UK Politics

Nicola Sturgeon is preparing to set out her new strategic framework for dealing with coronavirus. The first minister will speak in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday afternoon as the Scottish government’s blueprint for managing and recovering from Covid is published.When she updated MSPs on the pandemic earlier this month, she said Scotland was “through the worst” of the Omicron wave and the situation was “much more positive” than at the start of the year.On Monday, Ms Sturgeon said it would be “unacceptable” for public health decisions of the devolved administrations to be impacted by funding decisions taken by the UK Government.During a visit to the Social Bite cafe in Edinburgh, the first minister was asked if she was considering automatic trigger points for new restrictions. More

If ministers “knowingly mislead parliament” they are “expected to offer their resignation to the prime minister”, according to the ministerial code. But what if the prime minister himself lies to parliament? It has happened once, demonstrably, in modern history, when Anthony Eden told the House of Commons in 1956 “there was not foreknowledge that Israel would attack Egypt” in the dispute over Suez. He never accepted that he had misled parliament, but he resigned three weeks later, ostensibly because he was ill. The real reason was that he had lost the confidence of Conservative MPs.Something similar may be about to happen to Boris Johnson. There has been much sound and fury about claims that he has misled parliament, but if he goes it will be because Tory MPs have voted him out.Many of the prime minister’s very online opponents accuse him of lying routinely, and say that he is a far worse offender than other recent prime ministers – even though it is widely but wrongly believed that Tony Blair knowingly misled parliament in making the case for military action in Iraq.In my view, and I looked at 10 of the commonly cited examples last year, Johnson is careless with facts and often loose and contradictory in his language, but it is impossible to pin down an untrue statement by which he definitely intended to mislead people. Since then, he has been accused of misleading parliament about lockdown gatherings in Downing Street, although again when his words are looked at closely it is unclear whether they were “knowingly misleading”, as Full Fact, the independent fact-checking organisation, found.While we wait for the outcome of inquiries by Sue Gray, a civil servant, and the Metropolitan Police, it has been suggested that the accuracy of ministers’ statements in the Commons ought to be policed by an independent body. Some MPs have called on Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, to require ministers to correct inaccurate statements; others think a new body is needed, as Sir Lindsay is understandably reluctant to adjudicate on matters of fact.Personally, I am sceptical about the idea of either the speaker or a new body trying to police facts and enforce corrections. I think it is more important to strengthen the existing machinery. Civil servants are already under an obligation to ensure that ministers’ statements are accurate, and ministers below the level of prime minister do quite often come to the Commons to correct factual errors. The UK Statistics Authority has also been assertive in pointing out when it thinks ministers have misused its figures. Above all, I think watchful journalists and independent organisations such as Full Fact have a critical role to play.Ultimately, though, if Johnson is going to fall, it will be because his MPs have lost confidence in him, rather than as a result of textual analysis of Hansard.I shall be here to answer your questions on Friday 25 February. If you have a question – about anything, but particularly about how to police truth in politics, submit it now in the comments, or when I join you live at 1pm on Friday for the “Ask Me Anything” event.To get involved all you have to do is register to submit your question in the comments below.If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments box to leave your question. Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they may be hidden until I join the conversation to answer them. Then join us live on this page at 1pm as I tackle as many questions as I can. More

Boris Johnson has claimed Vladimir Putin is bent on a “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” as the Russian president faced widespread condemnation for ordering troops over the border.The prime minister said Mr Putin had “completely torn up international law” over the decision to recognise parts of eastern Ukraine as independent entities, and warned he was seemingly intent on capturing the capital, Kyiv.After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, he also said the UK government will unveil the first cache of economic sanctions against the Kremlin later today and warned of “more Russian irrational behaviour to come”.These sanctions – to be revealed in a Commons statement – will be aimed not just at entities at regions including Donetsk but also “in Russia itself, targeting Russian economic interests as hard as we can”, he added.His remarks came after the cabinet minister Sajid Javid labelled Moscow’s action in the Eastern European country an “invasion” and said “under the guise of so-called peacekeepers” Russian troops were entering Ukraine.Mr Javid added that he agreed with an analysis from Britain’s former top Nato commander, who earlier told the BBC: “This is the most dangerous moment in Europe probably at least since 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis.”Speaking after a meeting of senior ministers and officials, the prime minister warned: “I’m afraid all the evidence is that President Putin is indeed bent on a full scale invasion of the Ukraine, the overrunning, the subjugation of an independent, sovereign European country and I think, let’s be absolutely clear, that will be absolutely catastrophic.”“If Vladimir Putin continues down this track of violence, of aggression, of a full-scale invasion, of encircling Kyiv itself which is what he seems to be proposing to do, capturing the Ukrainian capital, it is absolutely vital that that effort, that conquest of another European country, should not succeed and that Putin should fail.”He also insisted that Mr Putin had “gravely miscalculated” the situation after the Kremlin recognised parts of eastern Ukraine as independent entities, sending Russian forces into the sovereign country.On sanctions levelled at the Kremlin, the prime minister said they were “just the first barrage of UK economic sanctions against Russia because we expect I’m afraid that there is more Russian irrational behaviour to come.”“They will hit Russia very hard and there is a lot more that we are going to do in the event of an invasion,” he added.“Be in no doubt that if Russian companies are prevented from raising capital on the UK financial markets, if we unpeel the facade of Russian ownership of companies, of property, it will start to hurt.”Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the situation in Ukraine was “incredibly serious”, adding: “This is a sovereign state which has now had some of its land effectively annexed from it.”Speaking about the crisis at a Joint Expeditionary Force meeting of Nato ministers in Leicestershire, Mr Wallace said Russia’s decision to recognise independent states regions “includes territory which is actually on the other side of the line of control”.The defence secretary added: “We’ve seen, in open source reporting, Russian military equipment moving into that region. We’ll have to verify that given what we know about Russian media performances and truth versus reality.”David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, also said Labour stood “in solidarity with the Ukrainian people who have shown dignity and resilience throughout Putin’s aggression”.“They don’t deserve this,” he added. “The UK and our Allies must respond with strong sanctions. Putin and the Russian regime must face serious consequences.” More

Boris Johnson’s top scientific and medical advisers have warned that Covid can be expected to return in more virulent and dangerous forms, as the prime minister announced the end of the final coronavirus restrictions in England.Just hours after Mr Johnson declared his “pride” at England leading the world in throwing off restrictions, professors Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance told a Downing Street press conference that the Covid-19 pandemic was “not over” and urged people testing positive to continue to isolate.The British Medical Association denounced the prime minister’s plan for “living with Covid” as “premature”, amid warnings from health charities that it exposes more than half a million people with conditions affecting their immune systems to increased risk.And the PM was accused in the House of Commons of putting his own political survival ahead of public health, as lockdown-sceptic Conservative backbenchers applauded his announcement that the legal requirement to isolate – along with the £500 payment to support it – will be ditched from Thursday and universal free testing from 1 April.There were warnings that testing will be “cut to the bone” after health secretary Sajid Javid failed in an eleventh-hour bid to extract £1.8bn from the Treasury to keep routine asymptomatic tests for health and care workers.Last-minute wrangling between Javid and chancellor Rishi Sunak threw the PM’s announcement into chaos, as a cabinet meeting to rubber stamp the plan was delayed and ministers arriving at No 10 were turned away and told to tune into a video conference call later.Mr Sunak – with the PM’s backing – successfully insisted that the future bills of testing and monitoring must be covered from the £9.6bn provided for Covid in last year’s spending review, and that Mr Javid must not dip into funds set aside for the massive NHS backlog.While asymptomatic patients will continue to receive tests in care homes, NHS and care sector staff will only be tested if they show symptoms or in the case of an outbreak of concern.Labour blasted the plan as “half-baked”, as it emerged that essential details – including precisely which vulnerable groups will continue to be entitled to free tests – were missing.Downing Street could not put a price on the cost of tests, saying it was for market forces to determine. With estimates of around £15-£30 for a box of seven lateral flow kits, Mr Johnson said only that he hoped the cost would be “minimal”.And unions responded with fury to the withdrawal from 24 March of the right to sick pay from day one of an illness, while the CBI said most bosses continue to believe that the economic benefits of universal free testing “far outweigh” the £2bn monthly cost.Speaking alongside chief medical officer Whitty and chief scientific adviser Vallance in Downing Street, Mr Johnson said he was proud that the UK had “emerged from the teeth of the pandemic before many others, retaining one of the most open economies and societies in Europe”.While accepting that the pandemic was not over, he said England was past the peak of the Omicron wave and now had “the chance to complete the transition back towards normality”.But Prof Whitty took a more cautious tone, warning: “This pandemic is not over and it’s carrying on around the world and we’re not out of it here yet.”Both he and Prof Vallance stressed the likelihood of new and more virulent strains of Covid, and urged people who test positive to continue to isolate, even after it ceases to be a legal requirement on Thursday.Vallance said it was “absolutely essential” to continue monitoring infections and to maintain a testing capacity able to respond rapidly to signs of new variants of concern.“You can celebrate when the sun is shining, but take an umbrella with you,” he said.Prof Whitty agreed: “We all expect that there will be new variants and … some of them will cause significant problems. They could be either more vaccine-escaping but as severe as Omicron … or they could be more intrinsically severe.“We could certainly end up with something which is more likely to lead to hospitalisations than Omicron.”Prof Whitty revealed that the effectiveness of the UK’s vaccine programme against Omicron meant that the variant had led to no excess deaths over the winter period, compared to non-Covid years.Mr Johnson rejected any suggestion of a split between “gung-ho politicians and cautious scientists” over the need to maintain surveillance and testing capacity, insisting that he recognised the threat of future flare-ups of the disease.He told the House of Commons that the removal of restrictions had been brought forward by a month to 24 February because “levels of immunity are so high and deaths are … below where you would normally expect for this time of year”.But he said surveillance programmes, including the Office for National Statistics inflection survey, will continue and stockpiles of lateral flow tests will be maintained in case of upsurges.In a scathing responses, BMA chair Dr Chand Nagpaul said the plan “fails to protect those at highest risk of harm from Covid-19, and neglects some of the most vulnerable people in society”.“The decision to bring forward the removal of all protective measures while cases, deaths and the number of people seriously ill remain so high is premature,” said Dr Nagpaul. “Living with Covid-19 must not mean ignoring the virus all together – which in many respects the government’s plan in England seems to do.”The MS Society said that Mr Johnson’s plan failed to provide a “credible explanation” of how more than 500,000 people with compromised immune systems can “live safely alongside the virus”.Monday’s separate announcement of a further booster vaccination for the vulnerable will be “little comfort” to those who will be “forced back into isolation, with no support from the government whatsoever”, the charity’s head of policy Phillip Anderson said.Challenged at the Downing Street press conference by a pregnant member of the public over how she could feel safe with contagious people permitted to leave isolation, Mr Johnson said only that people should “take care that they treat anyone who may be vulnerable in any way with the utmost consideration”.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government’s approach was characterised by “chaos and disarray”.“This is a half-baked announcement from a government paralysed by chaos and incompetence,” Sir Keir told MPs. “It is not a plan to live well with Covid.”Scottish National Party Westminster leader Ian Blackford accused Mr Johnson of rushing forward the plan to “appease” Tory backbenchers who have been threatening to submit letters of no confidence in his leadership.“This statement is not about protecting the public, it’s about the prime minister scrambling to save his own skin,” said Mr Blackford.The leader of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group of Tory backbenchers, Mark Harper, made clear he regarded the rollback of restrictions and tests as a victory for their campaign.Declaring that Mr Johnson’s announcement amounted to an application to join the CRG, Mr Harper said: “He’s very welcome indeed. I only wish it had been sooner.” More

Russian president Vladimir Putin is “plainly” breaking international law by recognising two breakaway pro-Russian separatist regions in Ukraine as independent entities, Boris Johnson has said.Russian TV showed Mr Putin signing a decree recognising two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent – upping the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash war in Europe.The British prime minister said Mr Putin’s latest move in was an “ill omen” and a “dark sign” that things are moving in the wrong direction, as the UK warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.The UK government will announce fresh sanctions against Russia on Tuesday in response to Russia’s decision to recognise separatist regions.Foreign secretary Liz Truss said she would be setting out the measures “in response to their breach of international law” – saying Mr Putin’s move would not go “unpunished”.The British sanctions will be not be the full package of sanctions prepared in recent weeks, The Independent understands, with further retaliatory economic measures expected if Russia invades Ukraine.“This is plainly in breach of international law, it’s a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine,” said Mr Johnson at a Downing Street press conference.The PM said Russia had broken the 2014 Minsk agreements forged over Ukraine, adding: “I think it’s a very ill omen and a very dark sign … it’s yet another indication that things are moving in the wrong direction.”Mr Putin railed against Ukraine in a televised address on Monday – claiming that that neo-Nazis were on the rise, oligarchic clans were rife and that the ex-Soviet country was a US colony with a “puppet regime”.The Russian president signed the decree live on television after an emotional address in which he referred to eastern Ukraine as “ancient Russian lands” and said it was “managed by foreign powers”.Mr Putin earlier announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France, who voiced disappointment, according to the Kremlin.The shock move looks set to torpedo hope of a last-minute bid for a summit with US president Joe Biden to prevent a Russian invasion which had been mooted for the coming days.Asked if he believed that Mr Putin had made his mind up to invade, Mr Johnson: “I don’t know what is in [Mr Putin’s] mind. I think there’s still a chance he could row back from this – and we’ve got to pray that’s the case.”The prime minister – who said he would speak to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to offer him the support of the UK – also acknowledged: “It is hard to see how this situation improves.Foreign secretary Liz Truss said Mr Putin’s move showed “flagrant disregard” for international agreements, and demonstrates Russia’s “decision to choose a path of confrontation”.Ms Truss said Russia’s actions could not be allowed to go “unpunished”, and is expected to set out fresh sanctions on Tuesday in response to the Russian president’s decision.The White House said Mr Biden will issue an executive order that will prohibit “new investment, trade, and financing” in the two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine that Mr Putin has recognised as independent entities. In a joint statement, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel also vowed to slap sanctions on those involved in recognising Ukraine’s breakaway regions as independent, describing Mr Putin’s move as an “illegal act” “If there is annexation, there will be sanctions, and if there is recognition, I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers on Monday.Meanwhile, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said Mr Putin’s decision “erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party” – referring to the 2014 accords which sought to end conflict in the Donbas region.Earlier on Monday, defence secretary Ben Wallace said the UK was ready to launch cyber-attacks on Russia if Moscow targets Britain’s computer networks after an invasion.Mr Wallace referred to Britain’s “offensive cyber capability”, adding: “I’m a soldier – I was always taught the best part of defence is offence,” he told the Commons after Conservative MP him to “give as good as we get back to Russia” if necessary.‘Ukraine was created by Russia’: says Putin while addressing the nationUkrainian government troops in front-line trenches in Ukraine’s east said on Monday that heavy weapons fire from Russian-backed separatists had intensified to provoke all-out conflict amid fears of Russia seeking a pretext for a full-scale invasion.Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba took to Twitter to deny that the country had attacked Donetsk or Luhansk or had any plans to do so. “Russia, stop your fake-producing factory now,” he tweeted.The rebel leaders in the Donbas region earlier on Monday released statements urging Mr Putin to recognise them as independent states and sign friendship treaties envisaging military aid to protect them from what they claim is an ongoing Ukrainian military offensive. Russia still denies any plan to attack its neighbour, but it has threatened unspecified “military-technical” action unless it receives sweeping security guarantees – including a promise that Ukraine will never join Nato. More

The UK is ready to launch cyber attacks on Russia if Moscow targets Britain’s computer networks after a Ukraine invasion, the defence secretary has threatened.In a Commons statement, Ben Wallace pointed to the “offensive cyber capability” the UK is already developing from a base in the north west of England.“I’m a soldier – I was always taught the best part of defence is offence,” he told an MP who urged him to “give as good as we get back to Russia” if necessary.Mr Wallace also stepped up UK threats by saying sanctions will be imposed for aggression that stops short of crossing the Ukraine border – amid criticism they have not yet been used.Russian companies with links to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin’s regime will be targeted if, for example, a no-fly zone is imposed in Ukraine, or ports blockaded“Many of these aggressive moves – like a no-fly zone, a blockade to free trade – would absolutely warrant a response ranging from sanctions and others,” the defence secretary said.“Russia should be under no illusion that threatening the integrity of a sovereign nation, whether that is in the air or on the sea, is exactly the same as threatening it on the land.”Sanctions have not yet been imposed in order to coordinate with the European Union, which has yet to announce what its package will be, Mr Wallace suggested.He also argued President Putin is losing the war of words, ahead of any invasion – with Nato strengthening its eastern flank and Moscow all-but isolated internationally.“Belarus is their only ally. If you want to be on your own and stuff everyone else, you end up like North Korea,” the defence secretary taunted.Last March, Mr Wallace unveiled a new defence command paper, which promised a “National Cyber Force will lie at the heart of defence and GCHQ’s offensive cyber capability”.In his statement on the current crisis, he said: “It has already been established and has started to grow. I cannot comment on the operations it will undertake.”Mr Wallace said there is still a “strong cause for concern” that Russia is “still committed to invasion” – one that would lead to a “humanitarian crisis and widespread suffering”.And he turned on Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, who called for a “reduction in the Nato presence on the border” if Russia pulls back in return.“We didn’t put 165,000 combat troops on the edge of a sovereign country and hold a gun to the head of a democratically elected government,” Mr Wallace told him.“We didn’t do that. Russia did that. We have nothing to deescalate from – Russia does.”Mr Corbyn should “condemn the Stop The War Coalition”, he said, adding: “Maybe he’d like to go and ask the people of Ukraine who the aggressor is?” More