UK Politics

Boris Johnson considering not replacing ethics adviser after Lord Geidt quitsBoris Johnson has risked angering northern Tories by cancelling an appearance at a conference they are holding in Yorkshire on Friday afternoon. Tory MP Jake Berry, chair of the Northern Research Group, said he had been told by No 10 that some government business had “come up”.“It’s really disappointing,” said Mr Berry. “It’s an unfortunate thing, but at the end of the day he’s the prime minister of this country and things come up. It’s up to No 10 to explain what has come up.” It was later announced that Mr Johnson was on a surprise visit to Kyiv. The cancelled visit comes after northern Conservative MPs warned the prime minister his “levelling up” plan would fail unless the north was given devolved tax powers and greater funding. Meanwhile, the government has faced a backlash over reports it will not appoint a new ethics adviser after the resignation of Lord Geidt.John Penrose, who quit as the anti-corruption tsar earlier this month over the prime minister’s response to the Partygate scandal, said: “You can’t just pretend it doesn’t matter, and that there’s no job to be done.”Show latest update

1655476857Ministers told to boost school meal funding as children ‘getting smaller portions’Children are getting fed less at school as the cost of food soars, The Independent has learned. Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner for England, called on the government to increase the amount spent on each meal.Speaking to The Independent, she said: “Schools must receive the resources they need to meet the soaring demand for free school meals, so they don’t have to cut back on the quality or quantity of the food they provide.“Children growing up in poverty should not be the victims of a failure to plan for the inevitable impact on school budgets of the cost of living crisis.” Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 15:401655475616UK among countries to sign first ever declaration imposing limits on bombing urban areasThe UK, the US, France, and Japan are among the signatories of a new political declaration to avoid bombing and shelling populated towns and cities. The move will “lead to countless lives being saved”, Emily Tripp, director of Airwars, a UK-based monitoring group. “We welcome the UK’s announcement that it intends to sign the Political Declaration, we urge the UK to stick to its commitment, for other states to follow suit and for clarity on how states expect to implement it,” Ms Tripps told The Independent.Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 15:201655474416Campaigners denounce UK block on move to improve access to Covid vaccine in developing worldThe UK’s involvement in blocking a waiver on intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines is “utterly shameful”, campaigners have said.A compromised deal was reached at the WTO in Geneva on Friday, but it fell short of giving developing countries the freedom to produce their own jabs. The People’s Vaccine Alliance described it as “a technocratic fudge aimed at saving reputations, not lives”, while Oxfam’s Max Lawson said the behaviour of wealthy countries at the WTO was “utterly shameful”.Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports: Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 15:001655473216Lord Geidt resignation: A short history of government ethics advisersAfter Lord Geidt’s resignation, Boris Johnson has indicated that he might not replace him. Here’s Joe Sommerlad with a history of government ethical advisers: Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 14:401655472076Assange will ‘fight back’ against extradition order, says wife Earlier today, the Home Office confirmed that Priti Patel had signed the order to extradite Julian Assange to the US, where he faces espionage charges over some of his WikiLeaks revelations. Responding to the announcement, Stella Assange, his wife, said: “It is extremely difficult when his life is being decided by third parties – making life or death decisions based on politics.“He’s very strong… we have to fight back.“His instinct is to fight back and so is mine.“We’re going to fight back harder.”Mr Assange has two weeks to launch a challenge against Ms Patel’s order. Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 14:211655470816Senior Tory MP ‘really disappointed’ as PM skips conferenceBoris Johnson will not be going to Doncaster for the Northern Research Group (NRG) conference, despite telling the group of red wall Tory MPs he would appear on Friday afternoon.Tory MP Jake Berry, chair of the NRG, said he had been told by No 10 that some government business had “come up”.“It’s really disappointing,” said Mr Berry. “It’s an unfortunate thing, but at the end of the day he’s the prime minister of this country and things come up. It’s up to No 10 to explain what has come up.”“I would have loved for him to come. We were all ready with an over ready set of policies … We will make sure he hears everything is said today. I’m going to phone him tomorrow.”Adam Forrest17 June 2022 14:001655469736Downing Street defends PM over ethics adviser debacle Downing Street has said Boris Johnson does not have to appoint a new ethics adviser. “He (the prime minister) will take advice from advisers within No 10 and others with expertise in this area and it may be that the prime minister decides to make a like-for-like replacement, or it might be that we set up a different body that undertakes the same functions.“But the prime minister thinks it’s right to take the time to reflect on those issues which are well highlighted.”Lord Evans, the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, vehemently disagrees, warning that “removing this independent voice on standards issues at the heart of government would risk further damage to public perceptions of standards”.Rory Sullivan17 June 2022 13:421655468536Priti Patel has agreed to extradite Julian AssangePriti Patel agrees to extradite Julian AssangeRory Sullivan17 June 2022 13:221655467456Inside Politics Here’s today’s politics round-up, courtesy of my colleague Matt Mathers: More

Campaigners have denounced as “utterly shameful” the UK’s involvement in blocking changes which would give developing countries freedom to produce and export their own supplies of Covid-19 vaccines.A compromised deal agreed at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva in the early hours of Friday was described by the People’s Vaccine Alliance as “a technocratic fudge aimed at saving reputations, not lives”.The UK’s international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that the agreement should make it easier for developing countries “to export the vaccines they produce within existing flexibilities”.But she stressed that it did not amount to a waiver on intellectual property rights – known as TRIPS – which has been sought by developing countries led by South Africa and India for the past two years.The UK has joined the EU, US and Switzerland in opposing a wholesale waiver because of the implications for drug companies’ profits.“The UK is a long-standing champion of equitable access to vaccines,” she said.“However, we could only accept an outcome on TRIPS that was operable and did not undermine the existing intellectual property framework. That is why the UK fought hard to clarify the exact intent and scope behind the TRIPS Decision. After intense negotiations, we are satisfied the final text is sufficiently workable.”Oxfam’s Max Lawson, co-chair of the PVA, said the Geneva deal largely restated existing rights to override patents in certain circumstances, and could actually make it more difficult for poorer countries to access vaccines in a future pandemic.“The conduct of rich countries at the WTO has been utterly shameful,” said Mr Lawson.“The EU has blocked anything that resembles a meaningful intellectual property waiver. The UK and Switzerland have used negotiations to twist the knife and make any text even worse. And the US has sat silently in negotiations with red lines designed to limit the impact of any agreement.“It is disgraceful that rich countries have prevented the WTO from delivering a meaningful agreement on vaccines and have dodged their responsibility to take action on treatments while people die without them.”Saoirse Fitzpatrick, chair of the UK Missing Medicines Coalition, said: “It has been deeply concerning to hear reports that the UK government pushed for changes to the text to make it harder for countries to expand access to Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments.“The outcome before us today is simply an exercise in saving face for wealthy nations. With a deal reached, they will tout success, whilst global Covid monopolies remain largely intact.”Sakina Datoo, from Uxbridge, said that her 83-year-old father died from Covid because he was unable to access a jab in his home country of Tanzania, where vaccination rates stand at just 7 per cent.Ms Datoo, now a patient leader in the Just Treatment campaign, said: “I find it almost incomprehensible that the UK, a country which has been at the front of the queue for both vaccines and treatments, has reportedly lobbied so hard to prevent the same access for others. “Perhaps if Boris Johnson and the British government had backed the calls to end Covid monopolies at the start, my Dad would still be alive today.”A spokesperson for the Department of International Trade said: “The UK has been a world leader in ensuring developing countries can access vaccines. We have committed up to £1.4bn of UK aid to address the impacts of the pandemic, including up to £829m on global development, manufacture and delivery of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests.“We have said all along that the intellectual property framework has incentivised innovation and enabled us to respond to the pandemic. All WTO members have agreed – by consensus – a decision which works within the existing intellectual property system and makes it easier for developing countries to export the vaccines they produce.” More

Priti Patel has signed an order to extradite Julian Assange to the US to face espionage charges, the Home Office has confirmed.The Wikileaks founder now has 14 days to launch an appeal against the decision.The decision was described as “a dark day for press freedom and for British democracy” by Wikileaks, which confirmed that Mr Assange will appeal.“Julian did nothing wrong,” said the group in a statement. “He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher and he is being punished for doing his job.”The US has been seeking to put Mr Assange on trial since his website in 2010 published a series of leaks from army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning which pointed to wrongdoing by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.He spent seven years in the embassy of Ecuador in London after breaching bail on an extradition order to face sexual offence charges in Sweden, which were dropped in 2019.He was arrested on leaving the embassy that year and has since remained in Belmarsh high-security prison. After a High Court ruling in favour of the US last December, Assange’s extradition was formally approved by Westminster Magistrates Court in April.A Home Office spokesperson today said: “Under the Extradition Act 2003, the secretary of state must sign an extradition order if there are no grounds to prohibit the order being made. Extradition requests are only sent to the home secretary once a judge decides it can proceed after considering various aspects of the case.“On 17 June, following consideration by both the Magistrates Court and High Court, the extradition of Mr Julian Assange to the US was ordered. Mr Assange retains the normal 14-day right to appeal.“In this case, the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr Assange. Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the US he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health.”Senior broadcaster John Simpson was one of the first to speak out against the extradition decision.“Journalists in Britain and elsewhere will be very worried by the decision to extradite Julian Assange to the US — both for his own well-being and for the precedent it creates for journalism worldwide,” said Mr Simpson.Quinn McKew, executive director of the Article 19 campaign for freedom of expression, said: “The Home Office’s decision to extradite Julian Assange exposes its complicity in undermining press freedom just as it claims to be a world leader on freedom of expression. “It also sends a worrying message to the world that journalists, activists and anyone who exposes important truths about crimes – including those committed by governments and businesses — do not deserve protection for their rights to impart information and speak freely. “Article 19 urges Priti Patel and the UK government to reverse this decision.” More

It will “take a decade” to resolve the crisis inflicted on Ireland by Brexit and the border checks created in the Irish Sea, David Davis has suggested.The warning came as the former Brexit secretary blamed “Remainers” in Theresa May’s administration for the weak negotiating position the UK found itself in after the 2016 referendum.Mr Davis also conceded that the promised benefits of Brexit put forward by the Leave campaign have yet to materialise, while insisting: “It’s largely recoverable.”But, amid the fresh crisis over the Northern Ireland Protocol, he said: “Ireland’s going to take a long time. It’s going to take a decade to get right, I think. Maybe I’m wrong about a decade, but it’s going to take years.”The Tory veteran claimed neither side of the Brexit campaign foresaw the Irish crisis, telling the Politico website: “I think that’s a fair criticism of the overall debate.”However, both Tony Blair and John Major warned of the threat to the peace process from having to create a trade border, if the UK left the EU single market and customs union.In contrast, Boris Johnson infamously claimed the challenge was no greater than crossing the boundaries of different boroughs in London.He also insisted there would be no Irish Sea border checks as a result of the withdrawal agreement he reached – although a leaked Treasury analysis made clear they were inevitable.On the 2017 negotiations he led, Mr Davis said: “I was shut out, basically. No. 10 was running a parallel policy. They’re all Remainers – you’d expect it.“They took the view that being ultra-reasonable would deliver the result and it didn’t. I’m not saying that somehow she was some sort of traitor to the cause, she wasn’t. It’s a mindset.”The UK and the EU are heading for a legal battle over London’s new legislation to collapse the Protocol, which Brussels has declared “illegal”.Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, condemned a breach of international law that is “extremely damaging to mutual trust and respect between the EU and the UK”.The Commission has begun three infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to implement the Protocol, concerning the suspension of food checks, staffing levels at border inspection posts and a failure to share customs data.But, to keep the “door open” to talks, Sefcovic has delayed the nuclear option of legal action over the breach of international law until the legislation is enacted.That is unlikely for another year, with the House of Lords likely to block it, creating a 12-month delay because the legislation was not in the Conservative election manifesto. More

Pupils in some of Scotland’s remotest schools could be having their lunches delivered by drone, if a new trial is a success.In what is thought to be the first move of its kind in the UK, Argyll and Bute Council is teaming up with drone specialists Skyports to trial the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in delivering school meals.Flying from Oban Airport, the trial will involve drones delivering meals prepared in Park Primary School in the the town to Lochnell Primary, which is also in Oban and is just 1.5km (just under one mile) away.With Argyll and Bute – which is Scotland’s second-largest local authority area – having 23 inhabited islands, council leader Robin Currie said the use of drones could bring “quite staggering” opportunities to improve services.

We have already seen how drones can deliver essential media supplies to our islands and now we want to make sure all pupils have access to healthy school meals.Robin Currie, leader, Argyll and Bute CouncilHe said: “We are committed to connecting remote and island communities to vital mainland services. The possibilities of using UAV’s to improve services to our communities is quite staggering.“Argyll and Bute is the perfect location to test the efficiency of drone technology.“We have already seen how drones can deliver essential media supplies to our islands and now we want to make sure all pupils have access to healthy school meals.”Mr Currie added delivering meals to pupils was “just the start of what is possible using drones”, as the council looks to create the  UK’s first UAV logistics and training hub at Oban Airport.He added: “From maintaining our assets including roads and bridges to inspecting offshore wind farms, developing the use of drones will help develop skills, create jobs and attract further and investment to the area.”The council has already received £170,000 of UK Government Community Renewal funding for the work, with further funding expected to enable the construction of the new hub by March 2025. More

Northern Tories are warning Boris Johnson that his promise to ‘level up’ the country will fail without proper funding and radical new tax powers.The prime minister is expected to attend the first ever Northern Research Group conference in Doncaster, where he will face calls for dramatic devolution – and to cut taxes.Jake Berry, the group’s chair, said its “big push” is for spending in the North to match much higher levels in London and for its cities to be able to vary corporation tax.A “levelling up formula” was needed now to put money behind Michael Gove’s 12 “missions” to tackle the country’s vast inequalities, which have been widely criticised for lacking beef.“You can’t have radical missions without having a radical funding formula,” Mr Berry warned Mr Johnson.“Public spending in London is 15 per cent higher than the UK average. We want to see that level out across the country,” he told BBC Radio 4.The group is also on a collision course with the government over a wider call for taxes to be cut immediately, as “a great way of putting money back in people’s pockets”.Mr Gove, the levelling up secretary, has echoed the chancellor Rishi Sunak by ruling out tax cuts until inflation – now heading for 11 per cent this year – is brought under control.But Mr Berry said: “We are the only country in the G7 that is reacting to the cost of living crisis by putting taxes up and we have the slowest growing economy. I think those two things are connected.”And he added: “We want to see a right to devolution – with all areas, not just cities’ having the ability to have a devolution deal that suits them.”However, he insisted Mr Johnson will receive a warm welcome in Doncaster from the 50-strong group, formed after the prime minister conquered Labour’s ‘Red Wall’ at the 2019 general election.“He is embracing the Northern Research Group and the northern agenda and levelling up and we’re in support of everything he’s doing,” Mr Berry said.In Doncaster, the group will push for a “devomax government”, which would let local areas take on powers to lower taxes, dictate housing requirements and set stamp duty rates.It is certain to be opposed fiercely by the Treasury, which traditional guards tax-and-spending powers.Mr Berry will say: “We need wide-ranging fiscal freedoms – Conservative freedoms, and the freedom to lower taxes.“There are almost as many people living in Greater Manchester as in Wales – yet Wales has power over tax, while Greater Manchester does not.” More

A Conservative candidate at an upcoming by-election has refused to say whether she believes Boris Johnson is honest, in the latest blow for the prime minister.Helen Hurford, who is standing to retain the seat of Tiverton and Honiton for the governing party, also criticised the media’s “persistent regurgitating of Partygate”.In an interview with the Guardian newspaper the ex-headteacher twice declined to endorse the prime minister’s honesty.“I think Boris thinks that he is an honest person. How I conduct myself is how I conduct myself, and I think you are trying to catch me out here,” she told the newspaper.The prime minister has been accused of lying to parliament over his illegal lockdown partying, for which he was fined. Critics also point out that he has been sacked for lying from previous jobs as a journalist and a Tory opposition frontbencher.The Liberal Democrats believe they could be on course to take the Devon seat from the Tories after the resignation of MP Neil Parish for looking at pornography in parliament.A spokesperson for the opposition party said it was “astounding that Helen Hurford cannot even say if Boris Johnson is honest, yet still supports him as Prime Minister”.“Tiverton & Honiton has been taken for granted by the Conservatives for decades, and it’s clear voting for Boris Johnson’s candidate will not change this.”The prime minister faces a dual by-election test next week, both in the south-west seat and in Wakefield – where Labour has mounted a campaign to recapture the red wall seat.His candidate in Wakefield Nadeem Ahmed, also raised eyebrows on Thursday after he said his predecessor Imran Ahmad Khan was “one bad apple” and “we still trust GPs after Harold Shipman killed hundreds of people”.Mr Khan was stood down as MP after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. He was jailed for 18 months. More