Anyone else feeling a sense of déjà vu? Westminster braces for the Gray report

Feeling a sense of déjà vu? Me too. After last week, it is with no small amount of trepidation that I write: Sue Gray’s report is expected today. Conservative minister Simon Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that Gray could hand her report to Downing Street “soon”. The much-edited version of the findings (following the intervention of the Met Police on Friday) is reportedly ready to go. The week is expected to be dominated by the investigation into the ‘partygate’ saga and Boris Johnson’s statement to parliament on its conclusions.

But the Prime Minister is trying to regain control of the agenda. Johnson has announced plans for a “Brexit freedoms bill” to make it easier to remove retained EU law. Following the UK’s departure from the EU, a number of bridging laws were kept on the statute book. No 10 has said that primary legislation is needed to remove them, and that this new bill could shortcut that process. Johnson declared the plan will “unleash the benefits of Brexit” – but Labour has pointed out one opportunity to diverge from EU rules (one Johnson himself advocated in the Leave campaign) the government has not seized. “For all this talk from the government about the potential legislative freedom we have outside the EU, they still refuse to make a concrete change the Labour Party has been demanding in this area for months, which is the removal of VAT on people’s energy bills,” Emily Thornberry said.

The freedom bill is just the latest instalment in operation red meat. The government was accused of manipulating funding announcements yesterday as it revealed that 20 cities and towns would benefit from levelling-up cash. Lisa Nandy told the Sunday politics shows that the £1.5bn pledged “completely missed the point”, describing the sum as a “bit of a refund in a few places on the money that we’ve lost”. The Shadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary was also quizzed on her party’s position on the National Insurance contributions hike. She said Labour “wouldn’t bring it in in the first place”. Pushed on whether a future Labour in government would repeal the tax increase, she said: “What we will do is reform the taxation system in the round.” Read our full write-up here.

After speculation that Johnson might perform a U-turn in a bid to assuage his backbenchers, the Prime Minister and Rishi Sunak doubled down on the NI hike over the weekend. Meanwhile, Labour members and shadow ministers were out on the doorstep on ‘Action Saturday‘ promoting the party’s “fully-costed and fully-funded” plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Labour has an opposition day debate on Tuesday. The party is likely to continue stressing just how badly households are struggling while Johnson is consumed by efforts to save his premiership.