Boris Johnson news – live: Doctors slam health secretary’s ‘appalling’ A&E comments, as Corbyn says racial undertones to Meghan Markle coverage
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Boris Johnson has clashed with Jeremy Corbyn over NHS funding and waiting times at PMQs. The prime minister claimed the Tories were “the party of the NHS” after the Labour leader said “urgent action” was needed to fix the crisis.
While Mr Corbyn expressed concerns about the “racial undertones” in coverage of the Duchess of Sussex, the Tory MP Mark Francois has predicted that the £500,000 needed to get Big Ben to bong for Brexit will be raised within 48 hours.
It comes as Matt Hancock said the public can carry on flying as often as before despite the climate emergency, rejecting the idea of “sacrifices”. The health secretary also drew fury for suggesting the four-hour A&E waiting time target could be scrapped.
Scotland will re-join the EU, says separatist MEP
The SNP MEP Christian Allard has told his fellow Europe parliamentarians that Scotland would re-join the EU one day.
“When the people of Scotland voted to stay in Europe, we meant it … Scotland is a future member state,” said the Scottish nationalist.
Trump ‘agrees’ with Johnson over Iran pact replacement
Donald Trump responded to Boris Johnson’s latest BBC interview. The prime minister backed the president to come up with a new agreement to “replace” the existing Iran nuclear deal, describing his ally as “a great deal maker”.
Trump, unsurprising, tweeted: “I agree!”
Nandy says UK should back out of US trade deal – if Trump backs out of Paris accords
Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy believes the UK should hold out on signing a trade deal with the US if Donald Trump withdraws from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
In a speech in London today, the Wigan MP will say Labour should rule out signing trade deals with countries that fail to sign up to the accords, which committed nearly 200 nations to keeping rising global temperatures below 2C.
Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan has the details:
SNP minister says Scotland has ‘many options’ on independence – but won’t reveal them
The Scottish government has “many options” it could use to push for a second independence referendum if Boris Johnson continues to deny such a vote, a SNP minister has said.
Constitutional relations secretary Mike Russell spoke out after the PM rejected first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s demands for Holyrood to be given the power to stage a second ballot.
Sturgeon has refused to rule out taking legal action in a bid to win the right to hold a fresh independence ballot.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Russell said SNP ministers had “many options” but added he did “not want to go into them”.
“As we move forward, they will all become clear,” he added.
“I think you can either have democracy or you can have dictatorship, you can’t have both.”
SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC has, however, warned there is “no shortcut to an independent Scotland through litigation”.
Scottish government minister Mike Russell (PA)
Brexiteers’ Parliament Square party will go ahead
According to Nigel Farage, the Leave Means Leave group have obtained a license from the Greater London Assembly to throw a Brexit “celebration” party in Parliament Square on 31 January.
“Great news! It is a big moment in the history of this nation to celebrate,” the Brexit Party leader tweeted.
The matter of the bongs remains unresolved.
Matt Hancock suggests A&E waiting targets could be scrapped
The four-hour A&E waiting time target could be scrapped after the NHS in England recorded its worst figure on record, the health secretary has hinted.
Matt Hancock said performance must be “judged by the right targets” after official data showed only 81.4 per cent of emergency patients were seen within four hours in November.
NHS England was already piloting new targets so patients with the most serious conditions receive treatment within an hour while others with more minor complaints wait longer.
Hancock suggested the trials could become permanent across the country when he was questioned about the NHS’s performance under the Tories.
“We will be judged by the right targets,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Targets have to be clinically appropriate.”
He continued: “The four-hour target in A&E – which is often taken as the top way of measuring what's going on in hospitals – the problem with that target is that, increasingly, people can be treated on the day and able to go home.
“That is much better for the patient and also better for the NHS, and yet the way that’s counted in the target doesn’t work.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock (PA)
Jess Phillips says she could be persuaded to back drug decriminalisation
Labour leadership hopeful Jess Phillips has said she is “open” to the case for decriminalising drugs.
“I am absolutely open minded to be brought round on that matter,” she told The Daily Record on her visit to Scotland.
Phillips also she would support safe consumption rooms for addicts.
The candidate re-iterated her strong support for the union, and criticised John McDonnell for diluting Labour’s message on Scottish independence.
In the run-up to the election the shadow chancellor suggested a Labour government would not block another referendum. “What John McDonnell did harmed Scottish Labour,” she said.
“I am proud to be from the United Kingdom. I would never, ever want to see the break-up of our nation.”
Jess Phillips visits homeless shelter in Glasgow (Getty)
Jess Phillips ‘out of touch’ with Scotland, says Nicola Sturgeon
Despite saying it was not for her to advise a candidate for the Labour leadership, Nicola Sturgeon has offered some advice to a candidate for the Labour leadership.
Speaking about Jess Phillips, the SNP leader said: “I think she badly needs some better advice – If found out yesterday she’s been advised by the former director of Better Together.
“I think she is seriously out of touch with opinion in Scotland.”
She accused Phillips of “singing from the same hymn sheet” as Boris Johnson when it came to independence.
Tom Watson has a novel coming out
While five candidates battle it out to succeed him as Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson has been busy working on a political thriller called The House.
It’s been billed by the publisher as “A study of cold-blooded ambition, hope, friendship … and betrayal.”
You know what they say – write what you know.
Government will back steel industry, says PM
PMQs is now under way in the House of Commons, with Boris Johnson asked about the loss of steel jobs in Sheffield.
“The government is indeed embarking on a plan to do everything we can to make sure steel made in this country has all the competitive advantages it needs.”
Liberty Steel has plans to cut around 350 jobs in south Yorkshire and south Wales.
Boris Johnson speaking in Commons (PA)
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