UK Politics

Downing Street has poured cold water on the prospect of an annual bank holiday to honour the Queen, saying that this year’s Platinum Jubilee celebration is a “unique” event. There were media reports this morning that Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, as well as chancellor Rishi Sunak, are supportive of the idea of a yearly “Thank Holiday” to recognise both the Queen’s service and the sacrifices made by Britons who stepped up to serve their communities during the pandemic.But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson today stressed that this year’s extra bank holiday on 3 June – creating a four-day weekend along with the moved May break to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne – was a one-off.While not ruling out the possibility that additional bank holidays might be discussed by ministers, he said that they would always consider the fact that each extra day off is believed to cost the UK economy £2bn in lost productivity as businesses around the country close their doors for an additional 24 hours .He told reporters: “The Jubilee is a unique national celebration to mark the Queen’s remarkable, dedicated and continued service to the UK and Commonwealth. That’s why, to mark this special occasion, the spring bank holiday is moved. “Equally we recognise that each bank holiday presents a considerable and significant cost to our economy and therefore proposals would have to be considered carefully on that basis.“We think this is a unique national celebration… and we are confident the public will come together to mark this significant moment. “But we should recognise the impact it has on the wider economy. Our impact assessment estimates a cost of around £2bn.“I’m not aware of any plans to make it permanent. But obviously we keep the cost of these things under review.” More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told cabinet ministers there will be no new money available to spend on measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.His stricture came after Boris Johnson ordered ministers to bring ideas to a meeting in Downing Street today for how to help Britons deal with the eye-watering bills expected over the coming year as inflation rises close to 9 per cent.Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said that a number of ideas from each Whitehall department were put forward by ministers. More

Rail bosses have enraged workers about to take part in a national strike ballot, after telling them they “should have probably worked harder at school” if they wanted better pay.Nicky Hughes, a director of communications at Network Rail, provoked anger from unions at the state-owned company just as 40,000 rail workers vote on whether to walk out over job cuts and salary freezes.Network Rail said the director’s comments had been “misconstrued” but unions, who are balloting for strike action, seized on them and warned a rail walk-out could be the UK’s biggest ever.”Yes, there are some people in our business who are on high salaries,” Ms Hughes, a communications director at the organisation, said in a post on the company’s internal social network defending top executive pay. “We are a massive multibillion pound business, with complex finances, risks, governance, public and political scrutiny and we also have some of the UK’s biggest construction projects. Managing businesses like these are [sic] enormously complex and complicated… it’s certainly not a job I or many other people can do. “That doesn’t mean senior managers and leaders are always right… far from it, but equally we should be fair and recognise that all businesses – public and private – compete for managers who have these skill and pay accordingly. It’s a lesson to those of us who should have probably worked harder at school.”Ms Hughes added that “the alternative” to such pay inequality “is socialism where you don’t have pay differences like this”, noting: “Sadly again, there’s not much evidence of successful, fair and open socialist countries in the world who’ve managed to do this either.”The exchange took place on Yammer, an internal social media platform for Network Rail employees, during a discussion about planned cuts – and screenshots of the post have been circulating widely among workers balloting for a strike.The vote has been prompted by the organisation’s plans to cut 2,500 safety-critical maintenance jobs as part of a £2 billion reduction in spending. Workers on rail operators, which are separate from infrastructure manager Network Rail, are also being balloted in light of pay freezes amid soaring inflation and changes to their terms and conditions. Voting opened on Tuesday.In a follow-up post after receiving angry replies, the director, who oversees communications in the Wales and Western region, apologised, telling colleagues she was “so so sorry” to have “caused such offence”, that she had intended her comments to refer to herself, and that she could “see this was a bad choice of words and not relevant to everyone”.RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told The Independent: “The comments are a desperate and futile attempt by Network Rail to dissuade our railway members from voting in this upcoming strike ballot.”Network Rail are trying to avoid the elephant in the room, which is that along with the government, they need to refinance the debt they have with bondholders, not try and cut jobs, conditions and compromise railway safety. “The removal of 2,500 maintenance roles will have a devastating impact on our members livelihoods and will lead to stronger likelihood of serious accidents on the Network. “RMT is always open for genuine negotiations with Network Rail and the train operating companies. But our members will not be emotionally blackmailed into accepting proposals that will do permanent damage to the long-term future of the railways in this country.”Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA rail union, described the post as “foolish” and said it “shows how desperately out of touch the company’s fat cats really are:.He added: “It’s insulting to suggest that workers ‘should’ve worked harder in school’, rather than acknowledging the very real cost-of-living problems people suffer when their pay fails to keep up with inflation. These comments sound even more ludicrous when you consider that most of our members are skilled professional staff with many having been university educated.”A Network Rail spokesperson said: “As can often be the case on social media platforms, these comments were misconstrued. The author was referring to her own experiences, not directing the comments at others. She later clarified this on the same thread and this was well-received by colleagues.”On the RMT ballot, Tim Shoveller, Network Rail’s regional director, said: “Our railway has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, and even as passenger numbers start to recover, we know travel habits and passenger demand have changed and the industry has to change too. We cannot keep relying on Government handouts, and so we must work together with train operators and our trades unions to save millions of pounds and deliver a more efficient railway.“Our modernisation programme aims to build a sustainable future that delivers for passengers and creates better and safer jobs for our people. We would not consider any changes that would make the railway less safe. We are disappointed that the RMT has taken this decision and urge them again to work with us, not against us, as we build an affordable railway fit for the future.” More

Brexit red tape means the UK has “stopped selling” many products to smaller EU countries, according to alarming new evidence of the impact on trade.It highlights a “steep decline” in the number of trading relationships Britain has with its most important market – which fell by nearly one-third after Boris Johnson’s trade deal came into effect.Smaller firms attempting to export have been hit by red tape and costs at the border, with the biggest problems in trade with firms in smaller EU countries, the research has has found.Thomas Prayer, a co-author of the research, called the decline “remarkable”, saying: “It appears the UK simply stopped selling a lot of products to smaller countries in the EU.”The findings, from the LSE Centre for Economic Performance, will be seen as further worrying evidence of the price being paid by exporters for leaving the EU single market and customs union.The Treasury watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has warned that UK trade has “missed out” on much of the post-Covid recovery in global trade enjoyed by other G7 economies.The LSE team analysed changes in trade patterns for 1,200 traded product lines, in what it said was the most comprehensive study to date of the effects of Brexit on UK-EU trade.Thomas Sampson, co-author and associate professor of economics at LSE, said the analysis exposed the hidden impacts of increasing the red tape burden – even as overall exports to EU recovered to pre-pandemic levels.“There’s quite a lot of evidence that future growth in trade comes from firms that are small today,” he told the Financial Times.“If you kill off those exporting relationships it may lead to lower future export growth.”William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce said: “Inevitably it is smaller firms which don’t have the money, time or logistical capacity to set up within the EU which are being hardest hit.”And Martin McTague, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, called for further help with increased paperwork, saying: “Small business must be at the centre of free trade agreements.”The study echoes evidence from business groups that many smaller firms are quitting exporting altogether, in the face of customs barriers, VAT and regulatory red tape.It finds the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is not severely hampering exports by large firms – “or at least not yet”.The OBR has estimated that total UK imports and exports will be 15 per cent lower over the medium term than if Britain had remained part of the EU.But the Department for International Trade argued the TCA has allowed businesses in Britain to “trade freely” with the EU and said it is working to support exporters via its Export Support Service.“We are ensuring that businesses of all sizes have the support they need to trade effectively with Europe and seize new opportunities as we strike trade deals around the world,” a spokesperson added. More

Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray’s report into allegations of lockdown-busting parties in No 10 may not be finalised until the end of May at the earliest, according to reports.It comes as the Metropolitan Police continue to carry out its own investigation — first launched in January — into 12 separate events in government buildings during Covid lockdowns.Scotland Yard has already issued Boris Johnson, his wife, Carrie, and the chancellor Rishi Sunak with fixed-penalty notices for a birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room, but No 10 is bracing for the possibility of further fines.Last week the force began issuing fines to Downing Street staffers for attending the “bring your own booze” event in the Rose garden on 20 May, 2020 — an event the prime minister attended.But the government has made clear Ms Gray will not publish her probe, which yesterday was said to be “excoriating”, until the Met concludes its own inquiry in the events in government buildings.Amid concerns the police probe could drag on, a source told The Guardian they believed Ms Gray was “working towards the end of May as the most likely timetable” for completing her report while another suggested it was “wishful thinking” her report would be published before the end of next month.The newspaper claimed it could take the senior servant a fortnight to finalise her report after the Met concludes.On Monday it was also claimed the report will “make things incredibly difficult for the prime minister”, with Mr Johnson already facing calls to resign from some Tory MPs after becoming the first sitting prime minister found to have broken the law.In an interim report published in January, the Cabinet Office official said there had been “failures of leadership and judgment” in No 10 over the “partygate” saga that has destabilised Mr Johnson’s leadership.Campaigning in Bury yesterday — ahead of the local elections — the prime minister refused to be drawn on Ms Gray’s findings, saying: “There’s absolutely no circumstance in which I’m going to comment on that before the thing is complete.”When pressed on whether he was still an asset to the Conservatives in elections, he added: “I’m not denying that”“I think that the greatest asset the Conservatives have are Conservative values and the way that Conservative councillors up and down the country deliver taxpayer value.“That’s what really matters and I think that’s what people will be focused on. And we will be fighting for every vote right up ‘til polling day.”The Independent has contacted the Cabinet Office for comment. More

The head of the civil service is reported to have privately warned Boris Johnson against forcing government officials to stop working from home, amid anger at ministers’ rhetoric over post-Covid office arrangements in Whitehall.It emerged over the weekend that Jacob Rees-Mogg, who in addition to his role overseeing “Brexit opportunities” is also in charge of “government efficiency”, had been leaving notes on civil servants’ empty desks, telling them he looked “forward to seeing you in the office very soon”.In addition to the notes, which he left after writing to fellow ministers demanding they send “a clear message” to civil servants in their departments “to ensure a rapid return to the office”, Mr Rees Mogg has also published a league table showing the number of officials at their desks on an average day.Against this backdrop, the UK’s top civil servant, cabinet secretary Simon Case, warned the prime minister this weekend that the language being employed against civil servants was going too far – and that Mr Rees-Mogg’s strategy was unwise, according to The Guardian.But just hours after details of the apparent warning emerged, Downing Street declared that Mr Rees-Mogg’s approach was one backed by the prime minister – and by Mr Case himself.“What the minister is seeking to achieve is to do everything possible to get the civil service to return to the pre-pandemic level,” Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson told reporters at a Westminster briefing.“That is what he is seeking to do. That is supported by the cabinet secretary and obviously the prime minister.”Asked whether Mr Rees Mogg’s notes – branded “crass” and “condescending” by unions – were helpful, the spokesman said Mr Johnson “supports any initiative that encourages people to return to pre-pandemic working”.But, according to The Guardian, Mr Case has been joined by at least four permanent secretaries – the most senior civil servant in each government department – in raising concerns over the rhetoric employed by ministers in their bid to repopulate Whitehall.Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Rees-Mogg claimed that officials could lose the London weighting on their pay or see their jobs moved elsewhere if they were not at their desks, saying: “Essentially, if people are not back in their office it will be fair to assume that the job does not need to be in London.”Unions have warned that the crusade is damaging civil service morale, with FDA general secretary Dave Penman cautioning that “good people will leave and the civil service brand is trashed in a highly competitive employment market”.The matter also appears to have caused disagreement within the Cabinet. According to The Times Nadine Dorries said there was “a whiff of something Dickensian about” Mr Rees-Mogg’s letter to government departments.“Why are we measuring bodies behind desks? Why aren’t we measuring productivity?” Ms Dorries reportedly told Mr Rees-Mogg, who last week presented figures to Cabinet showing that some government departments were using as little as 25 per cent of office capacity in early April.The figure for Ms Dorries’ Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was 43 per cent. A government source described the dispute between the two as “good natured”.Another minister was quoted by The Guardian as saying that they were on “Team Nadine”, adding: “Who dreams this crap up? If the civil service aren’t working properly, reform them. Don’t wander round placing the physical equivalent of eye rolls on their desks.”Meanwhile, some officials have reportedly been told they can go into the office on a limited number of days either because there are no free desks or their building has been sold.Approached by The Independent, a government spokesperson said: “We want to see office attendance across the civil service consistently back at normal, pre-pandemic levels.“There is total agreement across government on there being clear benefits from face-to-face, collaborative working and we know that this is particularly important for the learning and development of new members of staff.“The Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency has written to departments to underline the importance of workplace attendance and request that they review their existing guidance on the minimum number of days staff work in the office.”A search on the civil service job website on Monday night yielded nearly 1,600 results including “flexible working” arrangements.Additional reporting by PA More