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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Miranda Bryant (now) and Fran Lawther (earlier)

Boris Johnson ‘unlikely’ to bring up Rwanda asylum policy with Charles, says No 10 – as it happened

Here's a summary of today ...

  • Six years since the Brexit referendum, David Lammy says the UK still lacks a clear foreign policy. The shadow foreign secretary accused the Conservatives of being “stuck in a fever dream of 2016”.
  • Covid outbreaks in care homes have risen for a third consecutive week and hospital numbers are continuing to rise, according to latest government figures.
  • Boris Johnson is “unlikely” to bring up the Rwanda asylum policy with Prince Charles when they meet, Downing Street has said. The prime minister’s spokesperson said the issue will not be “at the forefront of his mind”.
  • British Airways workers based at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over pay. Members of the GMB and Unite backed industrial action. The unions said holidaymakers face disruption, warning of a summer of strikes.
  • The prime minister has also said he will stress the “obvious merits” of his Rwanda asylum policy when he meets Prince Charles in Kigali tomorrow after his condemnation of the “appalling” plan.
  • The prime minister has defended the legality of his controversial asylum policy, claiming it is not unlawful and that he is “just going to keep going”. Speaking from a school in Kigali, Boris Johnson told those with concerns over the plan to “think about the way these two countries can work together to solve what is a very complex problem of illegal people trafficking”.
  • Boris Johnson claimed in his address in Kigali that the Commonwealth has “the super-fertiliser” for prosperity. The prime minister told the Commonwealth Business Forum that the Commonwealth has the power to “forge a new Africa” and share African countries’ optimism.
  • The prime minister earlier suggested it would be “crazy” for him to resign if the Conservatives lost both byelections. “Are you crazy?” Boris Johnson told journalists travelling with him to Kigali when prospects of his departure was raised.
  • Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, said the true economic impact of Brexit may never be known and said he wished Boris Johnson would stop making “factually incorrect statements”. He made the comments at an event held by the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, held six years after the EU referendum.
  • Boris Johnson visited the Rwandan president this morning while voting got under way in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, where the Conservatives face two vital byelections. The prime minister is in Kigali where he visited Paul Kagame at his office following heavy criticism about his deportation policy to the east African country.

That’s it from me for today, and for the blog. Thanks for reading.

Updated

The government hasurged unions to call off rail strikes “as quickly as possible”. No 10’s comments come ahead of a third planned strike on Saturday.

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

My understanding is there were talks between the RMT and Network Rail today.

But what we want to see is for the unions to call off the strikes, to continue to negotiate and to come to an agreement with their employer.

We don’t want to see this strike action to continue for a moment longer than it has to.

Asked whether it was possible to do before Saturday’s strike, he said: “That’s a question for the unions.”

He said the government has not been alerted to any further rail strikes after this week.

Updated

Conservatives stuck in a 2016 Brexit 'fever dream', says David Lammy

Six years since the Brexit referendum, David Lammy says the UK still lacks a clear foreign policy and accused the Conservatives of being “stuck in a fever dream of 2016”.

The shadow foreign secretary said at a Changing Europe thinktank event:

I’m afraid the Conservatives cannot hide from the fact that their choices have left us more damaged almost than any comparable economy.

Instead of working closely with the EU, the Conservatives were “stuck in a fever dream of 2016, picking fights with our closest allies instead of moving on and negotiating solutions,” he said.

He added:

The government’s position is that the situation in Ukraine is so serious that their law-breaking prime minister must remain in office, but apparently not serious enough to stop us picking a diplomatic fight with our closest allies.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, pictured in February.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, pictured in February. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Updated

Covid outbreaks in care homes rise for third week in a row

Covid outbreaks in care homes have risen for a third consecutive week and hospital numbers are continuing to rise, according to the latest government figures.

The data, from the UK health security agency (UKHSA), comes as health experts warn that nearly one in six people aged 75-plus have not had a vaccine dose in the last six months.

The number of suspected Covid outbreaks last week in all settings in the UK was 331, up from 222 the previous week and the highest since the end of April. There were 245 outbreaks detected in care homes.

The UKHSA also found the rate of hospital admissions of people with virus among over 85s was 69.3 per 100,000 last week – up from 52.1.

Dr Mary Ramsay, the UKHSA director of clinical programmes, said:

We continue to see increases in Covid-19 outbreaks within care homes and hospitalisations among those aged 75 years and over.

Our data also shows that 17.5 per cent of people aged 75 years and over have not had a vaccine within the past six months, putting them more at risk of severe disease.

We urge everyone in this age group, as well as those living in a care home or who are clinically vulnerable, to ensure they get their spring booster for protection against serious illness.

Updated

Johnson 'unlikely' to bring up Rwanda asylum policy with Charles, says No 10

Boris Johnson is “unlikely” to bring up the Rwanda asylum policy with Prince Charles when they meet tomorrow morning, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said the issue will not be “at the forefront of his mind”, reports PA.

He said:

I’m not going to be over-prescriptive over what the PM will say in any meeting, that includes this one. The prime minister’s focus remains on some of the important challenges on the future of Commonwealth, on climate change, on girls’ education.

He added:

It’s unlikely and I’m only not being categorical because it’s simply as a matter of course I do not rule in or out any topic when two individuals meet.

Downing Street also said that Johnson did not raise human rights issues with Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president.

The spokesperson said:

I don’t believe they discussed that in their meeting, there were quite a number of issues they talked through.

You’ll know that some of the concerns with regards to rights have been raised on a number of occasions including at ministerial level very recently, so it is something we do raise with Rwanda.

We encourage them to uphold and champion the Commonwealth values.

Updated

Here’s an image, shared on Twitter by Boris Johnson, of the prime minister’s Kigali genocide memorial message:

Meanwhile, Prince Charles’s office has refused to be drawn on the royal’s reported criticisms of the government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.

A spokesperson for Clarence House told PA Media that the future king, who is in Rwanda to open a summit of Commonwealth leaders, was politically neutral.

His statement came after Boris Johnson appeared to take a veiled swipe at the prince and those who have attacked plans to forcibly remove asylum seekers to the east African nation. The spokesperson added that “policy is a matter for government”.

Updated

And here is the full report by Julia Kollewe about Heathrow strikes this summer:

Heathrow airport faces disruption from strikes this summer, as hundreds of check-in and ground staff voted in favour of walkouts during the peak holiday period in a dispute with British Airways over pay.

As a second day of national rail strikes is under way, 700 workers employed by BA were balloted on industrial action by unions including GMB and Unite. Some 95% of those who voted (about half the total 700 workers) said they were prepared to strike, on a turnout of more than 80%. Strike dates will be confirmed in the coming days but are likely to be during the school holidays. The Unite ballot closes on Monday.

The dispute stems from BA using “fire and rehire” practices to cut workers’ pay during the pandemic when they could not fight back, the GMB union said.

Updated

British Airways workers based at Heathrow vote to strike

British Airways workers based at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

PA Media reports members of the GMB and Unite backed industrial action. The unions said holidaymakers face disruption, warning of a summer of strikes.

Workers, including check-in staff, will now decide on strike dates, which the union said were likely to be held during the peak summer holiday period.

Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways.

“BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard. Our members need to be reinstated the 10% they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10% bonus which other colleagues have been paid.”

Updated

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope has tweeted that pro-Brexit MPs expect the government to force the Lords to accept three bills that have caused controversy.

Borish Johnson visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial where the remains of about 250,000 people killed in the Rwandan genocide are buried.

PA Media reports the prime minister said he found it “utterly shocking” to witness the images and physical memorials of the genocide as he was led around a museum by survivors.

Johnson bowed his head during a wreath-laying ceremony and wrote a message in the visitors’ book.

He also paused at the flame of remembrance marking 28 years since the 100 days that saw Hutu extremists claim the lives of around 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.

“It has been utterly shocking to see these images, and so many physical memorials, of the appalling and inexplicable genocide against the Tutsis,” Johnson’s message read. “We must do everything we can to ensure that human hearts never again are allowed to breed such hatred.”

Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee, said a teachers’ strike (see also 13:08) would put children into a “defacto lockdown”, causing problems and misery for them and their families.

“Our children have been damaged massively over the past few years because of Covid, because most children were not in school,” he told the BBC’s World At One programme.

He added:

We know the damage that’s done to their educational attainment, their mental health, their life chances, their safeguarding, and to put children into de facto lockdown by having a strike wouldn’t just cause misery to the children but also would cause huge problems for parents because of course, many of them have to be in work whilst their children are at school. So this is not the way to solve these problems.

But he said he would be in favour of more help for staff on lower wages, such as teaching assistants and support staff.

If there could be a focus on the lower-paid professionals in school, I think that would help.

Updated

A claim in Boris Johnson’s speech – that it was hotter in London than Kigali (see 12:18) – has been called into question.

Jim Pickard, the Financial Times’ chief political correspondent, pointed out that there was actually a six degree temperature difference between the cities:

Updated

Here’s Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent, on Lord Frost’s comments earlier:

Boris Johnson has just tweeted about his meeting with the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame:

Updated

A Clarence House spokesperson told PA:

As we have said previously we will not be commenting on supposed remarks made in private except to say that the prince is politically neutral. Policy is a matter for government.

Updated

Prince Charles met business leaders at the Commonwealth business forum exhibition village in Kigali today.

It came as Boris Johnson faced questions about the Prince of Wales’s condemnation of the prime minister’s “appalling” immigration policy with Rwanda (see also 12:47).

The two men will meet for tea tomorrow.

Boris Johnson at the Commonwealth Business Forum Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda today.
Boris Johnson at the Commonwealth Business Forum Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda, today. Photograph: Reuters
Prince Charles departing the Commonwealth business forum exhibition at the Kigali cultural village today.
Prince Charles departing the Commonwealth business forum exhibition at the Kigali cultural village today. Photograph: Clement Uwiringiyimana/Reuters

At the exhibition village, Charles spoke to David Salmon, 21, a Jamaican scholar, who later said he wanted the country to become a republic, reports PA.

Salmon said: “I think Jamaica should become a republic but I don’t think we should leave the Commonwealth. It would be a sign of our confidence, our independence and our maturity as a nation.”

Updated

Meanwhile, Downing Street has said the prime minister does not want to see children’s education disrupted further amid threat of teachers’ strikes.

The largest teachers’ union, the National Education Union (NEU), has warned it could strike over pay and workload. But the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has claimed such a move would be “unforgivable”.

Asked whether Boris Johnson agreed with Zahawi’s comments, a No 10 spokesperson said:

I point you specifically to his [Mr Zahawi’s] op ed and what he says, that young people have suffered more disruption to their education than any generation that’s gone before.

And it’s vital that teachers continue to help those pupils get back on track, and the last thing we want to see is anything that would risk undermining that work.

Asked again, PA reports that the spokesperson added:

The prime minister agrees with what Nadhim Zahawi has said, that we don’t want to see children’s education being impacted any more than it has been, given the amount of disruption that was caused by the pandemic.

Updated

Carrie Johnson and the Duchess of Cornwall attended a violence against women and girls event at the Kigali Convention Centre today.

Here they are greeting one another with a kiss:

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, kisses Carrie Johnson, wife of prime minister Boris Johnson as they attend a Violence Against Women and Girls event at the Kigali Convention Centre today.
Camilla and Carrie Johnson greet each other. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Updated

Here’s full story from Rajeev Syal, reporting from Rwanda, on Boris Johnson ruling out quitting if Conservatives were to lose both byelections:

Boris Johnson said he will stress 'obvious merits' of asylum strategy to Prince Charles

The prime minister has also said he will stress the “obvious merits” of his Rwanda asylum policy when he meets Prince Charles in Kigali tomorrow after his condemnation of the “appalling” plan.

Boris Johnson said during a visit to a school:

I am delighted that Prince Charles and everybody is here today to see a country that has undergone a complete, or a very substantial transformation.

Asked whether he will defend the plan to the Prince of Wales, he said:

People need to keep an open mind about the policy, the critics need to keep an open mind about the policy. A lot of people can see its obvious merits. So yes, of course, if I am seeing the prince tomorrow, I am going to be making that point.

Updated

Boris Johnson says UK will 'keep going' with controversial Rwanda asylum policy

The prime minister has defended the legality of his controversial asylum policy, claiming it is not unlawful and that he is “just going to keep going”.

Speaking from a school in Kigali, he told those with concerns over the plan to “think about the way these two countries can work together to solve what is a very complex problem of illegal people trafficking”.

He said he had a “great talk” with the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, who he said “cares passionately” about the issue and “has himself been a refugee for a long time”.

He knows what it is like. He sees the problem of vulnerable people being trafficked across the Channel and being trafficked around the world.

He sees this as an opportunity to fix what is an increasing global problem, by a partnership between the UK and Rwanda.

It is not just about migration.

Johnson added:

It is about education, it is about trade, it is about all sorts of things, it is about green technology, financial services, all sorts of areas. It is a partnership that is growing.

He accused critics of the policy of basing their views on “a perception, perhaps a stereotype of Rwanda that is now outdated”.

He said the policy is “absolutely necessary and right to fix the problem of illegal cross-Channel trafficking of people whose lives are being put at risk by the gangs.”

He added:

I think what people need to understand, what the critics of the policy need to understand, and I have seen loads and loads of criticism, is that Rwanda has undergone an absolute transformation in the last couple of decades.

The country has come on “leaps and bounds” in education and in “taking the society forward”, he said.

The two countries have done an “immense amount of due diligence” to ensure “everything we do is in conformity with human rights”, he said.

After the two leaders’ meeting, a No 10 spokesperson said:

The leaders also praised the successful UK-Rwanda migration and economic development partnership, which is tackling dangerous smuggling gangs while offering people a chance to build a new life in a safe country.

Updated

Boris Johnson tells Kigali forum that Commonwealth has 'the super-fertiliser' for prosperity

Boris Johnson claimed in his address in Kigali that the Commonwealth has “the super-fertiliser” for prosperity.

The prime minister told the Commonwealth Business Forum:

We in the UK have the technology, the city of London certainly has the finance. The government that I’m proud to lead has the will. And our wonderful wonderful Commonwealth ... has the super-fertiliser.

This Commonwealth fertiliser, he says, has the power to “forge a new Africa” and share African countries’ optimism.

Before signing off, he claimed, that every country of the Commonwealth can “prosper from free trade and free enterprise”.

Updated

In the UK, he says, the government is signing trade agreements across the Commonwealth and that it is “fantastic” to see the birth of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

However, he says, he doesn’t advise that African nations turn to a single currency, but adds: “I leave that entirely to you.

“We’re making it easier to sell to the UK,” he said, adding he wanted to be “the partner of choice” for African countries.

Updated

Boris Johnson claims Commonwealth is a 'miracle fertiliser' of business

He said it is “a very timely meeting” following the “misery” of Covid lockdowns.

But amid spikes in cost of food and fertiliser, he claims that what countries need is a “miracle fertiliser, a fertiliser of business” which he says is the Commonwealth.

“Now is the time, my friends, to turbocharge the advantages,” he told the forum.

Over the next five years, the Commonwealth’s GDP is set to rise by 50%, he said.

Speaking in an address to the Commonwealth Business Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, Boris Johnson said: “How absolutely wonderful to be here in Kigali for our long delayed family union as the Commonwealth.”

He said he is “sorry to say” he missed the dancing last night, adding that the weather is lovely but that it is “actually hotter in London”.

Says weather is lovely but that it is “actually hotter in London”.

Boris Johnson about to arrive on stage at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Kigali, Rwanda...

Updated

Boris Johnson suggests would be 'crazy' for him to resign if loses both byelections

While we wait for Boris Johnson’s address, the prime minister earlier suggested it would be “crazy” for him to resign if the Conservatives lost both byelections.

“Are you crazy?” he told journalists travelling with him to Kigali when prospects of his departure was raised, reports PA.

He added:

Come on, it was only a year ago that we won the Hartlepool byelection, that everybody thought was... you know, we hadn’t won Hartlepool for, I can’t remember when the Tory party last won Hartlepool – a long time. I don’t think it ever had.

Governing parties generally do not win byelections, particularly not in mid-term. I’m very hopeful but, there you go. That’s just the reality.

He declined to comment on suggestions that the Conservatives’ 1922 Committee could change the rules to allow a leadership challenge sooner, but said:

I’m focused entirely on delivering on the agenda of this government. My golden rule is the less you talk about Westminster issues, the more you talk about the things you want to talk to the country about.

Updated

Boris Johnson due to speak shortly in Kigali. Will be covering here on the blog.

President Paul Kagame and Boris Johnson talked about existing partnerships between Rwanda and the UK, including migration and the economic development partnership, reports Rwandan newspaper The New Times.

It may never be clear whether Brexit 'succeeded or failed,' says Lord Frost

In more from Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister (see also 10:35), he has said the true economic impact of Brexit may never be known.

Speaking on the sixth anniversary of the Brexit vote, he said at a UK in a Changing Europe conference:

I’m not sure it is ever going to be clear in that sense whether it’s succeeded or failed because so much else is going on and extracting the causality about this is always going to be extremely difficult.

Meanwhile, also in Kigali, Prince Charles visited the Commonwealth business forum exhibition.

He was joined by Clare Akamanzi, chief executive officer of the Rwanda development board, reports PA, and Jeremy Cross, Prince’s Foundation international director at the Kigali cultural exhibition village.

Prince Charles at the Commonwealth business forum exhibition at Kigali Cultural Exhibition Village, Rwanda.
Prince Charles at the Commonwealth business forum exhibition at Kigali Cultural Exhibition Village, Rwanda. Photograph: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA

Boris Johnson has been read a story by school children about “Hetty the unhealthy hen”, reports Dan Bloom, the Mirror’s online political editor in Kigali.

He tweeted:

Here’s his picture from the prime minister’s arrival:

Updated

Tweeting this morning, Boris Johnson said he is in Rwanda to “address global challenges, from hunger to climate change, and to turbocharge trade with some of the world’s most dynamic economies”.

He added: “With our shared values, history and language – the Commonwealth is a unique and vital association.”

Lord Frost says he wishes PM would stop making 'factually incorrect statements'

Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, said he wished Boris Johnson would stop making “factually incorrect statements”.

Speaking six years after the EU referendum, at an event held by the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, he claimed that Brexit was working but called on Brexit supporters to be “honest” about the trade-offs of leaving the EU.

Asked about the prime minister’s claims that there were more people in work now than before the pandemic, which has been criticised by the Office for National Statistics, the former Brexit minister said:

I wish he would not say things like that which are obviously not true, making factually incorrect statements.

But in the end it’s for the Prime Minister’s own party and MPs to decide is that how they want to do things or is it not.

He denied that Brexit has prompted a breakdown in trust in UK politics.

Britain’s exit from the EU should be seen as a “gateway” for a “broader project of national renewal” for the UK.

UK “policy elites” have “forgotten how to govern” in the EU, he claimed, but that it would improve in time.

He said:

The task now is to devise a meaningful programme of supply-side reform, focused on boosting the productive capacity of the economy, and to drive it through.

But, he warned, the government would need to “raise its game massively” if Brexit is to lead to a “visible economic pay-off”.

If Brexit is still being debated in the same way in five or six years, he said, it would be “evidence of failure”.

On honesty over trade-offs, he said:

I think it would be much better to be honest about these things and show where the possibility for doing things better really exist instead of pretending nothing is going on.

Updated

PM visits Rwanda as voting under way in crucial byelections

Boris Johnson visited the Rwandan president this morning while voting got under way in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, where the Conservatives face two vital byelections.

The prime minister is in Kigali where he visited Paul Kagame at his office following heavy criticism about his deportation policy to the east African country.

Last night, before boarding his plane, he called on critics to stop their “condescending” attitudes towards Rwanda.

Tomorrow he faces a potentially awkward “cup of tea and catch-up” with Prince Charles in Kigali after the heir to the throne criticised the government’s plan to fly people there on a one-way ticket as “appalling”.

After arriving at the entrance to the office of the president by car, PA reports, he walked up red-carpeted stairs and shook hands with the president.

They then went next door to the president’s meeting room where they sat in white armchairs in front of a Union flag and a Rwandan flag.

Mr Johnson said: “How are you? Very good to see you. What an exciting time to be here in Rwanda. Congratulations on taking over as chair of office. This will be absolutely superb.”

Mr Kagame said: “It is a pleasure. Thank you.”

The media were then asked to leave the room.

Meanwhile, in the UK, both seats were held by the Tories before the byelections were triggered following the resignation of two disgraced MPs. Labour is the clear favourite to win in Wakefield and the Conservatives are in a close race with the Lib Dems in Tiverton and Honiton.

Polls, which opened at 7am, will close at 10pm and results are expected overnight.

As Peter Walker, the Guardian’s political correspondent, reported this morning, the results will be viewed as a hugely important verdict from voters on Boris Johnson’s premiership. A double defeat is expected to reignite speculation about a fresh leadership challenge from his party.

These are the 15 candidates standing in Wakefield, including the Conservative Nadeem Ahmed, Labour’s Simon Lightwood and Jamie Needle for the Lib Dems.

There are eight candidates standing in Honiton and Tiverton, including the Lib Dems’ Richard Foord, Helen Hurford for the Conservatives and Liz Pole for Labour.

Walker writes:

The byelections were called after the respective MPs resigned in disgrace. Imran Ahmad Khan stepped down in Wakefield having been convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, while Neil Parish quit in Tiverton and Honiton after watching pornography in the Commons.

The West Yorkshire seat had been safely Labour before Khan took it for the Conservatives in 2019, and Labour is the clear favourite to win on Thursday. The Devon constituency, in contrast, is seen as neck-and-neck between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, despite the seat in its various forms having been strongly Tory for more than a century.

Parish won in 2019 by a majority of more than 24,000. If the Lib Dems win, it is being billed as the biggest majority ever overturned in this way, although there have been higher percentage swings.

Losing Tiverton and Honiton would be likely to particularly worry Conservative MPs given not just the size of the majority but also that it would be another rural, Brexit-minded Tory stronghold to shift to the Lib Dems in less than six months. In December the Lib Dems took North Shropshire, overturning a Tory majority of nearly 23,000 after the former MP, Owen Paterson, quit over a lobbying scandal.

I’ll be looking after the UK politics blog today. For all strike-related news, please follow Rachel Hall is following developments here:

If you have any tips or suggestions, please get in touch: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk

Updated

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