UK politics – live: Raab facing fresh bullying claims from ‘raft’ of civil servants

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “There must be no hint of a whitewash when it comes to the slew of serious allegations the deputy prime Minister now faces.

“The scope of this investigation must immediately be expanded to enable proactive investigation of Dominic Raab‘s behaviour during his time as a minister, including so-called expressions of concern, informal complaints and the concerning testimony of his own former permanent secretary.

“This Conservative government has a troubling track record of brushing serious misconduct under the carpet. Their refusal to act on findings against Priti Patel previously led their former ethics chief to quit in disgust.

“A temporary stop-gap investigator, appointed in a panic, with an absurdly narrow remit is not a solution to dealing with the flood of allegations of ministerial misconduct now requiring investigation.”

In the latest cost of living news, the price that government will have to pay to support households with their energy bills is set to increase from January as Ofgem increased its energy price cap to 67p per unit for electricity and 17p for gas.

The decision will not impact the amount households pay for their energy because the government has said electricity will cost 34p per unit and gas will be 10.3p until April.

Without the government support the average household would be paying around £4,279 for its energy under the new cap. The support will ensure that average households pay £2,500.

Energy is charged per unit, so those who use more can spend more.

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has insisted he does not support Britain rejoining the European Union’s single market after facing a backlash from Tory Brexiteers.

He issued a carefully worded denial that he was the source of suggestions that the Government was considering a Swiss-style relationship with the EU.

Conservative Eurosceptics were up in arms after the Sunday Times reported that senior Government figures were working towards regaining access to the single market.

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A senior lawyer has been appointed by Rishi Sunak to look into complaints of bullying behaviour by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab.

Commercial and employment law specialist Adam Tolley KC will look into the claims made against Mr Raab after two formal complaints were submitted about his conduct.

Downing Street has indicated Mr Tolley’s remit could extend to other allegations about Mr Raab after a series of claims related to his time as foreign secretary and his first stint in the Ministry of Justice.

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Rishi Sunak was warned by a senior Tory that failing to build new homes is an existential threat for the Conservatives after rebels forced him to delay planning reforms.

Former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke said the party’s vote could collapse if the Government does not help people onto the housing ladder with a building spree.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledged the difficulties faced by people trying to buy their first home and said planning rules often set “local communities against the national need to build more houses”.

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A cabinet minister has defended Rishi Sunak’s use of a private GP promising “on the day” appointments, insisting he has shown his commitment to the NHS by giving it more cash.

The prime minister is under fire over his registration with a west London clinic charging a reported £250 for a half-hour consultation, with appointments in the evenings and at weekends.

It has been revealed as NHS patients wait ever longer to see a GP – with just 41.5 per cent of appointments in September taking place on the same day, official figures show.

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Former prime minister Boris Johnson compared Liz Truss’s mini-budget to a badly played piano. In his first comments on the mini-budget, Mr Johnson told CNN: “It’s kind of like when I play the piano. The notes individually sound perfectly OK, but they’re not in the right order, or occurring at the right time.”

Mr Johnson also rejected suggestions he could return as prime minister. He said: “I’ve always said for about 20 years that my chances of becoming PM were about as good as my chances of becoming decapitated by a frisbee, or blinded by a champagne cork or locked in a disused fridge.

“I then did become PM so my chances of becoming PM again I think are those impossibilia cubed or squared.”

Dominic Raab is facing fresh questions over his conduct as several of his former staff are said to be preparing to file formal bullying complaints against him.

The move is a co-ordinated effort by “a raft of senior civil servants in multiple government departments” to lodge concerns over Mr Raab’s behaviour, including a number of private secretaries, BBC Newsnight reported.

Meanwhile, the programme said it had heard allegations that the Cabinet minister used his personal email account for Government business at two different departments, as recently as last year.

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A surge in private donations to political parties has put a small number of super-rich individuals in a position to wield “substantial influence” over the UK’s political process, a new report has warned.

Almost half of political donations in the UK – and 60 per cent in the run-up to the 2019 general election – now come from wealthy individuals, compared to around 40 per cent in the early 2000s, found academics from the University of Warwick’s CAGE Research Centre.

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Former Conservative MP Owen Paterson has claimed that the lobbying investigation that sparked a government scandal ending with his resignation breached his human rights.

The Brexiteer has lodged a formal complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which formally asked the British government to respond to his allegations on Tuesday.

Mr Paterson has complained to the Strasbourg court that his Article 8 rights under the UK Human Rights Act, relating to respecting his private and family life, had been infringed.

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