UK Politics

Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges has said comments made by Boris Johnson over whether she should race women sparked a deluge of violent threats.The 21-year-old Welsh athlete made headlines in March when her attempts to race at the British National Omnium Championships in the women’s category were thwarted by the world governing body.“I don’t think biological males should be competing in female sporting events” the prime minister said at a time when Bridges was already receiving plenty of criticism.The athlete told ITV News: “It’s really strange to see probably the most famous man in Britain talking about you and having an opinion on something that he doesn’t know anything about.”She added: “The response after that was as expected – I had threats of physical violence made against me by complete strangers online.”Bridges said people were “entitled to hold an opinion about it, but there’s a way to go about voicing that opinion – and threatening to kneecap me is not that way”.The cyclist added: “I’m scared a lot of the time about being who I am in public. Is someone going to recognise me? They were real concerns and it was a real fear that I had after the comments were made, and it was scary. I was scared.”Some of the most vocal critics against Bridges’ potential inclusion in the March event pointed to the fact she had competed in the men’s points race of the British Universities’ Championships a month earlier.The cyclist accepts in hindsight it was possibly the wrong decision, but insisted it was made to ensure she remained competitive, especially ahead of appearing at the championships in Derby, which initial British Cycling rules on transgender participation ensured she could enter.“It probably wasn’t the right thing to do,” Bridges said. “I wanted to do it because I wanted to keep my skills sharp. Immediately after I came off the track, I was like ‘I kind of wish I hadn’t done that’ because I knew what was coming.”After the UCI’s intervention and failure to grant Bridges a switch in licence, British Cycling suspended its transgender policy pending a review to “find a better answer”.It meant any hopes the cyclist from Wales had of competing at the Commonwealth Games where transgender females are allowed to race in the women’s event – in Birmingham this summer were dashed.Mr Johnson and Tory MPs have continued to attempt to raise questions about Labour’s stance on trans issues.Labour first minister of Wales Mark Drakeford confirmed on Wednesday that he believes “transgender women are women” after he was pushed to define what a woman is during a session at the Welsh parliament.Sir Keir Starmer has rejected the framing media questions about whether a woman can be considered to have a penis, calling for more “tolerance”.Asked whether he thought it was fair for transgender women to compete in women’s sport, Sir Keir said: “I think it’s for the sporting bodies to decide for themselves how they deal with this.”The PM raised the issue at PMQs in May, saying: “I just remind the House the right honourable gentleman struggled to define what a woman was.”Labour MP Stella Creasy said last month that she thought women could be born with penises, saying she supported self-identification. “Biological sex is real – it’s just not the end of the conversation.”Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting said in March that “men have penises, women have vaginas”, but said: “That doesn’t mean by the way that there aren’t people who transition to other genders.”Mr Johnson has also defended his decision to scrap plans to ban trans conversion therapy by arguing it would be harmful for children who have doubts about their gender.Asked in April why he was pulling back, the PM pointed to the need for parents to be fully involved in their children’s decisions about whether to undergo “irreversible treatments”. More

Boris Johnson’s ex-girlfriend Petronella Wyatt has said he is in a “mess of his own making” after a rebellion from almost half of his MPs.The journalist, who once had an affair with the prime minsiter while he was editor of The Spectator, appeared on the ITV Good Morning Britain with Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley.“He’s very much a people pleaser, which leads to all sorts of problems in government, because he makes promises he can’t keep, he makes enemies of MPs,” Ms Wyatt said. “While you can do that in your personal life, it catches up with you in politics.”Ms Wyatt hesitated at the question of whether Mr Johnson is liar, saying he “doesn’t intend to,” adding “he lies to get out of difficult situations at work.” She also admitted that he was in the “wrong job.” More

The British government appears to have no political will to resolve its festering trade dispute with the European Union and risks endangering the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Wednesday.Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government said last month that it it would pass a law to scrap parts of a trade treaty with the EU signed less than two years ago. The EU has threatened to retaliate, raising the specter of a trade war between the two major economic partners.“I just simply do not detect a sustained political will on behalf of the U.K. government to settle this, to resolve this, because it without question can be resolved,” Martin told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.Britain said its unilateral move to change the legally binding treaty — an apparent breach of international law — is an insurance policy in case it can’t reach an agreement with the 27-nation bloc to end their dispute over post-Brexit trade rules.Martin said that instead of the British government trying to help fix things, “we have actually seen efforts to block agreements and introduce new problems.”British unionists in Northern Ireland – the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU member state, Martin’s Ireland — oppose the trade rules, which created a customs border in the Irish Sea. They say the new checks have put a burden on businesses and frayed the bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. Britain’s Conservative government insists the rules are hurting the economy and undermining peace in Northern Ireland. When Britain left the bloc and its borderless free-trade zone, a deal was made to keep the Irish land border free of customs posts and other checks, because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.Instead, to protect the EU’s single market, there are checks on some goods, such as meat and eggs, entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.“Unilateral action to set aside a solemn agreement would be deeply damaging,” Martin told the European Parliament on Wednesday. “It would mark a historic low point signaling a disregard for essential principles of laws which are the foundations of international relations. And it would quite literally be for the benefit of absolutely no one.” More

Boris Johnson says no-confidence vote win ‘decisive’ despite mass Tory rebellionBoris Johnson put on a defiant show as he faced MPs in the Commons for the first time since suffering a damaging result in Monday night’s confidence vote on his leadership.SNP leader Ian Blackford launched a blistering attack on Mr Johnson’s position after the confidence vote, branding him a “lame duck” PM.Mr Blackford likened the prime minister to Monty Python’s Black Knight, who claimed fatal wounds were just flesh wounds, and told him: “It’s over, it’s done.”It transpired that 41 per cent of Tory backbenchers agreed with his repeated calls for the prime minister to quit, the SNP MP claimed.But Mr Johnson dismissed the rebels, saying he had “picked up political opponents all over” because his government had “done some very big and very remarkable things which they didn’t necessarily approve of”.Promising new measures on home ownership and defending NHS waiting times from attacks by Sir Keir Starmer, the PM insisted he would fight to stay in power, and joked that his political career had “barely begun”.Show latest update

1654699987Boris Johnson will cut taxes at a ‘responsible’ time, No 10 saysThe government remains committed to cutting taxes but will only act when it is “responsible” to do so, Boris Johnson’s press secretary has said.Mr Johnson has faced renewed calls from Tory MPs to bring down the level of taxation following Monday’s wounding confidence vote.The press secretary said: “We have been clear we want to cut taxes but we are in a very difficult position following the global pandemic so as soon as it is responsible we will set out plans for doing that.”Andy Gregory8 June 2022 15:531654699203Labour MPs call for mass protests over cost of living crisisLabour MP Richard Burgon has called for mass protests and strikes to force Boris Johnson’s government to take stronger action over the cost of living crisis.Writing in the Morning Star, the former shadow cabinet member said that “over the next year, as the crisis bites even harder, the scale of protest will need to match the scale of crisis”.Mr Burgon called for the Trades Union Congress protest on 18 June to be “a spark for further actions that make 2022 a year of protest against this Tory government”, adding: “That’s key to defeating the living standards emergency the Tories are choosing to force on our communities.”His calls were backed by Diane Abbott, who said: “We need mass mobilisation to make the Tories do something about the cost of living crisis.”Andy Gregory8 June 2022 15:401654697736Priti Patel has not met me once in 14 months, says ‘frustrated’ borders chiefThe government’s borders inspector has expressed his “frustration” at not being able to meet Priti Patel once since his appointment more than a year ago, my colleague Adam Forrest reports.David Neal – appointed the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration 14 months ago – told MPs he was “disappointed” to have had five or six meetings with the home secretary cancelled.“I’ve not met the home secretary yet,” he told the home affairs select committee. “I’ve asked to speak to her on a number occasions, and pre-arranged meeting have been cancelled on maybe five or six occasions now.”Asked if the experience was different from experience with other departments, Mr Neal said: “It is – I’m disappointed I haven’t spoken to the home secretary, and frustrated, because I think I’ve got things to offer from the position I hold.”Andy Gregory8 June 2022 15:151654697142Opinion: Captain Boris will go down with his ship of make-believeThe prime minister’s biggest problem is that he is now in so deep in a world of his own, he can’t even see that nobody believes him any more, writes Tom Peck. Mr Johnson will be in denial to his final breath: Jane Dalton8 June 2022 15:051654696542YouGov ‘banned’ release of 2017 leader poll that was ‘too good for Labour’Bosses at pollster YouGov suppressed publication of a survey during the 2017 election campaign because it was “too positive about Labour“, a former manger at the pollster has claimed. Jon Stone reports:Jane Dalton8 June 2022 14:551654695642Johnson not suited to being PM, ex-girlfriend saysBoris Johnson is not suited to the top job because he gets bored with things quickly, a former girlfriend says. Petronella Wyatt said he was in a “mess of his own making” after the rebellion from 41 per cent of his MPs.“His qualities are very endearing but they’re not necessarily the qualities of a great prime minister,” she said. Thomas Kingsley reports:Jane Dalton8 June 2022 14:401654694571Sir Keir has a year to turn things round, warns MandelsonLabour former spin chief doctor Peter Mandelson has warned that Sir Keir Starmer has “got about a year” to turn things around for the party.“Between now and the next year… we’ve got to see more powerful brushstrokes, put down on that canvas.” he told Times Radio.Tony Blair’s former top adviser is set to make a speech in which he will warn the current Labour Party leader he needs to show more “ambition and hard thinking” if we wants to do better than “sneaking over the finishing line”.He will also suggest there is a “desperate need” for Sir Keir to ape some of Boris Johnson’s policies on research and innovation.Mr Blair had urged Sir Keir to do more to “project his personality” in a bid to win round more voters in the next general election, he revealed.Jane Dalton8 June 2022 14:221654694043HS2 will help us cut tax, claims JohnsonBoris Johnson has insisted HS2 will put the government in a better position to cut taxes in the future after a Conservative former cabinet minister urged him to scrap the new high-speed rail line.During Prime Minister’s Questions, Esther McVey, a vocal critic of HS2, said scrapping the project would save “tens of billions of pounds” from a budget that is “spiralling out of control”.She asked the Prime Minister to scrap the “inflated white elephant”.However, Mr Johnson passionately defended HS2, arguing it would deliver “long-term growth and prosperity for the whole of the country”.HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson said the Government would explore alternatives for how HS2 trains would reach Scotland.Jane Dalton8 June 2022 14:141654693528PM denies barristers not consulted over legal status of scrapping NI ProtocolBoris Johnson said reports that the first Treasury counsel – specialist barristers – had not been consulted over whether plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol would break international law were not correct.SDLP leader Colum Eastwood asked him in the Commons: “Today, we hear reports that the Prime Minister refused to consult the first Treasury counsel on his plans to rip up the protocol.“I know this question might be redundant given he might not be around very much longer, but given the Prime Minister’s casual record of casual law-breaking, will he give a commitment to the people of Northern Ireland that he will not be breaking international law any time soon?”Mr Johnson replied: “I can tell him that the reports that he has seen this morning are not correct. “And what I can also tell him is that the most important commitment that I think everybody in this House has made is to the balance and symmetry of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.“That is our highest legal international priority and that is what we must deliver.” Rob Merrick reports:Jane Dalton8 June 2022 14:05165469273724 Hours in A&E is government policy, claims Sir Keir Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Johnson of being “utterly unable” to improve the NHS, warning: “24 Hours in A&E used to be a TV programme – now it’s his policy.”The Labour leader focused his attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions on problems within the health service rather than on Mr Johnson’s leadership woes.Sir Keir responded to the noises heard as Mr Johnson entered the chamber by saying: “I couldn’t make out whether that introductory noise was cheers or boos. The trouble is I don’t know whether it is directed at me or him.”He raised concerns over patients being put at risk by a “failure to fix wanting and inadequate” NHS buildings, a line of attack Mr Johnson labelled “satirical” before arguing: “Attacking our hospital building programme, when they were the authors of the PFI scheme that bankrupted so many hospitals.”Sir Keir said: “Pretending no rules were broken didn’t work, pretending the economy is booming didn’t work, and pretending to build 40 new hospitals won’t work, either…“On top of that he scraps zero-tolerance of 12-hour waits at A&E – 24 Hours in A&E used to be a TV programme, now it’s his policy.”Mr Johnson countered: “We’ve not only raised the standard in the NHS, we’re not only reducing waiting times for those who have had to wait the longest, but what we’re doing more fundamentally is what the people of this country can see is simple common-sense and that’s using our economic strength to invest in doctors and nurses, and get people on the ward, giving people their scans, screens and tests in a more timely manner.”Sir Keir warned “things are getting worse, not better” in the NHS before highlighting two cases of patients who have suffered.MPs heard the first was a semi-professional footballer who tore his anterior cruciate ligament but had to crowdfund for a private operation due to a two-year wait for surgery.The second was of a man who called 999 six times after his mother woke up unable to breathe, with Sir Keir explaining: “In his last call he said: ‘I rang an hour ago for an ambulance as she had difficulty breathing, and now she’s dead.”’Sir Keir pressed Mr Johnson to admit these people “deserve better than a wanting and inadequate Government utterly unable to improve our NHS”.Mr Johnson said he believed all MPs had sympathy with the cases, adding: “I share their feelings, but when you look at what this Government is doing, we are making colossal investments in our NHS, we’re cutting waiting times, we’re raising standards, we’re paying nurses more, we’re supporting our fantastic NHS, and by the way, (Sir Keir) continually came to the House and said we had the worst Covid record in Europe – turned out to be completely untrue, he still hasn’t retracted it.”Johnson faces Starmer After vote of confidenceJane Dalton8 June 2022 13:52 More

Sajid Javid has denied seeking to avoid a huge tax bill when he made a mysterious loan to a business launched by his brother, amid a call for an investigation.Labour has demanded the probe into the health secretary’s ties to a company called SA Capital – accusing him of “hypocrisy” at a time when the government is hiking taxes on the public.The controversy centres on how £585,000 of almost £1m of loans was secured for the company, which Mr Javid briefly co-owned with his brother and their respective wives.Labour has suggested the “purpose of the loans were to provide a tax-efficient way for money held offshore to enter Britain” and that he “potentially avoided paying hundreds of thousands of pounds”.It has asked the tax authorities to investigate – despite the loans being made 20 years ago – because politicians should not be “above the law when it comes to paying their taxes”, a letter said.Asked if had avoided “hundreds of thousands of pounds in tax before you got into politics”, Mr Javid told Sky News: “No, of course not.“This is typical Labour, you know, personal attacks on people. And this is what Labour does when they’ve got nothing to say about the real issues the issues at hand.”He added: “Some 20 years ago, did I invest in my brother’s business to help him start a new business? Of course I did, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.“I think that’s something that many people will do to help out their siblings, or their loved ones, in starting their business or their enterprise. And that’s all there is to this.”Mr Javid was then pressed on whether there was “no way that money was coming in from offshore without paying the tax on it”, but declined to answer.The health secretary has also been criticised for using non-domicile status to reduce his UK tax bill – although, being a British-born international banker, there are doubts over his entitlement to the perk.Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “I have written to HMRC calling for an investigation into Sajid Javid’s tax avoidance.“The Conservatives are happy to raise taxes on everyone else but not to pay their own. The hypocrisy stinks.”The controversies are widely seen as damaging to Mr Javid’s chances of challenging of the Conservative leadership, should Boris Johnson be forced out of No 10.The health secretary also sought to clear up confusion about his much-mocked warning that the country has a “Blockbuster healthcare system in the age of Netflix”.He reassured people that they will not have to start paying a “subscription” for the NHS, saying he meant that the service needs to modernise. More

Sajid Javid has said he does not agree with the NHS reportedly removing the word “woman” from online guidance on ovarian cancer.Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning, the health secretary said that “common sense and the right language” should be used to “give people the best possible patient care”.Asked about reports the health service had dropped the word from advice pages on its website, he said: “Well, look, I haven’t seen that particular report, but I have heard of instances like that and I don’t think it’s right.“You won’t be surprised to know that, as the health secretary, I think that your sex matters, your biological sex is incredibly important to make sure you get the right treatment, the very best treatment.”Pressed on whether he would get the wording changed back, Mr Javid said: “I am looking into this and you’ll know, look, the NHS, there (are) many different trusts and I want to listen to why someone might have taken a different approach – I don’t just want to assume – but I think I’ve made my views clear on this.”He added: “I know there’s some sensitivity around this language, but we have to use common sense and use the right language so that we can give people the best possible patient care.”The main page on womb cancer previously described it as “a common cancer that affects the female reproductive system”, adding: “It’s more common in women who have been through the menopause.” It now describes the cancer as a disease “that affects the womb,” adding: “The womb (uterus) is where a baby grows during pregnancy.”People seeking guidance on cervical cancer previously read: “Cervical cancer develops in a woman’s cervix (the entrance to the womb from the vagina).” Today the same web address, which includes a diagram of female anatomy, states: “Cervical cancer is a cancer that’s found anywhere in the cervix.”The word “women” first appears on the third page of the ovarian cancer section of the website. “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer. This includes women, trans men, non-binary people and intersex people with ovaries,” it states.Experts warned that “desexing” of language in women’s health could prove dangerous. Campaign group Sex Not Gender Nurses and Midwives said: “Whilst we welcome efforts to include, inclusion should consider all communities and should never trump safety.”A spokeswoman for NHS Digital said: “It is not correct to say that there is no mention of women on the ovarian, womb and cervical cancer pages. We have updated the pages as part of our routine review of web pages to keep them in line with the best clinical evidence, and make them as helpful as possible to everyone who needs them.” More