Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Treasury minister branded ‘ridiculous’ after claiming HGV driver shortage nothing to do with Brexit – as it happened

Lorries parked in Dover, Kent. Treasury minister Simon Clarke said the government wanted to encourage HGV drivers who had left the profession to come back.
Lorries parked in Dover, Kent. Treasury minister Simon Clarke said the government wanted to encourage HGV drivers who had left the profession to come back. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

This is from the BBC’s economics and trade correspondent Dharshini David on what the Treasury minister Simon Clarke said about Brexit this morning. (See 10.14am.)

Updated

The New Statesman’s George Eaton has posted its chart of the day on Twitter, in an apparent response to Simon Clarke (see 10.14am). “The 37 per cent fall in the number of EU drivers in the UK between March 2020 and 2021 compares to a dip of only 5 per cent in the same period for UK nationals, indicating that Brexit is at least partly to blame for the shortage of between 60,000 to 76,000 HGV licence holders in the country,” Michael Goodier writes in the article.

Updated

Johnson claims Cop26 could mark 'beginning of the end of climate change'

Boris Johnson has claimed that the Cop26 climate crisis conference taking place in Glasgow in November could mark “the beginning of the end of climate change”. In a video address to the Youth4Climate conference in Italy, which was also addressed by the Italian PM, Mario Draghi, and the UN secretary general, António Guterres, Johnson said he wanted Cop26 to focus on four big issues, involving coal, cars, cash and trees.

He went on:

We want to move away, as I’ve described, from using coal as the way we generate electricity, we want to move to move towards renewables.

We want all the countries in the world to move off coal. We want everybody to stop using internal combustion engine vehicles, and it can be done, people are moving away from them as we speak.

We want to raise the funds that the whole world needs, the developing world in particular, to tackle climate change – and we need to get up to $100bn.

And we need to plant hundreds of millions if not trillions of trees around the world. If we do all that, we can make Cop26 in November ... the beginning of the end of climate change.

Johnson quoted a projection saying that “a child born in 2020 will endure seven times as many extreme heatwaves and twice as many droughts as their grandparents”.

But he also claimed that if the world succeeded in addressing the climate crisis, dire predictions for the future could be avoided. He ended his speech saying:

So without being unduly rhapsodical, when you’re my age, you young folks, you young thrusters out there, you’ll inhabit not a world on fire, but a planet where your phones and your computers and your lights are powered by the wind and the water, the waves and the sun.

You’ll inhabit a world where electric cars glide silently down your streets from California to Cape Town; emission-free, guilt-free jet zero planes will fly overhead; and all of us will be able to deal with whatever the climate throws at us.

So what I’m saying to you is that the situation is dire, it is frightening, but change is possible and it can be done.

Johnson, of course, is always stubbornly optimistic, although even by his standards this sounds excessively Panglossian. For an alternative assessment, do read the Twitter thread starting here from my colleague George Monbiot, the Guardian columnist and environmentalist.

Boris Johnson addressing the Youth4Climate pre-Cop26 event taking place in Milan by video today.
Boris Johnson addressing the Youth4Climate pre-Cop26 event taking place in Milan by video today.
 Photograph: Claudia Greco/AGF/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Downing Street has announced two minor ministerial appointments.

Malcolm Offord, who runs a private equity firm in Scotland and who has donated more than £100,000 to the Conservative party, has been given a peerage and will join the government as a minister in the Scotland Office. Earlier this year he was a candidate for the Scottish Conservatives in the regional list section of the election, but he was not elected.

And Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, a Tory whip in the Lords, has been made a culture minister. He will serve in the department while carrying on his duties as a whip. Before joining the Lords, Parkinson was an official in Conservative HQ and an adviser to Theresa May, as home secretary and then prime minister.

Updated

Councils say they should not have to provide main 'safety net' for those in need as 'very challenging' winter approaches

The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, has welcomed the new household support fund (see 8.54am) announced today. But it says the main “safety net” for people in need should come from the welfare system, not from local authorities.

Shaun Davies, chair of the LGA’s resources board, said:

Councils have demonstrated throughout the pandemic that they are best placed to understand local needs and reach their most vulnerable residents. This funding recognises the vital role of local welfare support and is a positive step to enable councils to continue to provide much-needed support to low income households at risk of poverty and financial hardship throughout the winter.

The end of the universal credit uplift and other Covid-related support could combine with rising fuel and food costs to make this a very challenging winter for many low income households, in particular those with children. The mainstream benefit system will need to provide the principal safety net for them, enabling councils to target additional, discretionary support to those who need it most.

It is our view that the £20 per week uplift in universal credit should be retained for as long as it is needed, to support low-income households to recover from the pandemic and to prevent unsustainable costs falling on councils.

The Department for Work and Pensions has admitted that the household support fund is effectively a revised version of a Covid funding scheme already in place that comes to an end today. Last year the government launched a winter grant scheme (pdf), starting in December, that distributed money to councils for them to use to help people struggling to pay for food, heating or other essentials. As winter ended, the scheme was extended under a new name, the local support grant. That scheme ends today.

But the DWP claims the new scheme is more generous. It says £429m has been spent in England under the old version from December until now, and that £421m has been allocated under the new scheme just for this winter – although the DWP has not specified exactly how long that funding is expected to last.

The new scheme is also intended to help a wider group of people. Under the old versions, 80% of the money was supposed to go to families with children. The new one is intended to offer more help to adults without children, the DWP says.

Further guidance to councils on how the money should be spent will be released soon.

Updated

A protester outside the Scottish parliament this morning, who was part of a demonstration about rules coming into force tomorrow making the building a 'protected site' and giving the police new powers to stop protests at the venue.
A protester outside the Scottish parliament this morning, who was part of a demonstration about rules coming into force tomorrow making the building a ‘protected site’ and giving the police new powers to stop protests at the venue.

 Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Updated

The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England has jumped 18% in a week, in a sign that new cases of coronavirus are once again on the rise, PA Media reports. PA says:

A total of 191,771 people tested positive at least once in the week to September 22, up from 162,400 the previous week, according to the latest test and trace figures (pdf).

It is the biggest week-on-week percentage increase since mid-July, which was the last time there was a major spike in Covid-19 cases in England.

The latest numbers are still well below the level reached during the second wave of the virus, however.

In an interview with Times Radio Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, agreed with Simon Clarke (see 10.14am), saying that it was “lazy” to blame Brexit for the shortage of HGV drivers and that other EU countries have driver shortages too. He said Covid was the key factor. He explained:

Even if we allow visas, I don’t know where we’re gonna get these drivers from.

The truth is, the lockdown was an unmitigated disaster in economic terms, because some of our institutions didn’t really think through the consequences of locking down everything they did.

So there was no driver training and examination taking place really, overall, [for] well over a year, which means there were no new drivers coming into the system.

The fuel poverty charity National Energy Action says that the new household support fund announced today (see 8.54am) will not stop vulnerable people being “at dire risk of premature death” this winter. Adam Scorer, the NEA’s chief executive, said:

The massive devastating increases in energy prices will drive over 500,000 more households into fuel poverty, leaving them unable to heat or power their homes. Just when they were needed most, the uplifts to universal credit are also being withdrawn and inflation is soaring.

The new household support fund will provide some welcome support for those that can access it, but on its own it is not enough to halt the erosion in incomes and deal with rising prices. Without a wider package of support - keeping UC uplifts and more rebates to protect those on the lowest incomes from spiralling energy prices - vulnerable people are still at dire risk of premature death this winter.

Harriet Harman says Met chief should resign to restore confidence of women in the force

Harriet Harman has also written to Dame Cressida Dick telling her that why she thinks she should resign and to Priti Patel, the home secretary, demanding seven changes to Met police procedures that would strengthen safeguards for women against the threat posed by violent officers. She has released both letters.

Updated

Harriet Harman, the Labour MP who chairs parliament’s joint committee on human rights, has called for Dame Cressida Dick’s resignation as Met police commissioner following the conviction of Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard.

Harman told Times Radio:

You sense that she [Sarah Everard] never would have got in that car if she hadn’t believed, and [Couzens] wasn’t, a police officer. And women have to be able to trust the police, they shouldn’t be in fear of them, and women’s confidence in the police will have been shattered by this.

Harman said the Met needed a “whole plan of action” to change attitudes. She said: “I don’t think Cressida Dick can actually take that plan forward and therefore she needs to resign.” Harman went on:

Any currently serving officer against whom there is an allegation of violence against women should be immediately suspended, there should be a change in the vetting procedures, there should be independent investigation.

All of these are big changes, which are necessary. They cannot be seen through by the current Metropolitan police commissioner.

Updated

UK’s new £500m winter hardship fund branded as ‘sticking plaster’

Charities and the Labour party have criticised the government’s planned £500m winter hardship fund as a “temporary sticking plaster” that will help struggling households recover from next week’s £20 a week cut to universal credit, my colleagues Patrick Butler and Jasper Jolly report.

Starmer says Labour's policy to raise minimum wage to £10ph is 'minimum for now'

Here is a summary of the main points from Keir Starmer’s six interviews this morning.

  • Starmer said that Labour’s policy to raise the minimum wage to £10 per hour was “a minimum for now”. At the party conference he faced strong criticism from the left for not backing £15 per hour. Asked about this, he replied:

We set out that it should be immediately £10, which is a 12% increase and roughly about £2,000 a year more than those on the minimum wage get now and so that’s a significant step in the right direction. It’s a minimum for now, it should be immediate but it would make a big difference to those on the minimum wage.

And believe you me, I have close relatives working in the care sector, I know what it means to live on the minimum wage, I know how desperately they need a Labour government to change things.

  • He defended his decision to say that he was “100% behind Jeremy Corbyn” when Corbyn was leader, despite criticising him now, saying he was being loyal. He said:

I’m a member of the Labour party, a Labour MP, and like every member of the Labour party and every MP we support a Labour government. A Labour government is always better than the alternative.

I can’t remember a leader of the opposition setting out in such clear terms fiscal rules way ahead of an election so people can see them and pick over them and know exactly where we are going as a Labour party.

John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, says Starmer’s claim is false because Labour did the same thing four years ago.

  • Starmer claimed the “vast majority” of Labour members in the conference hall yesterday supported him. Asked about the heckling he received, he said:

When your party changes, when your party dusts itself down and faces the electorate, there are some people who don’t like that. But if you saw the hall yesterday, the vast majority of people were absolutely with me.

  • He said it was essential to discover how the police officer who killed Sarah Everard was able to “slip through the net”. And he said “thousands upon thousands of police officers doing a fantastic job are absolutely sickened by this”.
  • He said Lord Mandelson has no formal role in the party. Asked on LBC about the person who heckled him with the question “Where’s Peter Mandelson?”, Starmer said he wished he had been quicker yesterday, and responded: “In your head.” He went on:

[Mandelson has] got no formal role at all and I personally haven’t spoken to Peter in some time. But look, I’m not going to pretend I don’t take … I have all sorts of conversations with people, I’m very happy to do so, so I’m not pretending there aren’t people I don’t talk to.

  • Starmer said that his speech yesterday, which has been criticised as too long, was timed to last one hour, but went on for an half and a half because of all the standing ovations and clapping.
  • He said it was time for a female James Bond.
Keir Starmer on BBC Breakfast
Keir Starmer on BBC Breakfast. Photograph: BBC

Updated

Although the Treasury minister Simon Clarke claimed this morning that Brexit was not a factor in the HGV driver shortage (see 10.14am), almost seven out of 10 voters disagree, according to Opinium polling published at the weekend.

This is from the Labour MP Karl Turner, a shadow justice minister, on Simon Clarke’s comment about Brexit not being a factor in the HGV driver shortage on the Today programme this morning. (See 10.14am.)

The Child Poverty Action Group has also criticised the new household support fund (see 8.54am) as inadequate. This is from its chief executive, Alison Garnham.

Ministers are right to worry about low-income families, but now isn’t the time for stop-gap measures. Grants offer no stability to millions of struggling households, and will leave far too many out of pocket when the £20 universal credit cut hits. Investment in local support is necessary and welcome – but unless government drops the £20 cut, families will still face a living standards crisis this winter and beyond.

Keir Starmer was interviewed on the Today programme this morning only a few minutes after Simon Clarke, the Treasury minister, and he was asked why Labour is not explicitly saying that Brexit is to blame for the HGV driver shortage.

Starmer said it was a factor, but he mostly criticised the government for not planning for this. He replied:

Well, it’s certainly a contributing factor. Whether you voted to leave or remain, it was obvious that if we were to leave the EU, we would have less HGV drivers than we would otherwise have.

I think the British public should be angry and frustrated. This is a total lack of planning. It was predicted, and it was predictable, and for five years we’ve known that we’re leaving the EU and the government’s got to a position where we haven’t got an answer.

I spoke to the hauliers sector just two or three days a day ago. They’re tearing their hair out. They want an answer from the government.

Although some Labour figures are prepared to be more outspoken in their criticism of Brexit (like David Lammy, here, for example), generally the party is doing its best to avoid turning the fuel crisis story into an argument about the rights and wrongs of Brexit. That reflects a very strong view in the party that the Brexit issue is now closed, and that there is little to be gained by telling the 52% of people who voted for it that they were wrong.

Updated

Here are two Twitter responses to Simon Clarke’s comments about Brexit and the HGV driver shortage on the Today programme. (See 10.14am.)

This is from Denis MacShane, a former Labour Europe minister.

And this is from David Campbell Bannerman, a former Ukip and then Conservative party MEP.

New Treasury fund won't 'come close' to addressing scale of cost of living crisis, says charity

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that focuses on alleviating poverty, has said the £500m household support fund announced today (see 8.54am) will not “come close” to addressing the cost of living crisis coming this winter. This is from Helen Barnard, its deputy director.

The household support fund is an 11th hour attempt to save face as the government presses ahead with an unprecedented overnight cut to universal credit next week.

The support available through this fund is provided on a discretionary basis to families facing emergency situations. It does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge facing millions families on low incomes as a cost-of-living crisis looms and our social security system is cut down to inadequate levels. By admitting today that families will need to apply for emergency grants to meet the cost of basics like food and heating through winter, it’s clear the chancellor knows the damage the cut to universal credit will cause.

In a report published in the summer the JRF said that in more than 400 constituencies in Britain more than a third of working-age families with children would lose £1,000 a year because of the universal credit cut taking affect next week.

Treasury minister branded 'ridiculous' after claiming HGV driver shortage nothing to do with Brexit

Simon Clarke, the new chief secretary to the Treasury, was giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning and he insisted that Brexit had nothing to do with the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK that has contributed to petrol stations running out of exchange. He was speaking to Justin Webb on the Today programme, and here is the key exchange.

SC: The difficulties we are facing are not unique to this country. The idea that this is somehow just a British problem is fundamentally wrong. There’s a shortage of 400,000 HGV drivers across Europe.

We share that problem. It’s driven in part by workforce demographics, it’s worsened by Covid restrictions.

JW: And worsened by Brexit. That’s just a fact.

SC: Well, no. It’s not a fact.

JW: Really? It’s not a factor at all?

SC: The fact that we want to control immigration, the fact that we need to ...

JW: I understand why we did it, and we may still be keen on doing it. But, in the short term, it has [led to labour shortages]. Why can’t we just be plain about it? We would be in a better position vis-a-vis HGV drivers if we had not at least left the single market.

SC: No, I really don’t accept that. We have a problem that we need to fix, but one that is shared by other European countries too. The idea that this is about Brexit is to try and take us back into what is really, I’m afraid, quite a negative conversation around opportunities forgone when, if you look at the situation in Germany, if you look at the situation in Poland, if you look at the situation in France, they share these problems too.

In fact only this week Olaf Scholz, who is favourite to become the next German chancellor, said the situation in the UK was worse than in EU countries and that Brexit to blame.

The causes of the driver shortage in the UK are complicated, and no one factor is solely responsible. But outside circles where belief in the wisdom of Brexit is an article of faith (and that includes the cabinet), there is a virtual consensus that Brexit is a factor. My colleague Lisa O’Carroll published an analysis explaining that here, and this briefing (pdf) from the Road Haulage Association says clearly that Brexit is a factor.

Clarke’s argument has been described as “ridiculous” by Gavin Barwell, a Conservative peer who served as Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was prime minister. He posted this response on Twitter.

Barwell is referring to the way the government is now arguing that Brexit has benefited workers like HGV drivers because a shortage of workers is driving up wages. Boris Johnson deployed this argument at PMQs earlier this month, when he told Sir Keir Starmer:

We want a high-wage, high-skills economy with controlled immigration; what they want is low wages, low skills, and uncontrolled immigration. That is what [Labour] stand for.

And he later told at Tory MP

After a long period of stagnation in wages for those in the road haulage industry, we are also seeing a long-overdue increase in wages. That is part of the same phenomenon that this government are introducing and the Labour party is opposing.

Simon Clarke.
Simon Clarke. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Q: Will you be going to the new Bond movie this weekend?

Starmer says, having been away in Brighton, he will focus this weekend on being a dad.

And the interview is over. That was the sixth and final interview he has done this morning.

I will post the highlights shortly.

Starmer says there needs to be an investigation into how Sarah Everard’s killer slipped the net. He says he is deliberately choosing not to name him.

And he says parliament should pass a victims’ law.

Starmer accuses Johnson of governing on slogans

Q: You criticised the 2019 manifesto. But you helped to write it, didn’t you?

Starmer says as shadow Brexit secretary he contributed. But he says he always supports the Labour party.

Q: Do you need to be a showman in politics?

Starmer says in his speech yesterday he set out how his background influenced. But as for a showman - we have one now.

Q: And he’s prime minister, and you’re not.

Starmer says look at what is happening, and the queues for petrol. Universal credit is being cut. There is a cost of living crisis. People are worried about how they will

Yes, you can campaign on slogans. But, absolutely, you cannot govern on slogans.

Q: But that’s what he is doing.

Starmer acknowledges Labour has more to do.

Q: Name me one Labour prime minister who was not charismatic.

Starmer cites Clement Attlee. And he says Mark Drakeford is open, reassuring, transparent. When he campaigned with Drakeford, people came up to him to thank him for his leadership.

Q: But that’s Wales. The Tories don’t win in Wales.

Starmer says it is important for a leader to have honesty and integrity.

Q: And if you lose the next election, you will step down.

Starmer says he does not accept he cannot win. He cites Germany as an example, saying the Social Democratic party defied expectations.

Q: What did Tony Blair have that you don’t? Do you feel you should be more like him?

No, says Starmer. He says all leaders are different. It is not his job to “hug a leader from the past”. He wants to get Labour into a position where it can win.

Starmer says during the summer he visited places where people were not voting Labour, spending three days in a place. He did not just arrive for the day, and leave at 4pm.

Q: But did anyone read your essay? I bet your wife did not even read it.

She did, says Starmer. And he says that, although people claim no one read the essay, the Fabian Society website crashed when it went up because so many people were reading it.

Updated

Sir Keir Starmer is being interviewed on Sky now by Kay Burley.

He says in his first year in parliament he voted 172 times, and lost 171 times. He does not want to carry on like that, he says. He did not come into parliament to vote, lose and then tweet about it.

Sunak claims £500m fund will offer ‘lifeline for those struggling’ as universal credit cut takes effect

Good morning. Next week universal credit will be cut by £20 per week, as the government ends its temporary Covid uplift. This will lead to families losing £1,000 a year, and could push another 800,000 people into poverty. Ministers have been under pressure to reverse the cut, or if not at least introduce measures to alleviate the hardship the measures will cause, and today we’ve got a response: a £500m household support fund.

This is how the Department for Work and Pensions explains it in a news release.

The new household support fund will support millions of households in England and will be distributed by councils in England, who know their local areas best and can directly help those who need it most, including for example, through small grants to meet daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities. Cash will be made available to local authorities in October 2021.

The Barnett formula will apply in the usual way to additional funding in England. The devolved administrations will therefore receive up to £79m of the £500m ...

This new fund will run over winter and those in need of support should contact their local council who will help them access the fund.

In a statement about the fund Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said:

Everyone should be able to afford the essentials, and we are committed to ensuring that is the case.

Our new household support fund will provide a lifeline for those at risk of struggling to keep up with their bills over the winter, adding to the support the government is already providing to help people with the cost of living.

Announcing the move now means that at the Conservative conference, starting on Sunday, ministers will have something to say when asked about the impact of the universal credit cut.

And this is not a trivial announcement; £500m is proper money, in Treasury terms. But it is still just a fraction of the money that is being taken away from low-income families. Last week a minister said reversing the cut would cost £6bn a year - more than 10 times what has been announced today.

The Labour conference is over, and the Commons is in recess, the diary is relatively empty today. But Sir Keir Starmer is doing a morning interview round, and I will post the highlights shortly.

For more on the fuel supply crisis, do read my colleague Graeme Wearden’s business live blog.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
David Bowie Trailblazed the 'Everyday Exhibits' Trend in His '70s Living Room With A Retro Twist on Curated Clutter – It's Playful, Practical, and Replicable
A photo from 1971 shows that the musician was tapping into personality-led interiors long before they were a trend – experts say his look is the blueprint
Homes & Gardens
Homes & Gardens
McDonald’s burger prices vary a whopping 74% depending on where you live. Here is the cheapest state
The Big Arch burger contains 1,020 calories and 53 grams of protein and varies in price across the country
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
How to shop at the farmers’ market like a pro
Tips from experts on where to find the freshest fruits and veggies
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
‘The lyrics to Lola by the Kinks are gross – I was really taken aback’: Moby’s honest playlist
The DJ and multi-instrumentalist thinks Donna Summer still sounds like the future, but which ‘unevolved’ Kinks staple can he no longer stomach?
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Watch lyric video for new Foo Fighters single Caught In The Echo
Caught In The Echo is the third track to be released from upcoming 12th Foo Fighters album Your Favorite Toy
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
30 years later, we're still quoting these iconic 'Happy Gilmore' lines
Adam Sandler’s golf classic remains the ultimate proof that the Sandman is a comedy god
Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play