UK Politics

The Welsh government’s trial of a universal basic income will pay around 500 people £1,600 a month, the devolved administration has announced.Under the pilot policy some vulnerable young people will be paid £19,200 a year for 24 months from their 18th birthday – the highest rate of any large-scale pilot.The scheme will be open to all young people leaving care, and extend to double the number of people that had previously been planned.Some members of the Welsh parliament last month expressed concerns that the pilot, originally expected to cover just 250 people, might be too small to be a useful study. But unveiling details on Tuesday evening Welsh ministers said the programme is now likely to be taken up by around 500 care leavers. The experiment is planned to last for a “minimum” of three years.Under a universal basic income everyone would be paid an unconditional flat amount of cash by the government to help cover living costs. The idea has been suggested as a way of giving people more economic security and opportunities and has been trialled in countries including Finland and the Netherlands.The Welsh Labour government wants to test whether the policy lives up to claimed benefits such as cutting poverty and unemployment and improving health and financial wellbeing, so it is piloting it with a smaller group.Minister for social justice Jane Hutt said the pilot was “an exciting project to deliver financial stability for a generation of young people that need it most”.”The pilot will build on the existing support offered to looked after children in Wales and ensure young people who take part in this pilot get all the support they need to give them the best possible chance to make their way in life and the transition out of care better, easier and more positive,” she said. “We are fully committed to supporting those living in poverty, ensuring they receive adequate financial support so that everyone in Wales can live happy and healthy lives.”Members of the Welsh Parliament previously said 250 people was not enough and called for the project to be diversified across more walks of life and demographics to give more useful data. “A basic income pilot for care leavers – as currently proposed by the Welsh government – will provide valuable feedback on the potential of such a scheme to improve the support to a group which faces significant challenges,” the committee said in January.”However, a three-year pilot of only 250 people will offer limited information. And applying a basic income only to care leavers, will tell us little about universal basic income.”The scheme will still be limited to care leavers but is now expected to cover more people. Officials say the increase from 250 to 500 is due to the size of the cohort of 18 years olds leaving care for the 2022/2023 financial year, when the scheme will begin. Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Group on Basic Income, chaired by Professor Sir Michael Marmot said: “The Technical Advisory Group for the Welsh Basic Income Pilot want to put on record our support for this policy. “Whilst we may have differing opinions on how a basic income can work on a wider scale, we can all agree that any scheme aimed at helping a particularly vulnerable group should be welcomed and intend to provide Welsh Government with the support it needs in making this a success.” More

Donald Tusk has criticised Britain’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, as the Home Office continues to turn back people without visas.Most of Europe has operated an open door policy for Ukrainians freeing the Russian invasion, with the UK standing out as an exception.The approach has sparked anger in other countries, with France’s interior minister accusing the British government of a “lack of humanity”.Now Donald Tusk, the former president of the European Council who oversaw Brexit talks, has taken aim at Boris Johnson himself.”Solidarity in action. The UK has granted 50 visas to the Ukrainian refugees while the Poles have welcomed 1.2 million Ukrainians in two weeks,” Mr Tusk said in a post on social media.Mr Tusk, a longstanding critic of UK government policy, juxtaposed the statistics with a quote from the UK’s prime minister.”‘We are generous as we possibly can be, we are very, very generous’, says Boris Johnson.”Mr Tusk ended his message with a “facepalm” emoji – used to expressed frustration. The former Council chief, a Polish politician who is now president of the ruling centre-right European People’s Party group, also took aim at eurosceptics and nationalists. “If you undermine the European unity and promote nationalism, you are Putin’s ally,” he said.”If you attack the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in your country, you are Putin.”Unlike most European countries the UK government has said it will only take Ukrainian refugees with family connections or sponsorship by a third party. Immigration ministers have suggested people could be pretending to be Ukrainian and that they might consider coming to Britain on work visas to pick fruit.By contrast the European Union has activated a special law which will allow all people fleeing the conflict access to housing and other public services for an initial period of three years. They will not be asked to apply for asylum or visas. The figure of around 50 refugees used by Mr Tusk dates from over the weekend, with the latest official stats suggested 300 Ukrainians have been granted visas to come to Britain – still dwarfed by the two million who have actually fled the country.Ireland has already taken over 2,000 people and its government has said it expects to take between 80,000 to 100,000 in total.The Home Office says a total of 17,700 Ukraine national visa applications have been started and that 9,000 of those are require to provide more information.The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More

John Bercow has said there is nothing for him to apologise for, hours after receiving a lifetime ban from holding a parliamentary pass over a report into his “bullying” behaviour. The former Commons speaker rebuked the conclusions of a report by Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner – which deals with bullying sanctions – saying they were a “travesty of justice”.He also said he could not say sorry because he does not “believe in faux apologies”, adding: “I don’t believe in apologising when I don’t think I have anything to apologise for.”It came after the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) said on Tuesday it would uphold Ms Stone’s findings, which concerned allegations against Mr Bercow made by three complainants who served as parliamentary staff between 2009 and 2014.The panel, chaired by former appeal court judge Sir Stephen Irwin, said Ms Stone’s report was enough to conclude that Mr Bercow “has been a serial bully” and that he was a “serial liar”. It added: “The respondent’s conduct was so serious that, had he still been a Member of Parliament, we would have determined that he should be expelled by resolution of the House.”However, Mr Bercow told Channel 4 News this evening: “I deny the allegations that have been levelled at me in the course of a protracted, unjust, and amateurish process. It’s been a kangaroo court and saying it’s a kangaroo court is extremely insulting to kangaroos.”He also accused the Commons of “ignoring vast swathes of evidence” throughout his case.One of his accusers, Lord Lisvane, a former clerk of the Commons, told the same broadcaster that Mr Bercow had showed “hysterical petulance” for his “whining and whinging” in the face of the IEP’s conclusions. In another interview, Mr Bercow, who was first elected as a Conservative in 1987 before becoming speaker in 2009, insisted he was an “empathetic, principled person”. “I’m not a nasty piece of work at all, I’m a warm, empathetic, principled and passionate person, who had fantastic, I emphasise fantastic relations, with the vast majority of people with whom I worked and interacted throughout my time in parliament,” he told LBC Radio. More

A Conservative peer has called for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to be included in a wartime coalition government to see Britain through the Ukraine crisis. Lord Patrick Cormack said the Russian invasion was the “most crucial time” since World War II – when the UK had a national government made up of ministers from both main parties.“The time for a national government is, I think now,” said the Tory peer told ITV News after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s historic address to parliament.Urging senior Tory and Labour figures to “get together” and discuss a coalition, Lord Cormack said: “The time is coming when we should think of a national government.“I think Keir Starmer was very good in there today – statesmanlike, patriotic, all the things we expect a leader of the opposition to be.”The peer said: “I think the time should now come when those who hold high positions in both parties should get together. We have to have our priorities in order, and the priority is the defence of democracy and the free world.”He added: “We’ve never had to play and argue for higher stakes, not since the Second World War … We are plunged in deep darkness. It’s the most crucial time we have had in our country’s history since 1939. All politicians should work together.”The last national government seen in Britain was the coalition lead by Winston Churchill between 1940 and 1945, which included Labour and Liberal ministers such as Clement Atlee and Sir Archibald Sinclair.Sir Keir appeared to withdraw his previous calls for Mr Johnson to resign at the weekend, when he called for “unity” in the face of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.Clarifying his remarks on Monday, the Labour leader said: “My position on the prime minister and what I think of him hasn’t changed, I don’t think he’s fit to be prime minister.“But at a time when we’re seeing these desperate scenes from Ukraine, my arguments today, my focus today, is on Ukraine.”Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky earlier echoed Winston Churchill and compared his country’s fight against Russia to Britain’s battle against the Nazis in an historic address to parliament.The embattled leader said: “We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”Mr Johnson said the speech had “moved the hearts of everybody”, while Sir Keir added: “He has shown his strength and we must show him, and the Ukrainian people.” More

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky echoed Winston Churchill and compared his country’s fight against Russia to Britain’s battle against the Nazis in an historic address to parliament.The embattled leader urged Boris Johnson to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin’s regime by going further on sanctions, asking the prime minister to declare Russia a “terrorist state”.Mr Zelensky also repeated his call for a no-fly zone to be established by Britain and its Nato allies, pleading for the UK to “make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe”.He added: “We are the country that are saving people despite having to fight one of the biggest armies in the world. We have to fight the helicopters, the rockets.”In his 10-minute video address, Mr Zelensky told parliament: “We do not want to lose what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine, just the same as you did not want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight your country and you had to fight for Britain.”Echoing Britain’s war leader, the Ukrainian leader said: “We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”Paraphrasing Shakespeare, he added: “The question for us now is to be or not to be. For 13 days this question could have been asked, but now I can give you a definitive answer. It’s a yes – to be.”Addressing Mr Johnson personally, Mr Zelensky said: “I am grateful to you, Boris. Please increase the pressure of sanctions against this country [Russia] and please recognise this country as a terrorist country. Please make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe.”The speech to the Commons was greeted before and after by standing ovations from MPs, and speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle praised the “courage” of Mr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine.The prime minister also praised the president’s courage. Mr Johnson said the speech had “moved the hearts of everybody”, adding: “Never before in all our centuries of our parliamentary democracy has the house listened to such an address.”Although he did not address Mr Zelensky’s plea for a no-fly zone, the PM vowed to “press on with supplying our Ukrainian friends with the weapons they need to defend their homeland as they deserve, to press on with tightening the economic vice around Vladimir Putin”.Mr Johnson added: “At this moment ordinary Ukrainians are defending their homes and their families against a brutal assault and they are, by their actions, inspiring millions by their courage and their devotion.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said all sides of the house had been “moved by the bravery, the resolve, and the leadership of President Zelensky”, adding: “He has shown his strength and we must show him, and the Ukrainian people.”Sir Keir told the Commons: “He has reminded us that our freedom and our democracy are invaluable. He has prompted a world into action, where too often we have let Putin have his way. He has inspired the Ukrainian nation to resist and frustrated the Russian war machine.”Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Zelensky deserved an honorary knighthood, and said he “looked forward to the day” when the Ukrainian president would be able to visit the Commons in person.SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford told the Commons: “President Zelensky, we salute you. We stand with the people of Ukraine on the basis of the act of aggression, on the act of war of Putin,” before adding that Ukrainians who need sanctuary must find a “welcoming hand” in the UK.The historic address came shortly after Mr Johnson’s government announced the UK will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022 as part of a ratcheting up of sanctions on Moscow for the invasion.The prime minister said the move to phase out Russian oil and gas is an important “first step … it’s something I think is an important thing to do.”Mr Johnson has defended the need for visa checks on refugees fleeing to Britain from Ukraine. “I think having some sort of check, some sort of control is an important feature of the way we do things. It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be massively, massively generous.” More

Ministers ploughed ahead with international aid cuts despite a warning of the harsh impact on women and girls suffering sexual violence, a leaked document reveals.The secret impact assessment – obtained by a committee of MPs – forecast a big reduction in services to victims of “violence including sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment”.The aid cuts slashed spending on a United Nations contraceptives programme by 40 per cent. 700,000 fewer girls are expected to be supported in education.In the Commons, the foreign secretary Liz Truss was urged to explain why the assessment, from March 2021, was suppressed.Its exposure also raises questions for Dominic Raab, who was foreign secretary when the cuts were being made last year – when he refused to reveal details.In April 2021, Mr Raab told MPs that the equalities assessment “showed no evidence that programmes targeting those with protected characteristics were more likely to be reduced than other programmes”.In fact, ministers knew the cuts were likely to fall hardest on poor and marginalised groups, such as people with disabilities, as well as on gender-based violence programmes and sexual health education.Sarah Champion, chair of the Commons international development committee, called the government’s behaviour “appalling”.“Our committee was denied access to the equalities assessment, seemingly for ministers to dodge the humiliation of admitting their own aid cuts undermined the government’s key development objective: to support women and girls.“To deny parliamentary scrutiny of key documents showing who was impacted by the aid cuts is simply shameful. The public have a right to know how their taxes are spent, and the advice ministers are given.”The government broke a manifesto pledge by slashing £4bn a year from overseas aid spending, a reduction – from 0.7 to 0.5 per cent of national income – that will not be restored until 2024 at the earliest.The cut came back to bite Boris Johnson at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, when the UK was accused of undermining its claims of leadership on tackling the climate emergency.Meanwhile, the “minister for international development” has been handed eight other jobs, prompting protests a promise to protect the UK’s aid effort has been broken.The assessment warned of “a significant reduction in the number and size of targeted programme activities aimed at reaching those furthest behind – including women, girls and people with disabilities”.The cuts would also “reduce services available to women and girls who are subject to sexual violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment”.Rose Caldwell, chief executive of the charity Plan International UK, said: “Even as the government made the shameful decision to cut overseas aid, it was aware of the severe impact this would have on women and girls.”Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, the UK network of aid organisations, said: “It’s saddening that the harmful impact of the aid cuts on women and girls was known before it happened – and that nothing was done.” More

Good Morning Britain reflects on women of Ukraine on International Women’s DayPriti Patel has been condemned by cross-party MPs for telling the Commons on Monday that a visa centre had been set up in Calais to help Ukrainian refugees trying to enter the UK – a claim now known to be false.Roger Gale, a senior MP in the home secretary’s own party, went as far as suggesting she should resign over the matter. “The home secretary said yesterday that a visa centre had already been set up in Calais,” he said. “This was untrue and under any normal administration that would be a resigning matter.”Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper added that Ms Patel should have come to the Commons herself on Tuesday – instead of sending her colleague Kevin Foster – to be scrutinised.It comes after No 10 admitted that Ukrainians trapped in Calais would need to travel 70 miles to Lille to find out if they are even eligible to be given a UK visa, despite Ms Patel’s claims 24 hours earlier. Elsewhere, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky will address the Commons later today via video link.Show latest update

1646750616Boris Johnson to announce move away from Russian oil and gas – reportBoris Johnson will make an announcement at around 4pm today on reducing dependence on Russian oil and gas imports, according to Politico reporter Alex Wickham.The prime minister said yesterday that the world could not simply stop using oil and gas from Russia but it could take a “step-by-step” approach away from reliance.Downing Street denied suggestions the government could relax its targets for achieving net zero or lifting the moratorium on fracking in response to the crisis.US president Joe Biden is expected to announce a ban on Russian oil in remarks at 3.45pm (10.45am ET), sources familiar with the matter said.Liam James8 March 2022 14:431646749588John Bercow suspended by Labour after report brands him ‘serial bully’Former Commons speaker John Bercow has been suspended from the Labour Party after an independent probe branded him a “serial bully”.It is understood the party will now conduct its own investigation.Mr Bercow receieved a lifetime ban from holding a parliamentary pass due the bullying probe’s findings. He was also found to be a “serial liar”.Updates from Ashley Cowburn here:Liam James8 March 2022 14:261646749187Liz Truss claim that Labour tried to slow down oligarch sanction ‘does not stand up to scrutiny’Anneliese Dodds hit back at accusations levelled against her by Liz Truss that she tried to slow down the UK’s ability to sanction individual Russians.The Labour frontbencher suggested the foreign secretary had made up claims against her.She said: “The accusations the foreign secretary made against me do not stand up to scrutiny – I’m using parliamentary language here.”She went on: “At no point did I seek to slow down the government’s ability to sanction indiciduals who pose a threat to the UK,”“Quite the opposite.”She said she pushed for sanctions against Russian oligarchs, “which were actually then blocked by the Conservative government who shut down the relevant committee debate after half an hour to prevent the issue being put to a vote”.Liam James8 March 2022 14:191646747637Government ‘misread’ UK on refugee approach, says Lib Dem Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, appears to accuse the Home Office of misreading the country’s approach to welcoming refugees. He says, like other MPs, he has been inundated by people offering to sponsor refugees. But they cannot, because the scheme has not been set up.Foster repeats his point about how the government is working “at pace” to rectify this.After a few more questions on the point, the urgent question session is over. Now over to a point of order concerning foreign secretary Liz Truss. Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:531646747198Lucas condemns Patel for failing to come to CommonsCaroline Lucas, the Green MP, has condemned the home secretary for sending a colleague – Home Office minister Kevin Foster – to the Commons after “yesterday’s day of chaos, confusion & wrong information from her on cruel & unjust policy”.Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:461646747078Ukraine: Family visa scheme extended to include cousins and in-lawsIn some good news, the UK has said it is extending its family visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees to include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.The announcement was made in the House of Commons by Home Office minister Kevin Foster, who claimed that the government was making “significant progress” in responding to the refugee crisis and had now processed more than 500 Ukrainian applicants for sanctuary in the UK.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:441646746993Tory MP says ‘days not weeks’ needed for sponsorship schemeOver to Mark Harper, the former Tory minister, in the Commons, who says he appreciates the difficulties Foster and the Home Office faces. But he adds the government needs to act more quickly. He says he was concerned by Foster’s suggestion that it might take weeks or months for the Ukrainian sponsorship scheme to be set up. He says it should happen more quickly. Foster says he would like to hear an announcement by Thursday at the latest. “This should be a matter of days, not weeks,” he insists.Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:431646746895Watch: Senior Tory calls on Patel to resignSir Roger Gale has tweeted a clip of the moment he suggested Priti Patel should resign over the erroneous claims she made about a visa centre in Calais. Here it is:Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:411646746817Leadsom condemns Labour for ‘jeering’ at security concernsFollowing my last post, Dame Andrea Leadsom, the former Tory cabinet minister, says it is “shocking” to hear opposition MPs jeering at the argument that checks are needed to protect Britons from Salisbury-style attacks. But she admits she is concerned about the speed at which visa applications are being processed.Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:401646745243Home Office: Ukrainians need visas because govt won’t ‘take chances’ with securityKevin Foster, who is in the Commons representing the Home Office, has made repeated claims during this session that the government has to be selective at the borders due to the high number of people supposedly masquerading as Ukrainian refugees.He says visas are required for security reasons, and that there have been cases of people using false documents and claiming to be Ukrainian.“With incidents like Salisbury still in our minds, the government’s will not take chances with the security of this country and our people, our friends in the United States, Canada and Australia are rightly taking the same approach as we are,” he tells MPs.He is referring to the infamous Salisbury poisonings, carried out by Russian agents. For context, EU countries are not requiring Ukrainains to obtain visas to enter, whereas the UK is. Sam Hancock8 March 2022 13:14 More

The UK is extending its family visa scheme for Ukrainian refugees to include aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.The announcement was made in the House of Commons by Home Office minister Kevin Foster, who claimed that the government was making “significant progress” in responding to the refugee crisis and had now processed more than 500 Ukrainian applicants for sanctuary in the UK.But the minister – who suggested at the outset of the invasion that Ukrainians fleeing war could apply for visas to pick fruit in the UK – was blasted by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.She condemned the Home Office for a bureaucratic and “chaotic” response which had seen hundreds of desperate people turned away at Calais as they tried to reach the UK.And Mr Foster faced a hail of criticism from MPs who said their constituents had been unable to bring Ukrainian relatives to safety in the UK.Tory Tracey Crouch said MPs had been advised to tell people seeking help to go to the city of Rzeszow in Poland for biometric tests, but added: “Word on the ground is that there are no biometric appointments in Rzeszow until the end of next month.”Labour MP Labour MP Clive Efford said he had heard that one visa centre in Poland had closed its doors.“It’s no longer allowing walk-in appointments,” he told MPs. “It’s 81 degrees outside, there’s an 81-year-old woman outside and women and children.“There’s plenty of room inside but they won’t open the doors. This is complete chaos and unacceptable.”And SNP MP for Motherwell Marion Fellows said a constituent had been trying since 12 February to bring his wife to join him in Scotland but had been “lost in the system”. She said he had gone to Rzeszow, but found the unit was able to process only seven people in a day and he was told to go to the embassy in Warsaw instead. Ms Cooper welcomed the extension of the family visa scheme, which was initially limited to spouses, partners, children under 18 and parents of under-18s but was later expanded to include grandparents and children over 18.But she told the Commons that the Home Office should now “issue emergency visas for Ukrainians – all family but not just family – so they can come here and the UK can do our historic bit to help refugees fleeing war in Europe, as we’ve done before”.Mr Foster rejected calls for visas to be waived, telling MPs that people had already been detected at Calais with false documents, trying to get through immigration checks by pretending to be Ukrainian.He suggested that this might be a route for Russia to infiltrate dangerous people into the UK.To groans of disbelief from opposition MPs, Mr Foster said: “I appreciate that some may think that’s not an issue, but we only need to look at some of the statements coming out the Kremlin to see which countries are very much in the crosshairs of Mr Putin’s Russian regime.”In reference to the poison attack on former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, he urged MPs to “look back a short period of time to see the impact on this country of attacks by those pretending they came here to look at a cathedral spire”.But Scottish National Party home affairs spokesperson Stuart McDonald retorted: “Don’t quote Salisbury at us. That has absolutely nothing to do with this.”And Tory former minister Caroline Nokes derided Mr Foster’s claim that the Home Office was moving “at pace” to help Ukrainians, telling him: “Snails also move at a pace.”Conservative MP Steve Brine said: “Surely we are past the time for the UK saying we’re going to have a generous scheme. It’s time to deliver a generous scheme. “The family scheme is too slow. The humanitarian response visa is still in design… At the very least can we have a very simple online gateway up and running tomorrow, where constituents who want to help can at least register their interest? There’s so much compassion and want to help, and people are not able to do so.”The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More