Mick Lynch says meeting with transport secretary ‘positive’, but RMT no closer to calling off rail strikes – UK politics live | Politics

Right this moment the Guardian reported on statistics revealed by Surfers Towards Sewage, which discovered water companies are routinely spilling human waste into rivers and seashores when it isn’t even raining outdoors.

They’re solely supposed to take action when it rains, throughout “distinctive climate circumstances”.

Now the Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord has raised the report in parliament, highlighting how his son grew to become sick after swimming in a river in Devon.

Here’s a full abstract of what Mick Lynch, the RMT normal secretary, mentioned when he spoke to journalists after his assembly with Mark Harper, the transport secretary.

I’d say it was a constructive assembly within the sense that we’ve removed the bellicose nonsense that we used to have from Grant Shapps and his cohort, in his period, and we are actually beginning to get a dialogue.

If we name off the strikes, we’ll by no means get a settlement. We did that two weeks in the past. We’ve modified our dates in response to public opinion. When the Queen handed, once we had the Poppy day, we’ve accomplished different issues. Now we have not had a strike for seven weeks, and nothing has occurred. So anybody that’s been concerned in industrial relations is aware of that there has acquired to leverage and strain on the desk from each side. That can create the compromises and the resolutions that all of us we’re all in search of.

If I take these [strike] actions off with none consequence, my members gained’t forgive me for doing that. And we all know that the strain shall be off all of the events.

• He mentioned he needed Harper to present the rail business a contemporary mandate to barter an finish to the dispute. He mentioned that, though the RMT has been in talks with the Rail Supply Group, which represents rail firms, they didn’t appear to have correct authority to barter. The person firms have been additionally saying they may not negotiate both, he mentioned. He mentioned he requested Harper to make clear who had authority to barter, and to arrange a liaison group involving ministers. He went on:

[Harper] has acquired a obligation for industrial relations, and the duty to set their mandate, ie what they’ll say, what they’ll supply, and what they’ll negotiate on at that desk. So I’m hoping he’s going to try this, hopefully immediately … He must make clear in writing the place he stands and the place the business stands when they’re transacting with us in these discussions.

• He claimed the present negotiating scenario was “surreal” as a result of the employers didn’t have a mandate to barter a decision. He mentioned the Rail Supply Group had advised the RMT it was not in a position to interact in collective bargaining. And the person rail firms mentioned they may not interact in collective bargaining both, he mentioned. He went on:

So it is a fully unusual and surreal scenario. I’m liable for my union, and I stand in entrance of you and take no matter you need to throw at me. No one from the employers is ready to face in entrance of me and take the duty for settling this dispute. That’s what we want. We want anyone of authority, which has to start out with the secretary of state and the rail minister, who I need to work with positively, to take resonsibility for settling this dispute.

• He mentioned Harper had denied that the Division for Transport was the “blockage” stopping an answer to the dispute. Lynch mentioned somebody seeemed to be blocking an answer, however he mentioned it was not clearly precisely who it was.

• He mentioned he had urged Harper to hurry up negotiations. The talks have been operating for six months aready, he mentioned. “And we’ve had not one doc put throughout the desk. That has to vary,” he mentioned.

• He mentioned jobs, and phrases and circumstances, have been extra necessary to his members than pay ranges. He mentioned:

My members are telling me you’ve acquired to safe me my job, and also you’ve acquired to get me a set of phrases and circumstances which are acceptable, after which we are able to speak about what we’re getting paid. In case you haven’t acquired a job, you don’t get a pay rise anyway.

They made revenue all through Covid and so they made revenue all through these disputes, the place they’ve been indemnified for daily of strike motion. This lot within the Division of Transport have been paying all their prices whereas all the companies in London and throughout this nation have been struggling losses, whereas the prepare operators have had all of their income protected by this authorities.

Mick Lynch, the RMT normal secretary, has been chatting with the media after his assembly with Mark Harper, the transport secretary.

He mentioned that it was a “constructive assembly” and that Harper mentioned he would set out in writing what steps may be taken in the direction of a decision of the dispute behind the rail strikes.

He mentioned one situation was that it has not been clear what scope the Rail Supply Group needed to negotiate. Harper mentioned he would make clear that, he mentioned.

Lynch mentioned he hoped that might result in a brand new negotiating mandate.

However requested if he was nearer to calling off the dispute, Lynch mentioned that was not the case. He mentioned they might not be nearer to an finish of the dispute till an affordable supply was on the desk.

That is from the Mirror’s Ashley Cowburn.

Neil O’Brien, the well being minister, advised MPs that 90% of the bids to offer PPE for the federal government throughout the pandemic that have been processed by the so-called VIP lane (as a result of they have been referrals through ministers) have been unsuccessful. Referring to the method throughout the pressing query earlier, he mentioned:

Over the course of the programme, due diligence was accomplished on over 19,000 firms, and over 2,600 firms made it by that preliminary due diligence.

With enormous demand for PPE, all the world over, and with many international locations introducing export bans, our threat urge for food needed to change.

We needed to throw all the pieces behind our effort to guard those that shield us and people who wanted it most. We needed to steadiness the chance.

Referring to the VIP lane, he mentioned:

Round 9,000 folks got here ahead, and all ministers can have skilled countless folks straight ringing them as much as attempt to assist with the large want that there was on the time.

It didn’t provide you with any sort of profitable assure of a contract. Certainly, 90% of the bids that went by it weren’t profitable.

Within the Commons, throughout transport questions this morning, Mark Harper, the transport secretary, advised MPs that he needed rail union leaders to interact in negotiations to finish the strikes and settle for that reform was important. He mentioned:

I desire a sustainable, thriving rail community, however with 20% of passengers not having returned following the Covid pandemic, reform is important. I’d urge all commerce union leaders to get again across the desk with employers to hammer out the element of that reform.

The federal government will work to facilitate this and to that finish I shall be assembly with commerce union leaders within the coming days.

Inside the previous few minutes Mick Lynch, the RMT normal secretary, has arrived on the Division for Transport for talks with Harper. Lynch mentioned:

We’re anticipating a constructive assembly. We’re [hoping for a] constructive method. And we’ll see what he says.

That is from Sky’s Ivor Bennett.

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy chief, mentioned the revelations in the Guardian today in regards to the Tory peer Michelle Mone and her youngsters gaining £29m from a agency that gained a PPE contract by the federal government’s VIP lane confirmed “a complete failure of due diligence”. Asking her pressing query on the subject, she advised MPs:

Final night time paperwork seen by the Guardian revealed one more case of taxpayers’ cash being wasted – a complete failure of due diligence and the battle of curiosity on the coronary heart of presidency procurement.

In Could 2020 PPE Medpro was … given £203m in authorities contracts after referral from a Tory peer. It now seems that tens of hundreds of thousands of kilos of that cash ended up in offshore accounts linked to the people concerned, income made attainable by the corporate’s private connections for ministers and the Tories’ VIP lane that was declared unlawful by the excessive courtroom.

But ministers are nonetheless refusing to publish correspondence referring to the awarding of the MedPro contract as a result of they are saying the division is engaged in a mediation course of.

Rayner requested the minister, Neil O’Brien, if the federal government had recovered any funds from PPE Medro. However she argued {that a} wider scandal was concerned.

This authorities has written off £10bn alone in PPE that was deemed unfit to be used , unuseable, overpriced or undelivered. Ministers seems to have realized no classes and haven’t any disgrace. As household’s wrestle to make ends meet, taxpayers will spend £700,000 kilos a day on the storage of insufficient PPE.

Rayner was reprimanded by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, who mentioned he needed MPs to stay to the foundations that he talked about earlier about not referring to the Mone case. (See 10.44am.) Hoyle pressured that he didn’t make these guidelines.

In response, O’Brien, a well being minister, mentioned that, within the case of “underperforming” PPE contracts, the federal government did attempt to get well its cash, or attain an settlement with the corporate involved. Within the case of PPE Medro, “we haven’t acquired to the purpose the place a passable settlement has been reached at this stage,” he mentioned.

On the subject of PPE procurement typically, he mentioned the “VIP lane” was only a mechanism for dealing with referrals. He mentioned being within the VIP lane didn’t assure {that a} contract can be awarded.

And he pressured that the federal government needed to act rapidly. Governments shopping for PPE have been being “gazumped”, he mentioned as a result of “items have been taken out of the warehouse if folks might flip up with the money faster than you may”.

Within the Commons Neil O’Brien, the well being minister, is responding to an pressing query tabled by Labour in regards to the procurement of PPE throughout the pandemic.

The query was tabled by Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy chief, tabled the query. It was impressed by the Guardian story saying paperwork point out that the Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her youngsters secretly obtained £29m originating from the income of a PPE enterprise that was awarded massive authorities contracts after she beneficial it to ministers.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, began by saying that MPs aren’t allowed a criticise a member of the Home of Lords except they’re debating a movement particularly referring to that peer. And he says MPs mustn’t say something that may prejudice authorized motion.

In his opening assertion, O’Brien didn’t point out Mone, however simply pressured how the federal government needed to procure PPE gear in a short time. He mentioned there could also be classes to be realized from the costs that have been paid, however he mentioned “we should not lose sight of the large nationwide efforts that came about to guard essentially the most weak”.

The Workplace for Nationwide Statistics has launched figures displaying that web migration – the variety of folks arriving within the UK to remain long run, minus the quantity leaving – reached an estimated 504,000 within the yr ending in June this yr. That is the very best determine on report.

And the variety of long-term immigrants arriving in that interval was 1.1 million, the ONS says.

These figures signify a giant enhance on earlier years, however the ONS says that’s partly because of some “distinctive” elements. It says:

The interval main as much as June 2022 was distinctive, with simultaneous elements coinciding to have an effect on long-term immigration; this included the continued restoration in journey following the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, a lot of migration occasions together with a brand new immigration system following transition from the EU, and the continuing assist for Ukrainian nationals and others requiring safety.

These have all contributed in the direction of comparatively excessive ranges of complete long-term immigration at an estimated 1.1 million within the yr to June 2022.

The estimated 435,000 enhance in complete immigration in contrast with a yr earlier was pushed by non-EU nationals (up 379,000 to 704,000 within the YE June 2022); rising arrivals of worldwide college students and other people travelling from Ukraine below the visa assist scheme have been all contributing elements.

General, web migration continued so as to add to the inhabitants within the YE June 2022, with an estimated 504,000 extra folks arriving long-term to the UK than departing; web migration of non-EU nationals was estimated at 509,000 within the YE June 2022, in contrast with unfavorable 51,000 and 45,000 for EU and British nationals respectively.

Right here is the graph displaying the immigration figures.

And right here is the graph displaying the online migration figures.

UPDATE: The ONS says these are report figures since 1964, when the ONS began amassing figures. See 11.21am.

Dominic Raab is reportedly dealing with a number of contemporary complaints from senior civil servants in a number of authorities departments over allegations of bullying behaviour. My colleague Geneva Abdul has the story right here.

Good morning. Years in the past, not less than till the late Nineteen Eighties, among the best jobs in journalism was to be the commercial editor. Strikes have been at all times within the information, they coated a great deal of tales (and sometimes took priority over the political correspondents protecting the Labour occasion, which was then largely run by the unions). However after the Thatcher authorities’s union reforms, plus mass unemployment, union membership fell, the variety of days misplaced to strikes shrunk, and now the commercial correspondents have now virtually all gone. Which is a disgrace, as a result of immediately we actually want some.

Here’s a fast round-up from on-strike Britain.

And listed below are some image from the CWU union Twitter feed.

• And Mick Lynch, the RMT normal secretary, is making ready for a gathering with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, to debate what may be accomplished to avert more strikes planned for December and January. Lynch gave an interview to ITV’s Peston final night time and he referred to as for a brand new, ‘transactional’ method from the federal government. He mentioned:

We want the federal government to get its act collectively and be a facilitator. We’ve had a lot disruption, the place Grant Shapps was frankly simply going round being bellicose, accusing me of being some sort of medieval baron, evil Marxist mastermind and all the remainder of it. It’s simply not acceptable.

If Mark Harper needs to return in there and calm stuff down, and say let’s get on with the enterprise, let’s do transactional enterprise throughout the desk – they get a bit, we get a bit, our members profit, the general public advantages – blissful days, let’s get on with the deal, we don’t need to have strikes.

Right here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Mark Harper, the transport secretary, takes questions within the Commons.

11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.

11.45am: Harper is because of maintain a gathering with Mick Lynch, the RMT normal secretary.

I attempt to monitor the feedback under the road (BTL) however it’s unimaginable to learn all of them. When you have a direct query, do embody “Andrew” in it someplace and I’m extra more likely to discover it. I do attempt to reply questions and, if they’re of normal curiosity, I’ll put up the query and reply above the road (ATL), though I can’t promise to do that for everybody.

If you wish to appeal to my consideration rapidly, it’s most likely higher to make use of Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you’ll be able to e-mail me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com