Westminster today: Government announces pay rise for NHS staff after seven year cap - as it happened
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The Government has announced a pay rise for NHS staff, seven years after the 1 per cent pay cap was introduced.
Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, told MPs that staff will see their salaries increase by between 6.5 per cent and 29 per cent, with the lowest paid workers benefiting most.
Earlier, Theresa May clashed with Jeremy Corbyn at the penultimate session of Prime Minister's Questions before Parliament's Easter recess.
The issue of council funding was at the centre of the heated exchange, with Mr Corbyn challenging the Prime Minister to explain the collapse of the Conservative-run Northamptonshire County Council.
As it happened...
Jeremy Hunt says the NHS pay rise will help save money in the long-term. He says:
"It will ensure better value for money from the £36bn NHS pay bill, with some of the most important changes to working practices in a decade, including a commitment to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of NHS staff to bring sickness absence in line with the best in the public sector."
Reducing sickness absence in the NHS by 1 per cent would save around £280 million, he adds.
Boris Johnson is appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon.
Asked about the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning, the Foreign Secretary said “the trail does lead inexorably back to the Kremlin” and the chain of responsibility went right to the top of the Russian Government.
He suggested the attack was designed to send a message to defectors, and said Russia picked the UK because of its values.
Asked about UK-Russia relations, Mr Johnson said “things are going to be very difficult politically for a while to come”, as high-level diplomatic contact has ceased.
He maintained that Britain would “hold out the hand of friendship to the Russian people” as the quarrel is with the Kremlin, not ordinary citizens.
Labour's Chris Bryant asks Boris Johnson if “Russian money” in the UK is so important to the City that it will be “an existential risk to the City to lose that money".
Mr Johnson replies: “I don’t believe that for a second.”
The Foreign Secretary dodges questions on whether the Government would set up a judge-led public inquiry, saying the most important thing was to let security officials get on with their jobs.
Mr Johnson also says: "We do need to do more to expose Russian disinformation. A lie goes halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on.
"Russia is very adept at these tweet bots and trolling factories, and we certainly need to do something about it."
Asked what ministers are doing in response, he says the Government is investing in good journalism, like the BBC World Service.
This is from the Press Association:
Asked about Tory links to Cambridge Analytica, Cabinet minister Liz Truss said: "We don't know yet what the specific issues with the company are or whether there were any issues, and of course all of that should be investigated."
She told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "I'm very clear that UK politics, the referendum, the election - there isn't any evidence we've seen undue interference in the democratic process.
"Of course, the technology is moving very, very fast and we need to make sure there is proper transparency, that people are aware of how their data is being used and that is important."
Boris Johnson is still being questioned by the Foreign Affairs Committee.
He was pressed by the SNP’s Stephen Gethins on financial sanctions for corrupt oligarchs and said the Government can use unexplained wealth orders against people who law enforcement agencies determine have corruptly or illicitly gained their wealth.
The Foreign Secretary added: “This is not a country where we in the Government can say, ‘Oi, we think so and so deserves to have their collar felt.’ They must decide based on the evidence.”
Mr Johnson said he could not name people in the crosshairs, as it would be “legally unwise to do so”.
He sought to reassure MPs of the political appetite to tackle dirty money.
Tory MP Bob Seely said there had been a “dragging of feet” on introducing so-called Magnitsky powers.
Mr Johnson said there was cross-party support for such powers.
An interesting revelation from Boris Johnson's appearance in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee...
Sinn Fein taking its seats in Westminster to vote against Brexit would be counterproductive for the Remain cause, two former deputy prime ministers have claimed.
On a visit to Dublin, Lord Heseltine and Sir Nick Clegg, both prominent Remain campaigners, were asked whether the six republican MPs could strike a decisive blow against Brexit if they intervened in key Westminster debates.
Both urged caution, with Sir Nick saying he could not envisage pro-Remain Conservative MPs being comfortable voting in the same lobby as Sinn Fein representatives.
Lord Heseltine said such a move would not be helpful.
PA.
Boris Johnson says Vladimir Putin will use this summer's World Cup in Russia in the same way the Nazis used the 1936 Berlin Olympics - as a propaganda exercise.
The Foreign Secretary was responding to a question from Labour MP Ian Austin, who said: "Putin is going to use it in the way Hitler used the 1936 Olympics."
"I frankly do not think England should be participating in the World Cup. I don't think we should be supporting Putin using this as a PR exercise to gloss over the gross human rights abuses for which he's responsible."
Mr Johnson replied: "I think that your characterisation of what is going to happen in Moscow, the World Cup, in all the venues - yes, I think the comparison with 1936 is certainly right. I think it's an emetic prospect, frankly, to think of Putin glorying in this sporting event."
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