Priti Patel outlines measures to stop disruptive activists from travelling - BBC News

Reuters

Home Secretary Priti Patel will announce new powers for courts to prevent people attending protests, in a speech to Conservative conference.

A Tory source said the measures would cover people with a "history of disruption", or where intelligence suggested they were might commit crime.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will promise to increase the electronic tagging of offenders.

And he will pledge to do more to tackle violence against women and girls.

Mr Raab will promise £183m to double the number of offenders in England and Wales on electronic tags by 2025, in a bid to cut reoffending rates.

And he will also pledge £90m to pay for more hours of community payback by offenders.

• Thieves and burglars to be fitted with GPS tags
• 'Sobriety ankle tags' rolled out across England
• Patel pledges to crack down on motorway protests

Ms Patel's announcement comes after a string of attempts by climate activists to block roads including the M1 and M25.

The protesters are part of the Insulate Britain campaign who want the government to insulate all homes across the UK by 2030 to help cut carbon emissions.

Their campaign has been going on for over three weeks and has led to more than 300 arrests.

A Conservative party source said the new Criminal Disruption Prevention Orders - to be unveiled by Ms Patel - would "give the courts the power to prevent an individual with a history of disruption or where there is intelligence suggesting they are likely to commit a criminal offence from attending particular protests".

As part of these stricter rules, police are expected to be given wider stop and search powers allowing officers to inspect activists for "lock on" equipment used to prevent them from being moved.

The announcement comes just weeks ahead of the COP 26 summit - when world leaders and large groups of protesters - are expected to descend on Glasgow.

Over the weekend, Ms Patel has announced plans for longer sentences for people blocking motorways, but protests have continued.

And, in an open letter to Ms Patel, Insulate Britain said: "You can throw as many injunctions at us as you like, but we are going nowhere."

One activist told BBC News: "We have tried lobbying, we have tried targeting political leaders, government departments, people have been doing this for two, three, four, five decades, without any success at all.

"We know through history that disruptive direct actions work. The government are forcing our hand because they are not taking the biggest threat to humanity seriously."

PA Media

Elsewhere in the conference, Mr Raab will use his first speech as justice secretary to announce more money to increase the number of criminals fitted with tags.

Judges can order offenders to wear tags as part of bail conditions and the extra funding could see 10,000 thieves, burglars and robbers and 3,500 domestic abusers having their whereabouts monitored through GPS tags.

A further 12,000 prison leavers could be fitted with sobriety tags which would monitor their sweat for alcohol consumption.

The Conservatives say the extra money will see the number of people wearing tags rise from around 13,500 to 25,000 by 2025.

Mr Raab is expected to tell conference delegates that: "This major increase in high-tech GPS tagging will see us leading the world in using technology to fight crime and keep victims safe.

"From tackling alcohol-fuelled violence and burglary to protecting domestic abuse victims, we are developing tags to make our streets and communities safer."

Mr Raab is also likely to make reference in his speech to recent murders of women, including Sarah Everard.

He is expected to say: "Making our communities safer, so that women can walk home at night, without having to look over their shoulder - as justice secretary, that's my number one priority."

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2021-10-04 23:05:38Z
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Get back to work! Boris Johnson to use Tory conference speech to urge Britons to return to office - Daily Mail

EXCLUSIVE: Get back to work! Boris Johnson will use his Tory party conference speech to urge Britons to return to the office - amid growing confidence Covid will NOT spark another lockdown this winter

• The PM will use his conference speech tomorrow to encourage a return to work
• It comes amid growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns
• Mr Johnson launched an ill-fated attempt to get staff back to their desks last year
• But it was wrecked by the emergence of the second wave of the coronavirus

By Jason Groves Political Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: 22:04 BST, 4 October 2021 | Updated: 22:23 BST, 4 October 2021

Boris Johnson is to urge office workers to get back to their desks.

Amid growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns, the Prime Minister will use his Tory conference speech tomorrow to encourage a return to the workplace.

'He believes very strongly in the value of face-to-face working,' a senior source said. 'It is critical for the training and development of young people. How can you learn a new job on Zoom?'

Meanwhile Home Secretary Priti Patel will today announce plans to hit eco-warriors with a new type of Asbo in an attempt to halt their motorway protests.

And Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will a unveil a deal to force criminals in 'chain gangs' to clear rubbish from waterways.

Mr Johnson launched an ill-fated attempt to get office staff back to their desks last year, which was wrecked by the emergence of the second wave of Covid.

Scientific advisers have pressed him not to repeat the exercise this year because working from home is one of the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the virus.

Instead the Government left it up to employers to encourage a 'gradual return to the workplace'.

But a second Tory source said ministers were now hopeful they would not have to issue another work from home order this winter.

'You can never rule anything out with Covid,' the source said. 'But we are now in early October and hospitalisations are still running at manageable levels.

'We are not at the point of anyone thinking about Plan B.

'Even if we get to that point, it would start with things that cause relatively little disruption, such as mandatory masks and Covid certification.'

Amid growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns, the Prime Minister will use his Tory conference speech tomorrow to encourage a return to the workplace

In other developments at the Tory conference:

• The number of offenders forced to wear electronic tags will double under a major initiative from Mr Raab;
• Rishi Sunak ruled out tax cuts until public finances were on a 'sustainable footing';
• Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries questioned whether the BBC would still exist in ten years' time;
• Mr Johnson pledged that electricity will come entirely from green sources by 2035;
• Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng rejected calls for more visas for foreign workers;
• Pig farmers warned of 'disaster' as they protested outside the conference over a shortage of butchers;
• A party member was suspended after a businesswoman said she had been 'violently assaulted' in a bar;
• Sir Iain Duncan Smith was hit on the head with a traffic cone by Left-wing protesters chanting 'Tory scum';
• Michael Gove signalled a huge shift on planning policy.

'He believes very strongly in the value of face-to-face working,' a senior source said. 'It is critical for the training and development of young people. How can you learn a new job on Zoom?' Pictured: The Tube in London

Powers to reinstate the work from home order have been kept in reserve under contingency plans this winter.

But ministers believe that vaccines are holding back the virus despite relative high infection rates – 35,077 new cases were reported yesterday.

Insiders said Whitehall had seen only a slight increase in staff back at their desks with the Home Office apparently at 20 per cent and some other departments barely half that.

HM Treasury has advertised for staff saying they would be allowed to work from home in a hybrid pattern on a permanent basis, spending an average of two to three days a week in the office.

Rishi Sunak vows to 'throw the kitchen sink' at getting young people back into work after furlough as he unveils £500m help package

• Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled new £500million plan to help people find work
• Mr Sunak said the Government is 'throwing the kitchen sink' at helping people
• Comes after the £70billion furlough scheme finally finished amid job loss fears
• An estimated one million workers were still on furlough when the scheme ended 

by Jack Maidment, deputy political editor for MailOnline

Rishi Sunak today insisted the Government is 'throwing the kitchen sink' at helping people get a new job as he unveiled a £500million package to support furloughed workers.

The Chancellor said he warned at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that 'it wasn't going to be possible for me or quite frankly any chancellor to save every single person's job'. 

He said the end of the £70billion furlough programme will result in some job losses. 

But he said people should be 'reassured' that ministers are doing everything they can to help the unemployed back into work. 

Furlough is credited with saving millions of jobs during the Covid-19 crisis but an estimated one million workers were still on the programme when it finally closed last week, sparking fears of a surge in unemployment.  

In his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today, the Chancellor confirmed new funding to 'prioritise' job support for workers coming off furlough.

The £500million extension to the Government's so-called 'Plan for Jobs' will also provide tailored packages for others hit by the pandemic, including the young and workers aged over 50.

Rishi Sunak today insisted the Government is 'throwing the kitchen sink' at helping people get a new job as he unveiled a new £500million package to help furloughed workers. The Chancellor is pictured alongside Boris Johnson in Manchester this morning

Mr Sunak said the end of the £70billion furlough programme would result in some job losses. But he said people should be 'reassured' that ministers are doing everything they can to help the unemployed back into work

Former minister Jake Berry accuses civil servants of 'woke-ing from home'

A former minister accused civil servants of 'woke-king from home' today and demanded they be brought back to work in Whitehall full-time.

Jake Berry, who was Northern Powerhouse Minister for three years until quitting last year, made the remark at the Conservatives Party Conference in Manchester.

The 42-year-old Rossendale and Darwen MP was speaking at a fringe event run by the Taxpayers Alliance about saving the UK high street.

He is said to have told the audience: 'We have to end the civil service ''woke-ing'' from home - sorry I mean working from home, but let's be honest, it often is woke-ing.'

His comments come amid a furious row over the rate of return of civil servants to their offices.

Mr Sunak was grilled this morning on the impact closing furlough will have on the unemployment rate. 

The Chancellor told Sky News: 'I said right at the beginning of this crisis it wasn't going to be possible for me or quite frankly any chancellor to save every single person's job.

'But what I do know is that the interventions we put in place have made an enormous difference.

'As I said, at the beginning of this crisis people thought the unemployment rate would get to 12 per cent, that's millions and millions of people out of work.

'In fact the unemployment rate has now been falling for about six months in a row, it is under five per cent, we have a lower unemployment rate here in the UK than America, Canada, France, Spain, Italy amongst others and there are record numbers of job vacancies.

'So I think the plan is working. Of course some people sadly have lost their job and will lose their job.

'But that's why I want them to be reassured that we are throwing literally the kitchen sink at helping them get a new job, new skills, new opportunities and we know that that's been working over the past 12 to 18 months and that's why we are doing more of it today.'

Mr Sunak last night declared he is 'ready to double-down' on his promise to 'do whatever it takes' to recover from Covid-19. 

He said the furlough scheme protected 11million jobs and the UK is 'experiencing one of the strongest and fastest recoveries of any major economy in the world'.

He added: 'But the job is not done yet and I want to make sure our economy is fit for the future, and that means providing the support and skills people need to get into work and get on in life.'

The Chancellor used his speech in Manchester to set out his vision of shaping the economy around 'the forces of science, technology and imagination'.

He pledged to 'make the United Kingdom the most exciting place on the planet' through enhanced infrastructure, improved skills and scientific investment. 

Today's jobs package will see those coming off furlough prioritised for jobs support during the next three months.

Measures will include mock interviews and help with writing CVs and applying for jobs.

During the pandemic, the £70billion furlough scheme is credited with saving millions of jobs

Under the measures, the Kickstart scheme helping young people on Universal Credit will be extended to next March. 

In its first five months, the scheme has found work placements for 76,900 young people. 

The £3,000 incentive for new apprentices will also be extended until the end of January.

Treasury sources said the over-50s have seen the second largest fall in employment during the pandemic and are 'much less likely' to return to the workplace than younger colleagues. They will also be offered tailored support to find a new job.

The Treasury said more than £500million of new funding will be used for the package, coming from the education plus the work and pensions departments.

Last night the Confederation of British Industry welcomed the package. Chief policy director Matthew Fell said: 'Businesses are committed to playing their full part in training and re-skilling the workforce of tomorrow as we move towards a new economy.'

The announcement of the investment comes after the Chancellor pushed ahead with the end of furlough and a cut to Universal Credit.

A £20-a-week increase in the benefit introduced during the Covid crisis is due to finish on Wednesday.

Since the start of the pandemic, furlough has helped pay the wages of 11.6million workers at a cost of almost £70billion.

Mr Fell added: 'Businesses will welcome the Chancellor's plan for jobs pivoting from furlough to economic recovery.

An estimated one million workers were still on furlough when the programme closed last week

'With record vacancies and widespread labour shortages, this package's success will be measured by its ability to get people back into work.'

Labour's work and pensions spokesman Jonathan Reynolds said last night: 'The Government's struggling Plan for Jobs has failed to hit its original targets; it is not creating the number of jobs needed and has failed to address the supply chain crisis Britain is experiencing.

'Giving himself an extended deadline will do nothing to compensate for the Chancellor's tax rises, cost of living crisis and cuts to universal credit which are set to hammer millions of working families.

'Labour would create new jobs with our plan to buy, make and sell more in Britain to get our economy firing on all cylinders.'

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2021-10-04 21:04:55Z
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Rishi Sunak sprinkles Tory catnip with reassurance to party faithful - BBC News

PA Media

The reception was warm, but not rapturous.

The content for a Conservative audience designed to be reassuring, not radical.

Rishi Sunak bounced onto the conference stage, thumbs up to his boss in the front row, who watched on with the air of a broadly benevolent uncle hoping he'd thrive but maybe not outshine the older man.

The chancellor didn't come with a long list of new policies, or cash promises. That's not a surprise because he'll be at the despatch box in the House of Commons in three weeks with a mammoth review of everything the government spends.

• Sunak: Cutting tax depends on repairing finances
• Make levelling up more than a slogan, say Tory MPs
• Charities accuse chancellor of stealth raid on aid

Today was therefore never going to be a big reveal of some vast new whizz bang scheme, or some fundamental change to the nation's finances.

Instead, the speech perhaps was a down payment to the Tory party for Rishi Sunak's own future.

Forget the colossal spending and borrowing of the pandemic. He declared himself a pragmatist, not an ideologue, rather enjoying his role, it seemed, as the man with the country's cheque book when emergency struck.

But what he really wanted the audience to know was that's not what he would choose to do in anything like normal times.

Using the word "belief" more than a dozen times, referring to his political convictions and maybe his belief in himself as well, he sought to reassure the gathered crowd of his low tax, tight-spending, tight-borrowing instincts.

Despite the desire of what one cabinet minister said was 99% of this conference to cut tax, the chancellor even claimed that it would be "immoral" to do so right now because his commitment to the Tory principle of sound money is so sincere.

And he sprinkled some Conservative catnip around, talking of his personal belief in Brexit, long before it was in political fashion, telling how he overcame political warnings about his own career to pursue the cause.

Mentioning the future on multiple occasions, the chancellor will have given the fringes and furtive conversations of this conference plenty of reason to ponder if that future could mean his ambition for Number 10.

What Rishi Sunak did not come armed with, however, was a chunky response to concerns about the cost of living. Ministers privately fear the government is walking a tightrope, facing a cocktail of costs: rising prices, changes Brexit has brought to some parts of the economy, the world's supply chains bent out of shape because of the pandemic.

The chancellor said this morning that while the government was trying to mitigate some of the problems, there was no magic wand that could wave away the varying tensions.

But ministers' private concerns are intensifying about the prospects for the next few months in the economy.

One of Sunak's colleagues told me today it was a "high risk" strategy, to hope, as the prime minister does, that this is just a period of "adjustment" and that rising wages will ride to the rescue, rather than make inflation worse and end up in a dangerous spiral.

But a close ally of Boris Johnson told me bombastically that the prime minister wouldn't even carry the blame if that's the case.

The Conservatives hope this week draws a political line under the emergency phase of the pandemic. The era that led him to make decisions that would be the stuff of a Tory chancellor's nightmare.

But that emergency could be replaced by months of turbulence in the economy that might throw up less than tempting problems of their own.

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2021-10-04 18:56:38Z
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Motorists and paramedic crew drag away Insulate Britain protesters on Wandsworth Bridge - Guardian News

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2021-10-04 11:23:32Z
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Killer cop Wayne Couzens will keep at least a third of his police pension due to 'human rights' - Daily Mail

Rishi Sunak says there is a 'problem' with public trust in police over Sarah Everard scandal as it emerges her killer Wayne Couzens will keep up to a third of his force pension

• Wayne Couzens, 48, was sentenced to a rare whole life sentence for his crimes
• He staged a fake arrest to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard, 33, in March
• But the appalling killer will still get over a third of his police pension
• It is down to an established ruling by the European Court of Human rights

By Martin Robinson Chief Reporter For Mailonline

Published: 09:11 BST, 4 October 2021 | Updated: 13:12 BST, 4 October 2021

Chancellor Rishi Sunak admitted today there was a problem with public trust in the police following the appalling crimes of killer cop Wayne Couzens.

Mr Sunak, 41, said people had been left worried about the force after harrowing details emerged of how Couzens kidnapped, raped and killed Sarah Everard.

He stressed he still believed in the policy at the interview at the start of Conservative Party conference today.

He said in an interview with LBC: 'I think we all, obviously, should be able to trust the police – and the fact you're having to ask this question tells me there's a problem.' 

'I think it starts, probably, with an acknowledgement from men in particular about the scale of the challenge here and making sure we are aware of it and recognise what an issue it is… and continue to make efforts to improve the situation.

'Wayne Couzens was roaming around very close to where my old home in London was. My wife was telling me about that… and that brought that home for me.

'We just need to do a better job – particularly as male politicians – of recognising that.'

'What I would really urge the public… I want to make it clear I do believe in the police. I do think we can trust the police and I think the police do a wonderful, wonderful job.' 

His thoughts came as it emerged Couzens would not lose his entire Met pension for murdering Miss Everard because it would infringe his human rights, it was revealed today.

Couzens, who was jailed for life with no parole for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah, 33, will keep a third of his monthly retirement allowance.

Rishi Sunak said there was a problem with public trust in the police after Couzens' crimes

Couzens, smirking here in uniform, was jailed for life with no parole for killing Sarah Everard

The beast, 48, abducted her before raping and murdering her before burning her body

Home Office guidelines state that no more than 65 per cent of a pension can be forfeited - in Couzens' case this percentage relates to the amount paid by the taxpayer via the police.

But he will keep his own contributions, roughly the remaining 35 per cent, and to take that away would be a 'clear infringement of the officer's rights' under the European Convention on Human Rights, judges have ruled previously.  

Police forces across the country are facing calls to re-vet all officers after the string of blunders that allowed Wayne Couzens to abuse his role in the murder of Sarah Everard.

A former Met Police chief superintendent yesterday warned that other people with 'questionable backgrounds' may have slipped through flawed vetting procedures.

Claims emerged at the weekend that married Couzens had taken an escort to a colleague's wedding anniversary party at the Hilton hotel in Maidstone, Kent, where he joked about paying for sex.

The former firearms officer was once nicknamed 'the rapist' by colleagues. At his Old Bailey trial it was revealed that Couzens was 'attracted to brutal sexual pornography' as far back as 2002.

Parm Sandhu, a former Met chief superintendent who worked for the force for almost three decades, said Scotland Yard had fostered a culture where Couzens 'was allowed to flourish'.

Miss Sandhu told Sky News' Trevor Phillips on Sunday: 'Everybody who works in policing now should be re-vetted. Those people who got through the vetting procedure 20 years ago, 30 years ago, all of them.' 

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has come under fire over Couzens' crimes

Marketing executive Sarah Everard, 33, was snatched off the street in Clapham on March 3

Miss Everard's family released this picture of her after Couzens was jailed for killing her

She also said that a WhatsApp group in which the murderer and colleagues from three forces allegedly shared offensive messages was a sign of the attitudes that can be damaging to women.

Last week it emerged that two Met officers are still on duty after swapping highly offensive messages with Couzens, who was given a whole life term for the murder of Miss Everard.

Lord Stevens, who served as Met Commissioner between 2000 and 2005, has described the force's vetting procedures as 'not fit for purpose'. But Boris Johnson yesterday rejected calls for a public inquiry amid mounting pressure on Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to explain how the force failed to address the killer's past.

Following a wave of criticism over the force's handling of the scandal, the Prime Minister asked women to have confidence in police officers who he said were 'overwhelmingly trustworthy'.

He said an internal inquiry by Scotland Yard and separate probes by the Independent Office for Police Conduct were sufficient.

Mr Johnson told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: 'My view is that the police do – overwhelmingly – a wonderful job and what I want is the public, and women in particular, girls and young women, women of all ages, to trust the police.'

But Priti Patel will be 'watching very closely' to ensure Dame Cressida improves police vetting, a minister warned last night. Solicitor general Alex Chalk said: 'A lot of people will have real concerns about how Wayne Couzens slipped through the net and they'll want to be absolutely satisfied if things are about to improve.' 

He told a fringe event at the Tory conference it was 'absolutely right' that the Metropolitan Police needed to improve on vetting.

However Donna Jones, the Hampshire police and crime commissioner, said that re-vetting tens of thousands of officers was 'not a sensible use of public money'.

She told LBC: 'We need to make sure we have got the right processes in place so that when issues are reported the police forces are acting quickly.'

Couzens kidnapped Miss Everard after using his police warrant card to stage a 'false arrest' on March 3, handcuffing her and claiming she was breaking Covid rules.

Met Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has admitted that vetting procedures were not followed properly when Couzens joined the force in 2018.

But he said that Couzens would still have been accepted if his links to an indecent exposure incident in 2015 were known, because Kent Police failed to identify him as being responsible.

Couzens's vehicle was reported to the force, where he was serving as a special constable, after a male motorist was seen driving around naked from the waist down.

But it was decided the incident did not warrant any further action and the driver was not identified.

Couzens' name was also raised in a sex offence days before Miss Everard's death, after two female staff at a McDonald's in Swanley, Kent, said they were flashed by a driver on February 7 and 27.

CCTV evidence showing Couzens's number plate had actually brought up his name as a suspect on the Met's systems.

But officers failed to flag up that he was a serving officer and further inquiries were not made until after Miss Everard's disappearance.

Ian Blair, who succeeded Lord Stevens as head of Scotland Yard, said 'an absolutely forensic' investigation similar to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry led by Lord Macpherson was needed.

He called for 'an independent inquiry to try to discover what are the processes that allowed this man – who's obviously a manipulative, homicidal maniac – to become a police officer'.

Patsy Stevenson, an activist who was arrested at a vigil for Miss Everard in March, said the Met had failed to address 'systemic issues within their force'.

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2021-10-04 08:11:52Z
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Insulate Britain: Driver en route to sick mother pleads with protesters blocking major London routes - The Telegraph

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2021-10-04 11:23:14Z
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Conservative conference: Rishi Sunak to extend job support schemes - BBC News

Getty Images

The chancellor will commit £500m to renew job support programmes during his speech at the Conservative Party conference on Monday.

Rishi Sunak will promise to "double down" on help for the jobs market after Covid, as he extends several schemes set up during the pandemic.

He will also promise to reshape the economy around technology and scientific innovation.

The speech comes amid pressure on the government over living standards.

Rising food and energy prices, alongside cuts to universal credit benefits, have sparked warnings of a squeeze on incomes this autumn.

The military is also due to begin driving fuel to petrol stations on Monday, amid continuing supply chain issues affecting several sectors.

• PM: UK in period of adjustment after Brexit
• What impact has the furlough scheme had?
• Most roles not filled in plan to help young jobless
• Kuenssberg: Is the Tory party at ease with itself on tax?

Ahead of his first in-person conference address to Tory members as chancellor, Mr Sunak praised the UK's economic recovery but warned the "job is not done yet".

"At the start of this crisis I made a promise to do whatever it takes, and I'm ready to double down on that promise now as we come out of this crisis," he said.

He will also promise to make the UK the "the most exciting place on the planet" through better infrastructure and improved skills.

His speech will come on the second day of conference, known as Business Day, when the party seeks to showcase its commercial credentials and boost ties with industry.

Rishi Sunak turned up here not exactly in the traditional uniform of a chancellor of the exchequer.

He was wearing a hoodie.

Before long, he'd found his suit, and his fans, asking for selfies.

Plenty of Conservatives think he might be prime minister one day.

Mr Sunak has only been chancellor for a little over 18 months.

But what an 18 months it's been.

Appointed just weeks before the first Covid lockdown, he was almost immediately signing off an unprecedented splurge of public spending.

This, Mr Sunak has long argued, was a necessary and pragmatic response to a crisis.

But expect him later to emphasise his Conservative credentials; a desire to cut taxes and be cautious about spending taxpayers' money.

And yet Corporation Tax and National Insurance are going up on his watch.

And all this as energy bills go up for many, there are bottlenecks getting supplies to shops and plenty of us have had to queue for petrol.

This year's event comes amid a backdrop of supply chain problems and a continuing stand-off between ministers and the haulage sector over foreign drivers.

The industry has called for additional temporary visas to plug an estimated 100,000 shortfall in HGV drivers due to Covid, Brexit and other factors.

But although ministers say they will grant 5,000 temporary visas, they have so far resisted calls to increase this, saying that immigration has previously pushed down pay and conditions.

On Sunday, Boris Johnson said the UK was in a necessary "period of adjustment" following Brexit, adding that immigration from the EU had reduced business investment in staff and equipment.

And asked by Andrew Marr if he would raise taxes again, Mr Johnson refused to rule it out, saying: "If I can possibly avoid it, I do not want to raise taxes again."

Ministry of Defence

In his conference speech, Mr Sunak will say the Kickstart Scheme - which subsidises eligible jobs for young people on universal credit - will be extended by three months to March 2022.

The scheme, launched in September last year, was allocated £2bn in funding to create 250,000 jobs by the end of 2021.

However, only 76,900 have actually started Kickstart roles, according to latest figures, with 196,300 roles in total made available for youngsters to apply for.

The Federation of Small Businesses had been calling for the scheme to be extended, amid reports that firms had encountered delays and found the scheme slow.

Scheme extensions

Mr Sunak will also announce the extension of the JETS scheme to help long-term unemployed people on universal credit until September 2022.

A separate scheme paying employers £3,000 per apprentice they take on will also be prolonged by four months until the end of January.

And the government is promising more help finding work for those coming off the furlough scheme, which closed last week, having paid the wages of 11.6 million workers during the pandemic.

The various extensions will be paid for with £500m of funding, with the Treasury saying that details will be confirmed at the Spending Review on 27 October.

Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the government's plan to support jobs was "struggling" and had "failed to hit its original targets".

"An extended deadline will do nothing to compensate for the chancellor's tax rises, cost of living crisis and cuts to universal credit," he added.

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2021-10-04 00:17:04Z
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