Rees-Mogg denies 90,000 job cuts mark return to austerity – live

Former Tory MP Neil Parish, who has admitted to viewing pornography in the House of Commons, is taking “polls” as he stands in a by-election triggered by his own resignation.

It comes after Parish stepped aside in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency in April after becoming the focus of a political firestorm when two women MPs denounced him to the party whips.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports:

The Foreign Ministry has announced more Russian sanctions, with President Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife, family members and inner circle affected in the latest installment of measures designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “We are exposing and targeting the shadowy web that underpins Putin’s luxury lifestyle and reinforces vice in his inner circle.

“We will continue to sanction all those who aid and abet Putin’s aggression until Ukraine prevails.”

Putin’s official assets are modest, according to the Foreign Office, with his lifestyle “financed by a cabal of family, friends and elites.”

The minister for government efficiency rejected suggestions of a return to austerity after Boris Johnson instructed his cabinet to cut around 90,000 Civil Service jobs.

The prime minister told ministers on Thursday the service should be cut by a fifth as he moved to free up cash for measures to ease the cost-of-living crisis with possible tax cuts.

Jacob Rees-Mogg defended the plan on Friday, saying job cuts would return figures to 2016 levels after additional staff were brought in to help deal with the pandemic and the “fallout from Brexit”.

He told Sky News: “I know it sounds flashy, but it’s just going back to the civil service that we had in 2016… since then we’ve had to hire people for specific tasks.

“So dealing with the aftermath of Brexit and dealing with Covid, there has been a reason for that spike, but now we’re trying to get back to normal.”

Rishi Sunak is under fire after an extraordinary “computer says no” claim forced him to impose real-term benefit cuts in his spring mini-budget.

The chancellor has been heavily criticized for increasing payments to the hard-pressed by just 3.1 percent last month, well below the 7 percent inflation rate and rising.

Our deputy policy editor Rob Merrick has more details:

Boris Johnson’s favorite candidate to oversee the civil service has criticized Jacob Rees-Mogg’s attacks on staff, saying his efforts to force them back into office full-time are “backfiring”.

Baroness Stuart, who is responsible for maintaining impartiality in the civil service, said the briefings against staff were “wrong”.

She said The times: “We should all speak up when we see integrity and professionalism being undermined,” he said.

“In my opinion, anonymous briefings and attacks are not only wrong, they’re also counterproductive,” he said, arguing that they “prevent people who want to join the civil service… from wanting to be part of that system. ”.

A bottle of champagne signed by Boris Johnson was auctioned at a charity event “as a partygate souvenir”.

Food critic Jay Rayner tweeted an image showing a description of the bottle from what appeared to be an auction catalog page.

My colleague Chiara Giordano reports:

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned that Brussels will not give in to threats or blackmail as the raging dispute over the border with Northern Ireland took another step towards triggering a trade war.

Our policy editor andres woodcock has the story:

In case you were wondering, this is not an unofficial Jacob-Rees Mogg day.

Labor does not appear to have put any shadow ministers up for interview this morning, meaning the cabinet minister has been free to fill the airwaves.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today Earlier, he warned his boss, Boris Johnson, against tax cuts or extra spending to ease the cost-of-living squeeze.

He says such moves could worsen the UK’s spiraling inflation problem.

Our deputy policy editor Rob Merrick has the story:

The cabinet minister has also been speaking to broadcasters about the ongoing dispute with the EU over Northern Ireland’s Brexit protocol.

He claims the bloc is refusing to budge on customs checks because it is trying to punish the UK for leaving the union.

Speaking to GB News, he said: “I think (the EU) wants to make the UK feel bad about leaving the European Union and that underpins their whole policy and they don’t really care about the consequences of that.

“And we just have to get on with life and acknowledge that we’re gone. We have to make our own way. We are an independent country, and what the EU wants and thinks is secondary.

“The Paymaster General, Michael Ellis, made a speech in Brussels today, making it very clear that we are, if not at the end of the road, then very close to him.

“To cancel the TCA (EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement), the European Union would need unanimity, and I think that’s a pretty high bar.

“And you have to say to the European Union, do you really want to punish your consumers at a time of rising inflation? And inflation in many of the EU countries is higher than in the UK.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg is on the broadcast round this morning defending the government’s plan to cut 90,000 civil service jobs.

The cabinet minister also answered questions about the Partygate scandal, claiming it is not a story, after the Met Police announced that a further 50 tickets have been issued for breaking the Covid law in Whitehall and Downing Street.

Our deputy policy editor Rob Merrick has more details below: