PM shouldn’t stop indyref2, says Labour’s former Welsh leader

Labour’s Carwyn Jones, the former first minister of Wales, has backed Nicola Sturgeon in her battle to win the power to hold another referendum on Scottish independence.

“If Boris Johnson says that it is entirely a matter for the UK if it chooses to leave the EU then it’s entirely matter for Scotland if it chooses to leave the UK,” he tweeted.

“As Brussels didn’t prevent the Brexit referendum so Westminster shouldn’t stop this one.”

NI nurses set to received pay rise, as minister hails ‘breakthrough’

Nurses will receive a pay rise in a “breakthrough” bid to end strike action which has paralysed the health service in Northern Ireland, the assembly’s new health minister said.

Robin Swann pledged to restore salary parity with England for this year and next in one of the first actions of the new powersharing administration – at an estimated cost an extra £109m.

Thousands of nurses walked out this month and last amid mounting anger over pay levels and understaffing.

Swann said: “The breakthrough we all wanted has been achieved. This is a good day after some very difficult days … Additional funding has now been secured. Pay parity with England can be restored.”

First minister Arlene Foster said she was glad to support the health minister.

Deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill said: “Today the new executive has delivered on our promise, delivered on our commitment to the healthcare staff. I think this is a hugely significant first step for this executive.”

Bercow spent £1,000 on taxi journey as speaker

Former Commons speaker John Bercow splashed out £1,000 on a taxi for a 130-mile journey from Westminster to Nottingham back in April.

Aides say he was encouraged not to take public transport to Nottingham Trent University, where he was giving a speech to the Political Studies Association conference, because of “security concerns”.

The taxi, which waited for him during the talk and dropped his colleague off in Bicester on the way back, cost £836.50 before VAT was added, a Commons spokeswoman told the PA news agency.

She added: “Due to heightened security concerns for the safety of MPs, Mr Bercow was advised it was safer for him to travel to Nottingham Trent University by taxi, rather than by train.”

Bercow also enjoyed a £7,000 jaunt around the US during the end of his tenure, according to details from a freedom of information request submitted by the Mail Online.

The former Conservative MP also left the public with a £12,000 bill for leaving parties for senior Commons staff.

Before he left the Commons chair in October, Bercow used his official account to settle a £234 drinks bill at a reception for the Panel of Chairs – MPs who help him oversee Parliamentary debates – and £560 on lunch for his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

‘Concentrate on the day job’, Gove tells Sturgeon

The cabinet minister Michael Gove has a message for Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon.

“We already had a referendum – and she [Nicola Sturgeon] and Alex Salmond both agreed that the referendum on Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom would be a once in a generation event.

“So it would be wrong to disrespect the result of that referendum and to have a series of referendums, which is what Nicola Sturgeon wants.

“We’re saying, ‘No, Nicola – concentrate on the day job’. Because the Scottish government is failing when it comes to education, health, transport and crime.”

Hilary Benn: PM cannot support Iran deal and want it replaced

Labour’s Hilary Benn has challenged on foreign secretary Dominic Raab on the prime minister’s remarks on a Donald Trump “replacement” deal for Iran.

Raab claimed the prime minister still supports the current agreement on the Iran nuclear programme as outlined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Benn said: “Either the PM wants to maintain this deal or he is now advocating for its replacement. He cannot credibly hold both positions. Which one is the policy of the government?”

Raab replied: “He is just wrong. Of course you can want to preserve this deal, but be ambitious if it’s possible, to bring in the US and Tehran into a broader rapprochement dealing not just with nuclear issue, but the wider destabilising activities and that’s the policy that we’re pursuing and we’re doing it with the US, but also crucially with our EU partners.”

French president Emmanuel Macron, he added, proposed a very similar approach.

Harry and Meghan should be ‘inspiration’ for PM, says Verhofstadt

Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, has been a pretty consistent critic of Boris Johnson and the Tory party.

The MEP has mocked the prime minister by claiming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex might act as “inspiration” for a healthy transition agreement with the EU.

He tweeted: “As Harry and Meghan just got a “transition” to leave without a hard deadline from the Queen. This might be a good inspiration for her PM on Brexit too to show also more flexibility towards the EU citizens.”

Verhofstadt also warned Johnson’s government not to retreat into “bureaucracy” over the status of EU citizens in the UK after Brexit.

Labour peer rebuked for harassing two women – with photo claim and sexual rhyme

Parliamentary authorities have upheld a harassment complaint against a Labour peer over his behaviour towards a woman around 60 years his junior.

Lord Lea, 82, sent a note to the woman in her 20s – telling her that he had a framed photo of her on his piano and inviting her to share a bottle of champagne with him.

The peer was also found to have harassed a second women after devising a sexual rhyme about her.

All the details here:

Thornberry mocks ‘mythical’ Trump deal suggested by PM

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has criticised Boris Johnson for comments on “replacing” the Iran deal with a “Trump deal”.

Quoting his BBC Breakfast interview, Thornberry said: “In the space of a few days the prime minister has gone from issuing a joint statement calling for the retention and restoration of the JCPOA to calling for it to be scrapped and replaced by some mythical Trump deal.

She suggested foreign secretary Dominic Raab and Johnson are not “on the same page” on the issue.

“Perhaps he could answer some questions … Can he confirm that in his discussions with his American counterparts that they have said one of the problems with the JCPOA was that, to quote the prime minister, ‘It was negotiated by president Obama’.

“Can the foreign secretary tell us how this supposed alternative Trump deal that the prime minister is so enthusiastic about differs from the current JCPOA?

“Can the foreign secretary tell us why on earth would Iran accept a new deal negotiated with Donald Trump with new conditions attached when he has shown his readiness to tear up the existing deal and move the goalposts in terms of what it should cover?”

Raab says Johnson supports Iran pact – but UK welcomes ‘broader’ initiative

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the Commons the prime minister supports the Iran nuclear agreement as outlined in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – despite the PM’s claim Donald Trump should produce a replacement for the pact.

“The prime minister supports the JCPOA and bringing Iran back into full compliance,” said Raab.

The foreign secretary said: “It’s not just president Trump, but also president Macron who have argued for a broader deal with Iran … The UK would be fully open to a broader initiative which would address not just the nuclear concerns but the broader concerns around destabilising activities.”

Raab explained why the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany were referring Iran’s breaches of the nuclear deal to the dispute resolution mechanism.

“The UK, France and Germany will remain committed to the deal and will approach the DRM (dispute resolution mechanism) in good faith, striving to resolve the dispute and bring Iran back into full compliance with its JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal) obligations.”

Raab said the Iranian government has a choice, explaining: “The regime can take steps to de-escalate tensions and adhere to the basic rules of international law or sink deeper and deeper into political and economic isolation.

“So Iran’s response to the DRM will be a critical test of its intentions and its goodwill.”

PM’s spokesman rejects idea UK support for Iran pact waning

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman rejected suggestions that the PM’s comments on a “Trump deal” for Iran meant the UK’s support for the existing JCPOA deal was waning.

The PM’s official spokesman said: “The JCPOA is the only deal that currently exists which prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“As the PM has said before – including in New York in September – if in the future we can agree a better deal that has the support of the US as well, then that is something we will work towards.

“As the joint statement between the prime minister, president Macron and chancellor Merkel said at the weekend, we need to define a long term framework for Iran’s nuclear programme.”

Momentum ballot members on ‘recommended’ candidates

The left-wing activist group Momentum has sent a ballot out to 40,000 members explaining its National Coordinating Committee has recommended endorsing Rebecca Long-Bailey for the leadership and Angela Rayner.

As our correspondent Ashley Cowburn points out, the group has asked members for a simple yes or no whether to formally back each of these two candidate – it being unclear what happens if Long-Bailey or Rayner fail to get 50 per cent “yes” responses.

Lisa Nandy backed by defeated Labour MP

The former Labour MP Gloria de Piero – who lost her seat in Ashfield at last month’s election – has backed Lisa Nandy to be the next Labour leader.

She criticised Rebecca Long-Bailey for giving Jeremy Corbyn full marks. “That election was an absolute disaster, devastating, anybody who gives somebody 10 out of 10 will not be getting my vote.”

De Piero also claimed she “tried to get the Labour party to wake up” to what was happening in “our soul, our heartlands”.

Sadiq Khan says Big Ben bongs for Brexit a waste of money

The Mayor of London has weighed in on the Bong-gate madness, criticising the potential £500,000 cost of having Big Ben chime on 31 January

“I’ve just discovered it could cost half a million pounds … Imagine the good we good to with half a million pounds dealing with hate crime,” said Khan.

Jess Phillips condemns ‘racism’ at Labour meeting in Ilford

Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips has called for a change in the party’s culture after a member claimed he was subjected to antisemitic abuse at a local meeting.

Phillips responded after Alex Holmes, vice-chairman of the party’s Ilford South branch in east London, tweeted about a meeting he described as the worst he had ever attended.

Holmes said he and another member were called “agents of a foreign power” after speaking against a motion attacking the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

The organisation has published “10 pledges” it said would end Labour’s problems with anti-Semitism, which were signed by leadership candidates including Rebecca Long-Bailey and Sir Keir Starmer.

“The proposers used multiple anti-Semitic tropes to make their point that the Board of Deputies is a ‘Tory organisation’ illegally interfering in the Labour leadership contest,” Mr Holmes tweeted of the meeting.

“Racists of any kind have no place anywhere near the Labour party, nor any other mainstream political party.”

Phillips responded: “Today I will seek to speak to Alex about what happened … this will not be easily solved but we must change culture that accepts without shame and embarrassment calling Jewish orgs, Jewish people and their allies ‘agents of a foreign power’. It’s racism.”

Following Holmes’ tweets, the Board of Deputies responded: “We are profoundly saddened to see yet another example of the hatred which has infested parts of Labour.”

Sturgeon responds: ‘Tories are terrified … It will not stand’

Scotland’s first minister Nicolas Sturgeon has responded quickly to Boris Johnson’s rejection of her request for a transfer of referendum powers from London to Edinburgh.

“Tories are terrified of Scotland’s right to choose – because they know that when given the choice we’ll choose independence. Tories have no positive case for the union – so all they can do is attempt to deny democracy. It will not stand.

“The problem for the Tories is the longer they try to block democracy, the more they show the Westminster union is not one of equals and fuel support for independence. This response predictable – but also unsustainable and self defeating. Scotland will have the right to choose.”

PM rejects Sturgeon’s request for indyref2 powers

Boris Johnson has written to Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday refusing her request to be given the powers to hold another Scottish independence referendum.

Sturgeon wrote to Johnson in December asking him to enter negotiations on transferring the power to hold a referendum from London to Edinburgh.

“I cannot agree to any request for a transfer of power that would lead to further independence referendums,” Johnson wrote in a letter which he posted on Twitter, telling Sturgeon she had agreed a 2014 referendum, in which Scots opted to stay in the United Kingdom, would be a “once in a generation” vote.

“Another independence referendum would continue the political stagnation that Scotland has seen for the last decade … it is time that we all worked to bring the whole of the United Kingdom together.”

UK, France and Germany to report Iran over breaches in nuclear pact, say foreign ministers

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany said it was referring Iran’s breaches of the nuclear deal to the dispute resolution mechanism.

They said: “We do this in good faith with the overarching objective of preserving the JCPOA and in the sincere hope of finding a way forward to resolve the impasse through constructive diplomatic dialogue, while preserving the agreement and remaining within its framework.

“In doing so, our three countries are not joining a campaign to implement maximum pressure against Iran. Our hope is to bring Iran back into full compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA.”

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab will make a statement on the Iran nuclear deal in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, the Commons Leader’s office has said.

It follows reports that the UK, France and Germany will trigger the dispute resolution mechanism (DRM) in the deal over breaches of the agreement by Iran.

Raab has previously said the breaches are “acute” and “we will be looking at all measures including potentially triggering the DRM”.

This morning Boris Johnson suggested the pact had no future, backing Donald Trump to “replace” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Labour rejects state aid rescue package for Flybe

John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, has responded to reports suggesting the government is ready to come up with a package of support for the stricken airline Flybe.

“Bailing out a company through a tax cut across the industry is not the way forward,” said McDonnell, set to depart from the frontline when the Labour leadership contest comes to an end in early April.

“Working with the company and unions the government should look at targeted assistance to support routes judged on economic, environmental and social grounds.”

Chancellor Sajid Javid will hold talks with the business and transport secretaries to discuss if the loss-making regional carrier can defer paying this year’s estimated air passenger duty (APD) bill of £106m for three years or whether the tax should be cut for all domestic flights, according to multiple reports.

Boris Johnson said earlier the government was “working very hard to do what we can” to save the regional airline.