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Minister claims Northern Ireland Protocol was ‘never going to last forever’Ursula von der Leyen has announced the EU will not take up Boris Johnson’s offer to renegotiate the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland, despite a phone call from the PM urging her to reconsider. The EU Commission president tweeted: “Boris Johnson called to present the UK Command paper on the Irish/Northern Irish Protocol. The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the Protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate.”Following their conversation, a No 10 spokesperson said the PM explained to Ms Von der Leyen that the Protocol is “operationally unsustainable” and insisted she engage with solutions put forward by the UK. Asked about her refusal to comply, the spokesman said only that the government continued to want to be “constructive and collaborative” in a bid to mend the issues.It comes after business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng conceded earlier to Sky News that “nobody had any idea the actual effects of [the Protocol] until we left the EU”.Show latest update

1626964701Stormont delays decision on easing Covid measures – reportNorthern Ireland ministers today delayed final decisions on the majority of Covid-19 relaxations proposed for Northern Ireland next week, a report by PA suggest.The news agency is said to be aware that Stormont today gave the green light to two further relaxations, but stopped short of ratifying a series of other planned moves.From Monday, a cap limiting the number of households allowed to participate in 15-person outdoor gatherings will be removed and close contact services, such as hairdressers, will be able to accept walk-in customers.PA said it also understands ministers have agreed to meet again on Monday and Thursday to consider whether to press ahead with other relaxations that had originally been earmarked for next week.On Monday, ministers will consider whether to give the green light to steps considered to be moderate risk, including allowing theatres and concert halls to welcome back audiences and increasing the limit on gatherings in indoor domestic settings from six to 10.Ministers are reportedly waiting to receive updated health data ahead of their deliberations, which is due on Monday.Sam Hancock22 July 2021 15:381626963090Schools minister insists grades awarded this summer will be ‘valid’Grades awarded to exam students this summer will be “valid,” the schools minister has said, following concerns “grade inflation” would be “baked-in” to the system. Nick Gibb told MPs parents and pupils could “have confidence” the grades would stand, adding they “are supported by detailed guidance”.“There is a robust quality assurance process, we trust teachers’ judgments as they are best placed to understand the content that their students have covered,” he said in the Commons. He later added the “actual matter of grading” was a matter for Ofqual and decisions about it would be made in the autumn.Mr Gibbs was responding to a question from Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis.Sam Hancock22 July 2021 15:111626961823Govt to rethink £27bn road building strategy due to CovidBoris Johnson’s government will review its £27bn roads investment plan because of “fundamental” changes in travel patterns brought on by the Covid pandemic, the transport secretary has announced.Grant Shapps said it was right to look again at the strategy to expand the road network – arguing that the rise in homeworking and online shopping was unlikely to be “fully reversed” even as the economy recovers from lockdowns.“In the last eighteen months, fundamental changes have occurred in commuting, shopping, and business travel,” the minister said in a written statement on Thursday, adding the government will now review its national policy statement (NPS) for major road schemes “in the light” of these trends.Adam Forrest has more:Sam Hancock22 July 2021 14:501626960814PM tells Merkel Protocol is not working and asks EU to cooperateClearly doing the rounds, Boris Johnson has now told Angela Merkel the Northern Ireland Protocol is “not sustainable”, according to No 10. In a call with the German chancellor on Thursday afternoon, the PM said the Protocol had not achieved its aims, a key one being to respect Northern Ireland’s integral place in the UK’s internal market.“On the Northern Ireland Protocol, the prime minister said that the disruption being caused to people and businesses in Northern Ireland by the current operation of the protocol was not sustainable,” a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters following the call. “He explained that the protocol was failing to deliver on many of its intended objectives: to minimise disruption to everyday lives, to respect Northern Ireland’s integral place in the UK’s internal market, and to preserve the delicate balance in the (Belfast) Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions.”The spokesperson added Mr Johnson had urged the chancellor, and the EU collectively, to engage in a constructive and detailed discussion on the UK’s proposals.“Both leaders agreed to remain in touch,” he added, echoing the end to his conversation with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier today. Sam Hancock22 July 2021 14:331626959387NHS staff 3% pay rise will come at cost to other services, No 10 saysThe Government has confirmed that there will be no new money to fund the 3% pay rise for NHS staff in England, and the health secretary has been told to find £1.5bn of savings to fund the NHS pay rise, despite criticism that it will mean cuts to other services.No 10 said the rise would come out of the existing health service’s budget. Rob Merrick reports:Jane Dalton22 July 2021 14:091626958596PM has not decided how to fund social care, No 10 saysNo decisions have been made on how to fund social care in the future, Downing Street says.Just hours earlier, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng had said a rise in national insurance to help pay for social care had not been ruled out in the long-term but was not expected in plans due this year.A spokesman for Boris Johnson said: “The Prime Minister has been clear that we will set out details later this year and that no decisions have been made. But we are and remain committed to setting out proposals in this area this year.”Rob Merrick and Andrew Woodcock report:Jane Dalton22 July 2021 13:561626957708Homelessness rising but still lower than before lockdownHomelessness in the UK is rising after a sharp drop during the first wave of the pandemic but is still lower than pre-lockdown levels, government figures show.The number of households assessed to be homeless between January and March this year was 68,250, a 9% increase on the 62,250 homeless households in October to December last year, according to Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) data.But current levels are 9% lower than the number of households recorded as homeless in the first three months of last year, while between April and June 2020 there was a sharp drop, according to the MHCLG quarterly release.That decrease coincided with the Government’s “Everyone In” strategy housing a reported 37,000 rough sleepers during the pandemic.Jane Dalton22 July 2021 13:411626957286Sign up for our free political newslettersIf you are interested in politics, why not sign up to our politics newsletters? Inside Politics is sent out every morning, Monday to Friday, while John Rentoul’s View From Westminster is sent out each weekday evening when parliament is in session. To find out how to sign up for free, click here:Jane Dalton22 July 2021 13:341626955979Stormont issued fresh orders to commission abortion services in NIThe government has used new powers to direct the Stormont Executive to commission abortion services in Northern Ireland.Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis confirmed the widely-anticipated move in a written ministerial statement to Parliament on Thursday. Abortion laws in Northern Ireland were liberalised in 2019 following legislation passed by Westminster at a time when devolution in the region had collapsed. However, while individual health trusts are currently offering services on an ad hoc basis, the Department of Health has yet to centrally commission the services due to an ongoing impasse within the Executive.In March, the government handed Mr Lewis new powers to direct the region’s Department of Health to commission the services, which he immediately did – resulting in a stalemate between Stormont and Westminster. “This ongoing stalemate leaves me no choice but to issue a direction,” said Mr Lewis. “At the heart of this matter are the women and girls in Northern Ireland, who have been, and continue to be, denied the same reproductive rights as women in the rest of the UK,” he said.Sam Hancock22 July 2021 13:121626955919EU rejects Johnson’s call to renegotiate NI Protocol Despite Boris Johnson’s best efforts, the EU has refused to renegotiate the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland.Downing Street said, in a phone call with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, the PM said the Protocol is “currently operationally unsustainable” and urged her to engage with solutions put forward by the UK. He is also thought to have argued there is “huge opportunity to find reasonable, practical solutions to the difficulties” in renegotiating. Asked about Ms Von der Leyen stating she would not renegotiate, a spokesman for the PM said the government continued to want to be “constructive and collaborative” in a bid to mend the current issues.“The prime minister set out that the way the Protocol was currently operating was unsustainable. Solutions could not be found through the existing mechanisms of the Protocol. That was why we had set out proposals for significant changes to it,” the spokesman said after the call.“He urged the EU to look at those proposals seriously and work with the UK on them. There is a huge opportunity to find reasonable, practical solutions to the difficulties facing people and businesses in Northern Ireland, and thereby to put the relationship between the UK and the EU on a better footing. They agreed to remain in touch.”Sam Hancock22 July 2021 13:11 More

Downing Street has urged shoppers not to panic-buy amid growing reports of shelves being left empty as workers are forced to self-isolate after being “pinged” by the Covid app.A No 10 spokesperson said it remained vital for people to stay at home for 10 days after being identified as a contact of a coronavirus patient, but insisted that the UK has “robust” supply chains which will ensure shops remain stocked.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he was “very concerned” by the images and urged shoppers not to stockpile food and other goods.And the CBI warned warned businesses are at risk of “grinding to a halt”within weeks unless rules on self-islaiton are relaxed.Asked if Boris Johnson was worried by the situation and would urge against panic-buying, the No 10 spokesperson said: “Yes.”But he added: “We’ve seen throughout the pandemic that we’ve got a robust and resilient food supply chain.”The spokesperson cited the managing director of Iceland supermarkets, who he said had described scenes of empty shelves as “isolated” and insisted that there was no problem with limited supplies of stocks.Guidance is due to be published later on Thursday on the types of workers who might be granted an exemption from self-isolation if they have been double-vaccinated.But the government has stressed that this will apply only to a small number of people, raising concerns that tit will do little to stem the “pingdemic” which saw half a million people off work last week.The No 10 spokesman said: “Isolation remains one of the most important levers we have in tackling the virus, and still plays an incredibly useful role in reducing the transmission rates and breaking chains of transmission,.“We accept there’s a large number of people who have been asked to isolate as a result of rising case numbers. It was always going to be the case with rising case numbers that more people would be asked to isolate.“Anybody who is asked to do so should isolate.”Mr Johnson was coming under increasing pressure to bring forward the planned exemption of double-vaccinated adults from self-isolation from 16 August, in order to ease the burden on businesses – many of whom are reporting workers being unwilling to attend offices for fear of being “pinged” ahead of summer holidays.Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said there was no public health reason why the exemption should not be introduced immediately to stop the quarantining of casual contacts.“Clearly if your husband, partner or children you live with have Covid, then that’s a totally different issue and I think we need to continue,” Prof Hunter told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.“If you haven’t been vaccinated and you haven’t had a double vaccine, then the risks are higher and I can see some value in continuing with (self-isolating) but certainly not if you’ve been double vaccinated or have had a natural infection in the last six or nine months.”The head of the British Retail Consortium said she hopes the government will shift its position on self-isolation rules for food supply chain workers “in the coming hours”.Helen Dickinson told Sky News: “Many of the businesses that have been impacted have shared data on their absence rates with the government… What none of us want to see is increased disruption over the coming days.”Ian Wright, head of the Food and Drink Federation, told the government to “pull their fingers out,” adding: “We need to get this sorted soon, or what will happen is that people will vote with their fingers and turn off the app.”And Tony Danker, director general of the CBI, said: “The current approach to self-isolation is closing down the economy rather than opening it up. This is surely the opposite of what the government intended. Businesses have exhausted their contingency plans and are at risk of grinding to a halt in the next few weeks.”Rail signal workers are among those expected to be exempted from self-isolation.But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch warned that staff may be reluctant to work alongside colleagues who had been identified as having had contact with Covid-positive people.“How do you deal with a person sitting round a desk or working next to you on a control panel in a stressful job who should actually be at home according to the government guidance isolating even from their family, but are allowed to come and work next to you for 12 hours on a shift?” the RMT boss said.“That’s got to be controlled and we need mitigations.”due to the so-called “pingdemic”, a union leader has warned.Mr Lynch told World At One that some mainline railway signal locations are at “critical levels” in terms of staff.“If you lose the control centres, you cannot run a service,” he warned. “We lost the Metropolitan Line in London on Saturday so in TfL, London Underground and on the main line we have got this problem which is being caused by an outbreak of infection.” More

The government is “very concerned” about staff shortages being caused by the UK’s Covid app “pingdemic”, a cabinet minister has said.Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said he is in contact with business chiefs and “monitoring the situation” closely.His comments came after multiple reports of bare shelves in supermarkets across the country, with pictures posted on social media showing supplies of some products completely depleted.Several of the UK’s largest chains including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose said their supply chains have been hit by staff, such as delivery drivers, having to self-isolate.Under current rules, a person who is notified by the NHS app that they have come into contact with a Covid-positive case must quarantine – even if they test negative.Warnings of staffing shortages grew as NHS figures showed 618,903 alerts were sent to users of the coronavirus app in England and Wales in the week to 14 July.Earlier this week the government said that a number of critical workers, including those working in the health and care sectors, will be exempt from the rules if they have had both vaccines doses, although no formal announcement has been made.In an interview on Thursday morning, Mr Kwarteng declined to put a date on when the plans would be published, but warned the list of exemptions would be “quite narrow”.He told Sky News: “Obviously you have to draw the line somewhere and what we want to do is to keep people safe and that’s why we have the self-isolation policy in the first place.”When pressed on which workers might be on the list, the business secretary said: “I can’t tell you, because you’ll have to wait and see when we announce the list,” adding we “should know very soon”.As pressure mounted on the government throughout the morning Mr Kwarteng later told the BBC the list would be published on Thursday as he urged shoppers not to panic over supermarket shortages.Several of Thursday’s newspapers had pictures of empty supermarket shelves on their front pages.Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, said the supermarket was having to hire 2,000 temporary workers to prepare for “the exponential rise in pinging”.But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the images seen in the media “are isolated and not widespread”.He said ministers – not shoppers – should be the ones “panicking” and called on the government to include retail workers and HGV drivers on to the key worker list.The British Retail Consortium (BRC) had previously urged ministers to “act fast” to allow fully inoculated workers to skip self-isolation.Quarantine rules will not change for the rest of the country until after 16 August when most Covid rules have been phased out.But Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive, warned that not including retail workers and delivery drivers on the exemptions list could result in reduced shopping hours and store closures.”I think what the most important thing for government to do is to recognise that the current situation is untenable,” she said.Boris Johnson announced the plan for a “small number” of critical workers to be able to continue their roles despite being pinged as he scrapped most of England’s Covid restrictions on Monday.Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government risks “losing social consent” for isolation if it does not immediately bring forward the relaxation of quarantine rules for the fully vaccinated.On Tuesday the PM’s official spokesperson said: “It’s not a blanket exemption and my understanding is we’re not going to be producing a list covering individual sectors, these business-critical areas will be able to apply for exemptions to their host departments.” More

The pledge to lift isolation rules for double-vaccinated people who are close contacts of a Covid case on 16 August may not go ahead, a minister has warned.Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said no final decision would be taken until a week before that date – adding he was keeping his “fingers crossed”.Downing Street fuelled confusion about the government’s plans by declining to say whether or not the cabinet minister was correct and refusing to offer a guarantee that the new exemption for double-jabbed people come into effect on 16 August.Instead, a No 10 spokesperson simply pointed out that both Boris Johnson and health secretary Sajid Javid had previously said that the current regime would come to an end on that date.The 16 August timetable had already been attacked as an unnecessary delay, coming 5 weeks after all other Covid rules were lifted and blamed for the “pingdemic” of mass isolation of workers.But, asked if it would “definitely go ahead”, Mr Kwarteng said: “We always review the information a week before and then we make the decision.”He told Sky News: “I think, a week before 16 August, we will be able to make a decision as to whether the restriction will be lifted” – later adding it was a case of “fingers crossed”.The No 10 spokesman was unable to confirm whether there would be a formal review a week ahead of the planned lifting of self-isolation rules, as was the case for the four steps out of lockdown set out in the prime minister’s roadmap. On one occasion, this review led to a further extension of restrictions, with the final removal of curbs delayed from 21 June to 19 July.Mr Kwarteng also performed a U-turn over the promised list of critical workers who will be exempt from the isolation rules before 16 August – amid criticism of a delay.No 10 provoked anger by saying firms would have to apply to be included, but the business secretary – after first refusing to give a date for an announcement – said it would come today.He also said a list of qualifying jobs would be published by the government, instead of departments considering whether companies were eligible.But, he told BBC Breakfast: “The list, I think, will be quite narrow, it will be very narrow, simply because we don’t want to get into a huge debate about who is exempt.”Downing Street said that the guidance would offer advice to companies on what sort of posts might be eligible for exemptions from self-isolation and how they should go about applying for it.Mr Kwarteng also said he is “very concerned” about shortages on supermarket shelves – because of absent workers – saying: “Clearly, in some places that is happening.” More

The health secretary has been told to find £1.5bn of savings to fund the NHS pay rise, despite criticism that it will mean cuts to other services.The chaotic announcement of the 3 per cent boost for 1 million workers prompted suspicions of a battle between the Treasury and the health department over who pays the bill.In the Commons, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt demanded a commitment that the £1.5bn cost would not mean “cuts” to wider health or care spending.But Boris Johnson’s spokesman said, shortly afterwards: “The pay uplift will be funded from within the NHS budget.”He claimed the move would “not impact funding already earmarked for the NHS frontline”, but it was unclear how that could be avoided if savings are required.Before he was forced to quit for breaking Covid rules, the former health secretary Matt Hancock insisted a 1 per cent rise was all his department could ‘afford”.Mr Hunt, now the chair of the Commons health committee, also warned against diverting cash from the care sector, fearing it “once again loses out because of pressures in the NHS”.Mr Zahawi also came under fire over the plan for “vaccine passports” to enter crowded venues, starting with nightclubs from the end of September.The minister triggered suspicions that the government might swerve a vote it is in danger of losing, by saying: “We reserve the right to mandate its use in the future.”But, under pressure from MPs on all sides demanding a vote first, Mr Zahawi conceded Parliament would have an “appropriate say on the matter”.The minister also lifted the lid on other “crowded venues” that might be included, if the crackdown goes ahead as threatened.He namechecked “music venues”, “business events and festivals” and “spectator sport events” – with the Premier League already known to be considering the move.“We’ve seen in other countries, whether it’s in Holland or in Italy, the opening of nightclubs and then having to reverse that decision rapidly,” he told MPs.“So what we’re attempting to do – the reason we have the Covid vaccination pass in place – is to work with industry in this period, whilst we give people over the age of 18 the chance to become double-vaccinated.”However, many believe it is a phantom threat, to browbeat young people to accept vaccination by September – as Mr Johnson allegedly acknowledged in a private briefing with Tory MPsMr Zahawi also came under fierce pressure to bring forward the 16 August date for exempting the double vaccinated from isolation rules, if identified as a close contact of a Covid case.Mr Hunt urged the government to “listen to public opinion and scrap the 10-day isolation requirement immediately”, provided those people tested negative for Covid with a lab test.“Otherwise we risk losing social consent for this very, very important weapon against the virus,” he warned Mr Zahawi.But the minister said accelerating the change would “run the risk of infection rates running away with us”, over the next few weeks. More

Downing Street has indicated that a hike in national insurance contributions to pay for social care remains on the table, just hours after a cabinet minister appeared to rule it out.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng plunged the government’s plans into confusion by saying that he did not see how NICs could be used to fund the multi-billion pound project, as the Conserative manifesto for the last general election explicitly ruled out a rise in the rate of the levy, or of income tax or VAT.But shortly afterwards, the minister was administered a slapdown by No 10, with a spokesperson telling reporters that “no decisions have been made” on the issue.Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak are close to an agreement that is expected to hike the tax by 1 per cent, but were unable to finalise the details this week after both of them were forced into self-isolation at home after coming into contact with Covid-positive health secretary Sajid Javid.The plan to fix the social care crisis is not now expected to be unveiled until the autumn, more than two years after Mr Johnson claimed to have it ready and prepared on his arrival in Downing Street.Proposals to pay for social care through NIC hikes sparked furious criticism, not only because they would breach the prime minister’s manifesto promise, but also because they woudl involve increasing tax on working-age young people, many of whom are unable to buy a home, in order to pay for a scheme designed to ensure that non-working elderly people are not forced to sell their homes. And Mr Kwarteng appeared to blow a hole in the idea, saying: “That is what it says on the manifesto. I don’t see how we could increase national insurance.”However, the Downing Street spokesperson later told reporters: “The prime minister has been clear that we will set out details later this year and that no decisions have been made.”The mooted rise had already been widely attacked as unfair, because it would load extra taxes on younger and lower-paid workers – while pensioners would escape, because they do not pay national insurance.The Resolution Foundation think-tank condemned “a terrible way to raise the funds required” and both senior Tory and Labour politicians echoed the criticism.Speaking to Sky News, Mr Kwarteng opened up some wriggle room over tax rises, by saying “things have been very flexible over the last 18 months, we’ve lived through an unprecedented time”.The long-delayed social care plan would come “by the autumn”, he said, adding: “I don’t think we’ll put up national insurance in that specific….”, before tailing off.Increasing national insurance by 1 percentage point – for both employers and employees – would raise £10bn a year and would probably be dubbed a new “health and social care levy”.Initially, it would be used to cut alarming NHS waiting lists for treatment, which are feared could rise from 5.3 million to 13 million.It would then be spent to cap care costs, along the lines of a decade-old proposal to limit costs to £50,000 so families do not end up selling their homes, and plug growing gaps in care treatment.Without a specific tax rise for social care – and with further huge spending cuts to come, in the autumn – Mr Sunak would have to increase borrowing further to tackle the crisis, which he is opposed to doing.The business secretary also cast doubt on the pledge to lift isolation rules for double-vaccinated people who are close contacts of a Covid case on 16 August, warning it may not go ahead.And Downing Street fuelled confusion on the issue by declining to say whether Mr Kwarteng was right, instead pointing to previous comments by Mr Johnson and Mr Javid, in which they named 16 August as the end date for current arrangements.The timetable had already been attacked as an unnecessary delay, coming 5 weeks after all other Covid rules were lifted and blamed for the “pingdemic” of mass isolation of workers.But, asked if it would “definitely go ahead”, Mr Kwarteng said: “We always review the information a week before and then we make the decision,” – adding he was keeping his “fingers crossed”. More

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has told Boris Johnson in a phone call that the EU will not renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol as he has demanded.In a call the day after Brexit minister David Frost set out proposals for changes to the protocol Mr Johnson told Ms von der Leyen that the way it was currently being implemented was “unsustainable”.But soon after the call, the Commission president made clear that Brussels remains implacably opposed to reopening negotiations on the arrangements agreed by the prime minister in 2019 as part of his EU withdrawal deal.“The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the protocol framework,” she said. “But we will not renegotiate. We must jointly ensure stability and predictability in Northern Ireland.”The face-off has set the scene for a costly trade war in the autumn, when “grace periods” run out on the implementation of the regulations agreed by Mr Johnson in areas such as chilled meat exports, parcel delivery and supermarket supplies.Downing Street today made clear that the UK has not ruled out tearing up the protocol if the EU refuses to make concessions over the summer.A No 10 spokesperson said: “We are not calling for the scrapping of the protocol at this time.”Under repeated questioning, the spokesman was unable to point to any breaches by the EU of the terms agreed by Mr Johnson in the protocol for the creation of a new customs border in the Irish Sea and the implementation of checks on goods travelling between the British mainland and Northern Ireland.Instead, Downing Street is blaming the EU for operating the new rules in an excessively “purist” way.The No 10 spokesperson said that Mr Johnson told the European Commission president that the way his protocol was operating was “unsustainable”, adding that solutions to the problems facing the people of Northern Ireland as a result “could not be found through the existing mechanisms of the protocol”.He told Ms von der Leyen that this was why the UK has set out “proposals for significant changes to it”.“He urged the EU to look at those proposals seriously and work with the UK on them,” said the spokesperson. “There is a huge opportunity to find reasonable, practical solutions to the difficulties facing people and businesses in Northern Ireland, and thereby to put the relationship between the UK and the EU on a better footing. They agreed to remain in touch”. More

Conservative MPs and delegates are set to be asked to show a Covid passport or negative coronavirus test in order to attend the party’s annual conference in October.The move will set up a clash between Boris Johnson and rebellious Tory MPs, around 40 of whom are determined to vote against the use of mandatory Covid certification for access to mass-attendance events.Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith told The Independent that a lot of delegates would boycott the conference if they were required to show certification as a condition of entry.It is not yet clear exactly what legal controls will be in place at the time of the conference, with Mr Johnson’s hopes of imposing mandatory Covid passes for mass-attendance events taking a blow on Wednesday as Labour indicated it could vote against, putting proposed legislation at high risk of defeat in the Commons.Downing Street have yet to set out what kind of events are likely to be required to demand certification from attendees from September, saying only that legislation will cover nightclubs and other venues where people mingle indoors in large numbers with others who they do not normally meet, particularly in circumstances were alcohol is drunk late into the evening.But Tory insiders are resigned to the fact that, whether there is a legal requirement for checks or not, the conference will have to abide to the letter by whatever guidance is in place at the time.A senior Tory insider said: ‘We are the governing party – we will have to obey the guidance.“Even if it is not the law, we will still need to do what the government is recommending for major events.“Some MPs might not like it, but all the polling suggests the public are quite strongly in favour of Covid passports. That looks to be truer for the older generations who are more at risk, and might be wanting to come along.”“Nothing surprises me any more,” Mr Duncan Smith said. “I think that will mean an awful lot of people wouldn’t bother to go.“I find it bizarre that we would have a whole load of jobsworths checking up on us, when by the time we get to conference well over 90 per cent of people will have had their jabs.”The annual conference is due to take place between 3 and 6 October in hybrid form, with in-person speeches and meetings in Manchester backed up by virtual participation over the internet. The event – which is a highlight of many members’ year and a crucial opportunity for the party to dominate the headlines with high-profile speeches – went virtual-only for the first time in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. More