Home secretary to announce big hike in salary requirement for migrants to the UK as Rishi Sunak tries to cut net migration figures
Hunt says the government wants to speed up the time it takes to get a connection to the national grid by 90%.
Zanny Minton Beddoes, the editor of the Economist, is interviewing Hunt. She says he has mentioned the 110 policies, but she wants to know what the growth strategy is.
Continue reading...Countries at loggerheads over access to fishing grounds in north Atlantic since Brexit referendum in 2016
Irish fisheries leaders have warned of fresh conflicts with Scotland over fishing rights around the north Atlantic islet of Rockall as evidence emerged about the roots of the long-running sovereignty dispute.
Scotland and Ireland have been at loggerheads over access to fishing grounds within 12 nautical miles of Rockall since the Brexit referendum in 2016, which signalled an end to the UK’s membership of the common fisheries policy.
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Hancock is now deploying the defence previewed in the Observer on Sunday. (See 9.58am.)
He says from the middle of January the DHSC was “trying to effectively raise the alarm”. He says:
We were trying to wake up Whitehall to the scale of the problem and this wasn’t a problem that couldn’t be addressed only from the health department. Non-pharmaceutical interventions cannot be put in place by a health department. A health department can’t shut schools. It should have been grasped and led from the centre of government earlier. And you’ve seen evidence that repeatedly the department and I tried to make this happen.
And we were on occasions blocked, and at other times our concerns were not taken as seriously as they should have been until the very end of February.
Continue reading...Net migration to the UK in 2023 is estimated at 672,000, and the PM says a more ‘sustainable’ level is needed. This live blog is closed
When Nigel Farage was leading the Brexit party, it was considerably influential for a party with no MPs, winning the European elections in 2019 and helping to push the Conservative party into a harder position on Brexit. After the 2019 election it was renamed Reform UK, Richard Tice took over as leader and it became much more marginal. But in an interview on the Today programme this morning Tice claimed that the government’s failure to bring down immigration was presenting it with an opportunity. He told the programme:
The British people voted to control immigration, and the government have betrayed the people’s promises. And that’s why so many thousands of people, former Tory members, are joining us. Our polling numbers – we got record polling last week, four different polls where we’re in double figures. This week, we’ve had Tory donors joining us. Frankly, I fully expect Tory MPs who are furious and angry with the government to be calling me next week.
[Cleverly] has made the point that he says that it was not aimed at a particular place. Knowing James well, he’s not the sort of person, in my opinion, who would have made that kind of remark in that kind of context.
But he has accepted that this was certainly unparliamentary language and he has rightly apologised.
Continue reading...Questions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about funding for devolved governments
The Scottish government has accused the chancellor of “letting Scotland down on every count” after he unveiled a modest £545m increase in Treasury funding, and extra funds for Wales and Northern Ireland.
Jeremy Hunt announced an overall boost of £1bn for the UK’s three devolved governments, with Wales in line to receive an extra £305m and Northern Ireland £185m over the next two financial years, alongside £545m for Scotland.
Continue reading...SNP’s Michael Matheson, health secretary of Scotland, apologises after initially charging bill to Holyrood
Michael Matheson, Scotland’s embattled health secretary, has apologised “unreservedly” after admitting he failed to properly disclose that his sons had largely run up an £11,000 iPad bill which he had initially charged in full to taxpayers.
In a personal statement to MSPs on Thursday, Matheson said he had referred himself for possible investigation by parliament for breaching its code of conduct, as he fought against mounting calls to resign from opposition leaders.
Continue reading...Downing Street says legislation will make clear ‘Rwanda is safe’ and will address court’s concerns after policy ruled unlawful. This live blog is closed
At his Institute for Government Q&A Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, refused to say what he felt about Lee Anderson, the Conservative party deputy chair, declaring yesterday that ministers should just ignore the supreme court judgment saying the Rwanda police was unlawful. Asked to respond, Rowley just said:
Politicians hold me to account, I don’t hold them to account.
Starmer travelled north of the border just hours after a revolt within his party over a ceasefire in Gaza resulted in the resignation of eight of his frontbenchers.
The Labour leader highlighted what he described as the “failure” of the UK government to negotiate a trade deal with India, a key exporter for Scotch whisky.
Continue reading...Gordon Brown’s Our Scottish Future says reforms and investment hampered by focus on referendums
Scotland’s devolved government has been beset by poor decision-making for the past decade because of an obsession with constitutional disputes, a thinktank says.
The report, by Gordon Brown’s Our Scottish Future thinktank, which has close ties to Labour, says much-needed reforms to public services and economic investment have been hampered by short-term decision-making and an unrelenting focus on referendums and elections.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser denies contributing to an atmosphere of misogyny at No 10, saying he was ‘much ruder about men’
Heather Hallett, the chair, intervenes at this point. She asks Cain if he is defending the 10-day gap. She says she finds that curious if he is.
Cain says locking down the country is a huge, huge undertaking. In government terms, that is government acting at speed. But it was “longer than you would hope”, he says.
Do I understand from what you said earlier that you would defend the 10-day gap between the decision taken that there had to be a national lockdown and actually implementing that decision? Because I find that curious.
As I said, I think it is longer than you would like, but I think it’s important just to emphasise the amount of things that had to be done and the amount of people we had to take with us to deliver a nationwide lockdown.
It’s a huge, huge undertaking and to be honest, from my understanding of government, that is government moving at a tremendous speed – which maybe says more about government than other things.
Continue reading...Scottish first minister expresses relief after communications were cut off during Israeli bombardment
Scotland’s first minister has expressed relief after discovering his parents-in-law in Gaza are alive, although they have run out of clean drinking water.
Humza Yousaf said the welcome news had come through on Sunday morning, hours after describing his worries about whether they were alive or dead following the imposition by Israel of a communication blackout in Gaza on Friday.
Continue reading...Letter from Labour leader stresses his concern for international law and sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people
Rishi Sunak will be taking PMQs shortly. It will be his first exchange with Keir Starmer since the party conferences.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.
There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us. The objects have started to be recovered … We have changed our whistleblowing code, changed our policy on thefts … tightened up security on thefts.
If someone is entrusted by an organisation to look after something and they are the person removing those objects, that is hard for any organisation, and it was hard for the museum, where there is a trusting culture.
If that trust is completely abused and as I think will become clear in the coming months quite a lot of steps were taken to conceal that, it wasn’t just that things were taken, records were altered and the like, it’s hard to spot.
We are intending to put on display the objects we have recovered, there is a lot of public interest in these objects.
350 have now been recovered and titles have been transferred to us so we have the makings of a good exhibition that was not previously planned.
Continue reading...Commons will vote on suspension recommended by independent expert panel after investigation
Peter Bone has issued a statement saying that the bullying and sexual misconduct claims about him made by a former employed, that have led to the IEP recommending a six-week suspension, are false and without foundation. He says the complainant did not raise them at the time and only submitted a complaint years after they had left.
As I have maintained throughout these proceedings, none of the misconduct allegations against me ever took place. They are false and untrue claims. They are without foundation.
The allegations by an ex-employee refer to events of more than 10 years ago that spanned no more than a few months. The complainant first made the allegations years after they left my employment. They did not raise them at any time during their employment, either in writing or verbally with me, nor with their line managers …
I am also firmly of the opinion that on this occasion the independent complaints and grievance scheme investigation was flawed, procedurally unfair and didn’t comply with its own rules and regulations. It is my belief that they have operated outside of the powers given to them by parliament and I am currently discussing with lawyers what action could and should be taken.
The commissioner found the following allegations proved:
Allegation 1: Mr Bone “verbally belittled, ridiculed, abused and humiliated” the complainant, and this was bullying.
Continue reading...Party leader adopts amendment that a majority of Westminster seats are needed to have mandate to negotiate
Humza Yousaf has quelled a rebellion by Scottish National party MPs by agreeing to a compromise with his critics over his independence strategy.
The party’s annual conference in Aberdeen decided that if the SNP wins a majority of Scotland’s Westminster seats at the general election, it will have the mandate to negotiate independence with the UK government.
Continue reading...Cameron says she was threatened with being ‘bricked’ in the street after joining Conservatives on Thursday
Lisa Cameron, the SNP MP who defected to the Conservative party on Thursday, said she and her family have been forced to go into hiding in Scotland after she was threatened with being “bricked” in the street.
Cameron, her husband and their two daughters have moved to a secret location in the Scottish countryside after the MP was emailed threats of violence, including “I hope someone throws a brick at you in the street”, “I hope you burn” and “Think your mental health is bad now – wail til you see what abuse and nastiness yer [sic] going to have to put up with”.
Continue reading...Yousaf renews calls for UK government to urge ceasefire as he describes his family’s fears for trapped relatives
His mother-in-law in besieged Gaza is running out of drinking water. His brother-in-law, a doctor, is dealing with the horror of trying to identify body parts in a hospital nearby. And his four-year-old daughter, at home in Scotland, can only understand that “granny is afraid of the thunder”.
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has described in brutal detail the impact on trapped family members of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in response to the shock attacks by Hamas at the weekend.
Continue reading...Humza Yousaf says Lisa Cameron’s move was ‘the least surprising news I’ve had as leader of the SNP’
NHS waiting lists have hit a new record high, with more people facing long waits, PA Media reports. PA says:
Figures for the NHS in England show 7.75 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of August, up from 7.68 million in July.
This is the highest number since records began in August 2007 and comes despite Rishi Sunak saying cutting waiting lists is one of his priorities.
Continue reading...Scottish first minister says he has made contact with his wife’s parents who are trapped in besieged enclave after Hamas attack
Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has called on the UK foreign secretary to push for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Gaza.
Yousaf revealed on Monday that his wife Nadia’s parents, who live in Dundee, are trapped in Gaza and struggling to find safe passage.
Continue reading...Shadow health secretary questioned by Guardian editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner
Q: You oppose the Rwanda policy because you don’t think it will work. If the supreme court rules it is legal, and deportations start and it is seen to be working, would you still reverse it.
Yes, says Starmer. He says it is the wrong policy. It is very expensive, and it only affect only a small number of people. And the policy does not deal with the problem at source.
Continue reading...A decade of SNP dominance will be swept away in Scotland if Labour can repeat its Rutherglen success at a general election
Thursday was a big day for Scottish Labour. Within minutes of the declaration that Labour had retaken Rutherglen and Hamilton West from the SNP, phones and social media lit up with triumphant messages from the winning party. And with good reason. This was the best result for Labour in a Scottish byelection since the second world war, and the worst for the SNP since the independence referendum upended Scottish politics.
Some caveats apply. This was one of the SNP’s most marginal seats, where Labour prevailed as recently as 2017. A cloud of scandal hung over a contest triggered after the sitting MP Margaret Ferrier was sanctioned for repeatedly breaking Covid rules. As Boris Johnson has learned, voters judge such behaviour harshly.
Continue reading...Party’s victory may point to a change in Scottish political alignments that spells danger for Humza Yousaf
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, had used the word “earthquake” last week to foreshadow Labour’s remarkable victory in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, where its winning margin of 30 percentage points exceeded even its predictions.
He did it cheekily, stealing one of the favourite lines often used by the former Scottish National party leader Alex Salmond when the nationalists were crushing Labour at repeated elections in the past. That theft of Salmond’s phrase has additional resonance. It points to a change in Scottish political alignments that spells danger for the SNP and its current leader, Humza Yousaf.
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