UK Politics

Conservative MPs have expressed concerns over plans to offer Northern Irish terrorists an effective amnesty from prosecution as long as they detail their crimes. The proposals, designed to deal with Troubles-era atrocities, were unveiled in this week’s Queen’s Speech. Ministers have long pledged to find a way to protect army veterans who served in Northern Ireland from facing court over allegations which can be more than four decades old. However, previous plans came under fire following warnings they would legally have to apply to former terrorists as well. In a bid to sidestep that problem ministers announced that it was clear that “a model where immunity is only provided to individuals who cooperate with” a new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery “provides the best route to give victims and their families the answers they have sought for years as well as giving our veterans the certainty they deserve”. This would see members of proscribed organisations offered protection only if they reveal details of the atrocities of which they have knowledge. Government sources said the proposals were part of a package which promotes reconciliation in Northern Ireland and would help society as a whole to move forwards. Ministers believe the plan will offer justice to the loved ones of those affected by the violence in Northern Ireland, which lasted for more than three decades before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, while also allowing the government to support members of the armed forces who were sent to help quell the violence.  But one former minister described the plans as “not very well thought out” and predicted “the Tory party will not wear it”. Another Conservative MP said “the problem is that in the end it is a very hard sell”. The test of whether or not someone has cooperated enough will be based on a similar threshold set by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up after the end of apartheid.The Independent has been told that ministers are keen to see significant progress on the creation of a commission within the next year. A number of Tory MPs said they were waiting to see the detail of the government’s proposals before making a judgement. John Baron, the Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay, who served in Northern Ireland, said: “I think it is a good solution that if you cooperate then you will be in a much stronger position within the process.” He said that he was keen to see the proposed legislation, adding: “It depends on the crime, but it is a good guiding principle.” Former defence minister Mark Francois, the vice-chairman of the House of Commons Veterans Support Group, said: “I welcome the fact that, after many years of asking, the government are now finally legislating to protect NI veterans from endless rounds of investigation and investigation. However, given the complexities of this whole issue, I am looking forward to reading the detail of the bill itself, to understand exactly how this new system is designed to work in practice.” Government sources are confident any Tory MPs with reservations will support the move when they see the planned legislation. Earlier this week DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson expressed concerns, saying he could not comment until he saw the details of the proposals “but we have very clear principles in terms of how we deal with the legacy of the past”.“We must not allow a situation to develop where people are able to rewrite the narrative which suggests that the terrorists who committed terrible atrocities across the board are somehow either exonerated or can walk away,” he added.However, ministers did win the support of former defence minister Johnny Mercer, who has accused the government of not doing enough to protect veterans sent to fight in Northern Ireland.But Sandra Peake, from the Belfast-based Wave Trauma Centre, said the plans would “prioritise the wishes of perpetrators over victims and survivors”.More than 3,500 people were killed during the Troubles, including more than 1,000 members of the security forces. More

Conservative MPs hoping to force a no-confidence vote in Boris Johnson fear the failure of a leader to step forward to organise a challenge will allow him to escape.Rebel Tories have told The Independent of their growing despair at their colleagues’ refusal to “confront” the crisis in their party – highlighting the absence of a figurehead to coordinate a campaign and rally doubters.One former minister expressed astonishment that Mr Johnson had avoided a reckoning despite “disastrous” local election results, but warned: “There is no leadership; nobody wants to step forward.”A second echoed that “nobody wants to be seen as a leader” of a plot against the prime minister, adding: “Colleagues know it can’t go [on like] this, but everybody looks at their feet when I ask what we are going to do.”A third said there were hopes that Jeremy Hunt, the defeated 2019 leadership candidate – who opposes a contest being held while war rages in Ukraine – would speak out, and asked: “Who is going to lead the letter-writing?”Another former minister has told their constituents that the push to topple Mr Johnson has “failed” because fellow MPs have stayed silent.The Independent was told of a recent private meeting where a group of Tory MPs “bitched about Boris”, only to join in with the laughter when the prime minister joined the meeting and cracked jokes.There are fears that it will be impossible to defend Mr Johnson on the doorstep if Sir Keir Starmer resigns over his beer-and-curry gathering in Durham last year, which he has promised to do if he is fined by police.“How will I face my constituents if Starmer has quit but our leader, despite multiple fines, is still there?” one of the former ministers said. More

Boris Johnson has revealed that the first 50 migrants have been told they will be sent to Rwanda within two weeks. The policy has been widely criticised by human rights charities and even faced backlash from Tory backbenchers, former prime minister Theresa May and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The government said it is braced for a flurry of legal claims as it prepares to send migrants to the east African nation within a fortnight. In the interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Johnson said the migrants have already been served “notices of intent,” marking the start of the process.“There’s going to be a lot of legal opposition from the types of firms that for a long time have been taking taxpayers’ money to mount these sorts of cases, and to thwart the will of the people, the will of parliament,” Mr Johnson said. “We’re ready for that. We will dig in for the fight – we will make it work. We’ve got a huge flowchart of things we have to do to deal with it with the leftie lawyers.” More

Civil servants should beware – and perhaps embrace rainy Mondays – after a cabinet minister suggested the government would be checking if work from home rates spiral during good weather. Jacob Rees-Mogg also hinted that officials would consult lists of sporting fixtures. It comes as the government steps up its campaign to convince tens of thousands of civil servants to spend more time in the office. On Friday Boris Johnson said that he did not believe the current working from home system was working. He said that in his experience it involved “getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and then forgetting what it was you’re doing”.The prime minister added that he believed in the “workplace environment”. “And I think that will help to drive up productivity, It will get our city centres moving in the weekdays. And it will be good for mass transit. And a lot of businesses having a tough time will benefit from that,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail. Mr Rees-Mogg said that figures showed many civil servants worked from home on Mondays and Fridays, describing the pattern as suspicious and hinting that not everyone was working a full five-day week. “I do worry that the desire to take off Monday and Friday is an indication that people think that the working week is shorter than the reality is,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “If people were working from home, and saying that Tuesday was the main day they wanted to work from home, and they were always in on a Monday, you may feel that it genuinely fitted a convenient pattern of work. One can’t help but be suspicious about the desire to work from home on Mondays and Fridays.”Officials would look at weather patterns and the dates of big sporting matches when analysing the data, he suggested.While current figures looked at attendance on a weekly basis “we are going to need to look at it on a daily basis,” he said. “And we’re going to have to compare notes with the Met Office. Because we’ve got the evidence on Mondays and Fridays, we need to have the evidence on Lords test matches and all that.”The government has outlined plans to cut 91,000 jobs from the civil service to return the headcount of staff to 2016 levels. More

Boris Johnson gets distracted by cheese and coffee when he’s working from home (WFH), he admitted while arguing that workers should return to their offices.The prime minister revealed his worktime weaknesses in an opinion article for the Daily Mail to claim that WFH – a necessity for millions of workers during the Covid pandemic – “doesn’t work” in his “experience”.He also claimed that people who work from the communal office are more professionally and economically productive than those who WFH.Mr Johnson said: “My experience of working from home is you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee and then, you know, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and then forgetting what it was you’re doing.“So, I believe in the workplace environment. And I think that will help to drive up productivity, it will get our city centres moving, in the weekdays. And it will be good for mass transit. And a lot of businesses that have been having a tough time will benefit from that.”He added: “There will be lots of people who disagree with me, but I believe people are more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas, when they are surrounded by other people.”In response to his opinion piece, social media users pointed out the obvious fact that Downing Street is both where Mr Johnson lives and works as prime minister.Earlier, Jacob Rees-Mogg – a minister with responsibility over government efficiency – spoke in favour of people returning to workplaces, in an interview with Sky News. He said he understands that “there is a place for working from home” but that it was having a negative impact on public services.Mr Rees-Mogg has voiced his “suspicions” that civil servants are only working three days a week. He accused public sector workers of using WFH as an excuse to have long weekends.In an interview with The Telegraph, he claimed civil servants are WFH on Mondays and Fridays because they “think that the working week is shorter than it really is”.Last month, Labour MP Chris Bryant called Mr Rees-Mogg a “nasty patronising man” after he reportedly left notes for civil servants who were not at their desks at the time.The notes read, according to images of them shared on social media: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon. Wish every good wish.”On Friday, Mr Rees-Mogg – who has been accused of waging war against the public sector – defended the government’s plans to task the Cabinet with the axing 90,000 civil service jobs.The government wants to reduce the number of Whitehall to the level it was in 2016, as the Brexit vote and Covid pandemic sparked the need for extra staff, he said. More

The government is reportedly intent on classifying natural gas as a “green” option for investors in the face of protest by environmental campaigners.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is said to be keen for drilling for gas in the North Sea is reclassified by his department and the Treasury as “environmentally sustainable” – to encourage banks and pension funds to invest in the extraction projects, according to the Telegraph.Extracting and burning natural gas significantly increases carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, green campaigners have warned.But experts and officials – including the European Commission last year – have endorsed natural gas as a “transitional fuel” that they say can bridge the gap between coal and oil, which emit more carbon emissions, and clean renewable sources of energy.On Friday, campaigners from Green New Deal Rising and Stop Cambo protested against the sky-high costs of gas and electricity inside a building where Mr Kwarteng was to meet business executives.They added that energy company Shell has posted profits of £7 billion while many people are having to choose between paying their bills or buying groceries.Green New Deal Rising accused Mr Kwarteng of putting “Shell’s profits before people’s lives” – adding that the government has rejected the idea of imposing a windfall tax on energy firms that could have funded support for those struggling to make ends meet.Footage posted by the groups on social media shows a woman approaching Mr Kwarteng to say: “You are lying to the UK public. You are trying to make us believe that by drilling new oil and gas we will be safe.“But in reality you are trapping us into an unaffordable energy system and you are destroying our future. The climate crisis will destroy our future.”After, Mr Kwarteng tweeted: “Shout and scream all you like, but I’m not going to put Britain’s energy security at risk by shutting off domestic oil and gas production. We will need oil and gas for decades to come.“Either we source more of what we need from the North Sea, or import more from abroad.”Green New Deal Rising responded to his tweet saying: “You clearly weren’t listening, Kwasi. We want no NEW oil and gas. There are over 200 oil & gas fields producing in the North Sea. We don’t need more. “The IEA have said repeatedly that we cannot exploit new oil & gas anywhere if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change.“The people of the UK want a reliable, affordable energy supply that doesn’t risk their future. “Approving new gas fields makes us more vulnerable to rising gas prices and more dependent on private companies like Shell, who are under no obligation to sell us gas cheaply or at all.“The best way to import less oil & gas is to need less of it. We can do that through a massive programme of energy efficiency and by removing roadblocks to the cheapest, quickest renewable energy – onshore wind.”In November 2020, chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government will create a “green taxonomy” to establish which sectors aid the UK in meeting its climate goals as a guide for investors.As part of Mr Sunak’s overall plans to help the UK meet its 2050 net zero target and other environmental objectives, his department last year launched its first Sovereign Green Bond. More

Boris Johnson promises ‘compassion’ to get people through cost of living crisisBoris Johnson is set to visit Northern Ireland next week as the deepening crisis over the protocol could leave the NI Assembly unable to function.The prime minister’s planned visit for Monday comes after the DUP blocked the election of a speaker at Stormont.DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he is sending a clear message to the EU and UK government over the Northern Ireland protocol.Speaking before the first meeting of the new Assembly, he said: “I am here with my Assembly team today for the first sitting of the Assembly. My members will be signing the roll and taking their seats for the first time.“As I have made clear this morning we have taken the decision not at this stage to support the election of a speaker.”The decision has been strongly criticised by the other four main parties at Stormont, including Sinn Fein’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill who called it “shameful”.Show latest update

1652413258Welcome to The Independent’s live blog on all the latest updates on UK politics for Friday 13 May.Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 04:401652415065Johnson to cut 90,000 civil service jobs to help fund tax cutsMore than 90,000 civil servants are likely to lose their jobs as part of a cost-saving exercise touted by Boris Johnson, amid rising pressure to help ease the cost of living crisis. The prime minister was understood to have told his cabinet on Thursday to cut the staff by a fifth, aiming to free more than £3bn.Tom Batchelor has more details here: Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 05:111652416104Can’t rule out leadership contest before 2024 election, says HuntFormer Conservative foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has refused to rule out a contest for the top job before the 2024 elections, as he warns the Tories have “a big mountain to climb” to win another term.While he says it was not the “right time” for a leadership change due to the war in Ukraine, he adds: “I would be very open with you that I don’t rule out a return in the future.”Read more:Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 05:281652417440’We in the EU never work with threats,’ chief Brexit negotiator warnsThe EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned that Brussels will not give in to threats or blackmail, as the furious row over the Northern Irish border escalates a step closer to sparking a trade war.Insisting that the 27-nation bloc was united in rejecting British demands to rewrite the controversial Northern Ireland protocol, he sent a stark message to London: “We in the EU never work with threats, we never work with blackmail, we try to work with constructive engagement and that is what I am pleading for.”Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details here:Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 05:501652418712Northern Ireland protocol row threatens united stance against Putin, says EUMembers of the European Union have questioned the timing of the UK’s threat over abandoning parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, warning that it risks the unity of the international alliance against Vladimir Putin.Two unnamed EU insiders told The Guardian that officials in Brussels were “flabbergasted” at the timing of threats from the UK and called it “irresponsible”.One diplomat described Liz Truss’s threat of unilateral action as “very risky, even irresponsible”, the newspaper reported.“I don’t see how [unilateral action] would solve anything in the short term and it would only worsen the standing of the west as a whole vis-a-vis Putin in these fragile times.”Another source said: “The EU, all the member states, stand entirely united and a bit flabbergasted that the UK would want to be doing this now.”Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 06:111652419803Johnson not included in new round of Partygate finesBoris Johnson has not been included in the list of 50 new Partygate penalties announced on Thursday over lockdown breaches at No 10, Downing Street has said.Scotland Yard announced today that the number of fines handed out to government staff for law-breaking parties held during the Covid pandemic had passed 100.Mr Johnson has already been fined for attending an event at No 10 for his birthday. He apologised to MPs but refused to resign, saying he “believed implicitly that this was a work event”.Read more from Adam Forrest and Andrew Woodcock here: Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 06:301652421003Northern Ireland Protocol action is ‘painfully necessary’, says Attorney GeneralAction over the Northern Ireland protocol is “painfully, apparently necessary”, the Attorney General has said in a major hint the Government will override parts of the post-Brexit agreement.Suella Braverman, the government’s chief legal adviser, did not deny reports she has approved the scrapping of large parts of the deal with emergency legislation.European leaders have warned the UK not to make the incendiary move, amid fears it could provoke a trade war with Britain’s largest trading partner.Read more: Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 06:501652422203Johnson has ‘no option’ but to rip up ‘part or all’ of NI protocol, says former Brexit ministerIn his Daily Telegraph column, previewed on Thursday night, Lord Frost claimed the DUP’s actions had “forced the government’s hand”.Andy Gregory has more here:Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 07:101652423285Rees-Mogg attempts to justify personal civil service attendants Jacob Rees-Mogg has attempted to justify attending an interview this morning flanked by “three or four” civil service members, despite reports the government plans to cut its workforce by a fifth.Prime minister Boris Johnson has allegedly told his Cabinet the government could cut as many as 90,000 civil service jobs in a cost-saving exercise.Asked by Sky News this morning why “three or four” civil service workers had accompanied him to the interview, and whether his circle could be scaled back as part of the proposed cuts, the minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency argued that his cirumstances were different as he “conducts a wide operation.” Emily Atkinson13 May 2022 07:281652423403Analysis: The fall in GDP should be a big warning sign for the governmentThe latest official figures – for March – were Leonard Cohen album-level grim, writes James Moore, our chief business commentator. They showed a 0.1 per cent contraction against the flat zero the City had expected. There is probably worse to come. This economic frost is going to bite hard. Read more: Stuti Mishra13 May 2022 07:30 More

Boris Johnson is set to make an emergency visit to Northern Ireland, as the crisis over the protocol deepened with the unionist DUP blocking the election of a speaker at Stormont.Sinn Fein first minister designate Michelle O’Neill said she was expecting the prime minister in Northern Ireland on Monday, when she will tell him to “stop pandering to the DUP”, which is refusing to join a power-sharing executive while the protocol is in place.There was no immediate confirmation from Downing Street that the visit will go ahead. If it does, it is understood that the PM will focus on talks with the Northern Irish parties to try to get power-sharing arrangements back on track, rather than making an announcement on the future of the protocol.It comes amid increasing sabre-rattling from the UK administration over the future of the deal with the EU, which was agreed by Mr Johnson in 2019 in order to keep the border with the Republic open after Brexit, but which he now blames for disruption to trade between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain.Ministers are understood to have drawn up legislation to allow the UK to override elements of the protocol, which could be unveiled next week at the risk of triggering a trade war with Europe.London has been accused of “threats and blackmail” by Brussels after foreign secretary Liz Truss told European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič on Thursday that the UK would have “no choice but to act” if the EU does not give in to demands to scale back customs checks.Ms O’Neill said that Northern Ireland was being used as “a pawn in the middle of a battle between the British government and the EU”, but insisted that the protocol was “here to stay”.She said she will tell Mr Johnson on Monday “that he needs to stop pandering to the DUP” and that his government “need to get on and work with the Commission and find ways to smooth the implementation of the protocol and stop holding us to ransom for their game-playing”.“They are playing a game of chicken with the European Commission right now, and we are caught in the middle,” she said. “That’s not good enough.”The development came as it was confirmed that a delegation of senior members of the US Congress are to visit London, Belfast, Brussels and Dublin next week for talks to highlight American support for the Good Friday Agreement, of which the US is a guarantor.The group will be led by the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, who also chairs the Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus.“I can confirm that this trip is occurring next week,” a spokesperson for Mr Neal told The Independent. “However, due to security concerns, I cannot comment further.”A White House spokesperson declined to say whether the congressional delegation would carry a message from President Joe Biden, who during a St Patrick’s Day virtual meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the agreement “cannot change” and called it the “foundation of peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland for nearly 25 years”.The spokesperson said Mr Biden “has long made clear his strong support for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement” and said the US “underscore[s] our continued support for a secure and prosperous Northern Ireland in which all communities have a voice and enjoy the gains of the hard-won peace”.Ms O’Neill welcomed the congressional visit and suggested that UK hopes of a US trade deal may depend on Mr Johnson being able to reassure Washington that his stance on Brexit is not putting stability in Ireland at risk.“Britain have reneged constantly on international agreements which they are themselves signed up to,” she said. “Before the ink will be dry on the paper, they start to unravel those things, and that’s not good enough.“So if Britain wants to see a future trade deal with the American administration, then they need to honour the Good Friday Agreement and stop messing with it because, quite frankly, that’s what they’re doing right now. “With cross-community consent required under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the largest unionist party was able to use its boycott to prevent the appointment of a speaker, effectively preventing the Northern Ireland Assembly from sitting.Ms O’Neill accused the DUP of “punishing the electorate” by paralysing the functions of government at a time when all other major parties in the assembly wanted to go ahead with the formation of an executive.“The DUP are holding society to ransom for the hard Brexit which they themselves delivered, along with their friends in the Tories,” she said.“I would say to the DUP to get real, to understand the public need a functioning executive, to understand that we need to be in this executive together, working together for the people that have elected us, and that the protocol issues can be resolved alongside that work.” More