Markus Andrews

A minister says the UK is right to seek to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol because it was not meant to “last forever” – despite it being an international treaty.Kwasi Kwarteng also claimed that “nobody had any idea” of the chaos from creating a trade border in the Irish Sea, despite it being widely predicted when the deal was signed in 2019.Asked if the UK should “honour” the agreement, the business secretary replied: “The Northern Ireland Protocol isn’t written in stone. It’s not something that was going to last forevermore.”Mr Kwarteng agreed “a deal is a deal”, but added: “Nobody thought the Northern Ireland Protocol was going to define the role of Northern Ireland within the UK forevermore, it was something that was flexible.”The comments, to Sky News, are certain to infuriate the EU, which threw out the UK’s request to dramatically rework the agreement within three hours of the demand being made on Wednesday.They will also fuel the suspicion, widespread in EU capitals, that Boris Johnson never had any intention of abiding by the deal he struck in 2019, in order to end the Brexit stalemate.The Protocol is protected by international law and is policed by EU institutions and courts, which have the power to punish the UK for failing to implement it.The EU is also warning of a trade war if London continues to stall on the promises it made – and that it could suspend other parts of the Christmas trade deal that followed.A new UK “command paper” demands the abandoning full Irish Sea trade checks – due to start in October, when “grace periods” expire – and for Brussels to shelve legal action for non-implementation of current rules.The UK also wants the Protocol to “no longer be policed by EU institutions and courts of justice” – the bedrock for ensuring London can be punished for non-compliance, in Eu eyes.And a so-called “honesty box” approach should allow goods “meeting both UK and EU standards to circulate” in Northern Ireland, Brexit minister David Frost argued.Checks would only be carried out on goods destined for the Republic of Ireland – a dual-standards regime long rejected by the EU, for fear it will undermine its single market.But, in a swift response, the EU reiterated that the Protocol was “the joint solution” reached to solve the problems provoked by “the type of Brexit chosen by the British government”.Pointing to the overarching need to while protect “the integrity” of the single market, a statement added: ”In order for these objectives to be achieved, the Protocol must be implemented.”But a defiant Mr Kwarteng argued: “When people say they’re not going to look at the Protocol again, I say ‘well, let’s just see’.” More

David Frost, the Brexit minister, published the government’s plan for the future of the Northern Ireland protocol on Wednesday. Lord Frost issued a command paper that would radically rework the Northern Ireland protocol – a deal he helped to negotiate and which came into force only in January, which introduced checks on goods that have been described as amounting to a border in the Irish Sea.But the proposal was swiftly rejected by the EU. “We will not agree to a renegotiation of the protocol,” said Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice president, in an official statement.It has led to officials warning of a trade war between Britain and the EU. EU sources claim that is “inevitable” if the UK refuses to back down on its demands for new post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland. The key paragraph of the UK government’s proposals is number 77: “To provide space for these discussions, the government believes it is vital to provide certainty and stability for businesses in Northern Ireland in the short term. Accordingly, we believe we and the EU should agree a ‘standstill’ on existing arrangements, including the operation of grace periods in force, and a freeze on existing legal actions and processes, to ensure there is room to negotiate without further cliff edges, and to provide a genuine signal of good intent to find ways forward.”To find out how to sign up to our full range of free newsletters click hereSo, for all the talk of “renegotiating” or even “tearing up” the protocol, the only specific proposal at this stage is to freeze things as they are to allow talks to take place. Nevertheless, the EU insists that its interpretation of the protocol requires new restrictions on goods going to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK to be imposed from 1 October.In my view, the UK government’s position is a reasonable one, and the EU is being inflexible – suggesting that sending sausages to Belfast supermarkets undermines the integrity of the EU single market. But I hope these are the opening negotiating positions and that good sense will prevail.Do you have questions about the Brexit rules following these developments? I will be on hand on Friday lunchtime to answer as many as I can about what has happened this week between the UK and the EU and what is likely to happen next. If you have a question, submit it now, or when I join you live at 1pm on Friday 23 July for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ event. To get involved all you have to do is register to submit your question in the comments below.If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments box to leave your question. Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they may be hidden until I join the conversation to answer them. Then join us live on this page at 1pm as I tackle as many questions as I can. More

A trade war between Britain and the EU is “inevitable” if the UK refuses to back down on its new demands for post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland, officials warn.Brexit minister David Frost on Wednesday issued a new “command paper” that would radically rework the Northern Ireland protocol, a deal he himself negotiated and which only came into force in January, effectively removing most of a trade border created in the Irish Sea.But the proposal was swiftly rejected by the EU. “We will not agree to a renegotiation of the protocol,” said Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice president, in an official statement.Trade officials and business leaders told The Independent that time is running out to reach agreement ahead of the introduction of critical deadlines for extra processes which the UK agreed under the protocol.They fear the step from the British government could push the UK and EU into a tit-for-tat trade fight. One senior EU official said that Frost’s white paper from the UK undermined a more cordial tone which had been reached during the summer – that easing of relations had allowed for changes to EU rules to ease the flow of medicines from Britain to Northern Ireland. There was “less than zero chance” that the Brexit minister’s demands could be met, they said.“We are running short of ways to engage in a productive way, while we remain willing to do so. This paper is unhelpful, unrealistic, and a poor use of time. We will not hesitate to pursue further legal actions if the UK fails to adhere to its international legal obligations,” the same official said.They added this could include retaliatory tariffs impacting all UK exporters to the EU. Such a step could result in tit-for-tat tariffs, key ingredients for a full-blown trade dispute.Separately, an Irish diplomat confirmed that if the steps suggested by Mr Frost were followed – particularly the demand that the protocol “no longer be policed by EU institutions and courts of justice” – a trade spat would be inevitable. They added that any flexibility from the EU side had to respect the fundamental principles of the agreement. “If the UK seriously tries to avoid the governance structures in the protocol, a trade row will be all but inevitable. But we obviously hope that won’t be the case,” the diplomat said.While the Brexit minister held back from invoking Article 16, a mechanism that allows for parts of the protocol to be immediately suspended, Mr Frost said that the circumstances would “justify” its use. “It is clearly a kind of threat from London,” said Anton Spisak, a former UK Brexit negotiator and now policy expert at the Tony Blair Institute.He added: “This will add to disputes, to the idea that the UK is negotiating in bad faith in order to change the protocol. The destination of that is a trade war between the UK and the EU.”He noted that the EU had already embarked on legal action against the UK in March over London’s decision to unilaterally delay customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain. The Brexit divorce deal left Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods, but also in the UK’s customs territory in order to avoid a border on the island of Ireland. This resulted in the creation of a trade border in the Irish Sea. There are a host of protocol deadlines which are due in the autumn adding time pressure to disagreements over the protocol and upping the risk of an escalation of trade tensions. A halt to imports of British chilled meats to Northern Ireland from September has attracted particular attention, with complaints from retailer Marks & Spencer, but there are greater hurdles in the offing, business leaders told The Independent. From 1 October, all business parcels sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will require customs declarations. By November, British goods exporters to Northern Ireland will need to set up a base in the region or a “fixed place of business” in order to meet the requirements of a trusted trader scheme to prove that goods will not enter the EU.Yet rather than advocating for ways to cut friction that were likely to be agreed to, Mr Frost had inflamed relations, according to a person familiar with Northern Irish business operations. If the UK were to press ahead with a rejected plan it would fracture the protocol and the two key Brexit treaties, they said. “This is breaking the withdrawal agreement, and there are provisions within the TCA [Trade and Cooperation Agreement] to let the EU take tariff measures. So this isn’t just about Northern Irish businesses and consumers, this is about GB businesses and consumers as well. I don’t think many people see this danger.”A leader of a business lobbying group echoed the comments, adding that the move was totally unrealistic: “The EU is not going to create a gaping backdoor to its single market.”They added that the EU was wary of the UK trying to pursue a delaying strategy, constantly extending grace periods in order to make implementation politically toxic ahead of the Northern Irish consent vote in December 2024. The vote is a legally binding provision of the withdrawal agreement.It’s time to stop “megaphone diplomacy” they said. “If trust can be reattained” some major trade frictions set could be mitigated or avoided through private negotiations. More

The main nursing union is to consult members on possible action, after the government announced a 3 per cent NHS pay rise which the Royal College of Nursing said amounts to a cut after inflation is taken into account.The Department of Health said the rise will be worth an additional £1,000 a year to the average nurse in England, while many porters and cleaners will receive around £540.Backdated to April, it amounts to a significant improvement on the government’s initial offer of just 1 per cent for NHS staff after a year in which they have been under intense pressure because of the coronavirus pandemic.But while it is higher than the current rate of inflation, the RCN — which had demanded 12.5 per cent — said it would soon fall behind the expected increase in prices over the coming months, leaving nurses worse-off overall.RCN interim general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “Nursing staff will remain dignified in responding to what will be a bitter blow to many.“But the profession will not take this lying down. We will be consulting our members on what action they would like to take next.”GMB, the union for ambulance and other NHS workers, accused the government of “sneaking out” the announcement.“Hospitals and ambulance services are operating under extreme pressures due to rising demand and staffing shortages,” said national officer Rachel Harrison. “They are being advised to enter the workplace against self-isolation advice and now given this frankly appalling pay offer.“This was the opportunity for Government to turn their clapping in to genuine recognition. Their response is paltry.”The rise was announced by health secretary Sajid Javid  just hours after health minister Helen Whately provoked fury by telling MPs that the final decision on the annual hike had been delayed.Mr Javid said that the government had accepted in full the recommendations of the NHS independent pay review bodies.He said that the rise would cover NHS staff including nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs and recognised their contribution to battling the coronavirus pandemic.Ms Whately’s failure to confirm the increase in a statement to parliament earlier on Wednesday raised concerns of a last-minute hitch over the figure, which had been trailed in the media in recent days.Labour’s shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan accused her of “an insult of the highest order” to health staff.Confirming the rise hours later, Mr Javid said: “NHS staff are rightly receiving a pay rise this year despite the wider public sector pay pause, in recognition of their extraordinary efforts.“We asked the independent pay review bodies for their recommendations and I’m pleased to accept them in full, with a 3 per cent pay rise for all staff in scope, from doctors and nurses to paramedics and porters.“We will back the NHS as we focus our efforts on getting through this pandemic and tackling the backlog of other health problems that has built up.“I will continue to do everything I can to support all those in our health service who are working so tirelessly to care for patients.”Ms Cullen described the aborted announcement as “shambolic”.And she said: “When the Treasury expects inflation to be 3.7 per cent, ministers are knowingly cutting pay for an experienced nurse by over £200 in real terms.“Hospitals and other parts of the NHS are struggling to recruit nurses and healthcare support workers. The government has been warned that many more are on the verge of leaving.“With today’s decision, ministers have made it even harder to provide safe care to patients.”The general secretary of public sector union Unison, Christina McAnea, said the proposed rise was an improvement on ministers’ “miserly” initial proposal, but remained below the 4 per cent given to Scottish NHS staff and would not be enough to “protect the NHS”.“Porters, cleaners, nurses, paramedics and other health workers have waited for months for what they hoped would be a fair deal,” said Ms McAnea.“Ministers could have paid up last year if they really valued the NHS. Instead, staff have been made to hang on until the summer – long after their wage rise was due.“Health workers are now expected to meet the deadly challenge of a new virus wave. The government has failed to show staff just how valued they are to us all. There’s a risk many may not stay around to see the NHS through the pandemic and the clearing of the Covid backlog.”Labour’s shadow health minister Justin Madders described the announcement as “another day, another U-turn” from the government.“Once again, this government has had to row back on a shoddy, ill-thought through position, with their 1 per cent pay rise – a real-terms pay cut – rejected by the independent pay body,” said Mr Madders.“After their hypocrisy, applauding NHS workers while trying to cut their pay, the government must make our NHS and key workers feel supported and valued after all they have done for us.”TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady warned that outsourced NHS staff, including many cleaners and porters, would be excluded from the 3 per cent offer, while many other key workers like care workers and teachers were being subjected to a pay freeze.“Key worker pay is the acid test for the prime minister’s promise to ‘build back fairer’,” said Ms O’Grady. “Every key worker deserves a decent standard of living for their family. But too often their hard work does not pay. We owe them better.” More

Leaseholders ‘trapped’ in flats due to the cladding crisis could soon be able to sell or remortgage their properties after a government intervention announced today.Robert Jenrick said a Government-commissioned review by experts found there was “no evidence of systemic risk of fire in blocks of flats”, citing evidence suggesting only 9% of blazes were in blocks of flats of four storeys or more.He said in a speech to MPs that the review had resulted in five recommendations to stop what he called the “disproportionate reaction” of lenders to the cladding crisis.A key recommendation is that an EWS1 form, which assesses the safety of external cladding, should not be a requirement on buildings below 18 metres.Major lenders such as HSBC UK and Barclays said they are supportive of this position and they will review their practices on the process following the recommendation from the expert panel.Previously lenders were requesting the safety form and many properties were failing due to concerns about cladding, leaving leaseholders trapped and forced into expensive safety measures such as “waking watches”.The Government said it hopes this intervention will reduce “needless and costly remediation in lower rise buildings” and restore market confidence allowing flat owners to buy, sell or re-mortgage homes.On the reasoning behind the proposals, Mr Jenrick said there had been “extreme risk aversion” in the housing market in recent years as a result of concerns about the costs of replacing cladding.In his statement, Mr Jenrick detailed wider reforms and said: “It is my expectation that these actions will significantly ease the challenges faced by the vast majority of leaseholders looking to buy or sell flats in high-rise buildings and ensure that leaseholders do not face huge bills for unnecessary remediation works.”The update came as the House of Commons considered the Building Safety Bill, which gives a new building safety regulator powers to prosecute rule-breaking developers and take their properties off the market.The legislation is part of plans to strengthen regulations for high-rise buildings and avert a further tragedy like the Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72 people in 2017.Shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell accused Mr Jenrick of treating the Commons with “contempt” by releasing details of the new announcements during his speech given MPs have spent weeks preparing for the Bill’s second reading debate.She said: “We support the majority of what is in the Bill, which at last strengthens regulation of high-rise buildings – although it could go further.“However, we do have serious concerns about what is not in the Bill. It abandons those leaseholders already trapped in the building safety crisis, and we will seek every avenue to provide cast-iron legal guarantees that have long been promised.”A statement released by End Our Cladding Scandal said it “cautiously welcomes today’s shock government announcement on EWS1 and the need to inject some much-needed common sense into how building safety is being handled for low- and medium-rise apartment buildings.”But added that “we’ve been here before” and that in November “MHCLG triumphantly announced that blocks with ‘no cladding’ would not require EWS1 certification.”However the statement adds “it took just hours for the news to be shot down by UK Finance, which represents mortgage lenders, and the Building Societies Association, both of which said they had not given their sign-off”.They added: “Having spent years dealing with the way this Government tries to pull the wool over our eyes, we fear this may only be another face-saving exercise to try to stop more and more Conservative MPs from taking action against their self-styled party of home ownership from letting leaseholders pick up the tab for collective state and industry failure.”Additional reporting by PA More

The Union will be further undermined by a government power-grab for billions of pounds of post-Brexit cash for poor areas, Boris Johnson is warned today.Almost £2bn a year was distributed through EU structural funds – the majority to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, whose leaders helped decide how and where to spend it.But, in contrast, a promised replacement – the shared prosperity fund (UKSPF) – will be controlled by the government in London, allowing ministers “to direct investment” and claim any successes.The report, by the respected Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank, warns the shift risks “further damaging trust between the UK and devolved governments”.Tensions are already rising after the prime minister dismissed devolution as “a disaster north of the border”, in remarks to Tory MPs leaked last November.And the Internal Market Act has also been attacked as a power-grab, in limiting powers for the devolved capitals to determine standards over goods and services, in the shake-up following EU withdrawal.The IfG said the replacement of structural funds created an opportunity to “put in place something that is more flexible and less bureaucratic than the EU system”.But it added: “This should be done in a way that respects the devolution settlements and takes into account the devolved governments’ existing role in administering structural funds.“Failure to do so risks further damaging trust between the UK and devolved governments at a time when inter-governmental relations are already strained.“This could undermine the UK government’s key objective of binding the four nations of the UK closer together.”The warning will fuel an existing row over the scale of funding, with the new scheme not to be launched until April 2020 – creating a one-year gap in spending.A stop-gap fund is worth only £220m across the UK in the 2021-22 financial year – yet Wales insists it would have received at least £375m, if still part of the EU scheme.The IfG report calls for clearer criteria on how the funding will be allocated across the UK, with local bodies allowed to help identify potential problems.A consultation must be “immediately” improved, with ministers accused of hoarding information that should be shared.Just £14m has been made available to help local areas develop proposals to receive funding, which “seems unlikely to be sufficient” the study warns.Over the six years between 2014 and 2020, the UK received €11bn of EU structural funds, a sum topped up by “match funding” from Whitehall.England’s share was €130 per person, but that was less than Scotland (€180), Northern Ireland (€510m) and Wales (€780), reflecting their higher levels of deprivation.The Conservative 2019 general election manifesto promised to “at a minimum” match the level of EU spending in each of the four nations of the UK, piling huge pressure on the party to deliver. More

Boris Johnson “flunked” his opportunity to define his election slogan of levelling up, which risks becoming an “everything and nothing policy”, a Commons committee has warned.MPs on the Business, Environment and Industrial Strategy Committee added that the government had “failed miserably in translating a political soundbite” into specific policy initiative and a deliverable programme.The scathing assessment comes after the prime minister admitted during a major speech just last week he only had the “skeleton” of the plan to level up the country, with critics suggesting the 20-minute address was lacking in detail.The MPs’ report said that levelling up — in their view — was “the spreading of economic and social opportunities more evenly across the country”, but had not received any “adequate answers” from government about the agenda.They added that it was “unclear” who in government or Whitehall was responsible for delivering the agenda that No 10 described ahead of Mr Johnson’s speech as the “central purpose” of his premiership.“We are concerned that this lack of definition will result in a failure to deliver meaningful change for people across the country, and that a failure to publish government priorities and metrics will make it impossible for us to understand what has, or has not, been delivered,” the report said.“As it currently stands, levelling up risks becoming an everything and nothing policy, not owned by a particular minister or department, and without any means in place of evaluating its impact or efficacy as policy in ‘improving everyday life and life chances”.Among the committee’s recommendations, MPs said the government must work with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Audit Office to agree a set of metrics for the “routine reporting of progress”.It also suggested the creation of a cabinet committee to oversee the delivery on the policy agenda across Whitehall by coordinating funding allocations, including among the devolved nations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.Darren Jones, the chair of the committee, claimed: “Last week, the prime minister flunked his opportunity to explain what levelling up is and instead revealed that the government has failed miserably in translating a political soundbite into a deliverable programme of government.”He said that for the prime minister’s levelling up drive to become more than a “political soundbite” the white paper — promised by Downing Street before the end of 2021 — sets out what the policy priorities are and how Whitehall will work with local government.“Levelling up was a major part of the government’s offer to the British people at the last election, but it appears every possible funding stream from government — be it about bus stops or football pitches is labelled as for levelling up,” he added.“If levelling up is going to mean something above and beyond the normal day-to-day work of government, the prime minister needs to set out how he’s going to pay for it.A government spokesperson said: “As we build back better from the pandemic, we are supporting all areas of the United Kingdom to level up by empowering our regions, and providing billions of pounds of new funding to drive local economic growth.“This includes an investment of £100 billion in infrastructure this year; the creation of a £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund to upgrade town centres, high streets and local transport; and establishing a new UK infrastructure bank in Leeds to harness investment and fund new projects.” More

Keir Starmer has branded the Conservatives “the party of crime and disorder” after Labour analysis found police budgets are £1.6 billion down on their level when Boris Johnson’s party came to power in 2010.Labour accused the Home Office of misrepresenting the true level of Tory cuts to police, as Sir Keir promised to scrap the prime minister’s plans for a “pointless” royal yacht and divert its £283m funding to tackling anti-social behaviour.Writing in The Independent as he launched a campaign for safer communities, Sir Keir compared government ministers to “contortionists” trying to twist figures to hide the true scale of damage done to police budgets by years of cuts.“The Conservative Party cut our police to the lowest level in a generation,” he wrote. “It’s no coincidence that was followed by rising anti-social behaviour, record levels of knife crime, and almost nine in ten crimes now going unsolved.“Now, as our communities continue to suffer from crime and disorder, minsters are in denial. Like contortionists, they twist their own figures to try and show police funding on an upward trajectory.”The Home Office last week announced that funding for police in England and Wales had returned to pre-austerity levels, with a 2.8 per cent annual hike leaving the total figure 0.1 per cent above 2010/11, after taking inflation into account.But Starmer’s party has compiled figures from all 43 forces dating back to 2010 and found total funding down by £1.6bn in real terms over the period – the equivalent of 10.5 per cent of their budgets.Despite the prime minister’s oft-repeated pledge to recruit more police, the reality of 11 years of Tory-led government was deep cuts to force funding and thousands of officers lost, said Sir Keir.“The reality is that police in England and Wales are still faced with a £1.6bn shortfall in funding under the Conservatives,” he wrote. “The reality is that between 2010 and 2020, we lost 14,500 officers from the frontline.“The Conservatives have become the party of crime and disorder. Labour would do things very differently.”Since 2016, the Home Office has produced annual statistics on police funding, which this month reported real-terms growth for the fifth consecutive year, with £15.9bn allocated for the year ending March 2022. Priti Patel’s department says that changes in the way funding is provided make it difficult to compare figures from before that date, but said that a “high-level overview” suggested budgets were back above 2010/11 levels. But Labour’s analysis – seen by The Independent – found that only one of the 43 forces had recorded a real-terms increase in total funding over the period, with several experiencing cuts of 10 per cent or more and one topping 19 per cent, when inflation is taken into account.Starmer said that Mr Johnson had made endless promises to reverse police cuts, recruit new officers and crack down on crime, “shamelessly ignoring the fact that it was his own party which decimated our police”.“The first duty of any government is to keep its people safe,” wrote the Labour leader. “Yet communities up and down our country continue to be blighted by crime after years of Conservative cuts to policing and justice.“At its heart, this is about priorities. Too many people feel unsafe in their own communities. Anti-social behaviour has skyrocketed. A generation of young people is growing up with their local youth clubs closed, youth workers lost – vital positive role models that help divert people from the grips of crime.”And he added: “Police across the country are warning that we face a summer of violence. We cannot ignore the fact that pent-up tension among young people, many of whom have gone unsupported for 18 months, could have tragic consequences.“Yet the government has not put in place a plan to address that risk. In fact, the cross-government Serious Violence group that was set up in 2019 was later cancelled having not met for over a year.”Cash diverted from Mr Johnson’s yacht could be used for surge funding for police and community support officers, to help councils fund enforcement or to pay for additional CCTV, said Labour.And Sir Keir said the party would put more police on the beat, restore neighbourhood policing, bring in new laws to crack down on dangerous driving and high-powered cars, campaign for youth services to keep teenagers away from crime. And he said proposals in Labour’s green paper on violence against women and girls would reverse record low convictions for rape and sexual harassment and provide better support for victims of sexual violence.“I want to live in a country where women and girls are safe to walk the streets alone,” he wrote. “A country where parents don’t have to wait anxiously until their kids come home. A country where our elderly feel happy and secure in their own neighbourhood. “That’s why Labour is launching our campaign for safer communities today. It’s why we are pledging to drive down crime, tackle its root causes and ensure that criminals are brought to justice.”Labour’s crime initiative forms part of Starmer’s summer tour of the UK, as he seeks to pivot away from the efforts – which consumed much of his first year as leader – to distance himself from the Jeremy Corbyn era and towards presenting a forward-looking vision of how the party would change Britain.But plans to launch the campaign with a visit to Wolverhampton had to be cancelled after the leader was forced into self-isolation after one of his children tested positive for coronavirus. A virtual launch is now expected.A Home Office spokesperson said: “These figures are misleading and do not align with how police funding is calculated. We are giving the police the resources they need to fight crime and protect the public.“This year’s funding settlement provided an increase of up to £600m compared to last year’s settlement and included an additional £415m to support the recruitment of 20,000 extra officers by March 2023.“We also provided forces with almost £200m last year to meet unforeseen costs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, outside of the police funding settlement.” More