UK Politics

The government is planning to dispose of mountains of unusable medical equipment by burning over 500 lorryloads of it a month, the Department of Health has admitted.Ministers wasted £8.7 billion on inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic – with vast quantities of shields, gowns, and other items not meeting basic medical standards. Many were bought under the so-called “fast-track” lane where companies with links to Tory ministers were handed lucrative contracts with limited checks.Now in a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday, Department of Health chiefs said they were planning to dispose of 15,000 pallets of equipment a month by burning it as fuel to generate electricity.The monthly 576 lorryloads destined for the incinerator will gradually chip away at the 5.5 billion pieces of useless equipment currently sitting in stockpiles.That approach is likely to be supplemented by plans to recycle some of the waste and turn it into bin bags, food trays, and NHS bedsheets, officials have said.But Jonathan Marron, the Department of Health and Social Care’s director general of office for health improvement and disparities, told MPs that “more traditional waste disposal methods” would also be needed.Like the manufacture of the equipment, its burning will also be done by private companies working on contract, he told a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee.”We’re currently appointing to what are called lead waste partners, commercial firms who do this as their business who will help us recycle and we’re also exploring using … waste to provide power,” Mr Marron said. “The recycling, we will we have done some will do more. We will also need to use more traditional waste disposal methods, largely using burning it to generate heat and energy. Asked how much could be burnt, he said: “We’re currently working on a plan to have 15,000 pallets a month, push through that approach, exactly how much we’ll do rather depends on how long we continue to use PPE for Covid.” He noted that one lorry could move around 26 pallets, meaning the department is targeting around 576 lorryloads a month for incineration.Official figures show £12.1 billion was spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic from April 2020 to April 2021, with a total of £8.7billion of that wasted. The government says it was in a rush to procure supplies of equipment however it could at a time of national emergency and global shortage.Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting described the revelations as “unbelievable”. “Rishi Sunak is literally burning through taxpayers’ money,” he said.“At the same time as hiking up taxes on working people, the Conservative Government is setting fire to the unusable PPE on which they wasted £8.7 billion of public funds. The Conservatives’ promise to get value for taxpayers’ money has gone up in flames.” More

The government has rejected replacing Buckingham Palace guards’ bearskin hats with “faux fur”, claiming the alternatives do not look right and are too uncomfortable.The Ministry of Defence says it has tested four different types of synthetic fur for use on the iconic military caps, but that none of them are good enough.It comes as around 50,000 people have signed a parliamentary petition urging the government to switch to an alternative which does not involve killing bears to make hats.Animal rights and anti-cruelty groups say alternatives are available – and are much more humane than skinning animals. Campaigners said the government’s claims about the skins were “cynical and misleading” and that the MoD had “actively thwarted” attempts to find a replacement. But Jeremy Quin, the minister of state for defence procurement, said fake fur does not “meet the required standard for the Queen’s Guards ceremonial caps”.The Ministry of Defence says it has tested four different types of synthetic fur since 2015, assessing the hats in laboratory tests in the five areas of “water absorption, penetration, appearance, drying rate and compression”. The hats would also have to be judged to meet the same standards “for shape and comfort for a parade length of duty”.The defence minister Mr Quin said that while newer synthetic hats performed well in wet conditions, the MoD was concerned that they might not be breathable enough or maintain their shape well.He also said even the best-performing alternatives “performed poorly on the visual assessment”, meaning the Ministry of Defence judged that they looked bad.Fur for the guardsmen’s hats is currently procured from Canada, where around 20,000 wild black bears are killed every year as part of a regular cull.The issue of replacing the bearskin caps was reportedly among objections raised in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet against a a general ban on fur imports – which has now been shelved.Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International told The Independent: “At a time when most of the British population rejects the cruelty of the fur trade, and after the Queen herself made the decision not to buy any new furs, the Ministry of Defence’s determination to keep using Canadian black bears for guards’ hats looks very out of touch.”She said humane alternatives made by Stella McCartney and top faux furrier Ecopel reportedly “met all the requirements given by the MoD, including passing the MoD’s water shedding test”.And she warned: “Canada allows awful cruelties to be inflicted on black bears, including hunters using bows and arrows and even spears. The Queen’s guards are a symbol of ceremonial pride, but there is nothing remotely majestic about inflicting lingering painful deaths on bears. We urge the MoD to move with the times and go faux.”Sonul Badiani-Hamment, UK director at animal welfare charity FOUR PAWS UK, said the MoD’s objections were “unjustifiable”. She told The Independent: “In a day and age when huge strides are being made to improve animal welfare, it is shameful that animals are still being slaughtered for an item that can be easily replaced with artificial fur.”Elisa Allen, director of animal rights charity Peta said: “The Ministry of Defence is taking the British public and Parliament for fools by falsely claiming nothing short of real bearskins will do for the Queen’s Guard’s caps. “The idea that a viable faux fur is unattainable for ornamental headgear – when the world’s most celebrated and accomplished designers have all ditched real fur in favour of faux – is utter nonsense and insults our intelligence.”Ms Allen said the MoD had “assured Peta that it would do a trial run of any suitable faux fur we developed” but that “instead, it has been actively thwarting attempts to replace the bearskins used for the caps with a humane equivalent”. Ms Allen added: “The high-performing faux fur, created by PETA and world-renowned faux furrier ECOPEL, is the exact length of real bear fur and is waterproof to the MoD’s standards. “Tests conducted by the ministry’s own accredited laboratory show that the fabric looks like and performs in a remarkably similar way to real bear fur. “The MoD’s cynical and misleading responses to the proposed use of faux fur for the Queen’s Guard’s caps must be challenged. When we reach 100,000 signatures on our government petition, we’ll force a parliamentary debate on the issue, restoring power to the British public to demand a modern, humane alternative that would save taxpayer money and spare bears’ lives.”In a written answer to a question by Labour MP Rachel Maskell, the minister Mr Quin said: “There is currently no faux fur alternatives that meet the required standard for the Queen’s Guards ceremonial caps.”Bears are never hunted to order for use by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Our suppliers source pelts made available by the Canadian authorities following a licensed cull as part of a programme to manage the wild bear population. Where appropriate the MoD uses faux fur alternatives for ceremonial wear, providing they meet the specific user requirements.”In order for an alternative fabric to be considered for use in the ceremonial caps, it would need successfully he perform in the following five areas: water absorption, penetration, appearance, drying rate and compression. “In addition to passing initial laboratory tests, any new fabric would have to gain user approval for shape and comfort for a parade length of duty. This would assess whether the fabric could maintain its shape over time and whether it is comfortable and safe for the user. For example ensuring any waterproof backing is breathable and whether the alternative fabric is waterproof after the shaping, sewing and perforation during production. Consideration would also be given to its sustainability compared to the current natural fur fabric.”The minister added: “There have been four synthetic furs tested since 2015. The artificial fur tested in 2018 failed in all five areas. Tests conducted in 2019 and 2020 on another two samples showed that, while the water penetration was reduced, it still did not meet the necessary standard. “It also performed poorly in the remaining areas. The most recent test results, provided by PETA, have also been analysed. The analysis concluded that the fabric only met one of the five basic requirements necessary to be considered as a viable alternative for ceremonial caps. “While it met the basic standard for water penetration, it showed unacceptable rates of water shedding and performed poorly on the visual assessment. Results for the artificial fur’s drying rate and compression were not presented. More

Boris Johnson’s government is drawing up fresh legislation to crack down on “dirty money” held by Russian oligarchs because the bill being pushed through parliament won’t be enough, the home secretary has said.MPs passed the Economic Crime Bill on Monday evening, after planned reforms moved up the government’s list of priorities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It will now be scrutinised by the House of Lords.However, Priti Patel revealed there would be a second, “follow-on” Economic Crime Bill in the next parliament session because ministers “cannot get all the measures in right now”.It comes as the government vowed to stick to a six-month time limit for a new register of overseas entities, despite Labour claims it would give Russian oligarchs a “get out of London free” card.Sir Keir Starmer’s party said the government’s plan would still give oligarchs linked to Russia too long to move money out of the UK, urging the government to bring the time limit down to just 28 days.With the unamended bill having passed on Monday evening, lawyers are set to be given six months to record who ultimately benefits from the asset ownership of property and land that is registered. If they do not, it will be frozen and cannot be sold or rented out.Ms Patel said the move will give the UK government “greater power and information to identify and investigate the illicit wealth of Russian criminals, their allies and their proxies”.But the home secretary conceded there would have to be another bill “with further measures” because “we simply cannot get all the measures in right now”. She added: “We’ve focused on the ones that will have the greatest impact and the greatest enablement.”Ms Patel said the second bill will “prevent the abuse of limited partnerships” and give the government “new powers to seize crypto assets from criminals”, as well as measures to give businesses more confidence to share information on suspected money laundering.“We’re already drafting that legislation, and it will be brought forward as soon as we’re able to and can get time in the House,” she said.Conservative MP David Davis also tried to push the government to go further – proposing an amendment that would help allow the government to pre-emptively freeze of assets of individuals in cases under “review”, rather than wait until sanctions are imposed.Mr Davis said: “This bill should be targeting the Russian government and Putin and his henchmen themselves … We should not kid ourselves, this is not an economic crime bill, it’s an economic warfare bill and it’s a war liberal democracies cannot afford to lose.”However, the government signalled it would not support the senior Tory backbencher’s amendment, despite significant cross-party support.Business minister Paul Scully said the government was unlikely to accept any backbench or Labour amendments, but may revisit them when the bill moves to the House of Lords.The government’s own amendments to the bill should help allow the UK to slap sanctions on individuals who have already been hit by EU or US sanctions, and reduce human rights protections in the sanctions regime.Another part of the bill going through parliament will tie the government to publishing an annual report on the use of unexplained wealth orders (UWOs), which allow law agencies to confiscate criminal assets.Branding the Russian president a “gangster”, Ms Patel insisted that the government was working to “root out the dirty money in our economy and importantly to hobble Putin and his cronies”.Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs Labour would help “speed through” the Economic Crime Bill, but insisted “many of those measures” should have happened years ago.Earlier on Monday, Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference the Economic Crime Bill will “whip aside the veil of anonymity” used to obscure ownership of oligarchs’ mansions.“You can no longer use a bogus company to conceal your ownership of a property,” the prime minister said. The bill now moves to the Lords for further consideration before it gets passed into law later in March. More

Boris Johnson has denied intervening to override security concerns about the peerage granted to Evgeny Lebedev.Labour has urged the prime minister to tell a powerful parliamentary committee everything he knows about the Russian-born peer’s elevation to the House of Lords.It follows a report in TheSunday Times which alleged that security services withdrew an assessment that granting a peerage posed a national security risk after the PM personally intervened.Rebutting the claim on Monday, Mr Johnson told reporters: “That is simply incorrect … It suits [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s agenda to try to characterise this as a struggle between the west and Russia.“It suits his agenda to say that the UK, that we in Nato countries, are anti-Russia, European countries are now anti-Russian.”He added: “It’s very, very, very important that we get the message over that we’re not anti-Russian, we’re not against Russians. Our quarrel is simply with the regime and the aggression of Vladimir Putin.”Mr Johnson said it would “obviously be extraordinary” if the security services had deemed Lord Lebedev to be a risk and the prime minister had intervened to ensure the peerage was granted, “but that’s not the case”.A government spokesman said: “All individuals nominated for a peerage are done so in recognition of their contribution to society and all peerages are vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.”Earlier on Monday, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly defended the peer’s place in the House of Lords.“He is here as a British dual national, he is a businessman, he has been an effective businessman,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.Asked why the son of a former KGB agent had been granted a seat in parliament, Mr Cleverly said: “My father was a former chartered surveyor, but I’m not. So what your father did for work is, I’m not completely sure, totally relevant.”Lord Lebedev, a major shareholder in The Independent, has spoken once, and never voted, in the Lords. Mr Cleverly said: “There are lots of members of the House of Lords who are not active members of the House of Lords.“It rather flies in the face of this accusation that somehow he is distorting British politics if he is not voting on British laws.”Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has written to the prime minister asking him to “make available to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) the advice and information you were given about the ennobling of Evgeny Lebedev and full information about the role you played in the process”.Lord Lebedev told TheSunday Times that “all” of the allegations in its report were incorrect and the questions did not “merit an answer”.The peer has appealed to Mr Putin to stop the invasion of Ukraine in the Evening Standard newspaper.Lord Lebedev said: “I plead with you to use today’s negotiations to bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end.” More

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is set to give an unprecedented virtual address to the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he had granted the request for Mr Zelensky to read a statement on the invasion by Russia in the chamber at 5pm.The leader, whose has won praise for his stirring messages to the Ukrainian people in military fatigues, will be beamed in on TV screens seen by MPs.Sir Lindsay said: “Every parliamentarian wants to hear directly from the president, who will be speaking to us live from Ukraine, so this is an important opportunity for the House.“Thanks again to our incredible staff for working at pace to make this historic address possible.”Formal parliamentary business will be suspended at the end of Tuesday afternoon while MPs watch Mr Zelensky on screens installed overnight above either side of the Commons chamber.More than 500 headsets will be made available to enable MPs to hear a simultaneous translation in English, but there will be no questions at the end of the address.The Ukrainian leader is said to be ready use his address to call for more arms to help defend his country and renew demands for the implementation of a Nato no-fly zone to stem the Russian attack.Mr Zelensky, who is reportedly at risk of assassination by pro-Russian groups in Kyiv, earlier called for called for a global boycott of all Russian products – including oil.“If the invasion continues … then we need a new sanctions package,” the embattled president said in a video address on Monday, including “a boycott of Russian exports, in particular, the rejection of oil and oil products from Russia”.On Monday Mr Johnson called for a “step-by-step” approach as European countries weaned themselves off Russian oil and gas. The PM said there would have to be a “transition period” away from Russian energy, but urged allies to accelerate the process.Dutch premier Mark Rutte warned that if countries moved too quickly to ban Russian oil and gas, it could backfire with “enormous consequences”.Mr Zelensky also spoke of the shelling of Ukrainian cities, describing the “terror” facing civilians as he appealed again on Monday for a no-fly zone over Ukraine or warplanes.“How do peaceful people in Kharkiv or Mykolaiv differ from (people in) Hamburg or Vienna?” he asked.UK ministers and other western leaders have warned that committing to a Nato no-zone fly would be tantamount to declaring war on Vladimir Putin’s forces. Meanwhile, an adviser to the Ukrainian president says a little progress has been made on safe corridors to allow civilians to flee some besieged Ukrainian cities during a third round of talks with Russia.Mykhailo Podolyak said without elaboration that “there were some small positive shifts regarding logistics of humanitarian corridors”. He said that consultations will continue on ways to negotiate an end to hostilities. More

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for the creation of a Nuremberg-style war crimes tribunal for the “crime of aggression” against Ukraine.The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already started investigating events in Ukraine, probing Vladimir Putin’s regime for potential genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.However, the ICC cannot investigate Russia for the crime of aggression because Moscow has not ratified the statute of the court, and would veto any attempt by the UN Security Council to submit a referral.Sir Keir urged Boris Johnson to get behind a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and his associates for the crime of aggression, based on the tribunal set up to prosecute Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg after World War II.“Vladimir Putin and his criminal cronies must be held to account for their illegal invasion of Ukraine,” said Sir Keir on Monday.The Labour leader added: “The UK government must do all it can to ensure the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression.“The Ukrainian people deserve justice as well as our continued military, economic, diplomatic, and humanitarian assistance.”It follows a call from Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said a special international tribunal to prosecute a crime of aggression case would “fill a gap” in global efforts to bring the Putin regime to account.The crime of aggression – under which political leaders and military chiefs can be held individually responsible for an invasion – came into force at the ICC in 2018.The ICC cannot, at present, deal with crimes of aggression by states that have not ratified its statute.But legal campaigners have called for the UK and other countries to add to the pressure on Russia by pushing for a dedicated, special criminal tribunal to probe the crime of aggression.Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was grilled on the issue by senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat on Monday. Asked if she was willing to push for a new international tribunal, given the ICC could not prosecute for crimes of aggression, Ms Truss replied: “I’m willing to look at it, yes.”ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced last week he had begun investigating war crimes after a referral from 39 countries.Mr Johnson and No 10 have explicitly accused Mr Putin of war crimes, with Downing Street claiming “horrific acts” were occurring on an almost hourly basis in Ukraine as civilian population centres are targeted.The prime minister told MPs: “What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin’s regime in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, in my view, already fully qualifies as a war crime.”Meanwhile, the Labour leader said on Monday that Mr Johnson was still not “fit for office”, despite the Labour leader’s promise of political unity in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Speaking to reporters in London on Monday, Sir Keir 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.” More

Boris Johnson has announced an additional £175m in UK aid for Ukraine, bringing the total to almost £400m.Mr Johnson also said that in the coming days he will set out a new energy supply strategy to explain how the UK will ensure that consumers’ needs are met as prices sky-rocket due to sanctions on Russia and its vast oil and gas stocks.The announcements came after the prime minister held talks with counterparts Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Justin Trudeau of Canada at 10 Downing Street.Mr Rutte cautioned that countries like Netherlands which rely heavily on Russian energy sources would need time gradually to reduce their dependence. The Dutch PM said: “It is a step by step process and we have to make sure we deleverage our dependency on Russian gas and Russian oil, whilst acknowledging that at the moment the dependency, at least to a certain extent, is still there.“If you force companies to quit doing business with Russia in that realm, that would have enormous consequences because it would basically undermine supply chains the world over, particularly in Europe, and it would also have an impact on Ukraine itself. “And therefore, my plea is that we do this diligently and not overnight, making sure that we speed up the programmes all of our countries to decarbonize – to green our economies.”Mr Johnson agreed that the process would have to be taken “step by step” but said that it needed to be accelerated.The PM also said that Britain will join the Netherlands and Canada in an international Ukraine support group to co-ordinate the efforts of the global community to provide long-term assistance, and urged other countries to sign up.Speaking at a press conference alongside Rutte and Trudeau in Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: “After 12 days, it’s already clear that Putin has made a miscalculation.“He has under-estimated Ukrainians’ resistance, he has underestimated their leader and he has underestimated the unity of the West. “And we will continue as colleagues to do everything we can to strengthen that unity in the days ahead to ensure that Putin fails in this catastrophic invasion of Ukraine.”Mr Johnson said the three countries “stand shoulder to shoulder against Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine”.“In the 12 days since Russia launched this illegal and brutal assault, the world has come together in solidarity with the indomitable people of Ukraine,” he added.Mr Johnson said it was clear that the friends of Ukraine would have to do more, as Vladimir Putin showed no sign of backing down.“What’s happening now is that Putin is doubling down,” said the British PM. “He’s decided that he’s going to continue with an all-out onslaught on centres of habitation in a way that we think is utterly repugnant. “It’s clear that we’re going to have to do more And as best friends and partners that’s what we’re going to do.” More

A Conservative MP has individually written to every government department urging them to scrap all their internal Covid-19 precautions. Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, sent at least 15 letters to ministers across Whitehall at the end of February.In each identical written message he urged the “department and its agencies remove all internal Covid-19 related policies, restrictions and mask mandates”.Departments Mr Davies wants to drop all coronavirus precautions include Education, Health, and the Ministry of Defence – his demands include scrapping mitigations in departmental agencies like Jobcentres.Mr Davies is a longstanding opponent of certain measures to contain Covid. In December he described mask-wearing as “one of the worst examples of the suffocation of our basic freedoms”.His latest push comes despite virtually all Covid-related legals requirements on individuals being scrapped by the government , including the requirement to self-isolate when infectious.Not all departments have yet written back to Mr Davies, but none have so far agreed to his approach. “The Government’s Working Safely guidance, which was revised on 24 February 2022, continues to require organisations to carry out a risk assessment which includes the risk from COVID-19,” said health minister Edward Argar, responding for the Department of Health and Social Care.”It also sets out additional actions organisations can take to protect employees in the workplace, such as ensuring adequate ventilation, frequent cleaning, asking people to wash their hands frequently and asking people with COVID-19 to stay away. “The guidance advises that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed settings where they come into contact with people they do not normally meet, when rates of transmission are high. Civil Service employers will continue to follow this guidance and align their policies accordingly.”In another typical response, transport minister Andrew Stephenson said his department would continue “ensuring adequate ventilation, frequent cleaning, asking people to wash their hands frequently and asking people with COVID-19 to stay away” – in line with government guidance. Layla Moran, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus, told The Independent: “At a time of international crisis we should not be wasting time and energy trying to stop civil servants from wearing masks.“Learning to live with Covid must not mean living as if Covid does not exist and certainly it does not mean prematurely removing basic mitigation measures, particularly as we learn more about the debilitating impacts of Long Covid.” More