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Keir Starmer tests positive for Covid
Boris Johnson faces his first Commons showdown today at a later-than-usual Prime Minister's Questions as MPs file back to Westminster from their constituencies following the Christmas recess.
Angela Rayner, Labour's deputy leader, takes on the prime minister after party leader Keir Starmer tested positive for Covid. She is likely to challenge Johnson on his handling of the pandemic after it was confirmed yesterday that England would press ahead with plan B restrictions despite mounting pressure on the NHS.
Elsewhere, the controversial Nationality and Borders Bill gets its second reading in the House of Lords amid a backlash from campaigners who claim it will make black and Asian citizens feel like "second-class citizens".
Under the proposed legislation those who are eligible for citizenship of another country could be quietly stripped of UK status if it were deemed to be in the “national interest”.
Lord Woolley, an equalities activist, told The Independent, “This will further exacerbate the reality that millions of British people, many of African, Caribbean and Asian descent, are second class citizens.”
Recommended Nationality and Borders Bill would make people like me second-class citizens, warns peer Public overwhelmingly against Tony Blair knighthood, poll finds Johnson does not deserve Garter knighthood like Blair’s, says Keir Starmer
Key Points Rayner replaces Starmer at PMQs after leader gets Covid Johnson faces first Commons showdown of 2022 Border and Nationality Bill gets second reading in Lords Starmer sets out vision for the country
Show latest update 1641384946 Watch: Starmer tests positive for Covid
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Keir Starmer tests positive for Covid
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 12:15
1641383688 Pat McFadden dismisses campaign against Blair knighthood
Pat McFadden has dismissed the campaign against Tony Blair’s knighthood.
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury suggested the Daily Mail has reverted to an anti-Blair stance following a recent change of leadership.
“Previous Conservative prime ministers have had a knighthood,” he said. “I don’t think it should just be for former Tory PMs.”
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Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 11:54
1641382290 New Lib Dem MP demands talks with health sec over N. Shropshire ‘ambulance crisis’
The Liberal Democrat victor in the North Shropshire by-election is demanding a meeting with Health Secretary Sajid Javid to discuss the “ambulance crisis” in the county.
Helen Morgan is being sworn in as an MP on Wednesday after she stunned the Tories in last month’s vote, overturning a majority of almost 23,000 to take the previously safe Conservative seat with a winning margin of nearly 6,000 votes.
In her first day at Westminster, Ms Morgan promised to “hit the ground running”, writing to Mr Javid asking him to meet the West Midlands Ambulance Trust which first requested talks four months ago.
“I am here in Westminster to make sure the people of Shropshire are no longer taken for granted by this Conservative Government,” she said.
“The ambulance crisis is a life and death situation in Shropshire. I can’t think of many other meetings which are more important than this one. The Health Secretary cannot ignore this request any longer.”
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 11:31
1641381058 Home Office refuses to publish assessment of expanded powers to stop and search people without suspicion
The government has refused to publish its assessment of a controversial expansion of stop and search powers as it pushes to apply them to peaceful protesters.
A pilot that began in April 2019 made it easier for police to trigger “section 60”, which gives officers the right to search people without reasonable grounds in areas where serious violence could break out.
Our home affairs and security correspondent Lizzie Dearden reports:
Home Office refuses to reveal assessment of stop and search powers Exclusive: Government claims it needs ‘safe space’ to discuss changes as police officer says plans push black communities away
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 11:10
1641380332 Truss to demand ‘rapid progress’ on NI protocol
Lizz Truss will demand "rapid progress" on Brexit's Northern Ireland protocol in her first face-to-face meeting with the EU.
The foreign secretary is in charge of Brexit talks following the resignation of Lord Forst towards the end of last year.
The Telegraph says she has invited Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice-president, to Chevening House, her grace-and-favour home, for talks next week.
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 10:58
1641379558 Johnson considering help for families struggling with soaring energy bills
Households struggling with soaring energy prices could get help with their bills, Boris Johnson has suggested.
At a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister hinted that help would not come in the form of VAT cuts.
But he said he was not “ruling out further measures,” adding the government would “do what we can to help”.
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 10:45
1641378958 Tony Blair’s ex-defence chief ‘told to burn memo saying Iraq invasion could be illegal’
Tony Blair’s former defence secretary Geoff Hoon has claimed he was told by Downing Street to “burn” a memo that suggested the invasion of Iraq could be illegal.
The ex-Labour minister said his own adviser was told “in no uncertain terms” to get rid of a memo written by former attorney general Lord Goldsmith.
Our politics reporter Adam Forrest reports:
Tony Blair’s defence chief ‘told to burn memo saying Iraq invasion could be illegal’ Former minister Geoff Hoon claims he was told ‘in no uncertain terms’ to get rid of advice
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 10:35
1641378370 Commons statements
Here’s a list of some of the statements that will be made in the Commons today:
-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Energy Infrastructure Planning Projects. Chancellor of the Exchequer: Economy update. Secretary of State for Education: Institutes of Technology. Secretary of State for Education: Skills update.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle
(Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament)
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Covid-19 update. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Implementation of Statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: Our vision for the Women's Health Strategy for England. Secretary of State for Transport: Transport for London Funding Extension December 2021.
At around 3.30pm, PM will deliver an oral statement on Covid-19.
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 10:26
1641377120 Starmer struck down by virus
Keir Starmer has tested positive for Covid again as the more contagious Omicron variant sweeps through the country.
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, will fill in for Starmer at PMQ’s later. He was last infected with the virus in October last year.
Our politics reporter Adam Forrest will have more on this story as it develops:
Keir Starmer tests positive for Covid Labour leader will miss PMQs
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 10:05
1641376628 Nationality and Borders Bill would make people like me second-class citizens, warns peer
Priti Patel's controversial Borders and Nationality Bill gets its second reading in the House of Lords this afternoon.
The home secretary says the proposed legislation will tackle illegal immigration and the underlying "pull factors" into the UK's asylum system.
The government claims it will:
Make the system fairer and more effective so that we can better protect and support those in genuine need of asylum To deter illegal entry into the UK breaking the business model of criminal trafficking networks and saving lives To remove from the UK those with no right to be here
But campaigners say the bill would treat black and Asian people as second-class citizens as they face the possibility of having their UK citizenship revoked without notice.
Lord Woolley, an equalities activist, said he would also face being stripped of citizenship under Clause 9 of the bill in this way as his mother was born in the Caribbean.
Our race correspondent Nadie White reports:
Nationality Bill would make people like me second-class citizens, warns peer Exclusive: Equalities campaigner Lord Woolley says controversial legislation has echoes of Windrush scandal
Matt Mathers 5 January 2022 09:57
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