Afternoon summary
Cumbria coalmine is owned by private equity firm with Caymans base
The first deep coalmine to be dug in the UK in a generation is ultimately owned by an international private equity company, with executives whose mining interests have stretched to Russia, Asia, Africa and across Australia, my colleague Sandra Laville reports.
Here is the moment when Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, infuriated the Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, by delivering a formal ministerial statement largely off the cuff, instead of speaking from a text shown to the opposition in advance, which is what ministers are supposed to do. (See 12.01pm and 2.51pm.)
Sir David King, the former government chief scientist and chair of the independent Climate Crisis Advisory Group, has joined those criticising the decision to allow a new coalmine to open at Whitehaven. He said it was an “incomprehensible act of self-harm”.
He went on:
Worldwide, there should be no new venture into coal, oil or gas recovery.
This action by a leading developed economy sets exactly the wrong example to the rest of the world.
Our only real form of influence on the climate crisis in the world is seriously jettisoned by this action.
And Prof Stuart Haszeldine, from the School of GeoSciences at University Edinburgh, said:
Opening a coalmine in Cumbria is investing in 1850s technology, and does not look forward to the 2030s low-carbon, local energy future.
We have studied the Cumbria coals and it’s clear that these are very high in sulphur and are not wanted by either of the two UK iron and steel makers.
Steel making in Europe is rapidly changing to use hydrogen, not coal.
Most, and maybe all, of this coking coal will be exported outside of Europe to escape environmental constraints on its use. England will become a global dirty fuel supplier.
Updated
I’ve corrected the post at 12.22pm to say Pete Wishart resigned from the SNP frontbench at Westminster. Originally it wrongly said he was sacked. That was based on a misunderstanding of Wishart’s letter. Wishart says he is “bemused” by Stephen Flynn wanting change, but he is referring to Flynn wanting to change the leadership (to himself), not Flynn wanting Wishart replaced. I’m sorry for the mistake.
Labour ponders whether to commit to closing new mine at Whitehaven if it's operating by time of election
Labour has strongly opposed the government’s decision to open a new coalmine in Whitehaven. But it has not yet publicly said that it would close the mine, if the site is operating and employing people at the time of the next general election.
Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate and net zero, said: “British business leaders know that this mine is wrong for our country. We should be focusing on the future; jobs in green industries.” But he stopped short of saying whether a Labour government would shut it down if it became active.
Alex Sobel, the shadow environment minister, has come closest to saying Labour would halt the project. In a post on Twitter, he said Labour would not “allow this go to ahead”.
Labour not only clearly opposes this coalmine but as climate leaders we wouldn’t, if in Government, allow this to go ahead. https://t.co/sLEsixYxor
— Alex Sobel MP 🟣 (@alexsobel) December 8, 2022
But not allowing a project to go ahead is not the same as closing a mine that is up and running.
It is understood that senior figures in the party do believe that a future Labour government should close the mine if it manages to open between now and the general election. But it is not clear whether, or when, Miliband or Keir Starmer will say this publicly.
As Ed Birkett, the head of energy and climate at the thinktank Onward, points out, if Labour were to commit to closing the mine now, they could probably block the project in its tracks.
If they commit to that publicly, then surely a good chance that the investment wouldn't go ahead (given the polls).
— Ed Birkett (@ed_birkett) December 8, 2022
Same with fracking. Even if Gov had allowed it, who would invest if the most likely next Gov has committed to stop it?
But that might not be popular in Whitehaven, where some residents want the mine to open because of the jobs that could be created.
The mine is in the Copeland constituency. Copeland, and its predecessor constituency, were held continuously by Labour from the 1930s until 2017, when the Conservative candidate, Trudy Harrison, won it in a surprise byelection victory. One factor was Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to nuclear power, because Sellafield is a major employer in the area. Harrison held the seat at the general elections in 2017 and 2019, and currently has a majority of 5,842.
Updated
Lisa Nandy says Whitehaven coalmine decision 'bad policy and bad politics'
In response to Michael Gove’s statement about his decision to allow the coalmine at Whitehaven, Lisa Nandy, the shadow levelling up secretary, said it was “bad policy and bad politics”. She told MPs:
I have one question for the secretary of state today: what on earth is he thinking? The decision to greenlight the reopening of the Woodhouse colliery is bad.
It is bad policy and it is bad politics. It is the latest in a string of absurd decisions from a government in chaos. Causing chaos in this chamber and causing chaos out there in the country; in office but not in power.
This mine will produce coking coal used for steel, not for electricity generation, so, as he has had to admit today, to claim it helps safeguard our energy security is a nonsense.
It gets worse - the two big steel producers, Tata and British Steel, are phasing out this coal in favour of lower carbon production methods so that by the mid-2030s at best the UK will use less than 10% of the output of the mine.
Across the world, demand for this coal is projected to fall off a cliff by 88% by 2050.
People in Cumbria deserve a long-term future. Lasting, well-paid jobs that power us through the next century. But instead they are saddled with a weak, short-sighted, unambitious government who only two months ago rejected a plan to bring new nuclear to Cumbria which would have created not 500 short-term jobs, but 10,000 jobs for the long-term …
The Tories were once the party of conservation, now they are the party of environmental vandalism. He can fiddle the figures all he likes, but the reality is this mine is projected to increase emissions by 0.4 million tonnes a year and that is from his own advisers in government.
Updated
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, finally did get to deliver his statement to MPs on his decision to allow the opening of a new coalmine, after being ordered to stop the first time because he delivered his address off the cuff. (See 12.01pm.)
In a statement to MPs, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, explained why he objected so strongly to a minister speaking ad lib, and not from a text shown in advance to the opposition.
He said that, under the ministerial code, “15 copies of [a ministerial statement] and associated documents should be sent to the chief whip’s office at least 45 minutes before the statement is to be made” so that they can be shown to the opposition. He went on:
The key point here is, final text. It’s not acceptable to provide a brief thesis of a statement, which is then significantly expanded upon by the secretary of state at the dispatch box. That means the opposition has no meaningful advance notice. And – this is my main concern as well – members do not have the detail they need in a written form, [so] they can properly ask questions of the minister.
Updated
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, has confirmed a pay cut for Stormont assembly members will come into force in January as he moved to further extend an election deadline in the region.
As PA Media reports, Heaton-Harris will reduce MLA salaries by 27.5% on 1 January to reflect the fact that they are not doing their job as legislators during the ongoing power-sharing impasse. This means MLA pay will be cut by £14,163 – from £51,500 to £37,337.
Updated
The report from the Labour party’s Start-up, Scal-up review is available here. The Venture Capital Trust Association has welcomed at least one of its recommendations. It says:
The VCTA welcomes the Labour party’s Start-up Scale-up report with its commitment to the VCT, SEIS and EIS schemes beyond 2025. Venture capital trusts’ ability to provide evergreen, patient capital is a vital cog in the UK’s start-up ecosystem.
We will continue to work closely with all policymakers to ensure the long-term future of VCTs.
VCTs are venture capital trusts, SEIS is the seed enterprise investment scheme, and EIS is the enterprise investment scheme.
Updated
Stewart McDonald becomes second MP to leave SNP frontbench at Westminster
The SNP’s new Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, is contending with the second pointed resignation from his front bench after the group’s defence spokesperson Stewart McDonald stepped down warning colleagues that “we are at our best when we collaborate as a united party”.
McDonald, who backed Alison Thewlis over Flynn in the leadership contest, is known as an effective operator and his resignation letter gives credence to reports of disunity among MPs, some of whom feel at one remove from Holyrood and are currently anxious about the practicalities of Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to use the next general election as a “de facto referendum”.
Serving as my party’s defence spokesperson has been a job I’ve loved. Today I’ve decided it’s time for a change.
— Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) December 8, 2022
I wish @StephenFlynnSNP and @MhairiBlack every success. I’ll be cheering them on from the backbenches. pic.twitter.com/XWh16LAVFZ
This comes a few hours after veteran MP Pete Wishart stepped down as Defra spokesperson, suggesting that Flynn had not bothered to speak to him when canvassing support and adding: “I remain bemused as to the reasons why you felt it was necessary to seek a change in our leadership, particularly when we see yesterday’s opinion poll, which shows support for independence at a near all-time high.”
Flynn has told colleagues he plans to put together a “new look” frontbench in the coming days, and set out plans for a change of strategy for the Westminster group.
Updated
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, turned up in a Christmas jumper for Cabinet Office questions in the Commons this morning. Addressing Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, she said:
It seems I’m the only one that got the memo about Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper [Day] today.
Christmas came early for those that were on the VIP fast-track lane to get the contracts and many honourable members on these benches are trying to get to the bottom of this and are very frustrated, as are the public. Billions of pounds wasted. Only those that were pushed by Conservative MPs and peers got on that VIP fast-track lane.
Why is this government protecting that fast-track lane and not dealing with it in the procurement bill?
In response, Dowden said that he welcomed Rayner’s jumper “and wholly, as a fellow ginger, endorse the sentiments on it”.
On the VIP lane for PPE procurement, he said 90% of bids through that route were unsuccessful.
No 10 claims it is acting 'reasonably' in response to union pay demands
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson backed what Suella Braverman was saying this morning about the need for people to think carefully about their Christmas holiday plans. (See 11.37am.) Here are the key points from the briefing.
The spokesperson said people planning to travel over Christmas should check with their airline in advance because there would be disruption as a result of the Border Force strike.
He rejected claims that raising the prospect of health staff being banned from going on strike would worsen relations with unions. He said:
What we are looking to do is to keep people safe and keep the country moving. Those are our aims; we’re not looking to worsen our relations with any group.
We believe we’ve acted reasonably when it comes to both agreeing the payoff as recommended by the independent boards and in facilitating the discussions we need to reach some sort of resolution.
Given what we’re seeing and the need to protect people from inflation we must also go further and consider further powers to try and mitigate against some of the disruption.
No 10 is determined to present its stance on the strikes as “reasonable”. In an interview last night with ITV, Rishi Sunak used the word reasonable, reasonably or reasonableness five times to describe his approach while responding to just two questions about the pay demands.
The spokesperson expressed gratitude to the armed forces for standing in to replace public sector staff on strike over Christmas. He said:
These rolling strikes will cause disruption to everyone and that does also include our military personnel who will be required, unfortunately, to have to step in and backfill some of these vital roles we need to keep the country moving.
We recognise that they have been called on to do this before and I’m sure the public thanks them once again for the work they’re preparing to do.
The spokeperson said double-digit pay rises for public sector staff would be unacceptable. He said:
It is inflation that is our shared enemy and if we were to push ahead with double-digit pay deals across the public sector, at a cost of £28bn, that’s a cost of £1,000 per household.
That would embed inflation, which currently is expected to fall significantly next year.
So we would be acting against everyone’s interests if we were to take all the demands and meet them in full.
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Reeves says Labour wants to see UK pension funds invest in more startups
In her speech to Labour’s business conference, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, claimed her party’s plans to unlock investment could boost growth. Here are the key points she made, in her speech and her Q&A with journalists.
Reeves said she wanted to see UK pension funds invest more in startups. Referring to the Labour report explaining how this might happen (see 11.27am), she said:
Defined benefit funds in Britain have almost £3tn worth of assets under management.
But right now, it is more often Canadian pension savers who benefit from startups here in Britain than savers at home.
If we could take advantage of that wealth, unlocking even a proportion of those investments, then we could drive greater investment in homegrown businesses and greater returns to British pension savers.
France’s Tibi scheme has secured more than €18bn of investment for new and growing businesses by using the convening power of government to bring institutional investors together with venture capital.
The question is: why are pension-savers and businesses not feeling these benefits here in Britain?
Reeves also dismissed suggestions that this would be risky for pension funds. Asked about this, she said:
What I see is a huge pot of money not returning the returns that pension savers in other countries do.
Returns for pension savers could be 10% higher if “just a small fraction” of those pension savings were invested in startups because of the huge growth potential, she said.
She said innovation was key to growth, and that Labour wanted to facilitate it. She said:
Innovation is a great British strength. This is in the fabric of our history and it endures today. Fast-growing firms already contribute £1tn to our economy and employ 3.2 million people.
But I have heard time and again from business about the stubborn obstacles preventing them from scaling up and realising their potential, about issues with access to finance, especially patient capital, and the difficulty of turning brilliant ideas in our universities into commercial reality. Think, then, what we could achieve together if we remove those obstacles.
The government has similar aims. In fact, Rishi Sunak devoted a recent cabinet meeting to a discussion about policies that might promote innovation.
Reeves said the UK was at a “post-Brexit crossroads” and faced a choice between reform and growth, or “managed decline”. She said:
We can go down the road of managed decline, falling behind our competitors, or we can seize upon the bold thinking that is needed to propel us forward, to shape Britain’s future outside the European Union while improving trading relationships with our nearest and closest neighbours, applying ourselves with creativity, with determination and some common sense, so that we can lead the pack in the industries of the future.
Updated
Pete Wishart resigns from SNP frontbench at Westminster saying he is 'bemused' new leader thought change necessary
The Scottish National party MP Pete Wishart has been resigned as the party’s environment spokeperson at Westminster. In a letter to the new leader of the SNP group of MPs, Stephen Flynn, Wishart says he is “bemused” that Flynn thought it was necessary to change the leadership when for support for the party at Westminster is at an all-time high.
For the first time in 21 years I will serve the Westminster group from the back bench. My resignation letter to Stephen. He will continue to have my full support. pic.twitter.com/sDrR6WE2Ba
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) December 8, 2022
The Scottish Conservatives say this is fresh evidence of “deep splits” in the SNP. Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative chair, said:
Their longest-serving MP is clearly unhappy at Stephen Flynn’s boasts about wanting to ‘shake things up’ and Nicola Sturgeon losing her once vice-like grip over the party.
Despite claiming he will give the new Westminster leader his full support, Pete Wishart’s damning letter is the latest evidence of the deep splits running through the SNP.
UPDATE: I’ve corrected this post because the original said Wishart was sacked. That was based on a misunderstanding of the letter. Wishart says he is “bemused” by Flynn wanting change, but he is referring to Flynn wanting to change the leadership (to himself), not Flynn wanting Wishart replaced. Sorry for the mistake.
Updated
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has issued this statement about the latest performance statistics from NHS England. (See 9.51am and 10.27am.) He said:
The NHS is heading into this winter with more people waiting for treatment than at any time in history, and they are waiting longer than ever before.
Behind the statistics are people suffering, sometimes for months or even years, putting their lives on hold because of their pain and discomfort.
The government should be doing everything it can to bring down waiting lists, including using spare capacity in the private sector. No one should be waiting in pain while hospital beds that could be used lie empty.
But we also need to tackle the root cause of this crisis. Labour will train 7,500 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses a year, so patients can be treated on time again, paid for by abolishing non-doms.
Gove infuriates Commons speaker by delivering statement to MPs about new coalmine without text and off the cuff
There were extraordinary scenes in parliament this morning, with Michael Gove taken behind the speaker’s chair and given a furious telling-off by Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
This is because in his statement to the Commons about the decision to allow a new coalmine in Cumbria, he said something completely different to what he had printed and given to the opposition and the speaker.
Clearly angry, Hoyle stopped Gove mid-flow and asked him for a copy of what he just said. He then sent him away for a couple of hours, bringing forward business questions while parliament waits to find out more about the coal situation.
A source said:
Gove prepared a statement on his way to a ministerial visit because he had to come back for an urgent question on the mine. He wrote up a statement for a UQ but it got turned into a ministerial statement.
Instead of writing a more substantial response, he delivered a speech very different to what had been provided. Lindsay is livid as it means we don’t have a written copy.
Extraordinarily, Gove admitted to the speaker that he had delivered the speech about the crucially important matter “off the cuff”, meaning a copy of the speech does not exist.
Transcribers are having to quickly write up the words Gove just delivered to the Commons, print it off, and give it out to everyone, for him to repeat again and answer questions on.
Labour sources said it was a “complete and utter shambles”, adding the statement wasn’t much cop anyway: “He basically stood up and explained what coal is, which is ironic seeing as Lisa [Nandy] and Ed [Miliband] represent areas famous for their coalmining past.”
The i’s Paul Waugh has the clip.
Speaker Hoyle is so furious with @michaelgove for not providing advance copies of his full Cumbria coal statement that he's suspended the Commons. pic.twitter.com/7qKe1JFW5U
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 8, 2022
Updated
Braverman urges people to 'think carefully' about holiday plans at Christmas because of impact of Border Force strike
Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has urged people who have booked a holiday this Christmas to “think carefully” about their plans because travel will be disrupted by the Border Force strike.
In an interview with broadcasters, she said:
It’s very regrettable that they have made this decision to potentially strike over critical times in the run-up and following Christmas and the New Year.
If they go ahead with those strikes there will be undeniable, serious disruption caused to many thousands of people who have holiday plans.
I really want to urge people who have got plans to travel abroad to think carefully about their plans because they may well be impacted.
We’ve got plans in place that will involve, to a degree, bringing in some of our military colleagues to help us in a variety of roles.
Ultimately I’m not willing to compromise on security at the border, that’s the No 1 priority.
That may well have an adverse impact on convenience for people, frankly, whether it’s the time they have to wait for flights, or departures, they may well be delayed on arrivals and various travel plans. Ultimately security at the border is my No 1 non-negotiable priority.
In this quote she does not explicitly tell people to cancel their holidays. But she seems to be implying people should at least consider this.
It is quite a change from the approach the government had when Liz Truss was PM, and the government was not even willing to advise people to turn their heating down for fear of seeming too bossy.
Updated
Labour sets out plans to make UK 'high growth, startup hub of world'
At the Labour business conference Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is presenting the recommendations from the party’s startup review. It was led by Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist who served as a Treasury minister in the Conservative government from 2015 to 2016 and who now sits as a crossbench peer. The review was intended to come up with ideas to make Britain “the high growth, startup hub of the world”.
In its summary of the recommendations, Labour says:
The ‘Start-Up, Scale Up’ review has produced a number of policy recommendations that a future Labour government should consider. They include recommendations on mobilising more institutional capital to finance growth, incentivising investment, supporting entrepreneurs from all backgrounds, and ensuring institutions serve the start-up and scale-up ecosystem as well as possible. Recommendations include:
Unlocking institutional investment and patient capital: Britain should draw on the experience of the successful Tibi scheme in France, to build engagement and understanding between institutional investors and VCs [venture capitalists], which will unlock billions of investment into high-growth companies.
Transforming the British Business Bank: Labour should ensure the BBB has the level of independence, remit and aspiration it needs to succeed, as well as the ability to leverage external funds to amplify its work. It should use its support to foster clusters around groups of universities to drive growth and investment across the whole of the UK.
Translating world-leading research into growth: A Labour government should publish, annually, a dashboard summarising each university’s offer to spinouts, and metrics of each university’s spinout success. It should also recommend that all universities offer a range of options for spinout founders to choose from, including an option where the university keeps a relatively small stake of equity.
Updated
Keir Starmer has said Labour is “ready to partner” with business when it governs the country. Speaking to a conference attended by 350 business figures in London, he said:
I believe that to drive Britain forward, we need a partnership and I’m here to say, Labour is ready, ready to partner with you.
Because we’re not just a pro-business party, we’re a party that is proud of being pro-business.
YouGov has released fresh polling suggesting that Labour continues to have a huge lead over the Tories.
Latest Westminster voting intention (6-7 Dec)
— YouGov (@YouGov) December 8, 2022
Con: 24% (+2 from 29-30 Nov)
Lab: 48% (+1)
Lib Dem: 9% (=)
Reform UK: 8% (-1)
Green: 6% (+1)
SNP: 4% (=)https://t.co/hCKSFxFBzM pic.twitter.com/ToxHRk2qHj
And Keir Starmer leads Rishi Sunak on who would make the best PM, but by a much smaller margin.
Which of the following do you think would make the best Prime Minister? (6-7 Dec)
— YouGov (@YouGov) December 8, 2022
Keir Starmer: 29% (-1 from 29-30 Nov)
Rishi Sunak: 24% (-1)
Not sure: 43% (+1)https://t.co/hCKSFxFBzM pic.twitter.com/843fhVXeij
Updated
410,000 people in England waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment, figures show
And here is more data from the latest NHS England performance figures.
At the end of October an estimated 410,983 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start hospital treatment, PA Media reports. It says:
This is up from 404,851 at the end of September, and is the equivalent of around one in 18 people on the entire waiting list.
The government and NHS England have set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.
Also, at the end of October 1,907 people in England are estimated to have been waiting more than two years to start routine hospital treatment, PA Media reports. It says:
This is down slightly from 2,239 at the end of September and is well below the peak of 23,778 in January 2022.
The government and NHS England set the ambition to eliminate all waits of more than two years, except when it is the patient’s choice or for complex cases requiring specialist treatment, by July this year.
The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted has fallen, PA Media reports. It says:
New NHS England data shows that 37,837 people waited longer than 12 hours in November, down 14% from the record 43,792 in October but still the second-highest monthly total in data going back to August 2010.
The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also dropped from a record 150,922 in October to 143,949 in November, again the second-highest on record.
A total of 68.9% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 69.3% in October and the worst performance on record, PA Media reports. It says:
The operational standard is that at least 95% of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, but this has not been met nationally since 2015.
The average response time in November for ambulances in England outside London dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was nine minutes and 26 seconds, PA Media reports. It says:
This is down from nine minutes and 56 seconds in October.
The target standard response time for urgent incidents is seven minutes. Data for London is not available.
Ambulances in England outside London took an average of 48 minutes and eight seconds in November to respond to emergency calls such as burns, epilepsy and strokes, PA Media reports. It says:
This is down from an average of one hour, one minute and 19 seconds in October, but still well above the target of 18 minutes.
Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, 43 minutes and five seconds, down from three hours, 34 minutes and 34 seconds.
Data for London is not available.
Updated
Record 7.2m people now waiting for hospital treatment, NHS England says
The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has risen to a new record high, PA Media reports. It says:
An estimated 7.2 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of October, NHS England said.
This is up from 7.1 million in September and is the highest number since records began in August 2007.
Updated
Keegan confirms military personnel have been trained to replace Border Force staff when they strike
In her interviews this morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, confirmed that soldiers will be used to carry out passport checks when Border Force staff go on strike over Christmas. She told Sky News:
It’s very disappointing that Border Force will be striking over Christmas.
We are doing our best to mitigate as far as possible. So in the case of Border Force, we’ve got 2,000 military personnel who are trained, who are going to try and mitigate and try and help with some of those roles at the border.
But, you know, we do expect there will be disruption and delays, but they will do their best and they’re also helping with the health service as well.
The army could also be brought in to cover when ambulance staff and firefighters go on strike and this morning the Daily Telegraph says senior figures in the military are unhappy about how the armed forces are being used in this way. “Soldiers should not be made to give up Christmas to cover for striking NHS workers who earn more than them, senior military figures have told ministers,” Danielle Sheridan, Daniel Martin and Camilla Turner report in their story. They say:
The Telegraph has been told that the military believes it is “not right” for soldiers, who are banned by law from striking themselves, to replace striking public sector workers over the festive season.
Senior members of the armed forces are understood to have also warned ministers that the plan risks weakening the “operational capability” of the military to respond to threats.
One senior defence source said: “You’ve only got to look at a private soldier on £22,000 a year and whose pay scales have not kept up with inflation for the last decade having to give up Christmas, or come straight off operations, to cover for people who want 19% and are already paid in excess of what he or she would be, and it’s just not right.
“We’ve got to the stage now where the government’s first lever it reaches for every time there is any difficulty, whether it’s floods, strikes, all the rest of it, is the armed forces, as opposed to it being the last resort.”
Thursday's Telegraph: Army fury as soldiers ordered to give up Christmas over strikes #TomorrowsPapersToday #DailyTelegraph #Telegraph pic.twitter.com/9rw99vax8q
— Tomorrows Papers Today (@TmorrowsPapers) December 7, 2022
Asked about this story, Keegan said soldiers had “a sense of duty” and “we should all be very thankful for their service”.
Updated
Education secretary Gillian Keegan confirms NHS staff could have right to strike restricted under proposed law
Good morning. After three years of dawdling, the government is suddenly ramping up its plans to tighten the laws on strikes that affect public services, in ways that would be hugely controversial and amount, potentially, to the biggest restriction on trade unions since the 1980s.
In their 2019 election manifesto, the Conservatives said: “We will require that a minimum service operates during transport strikes. Rail workers deserve a fair deal, but it is not fair to let the trade unions undermine the livelihoods of others.”
For almost three years nothing happened, partly because of Covid. In October the then transport secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, did get round to publishing a transport strikes (minimum service levels) bill. But this was in the dying days of the Liz Truss administration, when the crisis triggered by the mini-budget was at its height, and the first reading of the bill passed almost unnoticed.
Yesterday morning Mark Harper, the current transport secretary, told MPs that he could not say when the legislation would progress, and he implied it wasn’t a top priority for him anyway.
But a couple of hours later Rishi Sunak told PMQs he was planning “tough” legislation and No 10 gave a briefing suggesting the bill could also ban nurses and ambulance workers from going on strike, which would be a significant extension of what was originally planned.
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and she confirmed that health staff could have their right to strike restricted under plans being considered by the government. She told Sky News:
We do have some areas where strikes are not allowed as part of the contract. So, for example, the military can’t go on strike and the police. There’s some people … as a matter of public safety, you can’t go on strike.
And what we’re looking at is, are there other areas that we should include in that? Health would be one to look at and other areas of critical infrastructure.
But when Keegan was asked if teachers should be included in a new public services anti-strike law of this kind, she said she did not know and had not looked at the issue.
I will post more from her interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, takes questions in the Commons.
9.30am: NHS England publishes monthly performance figures.
10.30am: Keir Starmer speaks at the opening of Labour’s business conference 2022. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is also speaking.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
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