Today’s daily politics briefing
Labour has accused Matt Hancock of appearing to breach the ministerial code, after it emerged that the health secretary was given a 20 per cent share in a company owned by his sister shortly before it won a lucrative NHS contract.
Topwood Ltd of Wrexham, a document-shredding firm, was awarded a three-year contract – reportedly worth £300,000 – by NHS Wales. A government spokesperson said Mr Hancock had “acted entirely properly in these circumstances”, adding that there was “no conflict of interest”.
Meanwhile, the government’s lobbying scandal is showing no signs of abating, after it was revealed that a second Cabinet Office adviser also worked for the now-collapsed lender Greensill, which went on to employ David Cameron as a lobbyist.
And Whitehall’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, announced on Friday that it was investigating Greensill Capital’s involvement in the government’s Covid-19 support schemes – including the accreditation process by which the now-defunct firm was authorised to issue vast government-backed loans.
This comes after Eric Pickles, head of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, said on Thursday that there were no “boundaries” between Whitehall and the private sector, as Labour’s shadow minister Rachel Reeves accused the government of not doing enough to keep cronyism “in check”.
Starmer joins Sarwar on Scottish Labour campaign trail
Keir Starmer has flown to Scotland to lend his support to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s Holyrood campaign.
Mr Sarwar, who was recently elected to the position, has said the next Scottish parliament should focus its attention on the coronavirus recovery. As part of this, he has promised to appoint a mental health worker in every GP surgery in the country.
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 14:51
DUP condemns EU’s support for Northern Ireland protocol
Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the DUP, has issued a strong retort to the EU over its latest Brexit comments.
This comes after the bloc said on Friday morning that the Northern Ireland protocol was the only means of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.
However, the peer disagreed, accusing the European Commission of “protecting its own interests rather than securing long-term answers” for the people of the province.
“It has become increasingly clear that the EU’s legalistic and rigid approach is incapable of bringing about the real change needed to deal with the protocol,” he said.
Lord Dodds added that the British government must restore “the economic and constitutional integrity” of the UK.
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 14:30
Government to release findings of second jobs probe
Downing Street has said it will publish the findings of an investigation into how civil servants simultaneously held jobs in the private sector.
However, No 10 would not specify when the details are likely to be made public.
The investigation, led by the lawyer Nigel Boardman, was launched on the back of the Greensill lobbying scandal.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has the details:
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 14:11
DUP rejects ‘obstructing’ north-south relations
Arlene Foster has rejected the suggestion that she deliberately “obstructed” a meeting of a north-south institution by not sending a unionist minister.
Northern Ireland’s first minister said on Friday that the meeting was cancelled due to a problem with dates.
She told the BBC that “the agenda wasn’t agreed, nothing was agreed for the meeting today between the different parties”, adding that it would take place in the future.
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 13:51
Ousted Myanmar ambassador faces eviction from London residence
The ousted Myanmar ambassador to the UK has said his passport has been made “invalid” and that he could be evicted from his residence in north London.
Kyaw Zwar Minn was told to leave the accommodation by Friday, after he was locked out of his country’s embassy on 7 April for calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The former general, who until recently had close ties to the junta, did not give any details about the support he is currently receiving from the British government.
After a coup on 1 February, hundreds of peaceful protesters, many of them children, have been killed by security forces in Myanmar.
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 13:32
DUP accused of ‘obstructing’ north-south institutions
Politicians have accused the DUP of “obstructing” North-South institutions, after a meeting had to be cancelled because the party did not send a unionist representative.
Infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon, of the SDLP, said this meant Arlene Foster had “failed to fulfil her ministerial requirement”.
“Today the DUP have once again blocked the proceeding of an important north-south ministerial meeting. Irish Government Minister Eamon Ryan and I were waiting to join our meeting which was blocked from proceeding because no accompanying unionist minister would make themselves available,” she said.
The North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meeting was supposed to cover transport. The next one, scheduled for 28 April, will be on agriculture.
The cancellation comes after the DUP said in February that relations between north and south would be “impacted” by its opposition to post-Brexit arrangements.
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 13:13
Labour accuses Matt Hancock of breaching ministerial code
Labour has accused Matt Hancock of appearing to breach the ministerial code, as pressure grows on the health secretary to explain how the firm TopWood Limited was awarded a three-year £150,000 contract from NHS Wales days after he took on shares in the company, of which his sister is declared a director.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “The health secretary needs to explain in a public statement today how a company owned by his family members which he holds shares in came to win a place on a business services framework to provide services to the NHS, as well as explaining why he did not declare that the company is owned by his family members.”
Ms Rayner added: “It appears that the health secretary has breached the ministerial code, and the public deserve answers”.
Andy Gregory16 April 2021 12:42
Whitehall spending watchdog to investigate Greensill
The National Audit Office has announced that it is investigating Greensill Capital’s “involvement in the government’s Covid-19 support schemes”.
The probe will cover the accreditation process – by which the now-defunct financial firm was allowed to grant vast government-backed loans – and any post-accreditation monitoring of Greensill Capital’s activities, the watchdog said.
Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has the details on this breaking story here:
Andy Gregory16 April 2021 12:35
Banks and insurers move £1 trillion of assets out of UK due to Brexit
Roughly £1 trillion in assets has been moved out of the UK as a result of Brexit, new research has suggested.
A study by the New Financial think-tank found that banks had shifted around £900bn in assets, while insurance firms and asset managers had moved £100bn.
If accurate, this indicates that the City of London has been hit harder by Brexit than previously thought.
“The worse news is that this analysis is almost certainly a significant underestimate of the real picture. We are only at the end of the beginning of Brexit,” the authors of the report warned.
My colleague Ben Chapman reports:
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 12:20
Former civil service boss ‘baffled’ by Greensill scandal
A former civil service boss has said he is “baffled” by how a top government adviser could work for Greensill Capital during his time in Whitehall.
Lord Kerslake said he could see “no circumstances” in which Bill Crothers’ appointment was acceptable.
The peer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He led on procurement – an area of absolutely intense scrutiny and where integrity is vital. The effect of what he did, if not the intent, was to bypass the Acoba rules.
“The situation was that Greensill were active in government even if they didn’t have a contract. So I am personally baffled as to how this got approved.”
Rory Sullivan16 April 2021 12:00