Boris Johnson news: Government withholding WhatsApp messages from Covid Inquiry ‘to protect Rishi Sunak’

The government is withholding Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages from the official Covid inquiry to protect Rishi Sunak and other serving ministers, Archie Mitchell reports.

The Cabinet Office is resisting requests from inquiry chair Lady Hallett to hand over the former prime minister’s unredacted messages and diaries from the pandemic.

It fears that giving in to the former judge would mean all other evidence from ministers, including Mr Sunak himself, would have to be submitted without redactions, The Guardian reported.

The government argues it is opposing Lady Hallett’s request to protect the privacy of ministers and officials.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said Rishi Sunak looks “really slippery” over the refusal to hand over requested files to the Covid inquiry.Urging the government to “comply with the inquiry”.

Mr Streeting told Sky News:“I think the prime minister looks really slippery.”

“He says he wants the government to cooperate with the inquiry but the government has been withholding information the inquiry has asked for.”

The Labour frontbencher added: “One minute the government says the messages they have are immaterial; the next minute they’re saying they don’t exist. Which is it?”

The Scottish government needs to “quickly re-evaluate” its planned deposit return scheme (DRS) to see if it can still go ahead in the face of Westminster attempts to “sabotage” it, the minister responsible for it has said.

Scottish circular economy minister Lorna Slater claimed the UK government’s forced removal of glass bottles from the scheme north of the border is a “real roadblock” to it.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Wednesday, she said: “We’ve hit a real roadblock with the UK Government, at this very late hour, changing their minds and saying we can’t have glass in the system when businesses all over Scotland have put in already the investment to having glass in the system.

“We now need to quickly re-evaluate, talk to all the businesses in Scotland who have made this investment and figure out how we go forward from here.”

Britain’s future is outside the EU, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said, as he promised to make Brexit work.

Writing in the Daily Express newspaper, Sir Keir – who campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum – also said he would not be seeking a return to freedom of movement.

“If we are to make Brexit work, we need a government with the vision and the focus to deliver it,” he wrote.

“As Rishi Sunak heads off to meet with Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, there are no signs that he or his Government have any proper plan to deliver that better future for our country.

“Britain’s future is outside the EU. Not in the single market, not in the customs union, not with a return to freedom of movement. Those arguments are in the past, where they belong.”

Sir Keir said that the current deal between London and Brussels is “paper-thin”, arguing that it had “stifled Britain’s potential and hugely weighted trade terms towards the EU”.

“We need to act now. New border controls coming in at the end of the year will further restrict trade, damaging businesses and households.

“There is a deal to be done that makes good on the British people’s desire to maintain Britain’s high food and animal welfare standards and prevent the burden of bureaucratic red tape. It could save our importers hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

“Whether it is working with European neighbours to tackle criminal gangs and stop dangerous boat crossings, or driving down the price of food for hard-pressed British families, there is huge potential for change.

“That’s why we should be optimistic.”

Cabinet Office officials are worried about “reputational issues” from Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, a former adviser to the ex-PM has said.

Alex Crowley spoke to Sky News about the government’s handling of a request by the Covid inquiry for Mr Johnson’s WhatsApp exchanges.

Watch part of his interview below:

People who feel they are getting “very poor” interest on their savings from their bank should “shop around and find one that will pay a better rate”, Mel Stride has said.

The work and pensions secretary was asked by Kay Burley on Sky News what the government should do about banks who are not offering competitive levels of interest rates for savers.

Mr Stride, who chaired the Treasury select committee for three years, said: “I think, broadly speaking, the banking and financial services sector is a relatively efficient and highly competitive marketplace.

“So you would expect as one particular bank starts changing rates others to follow, but it is sticky, and of course, government, the business department and Treasury and others are often involved in discussions with banks about exactly those kinds of things.”

He stressed it is a “free market”, before adding: “My advice generally would be if you feel you’re getting a very poor rate with one particular institution is shop around and find one that will pay a better rate, and there are those out there.”

Dale Vince is a “perfectly legitimate person” to take money from and his donations do not affect Labour’s views on Just Stop Oil, the shadow international trade secretary has said.

Nick Thomas-Symonds told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have been extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil.

“Indeed, Keir Starmer has said of them ‘just go home’ because they are not actually promoting the cause of tackling climate change.

“What they are doing is entirely counterproductive and the only debate it’s provoking is about our public order laws.”

Mr Thomas-Symonds said Mr Vince, a green energy entrepreneur and chairman of League Two football club Forest Green Rovers, is a “successful businessman here in the UK”,adding: “He’s a perfectly legitimate person to take money from.

“If he wishes to give money to other causes that’s up to him but it can hardly be said that this affects our views as a Labour Party on Just Stop Oil.”

The government intends to continue being “absolutely transparent and candid” amid calls for the Cabinet Office to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry, a minister said.

Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, spoke to Sky News earlier this morning after the government was forced to deny allegations of a cover-up when the former PM said he was happy for the messages to be handed over – only for the Cabinet Office to say it didn’t have them.

More comments from Mr Stride below:

A boost to childcare payments for families on universal credit will lead to a “greater participation in the labour force”, the work and pensions secretary has said.

Mel Stride told Kay Burley on Sky News: “What we are doing as of the end of next month is substantially increasing the support that we are providing for those who are taking on childcare who are in work and receiving universal credit.

“So that’s a 47% increase in the amount that people can claim, so a huge increase there.

“The second thing we are doing is one of the things that’s prevented people (from) taking on childcare in the past has been the fact that they are having to find the money upfront, so we are removing that problem by helping them with those childcare costs, so this is a very major step.

“And of course, what this will lead to in time is a greater participation in the labour force.

“And so what we want is, we want more people in work so that we can ease those tight labour markets, those businesses that are really struggling to find the right people.

“And childcare is absolutely key to that.”

The government has announced that the amount of childcare for which families on benefits can claim back will increase by hundreds of pounds from the end of June under government plans to tackle inactivity and help grow the economy.

The plans were first outlined in the Budget.

An extraordinary row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps risked descending into farce as the former prime minister said he was happy for his messages to be given to the Covid inquiry – only for the government to say it did not have them.

Downing Street was forced to deny allegations of a cover-up as it stuck by its stance that it should not be forced to release “irrelevant” material concerning the private lives of government staff.

The head of the inquiry has already threatened possible criminal sanctions if the Cabinet Office fails to disclose Mr Johnson’s diary entries and WhatsApp messages.

Kate Devlin and Archie Mitchell report: