Inside Politics: Cabinet split on China and Boris reopens borders

China hawks are concerned about country’s role in electric car supply chain, and fully jabbed EU and US citizens can arrive in UK from Monday, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

It took the TV world by storm. But after nearly two decades on our screens, Simon Cowell’s X-Factor is set to be, well, axed. He and ITV have confirmed there are “no current plans” for another series of the show, which gripped the nation in its heyday. Senior Tories are reaching for the big red eject button on China’s involvement in the UK’s electric car supply chain. Elsewhere, it’s full steam ahead as Boris Johnson moves to reopen Britain’s borders and a top Tory advisor has told voters to join other parties.

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Inside the bubble

Parliament is in recess.

Coming up shortly:

- Foreign secretary Dominic Raab on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme at 8.10am

- Labour’s shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips on Times Radio at 8.30am

Daily Briefing

HAWKS CIRCLE: Disagreements on how to deal with China are never far from the surface within the Tory Party, and a cabinet split over the Communist Party-ruled country’s involvement in the UK’s electric car supply chain is worsening,The Independent can reveal. Senior Conservatives fear the UK is “falling into a trap” by handing over sensitive aspects of its “green industrial revolution” to a regime they say threatens British security. One senior Tory remarked: “There’s a sense that any investment is good investment – that people are somehow being hysterical if they raise worries about the risks China poses to the country – with No 10 these days.”

TOTALLY RELAXED: Former PM Theresa May pursued a cautious approach to dealings with Beijing during her time in office, taking what seemed like an eternity to make a decision on the controversial Hinkley Point C nuclear power project. But Johnson, apparently a self-confessed Sinophile, appears much more relaxed. No 10 declined to comment on claims of the split but a business department spokesperson said: “As an open economy, we welcome foreign trade and investment, including from China, where it supports UK growth and jobs – but we will not accept investments that could compromise our national security.” As ever on China relations, one to watch.

EU SHALL PASS: Britain’s borders are reopening. Fully vaccinated US and EU citizens can enter the UK without the need to quarantine from next week, ministers have confirmed. Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said the changes will come into force at 04:00 on Monday, allowing potentially millions of travellers from America and across the Continent to take a trip to Blighty. The story makes several of this morning’s front pages, withThe Timesreporting the decision was made “in defiance of official warnings.” Britons travelling to Europe will still need to check their host country will allow them in first. In Italy, for example, which is on the UK’s amber list, travellers will need to self-isolate for five days even if they can provide a negative test, according to current government guidelines.

WE’RE ON A BREAK:TheTelegraph leads with comments by Shapps saying he expects the US to now return the favour. But those hoping for a break stateside will have to wait; the US has a ban on arrivals from the UK, which Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this week was staying in place for the foreseeable future. So much for the special relationship. Is it the right call by Johnson to reopen the borders? Labour reckons it might not be. Angela Rayner, deputy leader, says she has “real concerns” over the plan, pointing to the US’s less than robust paper card vaccine certification system. “Each individual US state does things differently,” she said. “They don’t have a National Health Service that has a vaccine programme like we do with the certifications.” Fewer than half of Americans are fully jabbed, while there is also some concern that EU citizens who have been inoculated less with less effective vaccines in countries like Hungary, which has been using China’s Sinopharm product, pose a risk in terms of new variants.

FULL STEAM AHEAD: There is a boat load of other Covid updates to report this morning. Britons will be allowed to go on cruise ship holidays again from next month, the government has confirmed. Guidance recommends all passengers are double-vaccinated, with most operators not allowing people on to vessels unless they have received both vaccine doses. International cruises will be allowed to set sail from 2 August, Shapps said. Elsewhere, Johnson gave an interview that was broadcast on LBC yesterday, in what experts are calling a “low frequency event”. Yes, an actual interview, although it was pre-recorded. During his chat with Nick Ferrari, the PM confirmed that self-isolation rules for the fully inoculated will end on 16 August, saying the decision “is nailed on.” Johnson also suggested that vaccine passports could be extended to festivals, sport and air travel. But he distanced himself from comments by cabinet minister Michael Gove, who earlier this week refuseniks are “selfish”. TheDaily Express says the travel changes will give the UK’s decimated tourism industry a £31 billion boost. Meanwhile, only around 200 of the 2,000 daily testing sites for key workers promised by Johnson to beat the “pingdemic” are in operation and hundreds of them will not be in place until the end of next month – two weeks after the 16 August date when the requirement to self-isolate will be lifted.

JOIN THE GREENS: Rule No 1 in the Conservative Party employee manual for advisers: don’t tell voters to join other parties. Whoops, Allegra Stratton hasn’t done her reading. Stratton, a former Downing Street press secretary now working on COP26, has said people can “join the Green Party” if they want to help tackle climate change. She came under fire from campaigners earlier this week, for saying people could help tackle climate change by not rinsing their plates in the sink before putting them into the dishwasher. Asked why she thought other parties and organisations like Greenpeace and others were critical of her advice, she said: “When people say to me, ‘What can they do?’, they can do many things, they can join Greenpeace, they can join the Green Party, they can join the Tory Party.” Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said he was less than impressed with the two main parties’ record on the environment. But he found it hard to argue with Stratton comments: “we would absolutely agree with the government that joining the Green Party is the best thing people can do to help tackle climate change.”

On the record

“The planet is on fire and we are living in a climate and ecological emergency. If the government’s best answer is rinsing dishes, we are in serious trouble.”

Labour’s shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard on Stratton’s comments.

From the Twitterati

“Prof Ferguson might come across a little too emphatic sometimes, but the people criticising him for changing his opinion on the basis of new evidence don’t seem to understand what science is.”

Politics.co.uk editor-at-large Ian Dunt on criticism of Professor Neil Ferguson.

Essential reading

• Salma Shah, The Independent: We need a grown-up conversation about why migrants are crossing the Channel – not more incendiary rhetoric
• Sean O’Grady, The Independent: The many perils of spin doctors going off-message
• Stephen Bush, New Statesman: This will be a century of extreme weather events. Our politicians are failing to face the challenge
• Rafael Behr, The Guardian: The ‘Boris effect’ is a symptom of Britain’s decaying political system