Summary
That’s all for our live coverage for today. Here’s a summary of the day’s main developments in case you missed them.
- Boris Johnson is set to visit Northern Ireland on Monday amid a political crisis.
- Stormont failed to elect a new speaker after the DUP blocked the process in protest against the Northern Ireland protocol, preventing the devolved assembly from functioning.
- Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe came face to face with Boris Johnson for the first time since her release in March. He fell short of apologising as she said she had “lived in the shadows” of his wrong comments for over four years.
- The PM signed a deal on security, sustainability and economic prosperity with Norway.
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Tory party co-chair Oliver Dowden denied that his champagne donation to a fundraising auction was intended as a “souvenir of Partygate”.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg was sent out on the morning broadcast rounds, in which he said that Partygate fines were a “non-story”, suggested the EU is trying to punish the UK for Brexit and rejected suggestions that the civil service job cuts represented a return to austerity.
- The Tony Blair Institute published a report with advice for Labour leader Keir Starmer on how to win voters back to Labour, including by rejecting “woke politics” and focusing on the economy.
Michelle O’Neill says the DUP is “denying democracy” and “punishing the public” by refusing to nominate a speaker for the Northern Ireland assembly.
Boris Johnson is set to visit Northern Ireland on Monday amid a political crisis, after the DUP blocked the election of a Speaker at Stormont, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill said.
PA reports:
The DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has insisted he is sending a “clear message” to the EU and the UK Government about resolving issues with the Northern Ireland protocol.
But Ms O’Neill accused the unionist party of “punishing the electorate” while Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said it had been a “shameful day” for the DUP.
The failure to elect a Speaker leaves the Stormont assembly unable to function.
The 90 MLAs met for the first time in the Stormont chamber on Friday after last week’s Northern Ireland assembly election saw Sinn Féin emerge as the largest party for the first time.
The first order of business was for MLAs to sign the roll of membership before an attempt was made to elect a Speaker. Two candidates, Mike Nesbitt of the UUP, and Patsy McGlone, of the SDLP, were nominated but did not receive the necessary support.
The DUP is also refusing to nominate for the position of deputy first minister, which prevents the forming of a new executive, as part of its protest against the protocol.
Updated
Summary of the day
It’s been an unusually busy Friday in UK politics, following the announcement of civil service job cuts, tension between parties in the Northern Ireland assembly and a terse meeting between Boris Johnson and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Here are the day’s main events:
- Stormont failed to elect a new speaker after the DUP blocked the process in protest against the Northern Ireland protocol, preventing the devolved assembly from functioning and sparking a new political crisis in the region. Sinn Féin accused the DUP of “holding the public to ransom for their Brexit mess”.
- Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe came face to face with Boris Johnson for the first time since her release in March. He fell short of apologising as she said she had “lived in the shadows” of his wrong comments for over four years.
- The PM signed a deal on security, sustainability and economic prosperity with Norway which its leader said would mean the country would cooperate “more extensively with the UK than any other country in the world”.
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Tory party co-chair Oliver Dowden denied that his champagne donation to a fundraising auction was intended as a “souvenir of Partygate”, as the label indicated.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg was sent out on the morning broadcast rounds, in which he said that Partygate fines were a “non-story”, suggested the EU is trying to punish the UK for Brexit, rebuked London mayor Sadiq Khan for “swanning off around the world”, distanced himself from Tory MP Lee Anderson’s comments about food banks, and rejected suggestions that the civil service job cuts represented a return to austerity.
- The Tony Blair Institute published a report with advice for Labour leader Keir Starmer on how to win voters back to Labour, including by rejecting “woke politics” and focusing on the economy.
Thanks for following today, I’m handing over to my colleague Euan O’Byrne Mulligan for the rest of the evening. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Here’s a video of reactions to the meeting from MP Tulip Siddiq and Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe, who accompanied her.
Updated
Northern Irish political parties attacked the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) for failing to elect a speaker to the assembly on Friday.
The decision by the DUP came in addition to the party’s decision to block the formation of a power-sharing executive as part of a plan to oppose the Northern Ireland protocol.
The stance was lambasted by several politicians in the assembly, including by Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill.
O’Neill, whose party emerged with the most seats in the election, told MLAs that the public is hoping that Northern Ireland’s elected parties have “the maturity and courage” to take responsibility, adding that “there is absolutely no reason we should be in a rolling crisis, even for one second”.
It is the job of politicians to “properly fund” the healthcare service and to agree a three-year budget and invest in the health service.
This is our hour of decision, not tomorrow, and not for a moment longer can the DUP deny democracy, punish the public, boycott this Assembly and executive, and prevent us from putting money in people’s pockets.
Every one party in this chamber told the electorate that they would turn up on day one. Well, the DUP have failed on day one.
Speaking to reporters after the assembly was adjourned, O’Neill said the DUP has “punished the electorate” by boycotting the election of a speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and that “the public deserve better”.
She said the DUP’s action to boycott the election of an Assembly speaker “isn’t tolerable, it isn’t acceptable, it isn’t good enough”.
O’Neill also announced that Sinn Fein MLA for Upper Bann John O’Dowd would be taking up the role of infrastructure minister in a caretaker capacity, after the former minister Nichola Mallon of the SDLP lost her seat in last week’s election.
Alliance party leader Naomi Long said it had been a “shameful day” for the DUP. Speaking in the Great Hall at Stormont, Mrs Long said:
Despite the fact that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland voted for parties that wanted to return to government, that wanted to see the assembly work, and despite the fact that even those who voted for the DUP gave them no mandate to block a return to the Assembly, we have found ourselves in that situation today.
But while this is a sad day for the people of Northern Ireland, it is a shameful day for the DUP.
The day the DUP came to Stormont, signed the register, took their salaries but refused to take their seats and do the work to earn it.
I don’t think that is ever acceptable but it is particularly unacceptable when people in our constituencies are struggling to feed their families, struggling to heat their homes, worried for their futures and it puts all of us as politicians in a place which is embarrassing once again.
We want to serve the public but are prevented from doing so.
Updated
Stormont fails to elect a new speaker
The Stormont assembly has failed to elect a new speaker after the DUP said it would not support the process as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland protocol.
The move will stop the devolved assembly from being able to
function.
UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt, one of the candidates for speaker, was not elected in the cross-community vote, despite his candidacy receiving backing by 51.9% of MLAs.
SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone also failed in his bid to be speaker, receiving 71.3% of the vote but also failing to receive sufficient cross-community support.
Updated
The new joint declaration on the UK-Norway relationship states that the countries are committed to working together to boost “security, sustainability, and prosperity” in Europe and beyond.
It focuses on seven key areas: security and defence; global challenges; energy, economic and investment co-operation; climate change and environmental issues; research and innovation; culture and education; and strategic dialogue and institutional exchanges.
The declaration says the countries will continue to “engage closely on shared interests in defence, foreign policy and security, prosperity, trade and technology, energy, climate and environment, innovation, and culture”.
It states:
Regular dialogue and co-operation across all sectors will advance bilateral trade and investment as we move towards a net zero economy.
Internationally, shared democratic values and a desire to promote global sustainable economic and social progress will form the bedrock of collaboration including through the UN, Nato, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the WTO.
We will continue to consult and co-operate closely in international and multilateral fora on climate change and biodiversity loss; oceans; food security; reducing poverty; safeguarding human rights and gender equality; supporting access to education and health; and promoting peace and security including by improving conflict prevention and women’s meaningful participation in peace processes.
Updated
All senior civil service jobs are to be advertised externally, which the government says will improve diversity, bring in new skills and move jobs of out London.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay, who has written to cabinet ministers to outline the changes, said:
Civil servants do a great job delivering public services for people up and down the country, and just like in any high-performing business in the private sector, employees thrive when there is diversity of leadership.
The pathway to achieving this aim is to ensure the civil service is able to select from amongst the widest possible pool of talent so we can hire the highest calibre staff. This will also contribute to our commitment to levelling up opportunity across the UK by moving roles out of London.
We want to reduce the size of the civil service so it comes back down to the levels we had in 2016 but it remains important that, when we do recruit, particularly for leadership roles, we are able to bring in the best possible candidates for every position.
All 7,000 senior civil service positions will be covered by the new policy.
Updated
PM signs cooperation deal with Norwegian leader
Boris Johnson and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre have signed a new joint declaration meaning Norway will, according to its leader, cooperate “more extensively with the UK than any other country in the world”.
At a meeting in London, the two leaders “underscored their full support” for any choice by Nordic partners to enhance their security, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
They also discussed the “pressing need” to boost the supply of sustainable energy, with the UK prime minister remarking that “the sky was the limit” when it came to collaboration between the two countries on the issue.
The pair discussed the security situation in northern Europe and stressed that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine and “hostility” towards neighbouring states was “totally unjustified”, the spokesperson added.
“Both leaders underscored their full support for any sovereign choice made by Nordic partners to enhance their security,” they said.
No 10 said the leaders agreed on the need for Nato allies to back Ukraine politically, taking a “unified approach” that “avoids giving Putin licence to further twist the knife in the wound of Ukraine”.
Updated
The Guardian’s political editor Heather Stewart has the full story on the mass resignation of the 16-strong executive of Wakefield constituency Labour party (CLP).
The executive accuse Keir Starmer of stitching up the selection of a candidate for the forthcoming byelection.
Party members in Wakefield claim the leader’s office has failed to abide by Labour rules, by allowing the local party only one seat of five on the panels for longlisting and then shortlisting candidates.
They argue that neither of the two people who made it through to the shortlist, Kate Dearden and Simon Lightwood, have local roots, and several other plausible candidates, including the deputy leader of Wakefield council, Jack Hemingway, were passed over.
More from the MP Tulip Siddiq after the meeting between Boris Johnson and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe .
She said the Ratcliffe family were “getting to know each other again” after Nazanin returned from six years’ detention in Iran.
Speaking outside Downing Street, Siddiq said:
Bear in mind that Gabriella, who is now seven years old, was 18 months old when they separated and she was taken away.
And now it’s almost a shyness, that’s what Richard said to me, it’s like getting to know each other again – they are finding out what they are comfortable with, what their dynamics are.
It’s a rebuilding of a family and one thing that Nazanin keeps on saying is that she won’t get back those years that she lost.
Siddiq added that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was looking forward to the future but “regrets” missing the formative years of Gabriella’s life.
She told the PA news agency that Zaghari-Ratcliffe “didn’t mince words” with Johnson but that the overall tone of the meeting wasn’t “abrasive”.
She said:
Nazanin used the opportunity to tell him exactly how bad things had been for her and the fact that the words that he had used about her training journalists had haunted her for four-and-a-half years.
So she didn’t mince words if you like and she told it as it was.
She added that the family were still struggling to adapt to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s return:
They were saying to me quite gleefully: ‘Oh we’re going for lunch after this as a family.’ It was quite heartbreaking really, thinking: oh yes, they can actually go for a Friday evening lunch or dinner, whichever one you want to call it, and they can go for a meal together.
So those things are normal. I don’t think it’s completely returned to normal – I don’t think it’s one of those things that you can just vanish away the six years that took place and start a new clean slate immediately.
Nazanin said to me she still has nightmares, she’s still dealing with the aftermath of being in solitary confinement because she’s claustrophobic, that the people there were very scary and constantly threatened her family so I don’t think those are things you get over immediately.
But seeing them and seeing how resilient they are, it makes me think you know they are going to be fine in the long run but there’s still some time to go before then.
Updated
The civil service has little further information on what staff cuts mean for individual departments and this is not a position directors want to be in, states a message circulated among Home Office civil servants tweeted by the ITV political editor, Anushka Asthana.
The message is authored by two directors of the visa and asylum and protection departments, who urge staff to “switch off [the] noise if you can” following media attacks on the civil service.
“We’re privileged to know the things we are achieving that aren’t written in soundbite headlines,” they write.
New: This is one of most interesting messages I’ve seen today - to Home office civil servants. Admitting they have little information on plans, not a position they wanted to be in and apologising for being unable to give answers you “rightly expect”. Also… 1/ pic.twitter.com/eB19toF2eL
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) May 13, 2022
Updated
Boris Johnson failed to apologise to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe after she described the “massive impact” his false claim had on her six-year detention in Iran, her husband said.
PA reports:
The prime minister was seemingly “shocked” after the British-Iranian dual national told him she had lived for years in the “shadow of his words” during their first meeting since her release.
Speaking to reporters in Downing Street, Ratcliffe said his wife challenged the prime minister on “why did it take so long” to secure her release.
She also told him the “massive impact” his comments had on her, even saying the Iranian authorities brought Johnson’s words up during interrogation shortly before her release.
Asked if the prime minister apologised, Ratcliffe responded: “Not specifically.”
Updated
Alliance party leader Naomi Long used her assembly speech to address the challenges facing politics in Northern Ireland and to attack the DUP for blocking the election of a speaker.
She said:
We are here today in order to elect a speaker so the assembly can go about its business so that those who have been elected can serve the people who elected them.
We come here with a can-do attitude and a commitment to serve the people who elected us.
Many of us in this chamber represent people who did not consent to Brexit in the first place. And yet we turned up for work.
We also don’t all have equality. Some in this chamber are more equal than others and myself and my 16 colleagues’ votes will count for less in this next election than everyone else in this chamber. So if we’re really committed to equality, we will also be committed to reform of these institutions.
To turn up here, to sign in, to take salaries and to refuse to take seats is a slap in the face for every family that struggles to make ends meet, for every person who sits on a waiting list.
I would appeal to the DUP to think long and hard before they insult the electorate by doing so today.
Updated
The prime minister “enjoyed” meeting Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq told broadcasters waiting outside No 10.
She said:
I think he enjoyed meeting her. I think he found it interesting and I think it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, in a sense.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said:
I don’t think it was an abrasive meeting. We are here in happier circumstances than in previous meetings. I’m glad we are.
Ratcliffe said there was not necessarily “closure” for the family after the meeting, as he reiterated his call for Boris Johnson to give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee inquiry into the handling of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s case.
Ratcliffe added:
I did mean it when I said, please do try and give evidence. He said he would look at it.
I think he has been a part of our case in different roles, it is important his perspective is shared honestly with parliament.
Updated
The Sinn Féin vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, has told MLAs the public is hoping that Northern Ireland’s elected parties have “the maturity and courage” to take responsibility, adding that “there is absolutely no reason we should be in a rolling crisis, even for one second”.
It was the job of politicians to “properly fund” the healthcare service and to agree a three-year budget and invest in the health service, she said.
Updated
Speaking to media outside of Downing Street, the MP Tulip Siddiq said Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe felt “guilty” about her return to Britain, as others remained in the “same conditions” she endured in Iranian prisons, reports PA.
Siddiq told broadcasters:
Nazanin kept making the point that people who went in quite soon around the time that she went in, they are not home yet and she is home and she feels very guilty about that. She wants them to be back as well and she can’t sit here and enjoy her life knowing there are people going through the same conditions that she went through.
Updated
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe tells Boris Johnson she 'lived in the shadows' of his wrong comments for over four years
Accompanied by her family and the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe came face to face with Boris Johnson for the first time since her release in March, reports PA.
Siddiq said that after six years of “unjust and unlawful imprisonment” the British-Iranian dual national deserved to “hear directly” from Johnson about why it took so long to get her home.
In 2017, Johnson, then foreign secretary, wrongly claimed that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been training journalists at the time of her arrest in 2016. Following his remarks, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned before an unscheduled court hearing where his comments were used as proof that she was engaged in “propaganda against the regime”.
When asked if Johnson would be apologising to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a spokesperson for the prime minister said:
I think it is important to remember that it was the Iranian government who were responsible for her unfair detention, and the decision to release her was always in their gift. However, I would point back to the prime minister’s words, his answers to questions on this before and he has previously apologised for his comments in 2017.
Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, said the prime minister looked “quite shocked” after Zaghari-Ratcliffe told him how his words affected her and that she had “lived in the shadow” of them for the past four and a half years.
“I was really proud she did say that,” added Siddiq. “She wanted to make it clear to him that she’s happy now, she’s grateful, she appreciates the fact that she is home now, but there was a time when the words had a big impact.”
Updated
Northern Ireland taxpayers face footing a £94,000 weekly bill for MLAs and ministers, even if the assembly is not sitting, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
The figure comes as the DUP is set to block the election of a new speaker at the Stormont assembly. The party’s leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, has said it will not re-enter the executive until the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol are resolved.
Without a speaker, the assembly will be prevented from carrying out business, and will come at a high cost for taxpayers.
Updated
The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, has said he is sending a “clear message” to the EU and the UK government about resolving issues with the Northern Ireland protocol.
PA reports:
His party is set to block the election of a new speaker at the Stormont assembly, which would leave the devolved legislature unable to function.
The new 90 MLAs met for the first time in the Stormont chamber on Friday after last week’s Northern Ireland assembly election saw Sinn Féin emerge as the largest party for the first time.
The first order of business was for MLAs to sign the roll of membership, before the sitting was suspended for lunch.
The DUP has also said that it will not nominate for the position of deputy first minister, which will prevent the forming of a new executive, as part of its protest against the protocol.
Unionists oppose the post-Brexit treaty because of the economic barriers it creates between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Speaking shortly before the plenary session began, Donaldson said:
I am here with my assembly team today for the first sitting of the assembly. My members will be signing the roll and taking their seats for the first time.
As I have made clear this morning we have taken the decision not at this stage to support the election of a speaker. I believe that we need to send a very clear message to the European Union and to our government that we are serious about getting this protocol sorted out.
Because of the harm it is doing, undermining political stability, damaging the agreements that have formed the basis of political progress made in Northern Ireland, to our economy, contributing to the cost-of-living crisis, this matter needs to be dealt with.
While others sit on their hands we are not prepared to do that. We need decisive action taken by the government.
The choice is clear: if the European Union is serious about protecting the political institutions and the Belfast agreement, and its successor agreements then they know what to do.
Equally the same message is there for our own government as well. The ball is firmly at the foot of the government.
The leader of the Alliance party, Naomi Long, warned Donaldson not to “overplay his hand” in negotiations with the UK government over the protocol.
She said:
When you play with fire, you will get burned.
We saw this with Brexit where the DUP had influence, they overplayed their hand and they ended up with the mess that we are now in and they’re now asking us all to fix it.
They are playing with fire again, because the institutions in Northern Ireland cannot survive in the way they are being abused.
The people who need these institutions most and who need stability in Northern Ireland are unionists, so I would caution Sir Jeffrey about assuming that, in another election, there will be willing partners to go into government beyond it or indeed willing people to fight a further election.
We have just had an election.
It’s incumbent upon us all to accept the outcome of it and to make it work.
That’s our job as politicians.
I think the DUP is playing a very dangerous game with the institutions and with the future of Northern Ireland.
Donaldson was not in the chamber for the first assembly meeting as he has chosen to retain his position as an MP, despite being elected as an MLA for Lagan Valley a week ago.
Instead, the former party MP Emma Little-Pengelly has been co-opted to replace her leader on the Stormont benches.
As the largest party, the new 27 Sinn Féin MLAs took their position on the benches on the right-hand side of the speaker’s chair for the first time.
The party is entitled to nominate its Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, as first minister, but she will not be able to take up the role without the DUP nominating a deputy first minister.
Under the rules of the devolved power-sharing administration, both roles are equal and one cannot be in office without the other.
Since last week’s election, O’Neill has repeatedly called for the DUP to re-enter the executive so it can begin to tackle challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis and spiralling hospital waiting lists.
Updated
The foreign affairs committee has announced that on Tuesday it will hold its first evidence session as part of our inquiry into the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s approach to state level hostage situations, starting with former ministers Jeremy Hunt and Alistair Burt.
📅 On Tuesday from 2.30pm we are holding our first evidence session as part of our inquiry into the FCDO's approach to state level #hostage situations
— Foreign Affairs Committee (@CommonsForeign) May 13, 2022
🗣 We'll be questioning @AlistairBurtUK and @Jeremy_Hunt
📺 Watch the session live: https://t.co/iFlqvMCeqO pic.twitter.com/UfO0VzOTgC
Boris Johnson is meeting today with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held hostage in Iran over an unpaid debt for six years.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has arrived at Downing Street with her family and MP Tulip Siddiq for a meeting with Boris Johnson.
Asked how they were, her husband Richard told the media:
Much happier times.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe did not respond to reporters’ questions on what she would talk to the prime minister about.
The family and Siddiq posed for photos outside the front door with their seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, joking to reporters:
You can only take one photo.
Updated
A demonstration is taking place outside Stormont as the first plenary session takes place.
The trade union Unison organised the gathering calling for members of the legislative assembly from all the parties to work together to deliver for the public.
Anne Speed from Unison said the first order of business in the assembly should be dealing with the cost-of-living crisis and workers pay.
While the cost of living is going up and up, key workers pay is not, and our members are facing into real terms pay cuts.
They need to see an executive put in place urgently to put this issue right.
Today Unison workplace reps will be at Stormont to deliver the clear message to all MLAs that they must work together to deliver for them at this critical time.
Unison will continue to call for all parties to take the key actions needed to advance their position of our members and their families.
Updated
Sinn Féin accuses DUP of 'holding public to ransom' over Northern Ireland protocol row
Sinn Féin has accused the DUP of “holding the public to ransom for their Brexit mess” after DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed his party would not nominate a speaker or ministers as part of its opposition to the Northern Ireland protocol.
Without a speaker, the assembly will be prevented from carrying out business.
Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill tweeted:
Today is the day we should be forming an Executive to put money in peoples pockets and to start to fix our health service. The DUP have confirmed they will punish the public and not turn up. They are disgracefully holding the public to ransom for their Brexit mess. Shameful.
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) May 13, 2022
Sorcha Eastwood of the Alliance party said the DUP are “punishing us all”.
6 years ago, the DUP backed the wrong horse. They gambled on a monumentally significant referendum that gave us brexit. NI voted to remain, but now, 6 yrs later, they are punishing us all because they have buyer's remorse. Shameful. DUP care not one jot about NI or its people
— Sorcha Eastwood MLA (@SorchaEastwood) May 13, 2022
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood said it is “disgraceful”.
He added:
The DUP have no mandate for this as they told everyone during the election debates that the Assembly would continue.”
Ireland’s taoiseach Micheal Martin has said that it is “unsatisfactory” and disappointing that the DUP will block the election of an assembly speaker.
The people elected an assembly, the assembly should meet, and then the assembly should form an executive.”
“Yes there are issues that unionism has raised with us in respect of the protocol, but those issues should not prevent the establishment and convening of the assembly and the formation of the executive.”
Updated
Downing Street hasn’t ruled out compulsory redundancies under Boris Johnson’s plans to slash tens of thousands of jobs from the civil service.
A No 10 spokesperson said he was not aware of any talks being planned with civil service union FDA.
He said:
It’s always important for the civil service to make sure we’re as efficient as possible and there’s no duplication in our work.
We’re obviously living in a period where we see regular technological and innovative change that allow us to work differently and adapt to new methods.
We’ll want to look closely at where we can incorporate new technology into how the civil service works and make sure we’re as efficient as possible for the future.
Pressed if the prime minister does not think there will be a strike, the spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals.”
Downing Street did not rule out compulsory redundancies under Boris Johnson’s plans to slash tens of thousands of jobs from the civil service.
A No 10 spokesperson said: “I’m not going to pre-empt specific measures.”
He said a lot of the cuts are hoped to be done through “natural wastage”.
Updated
Asked about the meeting with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the spokesperson for the prime minister said:
We’ve said previously that the prime minister was open to meeting both Nazanin as well as Mr (Anoosheh) Ashoori.
“It is something we have been trying to arrange. I’ve set out that he is going to welcome her to Downing Street to discuss her ordeal in Iran.”
The official said the meeting was “something we’ve worked together on to make happen”.
Asked whether Johnson would be apologising to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the spokesperson replied:
I think it is important to remember that it was the Iranian government who were responsible for her unfair detention, and the decision to release her was always in their gift.
However, I would point back to the prime minister’s words, his answers to questions on this before and he has previously apologised for his comments in 2017.
Updated
The Northern Ireland assembly is now sitting for the first time since the 5 May election, which saw Sinn Féin become the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time.
The leader of DUP, Jeffrey Donaldson, has said his party will not support the election of a new speaker, which will prevent the proper functioning of the devolved government in Northern Ireland.
More to follow.
Updated
Boris Johnson to meet Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to discuss her ordeal in Iran
The Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker has tweeted that Boris Johnson is meeting with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was held hostage in Iran for six years, and her family at No 10 later today.
Boris Johnson meeting Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe & family at No 10 later today. No media allowed – even the photos will be done by in-house govt vanity photographers.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) May 13, 2022
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was only released after a fraught six-year long campaign by her husband to persuade the UK to pay a £393.8m debt owed to Iran.
Updated
A senior official in HM Revenue and Customs has told staff he is sorry they first heard about planned job losses from the media.
Jim Harra, permanent secretary at HMRC, sent a message to staff on Friday morning which said:
You may have seen media reports this morning about the government’s decision to reduce the size of the civil service over the next three years. I am sorry that you have learned this from the media rather than from me or civil service leaders.
The cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, Simon Case, wrote to all permanent secretaries yesterday saying that the Prime Minister has asked for a plan to return civil service workforce numbers to 2016 levels over the next three years. This means reducing the current workforce by around 91,000 over that timeframe, from across all departments and arm’s length bodies.
The civil service must consider how we can streamline our workforce and equip ourselves with the skills to be an even more effective, lean and innovative service that continues to deliver for the people we serve.
Harra said no decisions have been taken yet on how jobs will be lost or how it will impact on HMRC’s work, but that plans would be produced over the next month.
Updated
The government has refused to mandate ethnicity pay gap reporting, citing “significant statistical and data issues”.
In February, the House of Commons women and equalities committee called for legislation to introduce the metric for companies with over 250 employees, a requirement which has existed for the gender pay gap since 2017.
Instead of a mandate, the government offered guidance to those employers who choose to report their ethnicity pay gaps on a voluntary basis. These include the distinction between different ethnic groups in reporting, and advice for employers in regions with statistically low numbers of people from ethnic minorities. The response backtracked on an earlier commitment in which the government said it ‘believes it is time to move to mandatory ethnicity pay reporting’.
The committee’s report found that the introduction of ethnicity pay gap reporting would help address pay disparities between employees from different ethnic backgrounds.
The chair of the women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes, said:
In February, we made clear to the government that the necessary systems and structures to report on the ethnicity pay gap are already in place. Introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for larger businesses would set the ball rolling reducing inequalities between different ethnic groups.
The government’s nonsensical response- which claims that gathering the necessary data would be too difficult, and then promptly outlines how this could easily be addressed- is disappointing. It makes clear that what is lacking in this administration is not resource or know-how, but the will or care to foster a fairer and more equal society.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg has become the second minister to distance himself from the comments connecting food bank usage with an inability to cook made on Wednesday by Lee Anderson in the House of Commons.
Anderson caused outrage after suggesting food bank usage has risen in part because of “generation after generation” of people who are unable to cook or budget properly.
Rees-Mogg told Sky News:
Somebody in my position cannot possibly say things like that, I can’t cook myself and it wouldn’t be right for me to lecture people on how to live their lives.
I think human nature is about empathising with people who live different lives from oneself.
I would not have said it.
My personal circumstances are very fortunate and I think my lecturing people on my own circumstances is not relevant, not helpful. But I do try and help constituents who get in touch with me ... and help my constituents who are struggling.
As a constituency MP you have people come to see you most weeks to discuss how they are living their lives, and you will have to be the most stone-hearted person not to be able to (empathise) when people come to talk to you about how they are living.
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Prospect union, which represents highly skilled civil servants, has sent a letter to the government criticising plans to cut Whitehall staff numbers signed by general secretary Mike Clancy.
He writes:
Prospect represents highly skilled civil servants, many of whom have better paid comparators in the private sector. We also represent roles across the private sector and quite frankly would not expect to see those employers behave in the way the government is towards its civil servants.
To be clear: without these civil servants you will not be able to effectively help our country recover from the pandemic, nor tackle the cost-of-living crisis. It will also not be possible to achieve your levelling up ambitions
As Brexit and then the pandemic hit, ministers repeatedly found that government had too little capacity to deal with major challenges, due to the big cuts in public services that have been made since 2010. These proposals risk doubling down on this mistake, and ultimately costing government more in the long run.
Prime Minister, we are a union known for constructive engagement and finding solutions through dialogue, but we cannot go on like this. You are risking the future of the very civil service who saw the country through the pandemic crisis and who you relied on. Your combination of real terms pay cuts, attempts to reduce redundancy terms, and now huge job reductions will destroy morale which has already been adversely impacted. It’s time to change course and work with your civil servants, rather than being in opposition to them.
The letter has been edited for length.
Oliver Dowden denies champagne donation to fundraising auction was 'souvenir of Partygate'
Tory party co-chair Oliver Dowden has denied that his champagne donation to a fundraising auction was intended as a “souvenir of Partygate”.
The bottle has a label stating that it is “a bottle of champagne signed by Boris. Hugely valuable as a souvenir of Partygate and the exemplary behaviour and morality of our dear leader!”
Observer food writer Jay Rayner first drew attention to the bottle on Twitter:
Perhaps you thought the Conservative party took partygate seriously. Last night a champagne bottle signed by @BorisJohnson was donated to a charity event in Hertfordshire by local MP and Tory party chairman @OliverDowden. Read the description. pic.twitter.com/FtjgvKcYKS
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) May 13, 2022
Responding to the post, the Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “They really are laughing at us.”
A spokesperson for Dowden said: “This item was donated in good faith several months ago for a local charity auction. Oliver Dowden had no prior knowledge of the description and this is obviously not his view.”
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The former Brexit minister David Frost has said the UK should not fear a trade war with the EU, writes the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll.
In a provocative newspaper column, he said the UK “cannot be defeated” by Brussels and needed to “make sure it is ready” for the consequences of a unilateral move to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is planning to table legislation next week to disapply some of the protocol in a risky move that could result in sanctions or even the suspension of the trade deal that Lord Frost negotiated in December 2020.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph about the potential move, Frost said:
We may, of course, face EU retaliation, although it would be disproportionate to the trade involved, only arguably legal and entirely self-defeating. I am not convinced every EU member’s heart would be in it either. Logic may yet prevail. But if it does happen, it will complicate things, but we should not fear it.”
Earlier this morning the Tony Blair Institute published a report that analyses the impact of class on voting in the 2019 general election and beyond.
The Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, reports:
Tony Blair urged Keir Starmer to reject “woke” politics and present a programme for government that is “radical without being dangerous”.
Based on analysis by the veteran pollster Peter Kellner, it points to particular problems for Labour with two groups: the 26% of voters who fit into the formal definition of middle class; and the 12% who would be defined as working class by pollsters but consider themselves middle class.
The first group voted 57% to remain in the EU, yet the Conservatives were 22% ahead with these voters in 2019, despite their central message being that they would “get Brexit done”. These voters, the former Labour leader suggests, are “worried about issues like tax and economic competence”.
The second group, whom Blair calls the “aspirational working class”, voted to leave the EU by a narrower 53% but backed the Conservatives over Labour by a 32% margin.
In a punchy foreword, Blair claims of this latter group: “A large number voted Conservative despite disagreeing with the party on Brexit. They thought Labour’s far-left economic policy was a bigger threat than Brexit.”
Without what he calls the “millstone” of Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, Blair claims Labour can win many of these voters back – and analysis of recent polling in the report shows a 12% swing to Labour among this “blue-collar aspirational” group.
More here:
And over on LBC, Jacob Rees-Mogg rebuked Sadiq Khan for going “swanning off around the world”, branding the move “tough on taxpayers”.
The Brexit opportunities minister questioned who was paying for the mayor of London to travel to the US on a tour where he praised the “high standards” of legalised cannabis farms.
He said:
Who’s paying for his fare? Is that a good use of taxpayers’ money?”
The precept for the GLA [Greater London Authority] goes up and up and he goes swanning off around the world. It’s all hunky dory for him but it’s a bit tough on taxpayers.
Following his trip, Khan announced the creation of a London drugs commission to examine the effectiveness of the UK’s drug laws, with a particular focus on those governing cannabis. The commission was one of Khan’s manifesto pledges in his re-election bid last year.
London’s commission will aim to assess the best methods to prevent drug use, the most effective criminal justice responses, and the public health benefits of different approaches. The commission hopes its recommendations will inform future policymaking in central government.
More here:
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On GB News this morning, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit opportunities minister, suggested the EU is trying to punish the UK for Brexit in its approach to ongoing talks between the two powers.
He said:
I think it [the EU] wants to make the UK feel bad about having left the European Union and that underpins its whole policy and it doesn’t really mind about the consequences of that
“And we just have to get on with life and recognise that we have left. We have to make our own way. We are an independent country, and what the EU wants and thinks is secondary
“The Paymaster General, Michael Ellis, has made a speech in Brussels today, making it very clear that we are, if not at the end of the road, very close to it.
“To cancel the TCA [EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement], the European Union would need unanimity, and it seems to me that’s a pretty high bar to get.
“And you have to say to the European Union, does it really want to punish its consumers at a time of rising inflation? And inflation in a lot of the EU countries is higher than it is in the UK.”
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Police issuing more than 100 fines over Partygate a 'non-story', says Rees-Mogg
There’s more from this morning’s broadcast rounds on PA.
Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg argued the Metropolitan Police issuing more than 100 fines over the partygate scandal is a “non-story”.
It was announced on Thursday that the force had made around 50 further fixed penalty notice referrals.
Rees-Mogg played down the importance of the development on Friday, questioning whether “the rules were right in the first place”.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said:
I’m afraid I think this is a non-story. I mean, the BBC has absolutely loved it but what is important is that we get on with the business of government.”
Pressed on whether he had seen that people including bereaved families were “devastated” they had observed the Government’s rules while those in power were breaking them, he said:
I think people were upset.
“I think this was an important story in February when it first became known and that there was great concern, and there was a feeling of people who were bereaved, particularly, about it.”
“We need to look at whether these rules were right in the first place in case we have a pandemic again because I think they were too restrictive.”
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Guardian reporter Jamie Grierson has some reaction to the government’s plans to cut civil service numbers from the unions:
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the plans were “unrealistic”.
He said:
That’s what civil servants do. Part of their job is to think of how we do things more efficiently, and they have already committed to 5% cuts in their budgets as part of the spending review.
That kind of ongoing efficiency is what the civil service does all the time. But if you’re going to just simply pluck a figure out of the air and say it’s now 90,000 because there is a convenient point in time where we liked the number, that is not a serious way to look at what does a government want to do and how can it deliver that in the most effective and efficient way.
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Minister denies that cutting 90,000 civil service jobs represents return of austerity
Good morning.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minister for government efficiency, has rejected the idea that cutting around 90,000 civil service jobs represents a return to austerity.
It us understood that on Thursday the prime minister told ministers that the service should be slashed by a fifth in a bid to free up cash for measures to ease the cost-of-living crisis with possible tax cuts.
Rees-Mogg defended the plan on Friday, saying the job cuts would bring numbers back to 2016 levels after extra staff were brought in to help deal with the pandemic and the “aftermath of Brexit”.
He told Sky News:
I know it sounds eye-catching but it’s just getting back to the civil service we had in 2016 ... since then, we’ve had to take on people for specific tasks.
So dealing with the aftermath of Brexit and dealing with Covid, so there’s been a reason for that increase, but we’re now trying to get back to normal.
Rees-Mogg, who is also Brexit opportunities minister, said he had seen “duplication” within government departments, and the axing would mean people were being used “as efficiently as possible”.
Boris Johnson made the demand during an away day with ministers in Stoke-on-Trent, with the government coming under intense pressure to ease the pain of soaring prices.
But the FDA civil servants’ union has warned the “ill-thought-out” proposal would not lead to a more cost-effective government and could have impacts on passport processing, borders and health.
Sources familiar with Johnson’s cabinet conversation told PA that he told ministers to return the civil service to its 2016 levels in the coming years. It was said its numbers had grown since then to 475,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
On Times Radio this morning, the former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt warned that Johnson had a “big mountain to climb” if he was to lead the Tories to victory at the next election.
Hunt refused to rule out a leadership bid, and issued his starkest criticism of the government to date, warning that the Tories’ loss of nearly 500 seats in last week’s local elections was not just “mid-term blues” but reflected deep concerns of voters about the cost of living. He warned that the “very, very low growth” of the economy risked undermining the NHS as it faced “ever increasing bills” and a shortage of doctors.
The Times reported that Hunt’s supporters privately talk up his prospects of replacing Johnson if the prime minister is ousted by MPs.
They argue that he is the only “big beast” in the party capable of taking on Labour at the next election without being “sullied” with having been in government over the past three years.
Here’s the agenda for the day:
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is meeting G7 foreign ministers and Nato foreign ministers in Germany.
11.30: Boris Johnson to met Norway’s prime minister in Downing Street.
12.00: The new Northern Ireland assembly will meet later for the first time since the election. They are intended to elect a speaker, but the DUP is expected to block this, which will result in a major row.
Please do send over any thoughts, tips or ideas to rachel.hall@theguardian.com.
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