Inside Politics: Boris Johnson faces fresh questions about free school meals

Good times for Marcus Rashford. Man United have leapfrogged the mighty Liverpool to go top of the Premier League for the first time in three years. And the club’s star striker has scored another off-the-field victory – shaming the government into taking action over the shockingly miserable food packages for low-income families. As he prepares for today’s PMQs match-up, Keir Starmer may wish to ask Boris Johnson why Rashford is the nation’s No 1 policy game-changer. Although he may want to ask himself the same question.

Inside the bubble

Our political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for on Wednesday:

Boris Johnson who can expect a double dose of Covid questions, first at PMQs and then at a 90-minute session of the liaison committee of senior MPs also covering Brexit.  There will be urgent questions on post-Brexit disruption to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and whether local, Scottish and Welsh parliament elections should go ahead as planned on 6 May.

Daily briefing

JABBA-DABBA-QUEUE: So it looks as though Keir Starmer’s call for 24/7 vaccinations will be taken up after all. After No 10 said there was no “clamour” for late-night appointments, Boris Johnson has approved a pilot 24/7 service to see it’ll help speed up the rollout, according to the FT. The Labour leader may want to ask the PM about reports GPs in some areas have been forced to “pause” jabs to allow other parts of the country to catch up. A senior government source told The Telegraph doctors weren’t being told to slow down, but conceded some areas had fallen behind and were being prioritised with supply of the vaccine. It comes as home secretary Priti Patel said she backed the police on tougher enforcement of lockdown laws. The National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Martin Hewitt revealed that 45,000 fixed penalty notices had already been issued. And all the big supermarkets have now made mask wearing mandatory.

BAD APPLES: Ministers have promised to investigate the paltry food parcels going to low-income families while schools are in lockdown. All it took was a few tweets from Marcus Rashford – sharing photos of the measly parcels which appeared to show just £5-worth of food rather than the £30 a school meal voucher would be worth. “Just not good enough,” said the star. Chartwells, one of the companies at the heart of the scandal, has now apologised and pledged to enhance its parcels. Food campaigner Jack Monroe attacked “offensively meagre scraps” and called on the government to reinstate the voucher system giving parents the “dignity” to spend money as they see fit. And Keir Starmer questioned how much cash the private providers of the meals were keeping for themselves. “Where is the money going? This needs sorting immediately.”

I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE: No 10 has insisted Boris Johnson did nothing wrong by going seven miles across London for a cycle. “He will be doing bike rides again – you all know how much he loves his bike,” his press secretary Allegra Stratton told reporters. Met Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said Johnson hadn’t broken the law during the bike ride – but she did say people should stay locals when exercising. Asked how she interpreted “local”, she said: “For me, a reasonable interpretation of that is that if you can... go for your exercise from your front door and come back to your front door.” Labour’s complained that the rules still weren’t clear enough. Meanwhile, top Tories have called on the PM to “reset” the UK’s policy towards China – including sanctions. But foreign secretary Dominic Raab stopped short of sanctions on Tuesday, announcing fines for UK firms which cannot demonstrate their products aren’t linked to forced labour.

SEEING RED: Customs operators want the government to prioritise “key” border staff for Covid vaccinations. One official told the BBC his staff were working up to 16 hours a day to help traders deal with post-Brexit red tape and make sure supplies keep flowing into the country. I say flowing, but all the red tape is leading to an increasing number of gaps on the supermarket shelves. Dmitry Grozoubinski, founder of consultancy ExplainTrade, told The Independent retailers and suppliers would resolve the problems, eventually – but at a cost. “There will be a cost impact and certain business models that rely on there being no border [between the EU and UK] will disappear.” Meanwhile, Scottish fish exporters are warning that prices are “collapsing” by up to 80 per cent. One fisherman said the “shambolic” post-Brexit arrangements are leading to lorries full of seafood being rejected by EU customers.

INSIDE OUT: More questions for Priti Patel and the Home Office, after dozens of asylum-seekers mounted a protest outside a former military camp in Kent. Hundreds of asylum seekers inside the facility are said to be on hunger strike – and some have been sleeping outdoors in protest against the living conditions. They say they will stay out until the government provides accommodation that meets basic needs. In other news, blue wall Tory MPs have endorsed a report recommending 50,000 civil servants are moved out of London to the north of England. The Northern Policy Foundation is proposing the Treasury should be shunted up to Leeds, the Home Office switched to Newcastle and the Department of Health transferred to Liverpool. The think tank says the big shift north could give the region a £3bn economic boost.

ET TU, MITCH? Are the Republicans finally turning on Donald Trump? The party’s House leader Kevin McCarthy is thought to have decided not to ask GOP members to vote against the Democrats’ impeachment measure today. In an even more striking development, the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has told confidantes he is pleased about impeachment – and sees it as a chance to get rid of Trump, according to The New York Times. McConnell believes the president did commit impeachable offences, reports The Washington Post. Meanwhile, the House’s third most senior Republican, Liz Cheney, said she would vote to impeach trump today. Dick Cheney’s daughter said Trump had “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, lit the flame of this attack”. The demagogue told reporters on Tuesday his pre-riot speech was “totally appropriate” and claimed his social media ban was a “catastrophic mistake”.

On the record

“If you do not play your part our selfless police officers … they will enforce the regulations. And I will back them to do so.”

Priti Patel on more fines for rule breakers.

From the Twitterati

“If you don’t care about hungry children, you might care that £30 of your taxes is being spent on £5 of food.”

Sky Sports’ Kelly Cates questions the sums involved in the food parcel system.

“Inadequate, overpriced, profit-driven, and cruel to the most vulnerable. Funny how much a food parcel can say about a country.”

…and actor Stephen McGann questions what has become of Britain.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: Covid can’t be deported, so Priti Patel sent us all home instead

Andrew Feinberg, The Independent: White House insiders say Trump knew riots were about to happen

Marina Hyde, The Guardian: So Boris Johnson was cycling seven miles from No 10? It’s not far enough

Derek Thompson, The Atlantic: How big tech finally fired Donald Trump

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