Theresa May is facing fresh pressure over Universal Credit after Labour unveiled plans to force ministers to publish secret reports on detailing the controversial policy’s impact on the poorest.
In an Opposition Day motion on Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn’s party will seek to stage a binding Commons vote to release the documents which the Government refuses to publish.
The Department for Work and Pensions drafted five “Project Assessment Reviews” between 2012 and 2015 to alert civil servants and ministers to potential pitfalls of the Tories’ flagship welfare reform programme.
But despite rulings by the Information Commissioner that the documents’ publication is in the public interest, the Government has still not released them.
As part of its bid to pause the nationwide roll-out of Universal Credit, Labour will use the same ancient Parliamentary procedure that it deployed to force the publication of confidential Brexit impact assessments last month.
If passed by MPs, the ‘Humble Address’ device will require ministers to release the DWP papers to Parliament. Unlike traditional Opposition Day debates, the procedure means that the vote will be binding.
The Project Assessment Reviews were described by the Information Commissioner as providing “a much greater insight than any information already available about the Universal Credit Programme.”
Labour believes the papers may contain further information justifying the party’s call on the Government to pause and fix the policy.
Universal Credit replaces six benefits and is aimed at streamlining the welfare system, but has been heavily criticised for the six-week wait it imposes on claimants.
The Peabody Trust estimates that nationally more than 60,000 households, including more than 40,000 children, will make new universal credit claims in the six weeks before Christmas, and so will not receive any income in the run-up to the festive season.
Jeremy Corbyn revealed last month that one landlord had drafted plans to evict hundreds of tenants who move onto the new benefit, amid fears that the benefit will leave them unable to pay their rent.
In last month’s Budget, Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke secured a reduction in the wait time to five weeks, though it later emerged that the change would not come into force until February.
Plans to pay housing benefit as a ‘bridge’ for some claimants won’t be introduced until the spring.
The Opposition Day motion could force the hand of a clutch of Tory rebel MPs who have been pressing ministers to change tack on Universal Credit.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Debbie Abrahams, said: “These reports could further expose the implementation flaws, design failures and the impacts of major cuts to Universal Credit, which is pushing people into poverty, debt and arrears.
“Labour has long called for a pause and fix of this programme, but the Chancellor failed to act in the Budget, meaning thousands of families will face a miserable Christmas.
“The Government should have abided by the Information Commissioner and released five of these reports into the public domain. Having already ignored Parliament’s unanimous approval of Labour’s motion to pause Universal Credit, the Government is now once again riding roughshod over the democratic process.”
Labour’s formal motion states:
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, That she will be graciously pleased to give directions that the five Project Assessment Reviews carried out into Universal Credit between 2012 and 2015 by the Government’s Major Projects Authority now known as the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, and any subsequent Project Assessment Reviews carried out into Universal Credit by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority between 1 January 2016 and 30 November 2017 that have been provided to Her Majesty’s Ministers at the Department of Work and Pensions, be provided by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to the Work and Pensions Committee.
The Department for Work and Pensions said it would make its position on the motion clear on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.
The justices, with two dissenting votes, said Monday that the policy can take full effect even as legal challenges against it make their way through the courts. The action suggests the high court could uphold the latest version of the ban that Trump announced in September.
The ban applies to travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Lower courts had said people from those nations with a claim of a “bona fide” relationship with someone in the United States could not be kept out of the country. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were among those courts said could not be excluded.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor would have left the lower court orders in place.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, will be holding arguments on the legality of the ban this week.
Both courts are dealing with the issue on an accelerated basis, and the Supreme Court noted it expects those courts to reach decisions “with appropriate dispatch.”
Quick resolution by appellate courts would allow the Supreme Court to hear and decide the issue this term, by the end of June.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Check back for the fullest version. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
With the holiday season in full swing, it’s safe to say that glitter and sequins won at the 2017 Fashion Awards,
Arguably the fashion event of the year, the red carpet turn out at the Royal Albert Hall, on Monday 4 December, did not disappoint in the style department.
The red carpet arrivals’ recurring theme was overly fabulous posing - namely in the form of the classic strut-stop-turn back pose.
Hailey Baldwin led the pack in a fierce LBD from Topshop.
The back features of Izabel Goulart’s stunning dress were so on point she had no choice but to only pose back-to-camera.
Not only is Zendaya’s blonde pixie super adorable on her, it also offsets her cute black gown with horse and stars motifs beautifully.
Georgia May Jagger looked so striking peeking at the camera from under her bangs that she didn’t need to do much else.
Style It girl Alexa Chung showed off the ruffle details at the back of her dress.
Talia Storm sparkled in a shimmering silver ensemble.
Even Kaia Gerber gave it a flick of her hair and a look over the shoulder.
See the rest of the fashion attendees of the Fashion Awards 2017 by clicking through the gallery below:
Theresa May went to Brussels on Wednesday in order to seal a deal to take the UK a big step closer to quitting the European Union. Everyone thought it was a formality. It wasn’t.
As it was confirmed there was no agreement on the Brexit ‘divorce’ settlement, here’s where everyone stands after a day of high political drama:
The Irish border - specifically the border between EU-member Ireland and the British region of Northern Ireland - is proving to be a major obstacle. Protracted talks over its future status is preventing negotiations between the UK government and the EU to start over a future trade agreement.
Dublin fears the creation of a ‘hard border’, replacing the existing ‘soft’ arrangement, could disrupt 20 years of delicate peace in Northern Ireland and put the Good Friday Agreement in jeopardy.
Some have alluded to the the army checkpoints and watchtowers that dotted the 310-mile border during the Troubles, and Ireland has sought assurances that nothing similar will be revived.
However, there has been a stalemate.
Ireland has called on Theresa May to keep Northern Ireland in the EU’s customs union - essentially a free trade area - in order to avoid the ‘hard’ border. But, as the UK government is at pains to argue, this goes against the principles of Brexit, which it says must include the UK leaving both the customs union and the single market.
That’s enough of a catch-22 without the Democratic Unionist Party potentially bringing down the minority Conservative government.
The Northern Irish DUP and its 10 MPs in Westminster has been propping up the Tories after signing a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement following May’s disastrous snap General Election. Walking away from the deal is the Northern Irish party’s trump card.
Last week, speculation mounted that a deal was being thrashed out to harmonise trading relations in some areas between Northern Ireland and the EU (or, in other words, the Irish republic). The DUP appeared willing play its hand, hinting that any deal to “placate Dublin and the EU” would mean the Conservatives “can’t rely on our vote”.
With great difficulty.
On Monday, it was reported the UK had agreed that Northern Ireland would maintain ‘regulatory alignment’ with the EU to prevent the need for customs checks at the border.
A draft 15-page joint statement from the European Commission and the UK stated that “in the absence of agreed solutions the UK will ensure that there continues to be continued regulatory alignment” with the internal market and customs union.
This is where confusion reigned supreme. As the text was passed around Brussels, London, Dublin and Belfast, debate raged over whether ‘regulatory alignment’ constituted effectively still being an EU member. A former Treasury adviser did not think so:
In any case, as press conferences and lunches were arranged and cancelled as reports varied as to whether the DUP and the Irish government had agreed the deal, it was soon clear the unionists would not buy it.
DUP leader Arlene Foster told reporters they could not back the proposal.
“We will not accept any kind of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the UK,” she said.
“Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom.”
Meanwhile in Brussels, May was hoping to announce that a deal had been agreed on Northern Ireland, as well as the rights of EU citizens after Brexit and how much the UK is willing to pay as part of the ‘divorce’ bill.
So with the DUP effectively nixing the border solution, the UK Prime Minister was left in limbo.
Standing side-by-side with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, she was forced to admit there was no agreement with Brussels on the entire divorce package.
But they remained confident on getting agreement, saying differences remain only on a “couple of issues” - with the Irish question still outstanding.
Negotiations over the ‘divorce’ settlement is known as Phase One, and is crucial to pushing on with Brexit. The EU insists Phase One has to be completed before moving on to Phase Two - namely the talks about fresh trading relationships between the UK and Europe.
Negotiators are working to a strict timetable, with the hope from the UK side being that Phase One is wrapped up before the December 14 summit of EU leaders. This, in turn, is seen as important to providing enough time for new trading arrangements to be thrashed out by March 29, 2019 - the day the UK official leaves the bloc.
Both Nicola Sturgeon and Sadiq Khan demanded ‘special’ Brexit deals for Scotland and London, arguing there was no reason why other parts of the UK can’t get different treatment if Northern Ireland does.
Scotland’s Fist Minister said that if a Brexit deal can be done that “effectively” keeps Northern Ireland in the single European market, there is “surely no good practical reason” why others should not benefit from the same.
Both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain part of the EU in the referendum.
The Mayor of London, buoyed by the capital voting by a margin of 59.9 percent to remain within the EU, followed suit:
The domino effect continued, with Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones also calling for Wales to be allowed to stay in the single market if other parts of the UK could.
Brussels correspondents, however, suggested they might be guilty of political opportunism.
Despite the many moving parts, Brexit is moving forward - but at a glacial speed that has led many to question whether it will lead to a decent deal given the multiple compromises already made.
A damning editorial in the London Evening Standard, edited by former chancellor George Osborne, pointed to the series of concessions the UK has made since the EU insisted the terms of trade couldn’t be negotiated until the divorce settlement was agreed. It pointed to:
- Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson telling Europe to “go whistle” if it wanted a generous divorce settlement, only for the UK now being close to agreeing to pay a £50 bn in return for favourable trade talks.
- Conceding to all the demands on future status of EU citizens living in the UK, which has included accepting involvement of the European Court of Justice - crossing one of May’s apparent ‘red lines’.
- The Irish border, and which Brexiteers “were publicly telling everyone it was a trivial issue which a clever camera could solve”.
Compromises aside, Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders, said today that while time to reach an agreement on divorce terms is “getting very short”, a deal that would unblock talks on a future trade agreement is “still possible” by next week. In short, it’s still on.
In Brussels, as in life, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Theresa May wants the big prize of the EU finally talking about a post-Brexit trade deal. The cost comes in the shape of hard cash, citizens’ rights and a fudge for Northern Ireland. After a strange day of political anti-climax, the big question remains whether hardline Tory Brexiteers and the DUP think the last of those compromises is a price worth paying.
With so much riding on the outcome, it wasn’t a surprise that there were competing narratives and expectations ahead of the PM’s working lunch with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The day began with Brussels talking up chances of a breakthrough, with one EU official saying both sides were “90% there”. London was much more guarded, insisting the lunch was just a “staging post” and the whole thing could go to the wire of next week’s crunch EU summit.
Less than an hour before both sides broke bread, it looked like the only meal on Theresa May’s menu were several large slices of humble pie. In a market-moving story that electrified Twitter, Irish broadcaster RTE claimed to have a leak of the deal on the vexed issue of Northern Ireland.
Titled ‘the Joint Report from the Commission and the United Kingdom Negotiators on Progress’, the 15-page document was said to include a pledge by the UK of “continued regulatory alignment” between Ulster and the Republic of Ireland. Irish PM Leo Varadkar, who was so relaxed he arrived at his Cabinet meeting dressed originally in his gym gear, said later he had received an assurance that this was the official UK position.
EU council president Donald Tusk displayed his grasp of popular culture by paraphrasing the Boomtown Rats, the Irish rock band which had a British No.1 hit single with ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’. “Tell me why I like Mondays!” Tusk tweeted, breathlessly. “Encouraged after my phone call with Taoiseach @campaignforleo on progress on #Brexit issue of Ireland. Getting closer to sufficient progress at December.”
But some in the DUP had been spooked by the leaks. Irish TV had said one draft of the deal had a commitment that there would be no “regulatory divergence” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Such language is anathema to not just the DUP but their Tory backbench allies. Belgian Green MEP Philippe Lamberts had made things worse when he emerged from a meeting with Juncker to tell the media that the Brits had accepted “reality” and “the pie is almost ready”.
It wasn’t long before the DUP’s Arlene Foster was staging a press conference in Belfast. Reading a carefully worded but typically robust statement: “We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the UK.” May was having lunch, but the DUP couldn’t swallow the meal. Not for the first time, it looked like Ulster was saying ‘No’.
Yet No.10 clearly felt that Ulster could say ‘Yes’ to some kind of compromise. Downing Street had believed the DUP were indeed on board, but it appears that it had made the crucial mistake of not clearing the precise language of “continued regulatory alignment”. The phrase had been deemed strong enough to persuade Dublin there will be no return of a hard border, but weak enough to persuade the DUP that Ulster won’t differ much from the rest of the UK. The second assumption proved less well founded than the first.
Sammy Wilson, one of the DUP’s most hardline Brexiteers, said that even the ‘alignment’ phrasing was “simply EU-speak for keeping Northern Ireland inside the single market and the customs union”. With the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon and even London Mayor Sadiq Khan saying they wanted a similar deal, Wilson rightly spotted that the huge implications for the rest of the UK. “It’s a Unionist nightmare,” the DUP MP said.
Theresa May had to take a break in the Brussels talks to phone DUP leader Foster to meet her concerns. The two leaders will meet personally, possibly as early as Tuesday. Cynics may suspect both the phone call and the Foster press conference were stunts designed to bolster the DUP’s status. But it turned out the choreography had all been designed for a big announcement of a breakthrough.
Commons Speaker John Bercow let slip in the chamber that he’d been informed the PM would make a statement on Tuesday. I’m told that Government whips had told their Opposition counterparts last week to clear “several hours” for a “major” statement by May. The Irish PM had scheduled a prime time evening live TV press conference to trumpet his victory.
After a lunch lasting three hours, May and Juncker emerged for a teatime press conference. It had been meant to be a celebratory announcement, but ended up being a brief, terse confirmation that the deal was not done. Yet there was more than a hint from the PM that this was a hiccup not a disaster. “Further consultation” was needed on “a couple of issues”, May said.
Unresolved issues on the European Court of Justice, as well as Ulster, were believed to be the two issues. When the press conference ended, Juncker patted May on the back, a clue that Brussels felt pity for the PM, rather than irritation, over her DUP problem.
No10 were at least cheered that Foster was not categoric in ruling out “regulatory alignment”. The phrase does seem like a classic EU fudge, which can mean different things to different audiences. At his own press conference, Varadkar said “preventing regulatory divergence and maintaining regulatory alignment” were “the same”. The Brits disagree, believing alignment does not mean any hard commitment to a customs union or single market. May also thinks that ‘alignment’ is not about taking EU rules, but the UK deciding which rules it wants.
When Tory MPs gathered in Committee Room 14 in the Commons at 4pm, Brexit minister Steve Baker and May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell had little concrete to tell them. Yet they did offer reassurance that united both Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg and Remainers like Anna Soubry: there would be no deal that treated Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK.
And this is where the exact phraseology matters. Paragraph 48 of the draft deal – the key section that appeared to have found the magic diplomatic wording of “regulatory alignment” that broke the logjam – explicitly referenced “the protection of the Good Friday Agreement.”
No.10 sources stress that the alignment would only affect EU rules that arise out of the Good Friday Agreement, on limited areas like veterinary practice, the energy market and agriculture. And to avoid any DUP unrest, alignment in those areas would apply to the whole of the UK too. Brexiteer Michael Gove is the Environment Secretary, but he’s also a strong Unionist and May’s gamble will be that he and others accept the deal as the least worst option.
It’s worth remembering that the DUP was one of the few parties that actually pulled out of talks on the Good Friday Agreement when it was being hammered out under the Tony Blair government in 1998. And Arlene Foster was a vehement critic of the peace deal because of its concessions to the IRA.
But as the Northern Ireland peace process itself showed, apparently impossible progress can be made with the right diplomatic wording and sequencing. And the smartest diplomatic deals are the ones that allow both sides to claim victory. May still hopes a deal can be done this week, possibly as early as Wednesday (fresh talks are pencilled in with Juncker for then).
May knows that her fragile grip on the keys to No10 rests on the support of the DUP and on the continued patience of backbench and Cabinet Brexiteers. What unites all sides – Tory Brexiteers, the DUP and EU negotiators - is raw, mutual self-interest. The spectre of two doomsday scenarios hangs over everything: a ‘no deal’ Brexit that harms everyone economically, and the collapse of the May government that will spell yet more instability and delay.
This rollercoaster of a day was reflected neatly by the undulations in the price of sterling on the money markets: when a deal looked imminent, the pound spiked; when May and Junker announced at their terse press conference there was still no deal, the pound plunged.
If a deal is done this week, and formal agreement signed at the EU summit next week, the pound will rise once more. May will then be delighted to have made it to Christmas with diplomatic progress and her Government still intact. Still, she knows more than anyone this is only the first phase of the Brexit talks. The whole point is to buy herself some invaluable time until trade and transition negotiations begin next year.
One devout Leaver joked to me recently that a multi-billion pound Brexit ‘divorce bill’ was worth it because ultimately “freedom isn’t free”. But the trade and transition talks could prove to be much, much more difficult for the PM if her Brexiteers, or the DUP, don’t like what they’re being sold.
A van driver who told police he was going to “kill a Muslim” before ploughing into a curry house on the anniversary of the Brexit vote has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and assault.
According to police, 48-year-old Marek Zakrocki downed two bottles of wine on June 23 before going on a drunken rampage around north-west London, shouting about “white power”.
Following an argument with his wife - who he admitted to assaulting in court - the Harrow resident warned that he was going to harm Muslims in an attack on a religious building, leaving in his van.
The police were then called by his worried daughter. In a phone call with officers, Zakrocki - a Polish national - said: “I’m going to kill a Muslim. I’m doing this for Britain.
“This is the way I am going to help the country. You people can’t do anything. I am going to do it my way because that is what I think is right.”
After shouting racist abuse at a local shopping centre and pushing an unknown victim in a separate incident, Zakrocki drove to an Indian restaurant in Harrow, police said.
The van driver went on to plough into the front of the curry house twice after getting into a row with its owner.
The restaurant boss was forced to jump out of the way when Zakrocki also took aim at him with his vehicle.
Zakrocki was stopped and arrested by armed officers minutes after fleeing the scene, when it was discovered that he was also in possession of a kitchen knife and a baton-torch.
During a later interview with officers, he claimed that he was not racist and did not want to harm anyone.
Investigating officer DC Georgina Acuna said: “This was a terrifying ordeal for the witnesses and victims. Zakrocki was almost three times over the drink-driving limit and it was through pure good-fortune that no one was injured during his rampage.
“Hate crime, in all its forms, will not be tolerated and offenders such as Zakrocki will be brought to justice.”
Zakrocki will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in January.
