Cost of living – live: Boris Johnson treating No 10 final weeks ‘like one big party’

The Labour Party has accused Boris Johnson of treating his final weeks in No 10 as “one big party” after he was spotted on holiday again as the cost of living crisis worsens.

The prime minister was spotted in Greece in Nea Makri, a coastal town near Athens only a few hours away from where his father Stanley has a villa.

A Labour spokesperson said: “On the evidence of the last few months it seems to make little difference if the prime minister is in the office or on holiday.”

The Labour official added: “It’s all just one big party for Boris Johnson while the country struggles with the Tory cost of living crisis.”

Mr Johnson has been accused of leading a “zombie government” and failing to provide reassurance to families anxious about soaring energy bills expected to hit almost £3,600 this October.

Key Points

• Boris Johnson treating No 10 final weeks ‘like one big party’

• Truss could strip ‘high earners of £400 energy bill support’

• Labour demands energy price cap freeze amid rising cost of living

• UK power sector to ‘wargame’ energy rationing amid threat of days-long blackouts

• Rishi Sunak accused of breaking climate vow with new plan to drill more oil and gas

Sunday 14 August 2022 16:01 , Thomas Kingsley

We’ll be pausing our live updates for the moment but check back in later this evening for more updates from Westminster.

Watch: Priti Patel expresses ‘tremendous pride’ in Afghanistan evacuation effort

Sunday 14 August 2022 16:00 , Thomas Kingsley

Number of migrants to cross Channel in small boats this year exceeds 20,000

Sunday 14 August 2022 15:44 , Thomas Kingsley

More than 20,000 people have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year, government figures show.

Ministry of Defence data published on Sunday said there were 607 people detected crossing the Channel in the 24-hour period between 12 and 13 August. They were transported in 14 small boats.

On 1 August, nearly 700 migrants made the treacherous journey - the highest number in one day this year.

Large groups of migrants, many young children and women among them, were brought to the shore by UK Border Force.

Read the full report below:

Number of migrants to cross Channel in small boats this year exceeds 20,000

Fears for child asylum seekers going missing from UK hotels at rate of one a week

Sunday 14 August 2022 15:22 , Thomas Kingsley

Child asylum seekers are going missing from Home Office hotels after being left at risk of exploitation and human trafficking, charities have warned.

They are disappearing at a rate of one a week, data obtained by The Independent and other organisations shows, and the whereabouts of dozens of vulnerable teenagers is unknown.

An open letter signed by 60 charities and campaigners said children as young as 11 had gone missing, adding: “Our concern for these children cannot be overstated.

“Already vulnerable, separated and traumatised, isolated from family support networks, they are at the greatest risk of exploitation and trafficking.

Read the full exclusive from our home affairs editor, Lizzie Dearden:

Fears for child asylum seekers going missing from UK hotels at rate of one a week

Charities pen letter to Tory leader hopefuls urging bills support

Sunday 14 August 2022 15:07 , Thomas Kingsley

Seventy charities and community organisations have signed an open letter to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak warning families on benefits face a £1,600 shortfall over the coming months, despite receiving £1,200 in the last Government support package.

In the letter, co-ordinated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), they warn soaring energy bills mean many low-income households are already facing in a choice between skipping meals or not heating their homes properly, and that the situation is only set to get worse.

“Many of our organisations work directly with these families and are becoming overwhelmed, too often unable to provide the support so desperately needed,” the letter said.

“This situation cannot be allowed to continue.

“As the prospective leaders of this country, we urge you to act now to demonstrate the compassion and leadership needed to tackle this issue head on.

“We ask you both to pledge that, under your premiership, everyone who needs it will be properly supported when they hit hard times.

“This means ensuring that, at a minimum, the social security system always provides people with enough to be able to afford the essentials.”

Government must ‘overrule nimbys’ on new reservoirs to combat drought, says infrastructure tsar

Sunday 14 August 2022 14:44 , Thomas Kingsley

Government ministers must be able to overrule opposition from local MPs, councillors and residents to new reservoirs in a bid to combat widespread drought, the infrastructure tsar has warned.

Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, said there was “increasing urgency” for more reservoirs amid the threat of water shortages.

Speaking out against the nimbyism – those who say “not in my back yard” – Sir John warned that giving into local campaigns would cost the Conservatives at the polls.

“If you constantly fail to make sure that the basic infrastructure that everyone needs to live their lives is not being provided, then people aren’t going to vote for you, sooner or later,” he said.

Read the full story below:

Government must ‘overrule nimbys’ on new reservoirs, says infrastructure tsar

Analysis | Will Liz Truss be the ‘war on woke’ prime minister?

Sunday 14 August 2022 14:22 , Thomas Kingsley

It appears Liz Truss was getting a little bored of talking about terrifying energy bills and the nation’s economic woes, Adam Forrest writes. The Tory leadership favourite has had little new to say about tax cuts and government “handouts” for several weeks now.

The foreign secretary has some very different set of questions to answer in the days ahead, having managed to take the contest into culture war territory with an astonishing attack on “creeping antisemitism” in the civil service.

Truss sparked outrage with the single strangest press release of her campaign to defeat Rishi Sunak and succeed Boris Johnson. Her team said she would “change woke civil service culture that strays into antisemitism”.

Read the full story below:

Will Liz Truss be the ‘war on woke’ prime minister?

Boris Johnson spotted in Greece on second holiday in two weeks amid cost of living crisis

Sunday 14 August 2022 13:25 , Thomas Kingsley

Boris Johnson has been spotted in Greece enjoying his second summer holiday in two weeks despite the deepening cost of living crisis.

The prime minister has been accused of leading a “zombie government” and failing to provide reassurance to families anxious about soaring energy bills expected to hit almost £3,600 this October.

Labour accused Johnson of treating his final weeks in office as “one big party”, after he was filmed with shopping for groceries in a supermarket in Greece.

Greek news websites reported that Johnson and his wife Carrie were in Nea Makri, a coastal town near Athens, and only a few hours aways from where his father Stanley has a villa.

Read the full story below:

Boris Johnson spotted in Greece on second holiday in two weeks

Not great time for ‘lame duck’ government, says energy boss

Sunday 14 August 2022 13:07 , Thomas Kingsley

Bill Bullen, chief executive of Utilita Energy, said it is “not a great time to have a lame duck government in No 10”.

“It would just be helpful to be working with the team that is actually going to implement whatever mechanism it is, because we’re running out of time here,” he told Times Radio on possible measures ahead of October's price rise.

He said it was time for “a proper cap on prices, especially for low income households” – suggesting that a social tariff should be introduced on a permanent basis

Salman Rushdie stabbing should be ‘wake-up call,’ for west

Sunday 14 August 2022 12:45 , Thomas Kingsley

Tory leadership contender Rishi Sunak has said the stabbing of Sir Salman Rushdie should be a "wake-up call" for the West about the threat which Iran still poses.

Britain should designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation following the brutal attack on Sir Salman Rushdie, Mr Sunak added.

The former chancellor said Iran’s response to the stabbing bolstered the case for proscribing Tehran’s elite military unit, which acts as a protection force to the regime.

He also suggested that the nuclear deal that lifted sanctions against Iran could have reached “a dead end”.

‘Exceptional’ support needed on bills, says business minister

Sunday 14 August 2022 12:03 , Thomas Kingsley

Business minister Greg Hands, a Rishi Sunak supporter, said his favoured candidate is prepared to commit “big” sums to help with the cost of living this autumn.

“He is not denying the fact that there is going to be a big rise and we're talking big numbers here,” he told Times Radio – denying the idea Sunak was “showering money around”.

Sunak has committed to an extra £10bn in support through VAT cuts in energy bills and extra direct payments. “We need to take exceptional actions. That is what he’s saying, while still being fiscally responsible,” said Hands.

Tory MP Ranil Jayawardena, a Liz Truss backer, said she was wise not to commit to any extra support until she is “in office”, should she be announced the winner on 5 September.

“Projections are just projections at this point,” he told Sky News. “Let’s see what the situation actually is after this leadership contest is over.”

UK civil servants to vet social media of guest speakers at one Whitehall ministry

Sunday 14 August 2022 11:35 , Thomas Kingsley

Civil servants will have to trawl through social media accounts of guest speakers - including going back up to five years - to see if they have ever criticised government policy, as part of a new vetting process, the Financial Times reports.

The new Cabinet Office rules cover the vetting of outsiders coming into the department to take part in “learning and development” events and urge managers to carefully check the backgrounds of such guests.

Allies of Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said the policy, which took effect this week, was “very sensible” and should be implemented straight away.

“There have been far too many examples recently where essentially extremist speakers have been invited to speak to civil servants and staff networks,” said a colleague of Mr Rees-Mogg.

Voices | Only bold ideas can help people with bills – and the Tories aren’t up to it

Sunday 14 August 2022 11:16 , Thomas Kingsley

It’s been a funny week in Birmingham. It started with the climax of the Commonwealth Games, Jess Phillips writes. The sun shone and royals, dignitaries, athletes and volunteers danced along with rock and pop royalty. Hearing our voices and seeing our streets on national TV in a carnival of pride and excellence was intoxicating. We felt as if anything was possible, the future was bright.

As always though there is a tale of two cities. Away from the fanfare, as the week ran its course the news broke that for people already feeling much more than just a pinch, energy bills will rise to over £4,000 a year. The confidence shot in the arm that the Games gave us was going to need a booster programme fast.

Read the full voices piece here

Tory members prefer Boris Johnson to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, poll finds

Sunday 14 August 2022 10:49 , Thomas Kingsley

A large majority of Conservative Party members still prefer Boris Johnson over Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, according to new poll.

The latest Opinium survey shows Truss has a healthy lead over Sunak in the Tory leadership race, ahead 61 per cent to 39 per cent among Tory members.

But the poll shows signs of regret at the PM’s political demise over the Partygate scandal, and an apparent lack of enthusiasm for either of his would-be successors.

In a head-to-head contest between Johnson and Truss, 63 per cent of Tory members would opt for the caretaker PM, compared with 22 per cent support for the foreign secretary.

Read the full story below:

Tory members prefer Boris Johnson to Truss and Sunak, poll finds

Payments for poorest must double to avoid ‘catastrophe’, say charities

Sunday 14 August 2022 10:25 , Thomas Kingsley

A group of 70 charities and community groups signed a letter calling on the two Tory leadership candidates to commit to a doubling in the £1,200 package of support going to the most vulnerable households.

Dan Paskins from Save the Children, said: “At the very least, the government should double the emergency support package announced in May to ensure families are shielded from a catastrophic winter.”

Paul Kissack, chief executive at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which organised the letter, said: “Planning for a substantial support package needs to start immediately. Without it, vulnerable people will face a catastrophe on a vast scale when winter sets in.”

Treasury plan ‘doesn’t seem proportionate’, says charity boss

Sunday 14 August 2022 10:05 , Thomas Kingsley

Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action charity, said the Treasury’s reported plan to reduce the energy price cap by £400 this January “doesn’t seem proportionate” to the crisis faced by families.

“It doesn’t seem like a plan yet,” he told Times Radio. “It won’t avoid the costs for people on the lowest incomes and quite honestly, it doesn’t seem proportionate to the cost of living crisis that many are facing and fearing.”

He added: “Government, prime ministerial candidates and opposition parties are only just waking up to the scale of the intervention that is required … They have to wake up.”

Truss could strip ‘high earners of £400 energy bill support’

Sunday 14 August 2022 09:47 , Thomas Kingsley

Liz Truss could strip high earners of the £400 autumn energy bills support, a treasury secretary has suggested.

Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury and a key backer of Ms Truss, said it was “odd” that wealthy people would also benefit from the handout, and if made prime minister, the foreign secretary would examine whether this could be blocked.

“As Conservatives, we ought to surely believe in targeting taxpayer money as best we can so that we actually achieve the best value and keep the burden on the exchequer as low as we can,” Mr Clarke told the Sunday Telegraph.

“It is not an ideal outcome, putting it very mildly, that people who don’t need it are receiving quite substantial sums of money from the state. That is not, frankly, a targeted package, is it?”

Treasury ‘draws up plan to cut £400 from energy bills in January’

Sunday 14 August 2022 09:40 , Thomas Kingsley

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is thought to have asked Treasury officials to draw up plans to cut gas and electricity bills by an extra £400 in January through a new lending scheme for energy providers.

It comes as Labour joined the Liberal Democrats in calling for the energy price cap rise – expected to hike annual bills to almost £3,600 – to be frozen in October.

While Treasury officials are not proposing to freeze the price cap rise this October, they are considering ways to bring January’s price cap down by about £400 per household, according to the Sunday Times.

Read the full story below:

Treasury ‘draws up plan to cut £400 from energy bills in January’

Boris Johnson only PM I’ve worked with who has disgraced the office – Sturgeon

Sunday 14 August 2022 09:18 , Thomas Kingsley

Nicola Sturgeon said Boris Johnson has been the only prime minister she has worked with who was “a disgrace to the office”.

Speaking at a panel event at the Edinburgh Fringe on Saturday afternoon, hosted by broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika, Ms Sturgeon called the prime minister a “disgrace”.

She said: “I disagreed with David Cameron, I disagreed with Theresa May, I disagreed with Boris Johnson, but he’s the only one who’s actually disgraced the office of prime minister.”

Read the full story here

ICYMI: Labour MPs defy Keir Starmer by joining striking train drivers on picket line

Sunday 14 August 2022 08:50 , Thomas Kingsley

Several Labour MPs have defied the stance taken by party leader Sir Keir Starmer by appearing at picket lines in a show of support for train drivers striking over pay.

Rail passengers were hit by widespread disruption on Saturday as thousands of members of the Aslef rail union – drivers from nine operating companies – staged a 24-hour strike.

Senior Labour MPs have been warned not to visit staff at picket lines outside train stations, but left-wingers Dawn Butler and Barry Gardiner joined drivers at Willesden station in west London.

And frontbencher Kate Osborne, a parliamentary private secretary in the shadow Northern Ireland team, joined striking staff at Newcastle station. “I will always support workers in struggle … workers need a pay rise,” she tweeted.

Voices | Will Liz Truss be able to put the Conservative Party back together again?

Sunday 14 August 2022 08:33 , Thomas Kingsley

Despite all the talk of coming together when this is over, and how much Liz Truss prefers Rishi Sunak to Keir Starmer, it seems that the candidates and their supporters cannot help themselves, John Rentoul writes. In Cheltenham on Thursday, Sunak said Truss’s plans would “leave millions of incredibly vulnerable people at the risk of real destitution”.

The next day, when the new GDP figures were published, Truss put out a statement implying that it was Sunak who was responsible as chancellor for the “shrinking of the UK economy”.

Read the full piece below:

Opinion: Will Liz Truss be able to put the Conservative Party back together again?

Rishi Sunak vows to make UK ‘energy independent,’ if made PM

Sunday 14 August 2022 08:15 , Thomas Kingsley

Rishi Sunak has set out plans to make Britain “energy secure” - including boosting North Sea gas production - as he seeks to make up ground in the Tory leadership race.

The former chancellor said he would legislate to make the UK “energy independent” by 2045 at the latest as he vowed to ensure there is no repeat of the looming winter crisis.

Mr Sunak confirmed that if he becomes prime minister on 5 September, he would put in place immediate support for households - particularly the most vulnerable - faced with soaring energy bills.

At the same time he pledged urgent action to drive up domestic energy supply with the creation of a new energy security task force and deregulation in the North Sea to allow gas production to increase over the winter.

Sir Ed Davey suggests Labour stole energy price cap plan

Sunday 14 August 2022 07:55 , Thomas Kingsley

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey has suggested Labour took its plan to freeze the energy price after Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his Party’s plan to ban the increase of energy bills amid falling living standards in the UK.

Writing on Twitter following the announced plan, Mr Davey said: “Hi UK Labour glad you liked my proposal to cancel the energy price rise. I also have some thoughts on electoral reform that you're welcome to adopt...”

Earlier this week, the Lib Dems called on October's expected energy price cap rise to be scrapped, with the cost covered by a windfall tax on energy company profits.

The Energy Price Cap Increase (Cancellation) Bill would make Ofgem maintain the existing rates, saving households an average of £1,400 this year, the Lib Dems said.

The bill would also make the government produce a report into extending and backdating the windfall tax on oil and gas company profits to help cover the cost.

Rishi Sunak accused of breaking climate vow with new plan to drill more oil and gas

Sunday 14 August 2022 07:39 , Thomas Kingsley

Rishi Sunak has been accused of undermining the government’s climate policy as he vowed to boost the production of oil and gas in the North Sea through a new deregulation drive.

The Tory leadership contender has set out plans to extract more domestic fossil fuels, claiming that he will order a new licensing round for oil and gas drilling permits “immediately” – with a further round from 2024 – if he becomes PM.

But climate campaigners told The Independent that his proposals are “utterly bewildering”. They argued that the proposals do nothing to help cut soaring energy bills, and put Mr Sunak’s commitment to the legal target of cutting emissions to zero by 2050 in doubt.

Read the full story below:

Rishi Sunak condemned over ‘bewildering’ plan to drill more oil and gas

UK power sector to ‘wargame’ energy rationing amid threat of days-long blackouts

Sunday 14 August 2022 07:36 , Thomas Kingsley

Gas power stations could be shut off to ration energy supplies as part of emergency plans to stave off widespread blackouts this winter, insiders have warned.

Sources at two power stations, along with government officials, said they were preparing to “wargame” emergency plans next month, and that they had been asked to review measures to keep Britain’s lights on in the worst-case scenario of dangerously low supplies.

They suggested that drills could take place in September and October, and warned that they could be asked to switch gas stations off in order to ease high network demand.

Read more here

Labour calls for ban on energy price rise

Sunday 14 August 2022 07:35 , Thomas Kingsley

Sir Keir Starmer will demand that the energy price cap is kept at the current level of £1,971, saving consumers thousands of pounds in future spiralling costs.

The Labour leader is expected to unveil the plan on Monday in a bid to prevent the regulator Ofgem from hiking the price to the anticipated £3,600 in October, The Guardian reported.

It comes amid reports that the Treasury has drawn up a multi-million pound package to help households with their rising energy bills. Under plans previewed in The Sunday Times, the chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is considering cutting the energy price cap by an extra £400.

Read the full story below:

Labour demands energy price cap freeze amid rising cost of living

Welcome

Sunday 14 August 2022 07:31 , Thomas Kingsley

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s politics blog. Follow along for the latest updates from Westminster and the cost of living crisis.