Khan dismisses Sunak’s attack on his housebuilding record in London as ‘desperate nonsense’ – UK politics live

Mayor of London hits back at prime minister over ‘pathetic gesture politics’

Rishi Sunak has failed to give his full backing to Sir Howard Davies, chairman of NatWest, in interviews this morning, PA Media reports.

PA says that Sunak did not back calls for the resignation of Davies in a pooled interview this morning – but also that Sunak would not say whether he had confidence in him.

What I said right at the start of this was that it wasn’t right for people to be deprived of basic services because of banking, because of their views.

This isn’t about any one individual, it’s about values – do you believe in free speech and not to be discriminated against because of your legally held views?

As a result of this policy, a dozen classrooms of children, including some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children in the world, have gone missing and, sickeningly for us, 50 children are still missing from the hotel used in Brighton and Hove.

Importantly the high court also makes clear that the home secretary already has the power to require local authorities across the country to take children into foster care via a statutory rota system called the national transfer scheme.

Continue reading...

Sunak’s tweet associating Labour with ‘criminal gangs’ labelled ‘desperate and pathetic’ by shadow cabinet minister – UK politics live

Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham and shadow environment secretary, criticises prime minister for tweet about Labour and immigration law firms

Michael Gove has been accused of showing how “disjointed” the government’s net zero strategy is by Greenpeace UK.

In a statement released after Gove’s media interview round this morning, in which the levelling up secretary appeared to firm up the government’s commitment to at least one green target, while signalling that others might be relaxed (see 10.04am), Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s director of policy, said:

Michael Gove has demonstrated how disjointed the government’s new strategy is. If ministers genuinely want to help lower costs for households, they should be doing everything in their power to switch our homes, energy and transport systems away from expensive, climate-wrecking fossil fuels and run them instead on clean technology and cheap renewables.

Mr Gove is right to reaffirm the government’s commitment to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 – and Sunak should now do the same, whilst making the transition as easy as possible for people with extensive charging infrastructure and the promised mandate on manufacturers. But allowing more oil and gas drilling, delaying the phase-out of gas boilers and giving landlords longer to insulate the homes of renters will only keep bills high and continue to fan the flames of climate change.

The leaders discussed recent developments on the battlefield and the continued progress by Ukrainian forces despite the challenging conditions. The prime minister added that he was appalled by the devastation caused by recent Russian attacks on Odesa.

Discussing the Black Sea grain initiative, the leaders agreed on the importance of ensuring grain was able to be exported from Ukraine to reach international markets. The prime minister said the UK was working closely with Turkey on restoring the grain deal, and we would continue to use our role as chair of the UN security council to further condemn Russia’s behaviour.

Continue reading...

Tunisia says it will not be ‘reception centre’ for returning migrants

North African country, which agreed €1bn deal with EU to stem irregular migration, says it will take back only Tunisians

Tunisia has said it will not be a “reception centre” for returns of sub-Saharan migrants from Italy or any other country in Europe despite a groundbreaking €1bn deal signed on Sunday.

Authorities in the north African country are determined not to enter a contract similar to that which the UK has with Rwanda and will take back only Tunisians who have made irregular entry to the EU.

Continue reading...

EU signs off €1bn deal with Tunisia to help stem irregular migration

Ursula von der Leyen hails deal as an investment in shared prosperity and stability

The EU has signed off on a €1bn (£860m) deal with Tunisia to help stem irregular migration, as the president of the north African country denounced those who offer migrants “sympathy without respect” for their goal to have equity in life.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, hailed the deal with Tunisia, including significant measures to stem deadly irregular migration across the mediterranean, as an investment in shared prosperity and stability.

Continue reading...

Libyan border guards rescue migrants left in desert near Tunisia

Group numbering at least 80 discovered in uninhabited region reportedly without water, food or shelter

Libyan border guards have rescued dozens of migrants they said had been left in the desert by Tunisian authorities without water, food or shelter.

Hundreds of people from sub-Saharan African countries were forcibly taken to desert and hostile areas bordering Libya and Algeria after racial unrest in early July in Sfax, Tunisia’s second largest city.

Continue reading...

EU to give Tunisia €1bn to fight trafficking and prop up ailing economy

Von der Leyen to return with Italian and Dutch PMs despite warnings over ‘breakdown’ of democracy under Saied

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is to return to Tunisia on Sunday with the prime ministers of Italy and the Netherlands to sign off the details of a €1bn deal aimed at combating people smuggling and supporting the country’s collapsing economy.

Sources have confirmed they are expecting to sign off on a memorandum of understanding only days after a group of politicians in the European parliament warned that Tunisia should not be handed a deal on a “silver plate” amid fears of a “breakdown” of democracy in the country.

Continue reading...

Giant sloth pendants indicate humans settled Americas much earlier than thought

Scientists studied jewelry made from now extinct creatures and theorize that humans arrived in Americas 27,000 years ago

New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought.

Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship.

Continue reading...

Canary Islands coastguard rescues two men balanced on ship’s rudder

Nigerian stowaways survived for at least a week under ship that voyaged from Lagos via Lomé, Togo

The Spanish coastguard rescued two Nigerian men who survived for at least a week balancing on the rudder of a ship as it sailed from the west African country of Togo to the Canary Islands.

The two men were rescued on Monday night in the port of Las Palmas, and taken to a hospital for medical checks. They were later released and were transferred back to the ship, which will return them to their port of origin, the port police tweeted.

Continue reading...

Housing asylum seekers on barge may only save £10 a person daily, report says

NGOs behind report suggest minimal savings for Home Office if Bibby Stockholm barge used in place of £5.6m-a-day hotels

Controversial plans to house asylum seekers on a barge to reduce reliance on expensive hotels will save less than £10 a person a day, according to a report.

The report, Bibby Stockholm – At What Cost? from the NGOs Reclaim The Seas and One Life To Live, provides the first detailed estimated costings of the Bibby Stockholm, the barge the Home Office is planning to use in Dorset to accommodate asylum seekers.

Continue reading...

Tory rebels offered concessions on anti-asylum legislation

Fearing defeats, government expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women arriving on small boats

Ministers are offering rebel Conservative MPs concessions on key anti-asylum legislation amid growing concern it could face defeats in the Commons.

The government is expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women who arrive in the UK by small boats and drop some of the retrospective applications of the illegal migration bill’s measures, the Guardian understands.

Continue reading...

Greek shipwreck: hi-tech investigation suggests coastguard responsible for sinking

Research into loss of trawler with hundreds of deaths strongly contradicts official accounts – while finding a failure to mobilise help and evidence that survivor statements were tampered with

Attempts by the Greek coastguard to tow a fishing trawler carrying hundreds of migrants may have caused the vessel to sink, according to a new investigation by the Guardian and media partners that has raised further questions about the incident, which left an estimated 500 people missing

The trawler carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the coast of Greece on 14 June. There were 104 survivors.

Continue reading...

Spanish police arrest 15 after long investigation into alleged people-smuggling gang

Operation allegedly involved moving people from Syria to Spain on a circuitous route via Sudan and north Africa

Spanish police have broken up what they say is an organised criminal gang involved in a highly unusual people-smuggling operation involving the moving of migrants from Syria to Spain on an 8,000km trip via Sudan.

A year-long investigation, which was coordinated by Europol and involved dozens of police officers from France, Norway and Germany, uncovered a network of alleged people-smuggling cells across north Africa and northern Europe as well as the main nerve centre of the gang in southern Spain.

Continue reading...

Ministers urged to shelve illegal migration bill until supreme court ruling after 11 defeats in Lords – UK politics live

Purpose of the bill is now ‘dead’, says crossbench peer Alex Carlile after yesterday’s vote in House of Lords

Rishi Sunak has posted a message on Twitter saying that he looks forward to continuing working with Jens Stoltenberg, who has had his term as Nato’s secretary general extended.

According to the Sun’s Harry Cole, at cabinet Sunak praised Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, as the only other credible candidate for the job who was not a former prime minister. Stoltenberg is a former Norwegian PM.

Continue reading...

Defeats for small boats bill in the Lords as Channel crossings set new record

Peers voted against government-proposed measures on detention and deportation of asylum seekers

The government’s small boats bill has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords, as Channel crossings in June by people seeking asylum set a new record.

Peers voted on Monday to limit the time that children and pregnant women who claim asylum after arriving by irregular means can be detained, and backed preventing LGBTQ+ people from being deported to a country where they would have a well-founded fear of persecution.

Continue reading...

Greek shipwreck does little to dissuade Pakistanis leaving for Europe

Officials in Punjab say they can’t to stop the exodus, as families tell of loved ones lost on the perilous route via Africa and the Mediterranean

In one of the busiest hubs for trafficking in Pakistan, would-be migrants are continuing to leave for Europe despite hundreds of people drowning after a trawler sank off the Greek coast last month, the Guardian has found.

In the past week, at least two more people from the district of Mandi Bahauddin, in eastern Pakistan, have left with the help of traffickers. The continued migration comes as families mourn loved ones believed to be on the Greek shipwreck, most of whose passengers were from Pakistan, and those missing after previous forlorn attempts to reach Europe.

Continue reading...

German travel agency criticized for tour of Panama’s deadly jungle migrant zone

Travel startup says it doesn’t ‘holiday where people suffer’ but offers trek in Darién Gap known for dangerous migration routes

“We go where no one goes,” is Wandermut’s tagline, but one of the German tour agency’s packages has left people asking whether some places are better left unexplored.

The travel startup’s 10-day Panama Jungle Tour has been criticised across Latin America in recent weeks for offering tour packages in a region which is home to one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.

Continue reading...

EU looks to Egypt partnership to tackle people-smuggling networks

Leaders already exploring plans with other African nations to tackle root causes of migration-related deaths

The EU may seek a new wide-ranging partnership with Egypt including measures to stem irregular migration and break criminal people-smuggling networks.

EU leaders are already exploring plans beyond a looming €1bn (£860m) deal with Tunisia to other countries in Africa as part of a wider bid to tackle the root causes of migration-related deaths and disappearances.

Continue reading...

PMQs: Rishi Sunak faces questions from Keir Starmer over house building targets and mortgage support – UK politics live

Labour leader presses prime minister to admit his party will not meet promised targets over house building

PMQs is coming up soon.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

We remain seriously concerned about the potential implications of the illegal migration bill on human rights and the safety of individuals.

Careful consideration should continue to be given to the impact of the bill on different groups with protected characteristics – including children, pregnant women, disabled people, torture survivors, and victims of trafficking.

Continue reading...

EU accused of whitewashing Tunisian regime in bid to stem migration

Bloc is set to give country £860m despite rapid erosion of democracy since President Kais Saied took power in 2021

The children of prominent jailed Tunisian judges and politicians have accused the European Union of betraying its values by whitewashing the regime of President Kais Saied in the vain hope that he can stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

The EU is set to provide Tunisia with €1bn (£860m) in aid despite the obliteration of democracy in the country over the past two years.

Continue reading...

UK urged to speed evacuation of hundreds of British children in Sudan

Merseyside charity worker whose children are stuck in Khartoum says Foreign Office delays have trapped many in conflict zone

A British charity worker has called on the government to help evacuate his children from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, stressing that hundreds of people with the right to reside in the UK remain stuck in the conflict zone.

Alhussein Ahmed, 32, who works for the Merseyside Refugee Support Network in Liverpool, is concerned that the Foreign Office should be doing more to assist hundreds of people who have UK residency rights who remain stuck in Sudan.

Continue reading...