Eric Pickles, head of advisory committee on business appointments, tells MPs he warned of a scandal ‘but this is not where I expected it to come from’
- Cameron and Sunak to be called to give evidence to Greensill inquiries
- What is the Greensill lobbying scandal and who is involved?
- Whitehall civil servants ordered to disclose all conflicts of interest
- Global coronavirus updates – live
12.07pm BST
YouGov has published the results of a comprehensive poll of Labour members. Two thirds of members say Starmer is doing well, with almost half (48%) saying his leadership has changed the party for the better. You can read the full findings here.
LABOUR MEMBERS POLL – today we’re publishing the results of a big poll of the party membership across four articles. See the rest of the thread for a data extravaganza!
11.59am BST
Keir Starmer has expressed concern that vaccine passports could lead to discrimination against those who have not had a Covid vaccine.
He said:
There are clearly legal and ethical and practical issues with vaccine passports, and that’s probably why the government is backing away from its own proposals on this. Do we want to see as many people vaccinated as possible? Yes. That means rolling out the existing programme as quickly as possible, and actually closing the gap so that where people are asked to self-isolate they’ve got the financial wherewithal to do so. Statutory sick pay is too low, the £500 payment the government’s put in place doesn’t apply to most people. So roll out the vaccine as soon as possible, and close the gap in the defences.
Continue reading… Source: The Guardian: Lobbying watchdog chief says ‘not for one moment did I anticipate anything like Greensill’ – politics live ———