Evening summary
After today’s meeting in Belfast between Boris Johnson and politicians in Northern Ireland
- Boris Johnson claims planned law allowing UK to ignore parts of NI protocol just ‘insurance’ in case talks fail
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Irish PM Micheál Martin urges UK to resume substantive talks with EU over Northern Ireland protocol
- DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson says it’s ‘puerile nonsense’ for Sinn Féin to claim UK government siding with his party
- Sinn Féin says it got ‘no straight answers’ from Johnson
Away from Northern Ireland, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey spoke to MPs amid rising living costs.
Updated
Unite criticise Bailey for comments on wage restraint
The head of the UK’s biggest trade unions, Unite, has said that the governor of the Bank of England should not “lecture” workers about holding off asking for a pay rise.
Earlier on Monday, Andrew Bailey had repeated his assertion that workers should “think and reflect” about asking for wage increases (see 4:54). His comments have already been criticised by the TUC.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Yet again workers are being asked to pay the price, this time for inflation and the energy crisis. Inflation has not been caused by workers. Why should they be expected to pay for the failures of the energy market and the total shambles of government policy?
“Workers don’t need lectures from the governor of the Bank of England on exercising pay restraint. Why is it that every time there is a crisis, rich men ask ordinary people to pay for it?
“Enough is enough, we will be demanding that employers who can pay, do pay. Let’s be clear, pay restraint is nothing more than a call for a national pay cut.”
