UK politics news – live: Rebecca Long Bailey sacked, as Starmer questions Boris Johnson’s judgement over support for Jenrick
All the day's events as they happened
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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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Good morning, and welcome to The Independent's live blog on today's political happenings.
Robert Jenrick ‘insistent’ £1bn property development decision rushed through before Tory donor forced to pay extra taxes
A Conservative minister was said to be “insistent” that a decision on a £1bn property development be rushed through before a Tory donor’s company faced millions in taxes, Lizzy Buchan reports.
Robert Jenrick , the housing secretary, bowed to pressure to publish 129 pages of documents relating to the Westferry Printworks development in east London after being accused of “cash for favours” by Labour.
Emails from January show Mr Jenrick was determined to issue a decision the following day to prevent developer Richard Desmond from being forced to pay a new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
An official wrote: “On timing, my understanding is that SoS [secretary of state] is/was insistent that decision issued this week ie tomorrow – as next week the viability of the scheme is impacted by a change in the London CIL regime.”
Another email said: “LB (London Borough of) Tower Hamlets is adopting a new local plan and CIL regime next week. The appellant (Mr Desmond) believes that the proposal would not be viable if it was liable to CIL charges.”
Mr Jenrick overruled the local authority and the planning inspector to approve the scheme for 1,500 houses in January, only weeks before Mr Desmond personally donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party.
The housing secretary later had to reverse the decision after legal action from the council, conceding the decision was “unlawful by reason of apparent bias”.
Text messages between the pair show Mr Desmond wanted to avoid paying £45m to Tower Hamlets Council and lobbied the cabinet minister to approve the decision before the levy was introduced.
Jenrick faces calls to resign after publishing communications dossier
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat spokesman for Communities, Housing and Local Government, and ex-party leader, has called on Mr Jenrick to quit over the controversy.
"Jenrick's calculated decision to push through a huge development just in time to save a party donor millions exposes something rotten at the heart of this Conservative Government," he told the PA news agency.
"Yet again we are seeing Tory ministers show it is one rule for them and their cronies, and another for everyone else.
"Given the minister has accepted that his decision to sign off the project was unlawful, he should also accept that he is unfit to continue to serve in that role and resign immediately."
Acting Lib Dem leader Layla Moran said Mr Jenrick’s position was “completely untenable”, adding: “These documents are further evidence that he rushed through this planning decision to help a Tory donor avoid paying millions in tax.
"This whole grubby saga netted the Tory party only £12,000, but could have helped Richard Desmond save up to £40m. The public will be appalled at what looks like a clear abuse of power. Robert Jenrick should go and the Conservative party should hand back this donation."
Andrew Wood, a Tory councillor in Tower Hamlets who resigned over Mr Jenrick’s handling of the project said: “I was right to resign.”
Former Green Party leader Natalie Bennet tweeted: "Boris Johnson has a duty to sack."
Jenrick 'wanted to build more homes', minister says
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was "not at all" time for Mr Jenrick to resign, saying: "There's been a massive document release, Rob Jenrick's explained himself, he's written a detailed letter to the select committee explaining exactly what happened.
"It's only right that planning applications are looked at properly. Another minister will now decide on this application. What Robert Jenrick wanted to do, rightly, is build more homes in London.
"You've got to make sure these [affordable] homes are built rather than just talked about ... Robert Jenrick's absolute energy and focus is on getting more homes built. He actually was the one who said 'look, if the perception is there's been some bias, we'll pull this and another minister has to decide on this'. Rightly so, and that's the system we have in this country."
Meanwhile, asked whether he backed Robert Jenrick staying in his job, Tory MP Bernard Jenkin told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “Yes, I do. I think it’s interesting the leader of the opposition didn’t go for Robert Jenrick in prime minister’s questions yesterday. This is a very partisan spat. It’s the job of the opposition to exploit this sort of thing – the public don’t like the idea of cabinet ministers and rich businessmen cosying up together.
“But I think two things; one is is that the cabinet secretary has been very clear there is no case to answer. Cleary there’s been a little bit of a mistake, decisions had to be rescinded. But there’s no sign of actual maladministration.
"And secondly, in these things what happens next depends on whether anything new comes out. It looks as though he’s put everything on the table and I suspect this story will pass."
PM urged to stave off 'profound crisis' in Liverpool
Leaders in Liverpool say a "profound crisis" in the city could be prevented if the government provides £467 million towards a post-coronavirus recovery plan.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson and metro mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram have written to the prime minister to set out the £1.4bn plan, which they say will create 25,600 jobs, provide 12,000 construction jobs and lead to more than 9,700 apprenticeships.
It comes as the BBC reported at least five English councils have warned they are effectively bankrupt, with Birmingham City Council saying emergency spending controls "would not rectify" its situation.
Liverpool has seen the third highest rate of coronavirus deaths among local authorities and the number of people claiming Universal Credit has risen from 32,000 to 45,000, while 48,600 jobs in the city have been furloughed.
The recovery strategy needs £200m of central government funding for construction and £267m for apprenticeship and skills training programmes.
PA
Tory voters will have same access to MPs as the wealthy, minister claims
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC that the Jenrick controversy was "not at all" an example of special treatment for a billionaire, adding: "Robert Jenrick wanted to make sure the scheme gets built, it was viable, and affordable housing is delivered. Tower Hamlets had to close one of their planning meetings through lack of business.
"When [we] come on your show ... talking about wanting to get more houses built, get young people on the housing ladder, those families who need the homes built, viability is incredibly important. Getting stuff built is incredibly important to Robert Jenrick, that was his motivation."
Asked why it may seem that only billionaires have such access to Tory ministers, he replied: "If people go to a fundraiser in their local area, Doncaster for the Conservative Party, they'll be sitting next to MPs and other people in their local authority, and can interact with different parts of that authority.
"The important thing, by the way, the access didn't buy this billionaire this decision ... the secretary of state said very clearly ... to Richard Desmond: 'I can't see you, I cannot have this meeting.'
"You have to also be fair and make that clear that, yes, of course there was access because there was a dinner party that Robert Jenrick didn't know he was going to sit next to Richard Desmond in, but Robert Jenrick also said in those messages that he released by promising to the select committee he would release them, said 'I can't have this meeting with you."
Upcoming bill will allow restaurants and pubs to maximise outdoor space, minister hints
Asked about the changes to rules for the hospitality sector which can be expected in the government's upcoming bill, business minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "We're laying a bill today on business and planning to help, for example, the restaurant industry offer more al fresco dining, more space on pavements outside through licence and planning laws.
"Alok Sharma has had a deep dive ... on the recovery taskforce. This thing's in three chapters. Chapter one was wrap our arms around the economy and jobs ... Chapter two is getting the economy restarted ... we're going to get more businesses open - restaurants, bars and so on.
"And of course the final chapter, is what stimulus can we inject into the economy - both fiscal and non-fiscal - what easements can we look at to make sure the recovery is as dynamic as we can make it."
Asked if pubs will be able to use car parks as outdoor drinking areas, he told the BBC: "What we ant to do is make sure we open as much of the space of the pavements and so on for outdoor al fresco dining, for pubs and restaurants, because every little bit counts here."
The government is due to publish the latest data from its coronavirus test and trace system later today, which will reveal its performance in its third week of operation.
Despite figures suggesting the system failed to contact a third of those who tested positive for the virus, Boris Johnson insisted it is a "cluster-busting operation" that would quickly tackle any localised Covid-19 outbreaks.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to give a date on when the controversial test and trace app would be made available, but said the government is "going to make it work".
Speaking to ITV's Robert Peston on Wednesday night about how the app will work, Mr Hancock said people will have to "self-declare" to the NHS if their phone informs them they have been close to someone who has tested positive.
He said: "I'm not going to put a date on it, I want it to work, I'm really glad now that we've got Apple, are working really well, and I'm very grateful to them for coming to the table, and we're going to make it work."
Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan has more on the government's plans to cut red tape to allow hospitality businesses to utilise outdoor spaces.
Ministers will introduce a new bill in parliament on Thursday that will temporarily change strict licensing laws to allow people to buy alcohol from pubs and drink it in parks or on pavements to make it easier for people to social distance.
Under the new rules, licensed outlets will be able to convert their car parks and terraces into temporary beer gardens, and pubs will be able to set up tables and chairs on pavements to serve their customers.
Schools may ditch social distancing in September, reports say
Children will be able to return to school in September without having to stay one or two metres apart, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The government is reportedly planning to place large groups of pupils in “bubbles” to ensure full attendance for the new academic year, Peter Stubley reports.
Schools will instead have to focus on strict hygiene regimes and limit contact between classes or year groups, it is claimed.
The Telegraph, which has previously employed Boris Johnson as a columnist, quoted a Westminster source admitting “it will not be possible for schools to reopen for all pupils if a one metre or one metre plus social distancing rule is applied”.
Instead, the government’s plan means children inside each class or year group “bubble” will not have to keep their distance, and schools can reopen without having to find additional teachers and buildings.
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