UK Politics

Boris Johnson has admitted signing up to the trade barriers created by the Northern Ireland Protocol – while saying he hoped the EU would not “apply” them.The prime minister gave the clearest acknowledgement yet that the costly red tape is the consequence of the Brexit deal he signed in 2019 and hailed as “fantastic’ at the time.On his visit to Belfast, Mr Johnson was told he “must be furious with whoever signed up to a deal this bad”.It was pointed out that the checks required from creating a trade border in the Irish Sea were all set out clearly in a government impact assessment, in 2019.A leaked Treasury paper the same year, warned the Protocol would be “highly disruptive” to the Northern Ireland economy” and would push up the price of high street goods.Mr Johnson and other ministers have repeatedly accused Brussels of implementing the trade checks in a way not justified by the terms of the withdrawal agreement.But the prime minister switched tack, telling Channel 4 News: “I hoped and believed that our friends would not necessarily want to apply the Protocol in quite the way that they have.”Chris Bryant, a Labour MP, protested: “He told a lie to the British public. Again he tells allies the UK word cannot be trusted.”In a separate interview, Mr Johnson was asked if the crisis and the risk of a trade war with the EU is “a direct consequence of the deal you signed,” replying: “Yes absolutely.”Talks to try to find a solution are on ice, with London and Brussels accusing the other of refusing to compromise to reach a deal to prevent the worst of the extra bureaucracy.Instead, Mr Johnson is pressing ahead with unilateral action to override the Protocol through new legislation – almost certainly in breach of international law.The 2019 impact assessment directly contradicts UK denials that the checks were not intended, stating:* On customs, that checks will be implemented “on trade moving East-West between Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.* On food checks, that they would include “identity, documentary and physical checks by UK authorities as required by the relevant EU rules”.* That agri-foods must “enter Northern Ireland from Great Britain via a Border Inspection Post or designated point of entry as required under EU law”.Mr Johnson dismissed fears of a damaging trade war – or even the tearing up of the entire Christmas 2020 trade deal – if he rejects cooperation with the EU.Asked if he is concerned, he replied: “No, not at all, because for us and for me, the legal hierarchy is so clear, our international legal obligations are so clear.“Our prime duty, our primary legal duty, is to the balance the symmetry of the Belfast, Good Friday agreement.” More

Foreign spies are using online networking sites to target thousands of Government officials, high-tech businesses and academics, the head of MI5 has warned.The Security Service’s director general, Ken McCallum, said more than 10,000 “disguised approaches” had been made by agents seeking to build relationships with their targets.The Government warned that fake profiles were being created on sites including LinkedIn and Facebook on an “industrial scale”, with many being used as a ruse in an attempt to gain information relating to national security.The Government’s Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure has launched a new app aimed at preventing people from being duped by fake accounts.

Foreign spies are actively working to build relationships with those working in Government, in high-tech business and in academiaKen McCallum, MI5Mr McCallum said: “MI5 has seen over 10,000 disguised approaches on professional networking sites from foreign spies to people up and down the UK.“Foreign spies are actively working to build relationships with those working in Government, in high-tech business and in academia.”He said the Think Before You Link app helps those who may be receiving disguised approaches to conduct their own “digital due diligence” checks before accepting unknown contacts online.Current and former civil servants can be attractive targets because of their experience.The app will boost the support and advice which Government staff, particularly those working on sensitive policy, already receive. More

Priti Patel is to announce that volunteer police officers will be able to carry Tasers for the first time.The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) previously decided against arming special constables, who serve from 16 hours a month, with the electroshock weapons.The home secretary does not have the power to mandate their use, and Tuesday’s announcement comes amid allegations of a “power grab” over changes to a protocol that governs relations between the government and police.Ms Patel is to speak at a conference held by the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers across England and Wales.She is expected to announce that she has given approval for special constables to carry Tasers if they undergo the same training as regular officers and are authorised by chief constables.The Home Office said the move aimed to ensure volunteers are “not at a disadvantage when facing an attacker wielding a knife or a marauding terrorist”, and that special constables face the same risk of potential assault as their colleagues.A press release claimed the change had the backing of the NPCC but the body emphasised that chief constables would continue considering Taser deployments “in line with their strategic threat and risk assessments”.A spokesperson added: “There is a national Taser training course for officers and approved professional practice which governs the use of Taser. “The mere presence of a Taser is enough to bring 90 per cent of violent or potentially violent incidents to a swift and safe conclusion without the need to discharge the device.”All police forces have already increased the provision of Tasers following waves of dedicated government funding, but the use of the weapons cannot be mandated at a national level.In 2012, the NPCC’s predecessor organisation prohibited special constables from carrying Tasers.In response to a Freedom of Information request, the body said the decision was taken because they “do not receive the same level of training as their regular colleagues” and are “unlikely to have developed the equivalent depth and breadth of conflict resolution experience as their regular colleagues”.The document added: “Such is the level of scrutiny and political interest in Taser, it is felt that allocating the weapon to a volunteer police officer could prove to be controversial.”The Home Office said that special constables will have to reach “directed patrol status” and have completed a further 12 months’ service and 200 duty hours before undergoing Taser training.All incidents involving a Taser, whether it is fired or not, are recorded by police.The most recent Home Office data shows that Tasers are six times more likely to be used against Black suspects than white suspects in England and Wales excluding London, where the figure is five times.On Monday, the home secretary lifted restrictions on suspicionless stop and search powers – where Black people are currently 14 times more likely to be targeted than white people.Ethnic disparity in policing became a focus during 2020’s Black Lives Matters protests, while misogyny has come under scrutiny since the murder of Sarah Everard and a wave of prosecutions and scandals involving male officers.The home secretary was to tell the Police Federation conference that “unacceptable behaviour must be rooted out and called out”.“Lessons must be learned, and every necessary change must be made, without fear or favour,” she was to say.“The whole country was shaken and horrified by Sarah Everard’s abduction, rape, and murder by a serving officer. This horrendous case – and other revelations – have undermined confidence in the police. The public are in urgent need of reassurance.”The speech came as Boris Johnson was to hold a cabinet meeting focused on crime, which has risen overall during the pandemic as prosecutions hit a record low.A week-long policing operation targeting knife crime is underway and on Thursday, the policing minister is holding a National Drug Summit. More

Labour has renewed its call for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies as the party claimed household savings were being “crunched” or “disappearing altogether” as the cost-of-living crisis bites.It comes as Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, prepares to table an amendment to the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday, urging MPs of all political stripes to back a tax on the extraordinary profits of energy companies.The government is facing intense pressure over the issue, and last week Boris Johnson did not rule out a windfall tax, despite repeating his view it would deter green investment after months of resistance.But highlighting forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at the spring statement on savings ratios, Labour said that ministers needed to “wake up” to the cost-of-living crisis and back a windfall tax.The OBR said at the time the ‘saving ratio’ — the ratio households are saving relative to their disposable income — is expected “to continue to fall and reach a record low of 2.8 per cent by the start of 2023”.They added: “In practice the lower savings ratio will reflect some households running down excess savings while others take on more debt.“The savings ratio then climbs moderately over the rest of our forecast back towards its pre-pandemic level of a little under five per cent.”Labour also claimed the decline in the savings ratio from from 8 per cent to an average of 4 per cent represented a reduction in savings for a median household of over £1,000.Abena Oppong-Asare, the shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is hitting people hard, and savings are being crunched or disappearing altogether. The Tory government could not be more out of touch or out of ideas.“As energy bills rise by record amounts for millions of families, the prime minister continues to refuse to back a windfall tax on oil and gas producer profit that could tackle the cost-of-living crisis.”She added: “Today, Labour will give this Conservative government another chance to support our windfall tax on oil and gas producer profirs to cut our bills by up to £600.”A Treasury spokesperson said: “We understand that people are struggling with rising prices, and while we can’t shield everyone from the global challenges we face, we’re supporting British families to navigate the months ahead with a £22bn package of support.“This includes 30 million people getting a £6bn tax cut worth up to £330 a year from July, millions of households receiving up to £350 each to help with rising energy bills through our £9.1bn support package, and a cut in the universal credit taper rate helping over a million families keep around an extra £1,000 a year.” More

Two parliamentary by-elections are set to be held in Wakefield and in Tiverton & Honiton on the same day next month following the resignation of two Conservative MPs.The Tory chief whip, Chris Heaton-Harris, is expected to move the writ — a formal process effectively triggering a by-election — on Tuesday, with a vote likely in both constituencies on 23 June.The by-election in Wakefield follows the resignation of the former Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who was convicted last month at Southwark Crown Court of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.Sir Keir Starmer told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Monday evening that the vote would be an “enormous test” for the party, with the Boris Johnson’s party likely to “throw the kitchen sink at it”.The former Labour stronghold turned blue at the 2019 election, and it is one of many constituencies that Sir Keir must win back if he wants to prove he has what it takes to end the Tories’ 13-year tenure in No 10.On Sunday, Labour members chose NHS worker Simon Lightwood to fight for the party, but the process was overshadowed last week amid internal infighting over the selection of candidates for Labour’s shortlist.On Thursday the executive committee of Wakefield’s Labour Party voted to resgin en masse over the national party’s handling of the process and accused officials of breaching the rule book.Meanwhile, the vacancy in Tiverton and Honiton follows the resignation of Neil Parish, who quit last month after he admitted watching pornography in the Commons chamber in a “moment of madness”.After a 12-year stint in the Commons, Mr Parish, who has described his own actions as “immoral”, was at the centre of a political storm after two female colleagues reported him to party officials.Mr Parish last won the Devon seat for the Conservatives in 2019, with 60 per cent of the vote share and a huge majority of 24,239 votes.Speaking last week, the former Tory MP, however, also suggested he was taking “soundings” on standing as an independent in the forthcoming by-election triggered by his own resignation.“It is an option for me and one that I could consider,” he said. “The only thing that may well stop me is the face my local party, my local activists, my local councillors, are friends. I don’t know if I want to do that to them.“Some of the hierarchy in my own party, I suppose I wouldn’t have the same problem with doing it. At the moment, I’m taking soundings”.Mr Parish suggested he could raise the funds to stand through some powerful backers within the farming community. “I don’t think I’m going there, but, it’s an option,” he said.However, he added: “I will decide before nominations close. Don’t forget I have fought five local elections, two European elections and five parliamentary elections. I know how elections works and don’t forget, I’m a grassroots politician and I made my own way through the ranks”. More

Boris Johnson has confirmed he will press ahead with legislation to override the Northern Ireland protocol, despite warnings from Brussels that it will breach the UK’s international legal obligations and a plea from the Bank of England not to spark a damaging trade war with Europe. But the risky move looked unlikely to break the deadlock over the formation of a new power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland, with the unionist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) insisting that it wants “decisive action” from the PM before it will drop its boycott.Foreign secretary Liz Truss spoke by phone on Monday evening with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic and US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, ahead of a statement to the Commons on Tuesday in which she will set out the government’s plans to legislate. It is understood that the bill – not set to be tabled for another few weeks – will grant London unilateral powers not only to relax checks on goods heading to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain, but also to remove all European Court of Justice (ECJ) involvement in border issues and to vary VAT rates in the province without agreement from Brussels.A senior EU source told The Independent that both the ECJ and VAT provisions are likely to breach the terms of the Brexit deal negotiated and signed by Mr Johnson in 2019. And Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle warned it would have knock-on effects on the UK’s ability to forge trade deals in the rest of the world and to generate the economic recovery needed to get the country through the cost-of-living crisis. “There’s a crisis of trust and goodwill and it is poisoning negotiations between the UK and EU and poisoning the relationship that the UK government has with political parties in Northern Ireland,” Mr Kyle told The Independent. “To pull out of our international obligations will put a wrecking ball through any attempts to build new trade deals around the world, it will torpedo future relations with the EU and it risks a trade war that will profoundly damage Britain’s ability to get the economy moving and get money into people’s pockets when they most need it. “The current course of action is gambling with the ability for people to put food on the table in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”Senior Conservatives warned against a move which would permit Brussels to retaliate with tariffs on UK exports.The chair of the Commons Northern Ireland committee, Simon Hoare, said that the risk to the UK economy was “very strong”, warning: “No time is a good time to be breaching an international treaty. But doing it during a cost of living crisis is the worst of times.”In a scathing rebuke to Ms Truss, he added: “This silly sabre-rattling and reputation-fluffing by the foreign secretary, who is trying to be the new Iron Lady, has got to stop.”And Treasury committee chair Mel Stride said: “It’s important that we try and resolve this without some form of trade war… our economy would not be well served by this.”Giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey made clear that a clash with Brussels over trade would not be welcome at a time of soaring inflation and rising interest rates.“We’d love not to have another shock please, but we’ll see,” he told MPs.Visiting Belfast for talks with Northern Irish parties on Monday, Mr Johnson insisted that he did not want to “scrap” the protocol, but it needed to be “fixed”.“We would love this to be done in a consensual way with our friends and partners, ironing out the problems, stopping some of these barriers east/west,” said the prime minister, who was booed by protestors as he arrived at Hillsborough Castle.“But to get that done, to have the insurance we need, we need to proceed with a legislative solution at the same time.”The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, warned that “the only way forward” on the protocol was engagement between EU and UK and cautioned against undermining European cooperation at a time of war in Ukraine.“Any unilateral action by UK on the protocol – which would undermine its international legal obligations – is clearly not welcome,” he said, following talks with Irish premier Micheal Martin. “All the more so in these difficult geopolitical times.”Mr Martin said there had been an understanding that this month’s elections to the Northern Ireland assembly would be followed by a “renewed focus on talks” between the UK and the EU, which he described as the “only way to resolve this issue”.Mr Johnson urged parties in Northern Ireland to “roll up their sleeves” and get to work on the bread and butter issues of interest to voters, something which has been blocked by the DUP’s refusal to nominate a deputy first minister to work alongside Sinn Fein’s first minister designate Michelle O’Neill or to participate in the election of a new speaker for the assembly.But DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson made clear that the tabling of legislation on the protocol will not be enough to persuade his party to restore the executive.Speaking after talks with Mr Johnson, Sir Jeffrey said: “The tabling of legislation is words. What I need is decisive action. And that means I want to see the government enacting legislation that will bring the solution that we need. But let’s see what the government are prepared to do.”Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said she had received “no straight answers” from Mr Johnson, who she accused of colluding with the DUP to block the appointment of an executive with a nationalist first minister.“This impasse is entirely coordinated between themselves and the DUP, and if the DUP are acting shamefully in holding back government, well then the British government is behaving even more shamefully,” she said.Ms McDonald said that she told Mr Johnson that the path of unilateral legislation from Westminster was “wrong”.“It seems to us absolutely extraordinary that the British government would propose to legislate to break the law,” she said. “It’s an extraordinary proposal and one that would amplify the bad faith with which the Tory government has conducted itself from [the] beginning of the entire Brexit debacle.”Sir Jeffrey retorted that any suggestion that the UK government was on the DUP’s side in the power-sharing stand-off was “for the fairies”. More

Liz Truss has unveiled a major shake-up that will link overseas aid to expanding trade, triggering accusations that the UK is turning its back on the world’s poorest.Britain will also direct more of its shrunken aid pot to bilateral projects, rather than through international bodies – prompting fears that aid will be slower to arrive after emergencies.The foreign secretary is arguing that “trade helps countries to grow their economies, raise incomes, create jobs and lift themselves out of poverty”.But Sarah Champion, the chair of the Commons international development committee, attacked what she said was a “depressing” intention to copy China’s much-criticised “aid for trade” approach.“I fear that adds up to a double whammy against the global poor,” she said of the government’s long-delayed Strategy for International Development.“Aid for trade is dangerous. It can distort the core, legally stipulated purpose of our assistance – which is to support the poorest and most vulnerable, whether in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa or in Ukraine. Supporting the poorest in the world should not be conditional on a trade deal or agreeing to investment partnerships.”The 32-page document mentions trade on no fewer than 27 occasions – three times the number of references to poverty, which is mentioned on nine occasions.And it warns that the aid spending will only return to 0.7 per cent of national income – after Boris Johnson broke a manifesto pledge by slashing it to 0.5 per cent – “once the fiscal situation allows”.Tim Cole, executive director of the ONE anti-poverty campaign, warned: “Global threats such as pandemics, the climate crisis or the current food-security crisis demand global responses – multilateral organisations are often best-placed to deliver these.“As the government’s own analysis shows, they deliver more bang for buck, reducing admin costs and reaching places we often can’t ourselves.”Stephanie Draper, chief executive of the Bond organisation of aid groups, said: “The UK has missed a golden opportunity to properly rethink its role on the world stage – and risks abandoning those most in need.”The strategy, which promises “transformative trade”, will:Deliver more “honest, reliable investment through British Investment Partnerships” – the aid finance arm focusing on private-sector investmentSpend three-quarters of the Foreign Office’s share of the aid budget bilaterally – rather than through the United Nations and other international organisationsGive ambassadors and high commissioners greater authority to approve spending – reducing the time to approve a business case from “many months to less than six weeks”Ms Truss insisted the UK would not copy “malign actors” by using its aid budget – which has been slashed by £4bn a year – as “a form of economic coercion and political power”.But she defended the switch, saying: “In an increasingly geopolitical world, we must use development as a key part of our foreign policy.” More