Labor accuses PM of being ‘slippery’ with Covid research messages
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. Let’s start the day with Labor accuses Rishi Sunak of being ‘slippery’ in row over whether government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and other documents to Covid inquiry.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting has said Sky News the prime minister should “comply with the inquiry and do it today”.
He said:
I think the Prime Minister looks very slippery today. He says he wants the government to cooperate with the investigation, but the government has withheld information the investigation has requested.
One minute the government says the messages they have are immaterial; the next minute they say they don’t exist. Which is?
He comes as Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stridesaid the government intended to be “absolutely transparent and honest” in relation to the Covid investigation.
He told Kay Burley on Sky News:
So what the government is doing here is we’ve started this investigation because we think it’s really important to get to the bottom of some really important questions that many, many millions of people want to know about the answers to the Covid pandemic and our response. to him.
We have provided around 55,000 documents, eight witness statements and corporate witness statements, as well, to the inquiry. And we absolutely intend to continue to be absolutely transparent and honest.
Consultation chair Heather Hallett had ordered the government to hand over the messages, as well as annotations and agenda notes, by 4pm on Tuesday 30 May, but the deadline has now been set for 4pm on Thursday 1 june
The Cabinet’s request for an extension until Monday 5 June was rejected.
Updated at 05:13 EDT
Key events
Rishi Sunak should be resurrected help buy scheme and cut National Insurance to try to attract younger voters, a Tory MP has said.
Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami said graduates under 40 should pay a lower rate of tax as he claimed younger voters were more concerned about money than social issues.
the times reported that, speaking at an event held by the center-right think tank Onward, he said that millennials “should adapt to the modern Conservative party with a modern Conservative leader, especially Sunak.”
An Onward report recently found that Sunak’s personal brand was more popular than his party with millennial voters.
Updated at 06:48 EDT
Britain’s future is outside the EU, Labor leader Keir Starmer has said as he vowed to make Brexit work.
Writing in the Daily Express newspaper, Starmer, who campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum, also said she would not seek a return to freedom of movement.
The comments are Starmer’s latest pitch to pro-Brexit voters ahead of the next general election, with the Labor leader vowing to improve the UK-EU deal struck by Boris Johnson, PA reported.
“If we want Brexit to work, we need a government with the vision and focus to deliver it,” he wrote.
“As Rishi Sunak leaves to meet Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, there is no sign that he or his government have any adequate plans to deliver a better future for our country.
“The future of the United Kingdom is outside the EU. Not in the single market, not in the customs union, not with the return to freedom of movement. Those arguments are in the past, where they belong.”
He said the current deal between London and Brussels was “as thin as paper”, arguing that it had “stifled the UK’s potential and hugely weighted trade terms towards the EU”.
Updated at 06:49 EDT
Cabinet minister says government has ‘nothing to hide’ from Covid inquiry
Aletha Adu
The government has “absolutely nothing to hide” from the Covid inquiry and aims to be “absolutely transparent”, a cabinet minister has said, after Rishi Sunak faced accusations of trying to cover up the actions of senior MPs during the pandemic
The Covid inquiry, led by retired judge Heather Hallett, has used its powers to request unredacted notebooks, diaries and WhatsApp correspondence between Boris Johnson and 40 senior government officials.
But the government opposes the request because it wants to protect the privacy of ministers and officials, and is considering legal action to prevent disclosure.
The Cabinet Office has been given more time to hand over unredacted information relating to Johnson and one of his top aides, Henry Cook, with the material now at 4pm on Thursday. Refusing to comply with an investigative order is a potential criminal offense.
Updated at 06:49 EDT
British businessman Dale Vince is a “perfectly legitimate person” to take money from and his donations to Just Stop Oil do not change Labour’s position on the climate campaign group, the shadow international trade secretary has said.
Nick Thomas-Symonds said his party had been “extremely clear about our views on Just Stop Oil” and that Vince was perfectly entitled to “give money to other causes”, PA reported.
His comments come amid controversy in the Labor party over donations received from Vince, who is also a key donor to Just Stop Oil, protesters known for carrying out disruptive stunts such as disrupting sporting events and stopping roads
Vince, the founder of green energy company Ecotricity, has given around £1.5m to Labor over the past decade, according to documents lodged with the Electoral Commission.
Over the weekend, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told the Telegraph that Keir Starmer was “in bed” with Just Stop Oil donors and Tory party leader Greg Hands urged Labor to return the money given by Vince.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Thomas-Symonds defended her party’s position, saying:
We have been very clear about our views on Just Stop Oil. In fact, Keir Starmer has said of them “just go home” because they are not actually promoting the cause of the fight against climate change.
What they are doing is totally counterproductive and the only debate it is causing is about our public order laws.
He said Vince, who is also chairman of League Two football club Forest Green Rovers, was a “successful businessman here in the UK”, adding:
He is a perfectly legitimate person to take money from.
If he wants to give money to other causes, that’s up to him, but that can hardly be said to affect our views as a Labor party on Just Stop Oil.
Updated at 05:44 EDT
Joe Middleton
Rail services in parts of England have ground to a halt in the first of three train strikes this week, as the long-running dispute between unions and the government continues over pay, jobs and conditions
There is a 24-hour strike by members of drivers’ union Aslef and another day of union action is planned for Saturday, the day of the FA Cup final.
Rail operators have said services will be severely reduced and have urged passengers to plan their journeys before travelling.
Around 40% of trains will run, but there will be wide regional variations, with no services on networks such as Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Northern, Southern, Southeastern, Thameslink and Northern.
In addition, crew and station staff who are RMT members will take industrial action on Friday. About half of the normal services will work.
Updated at 05:12 EDT
Labor accuses PM of being ‘slippery’ with Covid research messages
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. Let’s start the day with Labor accuses Rishi Sunak of being ‘slippery’ in row over whether government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and other documents to Covid inquiry.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting has said Sky News the prime minister should “comply with the inquiry and do it today”.
He said:
I think the Prime Minister looks very slippery today. He says he wants the government to cooperate with the investigation, but the government has withheld information the investigation has requested.
One minute the government says the messages they have are immaterial; the next minute they say they don’t exist. Which is?
He comes as Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stridesaid the government intended to be “absolutely transparent and honest” in relation to the Covid investigation.
He told Kay Burley on Sky News:
So what the government is doing here is we’ve started this investigation because we think it’s really important to get to the bottom of some really important questions that many, many millions of people want to know about the answers to the Covid pandemic and our response. to him.
We have provided around 55,000 documents, eight witness statements and corporate witness statements, as well, to the inquiry. And we absolutely intend to continue to be absolutely transparent and honest.
Consultation chair Heather Hallett had ordered the government to hand over the messages, as well as annotations and agenda notes, by 4pm on Tuesday 30 May, but the deadline has now been set for 4pm on Thursday 1 june
The Cabinet’s request for an extension until Monday 5 June was rejected.
Updated at 05:13 EDT
