UK Politics

A defiant Boris Johnson has told MPs he will fight to stay in power, joking that his political career has “barely begun”Facing the Commons for the first time since surviving a bruising no-confidence vote by his own MPs, the prime minister was told he is “loathed” by many of them.But Mr Johnson insisted that nothing is “going to stop us with getting on delivering for the British people”.Angela Eagle, a senior Labour MP told him: “This week’s events have demonstrated just how loathed this prime minister is – and that’s only in his own party.“As his administration is too distracted by its internal divisions to deal with the challenges we face, can the prime minister explain if 148 of his own backbenchers don’t trust him why on earth should the country?”Hitting back, Mr Johnson told her: “I can assure her in a long political career so far – barely begun – I’ve of course picked up political opponents all over.“And that is because this government has done some very big and very remarkable things which they didn’t necessarily approve of.“And what I want her to know is that absolutely nothing and no-one, least of all her, is going to stop us with getting on delivering for the British people.”But the prime minister struggled for backing in the Commons, receiving only muted cheers from his own MPs and no early supportive interventions.Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, also mocked Mr Johnson, pointing out that for weeks he has called for his resignation – only to be met with a “wall of noise” from Tory MPs.“All this time, 41 per cent of them have been cheering me on!” he joked, noting the proportion which voted against the prime minister in Monday’s vote.Keir Starmer seized on the admission by the culture secretary Nadine Dorries that the government had been unprepared for the Covid pandemic.“Why did his culture secretary – I think she is hiding along the bench – say that successive Conservative governments left our health service wanting and inadequate when the pandemic hit?” the Labour leader asked.Mr Johnson did not deny the allegation, which is likely to form a key part of the public inquiry into Covid which he has long delayed.Instead, he replied: “Everybody knows that when the pandemic hit it was an entirely novel virus for which the whole world was unprepared.“Nobody at that stage, nobody knew how to test for it, nobody knew what the right quarantine rules should be.“But as it happened, the UK government and our amazing NHS not only approved the first vaccine anywhere in the world, we were the first to get it into anybody’s arms and we had the fastest rollout anywhere in Europe.”Mr Johnson also sought to give the impression of a government acting on key problems, by “expanding home ownership for millions of people” and “cutting the costs of business”.A major speech this week is expected to extend the Right to Buy to housing association residents and pave the way for quick-build “flatpack” homes, More

Boris Johnson has promised that home secretary Priti Patel will look into the case of a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl forced back into the war zone after the UK government “refused” to process her application.Labour MP Tulip Siddiq told the prime minister that a constituent had tried to provide a home to the 13-year-old girl and her 18-year-old sister – but Home Office bureaucracy had split the family apart.She said the two Ukrainian sisters been housed in “dangerous temporary accommodation” in Montenegro for several weeks while waiting to hear if they would be accepted under the UK’s sponsorship scheme.“The House Office refused to process the application of the younger sister because she is 13 and travelling without her parents, even though she had her 18-year-old sister with her,” the senior Labour MP said during PMQs.The shadow Treasury minister told the Commons: “The 18-year-old sister is now in London and the 13-year-old sister has been sent back to her hometown in Ukraine, which is under siege.”She added: “Can the prime minister can he tell me, hand on heart, does he think sending vulnerable children back to a war zone is the right policy?”Mr Johnson pledged that Ms Patel would examine the case. “I understand her indignation about the case she mentions, and I know that my right honourable friend the home secretary will be looking into it,” he said.The PM added: “I have to say I do think the record of this country in processing so far well over 120,000 visas for Ukrainians is very creditable.”Another Labour MP shouted “shameful!” in the Commons chamber after the case was raised.Lawyers helping Ukrainian refugees reach the UK have warned that families were being “split” by a Home Office system which deals with parents, adult children and children under 18 separately.Although more than 120,000 visas have been issued to those who have fled the Russian invasion, the refugees minister revealed on Tuesday that there are still almost 20,000 Ukrainians waiting for a UK visa application to be completed.Lord Harrington told the upper chamber that 65,7000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the UK since the start of the war in February. He said 19,000 were still waiting in cases involving “different levels of complexity”.The minister also refused to say if those fleeing that warzone could be sent to Rwanda if they arrive by routes deemed “illegal”.Lord Paddick, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, noted that a senior Home Office official said in May 11 that undocumented people who travel from the Ukraine to the UK could be considered for removal to central Africa.Lord Harrington: “There’s two very good legal channels for refugees from Ukraine to come to this country and therefore there’s no reason at all for them to be sent to Rwanda or anyone else – other than, I hope, back to Ukraine back when the political and military situation allows that.”Ukrainian refugees the UK could be housed in B&Bs indefinitely under new laws quietly pushed through by the government – sparking accusations of a “two-tier system” of housing support.An amendment to homelessness laws last month states the six-week limit homeless families can spend in B&B accommodation will no longer apply to refugees who have fled from Ukraine and Afghanistan. More

London Underground passenger numbers recovered to their pre-pandemic levels for the first time since March 2020 over the Jubilee bank holiday, figures show.The new numbers released by the Department for Transport on Wednesday show passenger levels on the Tube were at 118 per cent of the same level last year on Thursday, and 108 per cent on Friday.The passenger increase was apparently driven by Jubilee celebrations and marks the first time ridership has passed 2020 levels on any given day – a major milestone.But while Tube ridership has been recovering steadily, outside the Jubilee the system is still below pre-pandemic loading on most days – significantly so on weekdays. In normal times Transport for London finances its operations with passenger revenues, and the collapse in ridership during Covid-19 has put it in dire financial straits. A government bailout to cover the finding gap expires this month and TfL is likely to require more cash to avoid sharp cuts – albeit less than in previous rounds due to more passengers returning.TfL is already consulting on closing flagship bus routes through central London, including the 24 which runs past the Houses of Parliament. Bosses have also said without more funding a Tube line may have be mothballed and other projects like new safe cycle infrastructure have been put on ice.Ridership has been creeping up in recent weeks and is now consistently over 70 per cent on most weekdays, except Monday when more people tend to work from home.Weekends have recovered better, with ridership now over 90 per cent in the most recent non-bank holiday weekend.Both figures are a marked improvement compared to the start of the year where ridership was clocking in between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on most days.Outside London national rail is also recovering, slightly ahead of the Tube on ordinary days.Ridership across Great Britain, including London, is slightly above or below 90 per cent on most days across the UK rail network, as of the latest revised figures released by the DfT.But both TfL and rail operators have warned that revenues are not recovering at the same rate as passengers as fewer people are buying five-day-a-week season tickets and more people are choosing to travel at off-peak times with lower fares.Yet the figures appear to show predictions that public transport would become obsolete or unviable post-pandemic have not come to pass. Sustained passenger growth in recent decades on the UK’s rail network means that even the reduced ridership levels are roughly where they were less than a decade ago.Responding to the latest figures, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “It was incredible to welcome tourists from across Britain and around world to London, to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. “Our capital’s world-class public transport enabled visitors to enjoy the fantastic events taking places throughout the weekend. “The brand new Elizabeth line was open throughout the weekend and saw more than 1 million journeys made. “In the last 70 years the Queen has led our country through some of the most extraordinary times in our history, and these celebrations have played a key role in supporting our recovery from the pandemic, boosting tourism and drawing visitors from across the globe back to London.” More

Bosses at YouGov suppressed publication of a poll during the 2017 election campaign because it was “too positive about Labour”, a former manager at the pollster has claimed.Chris Curtis said a poll conducted after a key leadership debate showed Jeremy Corbyn had won “by a country mile” but that the pollster banned its release while under pressure from its Tory MP founder.YouGov denies Mr Curtis’s characterisation of events and says the poll was in fact pulled because it had “a skewed sample” – but Labour figures branded the claims “shocking” and said they raised questions about “the health of our democracy”. In a post on social media on Wednesday Mr Curtis, who is now head of political polling at competitor Opinium said: “We did a fantastic debate poll in the hours following the debate that Corbyn took part in.”The results were stark – Corbyn won by a country mile, and one in four Tory voters thought he was best.”But despite having written the story and designed the charts, we were banned from releasing the story because it was too positive about Labour.”Mr Curtis said YouGov bosses had “panicked at the backlash” to earlier research correctly predicting a hung parliament – against all expectations.He said Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP who co-founded the company in the year 2000, telephoned YouGov’s chief executive and “said he would call for his resignation if he was wrong”.Mr Curtis added: “It became pretty clear we would all be out of the job if we were wrong now.” He clarified that Mr Zahawi had not “directly had a hand” in the decision on the individual poll, however.The firm’s polling methodology was also tweaked for the final poll before the election to increase the Tory lead “after pressure from high-ups and despite protests from those of us who thought it wasn’t ok”, he added.John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor at the time, told The Independent: “This is a shocking but immensely important revelation. It throws into question the integrity and independence of polling on this country.”The Labour MP said he believed the “bulk” of the media were “working overtime to prevent Labour being elected”, and added: “To find out that polling was being manipulated against us takes the debate about the health of our democracy to a new level.”James Schneider, who was head of strategic communications for Labour at the election, said the claim “more than confirms my suspicions at the time about modelling meddling”.Labour came from well behind the 2017 election to overturn Theresa May’s majority and increase its vote share to 40 per cent.YouGov’s MRP model was the first survey to correctly predict this result, including down to some individual seats.The company was founded by Mr Zahawi, who was later elected a Tory MP in 2010, and Stephan Shakespeare, a former Tory candidate from the 1997 election. Mr Zahawi currently does not hold a formal role with the company. A spokesperson for YouGov told The Independent: “Chris Curtis’s allegation that we suppressed a poll because the results were ‘too positive about Labour’ is incorrect. “There was a poll run by Chris following the debate in Cambridge on 31st May 2017. When reviewed by others in the YouGov political team, it was clear that the sample of people who watched the debate significantly over-represented Labour voters from the previous election. “We take our responsibilities as a research organisation seriously and we could not have published a poll from a skewed sample that favoured any party. No serious polling organisation would have published this. “The idea that YouGov would suppress a poll that was ‘too positive about Labour’ is plainly wrong – as evidenced by the fact that in the 2017 election YouGov published an MRP model showing Labour doing significantly better compared to most other polling organisations.”Responding to YouGov in follow-up comments, Mr Curtis said he believed the poll in question was conducted in “exactly the same way as we ran this other debate poll, which nobody had any problem with us publishing”. And he added: “The most important finding of the poll, the one I wanted to focus on and thought was most important, was that a good chunk of Tory voters thought Corbyn had won. This is rare in a debate poll where results normally fall down party lines.” Mr Zahawi, who is now education secretary, confirmed that he had spoken to YouGov’s chief executive, but said his comments about dismissing the boss were made in jest.”This was clearly a joke between two good friends, who had previously been business partners for several years,” he said in a statement posted on social media.”Stephan [Shakespeare] continues to be one of my closest friends and at no point since leaving YouGov in 2010 have I had any influence on the company. Suggesting otherwise is untrue.” More

Labour has accused Boris Johnson’s government of acting as a “commentator rather than a player” over looming rail strikes, as they called on ministers to sit down with unions and companies to seek a resolution to their dispute.The prime minister described the industrial action planned by the RMT rail union for late June as “reckless and wanton” and urged Sir Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions in the Commons to condemn the strikes.But a senior Labour spokesperson later said it was time the government took an active role in seeking to head off the three-day shutdown, which is due to take place on 21, 23 and 25 June and risks disrupting thousands of music fans heading for the Glastonbury festival.“There is still time for there to be a resolution and we would encourage the government to play a more active role in working with Network Rail and the unions to ensure they don’t go ahead,” said the Labour spokesperson.“We have seen the government acting as a commentator rather than a player in these issues.”He said that unions have a legitimate role to play representing their members’ interests, but added that Labour does not want to see disruptive strike action go ahead.Health Secretary Sajid Javid this morning said union leaders should “act like adults” and come to a “sensible solution”.“When it comes to these strikes, it is very disappointing what the unions have said, because it’s not just going to cause misery for the travellers, but it’s actually, I think, the wrong outcome for the workers as well,” Mr Javid told BBC Radio 4’s Today.“Because anyone working in this industry, any industry for that matter, you want it to be sustainable for the long term. It’s not possible to keep giving it the same level of support it got during the pandemic.”Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson said strikes would cause “lasting damage” to the industry and those who work in it.However, he was unable to give any date for the introduction of legislation promised by the prime minister to impose minimum service levels during periods of industrial action.“The key fact would be for them not to push ahead with these damaging strikes which will drive people away from using the railways at a time when we are already seeing numbers down on pre-pandemic levels,” he said.“It is a self-defeating approach which will do lasting damage to not just the railways but to rail workers.” More

New fears have been raised in government that the UK will breach international law if it ploughs ahead with plans to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol.In leaked correspondence, a senior legal adviser warned it could not be argued “credibly” that there is no alternative to unilaterally overriding the Brexit agreement.It would be “very difficult” for the government to make that case, the adviser has told ministers, according to the PoliticsHome website which has seen the correspondence.Separately, it is believed that James Eadie, the government’s independent barrister on national legal issues, has not been consulted on whether a planned Bill will break international law.Sky News reported that Sir James has indicated his belief that it will be very hard for the UK to defend its unilateral move as legal – while a former cabinet minister told The Independent it was “unprecedented” not to consult the First Treasury Counsel on such an issue.Boris Johnson denied in the Commons that Sir James had not been consulted, telling MPs: “Reports this morning are not correct.” His official spokesperson later confirmed that the PM was referring to Eadie, telling reporters it was “not correct to say he hasn’t been consulted in that process”.However, the spokesperson was unable to say whether Sir James had been asked to give his opinion on the merits of the government’s proposed course of action. Legislation is expected within days to remove trade border checks in the Irish Sea that Boris Johnson agreed as the price for leaving Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market and customs union territory.However, it will go much further than border controls – also targeting the role of the European Court of Justice in overseeing disputes and aiming to restore the UK’s ability to decide VAT rates.Suella Braverman, the attorney general, has concluded the legislation is legal, arguing the greater need is to protect the Good Friday Agreement amid Unionist opposition to the Protocol.But she has rejected calls to publish her legal opinion. The EU argues the Protocol itself protects the 1998 Agreement by avoiding a hard land border in Ireland.The legislation is also under threat in the Commons from Tory MPs who oppose it and will now be tempted to use it as a flashpoint to boost the chances of toppling the prime minister.Jesse Norman, the former Treasury minister who called for Mr Johnson to quit, called it “economically very damaging, politically foolhardy and almost certainly illegal”.Brussels has threatened a trade war and could even rip up the Brexit trade agreement in retaliation – but is likely to wait until the Bill passes, if it does.The Bill is expected to introduce a “dual regulatory regime” which would allow goods produced in Great Britain into Northern Ireland and vice versa with no checks.But, in a move that will fuel doubts about the plan, the government is likely to ask businesses to work out themselves how it can be put into practice.The EU insists it has put forward proposals to ease the burden of checks and points to the UK’s refusal to sign up to common veterinary rules to reduce the need for much of the bureaucracyLast month, Mr Johnson admitted he signed up to the trade barriers created by the Northern Ireland Protocol – while saying he hoped the EU would not “apply” them. More

A defiant British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted Wednesday that he is getting on with his job, as he faced Parliament for the first time since 41% of his own party’s lawmakers called for him to quit.Johnson has been left teetering after surviving a no-confidence vote by Conservative Party legislators by a narrower-than-expected margin. A total of 148 of the 359 Tory lawmakers voted against him in Monday’s ballot.Johnson says he plans to move on and focus on bread-and-butter issues such as clearing national health care backlogs, tackling crime, easing a cost-of-living crisis and creating high-skilled jobs in a country that has left the European Union.“As for jobs, I’m going to get on with mine,” he told lawmakers during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in the House of Commons.But Johnson’s party opponents say they have not given up on pushing him out. They fear that Johnson, his reputation tarnished by revelations of COVID-19 lockdown-breaching government parties, will doom the party to defeat in the next national election, which is due to be held by 2024.Still, Conservative lawmakers dutifully cheered Johnson during a noisy Prime Minister’s Questions, while opponents relished the prime minister’s problems.Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said any Conservatives inclined to give Johnson another chance would be disappointed.“They want him to change — but he can’t,” Starmer said.Scottish National Party leader Ian Blackford called Johnson “a lame duck prime minister presiding over a divided party in a disunited kingdom.” And Labour lawmaker Angela Eagle asked: “If 148 of his own backbenchers don’t trust him, why on Earth should the country?”Johnson replied that “in a long political career so far, I have of course picked up political opponents all over the place.”But he said “absolutely nothing and no one … is going to stop us getting on and delivering for the British people.” More

Boris Johnson has been likened to Monty Python’s fictional Black Knight character “running around declaring it’s just a flesh wound”, after narrowly surviving a no confidence vote.Mocking Mr Johnson, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford also told the prime minister to “wake up to the reality” and that his time in No 10 is “over” after Monday’s vote.His jibe comes after 41 per cent of Conservative MPs voted to remove Mr Johnson from office, severely wounding the prime minister’s political standing.Despite suffering a worse result than former prime minister Theresa May at a similar vote in 2018, Mr Johnson has sought to “move on” and focus on the domestic agenda in the last 24 hours.Describing Mr Johnson as a “lame duck” leader, Mr Blackford compared his reaction to surviving a confidence vote by his MPs to the knight, claiming his mortal injuries were just flesh wounds.“The prime minister is acting like Monty Python’s Black Knight, running around around declaring it’s just a flesh wound,” he told MPs on Wednesday.“No amount of delusion and denial will save the prime minister from the truth — this story won’t go away until he goes away. For once in his life he needs to wake up to reality, prime minister it’s over, it’s done.The prime minister replied: “We had a referendum, as I’ve told the House before, in 2014. I think he should respect the mandate of the people.“He keeps saying he wants independence for his country. Our country is independent… and the only way that independence would ever be reversed would be if we had the disaster of a Labour-SNP coalition to take us back into the EU.”Ian Blackford says 41 per cent of Tory MPs have been ‘cheering’ him onMr Blackford, who said he had been calling for his resignations for weeks, also claimed he had been “met with a wall of noise” from Tory backbenchers when making such demands.“I thought they were trying to shout me down,” he quipped. “All this time it turns out that 41 per cent of them have been cheering me on”.In response, Mr Johnson welcomed Mr Blackford’s “characteristically warm words”, and earlier claimed his political career had “barely begun”. More