Home secretary will defy ‘plain wrong’ calls from unions and leftwing MPs that she is alienating Muslim voters
Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party’s byelection victory.
Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as “plain wrong” claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Contenders teed up for future contest, which MP says seems ‘to pre-empt results of investigation’
Moves to find a successor to Diane Abbott in the parliamentary seat she has represented since 1987 are under way, prompting concern that her fate has been decided before an investigation into her latest suspension has concluded.
Figures on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) have spoken to potential contenders, teeing them up for a future contest in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and giving them informal advice on how to prepare, according to a party source.
Continue reading...Treasury minister James Murray said Abbott’s claim that ‘this Labour leadership wants me out’ was ‘absolutely not the case’
Grant Shapps said he supported the publication of a defence assessment which formed the basis of the superinjunction over the Afghan data leak and he was “surprised” the gagging order had remained in place “so long”.
Asked whether he backed calls from the Intelligence and Security Committee for the report to be released, the former defence secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Yes I would.
Continue reading...No 10 has offered significant concessions to the rebels, estimated to cost around £3bn a year, amid fears over Tuesday’s vote
Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, was the government voice on the airwaves this morning. Here are the main points he made about the welfare bill U-turn.
Kinnock rejected claims that the U-turn was a sign of weakness. When it was put to him on the Today programme that this move, coming after the U-turns on winter fuel payments and a national inquiry into grooming gangs, showed that if Keir Starmer was pushed, he would give in, Kinnock replied:
I think if you talk to people out there in the country, they respond very positively to politicians listening, engaging, recognising that you don’t get everything right from day one every time, and making the adjustments and the changes that are needed.
And this prime minister will always put the country first. He puts country before party, and he does the right thing for the country.
He defended having a “staggered” approach to changing benefit rules. Asked about the Tory claim that the government was creating a “two-tier benefits system” (see 8.30am), he replied:
Whenever you bring forward change to a complex system, you always have to decide between do you make the change for everybody that’s in that system, in one big move, or do you do it in a more staggered way? What’s clear from the announcement today is that it’s going to be a more staggered process.
He declined to say how much the U-turn would cost. He told Times Radio:
The full details around what we are laying out, what I’ve summarised really today, is going to be laid out in parliament, and then the chancellor will set out the budget in the autumn the whole of the fiscal position and this will be an important part of that.
He said he was now confident that the UC and Pip bill will pass its second reading on Tuesday.
All of the MPs I’ve spoken to who signed the reasoned amendment – MPs from across the party, not just on the left – are sticking to their position because we understand that we are answerable to our constituents.
If the government doesn’t pull the bill, doesn’t consult properly with disabled people and come back to MPs with a serious proposal that protects the dignity of disabled people, I will vote against and I will be far from the only one.
Continue reading...Polling finds two-thirds of voters would back a rethink on the policy and would not see it as a sign of weakness
Downing Street has been accused of being “completely tone deaf” over the damage wreaked by winter fuel cuts as new polling suggested two-thirds of voters would back a rethink on the policy.
Senior Labour ministers have privately warned the policy is an electoral disaster while Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, said she was “losing patience” with UK Labour as she urged the government to think again.
Continue reading...Stephen Timms, social security and disability minister, says government is ‘fully supporting’ people who would always be unable to work
The Reform UK press conference is about to start. There is a live feed here.
Nigel Farage is going to announce that 29 councillors have defected to his party, according to the Guido Fawkes website.
Continue reading...Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and Wales
MPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.
Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Continue reading...Party took £5m after Rishi Sunak condemned businessman for saying Abbott made you ‘want to hate all black women’
Diane Abbott has said the Conservatives are “only paying lip service to fighting racism” after it emerged their controversial donor Frank Hester had given a further £5m to the party before the election.
The donation, made by his company the Phoenix Partnership, brings his total funding to the Tories to more than £20m, cementing his status as their single biggest donor.
Continue reading...Ministers will meet to address what home secretary calls an alarming rise in intimidation of politicians
An alarming rise in candidate intimidation during the UK’s general election campaign will be addressed next week at a meeting of ministers and civil servants, the home secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper said there had been “disgraceful scenes” in some areas in the run-up to the 4 July vote, as she announced she would chair a meeting of the defending democracy taskforce.
Continue reading...Parliament the most diverse by race and gender the country has ever seen, says Starmer, with the largest cohort of LGBT+ MPs in the world
Downing Street has released a full version of what Keir Starmer said in his opening remarks to the metro mayors at their meeting this morning. It is not on the No 10 website, so I will post it here.
Having this meeting four days after I was invited by the King to form a government is a real statement of intent on my part, on our part.
Because as we have said over and over again, economy and growth is the number one mission of this Labour government in 2024.
Continue reading...Comments at rally in east London follow Keir Starmer’s denial that the Hackney MP would be barred from standing in the election
Diane Abbott has promised to stay on as an MP for “as long as it is possible”, setting up a clash with Keir Starmer after a deal for her to retire from parliament broke down.
Abbott, the UK’s first female black MP, had been expected to make a “dignified exit” from parliament, after a near 40-year career, in an arrangement in which she was given back the Labour whip after an investigation into comments she made about racism.
Continue reading...Even those who are not natural allies are concerned about the cack-handed treatment of the veteran MP
The long and sorry saga of Diane Abbott leaving parliament, where she arrived as a trailblazer, has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many colleagues – even those who are far from her natural allies.
After almost 36 tortuous hours the UK’s first black female MP is in the Labour party but possibly out of parliament, and no one seemingly wants to own how these decisions came about.
Continue reading...Three activists with links to Hackney constituency widely talked about as possible replacements to stand for election
Labour could select one of three “credible” candidates to run in Diane Abbott’s seat as it seemed intent on not allowing Abbott to stand for the party despite an investigation into her conduct being completed six months ago.
Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, was suspended from the party in April last year over a letter in the Observer that seemed to play down suggestions of racism against Jewish people, meaning she was still an independent when parliament was prorogued for the general election on 4 July.
Continue reading...Tees Valley mayor hailed by PM after re-election says route to Tory electoral recovery is ‘getting narrower by the day’
Having seen a fuller version of what Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, said on BBC Radio Tees this morning, I have beefed up the post at 10.16am and changed the headline. Houchen did says Rishi Sunak ultimately had to take the blame for the state of “chaos” the Tory party is in.
Victoria Prentis, the attorney general, told the Commons that Britain continues to view its arms sales to Israel as legal a day after US president Joe Biden warned he would pause the delivery of bombs because they had been previously used to kill Palestinian civilians.
I can say that the foreign secretary has reviewed the most recent advice from the IHL cell, and that has informed his decision that there isn’t a clear risk that the items exported from the UK might be used to commit or to facilitate a serious violation of IHL. That leaves our position on export licences unchanged, but that position is kept under review.
Continue reading...Natalie Elphicke said she was defecting to Labour due to ‘broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government’
PMQs starts in just over 20 minutes, and today there will be particular interest in the mood on the Conservative benches. Rishi Sunak has actively embraced the theory that the local election results show Labour is not on course to win an overall majority, but this is based on a projection that has been widely dismissed as unrealistic.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
It’s an issue of humanity and I think you’ve got to show equivalence. I condemn unequivocally the actions of Hamas on Oct 7; those 134 hostages must be released. At the same time I condemn unequivocally the actions of the IDF and Netanyahu; 34,000 people have perished including 14,000 children.
It’s utterly wrong and an insult to those victims to equate the brutality of Hamas to the legitimate military measures that Israel is taking in defence of its people and nation.
Continue reading...Ministers condemn allegedly racist remarks and say they knew about them only after signing deal
The Jamaican government has joined widespread condemnation of comments by the Conservative’s party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, amid concerns about a contract it signed with his digital health company.
Earlier in March, the Guardian revealed that during a meeting in 2019 Hester had said Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”, remarks that are now subject of an investigation by West Yorkshire police.
Continue reading...Hackney MP tells large crowd ‘this is not about me, this is about the level of racism in Britain’
Diane Abbott greeted large crowds of people who gathered at a rally in support of her on Friday night, telling the crowd they had to “stand firm” against racism.
The rally was organised by local black women in Hackney after remarks emerged about the longstanding MP by Frank Hester, the Tories’ biggest donor, that were widely condemned as racist and misogynistic.
Continue reading...Tory donor has been widely condemned over racist and misogynistic comments about prominent black MP
It has been four days since the Guardian reported on the extraordinary remarks by the Tory donor Frank Hester about Diane Abott. They elicited widespread condemnation for being racist and misogynistic. Here are some of the key voices – and what they have said:
Diane Abbott MP
Continue reading...Deputy Labour leader says party must follow procedures but says she would personally like MP to have Labour whip restored. This live blog is closed
In his speech Keir Starmer has just confirmed that Labour would stop ticket touts buying up tickets for events and re-selling them at rip-off prices.
This is what Labour said about the plan in a news release this morning.
Reselling tickets for profit has already been banned in many countries, but under the Tories, fans have been let down.
Too often, genuine fans are missing out on getting tickets only to see those same tickets on secondary ticketing websites at far higher prices, making them unaffordable and putting them out of reach.
My first ever trip abroad was to Malta with the Croydon youth Philharmonic Orchestra. You will know that excitement you feel when you have an encounter with the arts that changes your life. Everyone in the room will know that the sense, I suppose, of being drawn into something that seems bigger than ourselves, of being truly moved by a piece of music, or painting, or a play …
Even now even now, listening to Beethoven or Brahms as I read the Sunday papers, takes the edge off some of the more uncomfortable stories.
Continue reading...Scottish Tory leader says all of Hester’s donations should be reviewed after racist and misogynistic comments
The Conservative party has been urged to decline or return a reported further £5m donation made by Frank Hester, whose remarks about Diane Abbott have been widely condemned as racist and misogynistic.
Rishi Sunak faces increasing pressure over the £10m previously given by the millionaire businessman, with Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, saying on Thursday that the donations should be looked at by the party.
Continue reading...