Inside Politics: Johnson’s social care plan passed by MPs and Patel in fresh row with France

Just five Tories vote against new measures and home secretary to press ahead with plans to forcibly redirect migrant boats back across the Channel, writes Matt Mathers

Thursday 09 September 2021 08:24 BST

(PA)

Boris Johnson’s controversial health and social care plan has been approved by MPs. Elsewhere Priti Patel, the home secretary, is embroiled in another row with France over Channel crossings, the DUP is threatening to bring down the institutions at Stormont and there are calls for Dame Cressida Dick, the Met Police chief, not to be given a new term in the job.

Inside the bubble

John Edwards, the government’s preferred candidate for Information Commissioner chief, appears before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee at 10am

Coming up:

-Shadow communities secretary Steve Reed on Sky News at 8.05am

-Care minister Helen Whately on talkRADIO at 9.06am

Daily Briefing

THEN THERE WERE 5: As expected, Johnson’s health and social care plan sailed through the Commons last night. Some 319 MPs voted for and 248 against. For all the big talk from Tory rebels, just five of them defied party whips in the end. Despite toeing the party line, a number of northern Tories criticised the tax hike as “un-Conservative”, as they urged ministers to consider regional disparities in regard to the proposals. Jake Berry, who chairs the Northern Research Group of backbench MPs, described the increase during the debate on Wednesday as a “job tax”, as he urged the government to “think again”. “I welcome the new money for the NHS, but throwing other people’s money down a bottomless pit doesn’t become a good idea if you put an NHS logo next to it,” he added. Labour says the changes place an unfair burden on workers and will fail to fix the crisis.

FRESH BOATS ROW: Another day, another Priti Patel row on Channel crossings. The home secretary is set to anger France by sanctioning plans to forcibly redirect migrant boats back across the Channel despite warnings the controversial tactic would deepen a rift in relations. Patel has reportedly ordered officials to rewrite maritime laws to allow Border Force to turn boats around, forcing them to be dealt with by French authorities. France says the “pushback tactics” would have “a negative impact on our co-operation”. Campaigners have previously called the tactic “morally wrong”.

CLIMATE PLEDGE TORCHED: Just weeks before the UK hosts what have been described as the most important climate talks ever, it has emerged ministers dropped pledges to bind Australia to climate targets in its efforts to strike a trade deal. The revelation, coming from a leaked email obtained by Greenpeace, will heap further pressure on Johnson ahead of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow at the end of next month. Greenpeace said the concession “rips the heart out of” the landmark Paris aims, while Labour called it “a massive betrayal of our country and our planet”. Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said: “With Cop26 round the corner, the government should be flexing every political muscle to ensure the summit is a success. “Australia is one of the world’s biggest polluters, and key to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. But rather than piling pressure on them, the government has simply rolled over.”

TOUGH TALK: Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the Democratic Unionist Party’s new leader, is set to up the stakes in unionism’s campaign to scrap Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol. In a hardening of the DUP’s stance on the issue, Sir Jeffrey will give a set-piece speech later today where he is expected to threaten to bring down the Stormont’s institution unless the party’s demands are met. It won’t be lost on political observers in London, Dublin and Brussels that Sir Jeffrey’s renewed tough talk comes just weeks after a new poll showed his party is on course to implode at next year’s assembly elections. Under Sir Jeffrey’s stewardship, the DUP has slumped further and is now in third place behind the Ulster Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice.

AFGHAN JUDGE FEARS: More than 200 women judges are trapped in hiding in Afghanistan and are at risk of being killed by the Taliban, campaigners have warned. It comes after the Taliban freed thousands of prisoners, including terrorists and senior al Qaeda operatives. Campaigners told The Independent the judges responsible for sending many of the newly released criminals to jail are terrified for their safety now the inmates are free. Judge Raihana Attaee, currently in hiding in Afghanistan, said she is petrified the Taliban or the recently freed prisoners will kill her if they find her.

YARD CHIEF UNDER PRESSURE: Baroness Lawrence, the mother of Stephen, is among a number of prominent victims of police corruption calling on the government not to extend the contract of Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick after reports she was to be offered an extra two years in her role. Both Patel and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, are said to support plans for Dame Cressida to lead London’s police force for two years after her current contract is set to expire next year. The extension would see the 60-year-old police chief stay in post until 2024.

On the record

“It’s difficult for me to do – it goes against everything I believe in. But it’s the right thing to do. It pains me to have to have to stand at this dispatch box and have to implement something that goes against the DNA of this minister and his prime minister – but we are living through difficult times.”

Vaccines minister Nadim Zahawi says jab passports go against “everything” he believes...but he isn’t resigning.

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson might well wonder why people are so upset about having to sell their home to pay for social care. After all, he had to sell his to pay for his divorce.”