Inside Politics: Energy price hike bites & No 10’s double U-turn

Millions face £700 increase to yearly energy bills as No 10 to go ahead with ban on so-called gay conversion therapy after backlash, writes Matt Mathers

Friday 01 April 2022 09:08 BST

(PA)

It has not been a good week for the government’s relations with the LGBT community. First, Boris Johnson made a “bad taste” joke about trans people while trying to woo Tories at a plush dinner in central London on Tuesday, just hours before Jamie Wallis, one of his own MPs, came out as trans. Now the government, which has acquired a reputation for performing screeching U-turns, has gone one further by coming full circle on plans to ban gay conversion therapy.

ITV first broke the news on Wednesday evening that Johnson had ditched his government’s commitment to end the practice – whose adherents claim can change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity – despite pledges by him and Theresa May, his predecessor, to do so. According to a leaked briefing document, the move was justified on the grounds that, “Given the unprecedented circumstances of major pressures on cost of living and the crisis in Ukraine, there is an urgent need to rationalise our legislative programme”. It also included embarrassing details of how ministers could minimise “the noisy backlash from LGBT groups and some parliamentarians” once the legislation was pulled.

Just hours later it emerged that the PM had changed course – but only following an absolutely furious backlash from campaigners, MPs and commentators in the media, although the latest proposals won’t cover trans people. Aside from the obvious consequence of the nearly scrapped move further alienating the LGBT community, the No 10 full circle fiasco raises fresh questions about Johnson’s judgement and Downing Street operation. Embarrassing U-turns – never mind complete tail spins – were supposed to be a thing of the past when the weakened PM “reset” his core team earlier this year at the height of the Partygate scandal and brought in Guto Harri as director of communications.

Inside the bubble

There is no Commons business scheduled for today.

Coming up:

– Labour leader Keir Starmer on ITV GMB at 7.50am

– Policing minister Kit Malthouse on ITV GMB at 8.30am

Daily Briefing

BLEAK FRIDAY: A stark reminder of just how concerned the public is about the cost of living crisis came yesterday when millions of people rushed to give last gasp meter readings before the energy price cap lifted, crashing the websites of several major suppliers. From today, families across the country will be hit with an unprecedented £700 a year rise in their energy bills amid the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is still coming under fire from critics who say he did not do enough in his spring statement to help working families and the poorest in society. “Rishi Sunak is out of touch and his cynical political choices are making the cost of living crisis worse by hiking taxes for workers while shielding the record profits of oil and gas producers,” Rachel Reeves, his shadow, said as she repeated the party’s call for a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas giants, which it says would cut household bills by up to £600. Appearing before the Treasury committee on Monday, Sunak hinted there would be no further help with bills before the autumn and insists the government is doing everything it can to help. Energy price hikes dominate the front pages today, with 1 April being described as April Fuel Day and Bleak Friday by some outlets. Expect to hear more about this story as the day progresses and further calls for the embattled chancellor to intervene.

MAD VLAD THREAT: Just hours before the price cap lifted, Vladimir Putin threatened to stop gas supplies to “unfriendly” countries if they don’t deal in the Russian currency from today, although western leaders branded the threat “hollow” because of the damage it would do to the Russian economy. The UK does not import much of its gas from Russia, but any move by the Kremlin to turn off the taps and restrict supply could send wholesale prices rising, potentially affecting consumers here. Early morning reports said Putin’s troops blocked around 45 buses from a convoy that was sent to evacuate civilians from the besieged and destroyed port city of Mariupol in the southeast, officials from the Ukrainian government said. Meanwhile, Russia handed control of Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and began leaving the radiated site more than a month after taking it over. In its latest update, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said: “Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv and located along one of the main supply routes between the city and Kyiv. Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv.” The MOD added: “Both Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas.” We’ll have all today’s latest updates on our liveblog.

GROWING BACKLASH: Last night the government said it would in fact go ahead with its ban on gay conversion therapy, though the equivalent practice for trans people will remain legal. There is a growing backlash to that move from LGBT campaigners this morning, who are accusing the government of failing to keep pace with other states in Europe. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today earlier, writer and activist Jane Fae said: “Other countries – one by one – are slowly passing legislation for LGBT people. Nobody else is having this problem.” Legislation aimed at banning conversion therapy had been announced in last year’s Queen’s Speech. In October, Liz Truss, who as equalities minister drafted the original policy, stated “there should be no place for the abhorrent practice”. The move is bringing rifts within the Tory Party on the issue to the fore. Nikki da Costa, former director of legislative affairs at No 10, welcome the initial plan by the government to scrap the ban, claiming the bill would have “unintended consequences” for children struggling with gender dysphoria. “There is an extremely strong network of existing law providing protection against conversion therapy,” she said.

POOR RISHI: Just when you thought you’d finally heard the end of Will Smith’s Oscars meltdown, up pops ~~Mr Popular~~ Rishi Sunak to compare attacks on the King Richard actor’s wife to broadsides aimed at his own wife in recent days over her links to a firm still operating in Russia following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast, the chancellor said he had a difficult week and joked: “Someone said, ‘Joe Root, Will Smith, and me – not the best of weekends for any of us’.“But I feel, on reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good,” he told Laura Kuenssberg. After the week he’s had, it probably would have been best for the chancellor to just keep his head down. Sunak critics on the government back benches and on the opposite side might suggest that the chancellor’s slick Instagram account and personal branding means he may have more in common with some Hollywood A-listers than he thinks.

CALL OUT ANY CARRIE ON: The public should be told if Johnson’s wife Carrie is issued with a fine for lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street, Starmer has said. No 10 insists that it will reveal details of fixed penalty notices only if they are handed out to the prime minister himself or the head of the civil service Simon Case. There is no obligation on ministers, officials or members of Johnson’s family to declare that they have received a penalty, and the police have made clear that they will not publicise the names of those found to have broken Covid laws.

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On the record

“If Carrie Johnson gets a fixed-penalty notice, then of course it should be made public. My focus is on the prime minister because he is the one who sets the culture, he is the one who oversaw this criminality at his home and his office, he is the one that came to parliament and said all rules were complied with, which is clearly not the case.”

Starmer on Partygate.

From the Twitterati

“The Govt seems to have confirmed this @PaulBrandITV scoop. It’s a courageous but correct decision. Well done HMG. It would have been a hugely controversial legislative and process minefield which it’s just not necessary to get into at the moment.”