined on Sunday by Germany and Norway – must take a lateral flow test before returning and a PCR test within two days of arrival, whether or not they have been vaccinated.But requirements for amber countries are different depending on vaccine status. A fully inoculated individual who received their second jab at least 14 days before arrival can follow the same rules as those from the green list, but the unvaccinated have to self-isolate at home for 10 days and take a second PCR test after eight.The rules for the red list, involving a mandatory 10-day quarantine in an airport hotel, are far more onerous, reflecting the higher level of concern linked to visits from countries where infections are rife and Covid-19 variants of concern widespread.Mr Martin said: “Now is the time for the government to fundamentally simplify the traffic light system for international travel.“Businesses need the confidence and clarity provided by a system which places countries in either green or red categories, removing the ambiguity of the amber designation, which now relies on very different rules for the vaccinated and non-vaccinated.“The government should also step-up efforts to drive down the cost of tests required by the system; limited progress has been made in this area so far and the cost remains a significant barrier to both business and leisure travellers.”Mr Fell said: “Today’s green list extension will offer some relief to the international travel sector, which has suffered more than most during the pandemic and still faces a long road to full recovery. Restoring freedom of travel to these countries will enable firms to salvage a limited summer season.“However, defining a strategy for a more comprehensive resumption of travel that is safe, simple and certain remains an urgent priority.“Vaccine rollout has created an opportunity for the UK to move beyond Covid travel restrictions to new travel norms which restore passenger confidence and protect jobs and skills. This will be vital to ensure the UK’s travel industry remains robust to fulfil its unique role in the country’s economic recovery.”Speaking during a visit to Scotland, Starmer said: “Anybody who has been trying to organise a holiday this summer has got their head in their hands because almost on a daily basis we’ve had a changing system, changing colours, U-turns left, right and centre.“We’ve been saying since the beginning of the summer have a simplified system. We may be edging towards it and I feel very strongly for those families and I hope that that helps them going forward.“But the big question I have for the government is why on earth have we had to go through this chaos to get there?“And it’s not the first time. Last summer we had the chaos of the exams, at Christmas we had the chaos of the Christmas mixing and now we’ve had the summer of chaos about travel and holidays.“Every time there’s a predicable problem the Government goes through a wall of chaos before it begins to sort it out.” More

Musicians’ organisations have accused the government of “misleading” artists over an announcement that they can tour without visas or work permits in 19 EU states.The announcement, relating to what the Department for Culture, Media and Sport referred to as “short-term tours”, was made on Wednesday by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who said he wanted “the UK’s fantastic performers and other creative professionals to be able to tour abroad easily”.But bodies representing musicians told The Independent that no new deals had been negotiated, and the DCMS was simply listing arrangements already in place and leaving touring artists to find their way through the bureaucracy created by Brexit.Some of the 19 countries listed by the DCMS were offering conditions far less generous than the 90 days’ entry during a 180-day period which is the norm for visa-free travel to EU nations, they said.The Incorporated Society of Musicians wrote to Mr Dowden asking him to clarify precisely what kinds of work are allowed visa and permit-free in each of the countries, warning that he risks “seriously misleading musicians and others who are preparing to travel to Europe for work”.And the announcement was branded “shameful” by Labour MP Harriet Harman who told Mr Dowden: “Assertions that the government has achieved change if it hasn’t simply further serve to demoralise a sector which is so important for this country.”The ISM released new legal advice from a leading QC suggesting that the government’s failure to negotiate a Visa Waiver Agreement (VWA) for travelling performers with the EU as a whole was a “matter of political will”, rather than practical or legal barriers as the DCMS argues.Musicians and other performers have faced massive new bureaucratic and cost hurdles to conduct tours in European countries as a result of Brexit.And there was fury that the government failed to agree a 90-day touring visa on offer from Brussels as part of Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement.A parliamentary petition backed by stars including folk singer Laura Marling and Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess was signed by more than 285,000 people, and Sir Elton John warned the UK risks the loss of “a generation of talent” because of the new restrictions.Musicians’ Union general secretary Horace Trubridge said Wednesday’s announcement contained “nothing new” and simply replicated lists drawn up by industry bodies as long ago as January.He told The Independent that even in the 19 countries offering some level of visa-free touring – which include France, Germany and Ireland – it was “far from simple” for performers to work because requirements vary from state to state.Tours still face huge problems with issues like new customs levies on merchandising items like T-shirts, the requirement for “carnet” certificates for each piece of kit and “cabotage” rules which mean that the same van and driver cannot be used for transporting equipment between more than three gigs in a row, he said. The converted vans which typically carry a group’s personnel in the front and its kit in the back are not even covered by the TCA, making it effectively impossible to use them on European tours.And matters are even worse in the eight countries with no visa waivers, such as Spain, where a DJ can face paperwork bills of as much as £600 to play a single show.“We think that the government is at least heading in the right direction by acknowledging these things are problems,” said Mr Trubridge. “But this week’s announcement doesn’t represent any progress at all.”The ISM said that among the 19 countries listed by the DCMS were Austria, which grants an exemption from work permits if employed for one day, or four weeks within an overall production, Poland, which allows only 30 days in a year and Sweden, where the exemption is just 14 days. Belgium allows a work permit exemption for up to 21 days per quarter for “artists of international renown” in the Flanders area only.ISM chief executive Deborah Annetts said: “Our touring musicians deserve better than misleading statements from government, when many have serious concerns for their future careers and livelihoods.”Ms Annetts said the government’s refusal to open discussions on a VWA for touring performers “harms not just the UK creative industries but also the UK economy”, with music alone generating £5.8bn and the creative industries as a whole £116bn a year.She was backed by world renowned mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, who called on Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator Lord Frost immediately to begin talks on an agreement.“The legal advice presented by the ISM makes it crystal clear that a work Visa Waiver Agreement is entirely possible to negotiate and to obtain,” said Dame Sarah. “To ignore will be seen as deliberate obstruction and wilful further destruction of the music industry.It is essential for musicians, actors, business persons and others whose livelihoods are inextricably woven into the fabric of life in Europe be allowed to resume work.”Greg Parmley, of the live music industry body LIVE, said: “While we are grateful for the government for clarifying the pre-existing arrangements on travel to a number of EU countries, there is nothing new in their latest announcement and we are still some way from visa-free travel in the EU.“There are no new ‘frictionless’ agreements and in reality, this is only a very small piece in a much bigger touring puzzle, and substantial financial and bureaucratic barriers remain that disproportionately disadvantage smaller and emerging artists.” More

Donations to the Conservative Party from a wealthy group known as the advisory board should not be “painted as some sort of immoral act”, a government minister has said.Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the wealthy group of Tory donors “have views about the things that will make the country prosper” – but denied that they could influence government policy.The Financial Times has reported the donor club – which includes members who have given at least £250,000 – was developed in a bid to connect Tory supporters with senior figures, claiming meetings have been held with Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak.Mr Shapps was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether advisory board members are able to influence policy. The minister replied: “Supporting a political party should not, in my view, be painted as some sort of immoral act.”The cabinet minister added: “I think that when people stand up for their beliefs and support a party, whether that is by joining a political party … or indeed donating to a political party, there is nothing inherently bad or wrong about that.”Mr Shapps claimed the British public would not welcome strict limits on the amount donors could give to political parties, since it could mean “taxing people to fund your political parties”.The senior MP added: “When you fundraise you have to understand it doesn’t give you a say over anything that goes on in government, but of course you are very welcome to hear about our policies and what we plan to do.”The Tory party has refused to publish a list of the donors who have paid to be members of the advisory board, after Labour called for more transparency about the group – along with a list of ministers who have attended any meetings or engagements with members.Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling claimed earlier this week that government policy “is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives, they are entirely separate”.The FT report had quoted Mohamed Amersi, a top Tory donor, as saying the club is “like the very elite Quintessentially clients membership: one needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben”.The name was a reference to Conservative co-chairman Ben Elliot, who also founded the luxury concierge service Quintessentially.According to a new report in The Times, Mr Elliot has used his business partner Jakob Widecki, co-director in a separate company, to conduct “political activities” on behalf of the Conservatives.The Tory co-chairman has also used his Quintessentially email address, rather than a Conservative account, for party business, the newspaper reported.Anneliese Dodds, chairwoman of the Labour Party, said: “Every passing day brings new allegations about Ben Elliot. Boris Johnson appointed him as co-chairman of the Conservative Party. The prime minister should break his silence and explain what action he’s going to take.”A spokesman for Mr Elliot said: “Ben Elliot primarily uses his Quintessentially email address and has done so for more than 20 years as opposed to using multiple inboxes.“Neither Quintessentially nor Hod Hill have a commercial contract in place with or provide services to the Conservative Party, nor does any other business that Ben has an interest or shareholding in.” More