Culture secretary rejects claims changes to online safety bill have made it weaker – UK politics live | Politics

Ministers will make an announcement on a ban on onshore windfarms within the coming days, together with potential “tweaks” to the levelling up invoice, within the face of a rising revolt by Conservative MPs, my colleague Jessica Elgot stories.

Rishi Sunak appears to have beefed up his lord mayor’s banquet speech within the ultimate hours earlier than he delivered it final evening. In line with a briefing launched on Sunday evening, he was going to say that the UK might deal with autocratic nations like China “not with grand rhetoric however with strong pragmatism” (no matter which means). By the point he delivered the speech, as my colleague Aubrey Allegretti stories, it contained a line saying the “so-called ‘golden period’ [in UK-China relations] is over, together with the naive concept that commerce would result in social and political reform”.

However he doesn’t appear to have gone far sufficient for the China hawks in his personal occasion. In an article for today’s Daily Express, Iain Duncan Smith, the previous Tory chief, says:

China, whilst I write that is committing genocide on the Uyghur, placing the boys into slave labour camps, forcibly sterilising the ladies, and rounding up their kids and putting them in re-education camps. It doesn’t cease there.

They’re arresting Christians, trashed the Sino-British Hong Kong settlement and arresting peaceable democracy campaigners and journalists, invaded, and militarising the South China Seas illegally, while stealing key applied sciences from us and our allies. And final however not least, they threaten to invade Taiwan regularly …

I’m wondering if strong pragmatism now sounds increasingly like appeasement.

And in an interview with Instances Radio this morning Bob Seely mentioned the UK and different nations within the west ought to wean themselves off their financial dependency on China. He mentioned China wished to reincorporate Taiwan, and nations within the west didn’t realise how powerless they had been to cease it. He defined:

What it can say to the west, and the remainder of the world, is that when you put sanctions on us as soon as we invade Taiwan, you’ll destroy your economies, you’ll destroy your residing requirements, as a result of we are able to survive as a result of we’re self reliant, the place you’re depending on us.

And that’s the huge strategic difficulty that we face, as a result of we must be below no phantasm, China makes use of commerce for energy in a method that we don’t and naively, we don’t actually fairly perceive both.

England and Wales at the moment are minority Christian nations, in accordance with the 2021 census, which additionally reveals that Leicester and Birmingham have grow to be the primary UK cities to have “minority majorities”, my colleagues Robert Sales space, Pamela Duncan and Carmen Aguilar García report.

The story is predicated on ONS census knowledge accessible here.

On Thursday final week Mark Harper, the transport secretary, held what either side described as a optimistic assembly with Mick Lynch, the RMT basic secretary. They had been speaking in regards to the rail strikes and afterwards Lynch told journalists that it was not clear to his union who had the authority to barter a pay settlement. The person rail corporations, and the Rail Supply Group (which represents them), had been each saying they might not have interaction in collective bargaining, he mentioned.

Lynch mentioned Harper had provided to ship him a letter clarifying who precisely did have the authority to barter a settlement.

Harper has now launched the text of his letter to Lynch. It’s brief and it does probably not handle Lynch’s questions in any respect, however Harper is promising an extra assembly, in addition to “higher data sharing”. He says:

My function is to facilitate and help – not negotiate. Negotiations will proceed between commerce unions and employers, however I can see scope for settlement.

Let me set out how I feel we may help help that. Higher data sharing between the rail minister, commerce unions and people main the negotiations on behalf of the employers can velocity up this course of. We are going to quickly convene an extra assembly to assist advance, with the nice religion of all events, settlement discussions and progress on this dispute.

Good morning. The Rishi Sunak cupboard could also be full of faces from the David Cameron, Theresa Might, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss administrations, however it’s not all continuity and in some methods Sunak is revising insurance policies pursued by his predecessors. We’ve bought an instance at present, with adjustments to the net security invoice.

The invoice, which has been years within the planning and which was published by Nadine Dorries when she was culture secretary, would prolong important new controls over social media corporations. It goes additional than what has been tried in most different western democracies. The invoice accomplished nearly all its Commons levels within the spring, but it was shelved as Johnson needed to resign, amid issues that it restricted freedom of speech an excessive amount of and within the information {that a} new PM may favor a special method.

He does, and this morning Michelle Donelan, the tradition secretary, has introduced important adjustments. Right here is the Division for Digital, Tradition, Media and Sport’s summary. And right here is my colleague Dan Milmo’s in a single day story.

The unique invoice targeted closely on a class of content material deemed “authorized however dangerous” (posts about suicide, for instance). The invoice didn’t ban this content material, but it surely imposed strict restrictions on how social media corporations must deal with it (the complete particulars are in a briefing here), and that led to claims that this might quantity to a de facto ban, as a result of the social media corporations would select to not take any dangers and take away the content material anyway.

The “authorized however dangerous” provisions have now been eliminated, and changed with plans which might be supposed to realize an identical impact whereas trying much less like censorship. Ian Russell, who has been a campaigner for stricter controls since his daughter Molly killed herself after viewing massive quantities of content material associated to suicide and despair on social media, mentioned he was glad the federal government was lastly bringing the invoice again to parliament.

However he mentioned the elimination of the “authorized however dangerous” clauses meant the invoice was being watered down. He instructed the At this time programme:

There are two feelings this morning and one is a few aid, not simply on my half however on the a part of many dad and mom who sadly discover themselves in comparable circumstances, that finally that is transferring ahead.

There’s been a rising sense of frustration amongst that group of bereaved dad and mom and households that not sufficient is being carried out, in order that’s the excellent news.

However, as ever with this stuff, the satan shall be within the element and so it’s very arduous to grasp that one thing that was necessary as not too long ago as July, when the invoice would have had a 3rd studying within the Commons – and was included within the invoice, this authorized however dangerous content material – it’s very arduous to grasp why that all of a sudden can’t be there …

I don’t see how one can see the elimination of an entire clause as something apart from a watering down.

However Donelan claims the invoice has been made “stronger”. And, interviews this morning, she mentioned the protections for kids within the invoice weren’t being watered down. She instructed the At this time programme:

Let’s be completely clear. So that you talked about younger folks and kids – nothing is getting watered down or taken out with regards to kids. We’re including further in, so there isn’t any change to kids.

And she or he has posted this on Twitter.

Right here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Rishi Sunak chairs cupboard.

10am: Martin Lewis, the patron champion and founding father of the MoneySavingExpert web site, offers proof to the Commons tradition committee at 10am on misinformation.

11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.

3pm: Andrew Bailey, governor of the Financial institution of England, offers proof to the Lords financial affairs committee.

Afternoon: Olena Zelenska, the primary girl of Ukraine, offers a speech to MPs and friends in parliament.

I attempt to monitor the feedback beneath the road (BTL) however it’s unimaginable to learn all of them. If in case you have a direct query, do embrace “Andrew” in it someplace and I’m extra more likely to discover it. I do attempt to reply questions and, if they’re of basic 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 entice my consideration shortly, it’s most likely higher to make use of Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Alternatively, you may e mail me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com