UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak returned home for an interview before attending the 80th anniversary commemoration of the Allied troops’ arrival in Normandy, France.
Domestically, his Conservative Party is trailing behind the Labour Party in the polls.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized on Friday for leaving D-Day anniversary commemorations in northern France early.
He left the Thursday event, held to commemorate the landing of Allied troops in German-occupied France 80 years ago, to conduct a television interview for his reelection campaign in the UK.
Sunak misses main D-Day ceremony Sunak returned home before he could attend a ceremony at Ohama Beach on the coast of the northwestern French region of Normandy.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden attended the event. King Charles III also traveled to France to participate in the commemorations.
“After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK,” Sunak said in a post on the platform X, formerly Twitter.
“On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer — and I apologize,” he said. “The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics.
“I care deeply about veterans and have been honored to represent the UK at a number of events in Portsmouthand France over the past two days and to meet those who fought so bravely,” he added.
Sunak was interviewed by Britain’s ITV news broadcaster. The program is due to air on Wednesday.
Opposition politicians criticize Sunak
Jonathan Ash, a member of Parliament for the main opposition Labour Party, accused Sunak of prioritizing “his own vanity TV appearances over our veterans.”
The head of the centrist Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, said Sunak had brought “shame” to the office of prime minister in a “total dereliction of duty” and had “let down” the UK.
Sunak has been serving as Britain’s prime minister since October 2022, after succeeding Liz Truss from the same party.
Polls indicate that the Conservative Party, which has been in power for 14 years and seen five different prime ministers, may face a loss in the general election on July 4.
After lots of talk about when there would be a new vote, Sunak, who is 44 years old, said outside his home at 10 Downing Street that he was calling the election earlier than some people thought he would. This is a risky move because his party is not doing well in the opinion polls.
Sunak is not doing well in the polls and doesn’t have much support within his party. He is relying on a small group of advisers to help him through the upcoming election.
However, he seems to have made up his mind that now is the right time to present his plans for a new term to voters, because the economy is doing well with inflation going down and the economy growing quickly.
The person who used to work in banking and finance became the prime minister just under two years ago. Since then, he has had a hard time figuring out what he believes in and is getting more and more frustrated because he thinks his accomplishments are not being recognized.
Both parties have started campaigning for an election. They are already attacking each other on the economy and defense.
Labour says the government has not managed the economy well for 14 years. This has made people’s lives worse, and businesses have not had the stability they need to grow.
Labour said they were prepared for an election before it was announced.
“We are prepared to go anytime the prime minister decides to have an election. ” We have a plan and we are ready for an election. We believe the country wants a general election, said Labour leader Starmer’s spokesperson.
The Pentagon said that on Monday, the attacks hit eight places, including a place where weapons are kept underground and a place where Houthi group’s missiles and surveillance equipment are kept.
The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have been attacking ships that they believe are connected to Israel and the West as they pass through the important Red Sea trade route.
The US and UK said they were trying to keep trade moving freely.
We want to reduce tensions and make the Red Sea calm again. But we want to tell the Houthi leaders that we will protect people and keep trade moving in the Red Sea. It’s an important waterway and we won’t ignore any threats.
The US has attacked Houthi targets in Yemen for the eighth time. This is the second time the UK and another country have worked together on a military operation, after they joined forces for strikes on 11 January.
The UK’s foreign secretary, Lord David Cameron, said that they have sent a strong message and will keep making it difficult for the Houthis to carry out attacks.
When asked if the attacks could make things worse in the Middle East, Lord Cameron said that it was the Houthis who were making things worse and he believed the previous attacks worked well.
He said the story the Houthis told about the attacks being connected to the war between Israel and Hamas should not be believed. The UK wants the fighting in Gaza to stop quickly.
Lord Cameron said the UK asked for a quick break from fighting to help people in need, and they hope it leads to a long-lasting and stable stop to the fighting. He said he will suggest a plan when he goes to the region this week.
The statement said that Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands supported the strikes.
The UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will speak in the House of Commons today about the decision to do more strikes. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition, did not know about the strikes before they happened. But this morning, he was seen going to the Cabinet Office for a private meeting.
Fighter planes from the USS Eisenhower attacked on Monday.
Four RAF Typhoon planes, along with two Voyager tankers, teamed up with the US forces, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced.
“We used special bombs to hit many targets at two military sites near Sanaa airfield with our airplane. ” The MoD said that these places were being used to keep attacking ships in the Red Sea.
“Like the UK usually does, we carefully planned the strikes to make sure no civilians would get hurt. We also made sure to bomb at night to lower the risk even more,” the statement said.
Government minister Huw Merriman said to Sky News that the airstrikes will happen again if the Houthis keep attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The UK’s Defense Secretary, Grant Shapps, said that the strikes were done to protect themselves from the Houthis’ unacceptable attacks on ships.
“This action will make it harder for the Houthi group to cause problems and will weaken their ability to impact global trade,” he wrote on X.
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said his party is worried about the attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea. They believe that limited strikes may be necessary, but it’s very important for Parliament to discuss and vote on the matter.
Houthi-controlled Al Masirah TV said that there were attacks in Sanaa, Taiz, and Bayda provinces in Yemen, including the al-Dailami air base near the capital Sanaa.
Ten days after the US and UK bombed the Houthis, they are still standing strong.
They keep shooting different things at ships near Yemen, and they accidentally hit a ship carrying Russian oil.
Under a new operation called Poseidon Archer, the US has attacked more targets after already attacking Houthi sites.
The Pentagon says that the missiles were destroyed right before they were going to be launched. Western intelligence recently said they think that about 30% of the Houthi’s missiles were damaged or destroyed.
The Houthis, who get help from Iran, want to keep attacking ships they think are connected to Israel, the US, or the UK.
These actions have made them very well-liked in their country, where many people have been suffering under their harsh rule.
Many people in the Arab world like the Houthis because they say they support Hamas and are against Israel with help from Iran.
Mr Sunak talked with US President Joe Biden earlier on Monday.
The White House said Mr. Biden and Mr. Sunak talked about attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea. The White House said they promise to protect ships, trade, and sailors from unfair attacks, and to allow ships to travel freely.
It said: “The president and prime minister talked about giving more help to the people in Gaza and keeping them safe. They also talked about getting back the people who are kept as prisoners by Hamas. ”
The Houthis started attacking ships that carry goods in November. They said they were doing this because of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
Since that time, the group has carried out many attacks on commercial ships that go through the Red Sea, which is one of the busiest routes for ships in the world.
The US and UK started bombing many Houthi targets on January 11th.
The strikes, which were also backed by Australia, Bahrain, the Netherlands, and Canada, started because Houthi forces didn’t stop attacking the area even after being warned.
Rishi Sunak will talk to Keir Starmer before a vote on the Rwanda bill tonight.
Two Conservative Party deputy chairmen and a ministerial aide quit their roles on Tuesday to go against the bill.
Even though some people are against it, the people in charge are still sure that the whole bill will be approved in a vote tonight. If the bill is approved, it will then be sent to the House of Lords where they can suggest changes.
The law wants to bring back the government’s idea to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda and stop people from crossing the Channel in small boats.
Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith, who were deputy chairs, left their positions to join around 60 Tory MPs supporting a change that made the law stricter.
At least four members of the Conservative party, including former cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, have said they are ready to vote against the bill if it is not made better.
PMQs starts at 12:00 GMT. You can watch it on this page by clicking Play at the top.
The Palestinians’ representative in the UK said the government is being unfair and hypocritical in the way it treats them.
Husam Zomlot said bad things about PM Rishi Sunak for not supporting a request to take Israel to court for war crimes in Gaza.
He said that the UK’s reputation was hurt in the Middle East.
But he was glad that the government decided to stop violent Israeli settlers from coming to the UK.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that people who live in Israel and have been attacking Palestinians will not be allowed to enter the country. The decision came after the US said they were planning to do the same thing.
“MrZomlot said he is happy about it. ” “In my opinion, that was a very important moment. It’s not about the policy itself, but it’s the first time in 75 years that the UK has taken any action related to sanctions on Israel. ”
Recently, there has been more violence from settlers, especially after the big attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October and the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Around 700,000 Jewish people live in about 140 communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. These areas have been taken over by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, but Palestinians want them to be part of their own country in the future.
Most countries think the settlements are illegal, but Israel disagrees.
Mr Zomlot disagreed with a law that stops public organizations from refusing to do business with Israel or Israeli settlements. The bill got approved in the House of Commons last week and now it will be sent to the House of Lords.
“This is the contradiction,” Mr Zomlot said at a meeting with reporters in London. Where are you in the UK. Do you think Israel taking over the 1967 borders is a military occupation and colonization.
“The UK policy is so inconsistent that I. ” I don’t know the UK’s policy on Palestine anymore. If you ask me, I don’t understand it. Unreliable, conflicting
Mr Zomlot, the leader of the Palestinian group in the UK, criticized Prime Minister Sunak for not supporting South Africa’s case against Israel for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
The ICJ started listening to the case last week.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said Mr Sunak thought the accusation was completely unfair and incorrect.
“The UK government supports Israel’s right to protect itself under international law,” the spokesperson stated.
MrZomlot said that the UK’s disagreement with South Africa’s claim of genocide is like the UK acting as judge of the world and getting involved where it shouldn’t.
He said that the UK was being unfair and hypocritical in its treatment of Israel and international law.
The envoy said that Israel is causing a big humanitarian problem in Gaza and asked the world to make them stop fighting.
He said that stopping the fighting right away is the most important thing. “This is still our most important priority. ”
Israel has bombed Gaza and killed about 24,000 people, mostly women and children. This information comes from the health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. Israel started a war to destroy Hamas because the group had killed 1,300 people, mainly civilians, and took 240 others as hostages in their attack on Israel.
Plans have been made to select 150 judges to handle a new system for quickly deciding on appeals for people being deported from Rwanda.
The justice secretary said that over 100 staff have been hired to help with a new system for reviewing deportation orders.
Last year, a law was proposed to create new courts to prevent migrant appeals from causing delays in the justice system.
MPs are starting to talk about a bill that wants to bring back the Prime Minister’s idea to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Additional resources have been created to address criticism from some Conservatives MPs that allowing individual appeals against deportation to Rwanda will cause too much work for the courts and should be completely stopped.
Alex Chalk, the person in charge of justice, said the changes will make 5,000 more days available to hear asylum cases.
Members of Parliament are talking about the Safety of Rwanda Bill in the House of Commons.
The government wants to send some people seeking asylum to Rwanda to stop them from trying to come to the UK in small boats. Labour has said they don’t like the policy because they think it costs too much and is just a trick. They would rather focus on stopping the gangs that smuggle things.
After the court made a decision, the government made a new law called the Safety of Rwanda Bill. This law says that in the UK, Rwanda is considered a safe country.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is having trouble with his power because two Conservative vice chairmen said they would support a series of rebel changes to his main Rwanda bill.
Make the process simpler and more efficient.
The government wants to calm worries about legal issues by adding more judges to the tribunal system. They will move some judges from the lower tribunal to the higher tribunal to handle appeals from Rwanda.
Judges will get extra learning and more money to work on nights and weekends. The government made 25 more rooms for hearings to handle more cases.
The change is meant to bring all complicated migration cases and appeals to one place, making the process more efficient.
The Home Office studied and found that almost all legal challenges under the Illegal Migration Act will not succeed. However, there is still a chance that many people appealing could overwhelm the system and cause delays in their removal.
The Ministry of Justice has been working with the courts since last summer to make more room in the system before starting the Rwanda policy.
The person in charge of justice said the judges will decide if they need extra judges for a little while.
The missile that was shot at the USS Laboon in the Red Sea was destroyed by a US fighter plane near the coast of Hudaydah.
No one got hurt or things broken in the accident on Sunday afternoon.
After the US and UK attacked the Houthis to weaken their military power because they have been attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The US and UK attacked almost 30 places in Yemen on Friday. They targeted places where weapons are stored, places where supplies are kept, and defense systems.
On Saturday, the US attacked a Houthi radar site again.
President Joe Biden said he will not hesitate to take more steps to protect our people and the flow of international trade if needed.
Likewise, the UK is ready to take more steps against the Houthis.
Hussain Al-Bukhaiti, a strong supporter of the Houthi group, told the BBC that fighters will attack US and UK warships if the airstrikes on Yemen keep happening.
The Houthis are a powerful group that controls a big area of Yemen, including the main city. They are important friends of Hamas and are believed to get weapons from Iran, which is Israel’s biggest enemy.
Since November 19th, they have attacked cargo ships in the Red Sea at least 27 times. The Red Sea is a very important route for ships that travel around the world.
The group said they were aiming at ships going to Israel or owned by Israel, to show support for the people of Gaza. However, some of the ships they have attacked are not clearly linked to Israel.
The attacks made big shipping companies change the path of their ships so they don’t go through the Red Sea. Instead, they take a longer way around the southern tip of Africa.
This has affected the world economy already, with the big shipping company Maersk saying it’s being felt by the people who buy the products.
Tesla and Volvo have stopped making some cars, Tesco said some prices might go up, and Ikea said there could be fewer supplies.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the Houthi attacks are causing big problems for an important trade route and making things more expensive.
The group’s attacks, along with the UK-US strikes in Yemen, are making people worry that the conflict in Gaza is spreading to the rest of the Middle East.
Rishi Sunak will talk to members of Parliament for the first time since the UK joined US attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The government will consider more strikes against the armed group if they keep attacking ships in the Red Sea, the Defence Secretary said on BBC News.
Mr Shapps said the UK does not want to get involved in a long-term plan in the Red Sea.
“We just want to be able to ship things to other countries. ”
The defense secretary told BBC Breakfast that if the Houthis don’t stop, there may be more attacks.
We really hope they will learn from this and stop bothering ships.
He also supported the government’s choice to attack the Houthis without discussing it or holding a vote in parliament first.
The prime minister is in trouble because he ordered the strikes without talking to other politicians first. He said the strikes were for self-protection.
Mr Shapps said that giving too much information to the Houthis would not have been a good idea.
“We had to do something. ” Actually, we did that after talking to parliament a lot. With the person speaking, the leader of the other party, and others.
He said the strikes, which hit 16 Houthi rebel sites, were a small but fair action. He hopes it shows that thugs can’t disrupt international shipping like that.
He said that the strikes were meant to show Iran a message because he believes they are helping the Houthis, a group that controls the north of Yemen and its capital Sanaa.
He also said no to the Houthi’s claim that they were only attacking ships connected to Israel. He explained that ships from 50 different countries have been attacked.
After the attacks, the US said it stopped a missile that was shot at one of its warships from a Houthi area in Yemen on Sunday. Nobody got hurt.
The group’s attacks on cargo ships have made big shipping companies change their routes and go around southern Africa instead of through the Red Sea. Some ships that are attacked don’t seem to have any connection to Israel.
Mr Sunak will talk about the strikes on Houthi places in the House of Commons today.
This is the first time Mr. Sunak has chosen to join the military in action since becoming prime minister in October 2022, which is an important moment in his political career.
He will probably be asked today if the UK will join in more attacks and what the government is doing to prevent a bigger conflict in the area.
Conservative MPs have mostly approved of Mr Sunak’s decision this weekend.
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, was told about the strikes before they happened. He said he agreed with the strikes and wants Parliament to talk about it.
He said that keeping the country safe is the most important thing. “Sometimes there are emergencies where Parliament can’t be asked before making a decision. ”
But Layla Moran from the Liberal Democrats said that Parliament should be able to talk about and decide on military action. And Jeremy Corbyn, who used to be the leader of the Labour Party, said it’s very wrong that Parliament wasn’t even asked for their opinion.
The government doesn’t have to ask for permission from Parliament before using the military. However, in the recent years, it has become a tradition for the Commons to usually be able to talk about sending military forces before it happens.
Speaking about the criticism, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t think it was right to have a discussion and a vote before taking this action, because it’s important for security reasons to take action first and then talk about it in Parliament later. “
Scotland’s leader, Humza Yousaf, wants the UK parliament to meet again to talk about air attacks in Yemen.
Rishi Sunak said it was important to bomb Houthi rebel sites in the UK and US because it was the right amount of force to keep ships safe in the Red Sea.
The military facilities were attacked during the night.
Humza Yousaf said there were important questions that needed to be asked and answered about military action.
He said on BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland show, “The SNP supports the UN security resolution, which is asking the Houthi rebels to stop their attacks in the Red Sea. Let’s not have any doubt about that. ”
“But the UK hasn’t done well with using military force in the Middle East. ”
“Before doing anything, the best thing to do would have been to bring back the parliament and get a thorough explanation about the military action. ”
He said: “There are big questions about what was done. ” What are we trying to achieve. What will count as a win.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the attacks on the Iranian-supported group were to protect UK ships from harm.
Houthi officials said the UK and US will face big consequences.
The US and its allies have launched the first attacks against the Houthi fighters, because they have been attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis are in charge of a big part of Yemen and they are helping Hamas by attacking ships going to Israel. The US Air Force said they hit more than 60 places where the Houthi rebels in Yemen were.
Mr Sunak said that the Houthi rebels are causing problems for UK and international ships and disrupting the trade route.
“The Houthis didn’t listen to the warnings from other countries and still attacked ships in the Red Sea, including ones from the UK and US,” said the prime minister.
This is not acceptable. The UK will always support the freedom for ships to move around and for trade to happen freely.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that Royal Air Force typhoons did two accurate attacks on Houthi sites. One attack was on an airfield they used to launch drones and missiles over the Red Sea, and the other was on a site where they launched attack drones.
A Houthi leader said the US and UK will regret attacking Yemen.
The group says they will keep on attacking ships in the Red Sea that are going to or connected to Israel.
Meanwhile, Mr Yousaf’s wife, Nadia El-Nakla, said that her sister-in-law and her four children were able to leave Gaza.
Her brother works as a doctor at the Al-Nassar Hospital. He is still in the area with other family members.
Ms El-Nakla’s parents went back to Scotland in November after being stuck in Gaza for four weeks when the war with Israel started during their family visit.
She said: “I’m happy that my sister-in-law, Doaa, and their four kids have gotten out of Gaza and are safe now. ”
“But my brother Mohamed is still there with our 93-year-old grandma and many other family members. ”
Ms El Nakla, who works for Dundee government, said that the families in Gaza are still going through a tough time after losing completely innocent people.
She asked the UK government to create a program to help Palestinians move to the UK, like they did for Ukrainian families.
She said, “I will keep speaking out to stop the killing and suffering of the innocent people in Gaza, and ask for a ceasefire right away. ”
The UK government said it was working very hard to help people who want to leave Gaza.
Over 23,350 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, as reported by the health ministry run by Hamas.
During the first attacks by Hamas on Israel, around 1,300 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 240 others were kidnapped.
The UK and US bombed military sites during the night.
Mr Sunak said that the UK took action against a group that is supported by Iran and poses a threat to UK ships. He said this action was taken to protect themselves.
In return, Houthi leaders have said that the UK and US will face severe consequences.
The US and its allies bombed the Houthi group for the first time because they have been attacking ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis are in charge of a lot of Yemen and have said that they are helping Hamas by attacking ships going to Israel.
The US Air Force hit over 60 targets at 16 places in Yemen that were being used by Houthi rebels.
On Friday morning, Mr. Sunak said that the Houthi rebels are causing problems for UK and international ships and disrupting trade routes.
The prime minister said that, even though the international community has warned them many times, the Houthis keep attacking ships in the Red Sea, including those from the UK and US.
“This is not acceptable. ” The UK will always support the right for ships to travel wherever they want and for trade to happen freely.
He said the UK took some action to defend itself with help from the United States, Netherlands, Canada, and Bahrain.
MrSunak said the action was done to weaken the Houthi military and to protect ships around the world.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Royal Air Force typhoons did two very accurate attacks on Houthi sites. One was an airfield used to launch drones and missiles over the Red Sea and the other site was used to launch attack drones.
“The MoD is still looking at the results of the strikes, but it looks like the Houthis may not be able to attack merchant ships as easily anymore. ”
‘Not a lot of’. needed
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said that there are no more air strikes planned for now.
“We believed that the small and necessary attacks last night were important to stop the Houthis from being able to attack our warships in the Red Sea,” he said on BBC Breakfast.
MrHeappey said it was just self-defence and that the government’s legal position was strong.
The Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, supports the strikes after being briefed by the government on Thursday night.
“He said on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast show that the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea need to be stopped. They are attacking commercial ships and important trade routes, and putting civilian lives in danger. We support taking action against them. ”
Retired leader of the British Army Lord Dannatt said on the BBC that the UK and US, who are permanent members of the UN Security Council, have a duty to protect global trade.
We should hope that this is a careful and smart plan that will quickly make it safe for ships to use the Red Sea instead of the expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope.
Lord Ricketts said that attacking the Houthi sites was going to happen because the rebel group didn’t listen to warnings and attacked US and UK naval ships.
“They just couldn’t let this go on,” he said on BBC Radio 4’s Today show. “I believe the US-led group made their efforts big to send a strong message, but also made it clear that it’s only aimed at stopping attacks on ships, not starting a war with the Houthis. ”
In response to the attacks, a Houthi leader warned that the US and UK will soon understand that the strikes on Yemen were a big mistake.
The group says they will keep on attacking ships in the Red Sea that are going to Israel or connected to Israel.
“We say there is no reason for attacking Yemen because they were not a threat to ships in the Red and Arabian Seas,” said spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam.
“The attacks will keep happening on Israeli ships or ones going to the ports of occupied Palestine.
The UK is going to give Ukraine £2. 5 billion worth of military help in the next year, which is the biggest amount of aid since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Prime Minister said this while visiting the country, and he will also sign a new deal to help with its safety in the future.
Authorities said that the package will give Ukraine missiles that can travel far distances, defense against attacks from the air, and shells for their artillery.
About £200 million will be used to buy drones, and most of them will will be made in the UK.
Authorities say that next year, a big package of military equipment will be given to Ukraine. It will include a lot of drones, which is the most that any country has provided to Ukraine.
The prime minister has chosen not to promise money for many years.
Some government officials and high-ranking military leaders believed that by doing this, it would show Russia that Britain supports them for a long time.
Instead of spending the same amount as the last two years, Mr. Sunak has decided to spend an extra £200 million. The UK’s yearly military support for Ukraine was £2. 3 billion
Downing Street plans to offer help to Ukraine as the first step in building a strong long-term relationship between Ukraine and the UK.
It will also give £18 million to help people in need, support strengthening Ukraine’s energy systems, and give more money for teaching English online.
James Heappey, who is in charge of the military, said on BBC Breakfast that the drones will help Ukraine in the future.
He said: “They are unmanned aircraft that are being created quickly, taking into account all the things we learned from what happened in Ukraine over the last two years. ”
He said that the money shows that the UK is still being a leader in Europe by giving a lot of money to Ukraine.
Mr Sunak, who went to Ukraine 15 months ago in November 2022, said: “I am here today to say that the UK will not give up. ” We will be there for Ukraine when things are hard and when things get better in the future.
He said: “The UK is already one of Ukraine’s best friends, because we know their safety is our safety.
Today, we are giving more military help to Ukraine. We are also giving them lots of new drones and making a new security agreement with them. This will help Ukraine feel safer and more secure in the future.
“For two years, Ukraine has bravely defended itself against a strong attack from Russia. ” They are still fighting strong to protect their country and the principles of freedom and democracy.
The UK finally promised to support Ukraine after MPs pushed for the government to do so. They said the government should have been clearer earlier so Ukraine could plan its military strategy.
Both the United States and the European Union are having a hard time deciding on how to help Ukraine, which really needs more shells and missiles.
In the US, some politicians are stopping a $60 billion package to help Ukraine because they want to use the money for dealing with migration at the border.
Viktor Orban, the leader of Hungary, stopped a €50bn (£43bn) aid package for Ukraine from the EU because of a disagreement with Brussels over funding.
The UK and Ukraine are signing an agreement today. It includes promises to help each other with military and economic support. This is to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine before Ukraine becomes a part of Nato.
Authorities said that the UK is the first out of seven major industrialized countries to sign an agreement. All seven countries promised to do this at a meeting last year.
Rishi Sunak is having a big problem with some members of his political party because they don’t like his idea to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
More than 30 members of the party’s less influential members support making it more difficult for people to appeal deportation by changing the bill next week.
The changes show how divided the Tory party is on the policy, which the Prime Minister thinks is very important.
Ministers say that only a very small number of appeals are allowed in the bill.
Some people who support the changes are former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and a few former cabinet ministers, including former home secretary Suella Braverman.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who quit because of the proposed law last month and is a leading rebel, said the new law would not stop people from challenging immigration decisions over and over again.
Last month, the government made a new law because the Supreme Court said their plan to send asylum seekers to East Africa was not allowed.
The law wants to say that it’s okay to send refugees to Rwanda from the UK. This would stop flights from being stopped because of legal reasons.
Government officials may not have to follow urgent rules from the European Court of Human Rights to stop a flight to Rwanda while a person’s legal case is being decided.
However, the rebels believe that the policy can still be stopped by many people appealing against it, and they want to make the circumstances for allowing appeals stricter.
They also want to make it the usual thing for ministers to ignore orders from the ECHR that stop flights.
‘Be the one who gets the last word in the discussion’
The changes probably won’t pass on Tuesday because they won’t get enough support from Labour MPs to beat the government’s majority.
But, if the rebels vote against the government’s bill later on and it stays the same, the bill could be in danger.
A group of 29 MPs could be powerful enough to change Mr Sunak’s 56-seat majority if they vote with Labour, who doesn’t agree with the Rwanda policy.
Mr Jenrick said on BBC Radio 4’s Today show that he might vote against the entire bill if their suggested changes don’t work.
But he said he was not thinking about that yet, and the rebels wanted to win the argument.
One Nation stress
Government might give in to the rebels to get them to agree, but experts think this probably won’t happen until the bill is almost finished in Parliament.
The government is feeling pressure from some members of the Conservative Party who believe that the bill can’t be made stricter without breaking international law.
Mr Jenrick said the current bill would not work because it does not stop people from coming to the UK to ask for asylum.
He said that people should only be able to appeal to not be sent out of the country in a few special situations, like if a woman is having a baby or if someone can’t travel on a plane.
“If we don’t change this law, there will be more people crossing the border illegally, more poorly run hotels for migrants, and we will waste billions of taxpayer dollars in the future,” he said.
Downing Street said that the bill is the strongest law ever in Parliament and it shows that this Parliament, not any foreign court, has the most power.
Today marks the three month anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, and the escalation of the conflict has had a terrible impact on those in the area and beyond.
Tensions have ramped up all over the world, harming both Jewish and Muslim communities.
The UK is no exception to this and while most people are able to express their views peacefully and respectfully, we have sadly seen too many instances of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
In the month immediately following Hamas’s attack on Israel, the Community Security Trust noted a 514% increase in acts of antisemitic incidents this year compared to the same period last year, which is also reflected in data from police forces across the UK released last week.
Meanwhile, Muslim Council of Britain has also noted a troubling surge in Islamophobic attacks, stating: ‘Over the course of this devastating conflict, we have seen a surge of hate crime, with a 140% increase in Islamophobic offences in London alone’.
Mia Schem, 21, reunites with her family following her release after being held hostage by Hamas (Picture: via REUTERS)
Organisations may collate their data differently, but the important thing for all of us to note is that these worrying incidents are on the rise.
Yet, amazingly, according to Hansard records, Rishi Sunak has never once uttered the word ‘Islamophobia’ in the House of Commons – he has only referred to it as ‘anti-Muslim hate’.
This doesn’t cut it. It is not good enough to redefine something – if we do not name the problem, we can’t possibly tackle it.
Sunak shouldn’t shy away from using the word, in the same way he doesn’t with antisemitism, which he has mentioned in Parliament 16 times since the war started.
It is imperative that from the Prime Minister down, the Tories need to start calling this hatred what it is – and invest time and more money in stamping out Islamophobia.
Drone footage shows wide scale destruction of Gaza after seven weeks of war
Rishi Sunak wasn’t sure about sending migrants to Rwanda when he was in charge, according to BBC documents.
They say Mr Sunak wanted to make No 10’s first plans smaller.
They also show that he wasn’t sure if the plan would actually stop people from crossing the Channel.
They recommend that he didn’t want to pay for housing for migrants in special centers, and preferred to use hotels or private homes because they are less expensive.
As the leader of the government, Mr Sunak has made the Rwanda plan a very important task because his party wanted him to.
The plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and possibly resettling them was first announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022. This is to stop people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Mr Sunak became prime minister in October 2022. Before that, he was in charge of the country’s money as the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Rwanda policy was talked about.
Legal problems have caused the deal to be delayed many times. No asylum seekers have been sent from the UK yet.
The No 10 papers were made in March 2022. Johnson wanted Mr. Sunak to agree to give more money for the plan. This happened shortly before the agreement with Rwanda to handle migrants was made.
They say that Mr. Sunak was worried about how much it would cost to send asylum seekers to the African country, and he wanted to start with only a few people.
They say the chancellor wants to start with fewer items at first, 500 instead of 1,500 in the first year, and 3,000 instead of 5,000 in years two and three.
The final plan’s numbers were never confirmed, but in April 2022 the BBC saw where asylum seekers would stay. It was believed to have enough room for up to 500 people per year, which matches Mr. Sunak’s arguments
The papers show that No 10 and 11 Downing Street disagree on whether the proposed plan will work. The chancellor thinks it won’t.
Mr Sunak doesn’t want to pay for places where migrants can stay, like the Greek-style reception centers. Instead of housing them in hotels, which is costing £3. 5 million each day.
They say the chancellor doesn’t want to pay for places where people can stay without being locked up, like the reception centers in Greece, because hotels are cheaper.
The papers show that the Treasury wanted to send migrants to live in different parts of the country, which is called “dispersal”.
The papers also show that No 10 recommended telling Mr. Sunak to think about how much people like him if he didn’t want to agree to changes to the migration system, including the plan for Rwanda.
The UK Supreme Court said the proposal is not allowed, but the prime minister wants to make a new law so that planes can fly to Rwanda.
However, the news about his uncertainty over the plan might cause problems, especially since some MPs in his party want him to do more to achieve his target of stopping migrants from crossing the Channel, which could mean leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
Someone who knows the prime minister well told the BBC: “The prime minister always supported the idea of the program as a way to discourage people from doing something. ”
“His job as chancellor was to make sure the government worked well and spent taxpayers’ money wisely. ”
A government official said, “Rishi, as the chancellor, provided funding for the Rwanda scheme and made it a central part of his 10-point plan just one month after becoming the Prime Minister. ”
“Now he is approving the Rwanda Bill because the Supreme Court said it’s okay to start flying again. He is the first leader to ever see a decrease in small boat crossings, which were down by 36% last year.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper said the Tories’ Rwanda scheme is fake and Rishi Sunak is now weak.
The prime minister knew the plan would cost a lot of money and wouldn’t work. He didn’t like the plan when he was in charge of the money. He is very weak and agreed to give Rwanda £400 million without visiting there, to try to make people trust him as a leader.
The Tories always go for flashy ideas instead of handling important issues, like Rwanda or hotels.
“It’s time for them to stop pretending and start following Labour’s plan to take action against the criminal smuggling gangs, make a new security deal with Europe to improve border protection, and create a new team to quickly remove people who shouldn’t be in the UK. ”
What is the plan for helping refugees from Rwanda.
Some asylum seekers arriving in the UK would be sent to Rwanda for processing as part of a five-year trial.
When they arrive, they might be given refugee status and permitted to remain. If not, they could try to live there for different reasons, or ask for protection in a different country.
The government said that anyone who comes to the UK illegally after 1 January 2022 could be sent back to their country, and there would be no limit on how many people could be sent back.
However, up to now, no person asking for safety has been sent away.
The first flight was supposed to happen in June 2022, but it got canceled because of legal problems.
The government says the policy would stop people from coming to the UK in dangerous or illegal ways, like on small boats across the English Channel.
In January 2023, Mr Sunak said that one of his main focuses was to stop boats from coming.
Last month, he promised to continue the work of bringing back the plan after immigration minister Robert Jenrick resigned. Jenrick quit because he thought the government’s new policy wouldn’t work.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has overcome a disagreement within his party about the Rwanda bill, but he still needs to work hard to pass it through Parliament.
The law passed its first test in the House of Commons with a lot of support, but there will be more votes in the new year.
None of the Tory MPs voted against, but some people who don’t fully agree with the party chose not to vote.
The rebels said that the Prime Minister had told them he would think about making the bill stricter.
However, doing this may cause some moderate Conservative Members of Parliament to withdraw their support. They have cautioned that they would resist any future changes that would violate international law.
The new law was created to support the government’s idea to send some refugees to Rwanda.
The government wants to stop migrants from using small boats to cross the Channel. Sunak thinks this is very important.
Nervousness in Downing Street about a close result made Climate Minister Graham Stuart come back from a climate conference in Dubai to vote.
However, even though some conservative members threatened to vote against the bill, only members from the opposing party actually did, and the bill was approved with 313 votes in favor and 269 against.
About 29 Conservative Members of Parliament, including former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, decided not to support the bill and chose to abstain.
In total, 37 Tory MPs didn’t vote. Some of them might not have been able to go to the vote instead of choosing not to vote.
Just before the vote, five groups of lower-ranking MPs said they couldn’t agree with the bill the way it is.
They want to suggest changes to the bill. They also said they might vote against the bill in the new year if their changes are not accepted.
Mark Francois, who leads a group on the right side of the party called the ERG, didn’t vote. He said to BBC News: “We didn’t vote because we don’t think the bill is strong enough to guarantee that flights will go to Rwanda. ”
The prime minister said he would consider making the bill stricter. “He said that we believe what he said. ”
“Many members of parliament supported the government’s vote. ” Because they were told in private that changes would be made later.
However, if the government agrees to their requests, it will cause more problems.
The One Nation group, made up of over 100 Tory MPs, suggested that its members should vote for the bill. However, they also said that they would not support any changes that would make the UK government break the law or its agreements with other countries.
Matt Warman, a member of the group, said on the BBC’s World Tonight program that they don’t want the bill to break international law. Anything that breaks those laws is not an option.
He said that we might be able to find a fair agreement as we continue working on this bill.
It might be harder to pass stricter laws in the House of Lords.
Damian Green, the head of One Nation, told BBC News that the vote had less people not voting than he thought and that if the government keeps their position, they can probably pass this law without changes.
Chris Philp, who is the Home Office Minister, said that the government is willing to consider suggestions from MPs on how to make the bill better.
“Government ministers will talk to members of Parliament to see if they can make the bill stricter and better so that there are no ways to get around it,” he said.
Ben Bradley, a member of the Common Sense Group in Parliament, said on BBC Newsnight that sometimes practicality needs to be balanced with beliefs. What is the most powerful thing we can deliver compared to what is completely flawless.
The bill wants to make it a rule in UK law that it is okay to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, because the Supreme Court said the old policy was not allowed.
However, some people in the party’s conservative wing say that it is not powerful enough right now to stop legal challenges to deportations.
A spokesperson from No 10 said that this bill is the strictest law ever brought to Parliament. It also makes it clear that the Parliament is the highest authority, not any court from another country.
“We will now work to make sure that this bill becomes a law so that we can have flights to Rwanda and stop the boats,” said the spokesperson.
Labour, along with other parties, voted no on the bill. They said that if they win the next election, they will get rid of the plan for Rwanda.
The money given to Rwanda could be used to stop groups that smuggle people.
Yvette Cooper, who is a member of the Labour party and speaks for them on home affairs, said that the Conservative party’s disagreements are still going on, and it is causing problems for the country.
“Today’s debate showed that Rishi Sunak is not very strong, and the problems within the Tory party are still going on into the new year. “
Charities and politicians who disagree with the government are upset that Graham Stuart, who is in charge of climate issues in the UK, has left the talks about the environment in Dubai before they are finished.
He went back to the UK to vote in Parliament tonight. Rishi Sunak is working hard to get support for his Rwanda bill.
ActionAid said Stuart leaving was a big disappointment to the countries asking the UK to take action against major polluters.
Oxfam said it’s very sad that UK representatives flew home from important climate talks just when they were needed the most.
Green MP Caroline Lucas said that the government has lost any remaining moral authority in dealing with the climate emergency.
Stuart said again that the UK will only agree to a statement that says they will stop using fossil fuels to help the climate.
We want to know if this means the UK will reject any deal that doesn’t include the language.
The UK government says that their main negotiator and Lord Benyon, who is a junior minister for climate, are still representing the country at the talks.
He did not want to say why he was voting against the government or if he was trying to cause trouble for the prime minister when the media asked him.
But when speaking to the media’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show this week, Jenrick said that Rishi Sunak decided to bring back the scheme in a way that probably won’t work because it was a political decision.
He said he quit his job on December 6 because he didn’t want to ask lawmakers to vote for a law that he thought was not strong enough.
This morning, Rishi Sunak told some Conservative party members that he was open to talking about making his Rwanda law stricter. This was during breakfast, according to MPs who were there.
The prime minister said he was willing to make small changes to the bill. But it was not clear if he would agree to any suggestions from MPs.
Sunak said that the problem of lots of people coming into the country was not his fault, but something he had to deal with because it was left over from the people who did the job before him.
Each member of parliament spoke one by one to share their opinions with him. Many people told the prime minister they would not support the bill and were trying to decide whether to not vote or to vote against it.
However, some MPs are planning to vote for the government tonight because they hope the bill will be changed later.
At the meeting, a lot of MPs complained about the way the bill was handled and said that Sunak should have talked to them before it was made public.
Rishi Sunak is trying to convince members of his political party to support his important bill about Rwanda before an important vote in Parliament.
This morning, the Prime Minister talked to 15 Conservative MPs at Downing Street. He will have more meetings later today.
The government‘s new law for Rwanda is being talked about and voted on by the MPs tonight.
The plan is made to send people who come to the UK on small boats to a country in East Africa, where they can ask for protection.
Some Conservative party members don’t like the new plan. Some MPs on the right think it might be stopped by the courts. Others think it doesn’t follow international law.
Changes were required because the highest court in the UK stopped the plan in November. They said it could put asylum seekers in danger.
Rishi Sunak is trying hard to get support for his Rwanda bill from conservative MPs before an important vote.
The prime minister had breakfast with some people who might rebel, at his official residence. He is trying to get them to support the new law.
The bill wants to start the government’s plan to send some people seeking asylum to a country in East Africa.
Some people in the party’s conservative group are saying that we need a stricter law to make sure the program is successful.
At the same time, Conservative Members of Parliament from the more open-minded part of the party say they will back it as it is now, but have cautioned against making changes later because they could break international law.
This means that Mr. Sunak is having a big problem with his MPs, who might embarrass the PM over one of his most important plans.
The government has made new laws to bring back the Rwanda scheme, after the Supreme Court said it was not allowed last month because it might cause human rights problems.
The new law wants to officially say that Rwanda is a safe place to send people who are seeking asylum in the UK. It also aims to avoid stopping flights to Rwanda because of legal issues.
But some conservative members of Parliament who lean to the right are worried that the new rules may not be strong enough to stop more legal challenges from stopping deportations.
At about 7:00 PM, members of Parliament will be asked if they think the bill should move forward to the next step in Parliament.
Labour and other parties are against the bill. If 29 Conservatives also vote against it, the bill could be defeated. This hasn’t happened since 1986.
Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, said that if his party wins the next election, he will cancel the plan to give £290m to Rwanda. He thinks that the money would be better used to support the police in the UK instead.
Tory groups have a meeting.
Before the vote, many important members of the Conservative party, like former defense secretary Ben Wallace and attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox, have asked MPs to come together. They warned that if they don’t, it will be very bad for the party before the next election.
Sir Geoffrey told the media Newsnight that if we continue like this, we will definitely lose the support of millions of people whose votes we need.
Mr Sunak met with the New Conservatives group on Tuesday morning. They said the bill needs “big changes or a new version. ”
After a meeting on Monday, some lawmakers in the group said they were trying to decide whether to not vote at all or to vote against the bill.
The European Research Group, a group on the party’s right, thinks that big changes are needed to stop legal challenges to deporting people to Rwanda. image description
Video: Mark Francois and David Jones from the European Research Group ask the government to get rid of the bill.
Agreeing with the MPs on the right of the party could make centrist Tories stop supporting us.
The One Nation group, which has more than 100 Conservative MPs, said it was suggesting its members vote for the bill for now, but said it would not support any changes in the future that would make the UK government break the law or its international promises.
Tory critics might choose to let the bill pass for now, maybe by not voting, hoping to get some changes from the government later on.
Some Members of Parliament who were thinking about supporting the government on Tuesday now seem less hopeful about being able to change the bill later on.
“One Tory MP told the media that we don’t have enough votes to change it next year. ” “It’s happening now or it might not happen at all. ”
If the vote goes forward and Mr. Sunak loses, there might be an election to choose a new leader for him, and maybe even a national election.
People close to the Prime Minister admit that it will be a close vote, but they believe they can win and are determined to not give up.
Those who support making the Rwanda bill stronger say it might still allow people to challenge it in court. They could say that being sent to Rwanda could put them in danger.
The government wanted to convince critics, so they shared a summary of their legal advice on the plan.
The suggestion is that it will be very difficult for people to argue against being deported under the new law, and not being allowed to appeal would go against international laws.
It talks about pregnant people who shouldn’t fly and people with really rare sickness that can’t be treated in Rwanda.
Critics say that even if only a few of these claims are successful, they will still create a backlog in the courts and cause delays in deportations.
I know Christmas is coming soon, and you probably don’t want to think about politics right now. You might have to.
The ruling party has to. The Downing Street operation is in big trouble.
And even though it may have sounded a little crazy when we discussed it last week, it’s not unreasonable to think that the Conservatives are in such a bad situation that some of them are considering if they need a new leader.
Take a moment to think – most people don’t think it’s a good idea to randomly choose the sixth prime minister since the EU referendum by rolling a dice. But now, more people are starting to believe it for some very good reasons.
Rishi Sunak is really stressed. He has to go to the Covid investigation on Monday, and on Tuesday there is a vote on a plan he supported that didn’t work out well.
Issue one: The Conservative party can’t decide on how to fulfill the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘stop the boats’.
That saying is now commonly used in politics, but Rishi Sunak’s catchphrase has become a burden for his administration.
The plan was to stop people from coming to the UK by telling them they would be sent to Africa instead. The problem had some problems at first, but now Parliament has approved it.
However, it faced real-life and legal problems. Over the past few days, some people in Mr. Sunak’s own party have been against his new plans to make his long-time wish happen.
He didn’t go as far as some of his MPs wanted to make sure planes can fly without legal problems, but his new laws are still more than some of his colleagues are happy with.
Similar to Theresa May’s Brexit deals, it doesn’t make everyone on the right of his party happy, and it makes people on the more moderate side feel uncomfortable.
The outcome He’s stuck in the awkward middle of an issue that he decided to adopt as his own.
This weekend, all types of MPs in his party are thinking about whether to support the plan or not. Be careful about the headlines saying there will be a disaster, because many less important members of parliament are likely to let the proposals pass in the first debate, but then try to change them, break them apart, or even get rid of them after Christmas.
Issue number two: it’s not only the people you can predict who are upset. The prime minister’s friend and the minister in charge of handling the problem have left. Robert Jenrick will be in the studio with us on Sunday. He says the plan won’t work and he has big doubts about the government’s approach to managing migration from abroad.
Issue three: Number 10 has to deal with a mix of different groups who all have their own beliefs and ideas, causing tension.
It’s hard to make everyone happy and it’s unlikely that they will all agree with Number 10. One member of parliament making fun of the different groups describes them like this: “The ‘One Nation’ would be the smart kids in school. ” The person who always does everything right. The European Research Group (ERG) are like old-fashioned, traditional people, while the New Conservatives are like unruly kids in parks. The Truss lots are very scary.
Putting aside the playful jokes, how can a leader make sure that everyone follows the rules, even on topics that aren’t controversial. It’s important to remember that political parties are made up of different groups working together. It’s silly to think that they always agree and get along perfectly. One former minister in the Tory party said in 2023 that there is no unity among the members of parliament – they don’t like each other and don’t get along.
Issue four: The Conservative Party is not happy and in disarray, and now they are dealing with a new opponent.
The Tories were always arguing when Theresa May was in charge and also when Boris Johnson took over. The seats across from them were filled with unhappy groups that supported Jeremy Corbyn.
The work situation has changed, and the Conservative party is aware of it.
I heard some secret recordings of Greg Hands, who used to be a Conservative leader, talking to student activists in Oxford at the end of October.
He said that people who vote are not happy with all the problems in the government at Number 10. “We have upset them, especially because last year we had three different prime ministers. ”
He said that even though people may not be super excited about Keir Starmer, they don’t see Labour as a threat to their votes anymore.
In the recordings, he says that many Conservatives who like liberal ideas were scared to vote for anyone other than the Conservatives because they didn’t want Corbyn to become prime minister.
When he talks about keeping voters, he says that Starmer is not like Corbyn because he doesn’t scare people. Our challenge now is to keep those voters on our side. Mr Hands said that there are Conservative voters who still might come back to the party.
In reply to that recording, he says: “Like I said in Oxford, Sir Keir Starmer hasn’t won over the British people – and the Conservative Party can still be victorious in the next general election. ”
Similar to Neil Kinnock in the 1980s, Sir Keir Starmer is not as left-wing as the person before him, but still too left-wing for the British people. When people pay attention to him, they will see that he is not a good fit. He changes his opinion on all the important topics just to make his audience happy, like the monarchy, the EU, tuition fees, and taxes.
Rishi Sunak’s friends might say that the prime minister made things peaceful after a period of disorder.
However, considering what has happened recently, it’s obvious that was not strong enough to win. And maybe he’s starting to undo all the progress he made with his many resets. The splits now feel very painful.
Perhaps, that’s because some Conservative Members of Parliament have been behind in the polls for a long time. They might prefer to prioritize their own beliefs over the party’s success.
Maybe it’s because Rishi Sunak hasn’t been able to convince them that working together is important.
Perhaps it’s because the party has been in power for a very long time and has constantly changed itself that it is not certain about its purpose anymore.
It could be a combination of all of those things, and maybe even more.
Actually, Rishi Sunak is still in charge of a party that has a lot more members in the House of Commons than any other party. The next election is not for another year. People who vote are unstable these days, and the public feelings can change very quickly.
The prime minister’s special skill of ending the chaos from Truss and Johnson’s time has been greatly damaged. Breaking up and fighting are happening again. The people don’t like it when political parties are split.
Currently, this is one of the few things that Conservative MPs can agree on politically.
The UK has given Rwanda an extra £100 million this year as part of their agreement to move asylum seekers there.
In a letter to MPs, the top official at the Home Office said that the money was sent to the African nation in April.
Sir Matthew Rycroft said that they are expecting to receive another payment of £50 million next year.
The news came a few hours after Rishi Sunak promised to keep working on the plan because his immigration minister quit.
The plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda to process their applications and possibly allow them to live there, was first announced by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in April 2022. This was to stop people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
‘Something to hide’
The process has been delayed multiple times because of legal issues, and no people seeking asylum have been sent from the UK yet.
So far, we knew that the government had spent at least £140 million on the policy. Sir Matthew had said no before when asked to share new numbers. He said the government decided to show the costs every year instead.
The numbers were shared in a letter to Dame Diana Johnson and Dame Meg Hiller, who are in charge of committees about home affairs and government spending.
Dame Meg told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that the total cost of the policy was only disclosed after many questions.
“It seems like the government is hiding something,” she said.
Sir Matthew said that the extra payments were not connected to the new agreement signed between the UK and Rwanda this week. This is part of the government’s effort to change the policy that was found illegal by the Supreme Court last month.
The minister in charge of legal immigration, Tom Pursglove, said the money was being used to make sure the Rwanda policy was strong and solid.
He said the plan is very important for saving money on housing migrants in UK hotels, which is currently costing £8 million a day for the government.
Robert Jenrick’s job as immigration minister was divided into two after he quit. Michael Tomlinson is in charge of dealing with people who come to a country without permission.
Labour called the news about the extra costs “amazing”, with Yvette Cooper, who is the shadow home secretary, saying: “How many more unlimited amounts of money will Rishi Sunak give out before the Tories tell the truth about this plan being a complete joke. ”
“It’s like spending £100 million for each trip the home secretary takes to Rwanda,” she said.
The Home Office said Rwanda can initially take 200 people a year, but they want to increase that number later on.
The department thinks it will cost £169,000 to send someone to a safe country, not specifically Rwanda, compared to £106,000 if they stay in the UK.
Legal issues or problems with the law
Earlier in the day, Mr. Sunak gave a speech and asked the members of the Conservative Party to support his idea.
The prime minister talked the day after immigration minister Robert Jenrick quit because he didn’t think the government’s new policy would work.
Mr Sunak said the new law from the government will stop the cycle of legal problems about sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The bill makes judges treat Rwanda as a safe country and allows ministers to ignore parts of the Human Rights Act. However, it does not go as far as letting them get rid of the European Convention on Human Rights, as some on the right side of the Conservative Party have asked for.
The proposed law is being challenged by some members of the Conservative Party in Parliament next week.
On Thursday, Suella Braverman, who used to be in charge of keeping the country safe, said again that the plan would not work to prevent people from coming by boat. She wants the government to completely ignore international law.
The Times said that important government lawyers told No 10 that the new law might still let migrants argue against being sent to Rwanda.
Mr Pursglove told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that the new law would stop people from trying to delay the appeals process.
On Sky News, he said government officials will work with lawmakers to address any worries they have.
The conference is a collaboration between Britain, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
People from over 20 countries are coming.
Mr Sunak said there will be a new online center where British scientists can connect with global research about crops that can survive in changing climates.
As the summit started, the UN asked donors to quickly give more help and support long-term solutions to fix the main reasons for hunger.
The Prime Minister’s new plan for Rwanda means that no asylum seekers will be sent there before the next election, according to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
She wrote in the Telegraph that making small changes to a plan that didn’t work before won’t help the government reach its goals.
She said the leaders should not follow human rights laws at all to make it happen.
But former government minister Damian Green said this is the least conservative idea I’ve ever heard.
Mr Green, who used to work for Theresa May, said on BBC Radio 4 that going against the law is something only dictators like the leaders of China and Russia do.
The Supreme Court said the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda may not be safe because they could be sent back to dangerous places.
After the court decision, Rishi Sunak said he will make a new law to say that Rwanda is a “safe” country.
The leader of the country said he will make a new agreement with Rwanda, so that the first flights can start in the spring.
An alternative
Mrs Braverman said a new treaty was unrealistic, using the same strong language as her angry letter to Mr. Sunak when he fired her.
She said the suggested agreement would not help with the main problem, which is that the UK’s top court said Rwanda is not safe for sending back people who are seeking asylum.
Mrs Braverman lost her job as home secretary on Monday. She said that unless the prime minister makes better plans, the government won’t be able to keep its promise in time.
She said that if there’s a new treaty, it would still need to go through the courts, which would probably take at least a year.
She said that the process “could end in another loss”.
“That’s why the Prime Minister’s plan won’t have flights to Rwanda before an election if Plan B is just a slightly changed version of the failed Plan A,” she said.
Mrs Braverman said the PM’s new law should not follow the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on Human Rights, or other international rules like the Refugee Convention. Caption for media.
Some of Mrs Braverman’s coworkers agree with her arguments.
Ex-cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke said that parliament has the right to reject certain parts of the law if it’s absolutely necessary.
He said it was not right that our rules about human rights were stopping the government from policing the UK’s borders.
Mr Sunak wants to use the Rwanda policy to stop people from crossing the English Channel in small boats. This is one of his main promises and it’s meant to make people think twice about making the dangerous journey.
Transport Minister Mark Harper told BBC Breakfast that the government is determined to make the Rwanda policy work by spring.
The new law will likely have a hard time getting approved by the House of Lords because it has many judges from the Supreme Court. It could also be possible to have legal problems in court.
‘White is the opposite of black. ‘
Mr David Normington, who used to work for the Home Office, said on the Today show that Mrs. Braverman was “correct in a way” when she said it would be very hard to come up with a good policy for Rwanda.
The courts have said that the country is not safe. You cannot say that black is white.
Sir David was asked if international law is old-fashioned. He said that international agreements were made to protect those who are easily harmed.
It’s not clear how Mrs. Braverman’s plan would work legally and quickly right away.
The UK and other countries in the European Convention on Human Rights can temporarily ignore some of its rules during a war or emergency. The main protection in the Rwanda case is that no one should be tortured or treated in a cruel way, and this right cannot be taken away, even in special circumstances.
In 2001, there was a new rule to keep al-Qaeda suspects in jail without any charges. But the courts said this was against the law.
While Boris Johnson was prime minister, the government suggested making changes to some human rights laws in a bill that was heavily criticized. However, Rishi Sunak later canceled the bill.
It’s not clear how Mrs. Braverman’s plan would work legally and fast.
The UK and other countries in Europe can choose to ignore certain parts of the European Convention on Human Rights in times of war or emergencies. The main protection in the Rwanda case is that no one should be tortured or treated in a cruel way, and this right cannot be taken away, even in extreme situations.
The UK has only not followed the rules of the ECHR eight times in 70 years. Seven times, paramilitaries were held during the fighting in Northern Ireland. In 2001, there was a controversy about keeping al-Qaeda suspects in custody without charging them. The courts later ruled that this was against the law.
While Boris Johnson was prime minister, the government suggested changing and reducing certain human rights protections in a new bill. But Rishi Sunak cancelled the bill after it received a lot of criticism.
Leaving the ECHR completely would break the Good Friday Agreement, which is important for peace in Northern Ireland, and make the UK’s partners in Europe very angry. This could make it harder for the UK to work with other countries to stop boats.
Suella Braverman has just published a scathing resignation letter after she was sacked by Rishi Sunak as home secretary yesterday.
After a paragraph expressing pride in her record in the post, Mrs Braverman writes: “Despite you having been rejected by a majority of party members during the summer leadership contest and thus having no personal mandate to be prime minister, I agreed to support you because of the firm assurances you gave me on key policy priorities.
“Those priorities were reducing illegal migration, excluding parts of international law from new legislation aimed at stopping small boat crossings, delivering the Northern Ireland Protocol and the retained EU law legislation as they were a year ago (and have since changed), and issuing statutory guidance protecting biological sex.”
But she writes: “You have manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver on every single one of these key policies.”
She accuses him of a “betrayal of our agreement” that put Mr Sunak in Downing Street and a “betrayal of your promise to the nation that you would do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop the boats”.
The ex-home secretary also accuses the prime minister of a “failure to rise to the challenge posed by the increasingly vicious antisemitism and extremism displayed on our streets” since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
She labels his response to “the rising tide of racism, intimidation, and terrorist glorification” as “uncertain, weak, and lacking in the qualities of leadership that this country needs”.
Concluding the letter, she writes: “Someone needs to be honest: your plan is not working, we have endured record election defeats, your resets have failed and we are running out of time.”
Mrs Braverman acknowledges that she “may not have always found the right words” to express her views, but says she has “always striven to give voice to the quiet majority that supported us in 2019”.
But she adds, “I will, of course, continue to support the government in pursuit of policies that align with an authentic conservative agenda.”
Rishi Sunak promised to support Israel when he visited the country before his meetings with its leaders.
When the UK prime minister arrived in Tel Aviv, he said that Israelis had experienced a terrible act of terrorism carried out by Hamas earlier this month.
MrSunak is going to have a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog later. This meeting is happening as part of Mr. Sunak’s two-day visit to the region.
He will also use the trip to ask for help for the people in Gaza.
The visit comes right after President Biden’s visit, as leaders from around the world are working harder to stop the fighting between Hamas and prevent it from affecting more countries.
WhenSunak arrived, he told the reporters that he wanted to have a good and useful meeting with Israel’s leaders.
Most importantly, I am here to show my support for the Israeli people.
“You have experienced a very terrible act of terrorism, and I want you to understand that the United Kingdom and I support you. ”
The Prime Minister is being asked to support a request for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. UK citizens were killed in attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel.
He will meet with Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. One of the things he will do is offer his sympathy for the civilians who have been killed in the war. Afterwards, he will visit other nearby city capitals.
The journey, which happens after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s on Tuesday and Mr Biden’s the next day, shows that the Western leaders are standing together.
They are part of a group called the Quint, which includes the US, UK, Germany, France, and Italy. The leaders of these countries spoke soon after Hamas attacked Israel earlier this month.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, will be coming to visit Israel very soon.
The people with Mr. Sunak say that his visit will mainly be about showing support for Israel in person. He will also ask for help to reach the people in Gaza who need aid, and he will stress the importance of Israel being careful and calm in its approach to a ground invasion.
MrBiden’s visit was overshadowed by a very bad explosion at a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday.
He said the explosion seemed to have happened because a rocket launched by Palestinian militants didn’t work as planned, which supports what Israel said about the incident.
But Palestinian leaders said that an attack from Israeli fighter jets targeted the hospital.
During the Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Sunak stated that British intelligence agencies were trying to find out who was responsible for the explosion. He advised Members of Parliament not to make hasty conclusions.
In a later statement, Mr. Sunak said: “The attack on Al-Ahli Hospital should be a turning point for leaders in the region and around the world to unite and prevent further dangerous escalation of conflict.
I will make sure that the UK is leading the way in this effort.
It is not known what will happen during the rest of the prime minister’s trip. There are many complicated factors involving security and diplomacy that make it difficult to plan exactly where he will go. The night before Mr. Sunak’s trip, many people gathered outside Downing Street in London to remember and honor those who died in the hospital explosion.
In another part of the city, King Charles spoke with strong emotion about the importance of being accepting of different religions and showing respect to one another. He mentioned the ongoing conflicts in Israel and Gaza as examples of global unrest.
The prime minister is visiting Gaza because Israel has been warning about a possible attack on the ground. They are worried about the people’s well-being there.
Israeli warplanes and artillery have been continuously attacking Gaza since over 1,400 people died during an unexpected Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.
Over 3,000 people have lost their lives in many air attacks on Gaza by the Israeli army.
Israel has stopped fuel, water, food, and medical supplies from going into the area since Hamas attacked. They are also asking for the release of many hostages that Hamas took into Gaza.
Over a million people in Gaza have been forced to leave their homes. Gaza is a very crowded place, and there is not enough of important things like food and water.
President Biden said that Israel and Egypt have agreed to let essential aid reach Gaza. But Israel said it won’t let any help go through its own land until Hamas frees the people it’s holding captive.
MrSunak said that the UK is working very hard to rescue people who have been kidnapped by Hamas.
At least seven people from Britain were killed in the attack on Israel. The UK government said that there are nine more UK citizens who have not been found yet.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also had a meeting with the Egyptian counterpart while he was on his trip to the Middle East.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry talked about how different countries are trying to stop the conflict from getting worse and get help to the people in Gaza. Cleverly will also have meetings with leaders from Turkey and Qatar soon.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have an urgent meeting called Cobra on Monday due to the continuing violence in Israel and Gaza after the Hamas attack.
Sunak, who was speaking at an event in Nottinghamshire, said that what was happening in Israel was very scary. He also mentioned that Hamas was doing acts that can be considered as acts of terrorism.
Sunak mentioned that he was working closely with Israel to assist British citizens in the country.
He said he would help Israel in any way they needed, because he thinks Israel is a good friend.
The UK Foreign Office suggests not traveling to the region unless it is necessary.
Rishi Sunak has been accused of saying things about Nicola Sturgeon that led someone to report him to the police. This happened during his speech at the Conservative Party conference.
The prime minister made a funny comment about the previous first minister while speaking to the Conservatives in Manchester on Wednesday.
But now, Mr. Sunak has been reported to the police in Scotland for his criticism towards the former SNP leader, who is currently being investigated by the police.
Ms Sturgeon, who left her government position in February, was taken into custody and interviewed by the police in June as part of a probe into the SNP’s finances.
She was let go without being accused of anything and says she did nothing wrong. However, the investigation called Operation Branchform is still continuing.
Chris McEleny, who leads the Alba Party that supports independence, has accused Mr. Sunak of disrespecting the court and reported him to the authorities.
Mr McEleny made a formal complaint to the police and told Sky News that he has requested them to look into the matter.
The General Secretary is saying why he told the police about Rishi Sunak. He said, “The prime minister is talking about and assuming things about an ongoing investigation by Police Scotland. ”
Operation Branchform is looking into very important matters that are really significant to the people of Scotland.
This is a very important issue, and the prime minister should not get involved in this disrespectful act. Many people are waiting for the facts from the Police Scotland investigation.
‘Operation Branchform should be allowed to conduct its investigation without any interference from Rishi Sunak. ’ During his talk at the meeting, Mr. Sunak mentioned that there is another group of people who are important to all of us. The group of countries that we belong to – England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Today, our group is the most powerful it has been in twenty-five years. The desire for separation is decreasing in all parts of our country.
Ms Sturgeon was taken into custody after the arrests of party treasurer Colin Beattie and former party chief executive Peter Murrell, who is also Ms Sturgeon’s husband.
They were set free without being accused or charged with any crime.
Earlier this year, the police looked through the SNP headquarters and Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell’s home during their investigation.
The speech talked about the serious problem of climate change and had parts in both French and English.
People were waiting to see if the King would respond to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision about achieving net zero.
However, the speech carefully chosen words to prevent any indirect criticism.
The King said that while the problem our planet is facing is big and serious, it is encouraging to see that our governments, people, and private companies are taking action.
Kings and queens listen to their advisors, so when they give a speech, they are expected to stay neutral on political issues.
However, it was definitely uncomfortable timing to have the prime minister suddenly change his stance on achieving net zero emissions at the same time as a state visit that prioritized environmental protection.
So it is possible that people will be watching closely for any disagreement on climate change between the government and the royal family. In his speech, the King expressed his desire to strengthen and maintain the good relationship between France and Britain. He also wanted this relationship to focus on preserving the environment and supporting lasting development.
The King, who glanced around the fancy meeting room and appeared touched by the long clapping, mentioned how Britain and France came together during war as an inspiration for working together in current battles.
In addition to climate change, he mentioned the conflict in Ukraine as a fight for democracy and freedom because of the unexpected aggression happening on our continent.
The King said in French that we are united and determined for Ukraine to succeed and for our cherished freedoms to win.
The King mentioned that his mother, who has passed away, really loved France. He talked about the strong friendship between France and our country.
The speech was serious and didn’t have many jokes, but people liked it, especially because the King used a lot of French.
Malcolm Massey, a French language expert from the Babbel app, said that the King’s French pronunciation was good and he had a decent accent. In a rainy Paris, he will later go to another famous place called Notre Dame. He will see how they are fixing the cathedral after it was badly damaged in a fire.
There was a meeting with famous sports players like Didier Drogba from Chelsea football team. Queen Camilla started a prize for literature between England and France.
At a gathering in the French national library, she informed the attendees that she had been a student in Paris 60 years ago.
On the last day of the three-day trip, the King and Queen will be going to see environmental projects in Bordeaux.
In his remarks, the prime minister addressed a report that the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament had issued in July.
He promised that ministers will take “all necessary steps” to defend the UK from foreign state interference.
Some of Mr. Sunak’s own MPs have been pressuring him lately to formally classify China as a “threat.”
The prime minister has refrained from doing this, instead referring to China as a “epoch-defining and systemic challenge” while accepting the necessity of engaging the superpower.
The ISC report was used by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday to accuse the PM of ignoring warnings about China and leaving the UK “desperately playing catch up” in terms of security. He demanded an investigation into UK-China relations.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that police had detained a researcher working for Parliament on suspicion of espionage for China under the Official Secrets Act.
In a statement sent through solicitors, the researcher—whom the BBC is not naming—debunked the allegations. The Official Secrets Act led to the arrest of two persons, one of which was him.
In response to the report from the committee, which was written before the arrest became public, Mr. Sunak stated that he was “particularly conscious” of the necessity for a “robust approach to any and all state threat activity.”
The ISC had issued a warning that China would “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s economy” using its “size, ambition, and capability.”
“While seeking to exert influence is a legitimate course of action, China oversteps the boundary and crosses the line into interference,” the cross-party committee of parliamentarians continued.
China has been particularly successful at buying academic institutions with its money and influence to advance its international narrative and quell criticism of it.
‘Sabotage’
Along with Mr. Sunak’s declaration, the entire administration responded, agreeing that “some Chinese action crosses the line from influence into interference.”
Recognising that China had “tried to headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience, including from government, military, industry, and wider society,” it claimed that China had “tried to headhunt these individuals.”
Additionally, it stated that targeting of current and former civil workers was something British intelligence was “acutely aware and vigilant” about.
However, it said that the UK intelligence community’s amount of resources allocated to China had grown “significantly” in recent years.
Using new authority to examine foreign investment, the government reportedly vetoed eight investment deals last year when the buyer had ties to China.
In addition, the government noted that it had taken control of CGN’s former ownership of a share in the Sizewell C nuclear power facility and barred Huawei from the UK’s 5G telecom network.
To be able to meet the challenge, the government understands that “further investment” would be required.
It declared that it was increasing money for activities and training in the Mandarin language in order to broaden knowledge.
The UK will become a “harder target” because of the National Security Act, which was approved in July and “introduces a range of new offences for foreign interference, assisting a foreign intelligence service, sabotage, and theft of trade secrets,” according to Mr. Sunak.
And he claimed that this year’s Higher Education Act included measures to defend colleges against attacks to free expression.
‘Glacial’
The ISC’s chair, Conservative MP Julian Lewis, refuted Mr. Sunak’s assertion that the committee’s report was out-of-date.
Given the glacial pace at which the government’s China policy proceeded, he stated, “We observed all important changes and highlighted them throughout the report up until two months before publication.
According to the government, its approach to China is determined by the need to safeguard the UK’s prosperity and security, by uniting with friends to address Beijing’s challenges, and by engaging with China itself to seek out stable and positive ties.
According to the administration, cooperation is essential in many areas, from shared economic interests to the need to combat climate change.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly justified his meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing last month, the first such encounter by a foreign secretary in five years, by saying it would not be “credible” to end relations with China.
Vladimir Putin has blamed the UK for planning a strike on a Russian nuclear facility. He criticized Rishi Sunak for not grasping the situation in the Ukraine war.
The Russian president said that Ukrainian soldiers who were captured admitted to being told by British secret services to damage the facility.
He also blamed the UK for not understanding the negative effects of planning an attack, and said he was being provoked.
When Putin spoke in Vladivostok, he asked if the people understand the seriousness of their actions.
Are they trying to make us angry so that we attack Ukrainian atomic power stations.
Does the leader of Britain know what his undercover agents are doing in Ukraine.
Putin also said that the US government might have been in charge of the attack, according to The Times.
He did not say which atomic facility was supposedly attacked.
Russian forces have taken control of the Zaporozhzhia nuclear station in the south of Ukraine for over a year.
Soldiers from both Russia and Ukraine have claimed that each other’s soldiers have fired explosives near the six reactors of the plant.
Putin is going to meet Kim Jong-un, who is the leader of North Korea, tomorrow. They will talk about an agreement regarding nuclear weapons. The meeting has made Western countries worried that Moscow might buy weapons to use in the war in Ukraine.
Last week, US authorities expressed worries that the two would talk about the chance of North Korea providing weapons for Russian soldiers to use in Ukraine.
They will have a meeting after the Russian Defense Minister visits North Korea in July.
People think that he made secret agreements to give weapons to the Kremlin for their war in Ukraine while he was there.
Rishi Sunak said he will not allow China to interfere in the UK’s democracy. A parliamentary researcher was arrested for spying for China.
The Prime Minister told Members of Parliament that he informed the Chinese Premier during the G20 conference that any attempt to spy will not be allowed.
The Met Police said on Saturday that they arrested two men in March for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
The researcher says that the accusations are not true.
The man mentioned in a statement that he felt like he had no choice but to answer the accusations made in the media.
China denied the accusations of spying and the foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said it was false and intended to harm their reputation.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has told Members of Parliament not to reveal the identity of the man, who the BBC is not naming, using parliamentary privilege.
During a speech to the House of Commons about the G20 summit in India, Mr Sunak told MPs: “I have made it very clear to China that we will not allow them to meddle in our democracy and parliamentary system.
We will protect our democracy and our safety.
I strongly told Premier Li that we will not allow any actions that try to harm British democracy. This kind of behavior is not acceptable and we won’t tolerate it.
When asked by Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Sunak said that Foreign Secretary James Cleverly had also talked about China’s attempts to meddle with UK democracy during his recent trip to China.
Sir Keir stated that incidents such as this demonstrate the ongoing dangers that we encounter. ‘Refreshingly perceptive’
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden mentioned that the government is considering the idea of examining Chinese government workers more closely in the UK.
Some Members of Parliament want China to be placed in the “higher category” of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which was implemented this year.
When more countries are involved, China-linked organizations have to provide more information.
Some important members of the Conservative Party, including Liz Truss and Iain Duncan Smith, want the government to officially say that China is a threat to the UK. But so far, the government has not agreed with this.
Mr Dowden, speaking in the Commons, said that there is a good reason for this, but the government is currently deciding which countries should be included in the registration system.
He said that ministers were well aware of the difficulties China presents, but it would not be practical to completely cut off all relations with the country.
The Sunday Times reported that a researcher was arrested and had connections with some Conservative politicians like Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Alicia Kearns.
They say that Mr Tugendhat didn’t have much contact with the man, and he didn’t work with him as a minister.
The arrest of the researcher has caused MPs to discuss again whether the UK should be tougher with China.
China is one of the UK’s most important trading partners, and British government officials often emphasize the importance of collaborating with China on major global concerns like addressing climate change.
However, the relationship between the two countries has become worse in recent years due to a number of problems. These problems include the violation of people’s rights in Hong Kong, which used to be a British colony, and China’s support for Russia during the war in Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak was under pressure to bring attention to the situation of Jagtar Singh Johal, who is from Dumbarton. His family says that he has been tortured.
Over 70 Members of Parliament requested that Mr. Sunak advocate for his release.
Earlier this week, the government decided not to get involved in the case.
But after talking to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Sunak confirmed that he brought up the case along with other matters related to embassies and citizens.
He didn’t give any specifics, but he stated that the foreign office is still helping Mr. Johal’s family and will continue to help them.
Mr Johal, a 36-year-old advocate for Sikh human rights, went to India in October 2017 to get married.
He was out shopping with his wife when suddenly his family saw him being taken away by policemen wearing regular clothes from the Punjab Police. They forced him into a car that didn’t have any official markings.
He said that he was hurt and mistreated by officers for several days and they shocked his private parts with electricity. Then they made him sign a paper without anything written on it.
The Indian authorities say that these accusations are not true.
Mr Johal has been held in Indian prisons for a long time because he is accused of paying for weapons that were used to kill some Hindu religious and political leaders from the right-wing party in Punjab.
‘Speaking without purpose has no value’
He is currently accused of planning to kill people for political reasons in India, and he might be sentenced to death if found guilty.
He says he didn’t do what they accuse him of, and claims that his arrest and trial are motivated by politics.
The UK government has said that it won’t ask for Mr Johal to be released right away because that might seem like they are interfering with the legal process and it might not be what’s best for him.
On the airplane going to Delhi, Mr. Sunak was asked if he would be discussing the case. He replied that he would be talking about many things with Prime Minister Modi, and reassured people that the case has already been brought up multiple times before.
On Friday, Mr Johal’s brother, Gurpreet, who is a lawyer and a Labour councillor, accused Mr Sunak of letting Mr Johal stay in prison and not helping him.
After finding out that Mr. Sunak was involved, he said: “I’m glad that the prime minister has brought up my brother’s situation with his counterpart, but just discussing it is not sufficient unless he has demanded Jagtar’s release in accordance with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s conclusions.
Clearly, the prime minister had to address Jagtar’s situation because many Members of Parliament asked him to.
I am worried that the UK government is only saying things without actually doing anything. The campaign continues until Jagtar returns home to Scotland.
‘Not having enough people to lead’
The director of the human rights group Reprieve, Maya Foa, said that Theresa May brought up Jagtar’s case. Boris Johnson also did it. However, even though he was taken against his will and subjected to severe pain and suffering, he continues to be held in jail after six years. He now faces the chance of being sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.
The government frequently claims that ministers have brought up the situation many times, as if that diminishes their responsibility for not working harder to free a British citizen who is being held without reason.
“What did Rishi Sunak tell Narendra Modi about the situation and how did he react. Without getting these answers, the prime minister’s conversation doesn’t have much meaning. ”
Dabinderjit Singh, an important advisor to the Sikh Federation, said that Mr. Sunak had seemed unwilling to support the Scottish case since he became Prime Minister almost a year ago, until he was pushed by pressure from Members of Parliament to do so.
He said: “But he has shown his weakness and lack of leadership by not fighting for the rights of a British citizen and asking for Jagtar to be released right away.
Rishi Sunak and his team from the Foreign Office are saying things that don’t make sense when it comes to Jagtar’s well-being and fairness.
“They seem afraid and confused about how to apply diplomatic pressure on India, so they are relying on the corrupt Indian judicial system. ”
MrJohal’s brother Gurpeet stated that the government did not have the determination to bring him back.
A man from Dumbarton is in trouble and might be sentenced to death. He has been held in India since 2017.
Mr Sunak is currently in Delhi for the G20 Summit. However, he has decided not to promise that he will discuss the matter with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
In a letter to Mr. Johal’s local representative, Martin Docherty-Hughes, Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad stated that after thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of asking for Mr. Johal to be freed and how effective it would be, they do not think it would be in his best interest.
“With Mr Johal’s trial happening now, we think that making this request could be seen as getting involved in the Indian legal process. This might put our ability to help Mr Johal in his case at risk. ”
Lord Ahmad also mentioned that the UK government will keep expressing its worries to India. They also visit Mr Johal regularly to ensure he is doing well.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the same thing in July when he wrote to Mr. Johal’s family, explaining why the UK would not ask for his freedom.
The Member of Parliament for West Dunbartonshire, Mr. Docherty-Hughes, said that the prime minister decided to prioritize a trade deal over the life of a British citizen. He also ignored a reasonable request made by more than 70 of his fellow MPs.
Earlier this week, a group of Members of Parliament from different political parties asked Mr. Sunak to get involved in the situation while he was in Delhi.
MrJohal, a 36 year-old advocate for the rights of Sikhs, went to India in October 2017 to get married.
MPs say that after they arrested him, the interrogators shocked him with electricity and threatened to pour gasoline on him and set him on fire.
Jagtar made videos of himself talking and signed blank papers to stop the torture.
The Indian authorities have said that these accusations are not true.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that he was singled out because he had asked for “responsibility to be taken for supposed mistreatment of Sikhs by the government”.
He is currently accused of planning to commit eight murders that are connected to political violence in India.
In an interview with the BBC, Gurpreet Johal, the lawyer and Labour councillor who is the brother of Mr. Johal, said that Lord Ahmad expressed worry about the situation, but lacked the ability to take effective action.
“They claim the situation is important and they are trying to find a solution, but they keep delaying it by giving me a less experienced government official. ”
I am tired of being told that the government cannot do anything.
My brother has been gone from our family for six years now. The prime minister and foreign secretary are not making enough effort to bring an innocent British person back from an Indian jail. As a result, this person is being left to suffer for longer than necessary.
During the plane journey to Delhi, when someone asked if he would talk about the case, Mr. Sunak replied: “I will discuss various things with Prime Minister Modi – just to reassure people, this matter has already been brought up multiple times at different levels. ”
Rishi Sunak , who is currently in India for a G20 summit, mentioned that he will take his time before finalizing a trade agreement between the UK and India.
The UK prime minister said the negotiations, which started in early last year, would not have a set end date.
People are increasingly hopeful that an agreement could be reached before the year ends.
Mr Sunak said to reporters that we have made some progress, but we haven’t reached our goal yet.
India and the UK have not yet made a trade agreement since the UK left the European Union’s trading system in 2021. If they do, India would be the largest country to do so.
Mr Sunak is going to India to attend a meeting with leaders from the biggest economies in the world called the G20.
There is no plan for a UK-India agreement, but Mr. Sunak is expected to talk about what has happened until now with his Indian partner Narendra Modi during the summit this weekend.
He received a warm welcome when he arrived in Delhi on Friday. People greeted him with traditional dancers and music as he got off his plane.
Later on, he met some kids from a nearby school along with his wife Akshata Murty. She is the daughter of a very rich person who helped start a big technology company in India called Infosys. Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty. Caption for a picture. Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty had a meeting with children from a nearby school at the British Council.
The two countries started talking about trading with each other in January last year. They have had twelve meetings about it so far, and the next one will happen later this month.
The UK wants India to reduce the high import taxes it imposes on British cars, dairy products, and drinks like Scotch whisky.
The UK wants India to let more UK financial and professional services companies work in India.
However,Sunak is being urged not to make it easier for Indian people to obtain visas in the UK. Reports suggest that the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is worried that this could make it harder to reduce overall immigration numbers. Difficulty obtaining visa
Before the summit, the UK government stated that they would not give more student visas in order to make an agreement. The Prime Minister’s spokesperson also said that they do not intend to change their rules for immigration.
India’s ambassador to the UK has made it clear that India is not seeking additional visas. However, he did express a desire for Indian students studying in the UK to be allowed to gain practical work experience once they complete their studies.
Vikram Doraiswami said that Indian students are paying a lot of money to study in UK universities and they want the same rights as students from other countries.
He said India also wants to make it simpler for companies from both countries to temporarily move their workers, and for Indians working in the UK for short periods to be able to bring back their pension contributions to India.
“He said that we do not want migrants to be able to come here. They have been talking about this in your press, not in ours. ” The Diwali deadline was not met.
The previous Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, wanted to make a deal with India before October last year, in time for Diwali. However, he lost his position as Prime Minister in July and the deadline passed without a deal being made.
There are reports that Mr Modi wants to make a smaller deal to lower import taxes and make it easier for service companies to do business, before the election next year.
Mr Sunak recently talked to reporters and said that he has made sure to prioritize international negotiations that benefit the people of Britain since he became a part of the government.
“He said he won’t hurry things just for the sake of it, but will wait until they are right for us. ”
Russian drones attacking Ukraine‘s ports along the River Danube every night are endangering an important economic lifeline for Kyiv.
The recent days have seen a rise in the intensity of attacks that started more than a month ago.
Every morning, there is news of new explosions happening at places where grain is stored and at the ports in and around Reni and Izmail.
Ukraine is a big supplier of grain worldwide, but the war has caused serious problems in getting the supplies.
According to the governor of the Odesa region, Oleg Kiper, on Thursday night, 14 drones from Russia were destroyed over the area that includes the ports on the Danube River.
But a lot of drones get past and cause a lot of damage.
“They ruin the buildings and the machines that bring grain to other countries. ”
“We want others to join us in making the air defense of the Odesa region stronger,” he tweeted later.
What is the Ukraine grain deal. Russia has come up with a new method to stop Ukraine from exporting grain.
Russia started sending drone attacks to the Danube ports after quitting the Black Sea Grain Initiative in mid-July. They believed that their own farmers were being treated unfairly.
The plan was made to help ships carrying grain travel safely to worldwide markets.
After Russia left, only a few ships, none of them carrying grain, have been able to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
As a result, the Danube route has become very important now.
In simple words, it is safer for ships because when they enter the Black Sea from the river mouth, they immediately enter Romanian waters.
Many people go to the port of Costanta in Romania to send things to other places.
MrMarchuk said that the reason why Russia is attacking the Danube ports is very clear and easy to understand.
“He said Russia is doing this because Ukraine’s decrease in exports could create opportunities for them to sell in other countries. ”
“They want to expand into new markets that Ukraine cannot meet the demand for. ”
Grain is still being loaded onto ships at Reni and Izmail, but the fear of Russian attacks is increasing the price of insurance and making shipping companies reluctant to do business there.
In June and July, Ukraine sent about two million tonnes each month through the Danube River to other countries. They are aiming to increase this amount to about three million tonnes.
Even though there were attacks, the amount of exports in August went up to 2. 5However, the increasing costs of shipping are making it less valuable for Ukraine’s farmers.
Denys Marchuk said that we cannot know what will happen in the future.
“It’s really strong. ”
He repeated what the president said, asking for help from other countries.
“We hope that the Russians will stop their actions, and with the help of our allies, we can safeguard the port facilities. ”
The Black Sea Grain Initiative is still not moving forward, even though Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tried to convince Vladimir Putin to change his decision.
Currently, the Danube route is the most significant option.
There are other ways to travel like driving or taking a train, but they are not as good.
Because of pressure from their own farmers, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia have stopped allowing the import of grain from Ukraine. However, the European Union (EU) has made special routes so that Ukrainian grain can still reach markets in the western part of Europe.
Because the River Danube is part of the border between Ukraine and NATO, Russia’s attacks have an extra political aspect.
A drone from Russia exploded in Romania, near Izmail, across the river.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said something, but Romania at first said it wasn’t true.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, was very angry and said it was useless to say that something didn’t fall there.
He said that Nato countries were ignoring what Russia is doing.
“The partners usually try to avoid making a small problem into a big one,” he said, “so that they don’t end up in a big fight. ”
Romania finally agreed that they found pieces of Russian drones on their part of the river.
The government in Bucharest strongly disagrees with Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s Danube facilities. They don’t want the situation to escalate or become more serious.
In simple words, people in Romania do not want to use Article 5 of NATO, which is about all member countries defending each other, just because there are some small parts of a Russian drone found in a field.
The government of the UK has announced that they will be joining the European Union‘s main scientific research program, called Horizon.
Scientists and schools in the UK can now request funds from the £81 billion (€95 billion) fund starting today.
Associate membership was accepted as a part of the Brexit trade deal when the UK officially exited the EU in 2020.
However, for the last three years, the UK has not been a part of the scheme because of a disagreement related to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said that we have made a deal that allows UK scientists to participate in a big international research program with confidence.
We have worked with our European Union partners to ensure that this agreement is favorable for the United Kingdom. It will open up exceptional research possibilities and is also beneficial for British taxpayers.
The announcement made on Thursday says that the UK will be a part of Copernicus, which is the EU’s Earth observation program worth £8bn (€9bn). Britain will not be joining a nuclear research group called Euratom R&D. However, they will still cooperate with them on nuclear fusion.
The European Commission said that the decision would be good for both parties involved. They also stated that the UK will give around €2. 6bn (£22bn) every year on average for its involvement in both Horizon and Copernicus.
The scientific and academic community is happy about the Horizon association news.
Vivienne Stern, the leader of Universities UK, said scientists will feel very relieved, as they will be able to work together in different countries and receive funding from a shared source.
I was studying a huge project that maps the human brain. It involves 500 scientists from 16 different countries and has been happening for 10 years. The projects are too big to be funded by the country’s funding methods.
And Sir Paul Nurse, who won the Nobel Prize and has been one of the strongest advocates for joining again, said: “I am very happy to see that collaborations with scientists from the EU can still happen. ” This is a very important step in improving and making our global scientific reputation stronger. ”
The UK’s connection to Horizon was approved as a general idea as part of the Brexit Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA), but the matter then got stuck in the argument over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The European Commission said no to letting the UK join the science and Earth observation programs until they did everything they promised to do.
Last February, Brussels and London agreed on the Windsor Framework to resolve their issues regarding Northern Ireland. This also allowed the associations to be accessed. Over the past six months, both parties have been discussing and making agreements about the money-related aspects of being part of a group.
These requirements have not yet been fully revealed, but they mean that the UK will have to give money to the EU-27 bloc based on the size of its economy. If UK scientists win a lot or very few grants, there are rules in place to evaluate their performance. However, these rules are similar to the ones already established in the TCA, according to officials from Brussels who spoke to the BBC.
In the past, UK scientists often won the most grants in the Horizon programmes. They would compete with and sometimes beat Germany, which is another strong European country in terms of scientific research.
The application numbers from UK scientists to work on European projects supported by UK government funds have decreased due to the delays and uncertainty in reaching an agreement.
The situation also caused some people from EU countries who were working in the UK to bring their studies back to their own countries or to other countries in the European Union. Furthermore, British researchers who held important positions in large, ongoing projects were obligated to resign. Ministers and science officials want the new deal to give a boost to the science sector and motivate UK researchers to regain their leading position in European science.
Sue Ferns, who is from a place called Prospect and represents workers in research, said: “It’s good that the UK is joining Horizon again, but it should have happened a long time ago. We are now trying to catch up because we wasted a lot of time. ” Ministers now have to make sure there is enough money spent on the scientific sector for a long time – having experts in science is very important for solving the big problems we are facing now and in the future. The Copernicus association helps UK scientists stay ahead in studying the climate and allows the aerospace industry in Britain to compete for satellite contracts worth a lot of money.
Nuclear fusion
The UK could have been a part of a European Union program called Euratom R&D, but they have decided not to pursue it anymore.
This involves studying and teaching about keeping nuclear materials safe, protecting against radiation, and managing waste.
Although it was allowed, the London government did not think that association was worth the cost.
Instead, the UK will create its own program that will focus on nuclear fusion. This is a scientific method of trying to get energy by bringing light atomic nuclei together.
It will involve working together with people from different countries. In simpler terms, the UK still has Europe’s top fusion lab called the Joint European Torus (Jet), located in Oxfordshire.
The UK government plans to support the alternative programme with £650m until 2027.
What the associations cannot change are the rules for EU or other foreign scientists who want to come to the UK for their research, and the same applies in reverse.
There is not the ability to move around freely. Scientists who want to come to the UK need special permission called visas. These visas can be really expensive and cost more than visas in other countries in the G8 group.
Michelle Donelan, who is in charge of science, innovation, and technology for the government, spoke out in support of the government’s stance on immigration on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
“We need to prioritize the needs of the British taxpayer by making decisions that help us regulate immigration. ” “We promised in our plan, and we should be committed to keeping that promise and working diligently to make it happen,” she said.
However, we also want to attract highly skilled individuals from different countries to work here specifically in the fields of science and technology. This is because we aim to become a leading force in these areas by the year 2030.
The UK’s Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, was glad that the country had rejoined the Horizon program. However, he was sad about the time it took for this to happen.
“He said during his visit to Macclesfield that we feel like we’ve wasted two years and this should have happened earlier, which is a big setback. ”
A group of MPs from different political parties are asking Rishi Sunak to help a British man who may be sentenced to death in India.
Over 70 members of Parliament signed a letter asking the Prime Minister to urge Narendra Modi to release activist Jagtar Singh Johal right away, when he goes to Delhi for the G20 leaders’ meeting.
They claim that Mr Johal has been held against his will for more than five years without a fair reason.
The person speaking for the Prime Minister did not say if they would bring up the situation or not.
Mr Johal, who is currently 36 years old, is originally from Dumbarton, which is in Scotland. He was a person who wrote blogs and spoke up for the rights of Sikhs. The authorities in India noticed him because of this.
He went to India in October 2017 to get married. According to the campaign group Reprieve, when he was shopping with his wife, some men in regular clothes covered his head, forced him into a car, and hurt him very badly. They also made him sign empty sheets of paper.
Tory politician David Davis said on the BBC that the main responsibility of a government should be to keep its citizens safe. He also stated that if a citizen is harmed and treated unfairly, the government should strongly voice their concerns about it.
He said: “It seems like that is not happening right now, and the Foreign Office is failing to do its most important job. ”
The MPs wrote a letter saying that when Jagtar was arrested, the people questioning him shocked him with electricity and threatened to pour petrol on him and set him on fire. To stop the torture, Jagtar made videos where he said certain things and signed empty papers.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention explained that he had been singled out because of his involvement in writing public messages asking for punishment to be given to those responsible for mistreating Sikhs.
The letter from the MPs says that the UN Working Group determined that Jagtar’s ongoing imprisonment is not supported by any laws.
After almost six years, Mr. Johal is still in jail in India. He is accused of committing 10 murders and planning to commit murder along with others, all related to violent acts in India’s politics. His family say that court hearings have begun but have had to be postponed many times.
His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, who is a lawyer and Labour councillor in Dumbarton, told the BBC: “The family is afraid that untrue accusations could turn into formal charges, leading to a wrongful conviction and possibly the death penalty. ”
He said that both former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May talked about the case with India’s prime minister. He also said that it would be really hard for Rishi Sunak to not bring up the case. If Rishi Sunak doesn’t do it, people will ask why he didn’t do it.
Since Rishi Sunak has a good connection with the Indian prime minister, it shouldn’t be difficult to request something from them. It has been almost six years, but no proof has been shown against Jagtar. These are just accusations made against him, and he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He said that it should be really simple to ask for Jagtar’s freedom. The UK took the right action for Nazanin and Anousheh in Iran before.
When asked if Mr. Sunak would bring up the matter, the prime minister’s spokesperson said they couldn’t predict what will be talked about.
In answer to more questions, the spokesman said the government has expressed worries about Jagtar to the Indian government “over 100 times”.
He said that they talked about getting help from their country’s representatives, following legal procedures, and finding out if there were any cases of abuse.
He said the family is getting help from the consulate and that Lord Ahmad, a government official, recently met with them.
But, in a letter sent to Gurpreet Singh Johal in July and seen by the BBC, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he had decided it was better not to pressure India about the matter.
Mr Cleverly said that he doesn’t think asking for Jagtar to be freed would make the Indian authorities actually release him. I am afraid this could affect the teamwork that we rely on. To visit consulates, help with welfare issues, and go to court hearings.
Both Davis and Mr. Johal’s family are really mad about it. Gurpreet Singh Johal said: “Basically, it means ‘I refuse to do it and I would prefer to see him stay in jail. ‘ That’s what I understand from it. ”
Mr Davis said it sets a bad example and makes other governments more sensitive to complaints.
Gurpreet Singh Johal said that he thinks the UK is not talking about the case now because they want to sign a trade deal with India, which Rishi Sunak wants.
“They seem to be mainly focused on India, a country that is growing rapidly, and they want to finalize this trade agreement with them. It seems like they prioritize trade more than human rights,” he explained.
Mr Davis stated that he believes protecting the legal rights of British citizens should be the top priority, even if it means putting a trade deal in second place.
He said: “You don’t need to be a high-ranking official to understand that the most important thing for a British government is protecting the rights of its citizens. We will not agree to torture as a condition for making a trade deal. ” The period punctuation mark is called a full stop.
In order to avoid being sentenced for the murders of seven newborns and attempted murders of six more at the UK hospital where she worked, a British nurse neglected to show up in court on Monday.
When Lucy Letby, 33, is sentenced later at Manchester Crown Court in northern England, she might receive a whole life order, which would mean spending the rest of her life in prison. In a case that terrified the nation and branded her the most prolific child serial murderer in recent memory, a jury found her guilty on Friday.
Outrage and efforts to modify the law to require that individuals who commit the most serious crimes face the families of the victims have been brought about by Letby’s reluctance to show up for either the verdicts or her punishment.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, referred to Letby’s absence as “cowardly” on Monday. According to PA Media, it is “cowardly” for those who commit such heinous acts to avoid confronting their victims and learning firsthand how their actions have affected the victims’ families and loved ones.
We are considering and have been working on altering the law to ensure that this occurs; we’ll provide that in due course.
According to testimony given in court on Friday, Letby physically assaulted the infants in her care and injected air into their blood and stomachs, overfed them with milk, poisoned them with insulin, and overfed them with air.
Letby was accused of the crimes, and after she was found guilty, there was a government investigation into how she managed to go unnoticed for so long.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Britain said in a statement on Friday that she surreptitiously attacked 13 newborn babies on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016.
According to the prosecution, Letby intended to kill the infants while deceiving her coworkers into thinking there was a natural cause of death.
In one occasion, Letby attempted to kill a baby boy after killing his twin brother, according to the distressing evidence of the victim’s parents heard in court in Manchester during the trial.
While testifying in court, the mother of Children E and F stated that she “completely” believed Letby’s counsel.
When her infant Child E began to wail in the intensive care unit one night, she claimed she “knew there was something wrong” and that she immediately felt better.
It was discovered that when Letby attempted to assault Child E, he began bleeding before she killed him. The twin of that infant, Child F, later lived through an attempt by Letby to poison him with insulin. Additionally, it was disclosed that police had discovered several handwritten messages by Letby, one of which read: “I am evil I did this.”
Letby was twice detained by police in connection with their probe in 2018 and 2019, according to PA. In November 2020, she was detained once more.
During inspections of Letby’s residence, authorities discovered the notes she had written.
“I’m not worthy of life. She wrote in one memo, “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them,” and in another, “I am a terrible evil person,” adding in big letters, “I am evil I did this.”
On Friday, the UK government released an independent investigation into the killings, which covered how authorities and the country’s National Health Service handled consultants’ concerns.
According to testimony given in court in Manchester, hospital staff noticed an increase in the frequency of infants dying or suddenly collapsing in the neonatal unit.
However, PA stated that the hospital’s management originally disregarded clinicians’ worries over the elevated mortality rate of patients under Letby’s care.
Attorneys for the relatives of the victims have criticised the inquiry as “not good enough” because it lacks the authority to call witnesses.
Letby won a grievance lawsuit against her employers in 2016 after learning of their first accusations.
She was supposed to visit the neonatal unit again in March 2017, but that didn’t happen. The police were informed by the hospital trust, and they started an inquiry.
More than 75% of respondents claim that longer wait times for the NHS, higher taxes, and inflation make Britain a worse place to live.
According to an Ipsos poll done for the Evening Standard, the cost of living crisis has significantly lowered voter support for the Conservatives.
Nearly 90% of those polled expressed discontent with the government, and nearly 50% of respondents said they planned to support Labour in the upcoming general election.
The lowest rate of dissatisfaction for Rishi Sunak as prime minister yet was just over 60%.
Management of the economy, taxation, and public spending were three areas of concern for people who gave the Conservative government a low rating.
It was also discussed how to improve the delivery of services by the NHS, the education system, policing, and immigration management while addressing the cost of living crisis.
Actually, the only area in which Sunak’s administration received high marks was for its handling of the war in Ukraine.
Just 10% felt a government led by Sir Keir Starmer would perform well, whereas almost 60% think the Tories are managing support for Ukraine and taking a stand against the Putin administration successfully.
Ipsos UK’s Gideon Skinner stated that although Labour has a distinct advantage when it comes to the cost of living and public services like the NHS, there are still some concerns, notably about general perceptions of economic ability.
He continued by saying that dissatisfaction with the performance of the Conservatives “is outweighing reservations about the prospects of change at the next election.”
In order to increase funds for carbon capture, the government has awarded hundreds of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
In advance of his visit to Aberdeenshire later today, Rishi Sunak made the announcement.
Additionally, he declared that the Acorn carbon capture project would receive millions of pounds in support and stressed the importance of enhancing our energy security.
The Government promised to invest up to £20 billion in early carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) deployment, and the Acorn project and the Viking project in the Humber are now receiving support.
These projects are now the third and fourth of their kind to receive government support.
Future licencing will still be subject to a climate compatibility test, according to the government and the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).
Greta Thunberg and other environmental activists, however, are already adamant that the Rosebank oil and gas field, which is located to the west of Shetland, should not be developed.
To have new licencing rounds, Mr. Sunak argued, was “absolutely the right thing to do.”
Shell UK and other businesses collaborated on the project.
“We have all seen how Putin has manipulated and weaponized energy, disrupting supply and stalling growth in nations all over the world,” Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
More than ever, it’s crucial that we increase our energy security and take advantage of our independence to provide British households and companies with more reasonably priced, clean energy.
Even when we reach net zero in 2050, oil and gas will still provide a fifth of our energy demands. However, some people want it to originate from adversarial nations rather than our own resources.
Instead of relying on more carbon-intensive petrol imports from abroad, “We’re choosing to power up Britain from Britain and invest in crucial industries such as carbon capture and storage, which will support thousands of skilled jobs, unlock further opportunities for green technologies and grow the economy,” the statement reads.
According to Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps, the commitment to new oil and gas licences will “drive forward our energy independence and our economy for generations.”
Our energy security is more crucial than ever in the wake of Putin’s heinous invasion of Ukraine, according to Mr. Shapps.
In order to prevent dictators like Putin from ever again using energy as a tool to blackmail us, the North Sea is at the centre of our strategy to power up Britain entirely from within the country.
“Today’s decision to move forward with new oil and gas licences will advance our economy and energy independence for generations.”
providing a domestic fuel for our economy that, for domestic gas production, has about one-fourth the carbon footprint of imported liquefied natural gas while maintaining vital jobs in every region of the UK.
As we carry out our aim of expanding the economy, “our next steps to develop carbon capture and storage, in Scotland and the Humber, will also help to build a thriving new industry for our North Sea that could support as many as 50,000 jobs.”
According to Downing Street, Mr. Sunak would use the trip to call Scotland the “cornerstone” of the government’s plans for energy security.
Additionally, No. 10 gave the impression that the PM would be expected to emphasise initiatives to “boost the capability” of the North Sea industry in the move to net zero.
Amid a government focus on the problem, Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps will also meet with leading executives from the oil and gas, renewable energy and nuclear businesses over the course of the week.
After Mr. Sunak had been criticised for days on worries that the government’s commitment to important net zero initiatives and environmental promises was waning, the focus has now turned to British energy projects.
Some Tory MPs have argued for a change in the Government to draw a new line with Labour in light of the party’s victory in the Uxbridge by-election, which was motivated by resentment over London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez).
Although Sir Keir Starmer has previously stated that a Labour administration would not interfere with current licences, the party would prohibit new North Sea oil and gas drilling.
“Every family and business is paying the price, in higher energy bills, of 13 years of failed Tory energy policy,” said Ed Miliband, the shadow climate minister.
“It is ludicrous that the Conservative Party is urging the public to think they can solve it after leaving our country so exposed.
And it’s telling that Rishi Sunak veers frantically towards a culture war on climate change to placate his divided party, losing track of what he believes from day to day, depending on which faction he’s met with. While Labour focuses on lower costs and good jobs.
It’s a bad way to run a government, and it costs the working class.
However, Mr. Sunak and his ministers have emphasised the necessity of using the fossil fuel resources of the North Sea, particularly in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Climate activists are alarmed by these actions, and the government is already up against opposition to any development of Rosebank, an area 80 miles to the northwest of the Shetland Islands.
In an apparent effort to secure motorist support for the Conservatives, the prime minister ordered a review of the deployment of low-traffic districts, which raised concerns about his environmental credentials over the weekend.
The Financial Times also reported that the Government was moving to alter the UK’s post-Brexit carbon trading regime, giving companies additional allowances and making it less expensive to pollute.
‘We’ve taken substantial steps to increase the ambition of the UK Emission Trading Scheme, and recently announced a reduction in the cap of 30% – to bring the scheme in line with our net zero aspirations,’ a spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said.
“We want to ensure a seamless transition to the net zero cap, giving the market and participants time to adapt, while ensuring that the strength of overall ambition is not affected,” the statement reads.
After some backbenchers encouraged Mr Sunak to revisit the timeframe for the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, not all Conservative MPs want the Prime Minister to soften net zero pledges.
“To take the chance of frying the planet is not conservative.” Senior Conservative lawmaker Damian Green stated on Sunday’s Westminster Hour on BBC Radio 4 that “if you fry the planet you’ve got nothing to conserve.”
Only a few hours after announcing a large number of North Sea oil and gas licences, Rishi Sunak has once more defended his use of a private aircraft.
The prime minister has long been under fire for using a private jet to travel throughout the UK, with detractors pointing out that environmentally friendly transportation was frequently an option.
Sunak has taken a variety of trips, including a helicopter flight to Dover (followed by an hour-long train ride), three private plane flights in a 10-day period, and a private jet flight from London to Blackpool.
Private aircraft cause up to 14 times more pollution than commercial aircraft and consume more fuel than those aircraft.
Sunak, however, stated that he will travel to Scotland today to announce money for a carbon capture and storage project during a tense and difficult interview with the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today.
I’ll be flying as usual since that’s the best use of my time, he declared.
The Tory leader claimed that individuals who were critical of him for using a private jet as the climate issue grew wanted to outlaw “holidays.”
If you or others believe that stopping people from doing anything is the best way to combat climate change, he continued, “I mean, I think that’s absolutely the wrong approach.”
Sunak took a private flight this afternoon to St Fergus, a small community near Peterhead, where the Acorn carbon capture project in the North Sea will be presented.
While some of Sunak’s private jet travel is funded by government dollars, it is also well known that Tory contributors pay the tab.
Given how “efficient,” he said, travelling by plane to St. Fergus is what prime leaders before him have long done.
Sunak continued, “But if your approach to tackling climate change is to say no one should travel, I think you are completely and utterly wrong. That is absolutely not the approach to tackling climate change.”
The transition will be aided by new technologies like carbon capture and storage, thus we are investing in sustainable aviation fuel.
Sunak asserted earlier today that the UK will give hundreds of additional oil and gas licences and that the country requires fossil fuels.
Despite the fact that the objective has been codified into law, he asserted, “Even when we reach net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas.”
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), roughly six in ten Britons express concern about climate change.
The Conservatives have fought against green initiatives including low-emission zones and low-traffic districts while questioning some of Britain’s emission reduction targets.
The UK “has lost its clear global leadership position on climate action,” according to the Climate Change Committee, an independent advisory body to the government.
According to a study by the European Association for clean transport Transport & Environment, private jets are 50 times more polluting than railroads and 14 times more polluting than commercial planes per passenger.
A single private jet may produce two tonnes of CO2 in just one hour. An typical trip in one emits roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as driving a petrol vehicle 16 times the length of the UK, or around 860 miles, from Paris to Rome.
While the annual CO2 production of the average person is around seven metric tonnes.
In all, Greenpeace discovered in March that private aircraft emissions have skyrocketed in Europe, totaling 5,300,000 tonnes of CO2 over the previous three years.
This is a little bit more what Uganda, a nation with over 46,000,000 people, generates in a year.
British environmental policy, according to Oliver Sidorczuk, co-director of Zero Hour, the cross-party campaign for the Climate & Ecology Bill, is at best ‘poor’ even as climate change worsens.
After the hottest summer on record, the UK Government should be accelerating the transition to a zero-carbon, environmentally beneficial future rather than approving additional oil, gas and coal initiatives, said he.
Sunak must work with other world leaders to present a “people-powered plan to reverse nature’s decline,” which will help to reduce rising fuel prices and generate green jobs.
‘This should be Rishi Sunak’s top concern,’ Sidorczuk continued, ‘and possibly something for him to think about during his next helicopter or private jet trip.’
In an effort to “side with motorists,” Rishi Sunakhas ordered a study of the implementation of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).
Such plans restrict traffic in town and city centres, and drivers are frequently prohibited from utilising residential roads as cut-through routes.
The efforts aim to lessen air pollution and promote the use of other forms of transportation.
Some Tory MPs, however, have opposed the plans, claiming they are an attack on drivers.
Mr. Sunak stated in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph that the vast majority of people in the nation depend on their cars to get around. It’s more typical of how the majority of the country lives when I’m fortunate enough to return home to North Yorkshire, where cars are vital.
I simply want to let everyone know that I support their decision to utilise their cars for all of the things that are important to them.
The Conservative candidate used worries over the development of London’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) to gain a close victory in the Uxbridge and Ruislip by-election earlier this month. This led to the pitch to drivers and automobile owners.
In an effort to criticise Labour’s environmental goals, Tory MPs on the right of the party have urged Mr. Sunak to reconsider net zero in light of their achievements.
Traffic management strategies, according to Conservative MP Nick Fletcher, are a part of a “international socialist concept,” he said in the Commons earlier this year.
The criticism of LTNs by Mr. Sunak is not new.
He pledged a study to take into account their impact on emergency services during the Tory leadership election last summer.
He intensified his criticism on Sir Keir Starmer in the same interview as the debate over the Ulez plan, which is being promoted by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Following the setback in Uxbridge, the Labour leader and other senior party figures have urged Mr. Khan to review the strategy.
While highlighting the critical need to clean up the city’s air, the mayor of the capital has pledged to pay attention to Londoners.
“I’ve grown a little more concerned about the Labour Party’s stance.” It’s really anti-motorist,” argued Mr. Sunak.
On Friday, voters in two parliamentary elections rejected the party of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, dealing a serious political blow to the embattled leader.
In Selby and Ainsty, a region in the north of England where Sunak’s party had held a dominating majority, the Conservative Party fell short of victory against the resurgent Labour Party.
The Liberal Democrats, a moderate party, won Somerton and Frome, a second seat.
The Conservatives just managed to hold on to a third seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the constituency held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson until his resignation from parliament last month, although Labour significantly grew its share of the vote.
The results will put Sunak’s leadership under pressure, and suggest his government is on course for an electoral defeat at the next general election, expected next year.
Sunak has struggled to reverse the Conservatives’ plummeting fortunes in the nine months he has held office; a series of scandals, a stuttering economy and a decline in Britain’s public services have left his party deeply unpopular.
But the results indicate that the opposition Labour Party, which under the leadership of Keir Starmer is on course to clinch power when Sunak calls a general election.
By law, a general election must take place by January 2025. Most observers think Sunak will call it in the fall of 2024, if not before, to avoid trying to persuade voters to cast their ballots in the middle of winter.
Thursday’s three by-elections provided the sternest mid-term test yet for Sunak, who took power after Liz Truss’s shambolic six-week premiership last fall.
The ruling Conservatives survived a scare in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where Labour was hoping to claim the seat Boris Johnson had held for eight years. Conservative Party’s candidate Steve Tuckwell won 45.16% of the vote there, according to Britain’s Press Association (PA).
Johnson quit in anger after a committee of fellow lawmakers found that he had lied to Parliament over “Partygate,” the scandal of lockdown-era parties in his government that tanked his popularity and contributed to his political downfall.
But in Selby, in the north of England, Labour overturned a huge deficit to win the seat with 46% of the votes, according to PA.
Both seats were viewed as the kind of regions that Labour needs to be targeting if it is to have a hope of claiming a parliamentary majority at the next election.
Both those votes were triggered after a committee of lawmakers found Johnson lied to Parliament, in a damning and unprecedented verdict against a former Prime Minister. Johnson was set to be suspended from Parliament for 90 days, but avoided that penalty by resigning instead.
Nigel Adams, the former Conservative lawmaker for Selby and a close ally of Johnson’s, quit hours later in an apparent move of solidarity.
Adding to the Conservatives’ woes was a thumping loss in Somerton and Frome, an affluent area in south-west England, to the Liberal Democrats which won nearly 55% of votes. The centrist party has been picking up former Conservative support in the so-called “Blue Wall,” a well-off portion of southern England that typically opposed Brexit.
The results amount to a significant rejection of Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power for 13 years and has seen its opinion poll ratings nosedive towards the end of Johnson’s tenure, and since.
Sunak will now look to steady his leadership and fight off any growing murmurs of a challenge within his party.
But time is running out for him to reverse his government’s fortunes. A cost of living crisis, creaking public services, stubbornly high inflation and an endless list of Tory scandals have turned opinion firmly against his bloc, and intensified calls by buoyant opposition parties for an early general election.
As the Tories fight to retain three key seats, Rishi Sunak acknowledges that this week’s by-elections would be among the most challenging he has faced while in office.
In west London’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where Labour is heavily favoured to win, all eyes are on Boris Johnson’s former district.
Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire are also expected to be won by Keir Starmer’s party, and Somerton and Frome in Somerset are expected to go to the Liberal Democrats, who are currently the overwhelming favourites.
The Prime Minister appeared to acknowledge voters will have frustrations today, telling ITV: ‘Midterm by-elections for incumbent governments are always difficult, I don’t expect these to be any different from that.’
He added: ‘But I passionately believe that my priorities are the country’s priorities.’
It could be a drama-filled end to a parliamentary term, with the Uxbridge poll triggered by Mr Johnson sensationally quitting over the Partygate report.
The economic outlook is difficult too, with households still struggling with stubbornly high inflation and mortgage holders thrust into misery by rising interest rates.
Combined with NHS pressures and the impact of months of industrial unrest, it will no doubt be a difficult start to summer recess for Mr Sunak.
Listing his five priorities, including cutting waiting lists and halving inflation, the PM said: ‘I know that everyone would like to see progress on those things quicker, as would I.
‘But I want to be honest with people about the challenges, that’s what I’m always going to do in this job. But also they should be reassured that I am working day and night to deliver on them.’
The UK, according to pollster and political analyst Lord Hayward, has now ‘returned to normal mid-term politics’.
‘What we’re looking at is a series of by-elections where people will naturally express their anger about the current government,’ he said.
‘Boris Johnson, in a curious way, managed to defy mid-term in some cases, although not necessarily in by-elections.’
The Tory peer added: ‘People will express their view about government but – and this is where it becomes different – all the seats… there is the burden of the events of the last 12 months.’
Labour candidate and local councillor Danny Beales will be hoping to become Uxbridge’s next MP.
But Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell is hoping the Sadiq Khan-backed Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) scheme is enough to sway voters away from Labour.
Prime Minister for the United Kingdom (UK), Rishi Sunak, has announced the increase in visa application fees as part of efforts to address revenue shortfalls.
In an address at Downing Street on July 13, Sunak outlined government priorities, including reducing inflation, economic growth, and debt reduction.
He also mentioned a substantial pay award for teachers to prevent a potential strike.
To bridge the revenue gap, Sunak announced two measures targeting migrants as a means of generating necessary funding.
“We are going to increase the charges for migrants when they are applying for visas to come to this country and indeed something called the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is the levy that they pay to access the NHS,” he told the press.
The charges for visa applications and the Immigration Health Surcharge, which grants access to the NHS, will both be increased. These tax measures are expected to generate over a billion pounds in revenue.
“So, across the board, visa application fees are going to go up significantly… none of these fees have been increased recently and we think it is appropriate given that cost of everything has gone up,” he added.
Sunak justified the fee hikes by stating that they hadn’t been increased recently and that the cost of living has risen.
“So, across the board, visa application fees are going to go up significantly… none of these fees have been increased recently and we think it is appropriate given that cost of everything has gone up,” he added.
The Foreign Office will roll out the increases in the coming days and weeks. It’s worth noting that the United States recently raised visa fees for certain non-immigrant visa categories, a practice criticized for potentially exploiting applicants even in the case of rejected applications.
UK visa application fees are about to increase “significantly,” says PM Rishi Sunakpic.twitter.com/2FUT430oqg
Let me start off by putting my support for Ukraine in their struggle against the Russian invasion on the line. I also believe that western allies should be helping Ukraine in this struggle.
In the past, I have offered arguments for why Vladimir Putin may have been justified in renewing his steadfast demands that NATO not admit Ukraine or other Eastern Europeans to their club, and I still stand by those claims.
Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary, made an important—and immediately divisive—point this week, though, as the war between the two nations shows little promise of coming to an end anytime soon.
During the ongoing NATO summit, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is once again pushing for more support in terms of more powerful military equipment, and that his homeland hadn’t been issued a timeframe for joining the bloc, Wallace spoke with typical frankness about the situation.
Wallace said: ‘Whether we like it or not, people want to see a bit of gratitude.
‘Sometimes you are asking countries to give up their own stocks [of weapons]. Sometimes you have to persuade lawmakers on the [Capitol] Hill in America.’
He added: ‘You know, we’re not Amazon. I told them that last year, when I drove 11 hours to be given a list.’
There was immediate outcry at Wallace’s bluntness.
He was accused of being ‘wrong’ and ‘out of order’ and was even gently slapped down by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said that everyone agreed Zelensky had expressed his gratitude.
But here’s the thing – I genuinely think Wallace is right.
Many of the British public are struggling with the cost of living crisis, and making ends meet is becoming increasingly difficult.
So when they hear that the Ukrainian leader is moaning about a perceived lack of action despite the billions the UK has already pledged, they can be forgiven for feeling a little aghast.
That’s all Wallace was saying, not that the aid should stop, not that the Ukrainian cause was not just, simply that Zelensky needed to recognise that ‘war fatigue’ in countries battling economic crises is a real threat, and that gratitude always helps.
And I think he’s entirely correct.
In total Ukraine has received around $150billion from countries around the globe in the year since Putin’s invasion.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan, a country that the West played a pretty significant part in destabilising, is in dire need of around $4.6billion in humanitarian aid this year, according to the UN.
There’s no rush by NATO to plug that significant gap, and I don’t think it’s anti-Ukraine of me to point out that there may be a hint of hypocrisy at play.
And nor do Wallace’s comments don’t mean *he* is anti-Ukraine, just that we need to be realistic about the levels of aid that the UK is giving to them and just how long that is sustainable.
There are estimated to be as many as 32 countries around the world engaged in armed conflict, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is too often considered by politicians and parts of the media as the only one worth paying attention to.
I won’t speculate as to why, but I think it is important that Zelensky doesn’t forget that this is not the only country facing a fight, and that’s what the Defence Secretary’s comments might help achieve.
Wallace may be an outlier in the UK – and I suspect he feels liberated by the fact that he has consistently ruled himself out of standing for the Tory leadership – but he isn’t the only player on the world stage who feels resources and the attitude of western citizens need to be taken into account.
The American national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told a public forum at the same NATO summit: ‘The American people do deserve a degree of gratitude from the United States government for their willingness to step up and from the rest of the world as well.’
President Biden has always said the USA will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, but a recent poll showed a 5% fall in support for the US backing Zelensky’s country in reclaiming territory, something that could have informed Sullivan’s comments.
I wouldn’t suggest the West stops all funding and aid to Ukraine, but fatigue is a real danger, and Zelensky needs to be aware, and yes grateful, about how much this is truly costing his allies.
