Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureAfternoon summaryNEW: Dominic Raab not happy about decision to ditch Bill of Rights: 'It is disappointing to see this major Conservative reform, which can strengthen free speech and help us deport more foreign criminals, dropped from the government’s agenda. All the wrong people will celebrate' https://t.co/LeidI3sQcs— Jason Groves () June 27, 2023Matt Hancock leaving the Covid inquiry. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/ShutterstockUpdated at 18.08 BSTReeves leads Hunt by 12 points on who would make best chancellor, poll suggestsIpsos has published some fresh polling today. It is available in full here, and Keiran Pedley from the firm has a good Twitter thread summing up the main findings which starts here.There is plenty of interesting material in the survey but, in the light of the importance of the economy in deciding the outcome of elections, two findings stand out.First, Labour has a big lead over the Conservatives on which party would get best value from public spending.10/ Will return to that later. First let's dwell a bit on how much Con reputation on the economy has tanked. 48% now think Lab would get best value for money in public spending. 22% say Cons.Not asked this question for a while but you can see what perceptions used to be. pic.twitter.com/nQW4MCx7Qz— Keiran Pedley () June 27, 2023
And, second, Rachel Reeves has a 12-point lead over Jeremy Hunt on who would make the best chancellor. This is not the first time the shadow chancellor has led on this measure since 2010, but no shadow chancellor has been this far ahead in the last 13 years. Ed Balls came closest, leading George Osborne by eight points in the summer of 2012, after Osborne’s “omnishambles” budget.11/ And Rachel Reeves leads Jeremy Hunt +12 pts on who would make the best Chancellor. Reeves' share here the highest a Lab shad chancellor has recorded since Lab entered opposition in 2010. pic.twitter.com/EMPSMBfCww— Keiran Pedley () June 27, 2023
In the Commons two MPs, Caroline Nokes (Con) and Chris Bryant (Lab), have just used point of orders to condemn Andrew Bridgen for retweeting a tweet from Laurence Fox, the leader of the Reclaim party, about the vote on his 10-minute rule bill. (See 4.05pm.) In the extended tweet, Fox named the Tories who voted against the Bridgen bill and claimed they had voted in favour of “the grooming and mutilation of children”. Nokes said Bridgen should face a sanction for this, and Bryant, who chairs the Commons standards committee, said the Fox tweet amounted to incitement to violence. It was probably libellous too, he said.Nigel Evans, the deputy speaker who was in charge, said he was not responsible for what MPs tweeted. But MPs should always remember the importance of moderation, he said.He also said he thought this would not be the last word on this matter.Updated at 17.14 BSTSenior NHS doctors in England vote to strike over paySenior doctors in England have voted to strike in overwhelming numbers for the first time in the row over pay, Rachel Hall reports.Hunt signs memorandum of understanding with EU to facilitate dialogue on financial services regulationJeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has signed an agreement with the EU that will see London and Brussels working closer together on financial services and coordinating before big international meetings, PA Media reports. PA says:
Hunt said that the memorandum of understanding would help to support the UK and London’s role as a hub of financial services around the world.
The sector makes up more than a tenth of the British economy, being worth more than a quarter of a trillion pounds last year.
However, EU officials said the deal only sets up a space where the two sides can speak to each other.
“It will set up a forum to facilitate dialogue,” Daniel Ferrie, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said in a tweet. “It does not restore UK access to EU, nor prejudges adoption of equivalence decisions.”
At 14:30 CET, and will sign the 🇪🇺🇬🇧MoU on regulatory cooperation in financial services.🎥 https://t.co/76AZ12LAJAIt will set up a forum to facilitate dialogue. It does not restore UK access to 🇪🇺, nor prejudges adoption of equivalence decisions.— Daniel Ferrie 🇪🇺 () June 27, 2023Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, and Mairead McGuinness, the EU commissioner for financial services, in Brussels today after signing a memorandum of understanding on financial services. Photograph: Thierry Monasse/Getty ImagesUpdated at 16.24 BSTMPs vote down Andrew Bridgen's 10-minute rule bill banning social transitioning in schools by 40 to 34MPs have voted down a motion proposing to ban social transition practices in schools.The division came after Andrew Bridgen, who was expelled from the Conservative party and who now represents the Reclaim party, gave a speech under the 10-minute rule procedure asking for permission to introduce a schools (gender and parental rights) bill.Normally, after an MP introduces a 10-minute rule bill, the Commons grants permission without a vote for the legislation to be formally introduced, knowing that that is the end of the process because time is never available for it to go any further.But this afternoon MPs forced a vote, and the Bridgen motion was defeated by 40 votes to 34.The Bridgen bill would “prohibit the promotion of social transition practices in school; require schools to inform parents if their child has indicated an intention to pursue, or has commenced, social transition; [and] provide for a right for parents to access information about lessons in schools”.Bridgen told MPs:
Under all our noses, members of society, either politically or educationally tasked with helping bring up our children have turned raising the next generation into a science experiment with consequences that break my heart. Social transition practices in school have now become the norm in every classroom in the country.
But Labour’s Ben Bradshaw said the proposal was “despicable”. He explained:
Trans and non-binary people have always existed. Gender dysphoria has been in internationally-recognised condition for decades …
Schools have become very experienced at handling social transitioning with both sensitivity and professionalism.
The impact of this bill would turn the clock back to an age in which the very existence of trans and non-binary people, a tiny minority, was simply not acknowledged.
Bridgen was supported by 25 Tories, six DUP MPs and one independent.But 10 Tories were among the 40 MPs who voted the bill down.Updated at 16.28 BSTMatt Hancock was confronted by bereaved family members, including one dressed as the Grim Reaper, as he left the Covid inquiry, PA Media reports. PA says:
Charles Persinger, 58, lost his wife and his mother to coronavirus, one month apart.
His mother, Susan Persinger, died in January 2021 aged 74, while his wife. Katie Persinger, a care home manager, died in February 2021 aged 51.
As Hancock got into his car, Persinger, dressed as the Grim Reaper, shouted sarcastically after him: “I’m a big fan of your work.”
Charles Persinger, 58, dressed up as the Grim Reaper outside Dorland House, where the Covid inquiry hearings are taking place. Photograph: Cameron Henderson/PATory party says it will not investigate groping claims against Daniel KorskiDaniel Korski, one of the three Conservatives still in the contest to the party’s candidate for London mayor, has issued a statement describing as “baseless” the claim that he groped a TV producer when he was working in Downing Street 10 years ago.As Ben Quinn and Aubrey Allegretti report, the Conservative party has said it will not investigate the claim.Labour says Hancock's evidence on social care shows sector was 'totally neglected' by ToriesLiz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, says Matt Hancock’s evidence to the Covid inquiry showed the Tories had “totally neglected” social care for 13 years.
Matt Hancock admitted that the Conservatives have totally neglected social care for 13 years. If you don’t know how many care homes there are in the country you’re supposed to be governing, you can’t ensure people receive the care they need.His apology will provide little comfort to the 43,000 families who lost loved ones to Covid in care homes.
Labour would ensure that adult social care is stabilised for the future, with record vacancies tackled through a new deal for care workers and a long-term plan of investment and reform, so that lessons are learned and society’s most vulnerable are never left so exposed again.
In his evidence to the inquiry this morning Hancock said that before the pandemic the Department of Health and Social Care was lacking basic data about the sector. He went on: “For instance, how many care homes are operating right now in the UK – that was a fact that we did not know at that time and I’m glad to say now there’s far better data.”Hancock said that one problem was that, while he was in charge of social care policy as health and social care secretary, delivering social care was a matter for local authorities.At another point Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, asked Hancock if he could say the adult social care sector was well prepared for a pandemic “when the department had no means of finding out whether or not they had the right plans in place, whether local authorities had planned sufficiently, let alone how many numbers were in the care sector.”Hancock replied: “No, it was terrible.”Updated at 15.36 BSTJames Bethell is a close friend of Matt Hancock’s and served as a junior health minister in his department during Covid. He agrees with the main argument his former boss was making. (See 10.42am and 11.34am.)Thank God Hancock is finally nailing the central point of this Inquiry.Western Govts missed the mark with their flawed strategy.Instead of stopping the disease's spread, they just focused on handling the aftermath.Wrong doctrine. Big mistake. 1/3https://t.co/fDLe6vy2XK— Lord Bethell () June 27, 2023I agree with Covid families lawyer who noted advice was completely wrong.They weren’t preparing to stop the spread of disease (lockdown, testing and tracing, etc). Instead, plans focused on coping with aftermath (bodybags, burials, etc).This was the central mistake. 2/3— Lord Bethell () June 27, 2023I saw this myself as Minister.Things got better when the doctrine changed. 3/3— Lord Bethell () June 27, 2023Updated at 14.56 BSTMatt Hancock leaving the Covid inquiry earlier. Photograph: Mark Thomas/ShutterstockStarmer says Sunak's 'extraordinary' language, like 'I'm on it', shows how 'out of touch' he is on cost of livingKeir Starmer has also claimed that some of the language used by Rishi Sunak about the cost of living crisis has been “extraordinary”.Speaking at the New Statesman’s Politics Live conference this morning, Starmer said:
Some of the language he has used in the last week has been extraordinary: ‘I’m on it’, ‘Hold your nerve’, or recently telling the country to ‘understand the economic context’.
The idea that people who are struggling every day do not understand the economic context they are in is, frankly, real evidence of how out of touch he is.
Sunak urged people to hold their nerve in a tweet on Monday, and later the same day he said, with regard to the battle against inflation, he was “totally, 100% on it”. Talking about inflation, he has also repeatedly argued that this is a global problem, as he did at PMQs last week, and again in his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg at the weekend.At the New Statesman event, Starmer said he was not criticising Sunak for being wealthy. But he said his own working-class upbringing meant he had a better understanding than the PM did of what it means to struggle with the cost of living. He said:
We holidayed here. We never went abroad. We didn’t really eat out very much. It’s not a sob story, it’s a story of what it’s like to grow up working class, but more importantly, it gave me an insight into respect and dignity.
There were times where we couldn’t pay all the bills and we had to decide what we wouldn’t have any more… That is a feeling of anxiety but also shame, of not being able to do something. I don’t think [Sunak’s] been in that position.
Zoë Grünewald at the New Statesman has a full write-up of what Starmer said here.Updated at 14.53 BSTStarmer refuses to commit to always accepting recommendations from public sector pay bodiesKeir Starmer has refused to commit a future Labour government to always accepting recommendations from public sector pay bodies, PA Media reports.Speaking at the New Statesman’s Politics Live conference this morning, Starmer said Labour would have to “go at pace” to “repair and rebuild” the country’s finances but stressed that the “strong fiscal rules of the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, could not be broken when paying for public sector improvements, PA reports.Asked about his stance on public sector pay recommendations, Starmer said:
The first thing about public sector pay is we need to understand why people want their wages to go up because, for most people, their wages haven’t gone up in material terms for 13 years. And if your wages haven’t gone up in material terms but every bill has gone up, there is a real squeeze on. The failure to grow the economy, and the additional damage that Liz Truss did, is the cause of that.
But I’m not going to hide from this. If we are privileged enough to come into power at the next election … we’re going to inherit a real mess – a very badly damaged economy, public services that aren’t on their knees but are on their face, the NHS in particular.
And a sense that we’ve got to go at pace to try and repair and rebuild, and run towards the future which is available for us as a country.
And Rachel’s been clear that that will require us to have strong fiscal rules which we’re not going to break. But we urgently need to get on with the task now of picking the country up, rebuilding and moving forwards.
Keir Starmer at the New Statesman Politics Live conference this morning. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PAUpdated at 14.55 BSTAn anti-vaccine protester being detained by the police outside the Covid inquiry earlier today. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/ZUMA Press Wire/ShutterstockAt cabinet this morning the main discussion was about the NHS, and the long-term workforce plan being published later this week. In a readout of what was said, No 10 told journalists:
As part of the government’s commitment to cut waiting lists and ensure the health service thrives for another 75 years, the prime minister said we would publish the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan ahead of next week’s anniversary.
He said the plan was not just simply about training more doctors and nurses, it would also set out how the NHS will retain more clinicians and reform how it works to match the areas of highest demand and learn from approaches in other countries.
He said this plan was written by the NHS, it was what staff have called for and it was an example of the government doing the right thing for the long term – not just the here and now.