UK Politics

The government is still paying £1.7 million a week to store unusable medical equipment in shipping containers – months after lifting most Covid-19 restrictions.Figures confirmed by the department of health this week show 5.5 million items of PPE (personal protective equipment) are costing the public purse £249,000 per day.The continuing cost, which down on last year, show the difficulty the government is having disposing of the equipment. Ministers last month announced plans to start burning mountains of unusable PPE for fuel in power stations at the rate of 500 lorryloads a month.The government mistakenly purchased £8.7 billion of unusable equipment during the pandemic, some of it from suppliers with links to the Conservative party.”As of 14 February 2022, 5.5 billion items of personal protective equipment (PPE) are being held in container storage,” Conservative health minister Edward Argar said in a written parliamentary answer on Monday when asked for the cost.”The Department does not store PPE in containers at ports. Storage costs for containers in that week were £249,000 per day.” The minister did not provide more up-to-date figures.In June 2021 MPs were told the government was spending £6.7 million per week on storing around 12.6 billion items of PPE – which includes masks, gloves and aprons.In addition to burning items, the government also says it will try to repurpose it for other uses. But Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said the situation the government had put itself in was “ludicrous”.“Not only has this Conservative Government put people’s lives at risk by wasting billions of taxpayers money buying useless PPE, they are now also spending several million a month to keep this useless equipment boxed up in storage,” she said.“When the cost of living is skyrocketing, hard working families will rightly feel angry that Conservative incompetence is frittering away even more of their cash whilst they can barely afford to pay their bills.”This ludicrous situation must stop, before even more money is wasted.”A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said there was little data at the start of the pandemic on what PPE was needed, and that it was trying to get rid of excess equipment as fast as possible.“Our priority throughout the pandemic has been saving lives, and we have delivered over 19.1 billion items of PPE to frontline staff to keep them safe,” the spokesperson said.“Having too much PPE was preferable to having too little in the face of an unpredictable and dangerous virus, given this was essential to keep our NHS open and protect as many people as possible.“Now we are confident we have sufficient PPE to cover any future Covid demands, we are taking decisive action to save up to £93 million of taxpayers’ money per year by reducing storage costs for excess stock.” More

At least 30 more fixed penalty notices are being issued in relation to breaches of Covid-19 laws at Downing Street and Whitehall parties, bringing the total to more than 50, the Metropolitan Police have said.And police said they were continuing to assess “significant amounts of investigative material” which could lead to further fines.The announcement sparked fresh calls for the prime minister to quit, with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey saying: “If Boris Johnson won’t resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door.”No details have been released of the identities of those facing fines, or the events to which they relate.An initial tranche of 20 fines was announced on 29 March, with recipients facing penalties of £50 or more following the Operation Hillman inquiry into 12 events alleged to have broken laws designed to prevent the spread of Covid during 2020 and 2021.The Met today announced that the total number of cases referred to the Criminal Records Office for the issue of FPNs has topped 50, meaning that at least 30 more instances of law-breaking have been established over the past fortnight.In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed, this includes continuing to assess significant amounts of investigative material from which further referrals may be made to ACRO (Criminal Records Office).”Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the fines were evidence of “widespread criminality” inside Downing Street.“Crime is soaring, victims are being let down and police officers are disappearing from our streets – now we see widespread criminality at the heart of Downing Street,” she said. “This is just the latest example of a distracted out-of-touch government, guilty of breaking the law, never mind enforcing it.”Sir Ed Davey said: “These fines expose the shocking scale of the criminality in Boris Johnson’s Number 10.“The police have now completely shredded Johnson’s claims that no laws were broken. He cannot be trusted and cannot continue as prime minister.“No other leader in any other organisation would be allowed to continue after law-breaking on this scale. If Boris Johnson won’t resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door.”Police have taken evidence from more than 100 ministers, advisers and officials, including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, through written questionnaires. Three weeks ago, they began interviews with some of those involved in events in Downing Street and Whitehall.It is understood that the initial fixed penalty notices relate to the more straightforward cases, where individuals have admitted breaches and put up no defence.Downing Street has committed to revealing whether Mr Johnson or the head of the civil service Simon Case are fined, but have said they will not identify No 10 officials who are issued with FPNs.The long-awaited report by Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray into the Partygate scandal will not be published until police inquiries are concluded. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak was today facing calls for an emergency budget to shore up household incomes, after new figures showed real wages falling by more than 2 per cent over the last year.Public sector workers were among the worst hit, with an average 4.2 per cent fall in the value of their pay after inflation is taken into account – the sharpest annual decline since records began.And there were warnings that Brexit is contributing to the cost-of-living squeeze, as the red tape burden resulting from EU withdrawal hits UK exporters.New figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the 2.1 per cent decline in real wages recorded in February was the worst since 2013. For the three months to February, the fall in regular pay excluding bonuses was 1.8 per cent compared to the same period the previous year.While nominal pay rose 4 per cent in the quarter, it was far outstripped by inflation, which is forecast to reach almost 9 per cent later this year.Experts said the figures were skewed by buoyant salaries and bonuses in high-pay industries like finance and IT with the lowest-income families facing the harshest squeeze.Stephen Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, said: “Bonuses in sectors such as finance mean some are seeing rising pay, while those on the lowest incomes saw their benefits rise by just 3.1 per cent yesterday, far lower than inflation. This is before the rise in National Insurance and the energy price cap, so the pain is only going to grow without action.”Mr Sunak welcomed ONS figures showing unemployment falling to 3.8 per cent, its lowest rate since 1974.But there were also signs of a shrinking labour market, with those classed as economically inactive rising by 76,000 over the quarter to 8.9m, due mostly to older workers choosing to retire early due to the Covid pandemic.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that household incomes were being “obliterated” as a result of the chancellor’s “political choices” at last month’s spring statement, in which he set money aside for a pre-election tax cut rather than boosting welfare payments or providing more help with domestic gas and electricity bills.“We can’t go on like this,” said Ms O’Grady. “The chancellor must come back to parliament with an emergency budget to help people through this crisis.”She called on Mr Sunak to immediately boost the national minimum wage, universal credit and pensions and impose a windfall tax on North Sea companies to fund a cut in energy bills.“Rising hardship is a political choice,” said the TUC chief. “Ministers must not abandon families in their hour of need.”As the impact of this month’s 1.25 per cent hike in National Insurance contributions began showing up in pay packets, Labour Treasury spokesperson Pat McFadden said Mr Sunak had made Britain “the only major economy to land working people with higher taxes in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.”And Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Today’s figures confirm the Conservative cost of living nightmare facing millions of UK families.“People are rightly angry with the chancellor for refusing to throw them a lifeline when their incomes are being squeezed.”The co-chair of the UK Trade and Business Commission, Labour MP Hilary Benn, said that action was needed to tackle the “artificial barriers to trade” created by Brexit in order to save the UK from continuing lost growth.“The UK’s long term exports appear to be lagging behind our European neighbours,” said Mr Benn. “The key difference between us and them is the mountain of red tape that has been imposed on UK businesses post-Brexit.”Mr Sunak said that the government was “helping to cushion the impacts of global price rises” through a package of support worth over £22 billion this year, including a £150 council tax rebate and a £200 loan to pay for energy bills, to be repaid over following years.And he said that the ONS figures showed “the continued strength of our jobs market, with the number of employees on payrolls rising once again in March and unemployment falling further below pre-pandemic levels”.But the head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, Suren Thiru, said that the joblessness figures were “flattered” by the shrinking size of the UK workforce.“With rising economic inactivity confirming that lots of workers have seemingly quit the jobs market completely, severe staff shortages may remain a persistent drag anchor on economic activity,” he said.Falling real wages and low levels of household economic confidence risk stifling consumer spending, as families remain wary of running down savings built up during coronavirus lockdowns, said Mr Thiru. More

A Conservative minister who earns £106,000 a year on top of other perks has claimed he is worried about going into his overdraft every month.James Heappey, who also claimed accommodation expenses worth £24,700 and £3,900 on travel in 2020-21, suggested he was close to running out of money each payday.”My finances are pretty uncomplicated, and like lots of people by about the 20th of the month I’m pretty worried about my overdraft rather than any amazing tax bill,” he told LBC radio on Tuesday morning.Mr Heappey, who is a minister at the Ministry of Defence, did not elaborate on what he spends the generous sums on – but resisted calls for MPs to have to make their tax returns public.”My tax return is a blank piece of paper effectively everything I get, I pay on PAYE,” he said. People who earn over £100,000 in annual income must file tax returns even if they are taxed through PAYE.Mr Heappey added: “So it could be really easy for me to say yeah, publish it, but I just think there’s a point of principle that actually there are mechanisms through the parliamentary register of interests and for the ministerial register of interests for us to be very clear about where there are conflicts. And I actually think it’s quite important that people in public life are allowed some privacy.”The MPs’ register of interests also reveals that on top his his salary and expenses, the Somerset MP gets a free honorary golf club membership worth £1,050 a year at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club in his constituency. MPs’ salaries are set by IPSA, the parliamentary expenses watchdog, and in April went up from £81,932 to £84,144 – an annual 2.6 per cent cash increase. In addition to this, as a junior minister Mr Heappey is paid an extra £22,475 on top of his MPs’ salary.The call for MPs’ taxes to become more transparent comes after a series of revelations about the household finances of chancellor Rishi Sunak.The Independent revealed last week that Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murthy has been living as a tax non-dom in Downing Street, and that the Chancellor is also listed as a beneficiary on a financial trust located in a notorious tax haven.It also emerged that Mr Sunak and Ms Murthy held US green cards for more than a year into his chancellorship – a status which required them to make a legal commitment that the US is their permanent home. More

Boris Johnson’s government has said “all possible options” are on the table to respond to Russia if Vladimir Putin’s forces are found to have used chemical weapons in Ukraine.Foreign secretary Liz Truss and Armed Forces minister James Heappey said the UK was working with allies to verify reports that Russian forces may have used chemical agents in an attack on Mariupol.Mr Heappey said any use of chemical weapons “will get a response” – and suggested some countries may choose to act outside of Nato. “There are some things that are beyond the pale,” he said.The defence minister told Sky News said that if chemical weapons are used “then president Putin should know that all possible options are on the table in terms of how the west might respond”.Asked what the options would include, Mr Heappey said “ambiguity” was important – but added that any response “would certainly be effective, but it would also be well considered”.Challenged on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if a response could involve direct Nato involvement, Mr Heappey said: “All options are on the table … It’s important to have some ambiguity.”He added: “It’s not for any government minister from any individual country to pledge Nato involvement. It’s perfectly possible that a response to chemical weapons use could happen outwith Nato.”Mariupol’s Azov regiment reported that soldiers were left dizzy and unable to breathe after a “poisonous substance of unknown origin” was dropped on them from a Russian drone, according to the Daily Mail.It came hours after Mariupol’s mayor said more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city and the death toll could surpass 20,000.Mr Truss said “any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account”, but made clear the UK was still trying to verify reports.“The Ukrainian system, as you’ve seen from president Zelensky, are only referring to the fact that there are reports, they themselves haven’t yet been able to confirm to us that they have been used,” Mr Heappey told Sky News.Ukrainian troops will come to UK “in the next few days” for training in the use of armoured vehicles, the Armed forces minister has confirmed.“There’s 120 armoured vehicles that are in the process of being made ready,” Mr Heappey told LBC Radio.“And the Ukrainian troops that will operate them will arrive in the UK in the next few days to learn how to drive and command those vehicles.” Britain is increasingly worried that Russia could use white phosphorus munitions in the bombardment of the city. White phosphorus is used for illumination at night or to create a smokescreen, but when it is deployed as a weapon it causes horrific burns.Western officials think Russia wants to bring about the fall of Mariupol to both free up troops for the fight in the Donbas but also to create a route north for the Kremlin’s forces as they look to form a pincer movement on Ukrainian defenders in the east. More

MPs should be “nicer and kinder” in the Commons in a bid to build public respect and trust, said Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he called for an end to hatred of politicians.Sir Lindsay said MPs and political staff remain “traumatised” by the murder of Sir David Amess, and continue to struggle amid fears for their security.“Let’s show a nicer and kinder politics within the chamber,” the Speaker told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, after Sir David’s killer was convicted at the Old Bailey on Monday.Sir Lindsay: “I do want a kinder politics, I want a nicer politics, I want a belief in politics. If we haven’t democracy, what have we got? A Putin? A despot parliament? Nobody wants that.”He added “So it is about the respect of politicians, it’s building trust with constituents, it’s getting them to believe in us and working with them. And in the end, the attack took place because these people do not believe in the values of our democracy.”Sir Lindsay added: “We’ve got to bring people with us, we’ve got to get that trust back in politicians, that belief in politicians.”Asked if MPs in different parties do enough to praise each other, Sir Lindsay said: “I think we can do more. It is about being tolerant. It is about respect as well – views will differ but in the end, it’s how you have a different view.”Hoyle said MPs will “never give into terrorism” after IS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali was convicted of murdering Sir David. The Conservative MP was stabbed more than 20 times at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.The Commons Speaker said the parliamentary authorities were “always reviewing security but what I will say is we will do everything we can to protect and encourage, and make sure that people feel safe”.Sir Lindsay later added: “David would always say one thing – he was a great friend of mine – he believed and loved being an MP, and nothing would stop him doing that, whatever happened.”He said some MPs remain worried about their safety, after Sir David was stabbed more than 20 times by twisted London-born extremist Ali Harbi Ali at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.Sir Lindsay called for the “hate” in politics to stop. It came against a background of criminal convictions handed out to people for sending threats to MPs, such as Jess Phillips, Rosie Cooper and former politician Anna Soubry.Diane Abbott also said she had seen an increase in the amount of online abuse and threats she received in the six weeks after Sir David’s death.Asked whether the situation had since improved, the Commons Speaker said: “It’s like a thermometer, it goes up and down. So we have had spikes of hate and anger, and then it eases down a bit.”But he added: “Whatever the political persuasion, there is real hate and anger out there. It really affected MPs more than it did before. And I would say that we’ve got to help and support those MPs who have struggled since that hideous attack.”Sir Lindsay cautioned against MPs falling into a “comfort zone” as time moves on.Hoyle added: “We cannot afford Sir David’s death to be in vain, we’ve got to keep reminding people, you’ve got to keep working on that. And we’ve got to make sure we do the best.” More

Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has said the UK’s leadership “from the front” during the Ukraine crisis demonstrates why Brexit was a “probably a good idea”.Stanley Johnson – a Europhile who voted Remain at the referendum – criticised EU leaders for failing to act quickly enough in cutting oil imports or supplying arms to Ukraine.“At this moment you have to say Europe needs to pull its socks up,” he told LBC. “I mean, Germany is saying they can’t cut back on its oil imports. Well, why isn’t the rest of Europe coming to help Germany?”Johnson Snr added: “I say to myself, in this particular case, Brexit was probably a good idea, because Boris has been able to lead from the front here.”The prime minister’s father also said the EU was being held back by member Hungary and its authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orban, who has been an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.“You have Viktor Orban up there who is holding the European framework up from making the right decisions,” he said.Asked about Britain’s decision to send 120 armoured vehicles as well as new anti-ship missile systems, Johnson Snr said: “I think [UK leadership] has been incredibly important. I think the anti-ship missiles which are going out with [armoured vehicles] – this is vital.”He added: “Europe needs to come in behind us in a big way. And I’m not yet convinced that they’ve got the message.”Despite a EU ban on coal from Russia, and moves to ban oil, consensus among the 27 EU member countries on ending Russian gas supply has proved more difficult to secure.Though Berlin has agreed to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by mid-2024, the German chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week it was not possible to cut the gas supplies quickly.Johnson Snr also praised his son’s trip to Ukrainian capital on Saturday, where he held surprise talks and walked around the streets of Kyiv with president Volodymyr Zelensky.“I had absolutely no prior knowledge – I will say, I thought it was a wonderful, wonderful example of leading from the front,” he said.EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also met Zelensky in Kyiv, and more western leaders were expected to visit the Ukrainian capital this week.It comes as foreign secretary Liz Truss vowed to hold Vladimir Putin “and his regime to account” if it is proven that Russian forces used chemical agents in an attack on Mariupol.The city’s Azov regiment reported soldiers were left dizzy and unable to breathe after a substance was dropped on them from a Russian drone, according to reports.Ms Truss tweeted: “We are working urgently with partners to verify details. Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account.”Armed forces minister James Heappey said on Tuesday morning that the UK had not been able to verify those reports. “The Ukrainian system … themselves haven’t yet been able to confirm to us that they have been used.”But he said that if chemical weapons “are used at all then president Putin should know that all possible options are on the table in terms of how the West might respond”. More