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The “energy of capitalism” lies behind the UK’s vaccination success, Boris Johnson has told Conservative members – downplaying the role of the government and NHS.Urging the party faithful to campaign on the jabs achievement, the prime minister doubled down on his controversial claim that the private sector delivered it.“Yes, government played a pretty big role,” Mr Johnson said – pointing to the vaccine taskforce set up and the “incredible work of our NHS, our GPs, our nurses”.“But, in the end, none of this would have been possible without the innovative genius, and commercial might – you know what I’m going to say – the might of the private sector,” he said.“The free market economy is at the heart of this vaccine rollout. There is a huge, unmissable lesson about about the need for private risk-taking and capitalist energy.”Read more:Speaking to the Tory spring forum, Mr Johnson repeated his belief that there is “absolutely nothing in the data” to prevent the planned timetable for easing the lockdown.“In just a few days’ time” he would be having a haircut and then “cautiously, but irreversibly. I’m going to drink a pint of beer in the pub”, he vowed. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayHowever, despite insisting the lockdown-easing is on track, Mr Johnson also admitted to unanswered questions about the blowback from rising Covid-19 infections on the continent.“Bitter experience” had shown that a wave such as the one sweeping Europe would hit the UK “three weeks later” – although experts say it started in the UK, with the outbreak of the Kent variant.“I think the second half of the year will have the potential to be really fantastic, but it depends on things still going right,” Mr Johnson said.“The question is, is it going to be, this time, as bad it has been in the past? Or have we sufficiently mitigated, muffled, blunted impact by the vaccine rollout?“That’s a question we still don’t really know the answer to.” The prime minister was also asked whether the UK could be given a bank holiday – a “national hangover day” – once the pandemic subsides, but appeared to duck the plea.“The general view is people have had quite a few days off, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing for people to see their way round to making a passing stab at getting back into the office,” he replied.On the lockdown, he said: “As things stand, I can see absolutely nothing in the data to dissuade me from continuing along our roadmap to freedom, unlocking our economy and getting back to the life we love.”Although there were “plenty of risks”, the country was “in a different world from last spring”, because of inoculations providing protection.Mr Johnson’s claim that capitalism explains the successful vaccination programme is controversial because the AstraZeneca jab was delivered by scientists at Oxford University.Furthermore, the programme is run by the NHS – in stark contrast, critics say, to the failure of the test-and-test scheme, which was outsourced to private firms. More

Families of NHS staff could find themselves as much as £1,170 worse off next year as a result of decisions taken by Boris Johnson’s government, Labour has claimed.Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds branded the situation a “quadruple hammer blow”, resulting from a below-inflation pay offer, increased council tax, reductions in universal credit and the freezing of income tax thresholds.While the decisions will hit different households to varying degrees, Ms Dodds said that many will be more than £1,000 worse off.And she warned the recovery from Covid-19 could be slowed by the “economically illiterate” decision to reduce household spending power at a time when the UK is relying on consumer spending to revive post-pandemic high streets.Chancellor Rishi Sunak has exempted NHS staff from the pay freeze imposed on all public sector workers earning more than £24,000 this year.Read more:But Ms Dodds said that the 1 per cent offer – which is soon expected to be overtaken by inflation – represented a cut from the 2.1 per cent envisaged in the NHS Long-Term Plan of 2019.Meanwhile, many lower-paid workers stand to lose the £20-a-week uplift in Universal Credit introduced as an emergency measure when coronavirus hit the UK and due to be withdrawn in October. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayCouncil tax bills will rise by up to 5 per cent in April after Mr Sunak raised the previous 2 per cent maximum limit by which town halls can hike the levy without triggering a local referendum.And the freezing of income tax thresholds from April 2022 will drag more of workers’ earnings into the levy.Labour calculated that the kind of worker who would lose out to the full £1,170 would include a newly qualified nurse living with their partner and two children in an area such as Swindon where the local authority is planning to put council tax up by the maximum amount.Ms Dodds said: “Rishi Sunak’s mask slipped at the Budget. Instead of protecting Britain’s families during a pandemic, he hit them with a quadruple hammer blow to their pockets that will leave them over £1,000 worse off next year.“That’s not just wrong – it’s economically illiterate. If families have less money to spend, then businesses will suffer and the recovery will take longer.“That’s the cost of the Conservatives – and it’s why the elections in May are a very clear choice: a vote for Labour to secure our economy and protect our NHS and against Tory attacks on family finances.”A Treasury spokesperson said: “Throughout the pandemic, we have supported families across the country – paying their wages through the furlough and self-employment schemes, helping their businesses, and strengthening the welfare safety net.“Millions of people would be unemployed without our support package, which has been one of the most generous in the world, and our Plan for Jobs will continue to support families and businesses during the next stage of our economic recovery.” More

The Conservatives are hailing a remarkable boost to party membership, because “everyone loves the prime minister” they say.The numbers paying up to join the Tories were thought to have plunged as low as 70,000 – but have now bounced back to 200,000, its chairman has revealed.Amanda Milling said the new recruits from “all parts of the country” – with a particular rise in Young Conservatives – and said Boris Johnson was the reason.“Everyone kind of loves the prime minister. He’s incredibly popular in the country.” Ms Milling said, as he prepared to speak to the Tory spring forum.“I know from our trips, when we were able to travel last year, that he still has that star feel about him.”Read more:The chairman recalled a visit to Blyth Valley, a seat in the north east that the Tories won for the first time in its 70-year in 2019, with Mr Johnson last December.“You could see so many looking from a distance, and pointing and saying ‘That’s Boris’, and then all coming over as well,” she told The Daily Telegraph.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe membership rolls were reported to have dropped to just 70,000 three years ago – although the Conservatives refused to confirm it at that time.Numbers had grown to 160,0000 when Mr Johnson was picked as party leader, and prime minister, in 2019, when research revealed members were overwhelmingly white, male and wealthy.A staggering 97 per cent were white – when 14 per cent of the UK population is from an ethnic minority – seven in ten were men, and nearly 40 per cent were above 66 years of age.One in 20 enjoyed an income of more than £100,000 a year, compared with one in 67 in the wider country, so they were significantly richer.But Ms Milling insisted the make-up of the membership base was changing markedly, saying: “We only have to look at the parliamentary party to see how different the party is.“In terms of the diversity, look at the number of women we’ve got now, look at the number of BAME [black and ethnic minority] MPs we’ve got, but also the backgrounds of people.”The proportion of Tory MPs who are female or from ethnic backgrounds has risen at recent elections.But Tory membership is still dwarfed by Labour, which boasts just short of 500,000 members – albeit about 57,000 down since Jeremy Corbyn’s departure. More

John Major is warning that Boris Johnson will “provoke” Scottish independence unless he engages with the crisis in the Union to convince voters to reject it.The SNP will be boosted if London simply refuses to allow a second poll without big changes to the devolution settlement – and if Scots are told they must “wait another generation”.“Scotland cannot be kept forever in an arrangement if her people wish to end it,” the former Conservative prime minister has written.“Boris Johnson probably has a legal right to refuse to sanction a second independence referendum. But he should be wary how he uses that power.“It is unwise to dismiss Scottish ambitions, or to delay any vote, without action to expose the reality of separation – and remedy shortcomings in the UK’s devolution settlement.Read more:“A blunt refusal would be a still greater error if accompanied by the provocative assertion that Scots should wait another generation before voting again. Such a hardline approach is more likely to provoke a break-up than prevent it.”The warning follows Mr Johnson’s branding of so-called ‘Indyref2’ as “completely irrelevant” – when he suggested a 40-year gap between referendums. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayIt comes as the SNP is expected to triumph in May’s Holyrood elections, despite Nicola Sturgeon being weakened by the controversy of the Alex Salmond harassment allegations.In a bitter civil war, the former first minister has now set up his own party to win a “super majority” for independence – but at the risk of depriving his old party of securing that by itself.In the article for the Financial Times, Sir John joins Gordon Brown in calling for the UK government to order an “independent assessment of the pros and cons of separation”.“If the two governments will not commission such studies, then their parliaments should – and academia, too,” the former Tory leader says.“In parallel, the UK must address any constitutional amendments thought to be necessary by changed circumstances, frictions in the devolution settlements or the impact of Brexit.”Sir John describes Scotland as a “proud nation perfectly capable of self-government” –but argues most Scots can be convinced to reject independence “with facts and reason”.“The economic cost of separation would be harsh on Scotland. There is no longer an oil bonanza to boost the economy. The fiscal deficit is above 7 per cent of economic output,” the article says.“Over 60 per cent of Scottish trade goes to the rest of the UK, three times her trade with the EU. Does Scotland really want a trade border with England?“The ‘Barnett Formula’ boosts Scottish public spending by nearly £2,000 per person per year from Westminster. If lost, can Scottish taxpayers make up that sum? This is not Project Fear. It is reality.” More

On social media there’s a good deal of debate about the correct pronunciation of “Alba”, as in “Alba Party”. Alba, being the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, is not spoken as “AL-BA” but rather as (almost) “ALaBPA”, a softness and micro-gap between the two syllables.Of course, given the personality of its de facto leader, the “Alba Party” should probably be more correctly called the “Alex Party”, because Alex Salmond, former leader of the SNP and now famously estranged from it, will no doubt dominate it. It is not quite a vehicle for his outsized ego, but there’s not that much room for anything else.Apart from relaunching the political career of Mr Salmond, what is the Alba Party for? The party itself deserves its aim as creating a “super majority” for Scottish independence in the Holyrood parliament after the elections on 6 May. Apart from that: “The party’s strategic aims are clear and unambiguous – to achieve a successful, socially just and environmentally responsible independent country … We intend to contribute policy ideas to assist Scotland’s economic recovery and to help build an independence platform to face the new political realities.” More

Former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond has launched of the Alba Party to fight  the 6 May Scottish Parliament elections.Mr Salmond said he and other candidates will stand on the regional list in the election to try to produce a “supermajority” in the Holyrood assembly for independence, maximising pressure on Boris Johnson for an IndyRef2 referendum. He rejected suggestions that the launch was a challenge to his former protegee Nicola Sturgeon, with whom he has fought a bitter feud over her handling of sexual harassment claims against him, which he was cleared of in court.Alba will not stand against Ms Sturgeon’s SNP candidates in constituency seats, and will urge its supporters to vote for them, he said. But it aims to win additional pro-independence seats via the separate regional lists, where the SNP has little hope of success.“Today Alba are hoisting a flag in the wind, planting a Saltire on a hill,” said the former first minister. “In the next few weeks, we’ll see how many will rally to our standard.”Read more:Mr Salmond said that the voting system in Scottish elections meant that votes for the SNP on the regional list will be “totally wasted”.But he said that voting Alba instead could deliver a parliament at Holyrood with as 90 or more of the 129 seats held by pro-independence MSPs.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayMr Salmond said that success for Alba would “recast” the independence debate from a battle between the SNP and Tories into a battle between prime minister Boris Johnson and the Scottish parliament and the Scottish people.He said that his new party would not challenge the SNP or other pro-independence parties for constitutency seats, but would aim to use Scotland’s voting system to maximise the number of pro-independence MSPs at Holyrood.“In the last election, there were nearly 1 million wasted SNP votes on the regional list – only four SNP MSPs were elected in that way,” he said. “On yesterday’s Survation poll, the SNP would elect no regional seats at all from a million votes on the list. They would all be totally wasted independence votes. “If Alba fights the regional list seats, the wasted votes end. The number of independence- supporting MSPs in the parliament could reach 90 or even more.”And he added: “The initiative for independence should then be led by the parliament, uniting the parties. “Johnson has already said No to the SNP proposals. He will find it much more difficult to say No to a parliament and a country.“And the independence debate will be recast, not as the Tories against the SNP, but as Boris Johnson against Scotland’s parliament representing Scotland’s people.”Under the additional member system of voting used in Scottish parliamentary elections, voters have two ballots – one for a constituency MSP and one for a regional list.Some 73 MSPs are elected for geographical constituencies on the first-past-the-post system, and a further 56 from eight regions. Regional seats are allocated according to a proportional system which favours parties under-represented in the constituencies, in a way which makes it very difficult for a single party to gain an overall majority. Mr Salmond calculates that if independence-supporting Scots were to vote SNP in their constituencies and Alba on the regional list, the total pro-independence voice at Holyrood could be massively increased from the SNP’s current 61 seats.“The Alba Party is a list party, we are standing only in the list,” he said.“We are not challenging the SNP in the constituencies. Indeed we are saying vote SNP or for an independence party on the constituency section.“We are giving that support. Our campaign that we have launched is going to be entirely positive.”Mr Salmond said the new party expects to field a minimum of four candidates in each regional list and hopes to elect MSPs from every area of Scotland.It is understood he will himself be contesting the North East regional constituency.Its agenda will be driven by the aim to create a “successful, socially just, environmentally responsible, independent country”, he said. More

A senior Conservative MP has dismissed Boris Johnson’s claim to be “a feminist” – pointing to his dismal failure to promote women.Downing Street – confronted with criticism of the prime minister’s past sexist comments – insisted he deserves to be called a feminist, urging people to “look back at his record”.But Caroline Nokes, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, said a key test was the make-up of the Cabinet, which remained overwhelmingly male.“I got really quite cross with a comment, as reported to me, that the prime minister accepted he needed to have more women in his Cabinet – he shouldn’t be accepting it, you should want it, “ she told the Tory spring forum.“Do I think the prime minister is a feminist? No I don’t. I think we have to judge him by his actions, not his words.”Read more:Ms Nokes protested that the proportion of female Cabinet ministers was actually falling, saying: “I mean, how can that even be possible? At a time when we’ve not obviously had a reshuffle?“We’re not hearing from women in the press conferences and on the Sunday morning broadcast rounds,” she told a panel event hosted by iNHouse Communications at the online forum.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe comments come after Mr Johnson was accused of hypocrisy when he called for an end to “casual everyday sexism” in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard.It was pointed out that he had previously referred to women as “hot totty”, called the children of single mothers “ill-raised, ignorant and illegitimate” – and berated men for failing to “take control of their women”.more follows More

A Unionist leader is warning of violence returning to Northern Ireland, claiming Brexit is being used to force through huge political change “without consent”.Peter Robinson, a former first minister at Stormont, said leaders must recognise “the odour of betrayal in the air”, saying: “We all know where that leads.”The Northern Ireland Protocol – which has created a trade border in the Irish Sea to protect the EU single market – would lead to laws in the province being made “in a Dublin-influenced EU”, Unionists feared.“There are forces using the exigencies of Brexit to advance a programme of constitutional change through stealth and propaganda,” Mr Robinson said, in a newspaper article.“My advice to those who are driving this agenda forward is as short as it is restrained. Take care.”Read more:Some opposition would be “vented more robustly” than protest voting and “be met with greater tolerance than it deserves”, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) until 2015 said.“We are perilously close to a line which, when crossed, will lock us all into a pattern all too familiar to my generation,” he added.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayThe article comes amid stalemate over attempts to solve the crisis affecting imports from the UK because of vast red tape created by Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal deal.The EU has started legal action after the UK unilaterally delayed further checks – and the two sides have not held direct talks involving ministers for one month.Supply problems that emptied supermarket shelves have eased, but the UK government admitted they would return if ‘grace periods’ were ended, as agreed under the 2019 Protocol. Last month, food inspections at Northern Ireland ports were suspended following an “upsurge in sinister and menacing behaviour” and graffiti appeared to describe port staff as “targets”.The DUP has demanded the Protocol be scrapped altogether, but the UK government has rejected that – while experts warn there is no alternative to the rules it imposes. Mr Robinson wrote: “It is too easy to either be dismissed as a scaremonger or attacked for sabre-rattling.”Unionists believed “their rights are being violated”, he said, adding: “They reflect on the commitments they were given, and which have been appallingly broken leaving the odour of betrayal in the air.“Those with wisdom who have their finger on the pulse should recognise the signals when a people become disenchanted with the system.”Mr Robinson said: “It would be wrong to assume that in time Unionists will calm down and eventually acquiesce. That is not my assessment.” More