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Boris Johnson says MPs shouldn’t get a pay rise during the coronavirus pandemic

It would be on top of their £81,932 annual salary. 

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UK Parliament & Number 10 /Flickr

Downing Street has said Boris Johnson believes MP should not receive an annual pay rise. 

Next year, MPs are expected to receive a pay rise of £3,360 on top of their £81,932 annual salary, causing anger among the public as it comes at a time when ordinary people are struggling. 

However, a Downing Street spokesperson has said that Mr Johnson has already frozen ministerial pay as he does not believe MPs should get a pay rise. 

The spokesperson said: “MP’s salaries are obviously decided by an independent body but given the circumstances, the PM doesn’t believe MPs should be receiving a pay rise”.

On top of their annual salary, MPs are also able to claim allowances to cover the cost of running an office, employing staff and maintaining a constituency residence or residence in London.

News of the potential pay rise has caused outrage after thousands have lost their jobs in the pandemic. The exact amount of the pay rise is yet to be confirmed.

The PM’s statement comes following an awkward interview between Matt Hancock and Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan.

Piers said he would ‘love’ to hear the Health Secretary refuse a pay rise in the struggling economy. 

Hancock said: “That’s what all ministers did in the pay freeze that there was after the global financial crash – me included.

“Let’s see what the final recommendation is and then I’ll come… I know, I’ll promise to commit to coming back on this programme immediately after that decision comes through and then I’ll let you know. I will answer this question when the pay policy has been set out by the chancellor.”

Piers interrupted and said: “I’m just asking you to say you are not personally going to take a penny.

“Just say I, Matt Hancock, right now tell Good Morning Britain viewers that in all good conscience it would be wrong of me to take a penny in a pay rise this year. And I am going to put my hand up and lead.”

Hancock, who is believed to be paid an annual salary in the region of £140,000, said: “It’s very tempting, it’s very tempting Piers. I am a stickler for not pre-judging things. You can’t knock me off the perch.”

Piers responded: “You’re not a parrot, you’re the Health Secretary in the year of the catastrophic handling of the pandemic.”

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Andy Burnham calls for Labour to adopt proportional representation in radical reform of Britain

‘Decisions that impact our everyday lives – education, social care, the economy – are being made in the heartland of privilege by people absolutely out of touch with ordinary folk’

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Rwendland / Wikimedia & @andyburnhamgm / Instagram

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has called for the Labour Party to adopt proportional representation for MPs to be elected, as part of a ‘radical rewiring of Britain’.

He says reform will stop parties voted for by a minority gaining complete power at Westminster.

Labour has proposed plans to change how UK democracy currently works, which includes replacing the House of Lords with a directly elected senate for the UK’s nations and regions.

In a speech at the Making Britain Work For Scotland rally, in Edinburgh on Thursday evening, the mayor’s proposals were supported by the first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford.

Rwendland / Wikimedia

As reported in The Guardian, Burnham said ensuring that MPs were elected using a system that accurately reflected voters’ choices would prevent a party only chosen by a minority of voters having complete power at Westminster.

He said: “I think we need to change the House of Commons as well, I think we need voting reform.

“I don’t believe all people in all places will be equally represented in Westminster until every vote matters.”

He added that Labour’s plans to devolve even greater power to the English regions would allow power to flow from Westminster. 

@andyburnhamgm / Instagram

This would make way for a ‘place-first approach’ — where city regions had the authority to work collaboratively, diluting the power of a centralised party machine in London

Burnham was also supported by Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin — who noted she was the only woman among England’s 10 metropolitan mayors. 

She said: “We can and we must go further. Power cannot be hoarded in government departments, whether that’s Westminster or Holyrood.

“Decisions that impact our everyday lives – education, social care, the economy – are being made in the heartland of privilege by people absolutely out of touch with ordinary folk.”

Rwendland / Wikimedia

Labour’s proposals to introduce new legally underpinned powers for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, and the English regions, are expected to be a major feature in Keir Starmer’s upcoming general election campaign.

This comes after Gordon Brown held a rally in Edinburgh with his wife, Sarah Brown, under the guidance of Brown’s Our Scottish Future thinktank. 

Here, for the first time, Labour leaders from across England, Wales and Scotland addressed a constitutional reform rally, highlighting the pressure Starmer will face to put Brown’s proposals into practice.

The former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie was in the audience and is a member of Brown’s thinktank, suggesting the two parties may cooperate after the next election.

@andyburhamgm / Instagram

However, Burnham’s stand for electoral reform goes further than Labour’s plans. 

Abandoning the current first past the post voting is believed to be opposed by most Labour MPs in the Commons. This is partly because many would face losing their seats and also because it would dilute the elected party’s power.

However supporters of the reform argue that every other legislature in the UK, at Holyrood, the Senedd in Cardiff and Stormont in Northern Ireland, use proportional systems, as do council elections in devolved nations. It is expected a new second chamber at Westminster would also use region-based proportional voting.

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Tragedy as body found in search for girl, 15, who got into difficulty swimming in reservoir

She was swimming with her friends before getting into difficulty

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David Dixon / Geograph & ITV

A body has been found in the search for a teenage girl who got into difficulty while swimming in a reservoir with her friends.

The group were swimming in Carr Mill Dam, in St Helens, at around 12.30pm on Thursday, June 1st.

Emergency services were called after reports of concerns for safety of a 15-year-old girl who had ‘got in distress’.

After hours of searching the water, Merseyside Police confirmed they had found a body.

David Dixon / Geograph

In a statement at the scene, Chief Inspector for Merseyside Police for St Helens, Paul Holden said: “Officers entered the water in an attempt to find the teenage girl.

“They were joined by officers from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the search culminated in the recovery of the girl’s body.”

The girl’s next of kin have been informed and specialist liaison officers will work closely with the family to support them during this difficult time.

David Dixon / Geograph

He continued: “When the schools return for the summer term our schools officers will work with St Helens Council to ensure that we are able to educate young people about the dangers of water.

“We know how tempting it can be to cool down in the water on a hot summers day, but we want to ensure that young people are equipped with the right knowledge to keep them safe around water.”

Chief inspector Holden ended the press conference with an appeal for witnesses, and anyone who was in the area at the time, to come forward and contact Merseyside Police — which can be done on their website or by calling 101.

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Phillip Schofield says he’s ‘lost everything’ and ‘understands how Caroline Flack felt’

The former presenter spoke out in an interview released this morning

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BBC

Phillip Schofield has asked ‘do you want me to die?’ in an interview released this morning and says he has ‘lost everything’.

The former This Morning presenter has spoken out in his first interview since he departed the show, after it was revealed he had an affair with a younger male colleague .

After the revelations came to light, Schofield resigned as presenter on the ITV daytime show and was dropped by his agency YMU shortly afterwards, as he admitted to the ‘unwise’ but ‘not illegal’ romantic relationship with the runner.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, released on Friday morning (June 2nd), he discussed the public backlash and abuse he has faced online and in the media since admitting to the affair.

BBC

When Rajan began by asking how he was, Schofield replied: “I think I understand how Caroline Flack felt.”

Schofield, visibly in a highly emotionally charged state, said: “If my daughters hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here. And, they’ve guarded me, and wouldn’t let me out of their sight.

“I know that’s a selfish point of view. But you come to a point where you just think, how much are you supposed to take? 

“If all of those people that write all that stuff, do they ever think that there’s actually a person at the other end?”

BBC

He added: “I have to talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart. I have lost everything. If I get through this I don’t know how I move forward. What am I going to do with my days?

“I see nothing ahead of me but blackness and sadness and regret and remorse and guilt. I did something very wrong and then I lied about it consistently… consistently lied about. You can’t live with that. How do you live with that?”

The ex-daytime TV presenter said he felt he had to go ahead with an interview because ‘there is an innocent person here, who didn’t do anything wrong’ who he said is ‘vulnerable and probably feels like I do’.

He urged the media to leave his former lover alone saying: “And I just have to say stop with him, ok with me, but stop with him. Leave him alone now.” Adding he was ‘massively’ concerned about his welfare.

Schofield was also ’emphatic’ in his denial over allegations that he had groomed the man, as yesterday he told The Sun: “I did not [groom him].

“There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way [an abuse of power] because we’d become mates. I don’t know about that.”

BBC

And he also denied there had ever been a ‘feud’ between him and his former co-presenter and ‘TV sister’ Holly Willoughby. “I’ve lost my best friend. I let her down,” he told The Sun.

“Holly did not know. And she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say, ‘I am so, so sorry that I lied to you’.” The pair had presented This Morning together since 2009, with Willoughby due to return to the show on Monday.

Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary have been among the presenters hosting the programme in recent weeks. 

Schofield went on to say that his ‘greatest apology’ over the fallout from the affair was to his former lover and that he would ‘die sorry’ for what he had done.

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