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Labour is to force a vote in parliament on the government’s planning reforms and invite rebellious Tory MPs to vote against them.The opposition says the government’s plans to deregulate the planning system will see developers “set loose to bulldoze and concrete over neighbourhoods and green spaces”.It comes after the Tories were defeated in a parliamentary by-election in Buckinghamshire on the back of a campaign by the Liberal Democrats that opposed the planning reforms.Many residents of Amersham and Chesham, which had been Tory since the constituency’s creation, objected to plans to build homes near the towns’ two London Underground stations.Keir Starmer’s party, which won around two per cent of the vote at the by-election, is now pushing at Westminster to capitalise on Tory backbench opposition to the reforms.Many Conservative MPs, including the former prime minister, Theresa May, have already spoken out against the proposals included in the government’s white paper, which are yet to be turned into legislation. In a parliamentary debate on Monday Labour will argue that local residents should be able to object to “oversized developments in quiet residential neighbourhoods” and stop developers building on green spaces.“The Conservatives are selling out communities to pay back the developers who increasingly bankroll their party,” said Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow communities secretary.“Good development can only happen when developers and communities work together, but the Developers’ Charter will gag local residents from having their say. Developers will be set loose to bulldoze and concrete over neighbourhoods and green spaces at will. “Voters have shown Conservative MPs what they think of the Developers’ Charter. Those MPs now have the chance to join Labour in voting to kill off these perverse reforms once and for all.”Under the Conservative planning reforms certain parts of the country would be designated “growth” areas. In these places, any planning application confirming to agreed local plans would automatically given initial permission.Other areas would be split into “protected” places where development would largely be blocked, and “renewal” areas where local councils would have to generally look favourably on planning applications.A new housing algorithm would also introduce binding local housebuilding quotas as a way of meeting the government’s England-wide 300,000 homebuilding target.The government says its reforms are necessary to meet England’s housing shortage. Demand for homes is estimated to be around 345,000 per year, with just 244,000 homes in 2019-20, around 1 per cent higher than the year before.Labour says the fact over a million homes over the last decade have been given planning permission and never been built suggests the bottleneck is not due to the planning system.Levels of private housing development have stayed relatively stable since the 1950s, when housing demand was being met. However since the early 1980s a vast fall in the construction of council homes has seen demand for homes far exceed supply. More

Former Commons speaker John Bercow has announced he is joining Labour as he launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson.Mr Bercow, an ex-Tory MP, said he had joined Labour a few weeks ago because he is motivated by the party’s values.Lashing out at the prime minister, he said the Conservatives today are a “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic” party.Professing his support for Keir Starmer’s party, Mr Bercow said: “I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. That is the Labour brand.”After more than a decade in the chair, Mr Bercow stepped down from the speaker role in October 2019, following a tumultuous period in which he oversaw the final stages of the Brexit agreement.He was the subject of intense anger from Brexit-supporting MPs who believed a series of rulings he made during his time as speaker favoured remain-supporting MPs.The PM later broke with hundreds of years of precedent by refusing to give him a peerage when he stepped down and left parliament.He had also been accused of bullying by Commons clerks, which he denied. He claimed last year there was a “conspiracy” to stop him getting a seat in the House of Lords.In an explosive interview with The Observer, the former MP for Buckingham said the current government needed to be replaced and that Labour “is the only vehicle that can achieve that objective”.He also accused the PM of having no interest in anybody but himself, despite his so-called “levelling-up” agenda.“He is a successful campaigner but a lousy governor,” he told the paper. “I don’t think he has any vision of a more equitable society, any thirst for social mobility or any passion to better the lot of people less fortunate than he is.”He added: “I think increasingly people are sick of lies, sick of empty slogans, sick of a failure to deliver.”Asked if there is the possibility of being recommended for a peerage by Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Bercow said: “There has been no such discussion and I have asked for no such thing. This isn’t about revenge. That is not what motivates me.”The Labour leader’s office declined to comment on Mr Bercow joining the party.Shadow justice minister Karl Turner said he was unsurprised his “friend” had joined Labour, but was “delighted that he has”.On the Conservative side, however, pensions minister Guy Opperman said it was “from bad to worse for” Sir Kier, adding: “Labour are welcome to Bercow.”A senior government source said: “This will surprise nobody and shows Labour is still the party of remain.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

The government has been sent a “warning shot” by voters in Amersham and Chesham over planning reforms and the building of the HS2 railway, a senior Tory has said.Amanda Milling, co-chair of the Conservative Party, said her colleagues had heard the message from the constituency “loud and clear”.The Liberal Democrats captured the semi-rural seat at this week’s by-election following the death of its sitting MP Cheryl Gillian. The huge 25.2 per cent swing represented the first time the seat had been won by a party other than the Tories since its creation in 1974.Big issues at the election included the government’s planning reforms, plans to build houses near the towns’ pair of London Underground stations, and the HS2 railway, which is under construction nearby.”I am in no doubt that Thursday’s result is a warning shot and we are listening. And as co-chairman, I will ensure that we learn the lessons from this campaign,” Ms Milling said in an article in the Daily Telegraph.“Over the coming weeks and months, we will take stock of what happened in Chesham and Amersham and look at how we can regain the trust of voters there.”In a broadside at the victors, she added: “The concerns about planning and HS2 were loud and clear. These concerns were genuine but the Liberal Democrats employed their usual duplicitous tactics.“Despite the fact the Lib Dems stood on a manifesto in 2019 that backed HS2 they painted themselves as anti it. They also led a scaremongering campaign on planning, despite the fact the planning bill has not even been published yet.”Ms Milling also noted that “governments 11 years into power don’t win by-elections” and said the Conservative Party would direct money to “projects” in marginal seats.The result is unlikely to affect HS2, which is already under construction, but it could yet lead the government to rethink some of its planning reforms.Tory MPs in the party’s more rural heartlands have banded against the reforms, which the government says will encourage housebuilding.In the wake of the defeat Boris Johnson described the by-election result as “disappointing” and attributed the result to local issues.He insisted the government was focused on “uniting and levelling up within regions across the whole country”.The result of the by-election may not be indicative of a wider trend, as polls still suggest the Conservative have a commanding lead over the other parties.The Liberal Democrats are also accomplished by-election campaigners and have in recent years won many seats at standalone contests and then promptly lost them at ensuing general elections. More

Boris Johnson tells planning critics they’re wrong despite by-election humiliationThe government has been sent a “warning shot” by voters in the Chesham and Amersham by-election, the co-chairman of the Tories has said.Amanda Milling said voters’ concerns over planning reforms and HS2 were “loud and clear” following the party’s defeat to the Liberal Democrats.Boris Johnson has been warned more “blue wall” seats could be in danger following Thursday’s historic win for the Lib Dems.Senior Tories say the prime minister must change course or face more defeats in southern seats, with a warning the Lib Dems could become the “natural party for the home counties”.Former Cabinet ministers are among worried Conservatives calling on the prime minister to accept the danger that his “blue wall” will crumble – in a “mirror image” of Labour’s plight in the north. Show latest update

1624112030Opinion: Calls for the courts to narrow their remit are deeply troublingThere is much to absorb from the Lord Chancellor’s thoughtful speech to the conference on the constitutional reform agenda, hosted by UCL on 17 June…but for any Lord Chancellor to suggest that the courts are “reading too much into the rule of law” is perhaps startling, writes Sir Jonathan Jones KCB QC (Hon).Read more from the former Treasury Solicitor below:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 15:131624109775Opinion: Extending the eviction ban is a cheap trick – UK businesses need real supportOffering up an extended eviction ban in an attempt to damp down the hospitality industry’s fury is a neat, some would say cheap, trick because it’s a concession that doesn’t put any more Treasury skin in the game, writes our chief business commentator.Read more on this from James Moore below:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 14:361624107986Give all workers right to work from home after Covid, says LabourAll employees should be given the right to work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, Labour has said.The party’s shadow employment rights secretary Angela Rayner said the government should introduce a “default presumption” that flexible working would be permitted in law.Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more on this story below:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 14:061624106330Royal British Legion responds to reports it will ‘stop selling poppies in EU due to Brexit’The Royal British Legion (RBL) has released a statement saying post-Brexit regulations will only affect sales to the EU from its online Poppy Shop and would not impact the distribution of poppies to RBL members in Europe for remembrance activities.It comes amid reports the charity sent an email to supporters stating it will “need to cease sales to customers in countries in the EU” for the foreseeable future until legislation surrounding Brexit is reviewed.A spokesperson for the RBL said: “The RBL’s distribution of paper poppies to the EU is not affected as a result of the UK leaving the European Union.“Goods sold by our online Poppy Shop to customers in the EU will be subject to the local rate of VAT and customs fees from 1 July.“These costs are often higher than the value of the goods themselves and to pass them on to customers is not reasonable, therefore regrettably we are ceasing sales to customers in countries in the EU until such time as that legislation is reviewed.”Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 13:381624105206Community divisions being stoked by outsiders in Batley by-election, says Jo Cox’s sisterOn the campaign trail in Batley, Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, has hit out at candidates who would only “cause problems for our community” in what appeared to be a swipe at rival George Galloway.Here, she talks exclusively to our north of England correspondent Colin Drury:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 13:201624104034Former government legal chief blasts Justice Secretary for claiming judges are becoming politicisedThe former head of the government’s legal service has hit out at the justice secretary for suggesting judges are becoming “politicians by proxy”.Jonathan Jones, who quit in response to ministers’ plans to break international law over Brexit, said recent comments by Robert Buckland about a new balance being needed on rule of law were “startling”.Read our exclusive report by Kate Devlin and Jon Stone:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 13:001624102235Labour ‘on course for more electoral humiliation’Keir Starmer is on course for another electoral battering at the Batley and Spen by-election next month, according to a new constituency poll.The new survey of the ‘red wall’ seat published by Survation found the Tories taking the West Yorkshire constituency with 47 per cent of the votePolicy correspondent Jon Stone looks at what lies ahead in next month’s vote.Alastair Jamieson19 June 2021 12:301624099854Chelsea Flower Show to feature garden with ‘strong political message’The Chelsea Flower Show will feature a garden with a “strong political message” this year that designers hope will attract the attention of government.The Royal Horticultural Society plot will aim to highlight how gardening can play a role in tackling climate change ahead of the United Nations climate summit (Cop26).My colleague Joanna Taylor explains more here:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 11:501624098054Andrew Lloyd Webber rejects Boris Johnson’s offer of help for CinderellaAndrew Lloyd Webber has rejected Boris Johnson’s offer for his musical Cinderella to be included in a pilot scheme for live events.Earlier this week the PM said he was in talks with Lord Lloyd-Webber about including the West End show in the scheme, saying he will “do whatever we can to be helpful”.Lord Lloyd-Webber was criticised by a government source after he rejected the offer on Friday.Read more on this story below:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 11:201624096854Businessman jailed for a year over ‘vile’ threats to MPs who criticised BrexitA businessman who sent death threats to MPs in a series of emails warning them not to block Brexit has been jailed for 12 months.Paul Ritchie, 35, targeted more than a dozen different politicians including ex-Commons speaker John Bercow, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, former home secretary Amber Rudd and current Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.My colleague Peter Stubley has the full story here:Chiara Giordano19 June 2021 11:00 More

The former head of the government’s legal service has hit out at the justice secretary for suggesting judges are becoming “politicians by proxy”.Jonathan Jones, who quit in response to ministers’ plans to break international law over Brexit, said recent comments by Robert Buckland about a new balance being needed on rule of law were “startling”.In an article for The Independent the former permanent secretary of the Government Legal Department argued that the minister was wrong to claim the courts were straying into politics.“Obviously it is possible to disagree with decisions of the courts in individual cases. Judges of course sometimes disagree with one another,” he said.“I happen to agree with the lord chancellor that the Supreme Court went wrong in the [Guardian journalist Rob] Evans case on the Freedom of Information Act and the Prince of Wales’s letters, and should have given effect to the ministerial veto which parliament had created.“But I don’t see this case, or the small number of others mentioned by the lord chancellor, as evidence of a systemic tendency for judges to overplay the rule of law, or become ‘politicians by proxy’ as he puts it.”The lord chancellor, Mr Buckland, had claimed in a speech at University College London on Thursday that the idea of the rule of law was being used by critics of the government to “weaponise the courts against political decision making”.The rule of law, he said, was not a legal concept, and been “the victim of conceptual creep”, leaving it open to being hijacked by “politically motivated interests”. But Sir Jonathan said: “‘Law’ and ‘policy’ are not separate self-contained categories. Parliament and the executive use the law as a means of giving effect to policies. “And there’s nothing new or particularly surprising in people bringing judicial review claims because they disagree with the substance of the relevant policy or its application. “Many judicial reviews involve heavily contested areas of policy, as well as law. So it’s not realistic to suppose that the courts can somehow be ‘kept out of’ policy or politics, and I don’t suppose they feel they need to be ‘protected’ from it.”Sir Jonathan said it was “the job of the courts to apply the law, not adjudicate on the merits of policy”, but said there was no “confusion” about this, as claimed by the government.The government has come to blows with the courts on a number of issues in recent years, with judges often declaring government policy unlawful.High-profile cases include the government’s attempt to prorogue parliament, and the requirements to hold meaningful votes on the Brexit withdrawal agreement.In response, the government has unveiled plans for a bill to make judicial reviews more difficult, arguing that they should be “a more subtle tool”. It has also briefed newspapers that it plans to make it harder to crowdfund legal challenges against government policy.Sir Jonathan resigned from his government role in September last year. Friends and colleagues said he had clashed with ministers over their intention to break international law by overriding parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.Mr Buckland concluded his speech at UCL this week by saying: “My aim is quite simple: to protect the courts from this unsatisfactory state of affairs and to prevent them from being dragged into politics by another name. “As a former part-time member of the judiciary, I think that is a noble endeavour. As a member of this government, I believe it can restore the balance that we have always managed to maintain in the past – without losing one of our most important checks on the power of the state – and I am interested to hear your thoughts.” More

Community divisions are being sown into the Batley by-election by people from outside the area, the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox – and Labour’s contender for the seat – has suggested.Kim Leadbeater hit out at candidates who she said would only “cause problems for our community” in what appeared to be a swipe at rival George Galloway.The firebrand Scot, who lives in London but is contesting the West Yorkshire seat, has been accused of weaponising local anger over Israel’s bombing of Palestine to suggest that, under Sir Keir Starmer, Labour does not care about supposed Muslim priorities.One poster outside his campaign headquarters also insinuates that Batley receives less investment from the local authority, Kirklees Council, than neighbouring towns, a suggestion which appears baseless. Speaking to The Independent while on the campaign trail, Ms Leadbeater said: “I think sadly there are a number of people who are going to come here and try and sow division and cause problems for our community, and actually this area needs an MP who can bring people together. “And on the back of the work I’ve done over the last few years, I think I’m that person. We need to build bridges, not cause division.”The 45-year-old, who is the only one of the 16 runners who actually lives in the constituency, added: “Lots of people are going to come here in the next couple of weeks and they will have their own agendas and own egos but this isn’t about them. It’s about local people and who they think the bext person to represent them in parliament is.”Her words come five years to the week after her sister, Ms Cox, was stabbed and shot to death by a right-wing terrorist on the streets of the town.“I think about Jo every day and have done for the past five years so, of course, this [running in her old seat] is emotional and it’s difficult,” she added. “I’m incredibly proud to be Jo Cox’s sister but it’s also important I get in on the merits of being Kim Leadbeater.”The by-election was called after former Labour MP Tracy Brabin had to stand down from the seat in May when she was elected to the new post of mayor of West Yorkshire.Although the constituency is not exactly part of the so-called “red wall” – it was Tory for 14 years up until 1997 – losing it would be seen as a massive blow to Sir Keir’s leadership, coming less than two months after the humiliating defeat in the Hartlepool by-election and on the back of Labour racking up just 1.6 per cent of the vote in this week’s Chesham and Amersham by-election.While it is thought Mr Galloway is unlikely to win the seat, it looks increasingly plausible that he could take enough votes – most likely from Labour – to make a significant difference in the 1 July vote.Neither Mr Galloway, standing for his own Workers Party of Britain, nor Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson responded to The Independent’s request for an interview. More

All employees should be given the right to work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, Labour has said.The party’s shadow employment rights secretary Angela Rayner said on Saturday that the government should introduce a “default presumption” that flexible working would be permitted in law.It comes after the Downing Street said it had no plans to bring in the reforms, despite a 2019 Tory manifesto commitment to make home working “the default unless employers have good reasons not to”.A government Flexible Working Taskforce is currently reviewing the issue, which has shot up the agenda since the Covid-19 pandemic.Under the current regulations a quarter of employees worked remotely in 2020, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.But legal restrictions encouraging employees to work from home where possible are expected to end over the next few months when the government plans to lift the remaining Covid-19 restrictions.“As we emerge from this pandemic we have an opportunity to fundamentally change working practices for the better and to improve the lives of working people,” said Labour’s Ms Rayner.”Giving workers the right to work flexibly if they want to and the right to switch off will enable more people to enjoy the benefits of flexible working, from a better work-life balance to spending less time commuting and more time with their family.”She added: “As restrictions lift and we adjust to a ‘new normal’, we need a new deal for working people. As a starting point this must mean the right to flexible working – not just the right to ask for flexibility – and a duty on employers to accommodate this unless there is a reason a certain job can’t be done flexibly.“It is clear that the government won’t act to strengthen rights for working people, and we cannot have a drawn out consultation process that simply kicks this urgent issue into the long grass, leaving workers in a vulnerable position and allowing employers to dictate terms to their staff.”Labour says there should be not just a right to flexible working for all workers by default, bu also “an accompanying duty on employers to accommodate this as far as is reasonable and practical where there is no reason a job cannot be done flexibly and remotely”.Ms Rayner also said it was important that workers be given the “right to switch off” to that homes were not turned into “24/7 offices”.She said there should be plan to help small and medium sized businesses adapt to the new normal, and new rights to protect people from remote surveillance by bosses, as well as proper sick pay for those who need to self-isolate.Asked about the issue on Thursday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “We’ve asked people to work from home where they can during the pandemic, but there are no plans to make this permanent or introduce a legal right to work from home… it is important to stress that there are no plans to make working from home the default, or introduce a legal right to work from home.” More

Keir Starmer is on course for another electoral battering at the Batley and Spen by-election next month, according to a new constituency poll.The new survey of the ‘red wall’ seat published by Survation found the Tories taking the West Yorkshire constituency with 47 per cent of the vote.Labour would trail in second place on 41 per cent of the vote, while former Labour and Respect MP George Galloway would take six per cent.If the figures are repeated on 1 July the result would amount to the second formerly safe Labour seat lost by Sir Keir’s party in the space of two months.The party got a battering at the Hartlepool by-election in early May, a seat held by Labour since its creation in 1974.The Labour leader’s critics have urged him to be clearer and more distinctive on policy, with voters telling pollsters they don’t know what what he stands for. But virtually all senior Labour figures have so far shied away from calling on him to resign despite a lacklustre performance. Sir Keir this week launched a policy review chaired by MP Anneliese Dodds.It comes after the party recorded its lowest score in recent history at a by-election in Amersham in Chesham this week, winning just 1.6 per cent of the vote and trailing the Green Party. That contest was effectively a two-horse race between the Lib Dems and Tories.Sir Keir has blamed Labour’s poor ratings on the success of the vaccination drive, though there is little evidence for a substantial increase in support for the Conservatives. The Tories are currently polling at a lower level than they were during the first lockdown, but support for Labour has fallen away from a high late last year that saw them draw level with Mr Johnson’s party. The new poll of Batley and Spen found that Boris Johnson was a net asset there, with a positive favourability rating of +18 per cent. This compares to Sir Keir’s rating of -32 per cent. 55 per cent of voters there say Mr Johns would make the best prime minister compared to 18 per cent Sir Keir.Mr Johnson was most trusted on all main policy areas polls with large margins on Brexit, Covid-19, and the economy. The Tory leader was even ahead of the NHS, traditional Labour territory, by 45 per cent to 30 per cent.Activists in the constituency have reported the issue of Palestine being brought up by many voters on the doorstep, with Labour’s support for the cause during the latest conflict seen as muted.Labour’s candidate in the consituency is Kim Leadbeater, the sister of Jo Cox. The late Ms Cox represented the seat for Labour until 2016 when she was assassinated by a right-wing extremist during the EU referendum campaign. Labour has held the seat at every election since 1983. More