UK Politics

The government spend nearly £1m assessing whether Boris Johnson’s idea of a bridge or tunnel across the Irish Sea was viable, it has emerged.The Department for Transport confirmed on Thursday that the feasibility study for the “fixed link” cost a total of £896,608.67.It also spent a further £1.1m on its concurrent “union connectivity review”, which reported in November.The feasibility study found that the benefits of a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland was not worth the £335bn price tax, or £209bn for a tunnel.One extra difficulty with the proposals was the presence of a Second World War munitions dump across the point where the link had been suggested.Peter Hendy, the rail chief tasked with overseeing the study, said on publication that the idea of a fixed link was “an excellent question to ask”.He added: “This is the first comprehensive, conclusive study on the subject since the idea was first mooted over 150 years ago”.Both the bridge and tunnel versions of the project would have been the longest of their kind ever built.Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said the prime minister had blown nearly £1m on “an utterly infeasible vanity project”.“This just shows the Tories sheer disrespect for public money,” she said, noting the cash was “enough to fill 18,000 potholes”.The Scottish National Party’s shadow Scotland secretary Mhairi Black said her party “knew from the beginning this wouldn’t happen”.“Now it has been revealed that the UK government wasted close to £1m of taxpayers’ money on a feasibility study on its unworkable, doomed from the get-go idea,” she added.“This just goes to show the Tories’ warped spending priorities. How many lateral flow tests could this have bought, or nurses salaries paid, or PPE purchased for those on the frontline in this pandemic?“However, as daft as this idea was, it still promised to put £20bn of investment into the Scottish and Northern Irish economies. The prime minister must honour the spending commitments he made and deliver that money to Scotland and Northern Ireland so they can use it for worthwhile infrastructure proposals.“The UK government said it was ‘deadly serious’ about these proposals – it’s time to come good on its words and deliver the investment.”The bridge had been mooted in the 2015 election manifesto of the Democratic Unionist Party and Mr Johnson had described it as “a very interesting idea” before confirming the study.Before he became prime minister Mr Johnson was criticised for overseeing the spending of £43m on a proposed “garden bridge” over the Thames in London, which was also never built. More

A controversial cross-Channel power scheme backed by a major Tory donor who was a Russian oil tycoon has been thrown out by the government.The £1.2bn Aquind scheme for an underwater energy and communications cable also sparked claims by a minister that it would allow France to “turn off the power” in a future post-Brexit battle.Now the business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has announced his decision to “refuse development consent”, a letter on the Planning Inspectorate website revealed.The benefits of the planned link between Portsmouth and Normandy in France were outweighed by “planning harms”, including to an historic fort and to tourism in the area, he said.The decision has been long delayed, amid controversies over the donor – Alexander Temerko – and accusations that the trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, failed to disclose lobbying by him.Mr Temerko is a director of Aquind, having donated £730,000 to the Conservative Party and its MPs since 2012, while the company itself has donated a further £500,000 over the same period.His website has included photos of him with Boris Johnson, including one of them embracing at a dinner in tuxedos, it was reported.This week, the trade minister Penny Mordaunt – a Portsmouth MP – warned the project would make Britain more reliant on France, which has threatened to interrupt supplies in disputes over fishing.“The French have already said they will turn off the power. They will use future energy supply as a bargaining chip,” she said.The decision was hailed by Stephen Morgan, Labour MP for Portsmouth South, who said: “This is a victory for the people of Portsmouth over years of uncertainty and Tory cronyism.“I will continue to raise questions about how Conservative ministers came so close to allowing party donors to control a national infrastructure project.”A second donor, Viktor Fedotov, who holds a controlling stake in Aquind, is Russian-born and a former vice-president of the Lukoil energy corporation.The Ukrainian-born Mr Temerko became a Conservative patron after his high-powered career ended with him fleeing to the UK, facing charges over business activities.He was head of the state-owned weapons firm Russkoye Oruzhie – “Russian weapons” – in 1995, before becoming a senior executive of Yukos, the Russian oil and gas company five years later.Ms Trevelyan told the Commons, while serving as energy minister, that she had not been in discussion with the stakeholders of Aquind.But Freedom of Information disclosures then revealed that Mr Temerko had sent her letters in the preceding two months about the interconnector project. More

William Wragg alleges ‘blackmail’ against Tory MPs plotting against Boris JohnsonA senior Conservative MP has accused ministers of breaching the ministerial code by making threats to rebel colleagues who are considering trying to topple Boris Johnson.William Wragg urged the MPs to go the police, saying: “The reports of which I’m aware would seem to constitute blackmail.”The sensational accusation comes as an inquiry into parties held at No 10 during lockdown is said to have found an email central to establishing if the PM “lied to parliament” over his knowledge of one specific event – held on 20 May 2020, in the Downing Street garden – after his former adviser Dominic Cummings claimed Mr Johnson knew “full well” it was a social event. Sue Gray, who is conducting the investigation, is poised to quiz the senior official who sent the email – warning the PM’s aide Martin Reynolds to scrap the “bring your own booze” event – according to a report by ITV News.Show latest update

1642690299Three to seven no confidence letters ‘withdrawn’Between three and seven letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson were withdrawn yesterday, the Daily Telegraph reports.Senior sources in the government whip’s office told the publication that they know of at least three cases where MPs had changed their minds yesterday after a raucous PMQs session.One Tory MP said: “Wakeford has saved Boris.”Matt Mathers20 January 2022 14:511642690224Douglas Ross: Wragg claims are serious and must be investigatedDouglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader who is among those to demand Johnson’s resignation, said Wragg’s allegations are “serious” and should be investigated. He told ITV Border he has not personally been told of any intimidation, but added: “I think anyone in the Conservative Party will be disappointed to hear these allegations and I hope that they’re properly investigated.”Matt Mathers20 January 2022 14:501642689542Reports saying rebels withdrew no confidence letters ‘pure invention from No 10’Reports that rebel MPs withdrew letters calling for a no confidence vote in the PM yesterday are “pure invention from No 10,” a source has told The Guardian.“These briefings of withdrawals are pure invention from No 10,” one Johnson critic told the publication.“Wakeford may have stayed some people’s hands yesterday but this isn’t going into reverse.”Matt Mathers20 January 2022 14:391642688424Full report: Tory whips threatened to cancel new school if I rebelled, says defector MPOur policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has more below on claims by Wakeford that he was threatened by whips: Matt Mathers20 January 2022 14:201642687524Cummings: Email proves No 10 lying over garden partyAn email reportedly found by Sue Gray in which an aide warns against the now infamous Downing Street garden party proves No 10 is lying over the affair, Dominic Cummings has claimed.“Episode 197 of no10 saying ‘cummings lying’ then evidence shows no10 is lying…,” the PM’s former chief aide wrote on Twitter.“NB Broadcasters shd now assume no10 is lying unless strong reason to think contrary, given lying is default mode as regime implodes,” he added.Earlier this week Cummings said that email evidence would emerge showing that the PM was warned about the event.Matt Mathers20 January 2022 14:051642686624Tory MP: Whips threatened to axe school funding if i didn’t vote in a certain wayA Tory MP has said government whips threatened to axe funding for a school in his constituency if he didn’t vote a certain way.Christian Wakeford, the MP for Bury South who defected to Labour yesterday, told the BBC the threat made him “question” his position in the Conservative Party.More comments from Wakeford here: Matt Mathers20 January 2022 13:501642685855‘Looks like checkmate’ for Boris Johnson, says senior Tory MPSenior Conservative MP Steve Baker has said it looked like “checkmate” for Boris Johnson, suggesting that the prime minister’s time at No 10 was coming to an end over the partygate scandal.Our politics reporter Adam Forrest has more below:Matt Mathers20 January 2022 13:371642684806Johnson: No evidence of blackmail by Tory whipsBoris Johnson has said there is “no evidence” of government whips blackmailing rebel MPs plotting to trigger a no confidence vote in his leadership.”I have seen no evidence, heard no evidence to support any of those allegations,” he told Sky News.”What I’m focused on is what we’re doing to deal with the number one priority of the British people which is coming through Covid.”Matt Mathers20 January 2022 13:201642684537Whips’ tactics ‘not new’ but Wragg ‘shone a light on them’LBC politics correspondent Ben Kentish suggests whips’ strongarm tactics are nothing new but Wragg has shone a light on them.“I was told by Tory MPs, at the height of the Rashford row, that members of the govt were threatening to withhold money from schools in their (deprived) constituencies if they voted to extend free school meals,” he wrote on Twitter.“These practices aren’t new but Will Wragg has shone a light on them.”Matt Mathers20 January 2022 13:151642683479Tory MPs appear to have differing accounts of ‘blackmail’ claimsAs sources told ITV News’ Anushka Asthana:Sam Hancock20 January 2022 12:57 More

An MP who defected from the Conservative party has said Tory whips threatened to scrap a new school in his constituency if he did not vote the right way in parliament. Christian Wakeford’s claim came after another Tory MP spoke out about about alleged “blackmail” of his colleagues by Downing Street and said the police could be called. “I was threatened that I would not get the school for Radcliffe if I did not vote in one particular way,” Mr Wakeford, who crossed the floor to join Labour on Wednesday. said.“This is a town that’s not had a high school for the best part of ten years and how would you feel holding back the regeneration of the town vote for a vote?“It didn’t sit comfortably and that was really my starting to question my place where I was and ultimately where I am now.”Earlier on Thursday William Wragg, the Tory chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said said No 10 staff, special advisers and government ministers had said they would release embarrassing stories about him and pull funding from constituencies if they continued to criticise the prime minister.At the start of a meeting of his committee, Mr Wragg said that “the intimidation of a member of parliament is a serious matter”, adding: “The reports of which I’m aware would seem to constitute blackmail.””As such it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police.”Responding to the allegations on Thursday Boris Johnson told broadcasters he had “seen no evidence, heard no evidence to support any of those allegations” and then changed the subject to Covid vaccination.Pressed and asked whether he would look at evidence provided by MPs, he replied: “Of course, but what we’re focused on is what we can do to clear the Covid backlogs”.A No 10 spokesperson said: “We are not aware of any evidence to support what are clearly serious allegations. If there is any evidence to support these claims we would look at it very carefully.”Addressing the issue, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, said allegations about potentially criminal offences would be a matter for the police rather than parliamentary authorities. “While the whipping system is long established, it is of course a contempt to obstruct members in the discharge of their duty or to attempt to intimidate a member in their parliamentary conduct by threats,” he said. More

Senior Conservative MP Steve Baker has said it looked like “checkmate” for Boris Johnson, suggesting that the prime minister’s time at No 10 was coming to an end over the partygate scandal.The influential Brexiteer, a leading figure in the Covid Research Group of Tory lockdown-sceptics, said the public were “furious” over the drinks party held at Downing Street at during lockdown.“It’s a sorry situation that we’re in, I’m appalled that we’ve reached this position,” Mr Baker told Nick Robinson on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast.“We didn’t make Boris Johnson for his meticulous grasp of tedious rules, but this is appalling and the public are rightly furious,” said the backbencher.Mr Baker added: “At the moment I’m afraid it does look like checkmate. Whether he can save himself we’ll see.”The Brexit-backing MP – a key figure in moves to oust former PM Theresa May – said he would not be “organising” against Mr Johnson because his “heart wouldn’t be in it”.It comes fellow MP William Wragg has claimed Tory backbenchers have reported “intimidation” and “blackmail” over their support for a no-confidence motion in Mr Johnson – urging colleagues to report it to the police.Mr Wragg, chair Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said on Thursday that he has received reports of conduct amounting to “blackmail”.He said they include members of No 10 staff, special advisers and others “encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those they who suspect of lacking confidence in the prime minister”.Responding, Mr Johnson insisted he had not seen any evidence to support Mr Wragg’s claims of intimidatory tactics against his critics. “I’ve seen no evidence to support any of those allegations,” he told reporters on a visit to Taunton.Christian Wakeford – the MP for Bury South who defected from the Tories to Labour on Wednesday – backed up Mr Wragg’s claims, saying he had been “threatened” with the loss of funding for a school in his constituency.Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner added: “These are grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money and must be investigated thoroughly.”Camilla Cavendish, head of policy for David Cameron, called the allegations “unprecedented” – saying the Tory whips had moved into “mafia territory” if they proved to be true.And Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle warned whips that it would be a “contempt” to obstruct MPs in doing their duties by trying to “intimidate” them.In remarkable scenes in the Commons on Wednesday, leading Brexiteer David David stunned MPs with a call to the prime minister to “in the name of God, go”.While up to 20 discontented Tories were understood to have submitted letters to the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, none broke cover to declare their positions publicly.Senior Tories told The Independent that the developments may have helped shore up Mr Johnson’s position at least until the publication of Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray’s report into “partygate” – now expected next week.One member of the group of MPs who arrived in parliament in 2019 urged colleagues not to wait to submit their letters.“You have to make a change as soon as you can,” the Tory MP told The Independent. “I don’t think colleagues should think of the Sue Gray report should be the answer, the silver bullet. You don’t need Sue Gray to tell you what a party is.” More

Evidence of Boris Johnson lying to parliament over parties at Downing Street is “clear cut” and Conservative MPs do not have to wait for an official report to demand his resignation, a former Whitehall sleaze watchdog has said.The ex-chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, said it was clear that Mr Johnson breached the ministerial code by misleading parliament, which would be a resigning matter.While Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray was unlikely to pass judgement on whether the PM breached the code in her report into the party scandal, expected next week, Sir Alistair said it was a “simple issue” for MPs to reach their own conclusions on the evidence already available.Sir Alistair said that fresh allegations of Tory rebels facing “blackmail” from ministers and whips to stop them from submitting letters of no confidence in Johnson could be a matter for police and would be “disastrous” for the PM if proved.The former CPSL chief told Sky News: “The key issue for me is it looks like the prime minister – the evidence is fairly clear – misled parliament about attending parties and parties taking place.“That would be, if he knowingly misled parliament, a breach of the ministerial code, which would be a resignation matter.“If Conservative MPs care about standards in our democratic system, that should be the simple issue.”There are expectations at Westminster that the publication of the Gray report will provoke a fresh wave of confidence letters which could take the total over the threshold of 54 needed to force a vote.But Sir Alistair said: “They are waiting for the Sue Gray report, but I doubt if Sue Gray’s going to deal with this issue of a breach of a ministerial code. I think that’s beyond her pay grade.“For me, the evidence is already clear cut that he did breach the ministerial code and therefore he should face the consequences of that.He added: “What appals people I think, is the scale of the breach of the regulations that seem to have taken place in Downing Street, and the lack of firm management, the lack of proper leadership.“I think does throw serious questions about whether we’ve got a prime minister and a government that is truly in charge or has allowed a culture to develop that people don’t need to consider what rules are in place and whether they should be kept to.” More

Downing Street offered to ease coronavirus restrictions for Prince Philip’s funeral, it has been reported. The Queen is said to have refused because it would be unfair for her to have special treatment when others were also grieving for their loved ones in lockdown. The report, which first emerged in news and satire magazine Private Eye, alleges that Downing Street officials suggested that more than 30 mourners might be allowed to attend the funeral. Downing Street also reportedly contacted Buckingham Palace to propose that social distancing requirements be relaxed for the event. According to Private Eye, the palace told Downing Street that the Queen wanted to set an example rather than be an exception to the rules. Covid-19 guidelines at the time, 17 April 2021, meant that only 30 people could attend a funeral service. Those attending a funeral were also told to stay at least two metres away from others outside their household or support bubble. For many across the country, the rules meant that they were not able to hug and comfort each other as they said goodbye to their loved ones. Even more people were not able to attend the funerals at all – instead being forced to say farewell over live streams and Zoom.When asked about the claims on Thursday, a Downing Street spokesperson refused to comment. The reports come after No 10 was forced to apologise to the Queen over parties held in Downing Street on the eve of her husband’s funeral. Details of two leaving parties held at No 10 the night before Prince Philip’s socially-distanced funeral emerged in The Telegraph last week. Staff allegedly drank alcohol into the early hours and guests danced in a No 10 basement. It was also reported that someone was sent to the Co-op on the Strand with a suitcase, which was filled with bottles of wine and brought back to Downing Street. The government’s guidance at the time read: “You must not socialise indoors except with your household or support bubble. You can meet outdoors, including in gardens in groups of six people or two households.”The next day, the Queen had to sit alone in the private chapel in Windsor Castle during her husband’s funeral. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the story. More

Sir Tony Blair has warned that the UK is on course to “slip gently into a lower league” of nations, as he accused Boris Johnson of lacking a coherent plan for government.The former Labour prime minister said that without a radical shift in policy Britain faces “a steady, inexorable compound decline, similar to the 1960s and 1970s”.Sir Tony said that whether or not Mr Johnson survives the partygate scandal, Downing Street’s biggest problem is the absence of a plan for the country’s future.“There is a gaping hole in the governing of Britain where new ideas should be,” Sir Tony said during a speech at Imperial College London on Thursday. “It needs a plan … At present, there isn’t one.”The former PM also attacked the government’s approach to Brexit – saying the desire to diverge from the EU had caused “substantial” economic damage. “We can alter our political and legal relationship with Europe, but we cannot change our interests or our geography,” he said.Sir Tony added: “The government doesn’t have a post-Brexit regulatory strategy and it is letting passive divergence from EU rule exacerbate costs for businesses for no purpose, deepening an already substantial economic hit from Brexit itself.”The former prime minister said Brexit, the technological revolution and climate change present an unprecedented set of challenges which the government is “ill-prepared” to address.Sir Tony also said the government’s “levelling up” agenda did little to clarify the real issues for the UK. “The slogan risks misdirecting the framing of the country’s problem. We face a national challenge – all the country, not simply the areas ‘left behind’.”The former PM said he did not want to get “drawn into” the partygate scandal at a question-and-answer session at the Institute of Global Health Innovation-hosted event.But he did say: “Things were very different in my day at Downing Street and the way the government was run … Whatever happens to him – and I can’t effect that, that’s a matter for inquiries and the Conservative party – the problem is the absence of a plan.”The former Labour leader praised Sir Keir Starmer said the party was “thankfully emerging with renewed vigour [and] a talented front bench” from “the catastrophe of the Corbyn era”.He also praised the economic plan set out by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, saying it showed “a healthy desire to erase the memory of four successive defeats”, adding: “It could provide the plan the country needs. As Keir himself acknowledges, this is the challenge for 2022.”Asked whether he would want Britain to re-join the EU in future, Sir Tony said: “It would be a political error to revive the whole argument – you just have to accept that, no matter how passionately opposed to it I was.“But I think the thing to focus on is … you need a relationship, and let’s make it a practical one. Let’s make it work. You don’t want a situation where your prime minister is not on good terms with European leaders.” More