Boris Johnson news – live: Tory ratings on economy nosedive, as EU touts far-reaching Brexit deal solutions – The Independent

Boris Johnson jokes about number of children Jacob Rees-Mogg has during Tory conference

Public opinion of Boris Johnsons governments handling of taxes, inflation and the UK economy has nosedived, according to YouGov polling.

As think-tanks and trade organisations condemned the prime ministers Tory conference speech touting a high wage economic revival as vacuous and economically illiterate, the pollsters found his party were now neck-and-neck with Labour on the issue of taxation.

Meanwhile, the EU is preparing to table far-reaching new proposals on the Northern Ireland Protocol by the middle of next week, in a move welcomed by the DUP, which had threatened to collapse power-sharing at Stormont over the contentious part of the Brexit deal affecting trade in Northern Ireland.

The European Commissions vice-president Maros Sefcovic urged the UK to dial down the political rhetoric, after Brexit minister Lord Frost threatened this week that unilaterally suspending parts of the Brexit deal by triggering Article 16 may end up as the only way forward.

Speakers at the Tory conference were long on ambition but short on policy detail, the Institute for Governments chief economist has said.

Forty-one fringe events including two of our own had levelling up in their titles. Boris Johnson mentioned it 18 times in his speech to party members. But we still came away from the conference foggy about what the government really wants to achieve, said Gemma Tetlow.

She added: Some at conference argued that the vague, all-encompassing nature of the levelling up term is a strength, but mobilising the power of the state to tackle the array of thorny issues will require more than just a slogan.

With delivering on levelling up requiring action across numerous departments and all tiers of government, the forthcoming levelling up white paper will need to provide much greater detail on the objectives if the might of government is to be deployed effectively.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 20:00

The government has announced that a total of 47 countries are set to be removed from the UKs red list for travel, including South Africa leaving just seven destinations subject to Britains quarantine rules, Lucy Thackray reports.

The Department for Transport said that dozens of destinations, including Argentina, Chile, Thailand and Mexico, would be bumped up to the rest of world list, allowing vaccinated arrivals from those countries to bypass quarantine.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 19:41

Silhouettes representing 16 women who have been killed by serving or former police officers since 2009 have been placed outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters to call on the government to put an end to violence against women.

We need more than just words, we need actual action, action that will make a difference and save women's lives, keep women safer day to day, , said Ruth Davison, chief executive of Refuge, which organised the campaign.

She suggested Priti Patel has a real opportunity to do this in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which contains a proposed new serious violence prevention duty requiring, police and other public bodies to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.

But as the bill currently stands, the definition of serious violence in the prevention duty does not explicitly include domestic abuse, domestic homicide or sexual violence which Refuge wants to change.

(Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 19:07

A Conservative councillor has been suspended from the party after being linked with a far-right, white nationalist organisation by an anti-racist campaign group, our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports.

Worthing Cllr Tim Wills was alleged to be a supporter of Patriotic Alternative (PA) a group which claims to preserve the indigenous population of the UK.

Read the full story here:

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 18:37

Just hours after the EU announced it would offer far-reaching proposals for how to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, the UK government is reported to have reiterated its threat to trigger Article 16.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 18:22

Fishing industry leaders in France are threatening to take action against the UK in two weeks time if they are not granted a sufficient number of post-Brexit fishing licences.

French fishing must not be taken hostage by the British for political ends, French sea minister Annick Girardin reportedly said, while the chair of the Hauts-de-France Regional Fisheries Committee threatened that British people will not have so many nice things to eat at Christmas if the issues arent resolved.

My colleague Lamiat Sabin has the full story here:

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 17:50

There is widespread support for the Northern Ireland Protocol, Sinn Feins president has said, dismissing rumblings within a section of unionism.

There is a recognition across the board that the protocol is necessary to protect the all-island economy, necessary to ensure that the foundations of the Good Friday Agreement are kept intact, Mary-Lou McDonald told reporters in Dublin.

"[Maros Sefcovic] will also know, of course, that there are rumblings within a section of unionism, only a section of unionism, and of course the antics of the British Government are well recorded in respect of Brexit, the coercing of the North out of the European Union against the democratic wishes of the voters and, of course, the strategy that they adopted in terms of the exit agreement, and so on.

The reality is that the protocol has to work for all of us on this island.

Ms McDonald said the complications with the protocol have been acknowledged by everybody but said it is essential that everybody, our European partners, but also the British Government, come at this in good faith and with good will.

Calling on Boris Johnson and his government to act on the basis of good will and good faith, she added: I believe that Europe is coming at this question in a solutions mode and I fully expect that the British Government will respect that and will reciprocate that.

Of course, you can never guarantee that, but certainly that is what any responsible and honourable government would do.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 17:40

The DUP leader has claimed a victory for unionists as he welcomed Maros Sefcovics announcement that the EU will table very far-reaching proposals aimed at securing a compromise over the Northern Ireland Protocol within the next fortnight.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: We were told weeks ago that the EU were not in a position where they were ever going to reopen negotiations, so I think we've breached the first wall and I think that is the result of unionists standing together and saying, look, we cannot support this protocol, we cannot support an Irish Sea border.

Claiming the pressure we have brought to bear and the steps that have been taken in the last few weeks have focused minds both in London and in Brussels, he added: We still have a long way to go, I don't pretend otherwise, but I think at least now we've broken through. We've opened up the protocol and there is a beginning of a negotiation. We'll see what emerges from that.

Sir Jeffrey had threatened to pull his ministers out of Stormont a move that would collapse powersharing in Northern Ireland if major changes to the protocol are not secured, and said he had been assured by Boris Johnson that unless the EU steps up to the mark, the UK will move unilaterally to restore Northern Ireland's position within the UK internal market.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday, he struck a dour tone over the EUs newly-awaited proposals, and said he hoped the ensuing negotiations would be meaningful.

The EU will bring forward their proposals, I've no doubt that those proposals will fall short of what the UK need and certainly what we need, and there will then follow a period of what Lord Frost called intensive negotiations, the DUP leader said, but added: I've certainly seen a change in the tone and language being used by the EU, which is welcome.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 17:19

Public opinion of the governments handling of the economy, tax and inflation have nosedived over the past month, according to YouGov polling.

The pollsters also found that Labour and the Tories are both tied with 25 per cent over which party the public thinks would be best on taxation.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 16:46

Nadine Dorries has been accused of being detached from the real world after she claimed the Universal Credit cut will not push anyone into poverty, my colleague Adam Forrest reports.

The 20-a-week cut to millions of families incomes risks 500,000 people in the UK falling into poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has estimated, while the right-wing Legatum Institute has put the figure at just over 800,000.

But asked by journalist Owen Jones at the Tory conference how many face poverty as a result of the cut, Ms Dorries said: Nobody. Nobody is No, no, no, because no, Owen of course not.

Andy Gregory7 October 2021 16:27

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Boris Johnson news - live: Tory ratings on economy nosedive, as EU touts far-reaching Brexit deal solutions - The Independent