Inside Politics: Ministers mull U-turn on mandatory jabs for NHS workers

Boris Johnson will this week attempt to seize the initiative and get back on the front foot with a blitz of domestic policy announcements, which his critics say are aimed at distracting attention away from Sue Gray’s looming report on Downing Street and Whitehall parties (still not published). After confirming over the weekend that a planned rise to NI contributions to fund social care will go ahead, announcements will be made on Brexit and the so-called levelling up agenda.

Commons action gets underway with education questions at 2.30pm, followed by any urgent question or statements. Later, the main business will see consideration of Lords amendments to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill and the remaining stages of the Dormant Assets Bill.

Coming up:

– Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry on Sky News Breakfast at 8.05am

– Chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am

Daily Briefing

JABS U-TURN:Sajid Javid, the health secretary, meets with other cabinet ministers later to decide on whether or not to scrap controversial plans for mandatory jabs for NHS workers – a move opposed by scores of back bench Tory MPs as it went through the Commons last year. Reports this morning suggest it is likely that mandatory vaccine will in fact be axed, with the government justifying the decision on the basis that the Omicron strain of Covid has been less severe than Delta. Ministers have been under pressure from the NHS to scrap the measures amid fears it could result in an exodus of staff. Meanwhile, the health service is struggling to identify which staff have not received a Covid jab as a result of “gaping holes” in hospitals’ records, less than a week before the mandatory vaccine deadline is set to expire, The Independent has learnt. Until there is clearer guidance from the government, hospital managers are being forced to identify unvaccinated staff using their NHS numbers – a move criticised by experts as a “grotesque” and “gross” misuse of personal information.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Today marks the second anniversary of the UK’s exit from the EU and Johnson is celebrating by bringing forward the Brexit Freedoms Bill which the government says will “cut £1 billion of red tape” for businesses. But critics fear that a bonfire of EU laws of everything from data privacy to road standards will be forced through behind parliament’s back. The alarm has been raised over the announcement of a single Bill to remove all unwanted “retained law” – using backstage regulations, instead of allowing full scrutiny and votes. Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Trinity College Cambridge, has warned: “This raises issues about the quality of parliamentary scrutiny of any changes, especially if, as proposed, an ‘accelerated process’ is involved. The government has previously made clear that it intends to eventually amend, replace or repeal all of the retained law that it deems 2not right for the UK”. Downing Street said that under current rules, changing or scrapping regulations in the pipeline of outdated legislation would take “several years” because of a long-winded alteration process. It said the new bill will “ensure that changes can be made more easily”, so the UK can “capitalise on Brexit freedoms more quickly”. No 10 did not specify exactly what provisions the bill will contain to speed up reforms, or how it calculated that businesses would save £1 billion through the cutting of red tape.

GOING GREY WITH DELAY: No 10 had still not received a copy of Gray’s hotly anticipated investigation by Sunday evening, although reports say a heavily redacted version of the document – due to the Met Police’s investigation – will be made available to Johnson early this week.Warning: we’ve heard this line before, so don’t be surprised if the report doesn’t surface. We’ll have live updates throughout the day here, just in case. Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former top adviser, was back in the headlines over the weekend, telling the New York magazine it is his “duty to get rid” of the prime minister, describing his campaign against Johnson as “an unpleasant but necessary job” like “fixing the drains”.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE LATEST: There has been no deescalation in tensions between Russia and Ukraine as Moscow refuses to remove troops from the border between the two countries. The PM is expected to travel to the region later this week and will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone. Reports say the UK is looking at doubling the number of its troops deployed to eastern European to protect allies there, although Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday that it is “very unlikely” British soldiers will fight Russia alongside Ukraine forces. Truss also said Russian oligarchs living in London will be hit with tough new sanctions to deter an invasion – even if its hurts the UK economy.

‘SMALL BEER’: On Wednesday Michael Gove, the housing, local government and levelling up secretary, is expected to publish the government’s white paper on levelling up and the cabinet minister has been out on the airwaves promoting it. In a taster of the policies to come the government announced new plans at the weekend to “breathe fresh life into disadvantaged communities” across England. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said 20 chosen locations will be prioritised for a £1.5 billion Brownfield Fund made available from April 2022. Pressed on where the money was coming from, the DLUHC clarified said that the cash to fund the work was allocated by the Treasury last year. Labour’s shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy described the regeneration funding as “very small beer”. She added the government’s approach is “downright insulting”, adding that the white paper “frankly doesn’t appear to be worth the paper that it’s written on”.

“Once you realise someone is operating like that, then your duty is to get rid of them, not to just prop them up.”

Dominic Cummings says it is his duty oust Johnson from office.

“As @BorisJohnson pushes himself as a friend of Ukraine, worth remembering that he was accused of being ‘Putin’s apologist’ in 2016.(After he blamed a new EU-Ukraine trade agreement for worsening relations with Russia).”

i chief politics commentator Paul Waugh on Russia/Ukraine crisis.

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