George Galloway targets Angela Rayner’s seat after he is sworn in as MP

Workers party leader says there are many places where it can win or ‘make sure that Keir Starmer doesn’t’

George Galloway has said he will target more seats in the next general election including the deputy Labour leader’s after his swearing-in at Westminster following last week’s Rochdale byelection victory.

Speaking outside parliament, Galloway singled out Angela Rayner’s constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, where she is defending a majority of 4,263, as an example of where his Workers Party of Britain, or a candidate backed by it, could cause havoc for her chances of re-election.

Continue reading...

Sunak suffers defeats in House of Lords over Rwanda bill – as it happened

Prime minister suffers defeats in House of Lords over Rwanda bill. This live blog is closed

There will be one urgent question in the Commons today at 3.30pm, on the Home Office’s decision to publish 13 reports from the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration last week on Thursday afternoon.

The former minister Paul Scully has announced he will stand down at the next election in a statement suggesting the Conservative party has “lost its way” and is heading down “an ideological cul-de-sac”.

Continue reading...

Three female MPs given bodyguards after concerns over safety

Politicians from Conservative and Labour parties get close protection and chauffeur-driven vehicles

Three female MPs have been given bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars after concerns about their safety, it was reported. Representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties had their security upgraded after a risk assessment, according to the Sunday Times.

The MPs, who have not been named, have been given close protection by private companies and chauffeur-driven vehicles. “Many MPs are petrified by the abuse they are facing,” a senior security source told the newspaper.

Continue reading...

Tory and SNP anger as speaker allows Labour’s amendment on Gaza ceasefire vote – UK politics live

Move will help Keir Starmer head off threatened rebellion from his MPs

New 20mph limits are helping cut speeds and will save lives, the Welsh government has insisted. PA Media says:

Drivers are travelling on average 4mph slower on main roads in Wales since the rollout of a new lower speed limit for built-up areas, data collected by Transport for Wales (TfW) shows.

The Welsh Labour government, which implemented the change in September last year, insists the lower speeds will lead to fewer collisions and people injured.

Continue reading...

Tories and SNP furious as speaker hands Starmer a boost over Gaza vote

Lindsay Hoyle gives Labour leader greater chance of avoiding rebellion over calls for ceasefire by allowing amendment

The Commons speaker has given Keir Starmer’s hopes of avoiding a major rebellion over Gaza a big boost by allowing the Labour leader to hold a vote on his preferred solution to the Middle East crisis.

Dozens of Labour MPs were preparing to vote on Wednesday for a Scottish National party motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the second time in three months.

Continue reading...

Tories may face Blackpool byelection as Scott Benton loses suspension appeal

MP for Blackpool South, who offered to lobby for gambling industry, loses appeal against 35-day Commons suspension

Rishi Sunak may face another difficult byelection after an MP lost his appeal against a 35-day suspension from parliament for lobbying ministers on behalf of the gambling industry.

Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, formerly a Conservative, had asked for a reconsideration of the standards committee verdict that he had committed an “extremely serious breach of the rules”.

Continue reading...

Wes Streeting says Labour would reform NHS dentists’ contract within days of taking office – UK politics live

Shadow health secretary says much of Tory NHS dental plans ‘lifted from what Labour has announced’

During her media round this morning Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, faced awkward questions about funding for NHS dentistry.

In an interview on BBC Breakfast, she repeatedly refused to confirm that the budget for NHS dentistry has fallen over the past decade.

Seeing a minister duck and dive on the reality of dental funding cuts will be hard to swallow for millions who have been left waiting for so long under this government.

The reality is they’ve left our dental services to rot and now think they can rebuild it with a handful of toothpicks.

Continue reading...

Betty Boothroyd planned to criticise PMs for abusing patronage powers

Draft of former speaker’s final speech said prime ministers should not give peerages to friends or people with ‘fat bank accounts’

Betty Boothroyd wanted to use her valedictory speech in the House of Lords to criticise prime ministers for giving too many peerages to friends and those with “fat bank accounts” who had bankrolled the party in power.

The former speaker of the House of Commons planned her final speech, in which she also said there was no longer a place for hereditary peers, but was too ill to deliver it.

Continue reading...

‘This is getting silly’: senior Tories criticise Simon Clarke after he calls for Sunak’s resignation – UK politics live

Clarke, a Truss ally, says Tory party should ditch PM ahead of general election

In posts on X, Beth Rigby, the Sky News political editor, says that even though Tory MPs are not supporting Simon Clarke in public, in private the mood is febrile.

We reported ‘several’ no confidence letters in after Rwanda vote @SimonClarkeMP 2nd MP to publicly call for PM to go in order to ‘avoid election massacre’ He’s been rebuked by Fox, Patel, Davis. But Tory source tells me Clarke only saying “what everyone knows but won’t say out loud” & says scores of MPs privately agree 1/

But no sense to this picking up momentum. Sources say Clarke took decision alone cos he wants “to be honest & open about talks which been in private for months”. Another MP tells me says this being driven by handful of MPs in ‘five families grouping’ and it’s an “operation like one of those farmyard vehicles, which just spends time spreading muck everywhere…” 2/

But amongst MPs in marginal seats, am told there’s lots of ‘chatter’ & circulation of Franklin piece on @ConHome

Senior MP on right tells me 2 by-elex Feb 15 could be a ‘watershed moment’: “If we get slaughtered, the herd might well panic” > it’s very febrile

To insist that Sunak remains in place means assuming one of two things: firstly, that his basic political strategy is commensurate with the challenges facing us a party; or, secondly, that he can successfully execute a change of direction. If, in either respect, that is what you do believe then I’d love to see your evidence; but if you don’t, then what possible reason could there be for sticking with Sunak?

Well, there is one justification. It rests upon the fatalistic assumption that it’s too late to avoid defeat: changing strategies won’t work, nor will changing leaders. We’re therefore better off having the next leadership contest — and a fundamental rethink — in opposition.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak warns of further Yemen airstrikes if Houthi attacks continue

PM rejects calls from MPs for Commons vote over military action as pressure grows to clarify long-term strategy on Red Sea crisis

Rishi Sunak has warned there could be further bombing of Yemen if Houthi attacks on shipping continue, as he came under mounting pressure from MPs to clarify Britain’s long-term strategy for tackling the deepening crisis.

The prime minister told parliament that a second round of RAF airstrikes, conducted on Monday night with the US, were taken in self-defence and rejected calls for MPs to be allowed a vote on whether to endorse the military action.

Continue reading...

Labour pushes bill to tackle persistent school absenteeism

Opposition day motion seeks to create a council-maintained register of children in England not on the school roll

Labour is planning to use an opposition day debate motion to bring forward legislation for a new register of children who are not in school as part of plans to tackle persistent absenteeism.

New Labour analysis found that “one in three children currently sitting their GCSEs have missed nearly three months of secondary school since the pandemic” and said this was likely to affect academic attainment.

Continue reading...

Alok Sharma condemns government’s oil and gas bill as vote passes first hurdle

Former Cop26 president abstains from vote saying bill breaks UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels

Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill going through the Commons will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead will break the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.

The government’s offshore petroleum licensing bill passed its second reading on Monday night with 293 votes to 211 against. No Conservative MPs voted against it, and Sharma – the former business secretary who served as president of the Cop26 climate talks – abstained. The legislation would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill passes third reading in Commons

Flagship policy passes committee stage after tense lead-up in which Tory divisions came to the fore

Rishi Sunak has survived a damaging row over his flagship Rwanda bill after a Conservative rebellion melted away and dozens of rightwing MPs balked at further undermining the prime minister’s authority.

After a crucial 11th hour meeting of more than 45 Tory rebels, the group’s leaders concluded that defeating the bill by voting alongside Labour during an election year could risk collapsing the government.

Continue reading...

Rwanda bill vote: Tory rebels have not shown amendments are legally robust, No 10 says – live

Sunak’s press secretary says Downing Street not shown legal basis for rebel amendments, despite this being offered and asked for

Rishi Sunak starts with the usual spiel about his engagements, and how he has got meetings with colleagues.

Rishi Sunak is taking PMQs in 10 minutes.

Continue reading...

Rwanda president: efforts to implement asylum plan cannot ‘drag on’

Paul Kagame also says he would be happy for the scheme to be scrapped

Rwanda’s president has said there are limits to how long attempts to implement an asylum deal with Britain can “drag on”, indicating he would be happy for the scheme to be scrapped.

Paul Kagame’s comments on Wednesday came before Rishi Sunak faced a potentially leadership-ending rebellion by Conservative MPs threatening to vote down his Rwanda deportation bill on Wednesday night.

Continue reading...

Wednesday briefing: The days that could decide how Rishi Sunak is remembered

In today’s newsletter: The controversial Rwanda bill is back in the Commons – what happens next could shape the party’s future

Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. It’s been another miserable week for Rishi Sunak, and it’s only Wednesday. The fulcrum of his despair is today’s vote on the third reading of the government’s Rwanda deportation bill, which is meant to be a populist, lawyer-thwarting solution to the nightmare of the government’s policy on Channel crossings – but has come under serious threat from exactly the hardliners it was supposed to appease.

Yesterday, two Conservative deputy chairs, Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, resigned from their jobs in order to vote for amendments to the bill alongside 58 of their peers. The government still looks likely to prevail later in the key vote today – but the row has dragged the Conservative party’s current self-loathing into the open once again. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Spectator’s political editor, Katy Balls, about the latest iteration of the Tory identity crisis, and what it tells us about the fight for the party’s future. Here are the headlines.

Post Office | Fujitsu, the technology company that built the flawed Horizon IT system at the heart of the Post Office scandal, has admitted for the first time that it should contribute to financial redress for victims. Fujitsu’s European boss, Paul Patterson, said there was a “moral obligation for the company to contribute”.

Iran | Iran has launched airstrikes on Pakistan territory, apparently aimed at a Sunni militant group, in the latest sign of a wave of violence rolling across the Middle East and beyond. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said two children were killed, and summoned Tehran’s senior diplomat in Islamabad to protest against the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”.

France | Emmanuel Macron wants to regulate French children’s screen time, test compulsory school uniform, and is not against all primary schoolchildren having to learn the national anthem, he has told a press conference. Macron’s promise of a “common sense” France comes as he tries to limit the potential gains of the far right in upcoming European elections.

Austria | Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who raped and incarcerated his daughter in a purpose-built prison beneath his home for 24 years, is applying for release from jail, according to his lawyer. Fritzl, 88, could be moved to a nursing home if his appeal is successful.

Guinness World Records | Bobi the Portuguese mastiff, who had comfortably clinched the title of the oldest dog ever when he died in October at the apparent age of 31, is having the distinction reviewed after doubts were raised about his lifespan. Pictures purportedly of the same dog in 1999 appear to show him with different-coloured paws.

Continue reading...

Top judge says it is not for government to decide if judges available for Rwanda asylum appeals – UK politics live

Lady Carr, most senior judge in England and Wales, says she will decide if judges are allocated to asylum appeals hearings in apparent rebuke to No 10

More than 60 Tory MPs have signed at least one of the various rebel amendments to the Rwanda bill tabled by hardliners. But very few of them have said publicly that, if the amendments are not passed, they will definitely vote against the bill at third reading. Suella Braverman and Miriam Cates are among the diehards in this category. But Simon Clarke, in his ConservativeHome, only says, that, if the bill is not changed, he will not vote for the bill at third reading, implying he would abstain.

In an interview with Sky News, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister who has tabled the rebel amendments attracting most support, said he was “prepared” to vote against the bill at third reading. He said:

I am prepared to vote against the bill … because this bill doesn’t work, and I do believe that a better bill is possible.

So the government has a choice. It can either accept my amendments … or it can bring back a new and improved bill, and it could do that within a matter of days because we know the shape of that bill.

Continue reading...

Tories on edge of precipice as Sunak grapples with Rwanda bill rebellion

PM will recall how Tory anger toppled May, Johnson and Truss as he seeks solution to party fractures

Rishi Sunak was the most junior of ministers when Theresa May faced her worst Brexit ructions, but as he battles Commons votes, endless amendments and mutinous Conservative factions, the prime minister might have some retrospective sympathy for his predecessor-but-two.

The parallels do not end there. With Brexit largely viewed as completed, Sunak’s Rwanda deportation bill has become emblematic of what many Tory MPs see as the party’s main ideological battleground: migration, and most specifically, small boats.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak says UK acted in ‘self-defence’ with Yemen airstrikes

PM defends lawfulness of military action against Houthis as MPs call for parliamentary scrutiny

The prime minister has said the UK acted in “self-defence” with military strikes in Yemen intended to “de-escalate tensions and restore stability to the region”, as he faced calls for greater parliamentary scrutiny.

Speaking from Ukraine, Rishi Sunak said that in the face of this aggression “we will always stand up for the rule of law” after a series of attacks by Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.

Continue reading...

Yemen strikes: Commons speaker calls for MPs to be urgently updated

Lindsay Hoyle says he will recall parliament if necessary as minister says no immediate plans for more attacks

The Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has called for MPs to be updated on military strikes in Yemen “at the earliest possible opportunity”, saying he would recall parliament before Monday if needed for this to happen.

In a statement released by his office following UK involvement in attacks against Houthi forces, Hoyle said: “I was invited to a meeting at the Cabinet Office last night to be briefed about the airstrikes on Houthi rebel bases. I made representations to the deputy prime minister [Oliver Dowden] about the need for the house to be informed at the earliest possible opportunity and that I would be happy to facilitate a recall at any time.”

Continue reading...