Lisa O’Carroll Micheál Martin, the Irish Prime Minister (Irish Prime Minister) will urge Rishi Sunak to redouble efforts for a major breakthrough in talks between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol dispute when they meet in Blackpool for dinner tonight . Sunak is meeting Martin for the first time, but two months after Boris Johnson left Downing Street, Anglo-Irish and EU relations appear to be on the road to recovery. An Irish government statement said Martin would pay a two-day visit to England, including a British-Irish Council summit. He said: Discussions are expected to focus on the importance of progress in negotiations between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol, as well as political developments in Northern Ireland and UK-Ireland bilateral relations. Martin will also meet Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, as well as the mayors of Manchester Metro and Liverpool.
Heaton-Harris says legal advice was it would be “incredibly difficult” to cut pay for DUP MLAs alone
Yesterday Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, announced that he will cut the salaries of Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Northern Ireland by 27.5% because the assembly is not in session due to the DUP boycott. If this goes ahead, it means their pay will drop from around £51,000 to £37,000. That was part of Heaton-Harris’ announcement that she pushed back the deadline for new assembly elections to allow more time for talks to resolve the impasse. Yesterday Sinn Féin said only DUP MPs should have their salaries cut because they are responsible for restoring power sharing. The DUP wants the Northern Ireland protocol to be abandoned or reformed first. In an interview this morning Heaton-Harris said his legal advice was that it would not be possible to cut the salaries of some MLAs but not others. He said: There has been legal opinion in the past from former foreign secretaries which show that it would be incredibly difficult and it would be subject to judicial review if I didn’t do it in a fair and proportionate way, which it is. And here are the other things he said in his interview about yesterday’s announcement. I’ve been talking to all the political parties, I’ve been talking to representative business groups, I’ve been talking to community groups, I’ve been talking to people on the street and I’ve watched people say that nobody wants an election before Christmas, so forgive me for being a listening politician.
He said the absence of an executive in Northern Ireland made it more difficult to pass on the £400 discount on the energy bill to people in the region. But he said he hopes to announce “very, very soon” how people will be paid.
NHS hospitals will do everything they can to “minimize harm to patients” if nurses strike, a national health leader has said. As PA Media reports, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents most NHS organisations, told BBC Breakfast that there were national and regional plans to minimize the impact on patients, but operations and appointments would must be canceled or postponed. He said: It is clear that industrial action is a challenge for health services and NHS leaders. We are already addressing the gap that exists between the demand that currently exists for health services from the public. We have to meet this demand and we all know we are heading into an already very difficult winter. Then we add industrial action to that and it’s going to be an extremely difficult job. The priority will be to try to minimize harm to patients. Updated at 09:59 GMT
7.1 million people in England on hospital waiting lists, a record high, NHS figures show
The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital care has risen to a new record high, PA Media reports. PA says: A total of 7.1 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of September, according to NHS England. That’s up from 7 million in August and is the highest number since records began in August 2007. A total of 401,537 people in England were waiting more than 52 weeks to start hospital care at the end of September, according to NHS England. This is up from 387,257 at the end of August and equates to about one in 18 people on the entire waiting list. The Government and NHS England have set an ambition to eliminate all waiting times of more than a year by March 2025. Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, will not be at the summit in Blackpool today in person (see 9.28am) because he has Covid, ITV Cymru’s Adrian Masters reports. First Minister Mark Drakeford will attend today’s British Irish Council remotely because he still has Covid. He will have a video meeting with Rishi Sunak this afternoon. — Adrian Masters (@adrianmasters84) November 10, 2022
Brexit-backing next boss Simon Wolfson calls for loosening of immigration rules, saying this is not the Brexit I wanted
Simon Wolfson, chief executive of Next, was one of the most prominent business figures to back Brexit. But now he told the BBC that the Brexit we have “is certainly not the Brexit that I wanted, or indeed, many of the people who voted for Brexit, but more importantly, the vast majority of the country”. As Graeme Wearden reports on his business live blog, Wolfson is now calling for immigration rules to be relaxed to make it easier for companies to hire foreign workers if they need them.
Rishi Sunak seeks to mend relations with Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford at devolved government summit
Good morning. On Monday Rishi Sunak attended his first foreign affairs summit as prime minister (Cop27). He makes another international debut next week when he represents the UK at the G20 in Bali. And today he has another diplomatic engagement on his calendar – which could be just as challenging. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, and Mark Drakeford, the first minister of Wales, are not foreign leaders. But they might as well judge by the way they have been treated by recent UK prime ministers. Boris Johnson has struggled to hide his belief that devolution was a “disaster” and Liz Truss wouldn’t even find time for a friendly chat with Sturgeon and Drakeford in her short time as Prime Minister. We don’t know much about Sunak’s thinking on Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or devolution. He never showed much interest in the matter. But as prime minister he seems keen to avoid some of the mistakes of his predecessors and treat Sturgeon and Drakeford with respect. He is meeting them face to face today and this is what he said in a statement released ahead of those meetings overnight. We face enormous challenges from global economic adversity to war in Europe. So let’s be pragmatic. Let us work together for our common interests. Let us deliver for all our people on these great islands – and build a future defined not by division, but by unity and hope. Sunak will also meet with the Thai leader (Irish Prime Minister), Micheál Martin. Again, he has not said much about Irish politics in the past, but London and Dublin are desperate to resolve the Northern Ireland Protocol problem, which is preventing the resumption of power sharing in Northern Ireland, before the 25th anniversary of Good Friday deal next year. All these meetings are taking place in Blackpool, where Sunak is attending a meeting of the British-Irish Council summit. This is a shop that talks about the UK, Irish and devolved governments, as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. Meetings are held once or twice a year and usually do not generate much news. But there are two important features of this sigan. First, Sunak is the first prime minister to attend one of these summits since Gordon Brown in 2007. Normally someone like Michael Gove represents the UK government. (Sunak is only there for the opening today; Gove will chair the main plenary tomorrow.) And, secondly, Sunak will also chair a meeting of the Council of Prime Ministers and Heads of Devolved Governments. It is a new body, set up as a result of reforms to UK intergovernmental relations announced by Gove in January, but has never met before. When Johnson sat down for meetings with the heads of devolved governments, it was usually at Cobra meetings, discussing Covid. Morning: Ben Wallace, the Defense Secretary, is to hold a meeting of Defense Ministers of the Joint Task Force in Edinburgh. 11.10am: Huw Merriman, the Rail Secretary, gives a speech at the annual conference of the Rail Industry Association. 11.30am: Downing Street briefs lobby. Afternoon: Rishi Sunak is due to meet Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford in Blackpool. His meeting with Micheál Martin, the captain, is expected later. I’m trying to follow the comments below the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they’re of general interest I’ll post the question and answer above the line (ATL), though I can’t promise I’ll do it for everyone. If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow. Alternatively you can email me at [email protected] Updated at 09:42 GMT
