Summary of the day …
Rishi Sunak argued the government’s approach to dealing with people crossing the Channel was fairer for the taxpayer than putting asylum seekers up in hotels, as he defended the government’s decision to accommodate migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge. He said: “What has happened here is it is right that we go through all the checks and procedures to ensure the wellbeing and health of the people being housed on the barge. But taking a step back, what is this about? This is about fairness. It is about the unfairness, in fact, of British taxpayers forking out £5m or £6m a day to house illegal migrants in hotels up and down the country, with all the pressure that puts on local communities. We’ve got to find alternatives to that.”
Health minister Will Quince said asylum seekers could return to the Bibby Stockholm barge within days, describing the discovery of legionella bacteria on the vessel as “a teething issue”. The mayor of Portland has said the Home Office should accept responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from the barge after the detection of dangerous bacteria.
The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels. A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.
The shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the government of offering the NHS a “sticking plaster”, with the announcement that £250m was to be set aside to boost capacity before winter. Streeting said the NHS had “huge backlogs, unacceptable waiting times and an annual winter crisis”, adding “Now Rishi Sunak is offering a sticking plaster, which comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds the Conservatives have cut over the last 13 years.”
On a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes, Sunak blamed striking workers for halting progress on reducing waiting lists, saying: “Unfortunately, the progress that we were making has stalled because of the industrial action.” He added that he wanted junior doctors to accept the pay deal on offer so “we can all get back to treating patients and getting those waiting lists down”. The government earlier ruled out any further discussion on pay with junior doctors.
The Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, was also critical of the government’s plans, pointing out there were more than 40,000 vacant nursing posts in England.
Quince told Sky News that cancer targets would be merged, not scrapped, insisting: “This is an announcement due to be made following a consultation, this is not something that the government has led on, but it’s NHS England, oncologists, clinicians and, indeed, cancer charities have called for this change.”
Keir Starmer has attacked the UK government’s decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition reforms, accusing ministers in London of misusing their powers under devolution. The UK Labour leader said the power used by Westminster, which stopped Holyrood from enacting a law to allow people to change gender without medical tests, was designed to promote collaboration, not conflict, between the two parliaments.
Starmer said Labour would set up a powerful new UK-level council of the nations where leaders of the UK’s four governments would negotiate. The UK and Scottish Labour parties remain divided on how best to reform gender recognition legislation – a division the Scottish National party will exploit during the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection. Starmer’s new stance suggests he now accepts Scottish Labour has the right to pursue different policies and that Holyrood can diverge from the rest of the UK on this issue.
The Conservative party chair, Greg Hands, has been urged to launch an internal investigation into the Welsh secretary, David TC Davies, over “unacceptable” and “racist” comments against the Traveller community. The Labour peer Janet Whitaker, and Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for Durham City, who are the co-chairs of the all-party parliamentary group for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, have urged Hands to work with them to ensure that “whipping up concern and opposition” about the GRT community does not happen again.
A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high.
Next year’s rise in English rail fares will be below inflation, the government has announced.
The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in FoI responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies, the forces have said. The data included personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses and suspects relating to a range of offences including sexual offences, domestic incidents, assaults, hate crime and thefts.
The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said the PSNI data leak in Northern Ireland could undermine the ability of the police and security services to keep tabs on dissident republicans, while the Alliance party leader, Naomi Long, expressed concern about its long-term impact on retention and recruitment into roles that “already face an extraordinary level of threat”.
That is it from me today, we will be closing the blog shortly. Thank you for all your comments. I will be back with you tomorrow.
Updated
YoungMinds has said England is facing a mental health emergency, and called on the government to take action on the “rapidly escalating” situation.
Analysis of NHS England data by the charity found there were 3,732 urgent referrals to mental health services for under-18s at the end of May.
It is more than triple the 1,322 urgent referrals recorded for that age group in May 2019.
PA Media reports that Laura Bunt, the chief executive of YoungMinds, said the statistics “should sound the alarm”.
“They are indicative of a system that is broken and a government that has refused to listen to young people demanding change,” she added. “We are now in a mental health emergency and the government must get a grip on the scale of this crisis.”
Updated
My colleague Ben Quinn has our news wrap on Rishi Sunak’s comments today:
Rishi Sunak has insisted that his government is committed to its controversial plans to house asylum seekers on a barge after a series of setbacks which have frustrated a flagship “stop the boats” policy.
In his first comments since people due to be housed on the Bibby Stockholm were removed from the vessel when traces of legionella bacteria were found in the water supply, he argued that the approach was fairer for the taxpayer than putting up asylum seekers in hotels.
However, the prime minister avoided a question about whether he was personally warned about potential health risks for asylum seekers onboard the barge.
Read more here: Sunak ‘committed’ to housing asylum seekers on Bibby Stockholm
Our political correspondent Aletha Adu reports:
The Conservative party chair, Greg Hands, has been urged to launch an internal investigation into the Welsh secretary, David TC Davies, over “unacceptable” and “racist” comments against the Traveller community.
This month Davies circulated a leaflet telling voters: “Gypsy and Traveller site coming to your area soon!” and asking them: “Would you like to see a Traveller site next to your house?”
After Davies was accused of creating a “hostile environment”, the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, defended his colleague, saying he was highlighting failings of the local Labour council.
Davies has denied accusations that he was, in one Labour MP’s words, “abetting anti-GRT [Gypsy, Roma and Traveller] racism”.
While Gwent police have decided to take no further action in relation to the leaflet, Labour and charities that support the Traveller community fear his comments have endangered the safety of the minority group and say the remarks should be condemned by the Conservative party.
The Labour peer Janet Whitaker and Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for Durham City, who are the co-chairs of the all-party parliamentary group for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, have urged Hands to work with them to ensure that “whipping up concern and opposition” about the GRT community does not happen again.
Read more here: MPs call on Tory party to investigate Welsh secretary’s ‘racist’ leaflet about Travellers
Updated
Junior doctor members of the union representing hospital doctors have voted to accept a Scottish government pay deal.
The deal made by ministers last month won the support of 67.5% of members in the HCSA Scotland ballot, on a turnout of just over 74%. Along with the pay increase, PA Media reports that the Scottish government also committed to a new pay review mechanism.
Earlier today the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, blamed industrial action for a failure to make progress on cutting NHS waiting times in England. The government said it had ruled out further talks with junior doctors in England over pay, insisting the current offer was final.
Updated
It is the 25th anniversary of the Omagh bombing today, and a private memorial service has been held. Some bereaved family members laid single white roses and then said prayers at the glass obelisk which marks the spot where the attack occurred on 15 August 1998. About 100 people lined the street, PA Media reports. It follows a public service which took place at the Omagh memorial garden on Sunday.
The president of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, earlier called for the facts around the 1998 bombing to be established “fully and fairly”.
He said: “In remembering the 31 victims, including children, on that tragic day, along with those who suffered injuries, we realise how important the quest for the truth as to what happened is to all those relatives who were affected. In offering our support for the relatives’ quest for the truth as to what happened on that day, I am acutely aware of how long they have waited.”
He said he wished to “pay special tribute” to those whose “extraordinary patience, courage and coming together have shaped a path towards peace and reconciliation”.
Our Ireland correspondent, Rory Carroll, wrote earlier this year that the UK government’s decision in February this year to hold an inquiry into the bombing was the result of a long, lonely campaign by some of the injured and bereaved for truth and justice. He wrote:
The Real IRA, a dissident republican group, admitted responsibility. But police in Ireland and Northern Ireland struggled to gather enough evidence to convict suspects.
In 2002 a Dublin court convicted a dissident republican, Colm Murphy, of plotting the bombing, only for the conviction to be later quashed. In 2003 Michael McKevitt, a Real IRA leader, was found guilty of directing terrorism but not charged with Omagh.
In 2009, some victims’ relatives won a civil case: McKevitt and three other men were found liable for the bomb and ordered to pay £1.6m in damages. It was a symbolic victory because the four suspects remained free and did not pay a penny. McKevitt died of cancer in 2021.
Omagh families waged a separate battle to scrutinise security services’ action – or lack of action – before and after the attack. Eleven days before the bomb the Royal Ulster Constabulary was warned of a planned attack in Omagh on 15 August.
Updated
Libby Brooks, our Scotland correspondent, writes:
Men in positions of power must take the lead in tackling toxic masculinity, which is a root cause of gender-based abuse, Scotland’s first minister has said.
Writing for the Guardian, Humza Yousaf said: “It is simply not good enough to say ‘it is not all men’ and wash our hands of the problem we have collectively created; every single man can, and should, play his role in making change.”
Yousaf said his growing awareness had caused him to reflect on his own behaviour. “Without doubt, in my younger years I will have told a misogynistic joke at the expense of women, or not challenged behaviour that was demeaning to women.”
Yousaf, who has faced a series of challenges since he replaced Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader in March, including the continuing investigation into party finances in which Sturgeon was arrested, a toxic confrontation with Westminster over gender recognition changes, a byelection in Rutherglen against a resurgent Scottish Labour and a festering row among MSPs about their governing alliance with the Scottish Greens, said he wanted Scotland to show “global leadership”.
He has pledged to continue the work of the Barack Obama-inspired National Council for Women and Girls set up by his predecessor and appointed a gender-balanced cabinet, as Sturgeon did.
“There is a great opportunity for all men in positions of influence to demonstrate real leadership on this hugely important issue,” he said. “Whether in politics, in the office, on the work site, in school, the pub or our own living rooms, we can all do more as men to challenge problematic behaviour among our friends, colleagues and family members.”
You can read Humza Yousaf’s piece in full here: Misogynists like Andrew Tate hold sway over thousands of men and boys. Male leaders like me must address that
Updated
Here is a bit of response on the news that rail fares in England will not be going up as much as inflation next year. [See 13.00 BST]
Pressure group Campaign for Better Transport called for fares to be unchanged “in recognition of the burden high fares place on rail passengers”.
Chief executive Paul Tuohy said: “The government should freeze rail fares – as they have done with fuel duty – until the long-promised ticketing reform takes place.”
PA Media reports Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Nobody likes their fare going up, but after a year where many journeys have been blighted by disruption due to industrial action and patchy performance, passengers will be relieved to hear that fares will be capped below the retail prices index and any increases will be delayed until March next year.”
The Scottish and Welsh governments have not announced their policies towards rail fares changes next year.
Starmer attacks UK government over decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition reforms
Our Scotland editor, Severin Carrell, has been in Rutherglen during the UK Labour leader’s visit today:
Keir Starmer has attacked the UK government’s decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition reforms, accusing ministers in London of misusing their powers under devolution.
The UK Labour leader said the power used by Westminster, which stopped Holyrood from enacting a law to allow people to change gender without medical tests, was designed to promote collaboration, not conflict, between the two parliaments.
The Tory government’s decision to use their powers under section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 for the first time has provoked a constitutional battle with the Scottish government.
Ministers in Edinburgh are going to court next month to ask Scottish judges to rule that the section 35 order is an unlawful interference with Holyrood’s powers to decide policy in Scotland. The UK government insists the Scottish bill interferes with UK laws, and therefore goes beyond Holyrood’s jurisdiction.
During a campaigning event in Rutherglen on Tuesday in advance of a forthcoming Westminster byelection there, Starmer said the dispute was a “classic example” of the Tories and SNP wanting to fuel constitutional conflicts rather than constructively solving policy disputes.
Starmer said: “If you look at the theory behind the framework, it was intended not to empower the Westminster government to block in a muscular way things that the Scottish parliament wanted to do. That wasn’t the intention.
“The intention was to deliver a mechanism so that whatever the Scottish parliament wanted could be adjusted within a framework that has been agreed by everybody, to enable provisions, not to block provisions.”
He said Labour would set up a powerful new UK-level council of the nations where leaders of the UK’s four governments would negotiate.
The UK and Scottish Labour parties remain divided on how best to reform gender recognition legislation – a division the Scottish National party will exploit during the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection.
Starmer wants to retain the rule requiring medical tests in England and Wales, and does not believe self-identification “is the right way forward”.
Starmer’s new stance suggests he now accepts Scottish Labour has the right to pursue different policies and that Holyrood can diverge from the rest of the UK on this issue.
Scottish Labour voted for the Scottish government reforms, although it tried to water down some clauses, including on age bars and its interaction with the UK Equality Act. Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister and Welsh Labour leader, supports Scotland’s reforms, but Cardiff does not yet have the powers to initiate a similar change.
Updated
A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high.
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, was urged in a letter to support changes that the campaign says would not just address widening health inequalities but also benefit the economy.
Figures released on Tuesday morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of people across the UK who are economically inactive because of long-term sickness is a record 2.5 million, up 400,000 since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It would be difficult to achieve the aims of the government’s recent “back to work” budget without a healthy workforce who were supported when they got ill, Barclay was told in the letter, coordinated by the Safe Sick Pay campaign.
“Our sick pay system lags behind the rest of Europe,” says the letter, whose signatories included the chief executives of Mind, the Centre for Mental Health, the Business Disability Forum and Prof Jim McManus, the president of the Association of Directors of Public Health.
For the UK to come into line with international standards, they call for changes including the abolition of the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay (SSP) – a change that would help those including workers with a number of jobs – along with making SSP payable from the first day of sickness and increasing it to be in line with a worker’s wages up to the “real living wage”.
Read more here: Charities and experts call for overhaul of ‘broken’ UK sick pay system
Updated
Sunak claims holding asylum seekers on barges such as the Bibby Stockholm is about 'fairness' to UK taxpayer
Rishi Sunak argued the government’s approach to dealing with people crossing the Channel was fairer for the taxpayer than putting asylum seekers up in hotels, as he defended the government’s decision to accommodate migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
While visiting a hospital in Milton Keyes, PA Media reports the prime minister told broadcasters:
What has happened here is it is right that we go through all the checks and procedures to ensure the wellbeing and health of the people being housed on the barge.
But taking a step back, what is this about? This is about fairness.
It is about the unfairness, in fact, of British taxpayers forking out £5m or £6m a day to house illegal migrants in hotels up and down the country, with all the pressure that puts on local communities. We’ve got to find alternatives to that, that is what the barge is about and that is why we are committed to it.
But more fundamentally, we’ve just got to stop people coming here in the first place illegally. That is why one of my five priorities is to stop the boats.
We’ve passed tough new laws that, when they come into force, will enable us to do that and we’re already seeing numbers this year that are lower than they have been in previous years. That is the first time that has happened.
I know there is a long way to go on this but I’m determined to fix this problem and we are making progress and people can be reassured we will keep at it.
Earlier today the Home Office released figures which claimed the provisional total of people arriving in small boats in 2023 was 16,790, which it said represented a total around 17% below the equivalent number at this point last year.
In his comments, Sunak referred to “illegal migrants” being put up in hotels, but the latest Home Office figures show a majority of people arriving on small boats have genuine cases.
As Michael Goodier and Carmen Aguilar García noted in an analysis piece for the Guardian last week: “In the year to the end of March, 90% of small boat arrivals claimed asylum. Due to a large backlog at the Home Office, most of these have not been processed – but of those that have, 60% had their application granted.”
Thirty-nine people were removed from the Bibby Stockholm on Friday, after legionella bacteria were discovered on the vessel on Monday. A dispute between the local council, Home Office contractors and government ministers over who knew what and when is continuing. Yesterday, the health secretary, Steve Barclay, claimed Home Office ministers were only informed on Thursday evening, and “acted swiftly” by having people removed from the barge the next day.
Updated
Next year’s rise in English rail fares will be below inflation, the government has announced.
Ahead of July’s RPI figure being published on Wednesday, PA Media reports a DfT spokesperson said: “Following last year’s government intervention to cap rail fare increases below inflation, we’ll continue to protect passengers from cost-of-living pressures and we will not increase next year’s rail fares by as much as the July RPI figure.
“Any increase will also be delayed until March 2024, temporarily freezing fares for passengers to travel at a lower price for the entirety of January and February as the government continues with its plan to halve inflation.”
The DfT said further details on next year’s fare changes would be announced at a later date.
The July RPI figure has traditionally been used to set the following year’s increase in average train fares. But the 2023 increase in ticket prices was based on the lower figure of average earnings growth instead.
Updated
Here is an excerpt from Owen Jones’s latest column for us, in which he argues that the flaw in Rishi Sunak’s anti-immigration strategy is that voters don’t believe migrants cause all their problems any more:
Throughout their ruinous turn in power, the Tories have sought to blame migrants for problems directly caused by government policy. When David Cameron was prime minister, he endorsed the claim that immigration was a “constant drain” on public services. His home secretary, Theresa May, moulded her political career around scapegoating migrants, falsely claiming she couldn’t deport one “illegal migrant” because he owned a cat, and arguing that new arrivals had “put pressure on public services, like schools, stretched our infrastructure, especially housing”. Given her government’s slashing of public services – including per pupil funding in schools – and failure to build housing, this conveniently turned migrants into the Tories’ human shields.
But the Conservatives did succeed in inflaming popular passions against a demonised foreigner blamed for sapping public services, making immigration a top priority for 44% of voters by 2015. By doing so, they ensured a victory for leave in the referendum of 2016, paving the way for a Brexit that has achieved nothing other than further reducing growth and living standards, leaving 63% of Britons to conclude Brexit was more of a failure than a success, with just 12% suggesting the opposite. The historical moment underlines a political truism: it is politicians seeking to blame foreigners and minorities for society’s ills who pose the greatest danger to a nation.
You can read more here: Owen Jones – Here’s the flaw in Sunak’s poisonous strategy: voters don’t believe migrants cause all their problems any more
Summary of the day so far …
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the Government of offering the NHS a ‘sticking plaster’, with the announcement that £250m was to be set aside to boost capacity before winter. Streeting said the NHS had “huge backlogs, unacceptable waiting times and an annual winter crisis”, adding “Now Rishi Sunak is offering a sticking plaster, which comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds the Conservatives have cut over the last 13 years.”
Sunak was quoted as saying: “Cutting waiting lists is one of my top five priorities, so this year the Government has started planning for winter earlier than ever before and the public can be reassured we are backing the NHS with the resources it needs”. He claimed “these 900 new beds will mean more people can be treated quickly, speeding up flow through hospitals and reducing frustratingly long waits for treatment.”
On a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes, Sunak blamed striking workers for halting progress on reducing waiting lists, saying “Unfortunately, the progress that we were making has stalled because of the industrial action”. He added that he wanted to see junior doctors accept the pay deal on offer so “we can all get back to treating patients and getting those waiting lists down”. The government earlier ruled out any further discussion on pay with junior doctors.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, was also critical of the government’s plans, pointing out there are over 40,000 vacant nursing posts in England.
Health minister Will Quince told Sky News that cancer targets would be merged, not scrapped, insisting “This is an announcement due to be made following a consultation, this is not something that the Government has led on, but it’s NHS England, oncologists, clinicians and, indeed, cancer charities have called for this change.”
Quince has also said asylum seekers could return to the Bibby Stockholm barge within days, describing the discovery of legionella bacteria on the vessel as “a teething issue”. The mayor of Portland has said the Home Office should accept responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from the barge after the detection of dangerous bacteria.
The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels. A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.
The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in FoI responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies, the forces have said. The data included personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses and suspects relating to a range of offences including sexual offences, domestic incidents, assaults, hate crime and thefts. The forces said they have so far found “nothing” to suggest that anyone outside policing has accessed the data.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the PSNI data leak in Northern Ireland may undermine the ability of the police and security services to keep tabs on dissident republicans, while Alliance party leader Naomi Long expressed concern about its long-term impact on retention and recruitment into roles that “already face an extraordinary level of threat”. Yesterday redacted versions of the document were pasted on a building opposite a Sinn Féin office in Belfast, with an accompanying message which the party’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly, described as “sinister”.
There is just a little more detail here on the data leak from Norfolk and Suffolk police, who have admitted today they compromised the personal information of about 1,200 people by mistakenly including it in their responses to FoI requests. [See 11.30 BST]
PA Media reports the data included personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses and suspects relating to a range of offences including sexual offences, domestic incidents, assaults, hate crime and thefts, according to the forces. Victims of sexual offences should have lifelong anonymity under the law.
The forces said they have so far found “nothing” to suggest that anyone outside policing has accessed the data.
Suffolk police clarified that the raw data was contained in an Excel spreadsheet which was “hidden” within the files.
The force added that it could not be seen by simply opening the files and that anyone accessing it would require “technical knowledge” and would need to know what they were looking for.
“A full and thorough analysis into the data impacted has now been completed, and today we have started the process of contacting those individuals who need to be notified about an impact to their personal data,” the joint statement continued.
“This will be done via letter, phone, and, in some cases, face to face, depending on what information was impacted and what support is required.”
Updated
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has described the investment announced for 900 NHS beds today as “another step” to improving healthcare.
PA Media report he told the media in on a visit to a hospital in Buckinghamshire “I’m pleased that we’ve practically eliminated the number of people waiting two years. Earlier this year we practically eliminated the number of people waiting one-and-a-half years.”
Sunak then blamed striking workers for halting progress, saying “Unfortunately, the progress that we were making has stalled because of the industrial action.”
He added that he wanted to see junior doctors accept the pay deal on offer so “we can all get back to treating patients and getting those waiting lists down”.
Earlier today the Government insisted there will be no more talks over pay as the junior doctors strike in England drew to a close.
Health minister Will Quince told Sky News viewers “The prime minister has been really clear that the discussion on pay is now closed. My door remains open to discuss other issues around working environments and conditions, but pay is closed and I think that’s the right decision.”
Two English police forces admit releasing crime victim's data in FOI responses
The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in Freedom of Information (FoI) responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk Police, the forces have said.
In a statement, the two East Anglian constabularies said a “technical issue” meant raw crime report data was included in a “very small percentage” of FoI responses issued between April 2021 and March 2022.
PA Media reports in a joint statement the forces said that had identified “an issue relating to a very small percentage of responses to FOI requests for crime statistics, issued between April 2021 and March 2022.
“A technical issue has led to some raw data belonging to the constabularies being included within the files produced in response to the FOI requests in question. The data was hidden from anyone opening the files, but it should not have been included.
“We will be notifying a total of 1,230 people whose data has been breached.”
The data watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating.
PA Media reports that train drivers in Scotland have voted to accept a pay offer.
Aslef’s Scottish organiser, Kevin Lindsay, said: “This is a resounding vote in favour of accepting the improved pay offer and it shows the importance of a positive approach to industrial relations.
“It is now high time that the rail delivery group and the Tory government do the same in England, and negotiate respectfully and with a willingness to pay our members what they need and deserve.”
Aslef announced its members at ScotRail voted by 75% in favour of a deal the union said is worth 5% for 2023/24, backdated to 1 April, with a further 1% increase from October.
Our economics editor Larry Elliot offers this analysis of today’s annual pay growth, which at 7.8% was the highest since modern records began in 2001: UK jobs market is cooling despite record pay growth
The PSNI data leak was also the subject of discussion on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, with DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson and Alliance party leader Naomi Long appearing.
The DUP’s Donaldson said the data failure may undermine the ability of the police and security services to keep tabs on dissident republicans, telling listeners:
Confirmation that dissident republicans have this data raises the security threat to an even higher level for serving police officers, their families and civilian staff employed by the PSNI.
It’s not just the security of those officers, their families and the staff, but it’s also the security infrastructure itself. I’m very concerned … this may also undermine the capacity of the police and the security service to keep tabs on the dissident republicans who, of course, pose the major threat in Northern Ireland.
Long expressed concern about long-term consequences, with PA Media reporting she said:
This is going to have long-term ramifications at many levels. It also has, I think, serious consequences in terms of retention and recruitment.
Police already face an extraordinary level of threat, as do staff members within the PSNI, and now their details … are out in the public domain and it was inevitable that they would fall into the wrong hands once they had been published.
Neither of them called for the immediate resignation of PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne. Donaldson said “I don’t want to leave the PSNI leaderless at this stage. I think it is important that the chief constable oversees at this stage of the process because that leadership is necessary to ensure stability within the PSNI.”
Back on the PSNI data leak for a second, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has questioned how the details of PSNI officers and staff were all kept in one system.
“What’s happened, why it’s happened, I don’t know, I don’t get it – how 10,000 people were all in one system, particularly intelligence people – but I’m sure that will all come out in the wash,” PA Media reports he told Newstalk.
Ahern also expressed praise for the PSNI in general, saying “The one really good thing out of a lot of the Good Friday agreement was the reform of the RUC to the new organisation the PSNI. The PSNI has been very successful. They’ve done a really good job.”
He urged political institutions to get back to work in Northern Ireland, saying “The reason dissidents get lifeblood to keep going is when there is political instability. So out of all of this I hope that this autumn we will see the institutions back again because when politicians stop co-operating and stop acting, it leaves this space … and the vacuum is filled by troublemakers and people who are worse than troublemakers.”
The PSNI has apologised for “systemic” failures that led to the names, ranks and departments of staff appearing briefly online on 8 August in a response to a freedom of information request.
Yesterday redacted versions of the document were pasted on a building opposite a Sinn Féin office in Belfast, with an accompanying message which the party’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly, described as “sinister”.
Kelly said “this is a very public indication that the dissidents do have access to the sensitive information in the data leak document. It therefore represents a very real threat to the officers and the civilian staff involved.”
The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels.
A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.
Von der Leyen’s aide Bjoern Seibert reportedly said in the memo that “the commission is not open to a UK-EU readmissions agreement”.
However, a spokesperson for the commission denied Seibert had said what was attributed to him in the memo, which was reported by the Daily Mail and the Times. “We have checked and Mr Siebert did not say that,” the commission spokesperson said when asked about the memo.
While the UK has reached bilateral agreements – including a recent deal with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs and tackle illegal migration – the UK is no longer part of returns agreements between the EU and 24 other countries after Brexit.
Rishi Sunak has pushed for a bilateral returns agreement with France but Emmanuel Macron has said any deal must be at an EU level.
The French president made clear during a UK-France summit in March that any returns mechanism would not be “an agreement between the UK and France, but an agreement between the UK and the EU”.
Read more from my colleague Ben Quinn here: EU denies reports it has rejected UK deal to return people who cross Channel
Ahead of a joint appearance today with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Keir Starmer has set out his stall in a lengthy piece for the Scotsman this morning, which starts with an autobiographical passage about growing up when times were tough but people were able to have hope, and comparing it to today. Starmer says:
From Kirkcaldy to Glasgow, Inverness to Rutherglen, they all tell me how little trust they have in politics to change things for them. And, if I’m totally frank, this extends to my Labour Party. Countless people tell me they support Labour values. Yet they remain unconvinced that we – or, for that matter, Britain itself – still offer the way forward for Scotland or their community.
He goes on to say:
My political project is to return Labour to the service of working people and working-class communities. There may have been times in the recent past where Labour was afraid to speak the language of class at all – but not my Labour Party. No, for me, smashing the “class ceiling” that holds working people back is our defining purpose. Because you cannot seriously take on inequality, or poverty, or the pernicious idea that circumstances – who you are, where you come from, who you know – can still count for more than enterprise or imagination, without talking about class. This is personal. I want every family to feel that Britain will support people like them to get on.
You can read the whole thing here: The Scotsman – Why Sir Keir Starmer wants to smash through the ‘class ceiling’ with vision for Scotland
Here is shadow health secretary Wes Streeting driving repeating his “sticking plaster” line on social media, claiming that the 900 hospital beds announced today by the government is “just 7% of the 12,000 beds they have cut since 2010.”
The Tories’ big announcement today is 900 hospital beds.
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) August 15, 2023
That’s just 7% of the 12,000 beds they have cut since 2010.
It’s a sticking plaster that is nowhere near the fundamental reform the NHS needs.
The longer the Conservatives are in office, the longer patients wait.
Newspaper front pages
If you haven’t popped down to your local newsagent yet, here are some of the front pages you would have seen on the racks.
The Guardian lead with the confirmation that dissident Republicans have obtained the sensitive data from the PSNI leak.
The Guardian: Dissident republicans have data
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
from PSNI leak, says police chief #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/YAhMi0VRgU
The government have been desperately trying to make this week “NHS week”, but not everybody got the memo, as last week’s chosen government topic – immigration – is still on the front pages.
The Times has an EU angle – that France is not playing ball with the UK government over its attempt to make a deal over migrant returns.
The Times: EU rejects new deal for return of migrants #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aLg37FQIOa
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
The Daily Express has, not for the first time, turned its ire on France.
Daily Express: DEAR FRANCE... FOR £480M CAN YOU ACTUALLY STOP THE BOATS? #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/yDhF6coT5G
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
The Telegraph has again put its focus on the Covid inquiry and how it is dealign with the impact of the pandemic and its response on children.
Daily Telegraph: Children’s tsar piles pressure on Covid
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
Inquiry #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/fh3POXohmN
Metro picked up the story that NHS England might drop some cancer targets [See 10.00 BST], quoting a campaigner calling the change “ominous”.
Metro: Moving targets #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/CTFb4V6gW4
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
The Daily Mail, meanwhile, has gone off-piste and splashed on TikTok.
Daily Mail: Parents told to get a grip on ‘TikTok yobs’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/LWMU9z35Ok
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 14, 2023
Health minister insists NHS cancer targets are being 'merged', not 'scrapped'
Yesterday health secretary Steve Barclay refused to be drawn on reports that the NHS in England would be scrapping a target to see suspected cancer patients within two weeks. He said “the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”
Health minister Will Quince has taken a different approach today, telling Sky News that targets would be merged, not scrapped. PA Media reports he told Sky News:
This is an announcement due to be made following a consultation, this is not something that the Government has led on, but it’s NHS England, oncologists, clinicians and, indeed, cancer charities have called for this change.
No targets are actually being scrapped – they’re being merged into three targets, which I think, and all of those experts and specialists are saying, is the right thing to do: focusing on outcomes and cutting out bureaucracy for clinicians.
NHS England and oncologists… actually think by moving to three targets, including the faster diagnosis standard, means that actually people get a faster diagnosis as a result.
This is not something where we’re leading on and actually this is something that the NHS in Wales did back in 2018.
The approving line that this is “something that the NHS in Wales did” is somewhat in contrast to the attacks on social media being run by the Conservatives about how the NHS is performing in Wales.
Where Labour run something, they run it badly.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) August 15, 2023
Patients wait for an average of five weeks longer for NHS 🏥 treatment in Labour-run Wales than they do in England, figures show.
More here 👇 https://t.co/L9GuPGisjH
Health minister Quince insists asylum seekers could return to Bibby Stockholm 'in the next few days' after 'teething issue'
On the morning media round health minister Will Quince has insisted asylum seekers could return to the Bibby Stockholm barge within days, describing the discovery of legionella bacteria on the vessel as “a teething issue”.
PA Media reports he told LBC Radio: “Of course public health and safety is key, but we hope in the next few days we will be able to start getting people on to the Bibby Stockholm. It is absolutely the right thing to do but public health and safety is always our paramount concern.”
He told TalkTV the Government remains committed to the plan to use the barge and other vessels like it, adding: “I think with Bibby Stockholm there was certainly a teething issue there. But we are absolutely determined to stick to the plan because we know that deterrence is working.”
Quince did not specify how the government knew the policy was working as a “deterrence”.
On the political blame game that subsequently developed, he told viewers of Sky News “No doubt the Home Office, alongside their contractors, will want to look at the timeline … but what I do know, as soon as ministers were made aware an immediate decision to disembark was made on public health grounds. I know that there won’t be anyone going on to the Bibby Stockholm until it’s totally safe.”
Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, was also critical of the government’s plans. PA Media reports she said: “The elephant in the room is who will staff these additional beds? Nursing staff are already spread too thinly over too many patients.
“Everyday nursing staff are under unsustainable pressure, with over 40,000 vacant nursing posts in England. It is leaving our patients receiving lower quality care, often in inappropriate settings, and our colleagues burnt out and heading towards the door.
“If the prime minister is serious about cutting waiting times, he should not ignore the nursing staff walking out of the profession. He will continue to fail to meet his pledge to cut NHS waiting times if nursing is not seen as an attractive, well-paid profession to join or stay in.”
Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund think tank pointed out that the NHS is facing 112,000 vacancies.
Labour dismisses extra 900 NHS beds announcement as 'sticking plaster'
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the Government of offering the NHS a ‘sticking plaster’, with the announcement that £250m was to be set aside to boost capacity before winter.
The move was announced as part of the government’s plan to make this week “NHS week” in the media. Yesterday the Conservative focus was on attacking the record of the health services in devolved areas of the UK.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak was quoting as saying: “Cutting waiting lists is one of my top five priorities, so this year the Government has started planning for winter earlier than ever before and the public can be reassured we are backing the NHS with the resources it needs.
“These 900 new beds will mean more people can be treated quickly, speeding up flow through hospitals and reducing frustratingly long waits for treatment.”
However, PA Media reports, the Labour response was to point out a raft of statistics they claimed showed mismanagement of the health service under the Conservatives.
Streeting said the NHS had “huge backlogs, unacceptable waiting times and an annual winter crisis”, adding “Now Rishi Sunak is offering a sticking plaster, which comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds the Conservatives have cut over the last 13 years.”
Opening summary
Good morning, welcome to politics live. The government is still very much trying to make this “NHS week”, and to that end have been making funding announcements. We can expect more recriminations from the evacuation of asylum seekers from the Bibby Stockholm last week, and Keir Starmer is in Scotland. Here are the headlines”
The Government announced £250m to boost NHS capacity. It claimed the move will lead to the creation of 900 additional hospital beds, with Rishi Sunak quoted as saying “Cutting waiting lists is one of my top five priorities. These 900 new beds will mean more people can be treated quickly, speeding up flow through hospitals and reducing frustratingly long waits for treatment”. The current waiting list in England is 7.6 million people. Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting described it as “a sticking plaster”.
After some considerable debate on who knew what and when, the mayor of Portland has said the Home Office should accept responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from the Bibby Stockholm after the detection of a dangerous bacteria. Expect more rumblings about this today.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the method for allocating money to pay for public services is out of date, based on inadequate data and skewed in favour of the better-off south-east. It claims the government’s levelling up plans for England are being hampered by a funding system that is “not fit for purpose” and deprives the poorest areas of financial support to match their needs.
On the economy front, the Bank of England is under renewed pressure to raise interest rates next month after wages jumped more than expected in June. A rise in borrowing costs is likely even though the latest figures for the labour market also showed employers had begun to shed workers in response to a slowdown in economic activity.
Disabled people in England and Wales are missing out on an estimated £24m a month as record numbers wait for their personal independence payments (Pip) review, according to Citizens Advice. More than 430,000 people are awaiting a Pip review as the benefit backlog deepens.
Yesterday the government’s ethics watchdog said ministers’ disparaging public attacks on civil servants have damaged staff retention and morale in Whitehall.
It is recess, so there is not much in the diary at all, however Labour’s UK and Scottish leaders, Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar, are due to make a joint appearance at 10.30am.
Starmer is expected set out what a UK Labour government would mean for Scotland. Yesterday he said you’d have a “long, long search” to find any division between them. There will be a Q&A, where you suspect that any questions about Labour’s Westminster plans for benefit caps, gender self-ID and the balance of power – and funding – within the union might test that theory quite quickly.
I’m Martin Belam, and I am with you this week. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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