UK politics news – live: Rebecca Long Bailey sacked, as Starmer questions Boris Johnson’s judgement over support for Jenrick
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Sir Keir Starmer has sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey from his front bench in a row over antisemitism. The former shadow education secretary tweeted her praise of Maxine Peake after the actor's views were revealed in an interview with The Independent.
The left-wing actor, who has since clarified that her assumptions were inaccurate, told The Independent: "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services." The Labour leader described these comments as an "antisemitic conspiracy theory”.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir suggested Boris Johnson‘s judgement is now “in issue” after backing housing secretary Robert Jenrick, who faces calls to resign after releasing communications pertaining to his approval of a £1bn property development involving Tory donor Richard Desmond.
The 129-page bundle of documents concerning the Westferry Printworks site indicated that Mr Jenrick had personally sought to rush the project through, saving the former Daily Express owner millions in extra taxes in the form of a new Community Infrastructure Levy. While texts show Mr Desmond told the minister to act so that “Marxists” did not get “doe [sic] for nothing”, former Tower Hamlets council leader Andrew Wood has warned that “more will come out” yet.
It came as several councils across England, including those in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Wiltshire, warned they face effective bankruptcy, urging rapid government intervention, with Liverpool’s mayors describing a “profound crisis” ahead, having previously complained the government’s emergency pandemic funding favoured affluent areas.
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More than 90 per cent of Britons back continued ban on chlorinated chicken imports
In case you missed trade secretary Liz Truss's refusal yesterday to discuss the proposed deal which many fear could see the UK flooded with subpar US meat products, citing fears that the Americans could be listening to her, a new poll indicates how strong the public aversion to chemically-cleansed fowl truly is.
A poll of 2,078 people by Populus for the consumer group Which? showed that 95 per cent of the public believed it was important for the UK to maintain existing food standards, which block chlorinated chicken and meat from animals treated with hormones from being sold in the country, Matt Mathers reports.
The research revealed that 86 per cent were concerned that UK food standards could be weakened as part of potential trade deals, which campaigners have said could lead to chlorinated chicken becoming widespread in Britain.
Jenrick controversy raises questions about planning process, former civil service head says
Lord Bob Kerslake, a former head of the Civil Service and adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm pleased the documents have come out but I do think they have raised some troubling issues, I have to say, about access and influence.
"I don't for a moment suggest the minister took his decision simply because of a donation to the Conservative Party. But the fact is, for the price of a dinner, the developer was able to present his scheme to the minister, follow up with texts and seek to influence the decision."
Mr Jenrick "got to the right place in the end" in turning down the opportunity of a follow-up meeting with Mr Desmond, said Lord Kerslake, before adding: "What I'm saying truthfully is that none of that process should have happened in those circumstances.
"It creates the impression - and appearance here is really important - that the developer has some level of influence over the decisions."
Manchester council pleads with government for funding to stave off effective bankruptcy
Sir Richard Leese, Labour leader of Manchester City Council, said his administration was looking at a financial loss of £166m, with a shortfall of £31m this year and £162m the next - a quarter of its net budget.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Richard said warnings to the government that the council might need to use a Section 114 order - effectively declaring bankruptcy - was a warning that it would not be able to afford to look after the most vulnerable in society if more cash was not forthcoming.
"This is more than a plea for help," he said. "This is saying there are things the law says we have to do that we simply will not be able to do unless we get more funding.
And a very substantial amount of funding."
Councillor Philip Whitehead, Tory leader of Wiltshire Council, echoed Sir Richard's concerns on the same programme, with his administration seeing a net financial impact of £51m after accounting for money already granted by the government, saying: "So far the government has given tranches of money, we just need more of them."
The German health minister Jens Spahn's Twitter account has retweeted yesterday's article by The Independent headlined: "Boris Johnson confronted over claim no country has working coronavirus app".
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer rebuffed the prime minister's repeated claim at PMQs yesterday by saying: "Germany - 12 million downloads."
A Labour spokesperson later said: “If you want other examples, Singapore has launched an app, South Korea has also got an app. So there are a number of countries that are far, far ahead of us.”
Councils grapple with bankruptcy threat
Five local authorities across the country, including Leeds, Wiltshire, Trafford, Tameside and Barnet have warned they face effective bankruptcy without additional funding from the government.
Meanwhile Birmingham City Council has said that even effectively declaring bankruptcy with a section 114 notice "would not rectify this situation", given the size of the shortfall it faces.
Manchester City Council and Liverpool's mayor have also warned of bankruptcy and an impending "profound crisis" respectively unless extra funding is pledged.
Nearly 150 local authorities have forecast a combined budget shortfall of at least £3.2bn, according to the BBC - equal to the number already given to councils by central government.
It comes as correspondence released by the Tory party suggest that housing, communities and local government secretary Robert Jenrick strived to achieve a situation that effectively kept tens of millions of pounds in the pocket of billionaire developer Richard Desmond - and out of the grasp of Tower Hamlets Council.
His allies say the decision was in the interest of ensuring the £1bn project remained "viable".
'Misleading and dangerous' to think of China disputes as new Cold War, Tony Blair says
The West will sometimes clash with China now that it is a major power, but it is "misleading and dangerous" to think of it as a new Cold War, Tony Blair has said, after a survey by his think tank found a shift towards a "markedly more hostile attitude" in the West.
The former prime minister said China had "serious questions" to answer about the Covid-19 outbreak, as the YouGov survey of citizens in the UK, US, Germany and France suggested that attitudes to Beijing had hardened during the pandemic.
The former prime minister he urged the West to take a strategic view of the relationship with China rather than an "ad hoc or purely reactive" stance, contending that the rise of China was both "inevitable and right" given its population, economic power and record on technological innovation.
The West must "actively and intensely" engage with China - both at the level of government and people-to-people - in order to "enlarge the space for cooperation, shrink that of confrontation and keep competition according to international laws and norms", he said.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent's Alexandra Pollard, actress Maxine Peake touches upon dismantling capitalism, systemic racism, and her thoughts on voting Labour (or not) under its varied leadership.
“Those people who were normally Labour supporters who felt they couldn’t vote Labour? Well I’m sorry, they voted Tory as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “And it breaks my heart, because you know what? I didn’t like Tony Blair, but I still voted Labour because anything’s better than the Tories. There’s a lot of people who should hang their heads in shame. People going, ‘Oh, I can join the Labour Party again because Keir Starmer’s there,’ well shame on you.”
Of the new Labour leader, Ms Peake added: “You know what, at the end of the day, all I want is the Tories out. I think people will get behind Starmer, won’t they? He’s a more acceptable face of the Labour Party for a lot of people who are not really left wing. But that’s fine. Whatever. As long as the Tories get out, I don’t care anymore. You can’t be sad, you’ve just got to get on and organise, without standing at the rooftops and going, ‘You reap what you sow!’ There were moments when I wanted to scream that. But no, we’ve got to keep moving forward.”
Read the full piece here:
Labour peer Andrew Adonis has called for a police investigation into the Robert Jenrick controversy following his release of communications on the matter.
Minister denies Robert Jenrick gave 'special treatment' to billionaire developer, saying voters can go to Tory fundraisers
Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more on the government's defence of housing secretary Robert Jenrick this morning.
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi suggested voters should consider attending Tory fundraisers in their local area if the want access to MPs, as he rejected claims Robert Jenrick gave “special treatment” to a billionaire property developer.
Mr Zahawi rejected there was any “smoking gun” over the issue, and that Mr Jenrick had pulled the plug on Richard Desmond’s proposed east London property development when there was a “perception of bias”.
Racism in UK policing ‘reflects an imperfect society’, senior officer says
A senior police leader has denied that racism is “rife” in British policing and said officers “reflect an imperfect society”, our home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden reports.
Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), told MPs that forces were listening to ongoing Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US.
“I very much refute the allegation that racism is rife in the police service,” he said in evidence to parliament’s Home Affairs Committee. “No organisation can say there are not people who potentially hold racist views. The police service is no different and we reflect the imperfect society that we come from.”
Mr Hewitt was giving evidence on Wednesday to the committee's policing and race inquiry, which marks 21 years since a landmark report on the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Last week, a former senior officer told the committee that racism was “alive and kicking” in British policing and accused leaders of taking a “tick box approach” to combating discrimination.
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