Inside Politics: Digging in

Rail discussions continue as government publishes British Bill of Rights, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

As thousands of revellers descend on Worthy Farm for this year’s Glastonbury Festival, both camps in the rail dispute remain miles apart on reaching a deal on pay and conditions. And there will be no summer of love between London and Brussels as the government today sets out its plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

Publication of the consumer price inflation figure for May will fuel the debate about pay rises and this week’s rail strikes. At prime minister’s questions, Boris Johnson might be keener to talk about the strikes than Keir Starmer.

The Northern Ireland protocol and the province’s non-functioning executive will be debated during questions to Northern Ireland ministers.

On the select committee corridor, Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, will be quizzed about asylum, crime, the Passport Office and progress since the Williams review of the Windrush scandal – appropriately, on Windrush Day.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, will visit Riyadh to kickstart trade deal talks with six Gulf states including Saudia Arabia and the UAE.

Daily Briefing

Train services are up and running again although major disruption is expected as a consequence of yesterday’s strike, with workers planning two further days of industrial action this week. The RMT union, which is organising the strikes, is getting back around the table with Network Rail and train firms later today. The discussions, however, are not expected to result in a breakthrough in time to prevent tomorrow’s walkouts.

With new ONS figures out in the past hour showing inflation has risen to 9.1 per cent, bosses have offered workers a rise of 3 per cent in return for around 2,000 job cuts. The RMT, however, is holding out for 7 per cent and assurances on jobs.

The RMT and their employers are understood to be a long way from reaching a deal on pay, conditions and redundancies and Boris Johnson has set the scene for months of confrontation with rail workers, saying the country must be ready to “stay the course” to head off public sector pay hikes which he claims would plunge the UK into an inflationary spiral.

But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told The Independent that the government’s approach will cause “widespread hardship” among working families and damage the economy by suppressing consumer demand. With fewer than 20 of scheduled trains running on Tuesday – and 26 per cent of those which did run subject to delays – RMT boss Mick Lynch hailed a “fantastic” response from rail workers.

(PA)

Brexit benefits?

Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, will publish the government’s British Bill of Rights today – a controversial plan which would replace the Human Rights Act brought in under Labour.

Raab has announced plans to stop interim measures from the European Court of Human Rights binding UK courts. And the publishing of the bill comes just a week after exactly that happened – when an ECHR intervention effectively grounded the government’s first plane due to take asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Campaigners have warned that injustices such as the Hillsborough disaster and the failure to investigate ‘black cab rapist’ John Worboys would have never been exposed if the shake-up was already in place.

But the Esher and Walton MP has hit back at criticism as he sets up a fresh clash with the EU. In an interview with The Independent, Raab accused his critics of ignoring “common sense” and of exaggerating the risk of a clash with the Strasbourg Court.

Today’s cartoon (Dave Brown)

See all of The Independent’s daily cartoons here

On the record

“RMT members are leading the way for all workers in this country who are sick and tired of having their pay and conditions slashed by a mixture of big business profits and government policy,” said Mr Lynch. “Now is the time to stand up and fight for every single railway worker in this dispute that we will win.”

RMT Union boss Mick Lynch on train strikes.

From the Twitterati

“Mick Lynch is proving a pretty remarkable media performer - with an uncanny knack of flustering his questioners - others should study his techniques - here and with Piers Morgan earlier.”

Former Tory MP and minister Rory Stewart says Lynch is an apt media performer.

Essential reading

• John Rentoul, The Independent: Keir Starmer’s EU speech will contradict what everyone knows about him
• Hamish McRae, The Independent: Six years after the Brexit vote, what are the economic consequences?
• Marin Hyde, The Guardian: Strikes? Labour’s fault. Immigration? Lawyers’ fault. Don’t blame Boris Johnson
• Michael Schuman, The Atlantic: China’s ‘very dangerous trajectory’

Sign up here to receive this free briefing in your email inbox each weekday