Afternoon summary
- Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind offshore wind in the drive to produce more electricity in the UK. In evidence to the Commons liaison committee, he said: “You have got to recognise that in the UK we have just failed, for a generation, to put in enough long-term supply”. He went on:
It’s been one of those colossal mistakes. Renewables are fantastic: offshore wind – and I stress offshore wind – I think has massive potential. But so does nuclear.
Johnson also told the committee that small nuclear reactors could be producing power for the UK by the end of the decade. (See 4.14pm.)
- The UK government has announced plans to block ferries with crews paid less than the minimum wage from British ports in response to widespread fury to P&O Ferries’ sacking of 800 workers without consultation. The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the announcement from Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, meant the government had abandoned the commitment given by Boris Johnson to take the firm to court.
So when Boris Johnson told P&O workers he was taking legal action - he was making it up.
— Louise Haigh (@LouHaigh) March 30, 2022
Why on earth did he mislead 800 loyal workers? https://t.co/CCuRgJYhms
In the chamber, in response to Haigh, Shapps said:
She asks about court action and why the government hasn’t taken any. It’s because the government is not in the position to take the court action – that’s for the unions and workers, and we understand the limitations of that and that’s why I’ve described some of the items here.
Andy McDonald, a former shadow transport secretary, gave a qualified welcome to the plans.
Fair play @grantshapps you’ve delivered a very welcome package of measures, but there’s still a lot more to do. Sadly these welcome measures come too late for P&O workers who have lost their jobs.
— Andy McDonald MP (@AndyMcDonaldMP) March 30, 2022
You didn’t deal with P&O licences. As you say, people don’t want to work for them
But the RMT transport union said the measures were “too little, too late”. In a statement its general secretary, Mick Lynch, said:
The prime minister repeatedly said to parliament that the government would be taking legal action save British seafarers’ jobs but he has failed to keep his word.
This continued lack of action and courage has meant a ferry company owned by the Dubai royal family has been able to break our laws and disrupt our ports and ruin people’s lives with impunity and we will keep pressing the government to ensure justice for our members.
What has been announced today is far too little, far too late and we are calling for urgent action for speedier more radical reforms to save the UK seafarer from oblivion.
- Jamie Wallis has become the first MP to come out as trans, revealing he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria from a young age but wanted to show “how important it is to be yourself”.
- Ministers have been accused of using more than £100,000 of public money to flood local newspapers and Facebook with “Tory propaganda”, with just weeks to go before the local elections.
- Eight Russian oligarchs on the UK sanctions list over their links to Vladimir Putin were granted “golden visas” to live in Britain.
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has announced that Scotland’s rules on compulsory mask-wearing will remain in force until 18 April.
- Public satisfaction with the NHS has sunk to its lowest level since 1997, with just 36% of voters content with the way the health service is run and performing.
- Dominic Raab said he plans to appeal against the Parole Board’s decision to free the mother of Baby P, who died after months of abuse.
Updated
Senior economists have reacted with surprise at the government’s decision not to raise benefits in last week’s spring statement, PA Media reports. PA says:
The Treasury committee were told that chancellor Rishi Sunak’s measures will leave the poorest, out-of-work households the worst-off group from his support packages.
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation (RF) think tank, said: “I was very surprised that the chancellor had chosen the overall package he had when it came to what was on offer for lower-income households.”
He pointed out that lower-income households will feel the pressure from rising energy bills - which is driving inflation.
The economist added: “It is an odd choice to have offered basically next to nothing to those households in this spring statement. I didn’t think he would do that and I was wrong.”
The RF has calculated that the cost of living crisis will push 1.3 million households into absolute poverty.
Middle-income households can expect to see disposable income fall 4% next year after housing costs.
For those in the poorest quarter, income falls 6%, and for out-of-work households it falls by 8%, the RF has said.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), agreed with an uprate in benefits and said there are mechanisms available to do it.
He told MPs: “These are really big falls in the real living standards for households that are budgeting over relatively short periods of time. It would be better [to raise benefits] than doing nothing.”
Updated
This is from Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for climate and net zero, on Boris Johnson’s evidence to the liaison committee.
Boris Johnson just said: “I think you have to provide as much short-term relief to people as you can”.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) March 30, 2022
But he isn’t.
He refuses to do a windfall tax on oil + gas giants.
He refuses to give people real support.
He isn’t on the side of families facing the cost of living crisis
Q: The OBR says trade intensity in the UK - the amount of trade being carried out - went down very sharply when the pandemic struck. But other countries saw their trade intensity do up again. The UK’s hasn’t. Does that mean Brexit is turning the UK into a closed economy?
Johnson says he does not want that. He says growing our own food is good, but he is not a believer in autarky. He wants to see an export drive. Many UK companies could sell more overseas than they do.
Q: How long will it take for trade intensity to get back to pre-pandemic levels?
Johnson says there is no natural impediment to exports. It is just will and ambition, he claims.
(It is not just will and ambition. Non-tariff barriers - all the new red tape affecting exporters since Brexit - are a key factor.)
And that’s it. The hearing is over.
Updated
Mel Stride (Con) is doing the questioning now.
Q: Will you consider speeding up the benefit uprating process, so claminats do not have to wait more than a year for benefits to go up in line with inflation? This happened in the 1970s?
Johnson says he is happy to ask the Treasury to look at that. But he stresses the measure being taken to help claimants, and does not sound over-keen on the idea.
Johnson says reducing number of children in poverty should be part of levelling up agenda
Catherine McKinnell (Lab) says 75% of children in poverty in the UK live in working households.
And she says, when Johnson quoted figures are PMQs for poverty going down, that was from 2010. Poverty is now projected to rise, she says.
Q: Can you level up the country without reducing the number of children living in poverty?
No, says Johnson.
(If Johnson means this, it is a new commitment. The current levelling up targets do not cover poverty.)
He says there is an issue the government must fix.
He says there are 200,000 children in absolute poverty.
At the moment the cost of living is running too high. That is why the government must abate it, he says.
He says the best way forward is to get more people into higher paid jobs.
Q: How many times is child poverty mentioned in the levelling up white paper?
Johnson says he thinks McKinnell will tell him the answer is none.
Q: It is none.
Johnson says, if that is the case, it is a “purely formal accident”.
Updated
Q: Why are you not helping people on universal credit who are facing a real-terms cut because benefits are going up by less than inflation?
Johnson says the government has made the UC taper rate more generous.
Q: But that does not help people out of work.
Johnson says most people on UC are in work, or are capable of work.
He says the government thinks work is the route out of poverty for people.
Stephen Timms (Lab) goes next.
Q: Do you accept that you were wrong to say the number of people in employment now is higher than before the pandemic?
Johnson says he accepts he has been reprimanded on this. He says at PMQs today he was careful to talk about payroll employment.
Q: Have you corrected the record?
Johnson says he thinks he did.
(If he did, then most of us missed it.)
Insider’s Cat Neilan has this on why Bill Wiggin was so interested in the visa rules for Qataris. (See 3.53pm.)
Bill Wiggin says Qataris are the "right" kind of immigrants, a fact he presumably learned during a Qatar-funded £2,740 trip there pic.twitter.com/pOQA5yYSRc
— CatNeilan (@CatNeilan) March 30, 2022
Clive Betts (Lab) goes next.
Q: You are using council tax rebates to deliver help to people with fuel bills. But some poorer tenants pay their council tax with their rent. Their rebates will go to the landlords, who could be collection multiple council tax rebates.
Johnson says he had not foreseen that “wrinkle”. He says he will look into this.
Q: Can you ensure regulations are written so the tenants get the help?
Johnson says everyone would agree with that.
Johnson says small nuclear reactors could be producing power for UK by end of decade
Philip Dunne (Con) goes next.
Q: To what extent will the energy security strategy address cost of living problems?
Johnson says it is important to address the problems people have. He sums up some of the measures announced.
But we have to recognise that in the UK “we have just failed for a generation to put in enough long-term supply”.
He says offshore wind has “massive potential”, as does nuclear.
(He stresses that he is talking about offshore wind. He is understood to be opposed to allowing more onshore wind turbines.)
Boris Johnson fairly clear that he is not keen to return to onshore wind energy
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) March 30, 2022
'Offshore wind - *I stress offshore wind* - has massive potential'
He asks why we're not doing more nuclear. 'Why have the French got 56 reactors and we've barely got six?'
He recalls reading the Ladybird book on nuclear power. And who’s fault was it there was not enough investment? Labour’s, he says.
He says they need to invest in “big ticket” nuclear projects, as well as smaller plants, SMRs (small modular reactors).
Q: How long could it be before an SMR is contributing to the grid?
Johnson says he has seen a briefing saying eight years.
I saw a bit of paper last night saying that they think ‘before the end of the decade’ - but they will have to go quicker than that ... If we don’t start now, we won’t be fixing the problem.
But he says the vaccine rollout showed how they country can do things very quickly.
Updated
The commitee is now questioning Johnson about the cost of living.
Neil Parish (Con) starts.
Q: Food prices are going up because of the war. What can we do to help farmers produce more food domestically?
Johnson stresses his support for farming. His grandfather was a farmer, he says. He says he speaks to farmers, and they are disappointed their children are not going into it.
British embassies now have officials helping to promote farming exports, he says.
Q: Fertiliser costs four times what it did a year ago. That adds to the cost of food. We only produce 40% of the fertiliser we need. Can we reopen the fertiliser plant that has closed?
Johnson says hydrocarbons contribute to the costs for farmers. The UK has to reduce its reliance on Russian oil.
(Johnson is transparently waffling now. He is clearly not briefed on this topic.)
Clive Betts (Lab) is asking the questions now.
Q: Two weeks ago the home affairs committee was told councils would get £10,000 for refugees coming through the family scheme, and for refugees coming through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. But this morning Lord Harrington, the refugee minister, told the levelling up committee that people coming through families scheme would not attract this support.
Johnson confirms this, but he says Ukrainians will be allowed to work. He says the government thinks different types of people will come under the different schemes. And the distribution of refugees is not even, he says. He claims that some Scottish councils are not taking refugees.
Sir Bill Wiggin (Con) goes next.
Q: Why is the Homes for Ukraine scheme moving so slowly?
Johnson says there are processing 1,000 applications a day. He says he expects it to speed up.
But officials have to balance different objectives, he says. They have to carry out checks.
Some people coming out of the war zone may not be who they say they are, he says. He says there have been a few cases of this already.
Q: We have promised Qataris visa-free access. But that is not happening. Why are we not getting the migrants we want, like Ukrainians and Qataris, but people on boats?
Johnson says he does want a “much more fluid” visa system for Qatar. Progress is likely soon, he says.
Q: You said you wanted a light-touch system. What can you do to make sure you wish becomes your command?
Johnson says they can increase the number of visa application centres in country and put things online. That is what they are doing. They are paying to sent officials out to countries like Poland, he says.
Updated
Diana Johnson (Lab) goes next.
She says the Homes for Ukraine scheme requires people to fill in a 30-page visa. She says only one in 100 visa applications have resulted in a visa being issued. How many people have actually arrived under these visas?
Johnson says he does not know the arrival figures.
He says the visa numbers are expected to go up.
Q: A heavily pregant woman matched under the Homes for Ukraine scheme has been told to stay and have her baby in Poland before she comes to the UK.
Johnson says he does not see why she should not have the baby in the UK. He will look into it, he says.
Julian Knight (Con) goes next.
He says the culture committee has heard evidence about how much disinformation is supplied to the Russian people.
Johnson agrees. He describes the “ruthlessness” with which President Putin is concealing what is happening. He says you can ring Russian friends, and they genuinely believe the lies Putin is telling them.
Q: Shouldn’t all our news media focus on getting the truth into Russia?
Johnson says the government is increasing funding for the BBC, and doing what it can to counter Russian disinformation. There are “some signs it is getting through”, he claims. There is a “growing awareness” in Russia of what is happening.
Q: There is nothing to stop Russia launching a new version of RT. Do we need a clearer definition of publisher in the online safety bill.
Johnson says he knows this is an issue Knight is following closely. The bill will define a publisher.
Q: It is likely that Telegram will not be considered a high-risk publisher? Should it be included?
Johnson says his general feeling is that anyone putting stuff online in a systematic way should be defined as a news publisher, and subject to the controls in the bill.
Q: Nadine Dorries wants to set up a new committee to monitor online safety. That would undermine the culture committee. Will you look into this?
Johnson says committees are a matter for the house, but he says he will write to Knight about this.
Updated
Johnson says, as the Ukrainians push back Russian forces, there have been “absolutely horrifying” accounts of what the Russians have done.
Champion says the Russians have been using sexual violence. What is the UK doing to tackle this. Is there a PSVI (preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative) team on the ground?
Johnson says the UK has a team in the region. He says the UK pioneered work on this when William Hague was foreign secretary.
Updated
Sarah Champion (Lab) goes next.
Q: How much of the UK aid for Ukraine has gone to different agencies, local organisations and NGOs?
Johnson says he will have to write to the committee with that information.
From the Times’ Steven Swinford
Boris Johnson on Ukraine:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) March 30, 2022
* Questions value of peace talks. 'Putin is plainly not to be trusted'
* UK looking to 'go up gear' on military support - suggests armoured vehicles
* Sanctions should be intensified until *every* Russian troop is out of Ukraine - including Crimea
Johnson says Nato can protect Ukraine in future by supplying enough weaponry to deter Russia
Johnson says, because of the quantity of matériel being supplied by Nato to Ukraine, its defences capabilities are changing.
Nato will not offer Ukraine an article 5 protection. But it will offer Ukraine a different sort of protection. He goes on to say this will be
based on the idea of deterrence by denial, so that Ukraine is so fortified, so protected with weaponry, the quills of the porcupine have become so stiffened so that it is indigestible to Putin.
The commitee is now asking about Ukraine. Tom Tugendhat starts.
Q: Has President Macron been speaking to President Putin for too long?
Johnson does not answer the question directly, but says he and Macron would agree that whatever happens, it is for Ukrainians to decide their future.
Q: Do you agree with President Biden that Putin must go.
Johnson says he understands why Biden said that. And a desire for a change of government is not ignoble, he says. He says some of the MPs in the room would like a change of government in the UK. But getting rid of Putin is not the UK’s objective, he says.
Updated
Catherine McKinnell goes next.
Q: How would you respond to people who have signed a petition saying lying to the Commons should be a criminal offence?
Johnson says he has tried to be “as clear as I can” with the Commons.
McKinnell says 20 fixed-penalty notices were issued yesterday.
Johnson says he is not sure that is right.
(Johnson may be correct. The Met just said yesterday that the process of issuing those fines was under way - not that they had actually been sent out yet.)
Q: Didn’t it look bad having a party on the anniversary of the creation of the Covid memorial wall?
Johnson says the government did everything it could to protect people. Some things went well, and some didn’t, he says.
Updated
Q: If you did break the ministerial code, that will be a resignation matter, won’t it?
Johnson says he cannot comment now. He says he will come back and discuss these matters when the investigation is over.
Wishart says he was in rock and roll for 15 years. He could not compete with the partying at No 10.
Johnson says that is an example of why he can’t comment.
Q: Wasn’t it dreadful optics partying last night in front of the Covid bereaved?
Johnson says that is Wishart’s view. He says that is not the way he sees things. But he says it would be right to come back before the committee once this is over.
Any such discussion is premature, he says.
Johnson refuses to discuss MP's claim at liaison committee that he'll be 'toast' if fined over Partygate
Clive Betts is chairing the session. Sir Bernard Jenkin, the regular committee chair, is ill with Covid.
Betts says he will start with Partygate.
Pete Wishart (SNP) goes first.
Q: Are you one of the 20 people who has received a fixed-penalty notice. Or are you expecting to get one?
Johnson says: “I’m sure you would know if I were.”
He says he has been to the Commons several times to explain and apologise and say how things are changing.
But he says he won’t give “a running commentary on an investigation which is under way”.
Q: We are not expecting a running commentary. If you do get fined, you are toast, aren’t you?
Johnson says:
With deepest respect to you, Pete, I don’t want to minimise the importance of the issue and your point, but I just want to return to what I’ve said and that is that would come under the category of a running commentary.
Updated
Boris Johnson questioned by Commons liaison committee
Boris Johnson is about to face questions from the Commons liaison committee, which is comprised of the chairs of the Commons select committees.
The session will cover Ukraine and the cost of living.
The committee has released this list of which MPs will be asking the questions on which topics.
Ukraine:
Levelling up, Housing and Communities: Clive Betts
International Development: Sarah Champion
Home Affairs: Dame Diana Johnson
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Julian Knight
Foreign Affairs: Tom Tugendhat
Cost of living:
Levelling up, Housing and Communities: Clive Betts
Environmental Audit: Philip Dunne
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Neil Parish
Treasury: Mel Stride
Work and Pensions: Stephen Timms
Scottish Affairs: Pete Wishart
Participating with follow-up questions throughout:
Petitions: Catherine McKinnell
Committee of Selection: Sir Bill Wiggin
Shapps announces nine-point response to P&O sackings, including banning vessels not paying minimum wage from British ports
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is making a statement to MPs now setting out the government’s response to the sacking of 800 workers by P&O Ferries.
There are nine measures, he says.
First, HM Revenue and Customs will get new resources to check ferry operators are complying with minimum wage law, he says.
HMRC will be dedicating significant resource to check that all UK ferry operators are compliant with the national minimum wage, no ifs, no buts.
Second, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will review its enforcement policies, to ensure they are fit for purpose, he says.
Third, employers who have not made reasonable efforts to reach agreement about redundancies will not be allowed to use fire and rehire tactics, he says. A statutory code will allow employment tribunals to take this into account, he says. He says, if employers do not consult, under the code they will be liable to a 25% increase in compensation payments.
We will take action to prevent employers who have not made reasonable efforts to reach agreement through consultation from using fire and rehire tactics. So new statutory code will allow a court or employment tribunal to take the manner of dismissal into account, and if an employer fails to comply with the code, impose a 25% uplift to a worker’s compensation.
Fourth, Shapps says he has written to the Insolvency Service saying that he thinks Peter Hebblethewaite, the P&O Ferries chief executive, is not fit to be a company director and asking that it consider disqualifying him.
I have made no secret of my view that P&O Ferries’ boss Peter Hebblethwaite should resign. He set out to break the law and boasted about it to this parliament. So I’ve written to the CEO of the Insolvency Service, conveying my firm belief that Peter Hebblethwaite is unfit to lead a British company. And I have asked them to consider his disqualification.
The Insolvency Service has the legal powers to pursue complaints where a company has engaged in, and I quote, so-called sharp practice. Surely, the whole house agrees that nothing could be sharper than dismissing 800 staff and deliberately breaking the law whilst doing so.
Fifth, there will be more focus on training and welfare in the maritime strategy, Shapps says.
It’s a hard truth that those working at sea do not enjoy the same benefits of those working on land, which brings me to my fifth element of the package today: a renewed focus on the training and welfare elements of flagship maritime strategy.
We are already investing £30m through the Maritime Training Fund to grow our seafarer population, but I will go further, pursuing worldwide agreements at the International Labour Organisation, where we will push for a common set of principles to support maritime workers, including an international minimum wage, a global framework for maritime training and skills.
Sixth, from next week the government will create new incentives for maritime firms to operate from the UK and to have their vessels registered in this country.
Seventh, Shapps says he has opened talks with his counterparts in in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany to discuss how maritime workers on direct routes between the UK and these countries should receive a minimum wage. He says the response has been positive, particularly from France.
Much of maritime law is governed by international laws, obligations and treaties. And this means that we cannot hope to solve the problems alone. So the seventh plank our package today is to engage with international partners.
Now, this week, I have already contacted my counterparts in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany to discuss how maritime workers on direct routes between our countries should receive a minimum wage. I’m delighted to say the response has already been very, very positive, particularly with my French counterpart, the minister for transport. So, we will now work quickly with these counterparts to explore the creation of minimum wage corridors between our nations.
But he says the UK cannot unilaterally change minimum wage rules for seafarers. That is because maritime law is governed by international conventions, he says.
Eighth, Shapps says the government will legislate to allow ports to turn away vessels from ferry companies not paying the minimum wage.
Grant Shapps tells the Commons:
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) March 30, 2022
"I can announce to the House our 8th measure, intention to give British ports new statutory powers to refuse access to regular ferry services which do not pay their crew a national minimum wage, we will achieve this through primary legislation..."
He goes on:
We will achieve this through primary legislation to amend the Harbours Act 1964. And it means that if companies like P&O Ferries want to dock in ports, such as Dover and Hull and Liverpool, they will have no choice but to comply with this legislation.
Crucially, it means that P&O Ferries can derive no benefit from the action that they have disgracefully taken.
So my message to P&O Ferries is this. The game is up, rehire those who want to return and pay your workers all of your workers a decent wage.
And, ninth, Shapps says that, although it will take time to pass the legislation mentioned above (point 8), he says he will be writing to ports urging them to refuse access now to companies not paying the minimum wage. He will tell them they will have the full backing of the government in doing this, he says.
Updated
No 10 refuses to admit law broken at Downing Street during Partygate
At the post-PMQs lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson repeatedly declined to agree with Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, who said this morning the Met’s decision to issue 20 fixed penalty notice means there were “clearly breaches of the regulations”. The spokesperson said:
The prime minister has said he respects the position of the Met, and also equally that this investigation is ongoing. You’ll hear more from the prime minister at the conclusion of this process rather than in the middle.
Asked several times whether the PM agreed with the justice secretary, the spokesman said: “We will not be commenting further on the detail of what happened until the investigation is completed”. Pressed again, he added: “It simply would not be right for me to give the prime minister’s view in the midst of an ongoing police investigation.”
Labour rejected that view, with a spokesperson for the party saying Downing Street’s position was, “clearly untenable, at least in the case of the 20 fixed-penalty notices that have already been issued”.
UPDATE: The Mirror’s Dan Bloom has written up a full transcript of the exchanges, which shows quite how surreal the briefing became.
Updated
As the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar reports, at the post-PMQs Downing Street lobby briefing No 10 was still refusing to admit that people in the building broke lockdown rules.
Surreal No 10 briefing on Downing Street parties.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) March 30, 2022
Boris Johnson still not accepting that 20 fines being received means that law has been broken.
PM's official spox refuses to back Dominic Raab who said law *had* been broken and that PM said things in HoC that "aren't true".
The PM’s spokesperson told journalists:
We are maintaining our position. There is an ongoing process here. The Met have come to a conclusion and have started a process which relates to 20 fines, and we respect that.
We will not be commenting further on the detail of what happened until the investigation is concluded.
It simply would not be right for me to give the prime minister’s view in the midst of an ongoing Met police investigation.
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, has told the House of Commons he plans to appeal against the Parole Board’s decision that recommends Baby P’s mother Tracey Connelly should be released from prison.
Raab made the announcement as he told MPs about a “root and branch” review of the parole system.
The Conservative MP Jamie Wallis has issued a new statement about the response to his announcement that he is transgender. Here’s an extract.
I am overwhelmed by the kindness and support I have received in the last few hours. I am proud to be completely open and honest about the struggles I have had, and continue to have, with my identity. However, I remain the same person I was yesterday. For the time being, I will continue to present as I always have and will use he/him/his pronouns.
Starmer says Johnson's claim to be tax-cutting Tory 'nonsense'
Here is the PA Media story from PMQs.
Boris Johnson was heckled by opposition MPs after claiming he wants to cut taxes - just days before they are hiked by the government.
The opposition benches erupted in fury after the prime minister made the remark as he tried to counter criticism from Keir Starmer about the government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Starmer accused the prime minister of putting the Tory re-election campaign “over and above” helping people pay their bills.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week announced measures to help households, including raising the national insurance threshold to help offset the impact of April’s tax hike.
It was previously announced that a UK-wide 1.25 percentage point increase in NI contributions will be introduced from April 6, with funds raised ring-fenced for health and social care. Sunak also reconfirmed that households will receive a rebate on their energy bills which will need to be repaid at a later date, and announced a desire for a 1p cut to the basic rate of income tax by 2024.
Starmer said: “Does the prime minister still think that he and the chancellor are tax-cutting Conservatives?”
Johnson replied: “Yes, Mr Speaker, I certainly do, because this is the government that has just introduced not only the biggest cut in fuel duty ever, but the biggest cut in tax for working people in the last 10 years - 70% of the population paying national insurance contributions will have a substantial tax cut as a result of what the chancellor did.”
A Labour MP could be heard shouting: “Rubbish.”
Johnson replied: “They don’t like it Mr Speaker. They always put up taxes.”
Starmer called on the prime minister to “cut the nonsense”, and said the Government is giving 1 back for every 6 taken in taxes over “15 taxes rises, the highest tax burden for 70 years”. He asked: “Prime Minister, is that cutting taxes or is that raising taxes?”
Johnson replied: “I don’t know where he has been for the last two years but even by the standards of Captain Hindsight to obliterate the biggest pandemic for the last century from his memory, to obliterate the £408bn we have had to spend to look after people up and down the country, is quite extraordinary.
“This is a government that is getting on with reducing the tax burden wherever we can, what we are doing - there is one measure I think he should be supporting - and that is the health and care levy to fund our NHS.”
The Labour leader joked: “I can only hope that his police questionnaire was bit more convincing than that.”
Updated
PMQs - snap verdict
Boris Johnson got through that relatively easily. With the Commons recess starting tomorrow, that will be a relief, because he then enters a two-week holiday when MPs are no longer in the Commons, and so the scope for plotting/troublemaking is always reduced. Not that many of them seem minded to plot against him: judging by their enthusiasm today, his backbenchers are fully supportive.
Given that Johnson breezed through PMQs only 24 hours after the Met confirmed that parties were held at No 10 during lockdown that broke the law (a ruling once thought to pose an existential threat to Johnson’s premiership), it has been a remarkable feat of political survival when you recall what Tory MPs were saying just a few weeks ago.
Starmer focused on the tax burden. His analysis was spot-on, and his questions were sharp but, apart from a good joke about the PM’s police questionnaire (a rehash of a gag he has used before), he never really managed to unsettle Johnson, who sounded more confident (and smug) than he has done for ages. In part that was because, when Johnson cited the pandemic as the explanation for the rising tax burden, he was deploying an argument that carries weight, and that people believe. But mostly it was because Starmer was talking in abstract terms (about the tax burden) and about process (the timing of the income tax cut). It all sounded a bit too much like something from an IFS briefing. It wasn’t in any way wrong (IFS briefings rarely are); it just wasn’t emotionally engaging.
This became evident when a series of MPs asked Johnson directly about people not being able to pay their bills. Ian Blackford framed his questions more along these lines, but the most direct came from Sarah Champion, Apsana Begum and Catherine West. They weren’t especially brilliant questions, but they framed the debate in terms of prices and bills and what people have to pay. Johnson was noticeably more uncomfortable having to respond.
Starmer also raised partygate. He effectively ridiculed the (implict) No 10 claim that Johnson only misled parliament about what was happening because he was repeatedly lied to by his own advisers, and he linked this to Johnson’s evasiveness about his tax record, telling MPs:
[Johnson] really does think it’s one rule for him and another rule for everyone else, that he can pass off criminality in his office and ask others to follow the law. That he can keep raising taxes and call himself a tax-cutter. That he can hike tax during a cost-of-living crisis and get credit for giving a bit back just before an election. When is he going to stop taking the British public for fools?
But in the chamber this line of attack worked best when Starmer could articulate the concerns of Tory MPs, who used to sit there in silence worrying about their leader being a liar. Now, collectively, they seem to have decided to stick with Johnson, and so - with this audience, at least - the Starmer broadside bounced off much more easily.
The best consolation for Labour is that Johnson may have got through this all too comfortably. William Hague is credited with saying that the Conservative party has only two modes, complacency and panic, and today’s PMQs gave the impression that Johnson has reverted to complacency. But the cost of living concerns raised today are huge, they matter a lot more to people outside the chamber than to the salary-cushioned MPs inside who were cheering him on, and they are only going to get worse - a lot worse.
Updated
Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) asks if the government will strenthen the powers of the Office for Environmental Protection, so it has the powers the European Commission had.
Johnson says Olney wants to return to the jurisdiction of the EU.
And that’s it. PMQs is over.
Selaine Saxby (Con) asks what the government is doing about the housing shortage in north Devon.
Johnson claims the government is building a record number of homes.
Updated
Matt Western (Lab) also asks about the cost-of-living crunch. It must be hard for the PM to keep up with financial reality “given that donors and friends pay for his flights and holidays”. And the chancellor is so out of touch he is contactless, Western says - a reference to this.
Johnson says Western’s question would have been better as “a light essay in the Guardian” (high praise in our book).
Updated
John Baron (Con) asks the PM to interevene to stop the closure of British Council offices.
Johnson says he is a fan of the British Council, and it has had a massive grant, he says.
Sir Roger Gale (Con) asks how many of the Ukrainians offered visas through the sponsorship scheme are now in the UK.
Johnson does not answer, but he says the UK can be proud of what it is doing.
Catherine West (Lab) says bills and prices are going through the roof. Why didn’t the government do something about this last week?
Johnson says he understands the pressure people are under, but endlessly taxing more is not the answer.
Johnson welcomes the decision of supreme court judges to no longer sit on Hong Kong’s highest court. (See 11.45am.)
Apsana Begum (Lab) says the real-terms welfare cut will push more families into desperation. Does the PM agree that this has not come out of the blue, but is due to Conservative economics.
Johnson says he does not agree. He is committed to reducing poverty, he says. He says there are 200,000 fewer kids in poverty, and 1.3m fewer people in absolute poverty, he claims.
(But absolute poverty numbers are now forecast to rise by 1.3m.)
Sarah Champion (Lab) says people are struggling to put food on the table or fuel in their cars. That is down to his choices, she says, not Ukraine or Covid.
Johnson says he does not agree with the analysis. The government is taking steps to help, he says. But he says the government is not doing everything. He says people are getting into work. That would not have been possible under Labour’s plans, he claims.
Lucy Allan (Con) asks about the Ockenden report. Will the PM thank those who gave evidence?
Johnson extends his sympathy to all those affected. It is important to get answers as to what went wrong, he says. Investment in maternity services is increasing, he says.
Chris Stephens (SNP) asks why the PM is cutting a scheme to reduce food waste.
Johnson says he thinks it is continuing, but he says he will look into what Stephens is saying.
James Sutherland (Con) says most state schools in Bracknell are now graded good or outstanding. Will the PM congratulate them and back the white paper?
Johnson says the schools white paper is fantastic.
Greg Smith (Con) says a proposal for a prison in his constituency was recently refused. He says his constituency is already putting up with HS2. It should not be asked to take more infrastructure, he says.
Johnson says ministers will have heard Smith loud and clear.
Carol Monaghan (SNP) asks about grid connection charges in Scotland.
Johnson says the energy security strategy paper will propose long-term investment in the grid.
Johnny Mercer (Con) says the UK should double down on support for Ukraine.
Johnson thanks Mercer for his recent visit to Ukraine. He suggests Labour would not be offering military support. He says Labour should support continuing sanctions, and sanctions should not be lifted just because of a ceasefire, he says.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says his grandmother took in German Jewish refugees during world war two. Now families are offering to take in Ukrainian refugees. But the paperwork is too complicated, even though rich foreigners can come to the UK visa-free.
Johnson says everyone is pulling together. Davey should not “deprecate” what the UK is offering. He says 25,000 people have got visas, 1,000 applications are being processed a day, and there is no limit to how many can come.
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Mark Fletcher (Con) asks what can be done to help young people in his constituency get free travel to college.
Johnson says he will ensure Fletcher gets a meeting with the education secretary on this.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says millions of families are trying to work out how they will afford the £700 energy bill hike that will hit them on Friday. But Tory MPs were gathering for a champagne bash, he says. The Tories partied during lockdown, and they are partying now, he says. The PM has been briefing against the chancellor, saying more needs to be done, he says. Blackford says he agrees. What will he tell his chancellor to do?
Johnson says Blackford is “in error” about what he said last night (hinting that champagne was not drunk?). Blackford, like himself, is a testament to the virtues of “moderation in all things”, he says, in a jibe at Blackford’s waistline.
Blackford says the Tories do not understand that over the next week the weather in Scotland will barely reach above freezing. Will they turn the £200 heating loan into a grant?
Johnson says Blackford is right to draw attention to the problem. It is “preposterous” that the SNP is opposed to the use of native hydrocarbons, he claims.
Updated
Starmer says either Johnson is trashing the ministerial code, or he was repeatedly lied to by own advisers. He really does think it is one rule for him and another for everyone else. When will he stop taking the public for fools?
Johnson repeats his claim that Labour would have kept the country in lockdown. Unemployment has fallen to below the levels it was at the start of the pandemic. He says Labour want to keep people on benefits, while the government wants them in work. He says the UK has more unicorns ($1bn start-ups) than France, Germany and Israel combined.
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Starmer says the Tories are the party of excess oil and gas profits. Labour is the party of working people. Talking of parties, Johnson told MPs that no rules were broken during lockdown. Now the police say the laws were broken. The ministerial code says ministers who knowingly mislead the house should resign. Why is he still here?
Johnson says only recently Starmer was saying Johnson should not resign. (That is not quite correct - Starmer said he was no longer arguing for that, in the light of the Ukraine war.)
“Tough decisions - give me a break,” says Starmer. He says a windfall tax would raise billions, and ease the burden on working people. The head of BP says they have more cash than they know what to do with, he says.
Johnson says energy companies need to invest. And the 1997 Labour manifesto said there was no economic case for nuclear power. He says the government is now having to reverse that.
Starmer says he hopes the PM’s police questionnaire was more convincing. The Tories have put up taxes, but are planning a small cut for election year. How did the PM find a chancellor this cynical?
Johnson says the chancellor has protected people. And if they had listened to Captain Hindsight, they would not have come out of lockdown last summer, and they would have been in lockdown over Christmas. The government would have had to tax and borrow more.
Starmer says the tax burden is the highest for 70 years. For every £6 they are raising in tax, they are only giving £1 back.
Johnson says he does not know where Starmer has been for the last two years. To ignore the biggest pandemic for a century is extraordinary. And Labour do not back the health and social care levy.
Keir Starmer asks if Johnson still thinks he and the chancellor are tax-cutting Conservatives.
Johnson says he does. They have introduced the biggest ever fuel duty cut, and the biggest cut to personal taxes for 25 years.
Updated
Gareth Davies (Con) asks what role the Joint Expeditionary Force can play in the Baltics.
Johnson says the JEF is playing an increasingly important role in countering Russian aggression.
Boris Johnson starts by saying MPs will have read the statement from Jamie Wallis, and he says the whole house will offer their support.
After PMQs there are three ministerial statements: on the Ockenden report, on public protection (sentencing) and on P&O.
PMQs
PMQs is about to start. It will be the last one before Easter.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Britain cuts legal links with Hong Kong's top court to avoid risk of 'legitimising oppression'
Britain’s two most senior judges have quit their longstanding role as members of Hong Kong’s court of final appeal.
In a statement issued this morning Lord Reed, president of the supreme court, and his deputy, Lord Hodge, said it was no longer tenable for them to carry on sitting on the Hong Kong court, under an arrangement that dates from 1997, when Hong Kong was returned to China under the terms of the joint declaration that was intended to protect some of Hong Kong’s institutions.
The move has been agreed with the Foreign Office, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said she wholeheartedly backed the judges’s decision.
In a statement Reed said the introduction of the Hong Kong national security law two years ago had changed the situation. He said:
The courts in Hong Kong continue to be internationally respected for their commitment to the rule of law. Nevertheless, I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the supreme court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression, to which the justices of the supreme court are deeply committed.
Lord Hodge and I have accordingly submitted our resignations as non-permanent judges of the HKCFA with immediate effect.
And in her statement Truss said:
We have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong. Since the national security law was imposed, authorities have cracked down on free speech, the free press and free association.
The situation has reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong’s leading court, and would risk legitimising oppression.
Updated
In the committee Lord Harrington, the minister for refugees, says that if a sponsorship arrangements falls down, and people can no longer host Ukrainian refugees, the government will try to find them another sponsor. If that is not possible, homing them will be the responsibility of the local authority, he says.
Earlier the Local Government Association told the Commons levelling up committee that some Ukrainian refugees have been “presenting as homeless”. James Jamieson, chair of the LGA, told the committee:
One of the big issues we’re all worried about is people presenting as homeless.
The LGA did a survey last week of councils - we had 190 responses from councils with housing responsibilities, which is around two-thirds of authorities, of which 57 of the 190 said they already had people presenting as homeless.
That is 144 cases of homelessness - that’s 57 councils, 144 cases ... Forty-four of which were from the family scheme, 36 of which were from the sponsorship scheme and 64 were from unknown or other.
We believe there is an element of people presenting as homeless because they are coming to Ireland and then, with the free movement, able to come to the UK, so that maybe an element of the unknown.
Survey shows NHS staff have become less confident in quality of care offered by their organisation
A diminishing number of NHS staff are happy with the standard of care provided by their organisation, PA Media reports. Covering the results of a major new survey, PA says:
The questionnaire, filled out by almost 650,000 NHS workers in England, found that 67.8% were happy with the standard of care in 2021, down from three-quarters (74.2%) in 2020.
Only 59.4% would recommend their organisation as a place to work.
And 72% said their organisation acts on concerns raised by patients - down from 75% in 2020.
Meanwhile, fewer staff said that care of patients is their organisation’s “top priority” - 75.6% in 2021 compared with 79.5% in 2020.
And less than a third of NHS staff are happy with the amount of money they are paid, the survey shows.
Just 32.7% of health service workers said they are satisfied with their level of pay, a decline of four percentage points from the 2020 NHS staff survey.
Meanwhile an increasing proportion of NHS staff said they feel discriminated against at work.
The new survey, which represents the views of health staff in England in 2021, found that 9.1% reported being discriminated against by managers or colleagues in the last 12 months - up from 7.7% in 2019 and 8.4% in 2020.
This rose to 17% among black, Asian and ethnic minority staff - up from 14.5% in 2019.
Here is my colleague Amelia Gentleman’s story on the new figures saying just 2,700 visas have been issued under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Boris Johnson has posted a message on Twitter praising Jamie Wallis, the Conservative MP who has come out as transgender.
Sharing this very intimate story would have taken an immense amount of courage. Thank you @JamieWallisMP for your bravery, which will undoubtedly support others.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 30, 2022
The Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself. https://t.co/Y7VjQOMgkO
Betts asks Harrington how many people have actually arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Harrington says it is too early to say, but he says he may be able to tell the committee at the end of the week.
Harrington said that he agreed it took too long to fill in a visa application form. He said at the weekend he spent just under under an hour filling out one out himself, and he was in a more comfortable situation than the refugees who have to fill them out. He said the government was looking at what it can do to make the forms shorter.
Updated
2,700 visas have been issued under Homes for Ukraine scheme, MPs told
Harrington said that just under 60,000 visa applications had been received under the two special scheme available for Ukrainians.
Under the family scheme, there had been 31,200 applications, and 22,800 visas had been issued, he said.
And under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, there had been 28,300 application. As of last night, 2,700 visas had been issued, he said.
Harrington said he was hopeful that, under both schemes, the government would end up getting 15,000 visa applications per week. That might be possible next week, or the week after, he said. And he said he hoped the backlog would be quickly cleared.
Updated
Refugees minister Lord Harrington questioned by MPs about support for Ukrainians
At the Commons levelling up committee Lord Harrington, the new minister for refugees, is giving evidence about the Homes for Refugees programme.
Clive Betts (Lab) starts by reminding Harrington he has just been in the post for two weeks.
Harrington starts by saying this dealing with refugees is a cross-government initiative.
There have been 28,300 visa applications received under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and 31,200 under the Ukraine family scheme as of 29 March, PA Media reports. The Home Office gave the total number of visas issued as 25,500 - including 2,700 under the sponsorship scheme and 22,800 under the family scheme.
And here are some tweets from opposition politicians expressing support for Jamie Wallis.
From Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary
Sending you love and solidarity from the other side of the Commons. This is hugely courageous of you to share.
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) March 30, 2022
From Labour’s Angela Eagle
This is very brave @JamieWallisMP Look after yourself and take the time you need to recover
— Angela Eagle DBE (@angelaeagle) March 30, 2022
From the Lib Dems’ Layla Moran
Sending loads of support, Jamie. I hope you’ll be overwhelmed by love for taking the plunge and revealing your truth.
— Layla Moran 🔶 (@LaylaMoran) March 30, 2022
From Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster
This is an extraordinarily brave message to send out, Jamie. Whatever our politics, public life is unremitting and often merciless. Great respect for your personal courage.
— Liz Saville Roberts AS/MP 🏴 (@LSRPlaid) March 30, 2022
From the Lib Dems’ Alistair Carmichael
A dignified and direct statement - I can hardly imagine how difficult this must have been to write Jamie. I hope that your bravery will be rewarded with a debate that is kinder and more thoughtful than we often see. https://t.co/6RMZ3Rgtg8
— Alistair Carmichael MP (@amcarmichaelMP) March 30, 2022
From the Labour peer Michael Cashman
I have broken my silence on Twitter to come back and salute you; your bravery, your courage, your honesty, your searing leadership and your decision to occupy YOUR place and your space in this world. You make it better for us all.
— Michael Cashman 🇺🇦🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇮🇪🇬🇧 (@mcashmanCBE) March 30, 2022
How Johnson joked about trans rights hours before Tory MP declared: 'I'm trans'
Hours before the Conservative MP Jamie Wallis declared as trans (see 9.23am), Boris Johnson was reportedly making a joke about trans issues at a dinner for his MPs. According to the Independent, Johnson said:
Good evening ladies and gentleman, or as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth.
However, this morning Wallis’s colleagues have been more supportive. Here are some of the tweets from Conservative MPs.
From Oliver Dowden, the Tory co-chair
Proud of my colleague Jamie Wallis. As a Conservative family we stand together, and we will support you. I hope that your brave statement will help others. https://t.co/a0EZe9fvKo
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) March 30, 2022
From Tom Tugendhat
This is a very brave statement.
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) March 30, 2022
From Alicia Kearns
I am so very proud of my friend @JamieWallisMP
— Alicia Kearns MP for Rutland and Melton (@aliciakearns) March 30, 2022
You have changed this country today
Your bravery will give hope and courage to people across our country. From the trans community, to survivors
We all here for you, as you live your life as your true self, but ever as our friend https://t.co/i3HXyv2Hep
From Michael Fabricant
Here is Jamie’s statement in full. Jamie: The Parliamentary Party is fully behind you. You are very brave and we are proud to have you as part of our team. xxhttps://t.co/CuB4VG2VYR
— Michael Fabricant 🇬🇧🇺🇦 (@Mike_Fabricant) March 30, 2022
Updated
Raab admits that some of Johnson's statements in parliament about Partygate weren't true
And here are some more lines from what Dominic Raab said in his interviews this morning on “partygate”.
- Raab said Boris Johnson has said things in parliament about the parties at No 10 that were untrue. On the Today programme Mishal Husain asked Raab, the deputy PM, if he accepted that Johnson had said things in parliament about this that were not true. Raab replied: “Yes”, but stressed that Johnson was giving his understanding of events, “to the best of his ability”. Raab also said that events took place in Downing Street that broke the rules. These statements might seem obvious, but at the Downing Street lobby briefing yesterday the PM’s spokesperson was not willing to be this direct.
- But Raab insisted that Johnson was not intentionally misleading MPs when answering questions about partygate. (See 9am.) He said:
I think it is rather different to say that he lied, which suggests that he was deliberately misleading. The PM has not to date been issued with a fixed-penalty notice.
Clearly we had the investigations because of the claims, the assertions that were made, which it was right to follow up, and it is clear there were breaches of the law.
But to jump from that to say the prime minister deliberately misled parliament rather than answering to the best of his ability is just not right.
- Raab would not say whether Johnson would correct the record, and acknowledge that he had misled MPs with his statements on this in the past. Asked about this, Raab said he did now know what Johnson would say at PMQs later. (Johnson almost never corrects the record when he is shown to have made misleading comments in the Commons. The only recent example of his doing so came after he said Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, had been subject to sanctions. Johnson issued a written statement saying this was wrong - although Abramovich was subsequently put on the sanctions list, which means Johnson was only wrong in terms of timing. There was no such correction after Johnson implied Keir Starmer was responsible for the CPS not prosecuting Jimmy Savile, a suggestion that was wholly untrue.)
- He defended the No 10 plan not to reveal whether or not Carrie Johnson, the PM’s wife, received a fine for breaking lockdown rules. He said the public should know if rule-makers had broken the rules, but she wasn’t a rule-maker. When it was put to him that the public should know if there had been a breach of rules in the PM’s own home (ie, the Downing Street flat), Raab just restated his point about Carrie not being a politician.
- He refused to say whether he thought Johnson would have to resign if he was fined for a lockdown breach. “I am not going to comment on hypothetical questions or speculate on an ongoing police investigation,” he said.
Updated
Conservative MP Jamie Wallis declares: 'I'm trans'
The Conservative MP Jamie Wallis, who represents Bridgend in south Wales, has issued a statement saying: “I’m trans ... or want to be.” Wallis has gender dysphoria.
It's time. https://t.co/cbt0tKQZuN pic.twitter.com/IUaCjm9PtE
— Jamie Wallis MP (@JamieWallisMP) March 30, 2022
In a moving account, the backbencher says originally disclosure was not planned, but traumatic events prompted a rethink. Here is an extract.
I’m trans. Or to be more accurate, I want to be. I’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and I’ve felt this way since I was a very young child. I had no intention of ever sharing this with you. I always imagined I would leave politics well before I ever said this out loud.
Fellow MPs are already using Twitter to express their support - although, judging by the early response, opposition MPs have been more vocal in praising Wallis’s bravery than Tory ones.
Normally a declaration like this from an MP has no wider political consequences, but this one might. Some Tories believe that trans rights, or, more accurately, a gender-critical take on trans rights, is a “culture war” issue that will harm Labour, and Boris Johnson seemed to be channelling this at PMQs last week when spoke about people who transition and provocatively said: “When it comes to distinguishing between a man and a woman, the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.” Statements like this explain why Labour MPs have spent the week being asked whether a woman can have a penis.
Now that the first trans MP turns out to be a Conservative, perhaps Johnson and his colleagues will show more restraint.
Updated
Boris Johnson told MPs truth about parties ‘to the best of his ability’, says Raab
Good morning. Boris Johnson has PMQs today for the last time before the Easter recess and, amid questions about Ukraine and the cost of living, he is bound to be asked why he repeatedly told MPs the Covid rules were always followed in Downing Street when the police have now ruled that the law was broken. The opposition has accused Johnson of lying, and by and large the public agrees. Yesterday Downing Street refused to accept that Johnson had lied to parliament - but the PM’s spokesperson also refused to say that Johnson now accepts that the law was broken, suggesting that the denial strategy is still operative at No 10.
Dominic Raab, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and he claimed that Johnson was telling the truth to parliament “to the best of his ability”. He told Sky News:
I don’t know the full facts of the fixed penalty notices, but the prime minister was telling the House of Commons and the public what he knew to the best of his ability.
Does the buck stop with Boris Johnson on these #partygate fines?
— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) March 30, 2022
Dominic Raab: "Ultimately individuals take responsibility" - and the Prime Minister told the truth "to the best of his ability" 👇#KayBurley BH pic.twitter.com/jn5tF6lU1a
And on Times Radio Raab adopted a similar line. Asked if Johnson has misled parliament, he replied:
No, I don’t think there was an intention to mislead. The prime minister in good faith updated parliament on what he knows.
I will post more from the Raab interviews soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, gives evidence to the Commons science committee.
10.30am: Lord Harrington, the new minister for refugees, gives evidence to the Commons levelling up committee about the homes for Ukrainians scheme. The Local Government Association is also giving evidence, from 10am.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
After 12.45pm: MPs debate Lords amendments to the health and social care bill.
1.15pm: Dame Kate Bingham, the former head of the government’s vaccines taskforce, and Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford vaccine group, speak at the Royal Society’s conference on Covid. At 4.45pm Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, speaks.
2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, makes a statement in the Scottish parliament about Covid.
3pm: Johnson takes questions from the Commons liaison committee.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
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Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
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