UK Politics

Criminal barristers are to receive a 15 per cent fee rise from the end of September, the government announced just days after they closed courts by going on strike.The rise will see a typical criminal barrister receive an additional £7,000 a year, said the Ministry of Justice.But the Criminal Bar Association said that further walkouts will go ahead as planned over the coming weeks, as the offer does not meet their demands for improved pay, but merely brings forward the mechanism for a previously-announced improvement in fees.Criminal solicitors will also receive a 15 percent increase for their work in police stations and magistrates’ and youth courts, with further multi-million-pound reforms to solicitors’ pay still under consideration.Members of the CBA walked out on Tuesday, many joining picket lines outside the Old Bailey and other courts in their wigs and black gown, in a row over legal aid fees for representing defendants who cannot afford to cover the costs themselves. Further strikes were threatened over the coming weeks.A CBA spokesperson told The Independent: “Today’s announcement is regrettably nothing new, as the MOJ had always made it clear that the new payment scheme would only come into effect this autumn and only lock into new instructions from then.“It won’t be retrospective and therefore the record backlog of 58,000-plus cases will still be paid under the old rates for the years it will take to complete them.” More

More than half of people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum next year, according to a new poll.First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced plans for a second vote on the issue on October 19 2023.With the UK Government refusing to grant consent for such a ballot to be held, Ms Sturgeon is asking UK Supreme Court judges to rule if Holyrood can hold a referendum without the backing of Westminster.However, when asked whether a referendum should take place next October, 53% of people said it should not, 40% said it should, and the remainder were undecided, a poll for The Scotsman found.If Supreme Court judges rule the ballot cannot take place, Ms Sturgeon has already declared that the next Westminster election will be a “de facto referendum” on Scotland’s place in the UK.

The battle lines that were drawn in 2014 are all too familiarChris Hopkins, Savanta ComResThe Scotsman poll, carried out by Savanta ComRes, found that 44% of those questioned support independence, while 46% are opposed, both down 1% from a survey last month, while 10% were undecided, which was up three percentage points.When don’t knows were removed, 49% said they would vote Yes, while 51% said they would vote No, which was unchanged.Savanta ComRes interviewed 1,029 Scottish adults aged 16 or over online between June 23 and 28.Associate director Chris Hopkins told the newspaper that the results on the question of whether Scotland should be an independent country are “practically neck and neck”.He said: “Support for a second independence referendum without a Section 30 is driven by those in the Yes camp; opposition comes almost wholly from the No camp.“Four in five Yes voters say the case for independence is stronger now than in 2014, a majority of No voters say it’s weaker now.“The battle lines that were drawn in 2014 are all too familiar, and Nicola Sturgeon’s defiance to hold a referendum at almost any cost just deepens this divide.” More

Nearly two million more people are paying higher rate income tax because Rishi Sunak has scrapped normal increases in allowances, new figures reveal.The numbers paying the higher 40 per cent rate or the additional 45 per cent rate has soared since Boris Johnson came to power in 2019 because of the “stealth tax”, they show.A four-year freeze in the thresholds – which the chancellor is under pressure to rethink, because of soaring inflation – will create more than 3m higher rate taxpayers by the next election, the consultancy LCP is estimating.“Paying higher rate tax used to be reserved for the very wealthiest, but this has changed very dramatically in recent years,” said Steve Webb, a partner at the firm and a former pensions minister.“People who would not think of themselves as being particularly rich can now easily face an income tax rate of 40 per cent and around 1 in 5 of all taxpayers will soon be in the higher rate bracket.”The total number of taxpayers has risen by 2.5 million since 2019, from 31.5 million to 34 million, Sir Steve added.The freeze in allowances had been expected to bring in £8bn for Mr Sunak by dragging millions more workers into paying higher tax.But dramatic rises in inflation – now tipped to top 11 per cent later this year – mean it is now expected to hand the Treasury £21bn over the period.Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said, in March: “With much higher inflation forecasts, it looks like being a massive £21bn tax rise – two-and-a-half times bigger than intended.”Mr Sunak has defended the allowance freeze – which comes at the same as his national insurance increase – as “a fair way to help solve the problems that we need to”.Announced last year, the income tax personal allowance – the level above which people pay income tax – will be held at £12,570 from 2022 until 2026.And the threshold for higher rate income tax of 40 per cent will be frozen at £50,270 over the same period.The chancellor also came under fire at an event hosted by the British Chambers of Commerce, which gave the government until the autumn to “rethink and get their house in order”Shevaun Haviland, the organisation’s director general, said businesses face a “perfect storm” of spiralling costs and demanded an “urgent review” of the list of shortage jobs with looser post-Brexit immigration curbs.“The Spring Statement was a missed opportunity. We saw some support for business, but the lack of a clear strategic direction meant it did not give clarity or confidence,” she said.“This has to change; we are on limited time. The government has until the autumn budget to reset, rethink and get their house in order.” More

Downing Street has disowned claims that a parliamentary inquiry into the Partygate scandal will be a “kangaroo court”, insisting that Boris Johnson trusts the cross-party committee to deliver a fair verdict.However, a spokesperson for No 10 would not commit to the prime minister giving evidence to the inquiry in public and before the TV cameras, saying only that Downing Street would “assist” the committee in its work.No 10 appeared to have mounted a whispering campaign against the crucial probe into whether the prime minister knowingly misled parliament, after it announced that whistleblowers can give anonymous evidence.Allies of Mr Johnson told The Daily Telegraph of their fears of “hearsay evidence” being used against him, also questioning why Labour veteran Harriet Harman will chair the investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee.But foreign secretarty Liz Truss and defence secretary Ben Wallace dismissed questions about the credibility of the process.And a No 10 spokesperson told reporters: “We trust the committee to take its responsibilities seriously.”Asked whether this meant the PM trusted the committee to come to a fair verdict, he replied: “I think that is what that statement alludes to. It’s a parliamentary process and, as I say, we trust the committee to take its responsibilities seriously.”The Telegraph quoted one No 10 source as saying it would be impossible for Mr Johnson to challenge anonymous evidence, when he testifies to the Commons privileges committee in the autumn.“It is bonkers. Going on hearsay evidence is not in the spirit of it. How can you interrogate someone who has not turned up? If you don’t trust the process how can you trust the result?” the paper quoted one pro-Johnson MP saying.But asked if she feared “a Kangaroo court”, Ms Truss told Sky News: “No. We have these processes in parliament. The process has kicked off. We now need to wait for the result.”She told BBC Radio 4: “We need to allow that process to continue. I trust implicitly my parliamentary colleagues to listen properly to the evidence and make the right decision.”The Downing Street spokesperson said that Mr Johnson had been clear he was ready to “assist them in their work”.But he refused to confirm that the PM will give evidence in person, saying that the committee must first determine the format for evidence-taking sessions.No decision has yet been taken on whether questioning of witnesses will take place in public and whether TV cameras will be allowed in.Chris Bryant, who stood aside from chairing the inquiry for Ms Harman because he has called for Mr Johnson to resign, accused him of trying to “throw over the rules” before it has begun.“They’re scared of being caught out. The committee members are thorough, fair and meticulous. They’re advised by the former head of the tribunal service,” he tweeted.“But this is what Johnson always does, throw over the rules or the body that adjudicates on them.”Although anonymous evidence will be allowed, that will only be where Ms Harman is “able to identify the individual’s identity in conjunction with committee staff”.The committee has appointed Ernest Ryder, a former appeal court judge who recently reviewed the standards system that disciplines MPs, as an adviser.The foreign secretary also took a swipe at colleagues using abusive language about Russia’s leader, after Mr Johnson called him “evil” and Mr Wallace said he had “small man syndrome”.“I’ve never met Vladimir Putin. I don’t pretend that I can conduct a psychological analysis of him, nor do I think it’s helpful,” Ms Truss said.And, asked about the prime minister’s argument that Putin would not have invaded if her were a woman, she said: “I believe that both men and women are capable of doing evil things.”Ms Truss also hinted the UK should send weapons to Taiwan, which is threatened by China, saying: “We need to learn the lessons of Ukraine. We could have ensured a Ukraine had the defensive capability earlier.” More

The UK is “at war” with the United States over Ireland and Brexit, Gordon Brown has said.The former Labour prime minister said Boris Johnson’s government would never be able to sign a trade deal with the US until the issues were solved.It comes as Boris Johnson escalates the row over the territory with controversial new legislation.Many Democrats in the US Congress see themselves as the guardians of Good Friday Agreement, which ended the Troubles.They have taken a dim view of what they see as UK brinkmanship over the border with the republic, which is related to Brexit.”We’re at war with America over Ireland because America will not sign a trade treaty with Britain as long as we cannot sort out the issues related to Ireland,” Mr Brown, who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010, told the Beth Rigby Interviews programme on Sky News.The ex prime minister said that even if Joe Biden came around to a trade deal, many in the US congress would not.”He may think that but the American congress will not think that,” he said.”There’s no chance of a trade deal between Britain and America unless we can sort out the problems that are arising in Ireland, and, of course, there’s no chance of getting better trade relationships with Europe unless we can sort these problems out as well.”And that’s very much part of our future because if we cannot export to the leading markets in the world, and cannot do so successfully with these new industries and new technologies, then the cost-of-living crisis will be with us for years and not just temporarily.”The UK and EU agreed a solution to the Northern Ireland border issue during Brexit talks which would keep the frontier with the Republic open, in accordance with the Good Friday arrangements.But as part of the solution the UK agreed to impose new checks on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.Though the protocol has general support in the territory, it has angered some in the unionist community, and Boris Johnson and his ministers now say the arrangements they negotiated are not working. He has brought forward new legislation to give himself powers to override the agreements, which the EU’s chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic last night described as a “gun on the table”.In September 2020 Joe Biden summarised US fears over UK policy by stating: “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.”Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.” More

Tony Blair has warned Keir Starmer he cannot win power until voters are “clear what Labour stands for”, as he holds a festival to push forward new political ideas.The Future of Britain conference has raised eyebrows because of appearances by former Conservative Cabinet ministers – but without boasting any senior Labour figures.Sir Tony denied he has “given up on Labour” and praised his party’s leader for an “enormous amount of progress” since its disastrous 2019 election defeat under Jeremy Corbyn.But he urged Sir Keir to consider “the ideas we are putting forward”, pointing to three huge challenges; a technology revolution, the ‘net zero’ commitment and the damage from Brexit. “If Labour sets out its stall with those type of ideas, that is what can seal the deal with the British people,” the three-times election winner told BBC Radio 4.He added: “We’ve got to be absolutely frank with ourselves. If we want to win, it’s going to be on the basis that people are absolutely clear what Labour is and what it stands for.”The comments reflect wider fears among the architects of New Labour’s 1997 triumph that a cautious Sir Keir is still failing to set out a clear policy agenda.Peter Mandelson told The Spectator magazine: “At the moment, too many voters have no clear idea of who Starmer is. He needs to define himself before his opponents do it for him.”Sir Tony noted that the Labour leadership is promising new policy ideas “later this year”, after Sir Keir confirmed he has ripped up the doomed 2019 manifesto.“In a way, this conference, I mean the ideas we’re putting forward are available for anybody,” he said.The next election would be “as much about Labour as it is about the Conservatives”, he argued, adding: “People will think ‘Yeah, OK, in principle, we should put the Conservatives out’.“But, before they make that change, they’ve got to be sure of Labour.” Sir Keir is “entirely capable of doing that”, he added.The former Labour leader said he had been approached in the past by people seeking start a new party”, but insisted: “I was not involved in creating a new party.”The Future of Britain conference will feature appearances by former Conservative big-hitters Rory Stewart and David Gauke, plus the party’s former Scottish leader Ruth Davidson.Sir Tony was left disappointed after hopes of attracting Emmanuel Macron – who achieved a centrist march to power in France – were thwarted by a clash with the Nato conference.Sir Keir has calmed some of the criticism of his leadership with the Wakefield byelection win, but remains under pressure ahead of a crucial autumn conference. More