Markus Andrews

Poverty-fighting schemes run by local councils are failing after funds were slashed and some were axed altogether, a group of Conservative MPs is warning.
An urgent review of Local Welfare Assistance Schemes (LWAS) is needed, the MPs say – in a move threatening to further embarrass Rishi Sunak, amid the ongoing row over Universal Credit cuts.
The funds are meant to help people with no spare money to pay for emergencies, such as a broken washing machine or to cope with flood damage, through grants or loans.  But councils are spending as little as £41m a year, not the £132m intended – itself a huge reduction on the £330m Social Fund axed 8 years ago – and at least 23 have no scheme at all.
In England, just 73p is being spent per person, the Children’s Society says – far less than in Wales (£3.37), Scotland (£6.49) or Northern Ireland (£7.31).
Now the Tories, led by former ministers Paul Maynard and Iain Duncan Smith, will put forward a motion in the Commons on Tuesday demanding a review.
“We have seen the difference local councils can make in a national crisis during the pandemic with emergency grant schemes,” said Mr Maynard, MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys.
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 weekday“But crises occur in individual lives year in and year out and we need to ensure we learn the lessons of the pandemic to embed a better provision of emergency support for some of the most vulnerable in our society.”
Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Commons education committee, is also supporting the review, as are fellow Tories Peter Aldous, Jason McCartney, Andrew Selous, Gary Sambrook and Simon Fell.
The controversy comes as the Chancellor continues to face criticism from his own MPs for planning to slash £1,000-a-year from 6 million Universal Credit claimants, at the end of March.
The all-party parliamentary group on poverty, co-chaired by the Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake, wants the top-up to be retained beyond April, and for the benefit cap to be suspended.The charity Turn2us, which helps people in financial distress, welcomed the demand for a review, warning there was no statutory obligation on councils to have any local welfare scheme.
It also warned of poor publicity, vague criteria and an onerous application process which shut people out, calling for more cash payments rather than food vouchers to be available.
“When the government abolished the Social Fund in 2013, it was thought that it would be more efficient for local councils to deliver crisis support instead,” said Thomas Lawson, chief executive at Turn2us.
“However, households have been left adrift as councils struggle to provide local grant schemes due to lack of funding and lack of statutory obligations.” More

Boris Johnson ‘confident’ of Covid vaccine supplies despite EU ‘toings and froings’Boris Johnson has been accused of a dereliction of duty after he was accused of not doing enough to address Irish Sea trade disruption amid the continued fallout from the European Union’s botched move to invoke a mechanism to suspend elements of the new trading arrangements.Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s first minister, said it was “patronising and offensive” to described the problems encountered by Northern Ireland businesses and consumers in the wake of Vrexit as “teething problems” and she called on the prime minister to act and move immediately to deploy Article 16.It comes after the EU tried to unilaterally suspend part of the Northern Ireland Protocol to prevent the region being used as backdoor to move vaccines from the bloc into the UK. Earlier, the prime minister said he is “very confident” in the security of the UK’s coronavirus vaccine supplies regardless of “the toings and froings” of the European Union.The prime minister’s first public comments since Brussels briefly overrode part of the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland to impose export controls on jabs came after ministers agreed to a “reset” in relations with the EU.Meanwhile, the Irish government revealed that trade between the Republic and Great Britain has fallen by 50 per cent on this time last year, with the government saying some businesses were experiencing “severe difficulty” adapting to the new controls since the UK left the EU’s single market and customs union at the end of the transition period.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 weekdayShow latest update
1612191133Boris Johnson has promised UK Covid vaccines will go to EU, says Brussels chiefBoris Johnson has promised that coronavirus vaccines from UK factories will be delivered to Europe, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said, political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.As the Commission came under attack for the slow provision of jabs in the EU, Ms von der Leyen last night told German TV that AstraZeneca had agreed to step up deliveries of vaccine in February and March by 9m doses to 40m.And she today said that Pfizer will provide the EU with 75m additional doses of the BioNTech vaccine in the second quarter of 2021, bringing the total to as many as 600m over the course of the year.Samuel Osborne1 February 2021 14:521612189334Too soon to say when ‘surplus’ vaccines could be donated to other countries, Downing Street saysDowning Street said it was too soon to say when “surplus” vaccine doses could be donated to other counties, such as European Union member states.The prime minister’s official spokesman refused to say whether surplus doses would only be available once all UK adults had been offered a jab – which might not be until September – or whether vaccines could be donated once only the priority groups had been immunised by the spring.”It’s too early to discuss surplus doses,” the spokesman said.”Our priority remains to ensure that we get the vaccine out to the most vulnerable in society – groups one-four and the rest of phase one – by the spring and that’s why we have set out what we will do.”Samuel Osborne1 February 2021 14:221612188360Starmer calls on government to end agony of people still trapped in cladded buildings so long after Grenfell tragedyKeir Starmer has been on Channel 4’s ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’ programme, making the case for the government to end the agony of people still trapped in cladded buildings – so long after the Grenfell tragedy – before a Commons vote later.“I honestly can’t believe, three and a half years after Grenfell, we’re even having this conversation,” the Labour leader said.His attempts at some light-hearted knockabout almost backfired when he said, of his struggles to home-school his kids in maths and English: “I’m scratching my head to try to help the children.”Steph McGovern, the presenter, asked: “Obviously. there’s a lot of figures involved in your job. Do you think, as prime minister, you’d be alright if you weren’t that good at maths?”Sir Keir quickly made clear that he did not mean he couldn’t do maths himself – it was just the teaching of it that presented a challenge, apparently.Samuel Osborne1 February 2021 14:061612187056Johnson ‘optimistic’ about summer holidaysBoris Johnson has said he is “optimistic” people will be able to enjoy a summer holiday this year, provided the disease can be kept under control.”I don’t want to give too much concrete by way of dates for our summer holidays. I am optimistic – I understand the reasons for being optimistic – but some things have got to go right,” he said during a visit to Batley, West Yorkshire.”The vaccine programme has got to continue to be successful. We have got to make sure we don’t get thrown off course by new variants, we have got to make sure that we continue to keep the disease under control and the level of infections come down.”The prime minister said the rollout of the vaccination programme has been “phenomenal” but declined to be drawn on whether the government would meet its targets.”I think it would be unwise to speculate at the moment. I think the NHS, the pharmacies, the volunteers, helped by the Army, they have done an outstanding job,” he said.”The rollout has been phenomenal so far but it is still, relatively speaking, early days.”Samuel Osborne1 February 2021 13:441612186205Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will lead a press conference from No 10 at 5pm this evening, alongside Stephen Powis of NHS England and Susan Hopkins of Public Health England, Downing Street has announced.Samuel Osborne1 February 2021 13:301612185401UK issues sanctions against Zimbabwe officials over killing of protestersThe UK has imposed sanctions on four Zimbabwean security officials over human rights violations, notably the killing of protesters, the foreign secretary has announced.
The sanctions include a ban on travel to the UK and the freezing of assets, and are the first to be targeted at individuals under the recently launched Zimbabwe autonomous sanctions regime, which the British government said aims to encourage the Mnangagwa government to “respect democratic principles and institutions”.The government said the officials targeted, including Owen Ncube, Zimbabwe’s security minister, are responsible for the deaths of 17 people in protests against a fuel hike in 2019 and the deaths of six protesters in violence in the wake of President Mnangagwa’s rise to power.Liam James1 February 2021 13:161612184402Schools return a ‘major, major’ priority, says Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson suggested education was more of a concern for the government than the economy when considering the impacts of the pandemic.On a visit to Batley in West Yorkshire, the prime minister said he thought the economy could “bounce back” before turning to education: “The thing that really concerns me at the moment is education and the deficit in our children’s education that we have run up as a result of these lockdowns.“That for me is one of the major, major priorities for us – making sure that we ameliorate and repair the loss of time in the classroom, the loss of educational opportunities.”
Ministers have promised schools will be the first to leave lockdown and the prime minister said the return of pupils would be “the first sign of normality beginning to return”. More

Trade between the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain routes has fallen by 50 per cent on this time last year, according to new figures by the Irish government highlighting the impact of the post-Brexit rules.The government said some businesses were experiencing “severe difficulty” adapting to the new controls since the UK left the EU’s single market and customs union at the end of the transition period.The data showed that trade volumes on Republic of Ireland and Great Britain routes were half of those reported in January 2020, with 17,500 freight vehicles arriving in Ireland on 390 ferries.However, trade was gradually increasing week-by-week, from 61 inbound movements between 1-2 January, to 1,336 between 28-29 January while freight volumes on routes to mainland Europe were up 100 per cent on last year.The initial drop was down to a number of factors, including the post-Brexit checks and controls, restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic and stockpiling ahead of the end of the transition period, officials said.In a statement, the Irish government said departments and state agencies recognised the new trading arrangements with Great Britain represented the biggest change for trade and businesses in almost 50 years.A spokesperson added: “While many are successfully continuing to trade with Great Britain, mainly as a result of their levels of preparation ahead of December 31, some businesses, large and small, are having great difficulty, in difficulty, adapting to the new system of controls.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 weekdayIn a survey of its members the organisation Make UK – a representative body for manufacturers – added that the impact of the new trading rules and UK-EU relationship is already having a severe impact.The organisation said some 61 per cent of businesses are suffering supply chain disruption either importing or exporting to and from the EU.Make UK added: “Northern Ireland Protocol means that there will be additional checks on goods and declarations between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. “While a number of companies seem to be aware of these new checks, not all companies have put the necessary plans and practices in place. One in five companies say they are aware and have registered for the trader support service in Northern Ireland.”However, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme on Sunday, the international trade secretary Liz Truss claimed: “There were all kinds of predictions of Armageddon, that we’d have huge queues at Dover, it would all be very difficult.“In fact, many businesses have succeeded in undergoing those new processes, continuing their exports, we haven’t seen those predictions of Armageddon come true.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has called for a “turning point” in the cladding scandal and urged ministers to make all homes safe by next year. His call comes as Labour releases an analysis it has carried out of official data, which the party says suggests up to 11 million people could face being left with “life changing” repair costs or unsellable properties.Labour will force a non-binding vote in the Commons on the issue on Monday – more than three-and-a-half years after dangerous cladding was blamed for fuelling the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people.Although it will not compel ministers to act, Labour hopes the vote will show the strength of feeling across political parties on the issue.  Labour wants a new, legally enforceable deadline of 2022 to make all homes safe.The party is also calling for a new National Cladding Taskforce, modelled on a successful approach taken in Australia, to prevent leaseholders bearing the cost.Minsters should also provide immediate funding to remove potentially deadly cladding from blocks and pay for other urgent fire safety measures, the party says, as well as legislation to protect residents from costs.
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 party says a new analysis it has carried out of figures from the New Build Database and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests the cladding scandal could be even larger than previously imagines and affect up to 11 million people in the UK.  Not all will have flammable cladding on their blocks. Instead, some will have other fire safety issues which have been identified as a result of inspections looking for cladding.  Others will be unable to sell at the moment because of demands from mortgage lender around inspections, sources said.  Sir Keir said the Commons vote “needs to be a turning point for those affected by the cladding scandal. Millions of people have been sucked into this crisis due to years of dither, delay and half-baked solutions from the government”.“For many leaseholders, the dream of home ownership has become a nightmare. They feel abandoned, locked down in flammable homes and facing ruinous costs for repair work and interim safety measures.
“I urge Conservative MPs to vote with us in Parliament today and put their constituents’ safety and security first. And I urge the government to get a grip of this crisis through a national taskforce and by implementing Labour’s six demands.”A spokesperson for the  Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said:“Leaseholders shouldn’t have to worry about the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects in high-rise buildings that they didn’t cause – and should be protected from large-scale remediation costs wherever possible.“We all want to see homes made safer, as quickly as possible and backed by our £1.6bn funding we are making good progress on remediating unsafe homes.“The Building Safety Bill is the appropriate legislative mechanism for addressing these issues and will be brought forward in due course.” More

Health Secretary warns of ‘tough few months between now and then’  More

Boris Johnson also saw a bounce in his personal rating More

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‘On track” to vaccinate everyone in care homes by this evening  More