NDAs: UK universities misusing 'gagging orders' described as 'outrage'

University reporter(wp/bbc):::

Universities using "gagging orders" to stop staff going public with claims of bullying or sexual misconduct is an "outrage", according to a minister.

Chris Skidmore said using non-disclosure agreements in this way risks the reputation of UK higher education.

It comes after BBC figures showed universities spent about £87m on pay-offs with NDAs since 2017.

NDAs are contracts between employers and companies which can stop staff or ex-staff making information public.

In a speech at the London School of Economics this week, universities minister Mr Skidmore is expected to say universities are considered the "bastions of free speech" - but that there are reports that some of them have suppressed allegations of harassment, discrimination and sexual assault.

• UK universities in 'gagging order' row
• What are non-disclosure agreements?
• Are NDAs being abused?

Known as "confidentiality clauses" in the legal profession, NDAs can be signed when staff are hired to protect trade secrets like inventions or ideas.

But they can also be signed when employees and organisations resolve a dispute, and have been used to stop workers discussing allegations of misbehaviour in the workplace.

Last month, dozens of academics told BBC News they were "harassed" out of their jobs and made to sign NDAs after making complaints.

"Non-disclosure agreements exist for many purposes - such as protecting valuable research findings should a staff member change jobs," Mr Skidmore will say on Tuesday.

"But in no circumstances should they be used by universities to 'gag' staff after experiencing poor behaviour in the workplace, including bullying, discrimination or sexual misconduct.

"Let me be clear that any use of this sort of agreement to silence people or hide details of unfair practices is an outrage and risks bringing the reputation of our world-leading higher education system into disrepute.

"Universities need to wake up to this fact and the very real threat it poses to the reputation of the sector."

Mr Skidmore is expected to express his support for Universities UK - which represents universities. It has said using NDAs to stop victims speaking out will not be tolerated.

BBC analysis last month showed 96 universities in the UK had spent £87m on around 4,000 settlements since 2017.

Many universities said they were unable to disclose why the agreements were signed, so it is unclear how many relate to allegations of bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct.

Claims of the misuse of NDAs by universities follow high-profile cases in the film and business worlds.

Labour would pay 20 billion pounds in water nationalisation - Sunday Times

political reporter(wp/reuters):::

A future Labour government would offer shareholders in British water utilities a total of 20 billion pounds in a nationalisation programme, compared with a current market value of around 44 billion pounds, the Sunday Times newspaper said.

Citing extracts from an internal Labour Party briefing document, the newspaper said Labour only intended to compensate shareholders for investment already put into the utilities, and not for the loss of future profits.

“Shareholder investment on the books of UK water and sewerage companies is less than 20 billion pounds,” the newspaper quoted the document as saying.

“We think this is a better place to start than market values because it reflects how much shareholders have actually put into a company, and doesn’t incorporate future expected profits, which will not exist under public ownership,” the document added.

John McDonnell: No trust left in PM over Brexit talks

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Labour's shadow chancellor says he does not trust Theresa May after details from cross-party talks on Brexit were leaked to the press.

The PM has called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to "put their differences aside" and agree a Brexit deal.

But John McDonnell said she had "blown the confidentially" of the talks and "jeopardised the negotiations".

The UK was due to leave the EU on 29 March, but it was delayed to 31 October after MPs failed to agree a deal.

Mrs May put the plan she had negotiated with the EU to Parliament three times, but it did not have the support of the Commons.

'Uncomfortable' decision

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, she said Mr Corbyn should "listen to what voters said" in Thursday's local elections - which saw the Conservatives lose 1,334 councillors and Labour fail to make expected gains, instead losing 82 seats.

The Liberal Democrats benefited from Tory losses, gaining 703 seats, with the Greens and independents also making gains.

The prime minister blamed the Brexit impasse for the losses - but said the elections gave "fresh urgency" to find a way to "break the deadlock".

Mrs May also said she hoped to find a "unified, cross-party position" with Labour - despite admitting that her colleagues "find this decision uncomfortable" and that "frankly, it is not what I wanted either".

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Mr McDonnell agreed that the message from the polls was to "get on with it" and come to an agreement over Brexit quickly.

But while he said the talks between the two parties would continue on Tuesday, he said they had been undermined after an article in the Sunday Times, detailing where Mrs May was willing to compromise - namely on customs, goods alignment and workers' rights.

The paper also said the PM could put forward plans for a comprehensive, but temporary, customs arrangement with the EU that would last until the next general election.

Mr McDonnell told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "We have maintained confidentiality as that is what we were asked to do. We haven't briefed the media.

"So it is disappointing the prime minister has broken that and I think it is an act of bad faith.

"I fully understand now why she couldn't negotiate a decent deal with our European partners if she behaves in this way."

Asked if he trusted the prime minister, the shadow chancellor said: "No. Sorry. Not after this weekend when she has blown the confidentiality we had, and I actually think she has jeopardised the negotiation for her own personal protection."

He criticised other senior Tories who were "threatening to tear up any deal we do" once the party has a new leader, adding: "It is like trying to enter into contract with a company going into administration."

'Deeply divisive deal'

The BBC's political correspondent Chris Mason said reaching a deal was "fraught with risk" for both Mrs May and Mr Corbyn.

"A deal on a customs union would be deeply divisive for the Conservatives," he said. "Accepting there'd be no new referendum would split Labour."

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, told the Daily Telegraph that staying in a customs union could lead to a "catastrophic split" in the Conservative Party.

And, in the same paper, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said: "If the Tories do a deal with Labour on the customs union they will be going into coalition with the opposition against the people."

He told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that millions of people would give up on Labour and the Conservatives if they agreed a deal, adding it would be the "final betrayal".

But the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, said her party needed to "start walking ourselves back" from the extremes of the argument to find a compromise, telling the BBC's Andrew Marr show "there is a deal to be done" with Labour.

• May must go now, says former Tory leader
• Local elections: Main parties punished

Meanwhile, the People's Vote campaign - which wants a referendum on a final Brexit deal - has published a letter signed by more than 100 opposition MPs saying any new, agreed deal should be put to the public for a vote.

"The very worst thing we could do at this time is a Westminster stitch-up, whether over the PM's deal or another deal," the letter read.

On Saturday, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said a deal with Labour would not be legitimate.

"As a result of the devastating [local] election result, the PM has in effect become a caretaker," he told the BBC.

"As such, she is not empowered to make any deal with the Labour Party which itself suffered a very similar result. Two discredited administrations making a discredited deal is not the answer to the electorate."

May presses Labour to reach Brexit deal, but leaks jeopardise talks

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday stepped up calls for Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to agree a cross-party deal to leave the European Union, following poor results for both parties in local elections on Thursday.

The parties have been in negotiations for over a month to try to broker a Brexit deal that can secure majority support in parliament, after May’s minority government suffered three heavy defeats on her preferred deal this year and was forced to delay Britain’s departure.

“To the leader of the opposition I say this: Let’s listen to what the voters said in the local elections and put our differences aside for a moment. Let’s do a deal,” she wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Labour responded by saying any deal should be done quickly, but accused May of leaking details of the compromise under discussion and jeopardising the talks.

May’s Conservatives lost more than a thousand seats on English local councils that were up for re-election, and Labour - which would typically aim to gain hundreds of seats in a mid-term vote - lost 81.

The talks with Labour are a last resort for May, whose party’s deep divisions over Brexit have so far stopped her getting approval for an exit agreement and left the world’s fifth largest economy in prolonged political limbo.

The Sunday Times reported that the Conservatives would offer new concessions to Labour when talks restart on Tuesday, including a temporary customs union with the EU until a national election due in June 2022.

“At that point Labour could use their manifesto to argue for a softer Brexit if they wanted to and a new Conservative prime minister could argue for a harder Brexit,” a source cited by the Sunday Times said.

Labour’s Corbyn has made a permanent customs union with the EU a condition for supporting May’s Brexit plans, while most Conservatives oppose a customs union as it would stop Britain from reaching its own trade deals with other countries.

JEOPARDISED

The report on the terms of a possible compromise angered Corbyn’s senior ally John McDonnell, who oversees the party’s finance policy and has been involved in the Brexit talks.

Asked if he trusted May, McDonnell said: “No, sorry. Not after this weekend when she’s blown the confidentiality... I actually think she’s jeopardised the negotiations for her own personal protection.”

Nevertheless, McDonnell said talks would continue this week and if a deal could still be struck, it must be concluded quickly.

Even then, the parliamentary approval - required by law - is not straightforward.

A customs union would upset the most pro-Brexit members of the Conservative Party who say it does not honour the terms of the country’s 2016 vote to leave the EU.

Eurosceptic lawmaker John Redwood tweeted on Sunday that a cross-party agreement that amounted to staying in the bloc was “the last thing we need.”

On the other side of the Brexit divide, the Observer newspaper reported that scores of Labour lawmakers had written to May and Corbyn to insist on a second Brexit referendum on any deal agreed.

Veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, whose new Brexit Party is predicted to make big gains in European Parliament elections this month, said a Conservative-Labour Brexit deal on a customs union would be “a coalition of politicians against the people.”

A temporary customs union would also be likely to raise EU concerns that it could lead to customs checks on the border between euro zone member Ireland and the UK province of Northern Ireland if it later breaks down - something Ireland objects to strongly.