Summary
That’s all from a busy day in Westminster. Here is a quick round-up of what’s been going on:
Rishi Sunak has decided to block legislation passed by the Scottish parliament making it easier for transgender people to self-identify using a constitutional order under the Scotland Act for the first time. The secretary of state for Scotland, Alister Jack, announced that he would use provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 to halt the gender recognition bill after a review by UK government lawyers.
Nicola Sturgeon has described Westminster’s move to block the gender bill as “a full-frontal attack” on the Scottish parliament. In a tweet posted in response to Alister Jack’s Section 35 announcement, the first minister said: “This is a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish parliament and its ability to make its own decisions on devolved matters.”
The UK government has been accused of using the “nuclear option” after Westminster stepped in to block Holyrood legislation. Nancy Kelley, the chief executive of Stonewall, a leading transgender rights charity in the UK, accused the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, of using trans people’s lives as “a political football”.
Nurses will stage two more strikes next month as a row with the government over pay shows no clear sign of reaching a resolution. In an escalation of industrial action, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said nurses will strike on 6 and 7 February, with more NHS trusts taking part than during two days of strikes in December. NHS Providers interim chief executive, Saffron Cordery, said the announcement was “very worrying”, PA reported.
Thousands of schools in England and Wales are set to close in February after teachers voted to strike, union leaders have announced, as nurses also prepare for further stoppages. Action by members of the National Education Union will begin with a mass strike on 1 February, to coincide with the Trades Union Congress’s national “protect the right to strike” day of action, followed by six days of regional stoppages.
Rishi Sunak’s new anti-strike laws would prevent certain job-holders from ever being able to take industrial action, Labour’s deputy leader said during fiery exchanges in the House of Commons. Angela Rayner promised on Monday that Labour would repeal the government’s anti-strikes bill, saying it was one of the most “indefensible and foolish pieces of legislation to come before this house in modern times”. She said that enforcing minimum service levels would mean some roles – like railway signal operators – would never be able to withdraw their labour.
The business secretary, Grant Shapps, said life would be made “harder for every single family” in the country if the government agreed to “inflation-busting” pay demands. Speaking as MPs debated the strikes bill, DUP MP Jim Shannon said he believed in the “fundamental right” of workers to withdraw their labour, before adding: “Does government really believe that withdrawing the right of a worker to withdraw their labour is what they’re about?”
Talks will continue this week between the rail industry and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) amid renewed optimism that a deal can be reached without further strikes. However, the drivers’ union Aslef was set to reject an initial offer from train operators, meaning a full resolution to the long-running pay dispute on the railway is likely to remain some time away.
Speaking outside Downing Street at the protest against the new strikes bill, Mick Lynch told Keir Starmer to avoid trying to be a “vanilla politician” and back workers’ rights. The RMT general secretary said: “There are some people missing tonight. You get this every time you hear me. We’ve got Jeremy [Corbyn], he’s with us, we’ve got SNP MPs, we’ve got Caroline Lucas from the Green party. But there’s a big question – where’s the Labour frontbench tonight?”
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. Thanks for following along. The UK politics live blog will be back in the morning. Goodnight.
Speaking outside Downing Street at the protest against the new strikes bill, Mick Lynch told Keir Starmer to avoid trying to be a “vanilla politician” and back workers’ rights.
The RMT general secretary said:
There are some people missing tonight. You get this every time you hear me.
We’ve got Jeremy [Corbyn], he’s with us, we’ve got SNP MPs, we’ve got Caroline Lucas from the Green party.
But there’s a big question - where’s the Labour frontbench tonight?
He urged the shadow cabinet to support unions and rip up anti-strike bills on winning an election.
Lynch said the Labour leader should not try to be a “vanilla politician in a vanilla suit”, adding:
Come and stand with us … stand up for socialism, stand up for workers and let’s change this going forward.
