A day after Priti Patel, the home secretary, pulled out of a scheduled appearance before a Commons committee, Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, said he could not attend a meeting of the cross-party joint human rights committee next Wednesday as he had planned. Raab was due to be questioned by the committee of MPs and peers about his so far vague proposals for a UK Bill of Rights, which would seek to reduce the role of the European Court of Human Rights in overseeing British affairs. Joanna Cherry, the Scottish National MP who chairs the committee, wrote to Raab, who is also deputy prime minister, saying members were “extremely disappointed” with his decision. “While we understand that there are pressures arising from taking on the dual roles of lord chancellor and deputy prime minister, accountability to parliament should take priority,” he wrote. “This date has been on our calendars and yours for some time. It is not clear why, in such a short period of time, other issues should take priority.” Patel, the home secretary, was scheduled to brief MPs on the Commons home affairs committee on Wednesday morning on policies including progress on deporting asylum seekers in Rwanda. But late Tuesday, Patel said she could not attend because of “recent changes in government,” with no apparent explanation. Also on Wednesday, it emerged that the long-awaited internet safety bill had been rejected amid confusion during the ongoing Conservative leadership race. While ministers insisted it was due to a lack of parliamentary time due to Labour’s desire for a confidence vote in the government on Monday, it was postponed to the autumn due to concerns that whoever succeeds Johnson in September may have different views on the bill. It has now emerged that proposals to reform gambling laws have been delayed for a fourth time after Johnson’s advisers concluded they could not be published until a new leader is in place. Whitehall sources told the Guardian that the gambling white paper was this week added to the government’s “web” of announcements and was scheduled to be published on Tuesday. But senior Downing Street officials, including Johnson’s adviser David Canzini, are understood to have told him he could not publish it as it would require legislation from his successor. Under the terms of Johnson’s caretaker government, he can continue existing policy while Tory MPs and then party members choose a new leader, but not make major fiscal changes or introduce new policy. It is, however, the fourth time the gambling white paper, the culmination of a review announced in 2019, has been shelved. “I’m very sorry that this is happening because we worked hard to make this happen,” said Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader who is among those pushing for tougher reforms. “It wasn’t perfect, but I’d take it where it is now because it’s an improvement on where we were. A white paper must be linked to legislation and a caretaker government cannot make the legislation.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Also on Wednesday, the government sent a junior health minister to answer an urgent question about a crisis in ambulance response times, instead of the new health secretary, Steve Barclay – prompting Labor to say the government had “simply given up on governing”. . No 10 rejected the suggestion that ministers were avoiding parliamentary scrutiny. “The government continues to work on the prime minister’s priorities,” a spokesman said. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said the introduction of the bill of rights “followed extensive consultation and will be debated and considered in parliament in the usual way”.
