Markus Andrews

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has accused the BBC of adopting a “we know best” attitude in the scandal surrounding its Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.In his first detailed response since the report from Lord Dyson, Mr Dowden said the affair had exposed “failures that strike at the heart of our national broadcaster’s values and culture”.Writing in The Times he said far-reaching change was needed to ensure the corporation was in tune with “all parts of the nation it serves”.In his report, Lord Dyson, a former master of the rolls, said journalist Martin Bashir used “deceitful conduct” to obtain the 1995 interview which was then covered up by a “woefully ineffective” internal investigation.Mr Dowden said the BBC’s leadership was too narrowly drawn – succumbing to “groupthink” – and that “cultural change” was needed in the organisation.”The BBC can occasionally succumb to a ‘we know best’ attitude that is detached both from the criticism and the values of all parts of the nation it serves,” he said.”Groupthink in any organisation results in a lack of challenge and poor decision making. That’s why cultural change must be a focus for the director general and new chair.”Mr Dowden said the BBC needed “to improve its culture to ensure this never happens again and that means a new emphasis on accuracy, impartiality and diversity of opinion”.His warning came after Home Secretary Priti Patel refused to rule out the prospect of criminal prosecutions after Lord Dyson’s findings.She told Sky News: “If there is subsequent action that needs to be taken, then clearly… that will follow.”With the BBC facing a mid-term review of its charter next year, Mr Dowden said the Government would not be rushed into “knee jerk reforms”, but it would not “stand idly by”.Further ahead, he indicated there were “fundamental questions” about the future of the licence fee beyond 2027 as it competes with US streaming giants like Amazon and Netflix.He suggested the only way the BBC could justify its funding model was by providing distinctively British programmes.He said it needed to “step up to project British values and distinct quality programming with renewed vigour and ambition as our national champion”.PA More

Priti Patel will on Monday promise “wholesale reform” of the UK immigration system, which she says is “broken”.In a keynote speech, the home secretary will confirm plans for a new “digital border” that will require all visitors to Britain to fill out more forms and possibly pay extra fees.She will claim that the new US-style Electronic Travel Authorisation will make the border more secure by automatically checking for criminals from other countries and allowing more accurate statistics.The home secretary, who was last week pictured observing immigration enforcement officers at work, will also flesh out plans to deny refugee status to any asylum seekers who have passed through a safe country before reaching the UK. The idea, included in the Queen’s Speech, was condemned by the United Nations refugee agency and by charities, who say it breaches Britain’s historic obligations.Labour pointed out that the Conservatives had been in power for 11 years and created the existing system they said did not work.In her speech to a conference organised by think tanks Bright Blue and British Future, Ms Patel will claim public support for major changes.“They want a new system that works for the law-abiding majority and against those who hope to abuse our hospitality and generous spirit,” she will say, according to pre-released extracts of her speech briefed out in advance.“The immigration system is broken, but this country isn’t. We can’t fix the system overnight, but we will fix it.“We have to make sure the system reflects the values and wishes of the vast majority of Britons of all colours and creeds. They simply want an approach to immigration that is fair but firm.”Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the speech, on Sunday she defended her plan to make life more difficult for refugees, telling Sky News: “People that are being smuggled, they should be claiming asylum in the first safe country that they travel through – more often than not these are EU member states – rather than taking the risk of coming to the United Kingdom.”Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the Conservatives have been in power for a decade so were responsible for any broken system.“Clearly people who have no right to be in this country shouldn’t be here, but what we have seen from the Home Office is utter incompetence on this,” he told Sky News on Sunday.“What we don’t want to see is the government deflecting blame for their own failure when it’s their incompetence, their management and mismanagement of the Home Office that has been the problem.” More

A “decade of Conservative neglect” is driving teachers away from the profession and causing a staffing crisis in schools, Labour has said.The opposition blamed government policy for falling teacher retention rates, and produced figures showing the educators are increasingly likely to quit altogether.Teachers are now 25 per cent more likely to leave the profession after a year than they were in 2011 when Labour left office, and 17 per cent more likely to leave after three.The opposition party says the number of teacher vacancies has tripled over the same period, with nearly 1,000 posts currently unfilled.The shortage of teachers has seen pupil-to-teacher ratios creep up at both primary and secondary level since the Tories took office.Since coming to power, the government’s pay freeze has cut teachers’ salaries by £4,000 in real terms, with Rishi Sunak’s latest policy hitting 94 per cent of the profession, Labour claimed.The government says it is eventually committed to introducing a £30,000 starting salary for teachers and that it will reassess its pay freeze after the economy has recovered. But for that ambition has no date attached to it and was effectively shelved as part of new austerity measures introduced by the government during the Covid-19 recession. “Teachers have experienced a decade of neglect under Conservative governments which is driving them out of classrooms,” shadow education secretary Kate Green said of the analysis.“Ensuring every child can bounce back from the pandemic should be a top priority, but the government has said nothing about the workforce that will deliver the additional support and enhanced offer that children need.“Our dedicated teachers and school leaders have worked incredibly hard to support children and families through the pandemic. We must now recognise their invaluable contribution if we are to deliver the promise of a bright future for every child.”Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union said Labour was right to highlight the issue and that the government had to “start valuing the teaching profession”.“After teachers have gone the extra mile over the past year to educate the nation’s pupils remotely and keep children safe, the government’s decision to impose a pay cut is nothing short of a slap in the face,” he said. “Teacher workload was already excessively high before the pandemic. The OECD has said that educators in England work longer hours than anywhere else in Europe, much of it unpaid.“The burden has only increased in 2021 for members in secondary schools who are now having to pick up the pieces of the government’s failure to plan for the assessment of qualifications this summer. “Our members are working an extra 12 hours a week to have GCSE, A-level and vocational subjects grades ready for students. The government are offering nothing but a pay cut in return for this extra work.”A Department for Education spokesperson said the government was piloting a number of teachers retention schemes including early career payments, teachers’ student loan reimbursement and the mathematics and physics teacher retention payments pilot.The spokesperson added: “Last year we announced the biggest pay rise for the profession since 2005, with above-inflation rises. Our reforms to teacher training, early career support, professional development and teachers’ pay are key to the government’s plans to raise school standards.“We are also working with parents, teachers and schools to develop a long-term plan to make sure all pupils have the chance to recover from the impact of the pandemic as quickly and comprehensively as possible – and we have appointed Sir Kevan Collins as education recovery commissioner to advise on this work.” More

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox has been chosen as Labour’s candidate to fight the Batley and Spen by-election.Following a meeting of the local constituency party, Kim Leadbeater said she was “overwhelmed and humbled” by the support she had received from party members in the seat her sister used to represent.Her selection was welcomed by party leader Sir Keir Starmer who said her roots in the community would make her a “fantastic champion” for the constituency.”Batley and Spen holds an important place in the Labour Party’s heart. And Kim’s work to bring people together, just as her sister Jo Cox did, has inspired us all,” he said.Addressing the meeting, Ms Leadbeater – who was chosen from a shortlist of three – described herself as a “proud Yorkshirewoman” who had lived in Batley and Spen all her life.”I have a deep understanding of the area, its people and some of the challenges it faces. I feel passionately about the strength there is in such a diverse constituency,” she said.”I’m the candidate the Tories fear. They know that I have a proven track record of getting things done at a local level and an established reputation for working for all parts of the community.The by-election was triggered by the decision of Labour MP Tracey Brabin to quit Westminster following her election as the first mayor of West Yorkshire.Ms Brabin congratulated her colleague in a tweet. She wrote: “Congratulations to friend and campaigner @KimLeadbeater7 who smashed it! She’ll do #batleyandspen proud!”It’s going to be tough but I know we can win for #BatleyAndSpen.”The seat was represented by Mrs Cox until she was shot and stabbed by a far-right extremist in June 2016.Labour is desperate to hold on to the seat following the party’s crushing defeat in another “red wall” by-election in Hartlepool earlier this month.The result triggered a bitter round of recriminations, with the Labour left – marginalised under Sir Keir – gunning for the party leader.Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott – a close ally of ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn – has said it could be “curtains” for Sir Keir if they lose again.The leadership will hope that Ms Leadbeater’s strong local links and high profile in the area will enable her to see off the challenge of the Tories represented by Leeds councillor Ryan Stephenson, the chairman of the West Yorkshire Conservatives.No date has been been set for the contest although Labour – which is defending a majority of 3,525 from the 2019 general election – is widely expected to delay until late July.PA More

The Home Office is considering charging EU citizens and other travellers a fee to visit the UK under a new scheme that would further tighten restrictions on countries with whom Britain until recently had free movement.Priti Patel, the home secretary, is set to announce a new US-style digital visa system on Monday that she says will help the government keep closer track of the number of people entering and exiting the country.The new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would be required for all visitors without a visa or immigration status travelling to Britain – around 30 million people a year.The scheme is modelled on the American Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA.Officials confirmed to The Independent that the government was considering charging a passenger fee to cover the cost of the new border bureaucracy.They said evidence from other countries with similar programmes showed that charging for the mini-visa application would not deter legitimate travellers. The US charges travellers $14, around £9.The EU is developing its own similar scheme, European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which is expected to apply to UK visitors to the bloc when it launches from 2022, a result of the Brexit deal ending free movement. ETIAS, which has been repeatedly delayed, most recently by the Covid pandemic, is anticipated to have a fee of €7 or £6. Other countries outside the bloc like Norway and Iceland with closer trade relationships with Brussels are likely to be exempt from ETIAS.Under a combination of both ETIAS and ETA, EU citizens would be charged to visit the UK and UK nationals would be charged to visit the EU – a stunning reversal from the situation last year when travellers enjoyed free movement. The Home Office says the British scheme is expected to be in place from 2025.Officials argue the new bureaucracy for travellers – which will see holidaymakers fill in extra forms ahead of their departure and wait for confirmation before being allowed to proceed with their journey – will make it easier for them to carry out automated and early security checks.They say these checks are necessary to stop criminals arriving in the UK. Applicants will only be allowed to travel once their ETA has been approved, meaning spur-of-the-moment travel to the continent would potentially become more difficultAhead of the announcement of the new scheme, Ms Patel said: “Now we have taken back control and ended free movement, security is at the very heart of our immigration strategy.”Our new approach will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border.”Naomi Smith, chief executive of of Best for Britain, a pro-European campaign group, said: “Slapping charges on arrivals from the EU and elsewhere would send completely the wrong signal to the world. It would show the government wants to build fortress Britain rather than a truly global Britain.”Our polling shows most voters, including those who backed leave, want us to be an outward-looking country that works with its allies in Europe and around the world.”We should be working together to remove barriers to trade and free travel wherever possible, to give businesses and families the best chance to bounce back from the pandemic.” More

A legal bid has been launched to stop Boris Johnson and his ministers from deleting WhatsApp messages and other communications that would shed light on how they took decisions during the pandemic.A pre-action letter drawn up by lawyers, and seen by The Independent, warns of “concern that ministers and officials are conducting government business via communication services such as text message, Signal and WhatsApp”.If successful, ministers would be forced to start archiving conversations they have via text message to comply with their legal duty to make official business accessible to freedom of information requests.MPs backing the legal action are concerned that the deletion of messages in which crucial decisions about lockdown were taken could make an eventual inquiry into government mistakes harder.“Recent weeks have exposed more fatal errors by the government, including the delay adding India to the red list which allowed the Indian variant to take root in the UK,” said Caroline Lucas, one of the MPs supporting the move for transparency.“The inquiry must have full access to communications behind these decisions, including any relevant text messages between ministers and civil servants, to find out what lay behind them. “Failure to do so would risk meaning vital evidence is missed and crucial lessons go unlearned.”Martha Dark, director of legal group Foxglove, which is bringing the case, told The Independent that the government did not have the proper arrangements in place and was in “clear breach of the law”.“We are in an unprecedented national emergency. All records relating to government business, including WhatsApp messages, text messages, Signal messages must be kept for consideration under the Public Records Act. There are no arrangements currently in place to ensure that happens,” she said. “The only hope we have of holding power to account or even simply maintaining the historical record is transparency.”The legal action comes days after the top official at HM Treasury claimed he lost records of his replies to lobbying texts from the former PM David Cameron.In a response to a freedom of information request, the government said that the 12 exchanges with Treasury permanent secretary Tom Scholar could not be revealed because the civil servant’s phone had been accidentally wiped to factory settings after the wrong password was used.Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information told The Independent: “Carrying on government business using unofficial channels is a direct threat to accountability either because there are no records or they’re not held by government itself. “If a record exists, and deals with official business it’s subject to freedom of information or available for an inquiry, provided it’s known about, even if it’s on a minster’s or official’s private phone, home computer or personal email account. Under FOI, the Information Commissioner can order a government department disclose such material unless its exempt.”He added: “Anyone who deliberately conceals or destroys it to prevent disclosure would commit an offence. Unfortunately the problem is wider than this. The routine destruction of emails by departments when they are only a few months old is a major problem. “The system relies on officials transferring significant contents onto the permanent record first, which they may not do, frustrating either an FOI request or an inquiry. The use of WhatsApp is an invitation to abuse and messaging systems which delete the message itself once it’s read are lethal to accountability.”Dr Mike Galsworthy, director of March for Change, which supports a public inquiry, said the probe now promised by the government “must include full access to any messages via text and WhatsApps that have been used to conduct official government business related to the pandemic”.Despite the recent loss of messages by the Treasury permanent secretary, the government claims there are “appropriate arrangements” in place to comply with statutory requirements on public records and that these are “kept under review”. Asked about the issue of messages being deleted, a UK government spokesperson told The Independent: “We have always been clear that there would be opportunities to look back and reflect on lessons learnt from our response to this unprecedented global challenge.“We have always been clear that there would be opportunities to look back and reflect on lessons learnt from our response to this unprecedented global challenge.“As the prime minister said, we have committed to holding a full public inquiry and this work will begin in spring 2022.” More

The Home Secretary has threatened the BBC with sweeping governance and funding reforms when its royal charter is reviewed next year.Priti Patel said the findings of an inquiry into a 1995 interview of Princess Diana had “highly damaged” the Corporation’s reputation.The Dyson Inquiry found that journalist Martin Bashir used “deceitful behaviour” to land his world exclusive interview – and that an internal BBC investigation had covered it up.Refusing to rule out criminal prosecutions over the issue, she said the broadcaster needed to rebuild “trust and confidence”.And asked whether the public broadcaster would survive, she said it would need to “reflect and learn lessons”.Citing the government’s upcoming review of the BBC’s Royal Charter, she said: “If there is subsequent action that needs to be taken, then clearly – alongside the publication of this report and lessons being learned and changes, changes to the institution, structure, governance, accountability – then that will follow.””This is going to be a very significant and serious moment, at a time when the reputation of the BBC has been compromised,” added the home secretary.Ms Patel also said the BBC would have to reflect on “where it stands in a multimedia world” – an apparent reference to whether parts of the corporation would survive.The Conservative government has regularly threatened the BBC with funding cuts and reforms since coming to power in 2010.Since September 2020 the Corporation’s director general has been Tim Davie, a former Conservative candidate and party official.The Dyson inquiry said that Mr Bashir had breached the broadcaster’s own rules in 1995 by mocking up fake documents, which he showed to a relative of the late princess to obtain the interview. The story has led headlines, including on the BBC, for a number of days since it came to light. More

The Home Secretary has denied a claim by Dominic Cummings that the government originally tried to pursue a “herd immunity” strategy in response to Covid-19.The former No.10 chief of staff on Saturday had accused ministers of lying about the change of heart and said that “‘herd immunity by September’ was literally the official plan”.But speaking on Sunday Priti Patel said the claims the government had delayed lockdown because it wanted to let the virus rip through the population were “absolutely not” true.”Our strategy was always about protecting public health, saving lives and protecting the NHS,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.”Absolutely all colleagues involved in those meetings and discussions, working with the chief scientist and the chief medical officers, absolutely recognised that from the very difficult discussions that we had.”At the time of a crisis when government is making very, very tough decisions, difficult decisions, we put public life and protecting the public at the forefront of all those decisions.”Mr Cummings’ claims, made in a string of messages posted on social media, come ahead of his appearance at a joint parliamentary committee where allies expect him to “napalm” Boris Johnson’s handling of the crisis.Also speaking on Sunday, former deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries says she had never heard herd immunity discussed as a strategy. “I’ve never been in a government meeting where herd immunity was put forward as a method of control,” she said, adding that she was not in all meetings. In messages posted on Saturday, Mr Cummings said: “The media have been generally abysmal on Covid, but even I’ve been surprised by one thing: how many hacks have parroted Hancock’s line that ‘herd immunity wasn’t the plan’ when ‘herd immunity by September’ was literally the official plan in all docs/graphs/meetings until it was ditched.”The former aide is expected to elaborate with more detail at the joint meeting of the Commons health and technology committees on Wednesday. Despite previously being a central part of Boris Johnson’s administration, enmity between Mr Cummings and the government has grown since his departure in November.Months of silence from the former adviser turned to riotous anger in April after No 10 sources blamed Mr Cummings for leaking the prime minister’s texts.

Our strategy was always about protecting public health, saving lives and protecting the NHS,Priti Patel, Home SecretaryThe former Vote Leave strategist hit back hard, denying the claims and dropping several other related and unrelated bombs on the government operation.He accused the PM of a “mad and totally unethical” scheme to get Tory donors to pay for a Downing Street flat refurbishment, and claimed Mr Johnson had refused to accept a leak inquiry to protect a friend of Ms Symonds.But it is at Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Commons health and technology committees where Mr Cummings is expected to spill the beans on what went on behind the scenes during the pandemic.He will be appearing at a session headlined Coronavirus: Lessons Learnt, and is expected to accuse Mr Johnson of being responsible for excess deaths during the pandemic.Britain has suffered one of the worst death rates in the world from Covid-19, with repeated delays and dithering over the introduction of lockdown measures blamed.In a 5 March 2020 interview Boris Johnson said there was “a need to strike a balance” in imposing restrictions that would flatten the peak of the pandemic to reduce strain on the NHS but allow “the disease, as it were, to move through the population”.The government’s chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance told the BBC at the time: “If you suppress something very, very hard, when you release those measures it bounces back and it bounces back at the wrong time.”He added: “Our aim is to try to reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also, because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission, at the same time we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.”At a press conference a week later, on 12 March, Sir Patrick added: “Our aim is not to stop everyone getting it, you can’t do that. And it’s not desirable, because you want to get some immunity in the population. We need to have immunity to protect ourselves from this in the future.”He later told MPs that herd immunity through simply letting the virus rip through the population was never the plan for the pandemic response. More