Afternoon summary
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Landmark domestic violence legislation is expected to become law after peers ended their stand-off with the government following concessions. As PA Media reports, the breakthrough came with time running out in the dying days of the parliamentary session. A key sticking point on the domestic abuse bill in the Lords had been the demand for action to keep tabs on and deal with serial perpetrators and stalkers. The upper chamber had backed a change aimed at ensuring such offenders would be registered, monitored and managed under multi-agency public protection arrangements (Mappa). But ministers argued the move would not achieve its goal and outlined changes to strengthen the existing system. The government also moved its own amendment to develop a strategy for prosecution and management of offenders within 12 months of the bill becoming law. This would aim to take steps to reduce the risk of domestic abusers and stalkers from committing further such offences.
That’s all from me for today. But our coronavirus coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.
Updated
No 10 restates its claim that Tory funds are not now being used to pay for PM's flat refurbishment
At the No 10 lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman was asked if he would retract a statement issued last month saying Conservative party funds were not being used to pay for any refurbishment of the Downing Street estate. (See 1.41pm.) In the light of reports (which have not been denied) saying the party paid £58,000 last summer to cover the costs, that statement is now seen as misleading. The spokesman essentially sidestepped the question.
But now No 10 has issued a statement effectively restating last month’s claim. A spokesperson said:
Any costs of wider refurbishment this year beyond those provided for by the annual allowance have been met by the prime minister personally. Conservative party funds are not being used for this.
The use of the present tense in this statement is crucial because No 10 announced last week that Boris Johnson had now met the costs himself, and so although it is possible that Tory funds were used to pay for the refurbishment, they are not now being used for this purpose.
On 8 March Allegra Stratton, who was then the PM’s press secretary, also said that Conservative funds “are not being used to pay for any refurbishment of the Downing Street estate”. She also made a point of using the present tense, and did not deny that Tory funds might have been used in the past.
But it is assumed that Johnson had not repaid the money in March (No 10 would probably have told us if he had) and Stratton seemed to be making a distinction between the money for the refurbishment having come from Tory HQ (which she was denying) and the money having come from an individual or individuals who just also happened to be donors to the Conservative party (which she was not denying).
Arguably this distinction was specious because a subsequent story in the Daily Mail quoted a leaked email from October last year revealing that a £58,000 payment was made to the party by a donor, Lord Brownlow, to cover a payment already made by the party when it settled the bill for the refurbishment.
Updated
DUP MLAs 'push for no confidence vote in party leader Arlene Foster, NI's first minister'
A majority of DUP members of the Northern Ireland assembly have signed what is in effect a letter of no confidence in Arlene Foster, the party leader and Northern Ireland’s first minister, Sam McBride reports for the News Letter in Belfast. McBride quotes one of Foster’s critics as saying that unionism is “crying out for leadership” and that the party needs a “clear direction” after a period of drift and U-turns on key issues.
Breaking News: After more than five turbulent years as DUP leader, Arlene Foster’s time at the helm of Northern Ireland’s biggest party appears to be coming to an end after 75% of her MLAs signed a letter calling for a leadership contest. https://t.co/hn8lnDDmmx
— Sam McBride (@SJAMcBride) April 27, 2021
The UK has recorded 17 further coronavirus deaths and 2,685 new cases, the government has announced on its Covid dashboard. Week on week, deaths are down by 20.7% and new cases are down by 5.8%.
The figures also show that yesterday 90,695 people received their first dose of a vaccine, and 304,688 people had their second dose.
These are from Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, on the row about the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat.
Another issue on flat. If it turns out CCHQ did make payment to Cab Office to cover initial costs of flat refurb (as per @peston), then the party will have to explain to members why funds being raised for election campaigning are instead being used to pay for pricy wallpaper 1/
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) April 27, 2021
As one party source pointed out to me today, lots of party members, esp in Red Wall away from wealthy London, give £5 in envelopes to party and live in homes that are worth less than the rumoured costs of the flat refurbishment... so they might feel pretty aggrieved about it all
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) April 27, 2021
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has said he would introduce a policy to support staff working at City Hall who are going through the menopause if he wins re-election. As Metro’s Harrison Jones reports, Khan said:
Older women, when they go through the menopause, aren’t being given support by their employers.
Many employers are ignorant and it is important for blokes in particular to educate ourselves and then make sure we have got employment practices in place so all our team can continue firing on all cylinders.
Khan said the policy, which has yet to be agreed with unions and staff, could involve provision for time off.
Updated
MPs vote down Lords amendment to fire safety bill protecting leaseholders from post-Grenfell repair bills
In the Commons MPs have just voted by 320 votes to 256 to reject a Lords amendment to the fire safety bill that would have protected leaseholders from the cost of post-Grenfell safety repairs.
Christopher Pincher, the housing minister, said that although the Lords amendment, which would have protected residents from having to pay the costs of removing unsafe cladding until a statutory support scheme was in place, had a laudable goal, it was unworkable.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross won't say yes when asked if PM man of 'integrity and honour'
Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, refused three times in an interview to say clearly that he believes Boris Johnson is a man of “integrity and honour”. He was being interviewed by ITV Border’s Peter MacMahon who has posted this clip.
New. I asked @Douglas4Moray if he believes @BorisJohnson is a man of integrity and honour. I asked three times, to try to be clear. His answers are here. @ScotTories leader says he does not believe @BorisJohnson made "bodies piled high" remarks. More on @ITVBorderRB tonight #SP21 https://t.co/CGpRcmD2yj
— @petermacmahon (@petermacmahon) April 27, 2021
Ross also said that it would have been “appalling” if Boris Johnson had said that he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than order a second lockdown - but that he believed Johnson’s assurance that he did not use the phrase.
In contrast, when Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, was asked this morning if she would condemn the sentiment, she said that was a hypothetical question, because Johnson had not used the phrase.
Quarter of UK adults have now had both doses of vaccine, Hancock says
More than a quarter of adults in the UK have now had both doses of vaccine, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has announced. That amounts to 13,201,811 people.
NEWS: 25% of UK adults have now received 2 jabs.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) April 27, 2021
This milestone shows how far we've come as a country in our fight against this virus.
A huge thank you to the whole team working so hard to roll-out the vaccine. pic.twitter.com/zxoYcDR921
Updated
Boris Johnson has been accused of “dismal failure” over efforts secure the release of British-Iranian “hostage” Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The Labour MP Tulip Siddiq criticised the prime minister in the Commons earlier during an urgent question on Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been sentenced to a further one-year jail term. Siddiq said:
At the heart of this tragic case is the prime minister’s dismal failure to release my constituent and to stand up for her, and his devastating blunder in 2017 when he was foreign secretary - when he exposed his complete ignorance of this tragic case, and put more harm in Nazanin’s way.
The prime minister did not even arrange for UK officials to attend Nazanin’s recent court hearing, which might have ensured she got a free and fair trial. He still hasn’t got his government to pay the £400m debt that we as a country owe Iran.
We MPs might be many things but we’re not naive. We cannot deny the fact that Nazanin was handed a fresh new sentence a week after the IMF’s debt court hearing was delayed.
In response James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister, said Siddiq’s anger was “misdirected” because Iran was to blame for holding Zaghari-Ratcliffe in arbitrary detention.
Updated
FDA union wins full court hearing on legality of PM's interpretation of ministerial code
Boris Johnson’s decision to back Priti Patel and disregard the findings of his adviser on ministerial standards that she had bullied staff can be challenged in court, a hearing ruled today.
The FDA union’s judicial review of the decision has been granted a full hearing on the prime minister’s decision despite being challenged by the government in the high court.
It means that the union will argue in court that the prime minister’s interpretation of the ministerial code should be subject to the rule of law.
Responding to the decision, which is the first step towards a judicial review, the union’s general secretary Dave Penman said:
The ministerial code is the only means by which civil servants can raise complaints against the conduct of ministers and it is vital that decisions on this are subject to the rule of law.
Ministers should be held to the same standards of conduct as civil servants. We welcome the opportunity now granted to argue that point fully that the prime minister erred in his interpretation of the ministerial code when deciding that the Home Secretary did not break the code.
Sir Alex Allan resigned as the independent adviser on ministerial interests in Downing Street after Johnson contradicted his advice by judging that Patel did not breach the rules, despite being found to have bullied staff.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, in response to questions about comments made by Boris Johnson last year expressing his opposition to lockdowns, the prime minister’s spokesman said that “at all times [Johnson] has been focused on savings lives and livelihoods”. (See 1.13pm.)
The problem with this argument is for much of last year ministers, and others, were inclined to see saving lives and livelihoods as conflicting policy objectives, not complementary ones. And Johnson, because of his strong libertarian instincts, was much more keen than his colleagues on prioritising the economy over health.
The best in-depth account of this yet published is probably Failures of State, the new book about the government’s handling of the pandemic by the Sunday Times journalists Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott. It reads like the first draft of the Covid inquiry report, and it includes a claim that 4.5m coronavirus infections might have been avoided if Johnson had not delayed each time he was urged to impose a lockdown. Calvert and Arbuthnot write:
When we began writing this book, we had witnessed the consequences of the decision to lock down late in March, but did not expect the government to make the same mistake again by delaying in the autumn. We certainly did not think that Johnson would commit the same error for a third time. By prevaricating again over Christmas and into the New Year, 1.6 million more people are estimated to have been infected over the 17 days from the time the cabinet agreed that something had to be done about the mutant virus on Saturday 19 December and the inevitable national lockdown on Monday 4 January. That brought the total number of infections allowed to spread across Britain over the combined 68 days that the prime minister had delayed bringing in the country’s three lockdowns to an extraordinary 4.5 million, according to Imperial College modelling.
It has been claimed (by the Economist’s Anne McElvoy) that one reason why Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat refurbishment cost so much is that Carrie Symonds, his fiancee, was determined to get rid of Theresa May’s “John Lewis nightmare” furnishings. At a briefing for journalists Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, defended the store as she called for transparency about the funding of the flat make-over. Dodds said:
I think a lot of people would look at what’s taken place here with the prime minister’s flat really with incredulity.
I have to say I really like John Lewis myself, I don’t really see a big problem with John Lewis.
Ultimately, what’s this about? It’s about that issue of one rule for them and another rule for everybody else.
£60,000 is a lot of money to do up a flat, it appears that wasn’t enough and that’s why these questions are being raised in the first place.
I would be astonished if that amount of money wasn’t enough to do up a flat.
Updated
No 10 declines to retract statement saying Tory funds not being used to pay for PM's flat refurbishment
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman gave a read-out from cabinet (see 12.33pm and 12.36pm) and refused to deny that Boris Johnson originally argued for a “let it rip” approach to coronavirus last autumn. (See 1.13pm.) Here are the other points from the briefing.
- The prime minister’s spokesman refused to retract a statement by the PM’s then press secretary, Allegra Stratton, last month saying Conservative party funds were not being used to pay for the refurbishment of the PM’s flat. Robert Peston, who worked with Stratton when she was a co-presenter on his ITV show, and others have said it is now clear that this statement was false and should be withdrawn.
On 8 March, Allegra Stratton - at the time the PM's press secretary - told Lobby journalists: "Conservative Party funds are not being used to pay for any refurbishment of the Downing Street estate." This turns out not to be true. As I said yesterday, the Tory Party...
— Robert Peston (@Peston) April 27, 2021
lent money to the prime minister to settle bills for the refurbishment of his flat above the shop. I assume Allegra Stratton - whom I worked with for years - must have been misled. The cabinet secretary Simon Case will presumably wish the record corrected ASAP.
— Robert Peston (@Peston) April 27, 2021
But, when asked to retract the comment, the spokesman said he did not want to comment ahead of the planned publication of further details of how the flat was paid for when Johnson publishes an update to his declaration of ministerial interests. The spokesman said:
I’ve seen the reports and the speculation on that, I’m not going to jump ahead of any potential declarations that need to be made.
The spokesman also refused to comment on new reports saying Tory HQ originally paid Johnson’s refurbishment bill last summer. (See 11.09am.) Asked about these reports, the spokesman said:
As the prime minister has said, if there’s anything to be said, any declarations to be made, they will be made in due course in the normal manner.
- The spokesman said the review of the Downing Street refurbishment being carried out by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, would consider the general issue of the maintenance and upkeep of Downing Street, as well as the renovation of the PM’s flat.
- The spokesman said the UK currently does not have any surplus doses of vaccine that could be sent to India.
- The spokesman said the government was “extremely concerned” about the treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe by Iran - but declined to agree with claims that she was being held as a hostage, or that her treatment amounted to torture.
Updated
No 10 refuses to deny Johnson argued for 'let it rip' approach to Covid before agreeing to second lockdown
Today the Times reports that in September last year Boris Johnson “repeatedly said that he would rather ‘let it [coronavirus] rip’ during this period than implement another lockdown, because the restrictions would cause businesses to close and people to lose their jobs”. This backs up a report from the BBC earlier this year. (See 11.09am.)
Asked about this claim at the Downing Street lobby briefing, the prime minister’s spokesman replied:
I’ve seen the various reports and speculation which distort the actions of the prime minister. At all times he has been focused on savings lives and livelihoods.
When pressed a second time, the spokesman again refused to deny that Johnson had made the comment.
I will post more from the briefing soon.
Attendance at state schools in England has returned to pre-pandemic levels last seen a year ago, according to the latest figures published by the Department for Education. Overall attendance in the first week back after the Easter holidays reached 94% for all pupils, the highest proportion since March last year.
While 96% of primary school pupils were in attendance, state secondary schools lagged slightly with only 91% attending, although higher than the 87% in the week before the Easter holidays. In special schools – which typically have lower overall attendance rates – 88% were in class compared with 82% in the last week of March.
According to the DfE’s figures, just 0.6% of pupils were absent for Covid-related reasons at the start of last week, compared with more than 3% in the week before Easter.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said:
This is a testament to the hard work of schools and shows that they can be relied upon to deliver complex safety arrangements whilst also providing a settled learning environment for pupils.
It should be remembered that the government has still not supplied sufficient funding for schools to help them with the costs of these safety measures. The longer schools have to wait for this, the more likely it will be that they’ll have to raid their existing budgets to cover these costs. Ultimately, this will mean a reduction in what schools can spend on pupils themselves.
Updated
In a written statement Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister, has said that 70% of adults in Wales have now had a first dose of vaccine, and a quarter of them have had two doses.
For the UK as a whole, the latest figures on the government’s dashboard show that 64% of adults have had a first dose, and 24% have had both doses.
Johnson tells cabinet Covid remains a threat and Britain 'not out of the woods yet'
At cabinet Boris Johnson also told ministers that coronavirus continued to pose a threat and that the UK was “not out of the woods yet”. This is what Downing Street has said about his comments in its cabinet read-out.
The PM reiterated that the data continues to look good but warned that we are not out of the woods yet as variants of concern continue to pose a threat. The PM said that while the road ahead looks positive, there will still be challenges and this government will continue to take tough decisions where necessary to protect both lives and livelihoods.
Updated
Johnson tells cabinet ministers to find efficiency savings ahead of spending review
At cabinet ministers were told they were expected to come up with plans for efficiency savings as part of this year’s spending review, No 10 has said. Here is an extract from the summary of cabinet sent out by Downing Street.
The prime minister highlighted that departments are being asked to take part in a savings and efficiency review ahead of the spending review later this year. The purpose is to learn the lessons from the last year in how we can run services more efficiently and ensure that we focus our high levels of spending on our key priorities. This is a standard part of the spending review process.
We may get more details at the lobby briefing which is currently under way.
Updated
Boris Johnson is regarded as untrustworthy by six people out of 10, according to new polling by Ipsos Mori. Joe Murphy has written up the figures for the Evening Standard and here is an extract from his story.
With the prime minister battling claims about his conduct on several fronts, he is revealed to be trusted by just 35% of voters and deemed untrustworthy by a clear majority of 59%.
Labour leader Sir Keir is regarded as trustworthy by 42% and not to be trusted by 41 ...
Despite the rows it found net satisfaction with the government and the PM was little changed from March. Both Johnson and Starmer have net negative ratings, but chancellor Rishi Sunak gets a glowing review with 58% satisfied and just 27% dissatisfied. For Johnson the split is 44 satisfied /50 dissatisfied, and for Starmer it is 36/46.
And here is a comment on the figures from Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos Mori.
On honesty Boris Johnson is clearly trumped by Keir Starmer, so this is an area of potential risk for him. However, his own supporters still trust him, and the public overall have never seen it as one of his strongest attributes … and as previous leaders such as Tony Blair have shown, you don’t have to be ahead on trust to win elections. The key question is whether and if these stories continue and start to change the public’s overall view on him as PM.
Updated
Public Health Wales has recorded just 33 new coronavirus cases, and no further deaths. This is the lowest daily total for new cases recorded in Wales this year. In late December and early January daily new cases regularly topped 2,000.
The rapid COVID-19 surveillance dashboard has been updated
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) April 27, 2021
💻 https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱 https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh
Read our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/thYQQRLNqa
A report published by the Office for National Statistics this morning has illustrated the large difference between the number of people working from home in London and in the rest of Britain. In London 70% of adults were working from home in early 2021, according to the figures. That is well ahead of the region with the next largest proportion of adults working from home (the east of England, 51%) and almost double the proportion of people working from home in the north-east, where the rate was 36% in early 2021.
Covid deaths in England and Wales down 97% since second wave peak, ONS figures show
Deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales have fallen 97% since the peak of the second wave of the virus, PA Media reports. PA says:
Some age groups have recorded drops as high as 98% or 99%, as the combined impact of the lockdown and the vaccine rollout continues to drive down the number of infections and hospital admissions.
A total of 266 deaths occurred in the week ending 9 April where Covid-19 was recorded on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is down 97% from 8,965 deaths in the week to January 22, the peak of the second wave, when more than a thousand deaths were taking place each day.
Analysis of the ONS data by the PA news agency shows the age groups 75-79, 80-84 and 85-89 also recorded drops of 97%, while for people aged 65-69 the fall was 96% and for those aged 60-64 it was 95%.
For people aged 90 and over the drop was even sharper, however, with a fall of 98% from the second-wave peak.
And for people in the 70-74 age group, deaths have dropped by 99%.
The figures suggest the strict lockdowns in place across England and Wales since the start of the year, coupled with the increasing take-up of Covid-19 vaccinations, have together played a critical role in limiting the spread of the virus among the population.
Here are some of the most interesting articles on the Tory “sleaze” allegations in other papers this morning.
The prime minister is said to have argued in September that there was no evidence lockdowns worked and described them as “mad” during an intense debate within government.
The Times has been told that he repeatedly said he would rather “let it rip” during this period than implement another lockdown, because the restrictions would cause businesses to close and people to lose their jobs.
He is also said to have expressed regret about the first lockdown, comparing himself to the mayor in the film Jaws who kept the beaches open despite the risk of shark attacks. Johnson has in the past suggested that the mayor was the “real hero” of the film for resisting political pressure.
A No 10 spokesman said: “These are gross distortions of his position. Throughout this pandemic we’ve done everything we can to save lives and protect livelihoods.”
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg made a similar allegation in her long read on the behind-the-scenes story of the government’s handling of the pandemic last month.
Boris Johnson’s claim to have paid for the lavish makeover of his Downing Street flat faced fresh scrutiny last night after it was confirmed Tory HQ paid the £58,000 bill nine months ago.
Conservative chiefs are understood to have secretly approved the payment to the Cabinet Office in July.
The payment, confirmed to the Mail yesterday by Cabinet Office sources, undermines the PM’s insistence that he paid the bill himself.
Downing Street has refused to deny reports that Mr Johnson secured a loan from a Tory donor – believed to be financier Lord Brownlow – to pay for the decor.
I will never forget the faces of Foreign Office officials when I informed them that foreign ministers had started texting each other. Being used to listening in to every telephone call, their reaction could have been a scene in Yes, Minister: “But foreign secretary, this could lead to ministers making decisions without being briefed, or on something they don’t understand at all.”
Don’t worry, I reassured them. Most of these messages will be banal greetings; I have only given them the number of my government phone and anything important I will circulate to the department ...
As the years went by no harm was done, and more than one diplomatic incident was defused by sending a soothing SMS to a disgruntled counterpart. A politician who didn’t use modern means of communication would soon be behind the game, which is why attacks on Boris Johnson for sending urgent texts as the country cried out for ventilators are unfair.
The accounts of what happened on the evening of October 30, 2020 could not be further apart – but on one matter there is unanimity. Boris Johnson was in a foul mood on a day he now wishes he could forget.
Having publicly pledged to do everything he could to avoid the “disaster” of a second lockdown, the prime minister had been strongarmed by his most senior ministers and aides into agreeing to just that.
Mr Johnson feared he would pay a heavy price politically for a decision that would hit the economy and rile Tory MPs and the public at large. He was wrong.
Updated
Tom Newton Dunn from Times Radio thinks Boris Johnson could face a higher tax bill as a result of the arrangements used to finance his flat refurbishment.
Of all the different messes swirling around Boris Johnson tonight, ministers seem most worried about his Downing Street flat refurb. Some worry that Boris Johnson may have a tax problem on his hands over it (1)
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) April 26, 2021
If a donor did initially foot the £58k bill, which seems so now, it would be viewed by HMRC as a benefit in kind, and therefore has a tax liability. Did the PM pay that extra tax bill, of up to £26,500? Another, as yet, unanswered question. More on @TimesRadio after 7am (2)
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) April 26, 2021
Barnier tells MEPs they must 'learn lessons' from 'social anger' that led to Brexit vote
In the European parliament’s debate on the EU/UK Brexit deal, Michel Barnier, who was the EU’s chief negotiator, said the EU had to learn lessons from the “social anger” that led people to vote for Brexit. He told MEPs:
This is a divorce. It’s a warning, Brexit, and it’s a failure - a failure of the European Union. And we have to learn lessons from it as politicians here in the European parliament, in council, in the commission, in all of the capitals.
Why did 52% of the British vote against Europe? There are reasons for that - social anger and tension which existed in many regions in the UK but also in many regions of the EU.
Our duty is to listen and understand the feelings of the people - this social anger shouldn’t be confused with populism - and we should do everything to respond to that in each of the member states and at the union level.
He also quoted the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed during the referendum campaign by a far-right terrorist, as he said he hoped relations between the UK and the EU would remain good. He said:
We need to preserve the spirit of cooperation. I often thought about what was said by Jo Cox, the young British member of parliament, when she gave her first speech in the House of Commons.
We’re talking about the UK, but I think this also applies to relations between the EU and the UK: ‘We have far more in common than that which divides us.’
Protection of the citizens, incl. in Ireland/ NI, preservation of the EU single market, long-term 🇪🇺🇬🇧 cooperation.
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) April 27, 2021
All of this was made possible thanks to the unity of the 27 and the trust and vigilance of the @Europarl_EN
🙏 @EP_President & all MEPs https://t.co/jeuEAOGgva
People aged 42 and over now able to book coronavirus vaccine in England
The NHS coronavirus vaccine booking system in England has opened to healthy people aged 42 and over, PA Media reports. PA says:
The national booking system has extended for the second time in a week to allow more healthy adults in their forties to book their jab.
People in England who are aged 42 and over, or those who will turn 42 before 1 July, can now arrange their vaccine appointment through the national booking website.
Updated
There is interest below the line in what happened when MPs held their latest debate last night on the Lords amendments to the domestic abuse bill. The key Lords proposal, on setting up a register for offenders, was voted down. Here is the PA Media report of the debate, which took place late last night.
MPs have pleaded with ministers to go further on measures to keep tabs on serial domestic abuse perpetrators and stalkers.
The House of Lords voted to amend the landmark domestic abuse bill in a bid to ensure such offenders would be registered, monitored and managed under multi-agency public protection partnerships.
But Victoria Atkins, the Home Office minister, argued the proposal would not achieve what its backers were intending and outlined tweaks to the existing system.
The government also moved its own amendment to develop a strategy for prosecution and management of offenders within 12 months of the bill becoming law.
This would aim to take steps to reduce the risk of domestic abusers and stalkers from committing further such offences.
Speaking in the Commons, Atkins said of the Lords plan: “We are all in agreement as to the outcome we want to achieve. If I thought that these amendments would of themselves make women safer I would be offering them my full support, but it remains our view that they will not deliver the outcome they seek to secure.”
She went on: “We have a comprehensive package of work in place to deliver a step change in the protection of vulnerable women and men from domestic abuse perpetrators.”
And here is the Commons Hansard of the debate.
The bill returns to the Lords today.
Updated
Only 3.5% of deaths in England and Wales involved Covid by mid-April, ONS says
In the week ending Friday 16 April only 3.5% of deaths in England and Wales (362 out of 10,438) involved Covid (in that it was mentioned on the death certificate), the Office for National Statistics says in figures published this morning.
The previous week, 4.2% of deaths involved Covid.
In the week ending 16 April, deaths were also below the five-year average for this time of year for the sixth week in a row.
Von der Leyen says 'progress' being made on Northern Ireland protocol as MEPs vote on ratifying Brexit deal
MEPs are this morning holding the vote to ratify the EU/UK trade and cooperation agreement, and in her speech to the parliament Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, said that deal had “real teeth” and that the EU would not hesitate to take action if Boris Johnson breached its terms. She said:
We know it will not always be easy and there is a lot of vigilance, diligence and hard work ahead. But, while today’s vote is obviously an end, it is also the beginning of a new chapter.
The choice is now whether today’s vote will be the high-water mark of the EU-UK relations for the next decades, or whether we see this as the foundation of a strong and close partnership based on our shared values and interests.
Only history will tell what road is taken – although I hope for the latter.
She also said that there had been “some progress” in the talks between Lord Frost, the UK’s Brexit negotiator, and Maros Sefcovic, the commission vice-president, on implementing the Northern Ireland protocol (the part of the withdrawal agreement governing trade in Northern Ireland).
Referring to the UK’s unilateral announcement earlier this year that it would delay implementation of parts of the protocol, she said “unilateral decisions will get us nowhere”. She went on:
In recent days and weeks, we have seen a new, constructive dynamic and we will continue to work closely with the UK to find constructive solutions that respect what was agreed.
The next step is to mutually agree on compliance paths, with concrete deadlines and milestones.
We need solutions, not soundbites, if we are to make the protocol work for the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland.
There is a live feed of the debate here.
Updated
Minister casts doubt on Dominic Cummings’ credibility as a critic of PM
Good morning. Boris Johnson is chairing cabinet this morning, and will reportedly tell his ministers to focus on the “people’s priorities”, but media and political attention is still overwhelmingly focused on the multiple “sleaze” allegations surrounding him. There are the unanswered questions about how the bill for his lavish Downing Street flat refurbishment was settled, controversy about his alleged remarks about his willingness to see thousands of people die rather than order a further lockdown, his briefing war with Dominic Cummings and concerns about the government’s approach to lobbying and how it awarded Covid contracts worth billions.
It can be hard to keep up. But one of the attractions about “sleaze” as a concept for the opposition is that it is such an elastic, vague terms that it can embrace almost any revelation with implications for propriety. That’s why, as a label, it can stick.
Here is our overnight story by my colleagues Jessica Elgot and Robert Booth.
This morning Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, was doing the morning interview round on behalf of No 10. As the Independent’s Rob Merrick points out, mostly her responses were unilluminating.
Summary of cabinet minister Therese Coffey’s R4 interview about the various sleaze scandals…..
— Rob Merrick (@Rob_Merrick) April 27, 2021
“I don’t know”
But she did develop slightly a fresh line of attack against Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser who used a blogpost on Friday to attack the PM and who is believed to be behind some of the most damaging briefing against him recently. Asked whether Cummings was a credible witness, Coffey told the Today programme:
I think that people will have often come into contact with Dominic Cummings for the first time last year when he did a press conference in the Rose Garden. And they, I’m sure, will have made their own judgments on what they think of that.
The Rose Garden press conference was the one in which Cummings claimed that he visited Barnard Castle to test his eyesight. Millions of Britons concluded his account was implausible, and Coffey seemed to be implying that his claims about the PM may be untrue too – although, when pressed by the presenter Justin Webb, she said that she was making “no assertions” about him and that she had only one interaction with him last year.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
9.30am: The ONS publishes its weekly death figures for England and Wales, as well as a report on the impact of Covid on households in subnational areas.
10am: Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
11.30am: Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, gives evidence to a Lords committee about aid cuts.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to holds its daily lobby briefing.
3.30pm: Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, Lord Wolfson, the justice minister, and Lord Bethell, the health minister, give evidence to the Commons justice committee on Covid and the criminal law.
Covid is the issue dominating UK politics this year and often Politics Live has been largely or wholly devoted to coronavirus. But on a day like today I am more likely to be focusing on non-Covid politics, with coronavirus developments getting less attention. For global coronavirus news, do read our global 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.
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