His predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, quit in 2020 after Johnson overruled him over a report into alleged bullying by Home Secretary Priti Patel…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser Lord Geidt has resigned a day after saying there was a “legitimate question” about whether Boris Johnson broke ministerial rules over Partygate, according to media reports.
Lord Geidt did not give a reason for leaving the role he took in April, but said it was the “right thing” to do, the BBC reported.
His predecessor, Sir Alex Allan, quit in 2020 after Johnson overruled him over a report into alleged bullying by Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The government said it was “surprised” by Lord Geidt’s decision.
“Whilst we are disappointed, we thank Lord Geidt for his public service,” the BBC quoted a spokesperson as saying.
However, the spokesperson gave no reason for the resignation but said Lord Geidt had been asked this week “to provide advice on a commercially sensitive matter in the national interest, which has previously had cross-party support. No decision had been taken pending that advice”.
No 10 did not make it clear what these comments referred to.
Earlier this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a no-confidence vote among Conservative lawmakers.
The confidence vote on Johnson’s leadership was triggered after the number of lawmakers who submitted letters of no-confidence in him to Brady reached 54, or 15 percent of Conservative lawmakers.
With the win, Johnson won’t face another no-confidence vote for a year under the current Conservative Party rules.
The Prime Minister has been dogged for months by “partygate” scandals involving him and his staff at Downing Street during Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. He received a fine by the British police in April for attending one of the alcohol-fueled parties, making him the first sitting prime minister in British history to be penalized for breaking the law.
Changing these policies would “help millions realise the dream of home ownership”, Mr Johnson said…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister has pledged to “finish the right to own reforms” started by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. He said working people would be able to put housing benefits towards their first mortgage.
He told an audience in Blackpool that it would be easier for hard-working families to “put away a little every month” to save a deposit.
Mr Johnson said it was time to “turn benefits to bricks” in his speech as he aimed to rebuild his leadership after a confidence vote this week. But critics say the proposals are unworkable and would make the housing crisis worse, BBC reported.
In Monday’s confidence vote on Mr Johnson’s leadership, four in 10 Tory MPs backed getting rid of him, amid anger over widespread Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street during lockdown. There is also disquiet among Conservatives over the government’s decision to raise National Insurance, while the cost of living is soaring and the public finances have been battered by the expense of dealing with Covid.
Mr Johnson restated the government’s commitment to extending a home-buying scheme, known as right to buy, to housing association tenants. He said he wanted to extend it “within existing spending plans” and ensure a “one-for-one replacement” of each home sold.
The prime minister also said universal credit recipients would get to choose whether to spend their benefits on rent or put them towards a mortgage. The government will explore discounting Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy ISA savings from Universal Credit eligibility rules, Mr Johnson said. Currently, claimants are only eligible for universal credit if they have savings below £16,000, and Lifetime ISAs are included in this limit.
Changing these policies would “help millions realise the dream of home ownership”, Mr Johnson said.
Housing benefits, which help low-income or unemployed people pay their rent, cost the government around £30bn a year, much of which goes to private landlords. A person is not usually eligible for the payments if they have a mortgage.
There is already a shortage of social housing without selling properties – 1.1 million people are on waiting lists. The government has not revealed who will be able to take advantage of the scheme, how much it will cost and whether it will be capped
Commenting on plans to extend the right to buy scheme announced by the government, Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at CPRE, the countryside charity, said: ‘Unfortunately, this is another example of a government rapidly losing touch with the realities of rural life. Extending right to buy will do nothing to address the rural affordable homes crisis because the problem is a lack of homes in the first place. There are 176,000 families in rural areas on social housing waiting lists. These are families that could be even further disadvantaged by housing associations being forced to sell their limited homes on the cheap.
‘The number one lesson of right to buy in a rural context is that it decimated rural social housing stocks. What low-income families need is hundreds of thousands more truly affordable homes to live in. Those living in the countryside are hampered by low wages and high house prices. That’s why the government needs to commit to building 145,000 social homes a year to fill the gap between supply and demand.
‘The demand for social housing is growing nearly six times faster than the rate of supply in rural areas. At current rates, the backlog of low-income families needing accommodation would take 121 years to clear. This is an utterly unsustainable situation and potentially selling off the few remaining housing association properties we do have will make a bad situation immeasurably worse.’
This has led to speculation that he would scrap it to appease Tory backbenchers like Bridgen who have been calling for him to go following the parties scandal…reports Asian Lite News
The Tory backbench backlash against Boris Johnson’s tax hike has begun after he pressed ahead with controversial plans to increase National Insurance.
Senior backbencher Robert Halfon led the way on Sunday, pleading with the prime minister to “think again”.
And Andrew Bridgen, one of Johnson’s most vocal critics amid the Downing Street parties scandal, said: “I want someone who makes better decisions.”
Throughout the week, Johnson had thrown doubt over April’s NI hike after he repeatedly refused to commit to it.
This had led to speculation that he would scrap it to appease Tory backbenchers like Bridgen who have been calling for him to go following the parties scandal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. (Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street)
But Johnson, along with chancellor Rishi Sunak, doubled down on the policy on Saturday night, confirming in a Sunday Times article that the tax hike would go-ahead to boost health funding – in spite of the cost-of-living crisis.
Bridgen, who submitted a no-confidence letter in Johnson two weeks ago, told LBC the increase will impact areas where “a lot of people work but they don’t actually earn a lot of money”.
He added: “I tell you what ‘levelling up’ isn’t, that’s when we find out that Boris Johnson and the people around him at Number 10 have been able to do what they wanted during lockdowns, while the rest of us were doing what we were told.”
Halfon, the chair of the House of Commons education committee, told BBC Breakfast: “All I can do as an MP, a backbench MP, is just to urge the government to think again.
“I hope that the government makes cost of living the number one priority.”
However, Halfon said he would not be submitting a no confidence letter in Johnson, telling Sky News he owes the PM “some residual loyalty” after winning the 2019 election, delivering Brexit and overseeing the COVID vaccine programme.
In spite of the anger of MPs like Bridgen, Johnson’s decision to go ahead with the NI hike suggests he is confident he will be able to stave off a leadership challenge for the time being.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss, one of the contenders to take Johnson’s job should he be ousted, has made a point of backing the PM through his leadership crisis and did so again on Sunday, telling Sky News of the NI hike: “We’ve had to take difficult decisions because of the extraordinary circumstances we face.
“We are committed to cutting taxes. We are committed to driving up growth, we are committed to using our new regulatory freedoms.”
If questioned, Johnson would be only the second sitting British primeminister to be quizzed as part of a formal police probe, reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday vowed to cooperate with police in any formal probe into coronavirus lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street, which has deepened the threat to his position.
“I welcome the Met’s decision to conduct its own investigation because I believe this will give the public the clarity it needs and help draw a line under the matter,” he told parliament.
Allegations that a string of parties were held at Downing Street while the rest of the country abided by the rules have shaken Johnson’s government, prompting the worst crisis of his premiership and calls for him to quit.
London’s Metropolitan Police have faced widespread criticism for refusing to investigate a steady drip of allegations over the last two years.
But Met commissioner Cressida Dick confirmed to the London Assembly that had now changed, raising the prospect of formal interviews and potentially criminal sanctions.
But she told the local authority: “The fact that we are now investigating does not of course mean that fixed penalty notices (fines) will necessarily be issued in every instance to every person involved.”
If questioned, Johnson would be only the second sitting British prime minister to be quizzed as part of a formal police probe.
Labour prime minister Tony Blair was interviewed as a witness in a police investigation into “cash for honours” allegations. Police announced in 2007 that no charges would be brought.
A senior civil servant, Sue Gray, has already begun conducting an investigation into the “partygate” claims and is expected to publish her conclusions in the coming days.
Johnson’s spokesman said her fact-finding work not related to the police investigation would continue.
“They (Gray and her team) won’t publish anything that relates to the work of the police,” he said, adding that Johnson “does not” think he broke the law during lockdown.
Internal probe
Gray’s investigation is understood to include claims revealed on Monday night that Johnson broke lockdown rules by having a birthday party at Downing Street on June 19, 2020.
Up to 30 people were present, ITV News alleged. At the time, social gatherings were only permitted between six people outside.
Johnson — Britain’s populist Brexit architect — has faced public outrage and charges of hypocrisy over the parties, given that millions of people abided by the rules he set.
Many highlighted how they missed significant birthdays themselves due to social distancing, and were unable to comfort sick and dying loved ones struck down with Covid.
A tweet from Johnson re-emerged from March 2020 in which he told a seven-year-old girl she was setting a “great example to us all” after she cancelled her birthday party.
London’s Labour party mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the police investigation.
“Members of the public must be able to expect the highest standards from everyone, including the prime minister and those around him,” he added.
“No one is above the law. There cannot be one rule for the government and another for everyone else.”
Public confidence
Dick declined to give a timeframe for the investigation or say whether the Met would be taking witness statements from police stationed at Downing Street.
She also refused to say whether police would be examining security camera footage from Downing Street, where Johnson has both an office and a residence.
Supporters of Johnson in his Conservative party have played down the latest revelations and the threat to his position, just over two years after a landslide election win.
Instead, they point to his success in securing Britain’s exit from the European Union, and his work on securing vaccines to combat Covid-19.
But Jonathan Evans, the head of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said recent government corruption and cronyism claims had the potential to undermine public trust.
He warned there could be a “political price to pay” if ministers and public servants ignored people’s expectations of behaviour.
Johnson noted that other European countries were going for “coercion”, after Italy on Wednesday made Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all those aged over 50, with fines for those who refuse…reports Asian Lite News
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday hit out at anti-vaccine campaigners’ “mumbo jumbo” and “nonsense” in his toughest attack yet on those opposed to Covid-19 jabs.
“I want to say to the anti-vax campaigners, the people who are putting this mumbo jumbo on social media: they are completely wrong,” Johnson told journalists.
“You haven’t heard me say that before, because I think it’s important we have a voluntary approach in this country and we’re going to keep a voluntary approach,” he said, during a visit to a vaccination centre.
The UK, already among the European countries worst hit by the pandemic, with a virus death count of nearly 150,000, has seen a fresh surge in cases due to the arrival of the Omicron variant in late November.
Johnson noted that other European countries were going for “coercion”, after Italy on Wednesday made Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all those aged over 50, with fines for those who refuse.
“What a tragedy that we’ve got all this pressure on the NHS (National Health Service), all the difficulties that our doctors and nurses are experiencing and we’ve got people out there spouting complete nonsense about vaccination,” he added.
“It’s absolutely wrong, it’s totally counterproductive, and the stuff they’re putting out on social media is complete mumbo jumbo.”
Johnson said Tuesday it was “absolutely crazy” that intensive care units in Britain were being filled by the unvaccinated, pushing stretched NHS resources to the limit.
He noted the country had two million vacant vaccination slots this week and that the majority of people getting intensive hospital care for Covid are not fully jabbed.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty added at the time he was “saddened” by the number of unvaccinated patients in hospital and “frustrated” at the deliberate scare tactics of anti-vaxxers.
The government could also consider asking people to work from home again if necessary, but a final decision on this would be made at the time, dependent on the latest data – recognising the extra disruption this causes to individuals and businesses, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday set out the government’s plan to manage Covid-19 throughout autumn and winter.
The plans include booster jabs for millions – but hold in reserve measures like vaccine passports for certain settings, the BBC reported.
“Plan A” is designed to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed, and promotes vaccines and testing. “Plan B”, to be used if the NHS is coming under “unsustainable pressure”, includes measures such as face masks.
Under Plan A of the autumn and winter plan, announced by Health Secretary Sajid Javid, ministers will: encourage the unvaccinated to be jabbed; offer vaccines to 12 to 15-year-olds; begin a booster jab programme for millions, it was reported.
Meanwhile, owing to the success of the vaccination programme, the data continues to show the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths has weakened significantly, the government has announced.
In England, the number of hospital admissions with Covid has remained relatively stable over the last month. And although deaths increased at the beginning of the summer, they have remained far below the levels in either of the previous waves.
Downing Street said, over autumn and winter, the government will aim to sustain this progress through “building our defences through pharmaceutical interventions, identifying and isolating positive cases to limit transmission, supporting the NHS and social care, advising people on how to protect themselves and others, pursuing an international approach.
It added that vaccines will continue to be the first line of defence.
All those who were vaccinated during Phase 1 of the vaccine programme (priority groups 1 to 9) will be offered booster jabs from this month – to boost immunity amongst the most vulnerable groups during winter.
The Test, Trace and Isolate programme will continue its work, with symptomatic PCR testing continuing throughout the autumn and winter.
Lateral flow tests will also remain free of charge but at a later stage, as government’s response to the virus changes, this will end and individuals and businesses will be expected to bear the cost. The government has ensured it will engage widely on this before any changes are made.
The legal obligation to self-isolate for those who have tested positive and their unvaccinated contacts will continue, and the financial support payment for those self-isolating on certain benefits will continue in its current format until the end of March.
As the PM also set out, autumn and winter could pose renewed challenges and it is difficult to predict the path of the virus with certainty.
Plan B would include: introducing mandatory vaccine only Covid status certification in certain, riskier settings, legally mandating face coverings in certain settings, such as public transport and shops, communicating clearly and urgently to the public if the risk level increases.
The government could also consider asking people to work from home again if necessary, but a final decision on this would be made at the time, dependent on the latest data – recognising the extra disruption this causes to individuals and businesses.
Ministers would only decide to implement these measures if necessary, and if a range of metrics and indicators mean the NHS is at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
Plan B recognises the success of our vaccination programme – meaning smaller interventions which are far less disruptive can have a much bigger impact on reducing the spread.
The Prime Minister pledged he is committed to taking whatever action is necessary to protect the NHS, but stressed his belief that the combined efforts of the public and the vaccination programme mean it can avoid plan B and protect our freedoms in the coming months.
UK wants to take a lead in efforts to cut emissions more quickly before the United Nations’ Climate Change conference, or COP26, in Scotland in November…reports Asian Lite News.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday urged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to “simply go ahead and grant the permission” for the Cambo oilfield to start production, media reported,.
She added that the licensing approval given to the oilfield must be reassessed against the background of more ambitious climate change targets, according to a Reuters report.
The oilfield, in the North Sea off the Scottish island of Shetland, was handed licensing approval in 2001.
UK wants to take a lead in efforts to cut emissions more quickly before the United Nations’ Climate Change conference, or COP26, in Scotland in November, but environmental groups have accused ministers of hypocrisy in even considering giving Cambo the green light.
“I’ve asked the prime minister not to simply go ahead and grant the permission to go ahead with production as a matter of course, that the licence should be reassessed against the same kind of climate requirements as new licences are going to be assessed,” Sturgeon told Sky News.
“I wouldn’t give the go ahead without a fundamental reassessment of the licence.”
The vote win provides some respite for Johnson after his government came in for heavy criticism over its handling of Afghanistan, reports Asian Lite News
Lawmakers backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to raise taxes in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday, clearing the way to direct more funds into the country’s creaking health and social care system.
Johnson had angered some members of his governing party by breaking election promises not to increase taxes, and only set out the full plan on Tuesday. Despite the backlash his party, with a working majority of 83, won the vote 319 to 248.
Under the proposal, the rate of National Insurance payroll taxes paid by both workers and employers will rise by 1.25 percentage points, with the same increase also applied to the tax on shareholder dividends.
It is expected to raise 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) a year.
The extra funds will go into Britain’s social care system, where costs are projected to double as the population ages over the next two decades.
They will also be used to tackle waiting lists within the state-run National Health Service after it directed its resources onto COVID-19 during the pandemic, leaving millions of people waiting months for treatment.
Politicians have tried for years to find a way to pay for social care, though successive Conservative and Labour prime ministers have ducked the issue because they feared it would anger voters and their parties.
For Johnson, tackling the problem offers a possible way to broaden his domestic legacy, although critics have said his plan does not go far enough. They say it will also unfairly increase the tax burden on working-age British people.
The vote win does, however, provide some respite for Johnson after his government came in for heavy criticism over its handling of Afghanistan. Five Conservative lawmakers voted against the plan while others abstained.
Earlier, Johnson had said that his plan – which includes capping care costs in England at £86,000 – was broad-based and progressive according to the economic think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
“The plan deals – after decades – with catastrophic costs faced by millions of people, the risks that they face, the threat they could face the loss of their homes, their possessions, their ability to pass on anything to their children,” he said.
He added it was the first time the state had stepped in to deal with the threat of such costs and meant insurance companies would now be able to help protect people against the costs of care.
The key proposals of the new plan are:
People will no longer pay more than £86,000 in care costs – not including food and accommodation – over their lifetime, from October 2023
Once people have reached this cap, ongoing costs for personal care will be paid for by local authorities
Those with between £20,000 and £100,000 in assets will get means-tested help towards costs from their local council
Those with less than £20,000 will not have to pay towards care costs from their assets at all, but might have to contribute from their income
The tax will be raised through a 1.25 percentage point rise in National Insurance – which working people and their employers pay to ensure benefits like the state pension – from next April
This will cost £255 a year for someone earning £30,000, and £505 a year for someone on £50,000, the government says.
The prime minister is expected to breach election promises and raise National Insurance by about 1.25% to cover the costs, a decision that has received a huge backlash from within his Conservative Party too, reports Asian Lite News desk
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will pledge to end “catastrophic costs” for social care users in England, when he sets out reform proposals for the sector today, it was reported.
Johnson is all set to announce the plans to MPs, alongside long-term funding arrangements to help the NHS respond to the Covid pandemic, the BBC reported.
The prime minister is expected to breach election promises and raise National Insurance by about 1.25% to cover the costs. Besides opposition anger, the decision has received a huge backlash from within his Conservative Party too.
They said this is the wrong way to raise the money. The party made a manifesto commitment not to raise National Insurance (NI), income tax or VAT during the 2019 general election.
Johnson will present his plans to the cabinet today morning, before setting out the details in a statement to the Commons.
Meanwhile, the government has announced an extra £5.4bn over the next six months to support the NHS in England’s response to COVID-19 and help tackle waiting lists.
According to BBC, Johnson will tell MPs the NHS has been “put under enormous strain by the pandemic” and cannot be expected “to recover alone”. He is expected to say the government will not “duck the tough decisions needed” to help the service and fix England’s “broken” social care system.
The prime minister will also promise to “end the injustice of catastrophic costs” for those requiring long-term care. However, reports he will raise National Insurance, a tax paid by workers and employers, to cover costs has sparked a backlash from Conservatives, BBC reported.
“The NHS was there for us during the pandemic – but treating Covid patients has created huge backlogs,” Johnson said. “This funding will go straight to the frontline, to provide more patients with the treatments they need but aren’t getting quickly enough.”
“We will continue to make sure our NHS has what it needs to bust the Covid backlogs and help the health service build back better from the worst pandemic in a century,” he added.
The government said it has been clear that the NHS will get what it needs to recover its usual services and deliver quality care to patients.
It said the waiting list for routine operations and treatments such as hip replacements and eye cataract surgery could potentially increase to as high as 13 million.
£478 million of this new funding has been dedicated to continue the hospital discharge programme so staff can ensure patients leave hospital as quickly and as safely as possible, with the right community or at-home support.
Government said this will free up thousands of extra beds and staff time to help the NHS recover services. Another £500 million has been also invested in capital funding for extra theatre capacity and productivity-boosting technology, to increase the number of surgeries able to take place.
Monday’s announcement is in addition to the £3 billion announced at Spending Review 2020 to support the NHS.
Trade Envoys are parliamentarians appointed by the Prime Minister, drawn from both Houses and across the political spectrum…reports Asian Lite News.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed ten trade envoys who will boost British business in dynamic markets such as Australia, Brazil and Canada.
The new appointees include Lord Botham, David Mundell MP and Conor Burns MP.
The Government already has trade envoys in more than 60 countries, drawn from a cross-section of parties, with Baroness Hoey, Stephen Timms MP, Lord Walney and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP being appointed in this round.
Lord Botham has been appointed to Australia; Baroness Hoey appointed to Ghana; Stephen Timms MP appointed to Switzerland and Liechtenstein; David Mundell MP appointed to New Zealand; Mark Eastwood MP appointed to Pakistan; Marco Longhi MP appointed to Brazil; Conor Burns MP appointed to Canada; Lord Walney [John Woodcock] appointed to Tanzania; Felicity Buchan MP appointed to Iceland and Norway; Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP appointed to Cameroon, in addition to his role as Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Egypt.
International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, said: “Our Trade Envoys play a key role in delivering our ambitious global trade agenda, and I am delighted the Prime Minister has appointed ten Trade Envoys who will boost opportunities for British businesses in some of the world’s fastest growing markets.
“By boosting exports, promoting inward investment and creating high-value, high-paying jobs, our Trade Envoys will help us build back better from Covid-19, ensuring every part of the UK benefits from our trade strategy.”
Trade Envoys are parliamentarians appointed by the Prime Minister, drawn from both Houses and across the political spectrum. The roles are unpaid and voluntary. These new appointments bring the total number of Trade Envoys who help support the UK’s trade and investment agenda to 36, covering 76 different countries.
🇳🇿🇬🇧🏴Delighted to have been appointed UK Trade Envoy to New Zealand. So many strong links already between the UK, Scotland and my own constituency with New Zealand. Looking forward to building on them and fostering new export and investment opportunities https://t.co/7otLlU8Byh
Minister of State for Trade Policy, Greg Hands, said: “From Norway to New Zealand, Pakistan to Brazil, our Trade Envoys will help increase UK trade with some of the world’s most exciting and dynamic markets and showcase the UK as a great place to invest.”
