Braverman denies she will defect to Reform as IT outage forces Labour Cobra meeting – live

Source in Nigel Farage’s party says ex-home secretary expected to switch, possibly in autumn

The former home secretary appeared emotional making her general election victory speech

Tory party leadership hopeful Suella Braverman has denied she will defect to Reform UK if she loses the contest.

“There’s now so much antagonism towards Suella Braverman among MPs that there is now a generally held view that she will defect,” a senior Tory source told the i newspaper.

But a spokesperson for the ex-home secretary denied this, saying: “Suella has only recently been elected as a Conservative MP and has been a Conservative Party member for three decades.”

A Reform source told the i the party expects her to defect after losing the Tory leadership race, perhaps in the autumn, around conference time.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government is set to resume funding to UN Palestine relief agency UNRWA for Palestinians escaping the war in Gaza.

The Conservative government stopped the money alongside the US in January following accusations from Israel that staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks.

Following the major IT outage hitting airlines, train companies and banks, government officials held a Cobra emergency meeting to address the chaos for train and GP services and television channels.

Key Points

• Suella Braverman denies she will defect to Reform UK
• Volodymyr Zelensky urges Starmer to ‘show leadership’
• Cobra emergency meeting held amid IT outage chaos
• Tories so diminished that nearly half their MPs on front bench
• UK government restores funding to UNRWA for Palestinians in Gaza
• Zelensky appeals for permission to bomb Russian targets in Cabinet address

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Government ‘may need extra £3bn if 5.5% pay rise for teachers and NHS staff recommended'

The Government may need to find at least £3 billion more than it has budgeted if independent pay review bodies recommend 5.5 per cent increases for teachers and NHS staff, a leading economist has said.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told the BBC’s Today programme: “I’m not terribly surprised that that’s the kind of number the review bodies might come out with.

“That’s roughly what pay is rising by across the economy at the moment and, as you’ve heard, it absolutely is the case that teachers’ pay has been held back a long way behind pay across the economy over the past 20-odd years.

“In terms of the cost, there isn’t a specific number that is budgeted for schools, it’s probably 1 or 2%, it’s certainly nothing like 5.5%, so we’d certainly be looking at at least an additional £1 billion on schools’ costs relative to what they’re currently expecting.

“And a number at least double that across the NHS if the proposals for the NHS are similar, which it appears that they might be.”

He added: “It’s also worth saying that if you are looking at this across the public sector, we’re only looking at teachers and some people in the NHS here, if you went across the public sector this would be an additional £10 billion relative to what’s probably been budgeted, so these are significant amounts of money.”

[20 July 2024 08:30 · Jane Dalton]

Whitehall cleaners and security guards suspend strike after fresh pay offer

Cleaners, security guards and workers in Whitehall have suspended strike action planned for Monday after receiving an improved pay offer and other benefits.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) employed by outsourcing giant ISS at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero were due to take five days’ action after the weekend.

But after intensive talks with management and the government resulted in improved offers, the union said there was room to potentially negotiate a final deal.

[20 July 2024 09:00 · Jane Dalton]

Poll reveals popularity of Keir Starmer after first week as PM