Early evening summary Boris Johnson has claimed the government cannot “magic up overnight” solutions to the problems caused by labour shortages in the economy. (See 2.04pm.) In the latest example of how he is seeking to present the queues outside petrol stations as evidence of how the economy is transitioning to a better model, he also said labour shortages were “a sign of economic robustness”. (See 10.07am.) Johnson has angered lawyers by suggesting that they are partly responsible for the long delay in rape cases going to court. (See 10.07am.) He also said the government would address this by changing the mobile phone disclosure rules. (See 2.04pm.) Johnson has been accused of showing lack of respect to farmers after he joked about their need to cull pigs because of a shortage of butchers and slaughterers. The cull means they cannot be turned into meat. In an interview this morning Johnson made light of the situation, joking about how the pigs were destined to die anyway. (See 8.42am and 3.02pm.) Tom Bradshaw, vice-president of the National Farmers Union, told Times Radio: The feedback we’re getting from our members very loud and clearly is there seems to be no empathy at all. And it’s just a lack of respect for what is going on out there. I’m afraid the cull has started today. We have got pigs that have been killed on farm, because there simply is no way to get them to market. This is a tragic waste of food, which has never happened before. It’s absolutely needless, and we have been highlighting this issue to government for many months, the largest processors have been pushing on the door to try and get a migratory solution. Priti Patel has announced an inquiry into “systemic failures” in the Metropolitan police that allowed a serving police officer to abuse his position to kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard. Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, has said the government will “overhaul” the Human Rights Act before the next election. (See 10.39am.) Raab has claimed levelling up could benefit rich areas in the south of England because it could reduce the “tax revenue pressure” they face. (See 4.04pm.) Johnson has said he believes the BBC will “be around for a long time to come”, in a view contrasting with that of his culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, who has questioned whether the corporation will exist a decade from now. Climate change protesters “crossed the line” between their right to protest and their responsibility towards the rest of the public when they caused huge tailbacks by blocking three key London roads on Monday, the policing minister, Kit Malthouse, has said. Two Windrush campaigners have said they felt humiliated and baffled after being refused access to the Conservative party conference in Manchester despite having been granted full accreditation at a cost of £225 each. David Frost, the Brexit minister, told a fringe meeting that Foreign Office negotiators are “too nice”, Adam Bienkov reports. Paid-for essay writing services for students to be banned, skills minister announces The government is to criminalise paid-for essay writing services aimed at students in England, the skills minister, Alex Burghart, has announced. A clause is to be added to the skills and post-16 education bill going through parliament that would ban so-called essay mills, which offer to write essays or dissertations for hundreds or even thousands of pounds. Burghart, the MP for Brentwood and Ongar, said: Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. We are taking steps to ban these cheating services. The Department for Education said the government “intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise these cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at any institution in England providing post-16 education, including universities”. While universities and colleges already take disciplinary action over plagiarism, including the use of essays written by others, the new law would be aimed at the providers. Many are based outside the UK, making enforcement difficult. Alister Jack, the Scotland secretary, has accused the Scottish government of “irresponsible nationalism” for failing to get involved with a review of transport links. As PA Media reports, Sir Peter Hendy, the current chairman of Network Rail and former commissioner of Transport for London (TfL), will publish his Union Connectivity Review soon. He was tasked by Boris Johnson to examine transport infrastructure across the UK and consider where future spending could be targeted. Jack told the Tory conference: It’s an incredibly important document to be published shortly. I’d say on a personal note I’m very dismayed the Scottish government has not engaged in the union connectivity review. The transport secretary, Michael Matheson, told his civil servants not to give Sir Peter any data or to engage with him whatsoever, which to me is irresponsible nationalism. It’s putting their desire for separation, and not to be part of the United Kingdom, ahead of people’s livelihoods, ahead of jobs. Javid says he wants to see better leadership and more reform in NHS Here are the main points from Sajid Javid’s speech. Javid, the health secretary, confirmed that he wants to reduce health inequalities. Echoing an argument he made in a speech in Blackpool last month, he said: Do you know what the gap in healthy life expectancy is, between Blackpool and Richmond upon Thames? Almost 20 years. It’s time to level up on health. He said he wanted to see better leadership and more reform in the NHS. Confirming his review of leadership in health and social care, he said: At a time like this, business as usual cannot be good enough. I’ve worked with some of the largest organisations in the world... and two factors stand out on whether they succeed: Leadership, and innovation. I want the NHS to embrace innovation and to build a truly modern, digitised system. That’s the only way we can drive down that backlog, and build a sustainable service for the future. He said that as a student he had worked as a volunteer in a care home. He said: There are few higher callings than to care for another person. Some of you know that I got up to some antics as a student... …I got thrown out of party conference, for campaigning against the ERM. I was a cool kid. What you might not know about my time as a student, back in Exeter, is that every Saturday I would visit a care home as a volunteer to keep the residents company. Especially a great lady called Margaret, who I became very fond of. That experience left a real impression on me – of the importance of dignity in our later years, and of the dedication of care workers. At the conference Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has just started his speech. He says he has three priorities. My priorities are simple: Covid. Recovery. Reform. Covid – getting us, and keeping us, out of the pandemic. Recovery – tackling the huge backlog of appointments it has caused. And reform of our health and social care systems for the long-term. Windrush activists ‘disgusted’ after being turned away at Tory conference Two Windrush campaigners have said they felt humiliated and baffled after being refused access to the Conservative party conference in Manchester despite having been granted full accreditation at a cost of £225 each, my colleague Peter Walker reports. Raab claims levelling up could help wealthy areas in south by reducing "tax revenue pressure" they face Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister and justice secretary, has said that levelling up will benefit rich areas in the south of England because it could reduce the “tax revenue pressure” they face. Raab represents Esher and Walton, an affluent constituency in Surrey, in the London commuter belt. At a fringe meeting he admitted that it was hard to persuade his constituents that levelling up – a policy normally understood as being targeted at poorer areas, particularly in the north – would be in their interests. But it would, he claimed. He explained: Levelling up is trying to bridge the gap but without trying to attack the middle-class or those who have made money in this country fairly and through hard work. For me the challenge is selling it down south, in London. As someone who has got a constituency which pays a huge amount of tax, provides a huge amount of revenue to the Exchequer, the question you get asked is ‘what’s in it for us?’ What’s in it for my constituents in London and the south-east is we will not be so heavily reliant on the central economic engine of London and the south-east, you will have poles of economic activity from the west – Bath, Bristol – Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and that corridor, the Midlands engine, the north and other parts of the UK. That will take the tax revenue pressure off London and the south-east. Raab also said he would defend Esher and Walton at the next election, rather than seek a safer alternative. His constituency used to be solidly Tory, but at the last election his majority over the Lib Dems was less than 3,000, and now Sir Ed Davey’s party views it as a key target. Boris Johnson has said that the BBC is a great national institution and that he expects it to be around for a long time. Normally a prime minister saying that would not count as news, but given that Nadine Dorries, who as culture secretary is in charge of government policy towards the BBC, told a fringe yesterday that she could not be sure it would survive another decade, Johnson’s comment is worth reporting. Asked about the future of the corporation, Johnson told GB News: The BBC has been around for a very long time, it’s a great national institution, I’ve no doubt that it will be around for a long time to come. In a blog on Dominic Raab’s conference speech (see 10.39am), David Allen Green, the FT legal commentator, says Raab based his argument for overhauling the Human Rights Act on a case from 12 years ago that raised questions that were partially addressed by a change in the law in 2014. He sees it as significant that Raab did not announce that the act would be repealed. He says: A symbolic ‘overhaul’ will probably be all that can be managed – and may not even have a bill to itself. Supporters of the Human Rights Act must always be vigilant – but the blast of the repeal trumpet today was not a loud one. This is from Alistair Driver, who runs the National Pig Association’s website and edits Pig World, on Boris Johnson’s comments this morning about the crisis in the sector. (See 10.07am.) Shoaib Khan, a human rights lawyer, has tweeted more on the cases cited by Dominic Raab earlier (see and as justification for the government’s decision to overhaul the Human Rights Act.