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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.
Urgent action needed on NHS waiting times, says Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn has gone in on the NHS waiting times, asking the prime minister why patients “are waiting longer for essential NHS care”.
Accusing the Tory government of “underfunding”, the Labour leader said: “People need action … Action is needed urgently.”
Johnson responded: “We will get those waiting times down.”
Jeremy Corbyn speaking in Commons (PA)
‘We are the party of the NHS,’ claims PM
More on the Commons clash between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn over the health service.
“If he’s really committed to fixing the crisis his government has created over a decade, he should end the empty rhetoric and back our proposals to give the NHS the funding it needs said,” said Corbyn.
“The NHS is our most precious institution – fund it properly,” the Labour leader dded. “Then everyone can rely on it.”
Johnson responded: “I’m delighted he’s still fighting on the manifesto that he submitted to the attention of the British people … I think it’s pretty clear what they thought of the credibility of the promises he made.
“They see that we are the party of the NHS.”
£500,000 for Big Ben bongs will be raised in 48 hours, says Mark Francois
If you missed it earlier, Mark Francois predicted that the £500,000 needed to get Big Ben to ring for Brexit will be raised within days.
The Tory MP, who has promised £1,000 of his own money, said: “I think we will get it within 48 hours.”
Francois told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “It seems to me and many of my colleagues in the House of Commons patently daft that we have got the most iconic clock in the world - literally, it’s a world heritage site - that that should stay silent on this occasion.”
He claimed the costs were “massively exaggerated” because “officials in the House of Commons just don't want to do it”.
The bell should ring to allow those who want to celebrate to mark the occasion, he said, but acknowledged that not everyone would be cheering. “There are some that don't, they can watch Netflix or do whatever they want to do,” he said.
Host Piers Morgan suggested it wasn’t necessary to raise £500,000 – and had the bongs play in the studio.
“Here is Big Ben! You can have these for nothing!”
Iran rejects Boris Johnson’s ‘strange’ plan for Trump deal to replace existing Iran nuclear pact
Iran has rejected as “strange” the strange proposal by Boris Johnson that it should strike a “replacement” nuclear deal with the US.
Hassan Rouhani, Iran president, said the solution to the tensions was to return to a deal with world powers abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018.
“This mr prime minister in London, I don’t know how he thinks. He says let’s put aside the nuclear deal and put the Trump plan in action,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.
“If you take the wrong step, it will be to your detriment. Pick the right path. The right path is to return to the nuclear deal,” he said of the 2015 agreement, which was brokered by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
All the details here:
Labour criticises Johnson over Big Ben bong 'diversionary trap'
Labour has accused Boris Johnson of trying to use the question of whether Big Ben’s bongs should be heard on Brexit day to distract attention away from a “reckless” change of tack on Iran.
At a briefing in Westminster, a senior Labour spokesman refused to answer questions on whether Jeremy Corbyn backed calls for the chimes to be heard on the evening of 31 January, telling reporters:
“Once again, I’m afraid, he has you exactly where he wants you. You are falling for the diversionary trap to get you to ask about something which has been set up to have a sense of jeopardy to distract from the main issues at hand.
“If you look at the interview yesterday, should the main question that comes out of that be about alliterative bonging or instead should it be that there seems to have been a substantial change in government policy with respect to the Iran agreement and an endorsement of Donald Trump’s position, which seems to be quite a substantial change in British government policy, and one which is reckless and deserves to be questioned?”
‘Only half time on Brexit,’ says Leo Varadkar
There’s a lot of triumphalism about Brexit getting done this month, but the Irish premier has said there’s still the second half of Brexit to play yet.
“We’re only at half time on Brexit,” he tweeted, boasting about the his Fine Gael party’s achievements in getting to this stage of the process – with trade deal negotiations still to come.
Crowdfunding pages for Big Ben bongs raise just £500
Dozens of crowdfunding pages set up to pay for Big Ben to bong on 31 January have so far raised almost no money.
The campaigns were launched after Boris Johnson suggested that members of the public could meet the £500,000 cost of the famous bell ringing at 11pm, when the UK leaves the EU.
Almost 30 pages on the GoFundMe crowdfunding website are trying to raise the money, but the vast majority have not received a single donation. This morning Tory MP Mark Francois predicted the cash would get raised in 48 hours.
More details here:
Labour hopefuls agree to 10-point plan to tackle Islamophobia
Candidates hoping to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour party leader have been signing up to a 10-point pledge by the Muslim Council of Britain, supported by the Labour Muslim Network, to tackle Islamophobia.
“I absolutely commit to these pledges,” said Jess Phillips, while Emily Thornberry added: “I wholeheartedly agree with all the pledges.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey tweeted: “The mainstream press and the Conservative party may choose to ignore Islamophobia - but I will not.”
‘I believe in free movement’, says Lisa Nandy
Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy has been speaking on a range of topics at an event in London. Despite being the closest of the five candidates to supporting Brexit, she has offered a strong defence of freedom of movement when talking about immigration.
“I believe in free movement,” she said. “I believe in free movement … if it were paired with renewed and radical investment that enabled opportunities for young people, decent jobs, training and skills, then I know those concerns about free movement would have fallen away.”
As we revealed earlier, Nandy suggested the UK should not strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the US if Donald Trump follows through on his commitment to quit the Paris Agreement on tackling the climate crisis.
“As we look forward to forge new trading alliances across the world, we will need to make choices,” she said.
“We should be clear now that we would refuse to agree any trade deal with a country that has not ratified the Paris Agreement. We must use trade to support climate action, not hamper it.”
Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy (PA)
Corbyn thinks there are ‘racial undertones’ in Meghan and Harry media coverage
Jeremy Corbyn has concerns about the “racial undertones” in coverage of the Duchess of Sussex, a spokesman for the Labour leader said.
He backed the assessment of the Duke of Sussex, who has railed against press coverage of his relationship with Meghan.
A Labour spokeswoman said: “Jeremy has commented in the past in relation to Prince Harry and Meghan, about press intrusion and its impact on people and their families and, to use Prince Harry’s words as well, the racial undertones in relation to how the media has approached Meghan.”
Asked if Corbyn thought there were racial undertones in the way the press has treated Meghan, the spokesperson said: “That’s what Prince Harry has said.” Asked if Corbyn agreed, the spokesperson said: “Yes.”
In November 2016, Harry used a statement from his communications secretary to lash out at the “wave of abuse and harassment” the US actress had faced from the media, citing the “racial undertones of comment pieces” among his concerns.
Corbyn’s spokeswoman he had “spoken out” about the issue and “understands how press intrusion can have a negative impact on people and their private lives”.
Duchess and Duke of Sussex (AP)
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