Afternoon summary
- The United Nations refugee agency has made a dramatic intervention to try to halt Priti Patel’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. As Diane Taylor and Rajeev Syal report, in a late submission of evidence, the UNHCR claimed the home secretary misled refugees over the organisation’s support for the plan. A decision from the high court is expected very soon on whether to grant an injunction halting the first deportations to Rwanda, which are due to take place next week.
Updated
London and EU should both have known NI protocol, if strictly applied, 'was never going to work', says Mandelson
The British government and the EU should both have realised that the Northern Ireland protocol, if implemented strictly, was never going to work, Lord Mandelson said today.
In a speech to an Irish Funds lunch at the Mansion House, Mandelson, a former Northern Ireland secretary, said that, as a result of Brexit, relations between the Irish government and the UK government were the worst they had been since the 1980s. He said he feared Brexit had created problems that “cannot be solved”. He went on:
However, they can be managed and in an imperfect world managing a problem can be good enough.
The main Brexit-related dispute between London and Dublin now centres on the Northern Ireland protocol and Mandelson implied that both sides were at least in part at fault over the arrangements that were agreed (checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland) to prevent the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland. He explained:
We have a prime minister who won office because he opposed a Brexit relationship that could have worked. It is highly likely that the same prime minister signed up to the current arrangements in bad faith. It is certain that he has consistently failed to tell the truth about them.
But both the British government and the EU should have known, and probably did know, that this protocol if implemented strictly – and there is room for interpretation - was never going to work for Northern Ireland. It was always unlikely to survive contact with reality and therefore requires deftness in its application.
Mandelson said a solution would require “seriousness of intent and mutual trust” from Brussels and London.
I do think both sides can find a landing zone that works for Northern Ireland. It would require painful compromise from both sides. It would also be immensely easier if the United Kingdom aligned with EU plant, animal, and food safety rules.
This, as the EU has offered, would remove a big part of the barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and Britain that unionists find so painful, as well as for trade in those goods between Britain and the EU 27.
This is not an easy choice for the UK – letting an outside power determine an area of regulation for you – but the benefits would be big.
Updated
Lib Dems accuse Johnson of hiding from voters in Tiverton and Honiton byelection
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, accused Boris Johnson on Friday of hiding from the people of Tiverton and Honiton.
Johnson was visiting the constituency on Friday afternoon but no details of his visit were made public in advance. The first confirmation that he was actually in Devon was a tweet from an NFU official that said Johnson had been there discussing food security.
Great to see the PM @BorisJohnson and @VictoriaPrentis on farm in Devon today with @NFUsouthwest members and @Minette_Batters discussing importance of food security. @NFUPolitical pic.twitter.com/o1yH92dBmy
— Andrew butler (@ASButlerDevon1) June 10, 2022
The north Devon MP, Selaine Saxby, revealed in a tweet that the farm had been near Axminster and posted a picture of the prime minister around a biscuit-heavy farmhouse table.
Davey said:
The fact is he’s not talking to ordinary people. No one seems to know where he is. He might be coming down here but people aren’t seeing him. He’s hiding away from people and I think that says it all. He’s taking this constituency for granted. We’re picking up people who are fed up of being taken for granted.
The Lib Dem leader spent the morning in Axminster testing the quality of the water in the river before meeting electors on Honiton High Street before the byelection later this week. “The momentum is with us. There’s everything to play for. We can win here,” he said.
There were clues in readers’ comments on a DevonLive piece previewing the visit pointing to the possible reason for the prime minister not spending more time on the streets of the constituency.
One said: “I certainly would have gone along to give him a piece of my mind. The man’s an utter charlatan and coward.” Another wrote: “Take eggs and rotten tomatoes and practise your aim.” A third was more considered: “Surely he has better things to be doing than this, like getting on with the issues that really matter such as cost of living, Ukraine etc.”
Earlier in the day, Johnson was booed when he visited the Royal Cornwall Show – another unannounced appearance.
One member of show staff said Johnson had received a “mixed reception”, but added: “I think on balance there was still more cheering than booing. I don’t think he minded, he’s got a hide like a rhinoceros.”
Updated
John McDonnell urges Starmer to show people 'where we stand' and back RMT over proposed strike
On Wednesday Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the Labour leader did not want the proposed national rail strikes to go ahead. The Conservatives are desperate to attack the opposition as pro-strike, and on BBC’s Question Time last night Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, gave an example of how Labour frontbenchers have been sidestepping what they see as a trap, stressing instead their support for a negotiated solution.
“If I were a member of the RMT then I would be voting to go on strike and I’d be voting to defend my job’s terms and conditions”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) June 9, 2022
Labour’s @wesstreeting says the government should be doing more to prevent transport strikes. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/5rBSYvV55V
In an interview on the World at One, John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, criticised this approach. Highlighting evidence suggesting that rail passengers are, like the unions, also opposed to job cuts, he said Labour should back the RMT over the proposed strike. He said:
With regard to Keir Starmer, I just have this simple message, really. People want to know where we stand.
And when there’s such, I think in this case, a justifiable demand from the union, you get behind the union. They’re not asking for the earth. No compulsory redundancies, negotiations on working conditions [and] jobs, a fair pay rise to protect their members against the cost of living. They’re not asking for the earth.
So in this instance, what you say is: ‘Of course, I back the union, no one wants a strike. But if it comes to it, yes you have to support the workers in this instance.’
I’m hoping management get back around the table, there’s a negotiated settlement. If there’s intransigence from the management, and if there’s interference from government, and there is a strike, I’ll be on the picket line.
Updated
According to the BBC’s Mark Easton, although five asylum seekers have now been told they will not be deported to Rwanda next week, another 31 people are still due to be sent there next week unless today’s court hearing leads to the granting of an injunction.
Five asylum seekers due to be sent to Rwanda on Tuesday have now been told their deportation orders have been cancelled, @ukhomeoffice has revealed. 31 migrants are still due to be aboard the flight to Kigali unless a judge grants an injunction this afternoon.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 10, 2022
Updated
MPs and wealthy landowners among beneficiaries of green subsidy
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, is among a group of MPs who have received thousands in public funds from a government subsidy intended to stimulate the green transition, my colleague Helena Horton reports.
Starmer defends decision to focus on NHS rather than no-confidence vote result at PMQs this week
Speaking to the media at Stormont, Keir Starmer took questions on non-Northern Ireland topics too. Here are some of the points he made.
- Starmer defended his decision to focus on the NHS at PMQs on Wednesday. He was accused of putting on a lacklustre performance, and of letting Boris Johnson off the hook by not highlighting the no-confidence vote result (which the SNP’s Ian Blackford did mention, in a punchy and effective set of questions). But Starmer said he made the right choice of topic. He said:
I think many people across the United Kingdom are very, very worried about the state of our health service. If you’re waiting for cancer care, if you want to see a GP, or you’re worried about calling an ambulance, you’d be very pleased to hear the leader of the opposition challenging the government on those issues which I know are of very deep concern to many many people.
We have a weak prime minister, a divided prime minister, and the impact is on things like cancer care, is on waiting for a GP, waiting on an ambulance - and I think what people want to see at prime minister’s questions is a leader of the opposition focusing on the issues that matter most to them.
- Starmer said he utterly condemned the treatement of the two Britons sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces in Ukraine. He said:
The government is right on this and I think it’s very important that we say there’s no party politics in this - we stand as one in condemning what is happening here and demanding in the strongest possible terms that they be treated as prisoners of war. It is utterly to be condemned.
- He described the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as a “chaotic diversion”. He said:
I think it’s very important that we all say, loud and clear, that we don’t want anybody making that dangerous crossing across the Channel.
We don’t want these people-smugglers to make profit from their business and we need to go after them hard. That includes working with the French authorities, working upstream to tackle the criminals that are behind this.
The government’s Rwanda scheme is a chaotic diversion, not-thought-through scheme which isn’t going to solve the problem.
Updated
Johnson gets mixed reception on surprise visit to Royal Cornwall Show
Boris Johnson was at the Royal Cornwall Show today. There is coverage on the Cornwall Live blog, which carries the headline: “Boris Johnson jeered at Royal Cornwall Show.” Johnson’s visit had not been expected.
The pictures on the blog suggest other people at the show were pleased to see him.
This is from Em Clements from BBC Cornwall.
The Prime Minister arrives at the Royal Cornwall Show to cheers and shouts of “having a party Boris?” pic.twitter.com/ghKoHHBXbd
— Em Clements (@EmClemNews) June 10, 2022
Updated
Two more people due to be deported to Rwanda next week will have their removal directions cancelled, the high court has been told. As PA Media reports, Mathew Gullick QC, for the Home Office, said: “I’m instructed that claimants eight and 11 are going to have their removal directions cancelled.”
This morning the Home Office said removal orders relating to three people had already been cancelled. (See 11.27am.)
The government will not say how many asylum seekers it wants to deport to Rwanda next week, in the first set of removals since the controversial policy was announced, but the Guardian has been told the total is about 30.
Here is our latest story, by Diane Taylor and Rajeev Syal, about today’s hearing.
Updated
'Give and take' approach could lead to EU and UK reaching agreement on Northern Ireland protocol, says Starmer
Keir Starmer has claimed that a “give and take” approach could allow the EU and the UK to reach an agreement about the future of the Northern Ireland protocol. Speaking on a visit to Stormont, he said:
We need give and take on both sides. The EU, as well as the UK, to give and take, to be flexible about the approach.
I do not think that the remaining issues of the protocol cannot be resolved with a different approach, with that high level of trust, with an honest broker prime minister getting people around the table and negotiating what needs to be negotiated.
Starmer said Labour would vote against the proposed legislation giving the UK government the power to unilaterally abandon parts of the protocol, which sets out post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland agreed with the EU. And if the legislation did pass, a future Labour government would repeal it, he said. He went on:
I’m not pretending there aren’t issues and challenges with the protocol, of course there are.
We have been listening to the political parties here, to communities, to business groups. I think those challenges can be overcome around the negotiating table with statecraft, with high levels of trust.
It is that high level of trust that is missing with this prime minister and I think he is making a mistake by going down the route of legislation which will breach international law and, actually, I think, be an impediment to the negotiations that, in the end, are going to resolve these difficult issues.
Updated
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has travelled to Kyiv to meet the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the defence minister.
In a statement the Ministry of Defence said:
The working visit took place this week to allow the defence secretary to hear first-hand how the operational needs of Ukraine’s armed forces are developing as the nature of the conflict continues to change. This will ensure that the UK’s continued support is evolving to meet those requirements and is tailored to the situation on the ground.
The Defence Secretary visited Minister Reznikov on the first of the two-day visit before speaking with President Zelenskiy about how the UK support will continue to meet Ukraine’s needs as the conflict enters a different phase.
The three agreed to work even more closely going forward in support of their shared goal of enabling Ukraine to liberate itself from illegal Russian occupation.
The UK stands with Ukraine as it fights to defend itself against Putin's unprovoked and brutal invasion. 🇬🇧 🇺🇦
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 10, 2022
Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP met @ZelenskyyUa and @oleksiireznikov in Kyiv to discuss the range of support the UK is providing and agreed to continue working closely. pic.twitter.com/bJ3g9Smui9
Updated
Covid infections in UK rise for first time in two months
Covid-19 infections in the UK have risen for the first time in two months, with the jump likely caused by increases in cases compatible with the original Omicron variant BA.1 and the newer variants BA.4 and BA.5, according to the Office for National Statistics.
As PA Media reports, a total of 989,800 people in private households are estimated to have had the virus last week, up from 953,900 the previous week.
All four nations have had a rise in infections, though the ONS describes the trend in Scotland and Wales as “uncertain”. It says:
There were early signs of a possible increase in the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) in England and Northern Ireland likely caused by increases in infections compatible with Omicron variants BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5; the trends were uncertain in Wales and Scotland.
Here are the country by country figures for how many people are estimated to have been infected in the week ending last Thursday.
England – one person in 70
Wales – one person in 75
Northern Ireland – one person in 65
Scotland – one person in 40
Updated
UNHCR backs bid to stop Priti Patel sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, telling high court it is contrary to international law
As the BBC’s Mark Easton reports, the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has told the high court that it considers Priti Patel’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to be illegal.
Lawyers seeking an injunction stopping the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda say @ukhomeoffice claims the policy fully complies with international law is 'incorrect'. @UNHCR has warned the deal runs 'counter to the letter and spirit' of the Refugee Convention.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 10, 2022
A barrister for the UN refugee agency, Laura Dubinsky QC, told the court that “in light of inaccuracies” she wanted to clarify that the UNHCR in no way endorsed the UK-Rwanda arrangement.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 10, 2022
She said the UNHCR had informed the home secretary that it was unlawful.
United Nations refugee officials warned the Home Office twice after the announcement of the deal to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda that the process was unlawful, the High Court has heard.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 10, 2022
This is from Detention Action, one of the groups seeking the injunction to stop next week’s removals.
🚨BREAKING🚨 #UNHCR have intervened in our High Court hearing, with
— Detention Action (@DetentionAction) June 10, 2022
"Serious concerns that asylum seekers transferred from the UK to Rwanda will not have access to fair & efficient procedures... with consequent risks of (being returned to persecution).”https://t.co/3nZdt34Onn
At the Telegraph Charles Hymas has this quote from the UNHCR submission to the court. The UNHCR said:
The UK-Rwanda arrangement fails to meet the required standards relating to the legality and appropriateness of bilateral or multilateral transfers of asylum-seekers.
This arrangement, which amongst other concerns seeks to shift responsibility and lacks necessary safeguards, is incompatible with the letter and spirit of the 1951 convention.
In UNHCR’s view, the UK-Rwanda arrangement cannot be brought into line with international legal obligations through minor adjustments.
The serious concerns outlined in the present analysis require urgent and appropriate consideration by the governments of the UK and Rwanda in line with their obligations under well-established and binding norms of international refugee law.
Updated
PA Media has more from what the high court was told this morning by Raza Husain QC, the lawyer representing the asylum seekers facing deportation to Rwanda next week. (See 11.29am.) Here are some of his arguments.
- Husain said that the Home Office claim that Rwanda was a safe destination for the asylum seekers was “irrational”.
- He said the Home Office case was “misleading” because it implied the UNHCR (UN high commissioner for refugees) supported the Rwanda plan, when this was not true. Husain said the UNHCR had a number of concerns about the asylum process in Rwanda, including discriminatory access to asylum – including for LGBT people – a lack of legal representation and interpreters, and difficulties in appealing. He went on:
These are concerns that have been communicated to the UK authorities and yet the secretary of state’s position … is that the UNHCR has given this plan a green light. That is a false claim.
- He said the asylum procedure in Rwanda was not safe.
- He said the Home Office should be operating on the basis of evidence, “not an aspirational basis, or hopes”.
Updated
Claim that the Treasury wasted £11bn in debt mistake based on 'implausible assumption', says No 10
And here are some more lines from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- Downing Street said the claim that the Treasury had wasted £11bn by not insuring against interest rate rises (see 12.18pm) was based on an “implausible assumption”. The No 10 spokesperson said:
Forcing commercial banks to swap reserves for gilts undermines the independence of the Bank of England and would be an act of financial repression. And the £11bn figure itself is based on an implausible assumption.
The spokesperson also urged journalists to read the Twitter thread from John Glen, the Treasury minister, dismissing the FT story. (See 12.18pm.)
- The spokesperson played down complaints that the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is not yet having a deterrent effect on small boat Channel crossings, saying that the government did not expect the full impact of the policy to be seen until it had been rolled out fully.
- The spokesperson said the government would publish a summary of its legal advice about the bill allowing parts of the Northern Ireland protocol to be abandoned when the bill is published on Monday. The government claims the bill will not breach international law, but many lawyers believe otherwise.
- The spokesperson refused to say whether Boris Johnson considers himself a good role model for children. Asked about the claim from the chair of the social mobility commission that he isn’t a good role model, the spokeperson just said Johnson was focused on the issues he set out in his speech yesterday.
Updated
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the No 10 spokesperson said Boris Johnson was appalled by the death sentences handed to Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and has ordered ministers to do “everything in their power” to secure their release. The spokesperson said:
The prime minister was appalled at the sentencing of these men. He has been following the case closely and has asked ministers to do everything in their power to try and reunite them with their families as soon as we can. We completely condemn the sham sentencing of these men to death. There’s no justification at all for this breach of the protection they’re entitled to.
And Liz Truss has just posted this on Twitter, about her conversation with her Ukrainian opposite number about the two prisoners of war.
Spoke with Ukrainian FM @DmytroKuleba to discuss efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war held by Russian proxies. The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) June 10, 2022
The UK continues to back Ukraine against Putin’s barbaric invasion. pic.twitter.com/DyKZAP4HA6
There is much more coverage of this story on our Ukraine war live blog.
Updated
Treasury minister says it's 'not true' to claim government lost £11bn by not insuring against risk of interest rates rising
John Glen, a Treasury minister, has rejected claims that the Treasury wasted £11bn by paying too much interest on government debt. The claim was “not true”, he said.
He also said the suggestion that the £11bn cost could have been avoided (in very simple terms, by insuring against an interest rate increase - although the mechansim for that would be very complicated) was reliant on a strategy carrying “huge economic risks”.
The Treasury has inaccurately been accused of wasting billions of pounds. This is not true and the proposed measures come with huge economic risks and could undermine the Bank of England’s independence.
— John Glen MP (@JohnGlenUK) June 10, 2022
A short thread:
The Bank of England sets monetary policy independently – a fundamental feature of the UK’s macroeconomic framework. The proposals published today would undermine this independence, and be an act of financial repression.
— John Glen MP (@JohnGlenUK) June 10, 2022
This would be hugely damaging to the UK’s economy.
The proposals are complicated and involve forcing banks to swap reserves for longer-dated securities, but the £11 billion figure itself is based on almost impossible scenarios and implementing the proposals would have a significant impact on market prices and credibility.
— John Glen MP (@JohnGlenUK) June 10, 2022
This Government has always managed the economy responsibly and carefully, and respected the independence of the Bank of England completely. This will always be the case.
— John Glen MP (@JohnGlenUK) June 10, 2022
The claim that £11bn was wasted is based on an analysis by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) thinktank which was written by by the Financial Times this morning as its splash.
Friday’s Financial Times: “Sunak lost £11bn of taxpayer cash in debt blunder, say economists”#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/rFoDFP8GYP
— Helena Wilkinson (@BBCHelena) June 9, 2022
In a Twitter thread, Chris Giles, the FT’s economics editor, who wrote the story, said the threat posed by rising interest rates was real, and that the government could have done more to mitigate the risk. But he admits that following the approach suggested by the NIESR might not have worked, or might have created alternative problems. His thread starts here.
Our splash on debt management and @NIESRorg calculating an £11bn loss for taxpayers has raised important issues today - here are some thoughts on the implications...
— Chris Giles (@ChrisGiles_) June 10, 2022
I would note this is complicated and simplification was required to tell the tale
1/https://t.co/sRp5zK6LT6
Ministers have announced plans to open up to 75 new free schools in England. There will be up to 15 new mainstream schools and up to 60 special schools, for pupils with special educational needs, or alternative provision (AP) schools, for pupils who have been excluded, or who are at risk of exclusion.
Robin Walker, the schools minister, told LBC this morning that there would be a particular focus on funding standalone sixth forms in disadvantaged areas. He said:
This is extra places in new schools, so fundamentally what we’re talking about here is where there is a real need for new schools, whether that is in mainstream or whether it’s in the specialist sector, we want to make sure we are meeting that need.
Demographically, we’ve been through a bit of a bulge and there’s not perhaps the huge expansion of need for schools in mainstream that we’ve had in previous years.
But we are seeing, particularly in some areas of disadvantage where there isn’t opportunity for people to progress post-16, we want to fill that gap, we want to make sure that there’s the opportunity for everybody to have the chance to study, to go to university, should they choose to do so, or pursue vocational routes such as T-levels.
Home Office wrongly claims UN refugee agency backs Rwanda deportation plan, high court told
And these are from the BBC’s home and legal correspondent, Dominic Casciani, on the high court hearing this morning on the proposed removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda.
So far: Around 100 people have been told they might be put on a flight. Three of those, taking part in today’s action, have now been told by the Home Office, they won’t be sent to Rwanda at this time.
— Dominic Casciani (@BBCDomC) June 10, 2022
The Home Office has told the court that the claim brought against the Rwanda policy, by charities and other campaigners and lawyers for individual asylum seekers, should fail because it’s not justified - and the plan is in the public interest to deter English Channel crossings.
— Dominic Casciani (@BBCDomC) June 10, 2022
Raza Hussain QC, for some of the claimants, has told the court that the Home Secretary (usually legal-speak for the Home Office in general) have misled the court - and there is no support for the Rwanda plan from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
— Dominic Casciani (@BBCDomC) June 10, 2022
Mr Hussain said: “The Secretary of State’s assessment of the safety of Rwanda and her response is replete with references to UNHCR and the suggestion that the UNHCR has given this plan a green light. Regrettably the material demonstrates that to be misleading and incorrect.”
— Dominic Casciani (@BBCDomC) June 10, 2022
The Home Office has not said how many asylum seekers it wants to deport to Rwanda next week and it has not denied reports the number could be as high as 130. But the Guardian has been told the number is around 30.
Updated
Home Office cancels removal order for three of the many asylum seekers facing deportation to Rwanda next week
The Home Office has said that it has cancelled orders for the removal of three asylum seekers who were due to be sent to Rwanda next week, PA Media reports. The department said the removal directions had been cancelled in a written submission to the hearing at the high court this morning (see 9.44am), where campaigners are trying to get an injunction to suspend the removals.
Mark Easton from the BBC says one asylum seeker is still fighting his removal in this hearing.
Three asylum seekers due to have been deported to Rwanda next Tuesday will NOT now be removed, @ukhomeoffice has revealed. The trio were among four migrants challenging their deportation in the High Court. Another asylum seeker is still fighting his removal.
— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) June 10, 2022
Updated
Johnson a bad role model for children, says social mobility tsar
Katharine Birbalsingh, the government’s social mobility tsar, has said she does not think Boris Johnson is a good role model for children. In an interview with Sky News, asked if he was a good role model, she replied:
No, I don’t think so. I wish he could be but he isn’t and that is a bit sad.
I like Boris, I don’t think he’s a bad guy.
I don’t know enough about what he’s got up to but I do not think that he is a good role model for children.
The other day I saw a picture of him in the Metro and I looked at his hair and I thought - oh my goodness - we expect our children to have professional-looking hair.
You might think that’s a bit pedantic and that’s a bit silly, but it isn’t actually. I think, for our children, it’s important to look professional. And sometimes Boris looks professional, but sometimes he’s not professional enough for me.
My collleague Jamie Grierson has the full story here.
The average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts reached a new record of 183.2p on Thursday, according to data firm Experian, PA Media reports. PA says:
That was an increase of 0.9p compared with Wednesday.
This means the average cost of filling a typical 55-litre family car is £100.76.
The average price of a litre of diesel on Thursday was a record 188.8p.
Draft bill to override Northern Ireland protocol to be published on Monday
The controversial legislation to override the Northern Ireland protocol will be published on Monday after a row between the government and Eurosceptics about whether it is tough enough, my colleague Rowena Mason reports.
The legal commentator David Allen Green has written a long and interesting blog in which he unpicks the controversy about whether or not the first treasury counsel, Sir James Eadie, was consulted about the legislation. Here is Green’s conclusion.
What appears to have happened is as follows: the government got its convenient advice from the current attorney general; somebody insisted that this still had to be referred to first treasury counsel; a clever compromise was reached where it would be referred to Eadie on the basis of certain assumptions, so as not to undermine the convenient legal advice; and the [Eadie], while accepting those assumptions, provided an unhelpful view on the merits of those assumptions.
Updated
More than three quarters of Britons are very or somewhat worried about rising cost of living, ONS says
The Office for National Statistics has released a report today showing the extent to which British people are worried about the cost of living. Here are some of the main findings.
- More than three quarters of adults (77%) feel very or somewhat worried about the rising cost of living, the ONS says.
- Those most likely to be very or somewhat worried about the rising cost of living are women (81% - the figure for men is 73%), people aged between 30 and 49 (82%), disabled people (82%) and parents with a child under four (90%).
- Levels of worry about the cost of living are broadly similar in income groups up to £40,000 per year. But even among people earning more than £50,000 a year, 12% are very worrried about the cost of living, and 57% somewhat worried.
- Half of adults very worried about the rising cost of living feel worried about this nearly every day.
Updated
These are from ITV’s Anushka Asthana ahead of the high court hearing this morning where campaigners will be seeking an injunction to stop the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda next week.
Thread on Rwanda policy latest: Will be heading to the High Court today- as @DetentionAction @Care4Calais & others inc 4 individuals being sent to Rwanda request injunction to ground next week’s flight until all legal arguments have been made. @AsylumAid also requesting inj 1/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) June 10, 2022
Their legal argument-that they are asking for time to complete-is that Priti Patel hasn’t proven Rwanda is a safe place to send asylum seekers (eg cos of claims around human rights in detention) & protection for asylum seekers from being returned where they are fleeing from 2/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) June 10, 2022
Priti Patel has said from the start that lawyers (she said “leftie lawyers”) would try to block the plan. But that her department had done all the legal work to take on those challenges 3/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) June 10, 2022
The government believes this policy will act as a deterrent to other people trying to cross the Channel by boat. And it’s v popular among a lot but not all Tory MPs. Charities have argued it’s inhumane. 4/
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) June 10, 2022
And here is our preview story by Rajeev Syal and Diane Taylor.
Rishi Sunak ‘wasted £11bn by paying too much interest’ on UK debt
Rishi Sunak has been accused of wasting £11bn of taxpayers’ money by paying too much in interest servicing the government’s debt, PA Media reports.
Boris Johnson will be forced out by autumn without ‘positive new agenda’, Lord Frost says
Good morning. Boris Johnson is expected to be campaigning in Tiverton and Honiton in Devon today, where in a fortnight’s time voters will be hearing the result of the byelection. The Lib Dems are now widely expected to win, and if they do, overturning a Tory majority of more than 24,000, it will be a dire blow to the Tories, even worse than the loss of North Shropshire, where the government majority was just under 23,000. It is not clear yet what Johnson might be doing in the constituency, but it would be nice to think that he will bump into the woman my colleague Peter Walker met when he was there yesterday.
Tiverton voters have a refreshing bluntness. What do you think of Boris Johnson, I ask a woman in her 70s. “Crap”. What did you think of him in 2019? “Crap, but a bit less crap.”
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 9, 2022
I’ve transcribed the (brief) tape of my chat with Tiverton’s most concisely eloquent woman. Other highlights:
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 9, 2022
“Neil Parish? Disgusting.”
Have you decided how you’ll vote? “Yes”.
Will you tell me? “No”.
Will it involve trying to unseat the Tories? “Definitely”.
Some Tories and commenatators think that the loss of Tiverton and Honiton (and also Wakefield, where there is another byelection on the same day) might trigger a fresh Tory attempt to remove Johnson. But this seems unlikely, since the party will still be less than three weeks on from the last no-confidence vote, and instead party conference in the autumn (and/or the publication of the privileges committee inquiry into claims Johnson lied to MPs about Partygate - possibly coming at roughly the same time) is being seen by some as the new deadline by which Johnson must either get a grip or face removal from office.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph today Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who at one point was close to Johnson, delivers this warning explicitly. He says that, if Johnson wants to survive, he must embrace an authentic deregulatory, low-tax, Brexity agenda. He explains:
The investigation by the committee of privileges is still ongoing – it could easily come to some difficult conclusions and [Johnson] will face real problems if MPs, the party, and our voters can’t by then see a new positive agenda that would justify sticking with him as prime minister.
“Getting on with the job”, as he said at this week’s Cabinet, will not be enough if the new job is the same as the old job. If it is, the new boss will not be the same as the old boss ...
Every prime minister has weaknesses and blind spots. The issue is whether they are able to compensate for them, by having the right people, by taking good advice, and by setting a clear policy direction with broad support. Mr Johnson probably has between now and the party conference to show he can do that.
The main concern I hear from party members and potential Tory voters is not about partygate. For good or ill, people have made up their minds about that. It is that they don’t understand what the government is trying to do, and why. Worse, to the extent that they do understand it, they don’t particularly like it. They get that the government faces many difficult problems. They are willing to cut it some slack. But they want to know how it is going to try to solve them and they want it to do so in a Conservative way, not in a high-cost high-spend collectivist way.
Frost spend most of his career as a middle-ranking diplomat, and he was a lobbyist for the Scotch Whisky industry before Johnson, then foreign secretary, made him an adviser. Now he has acquired a status where he is presented (particularly by the Telegraph) as the conscience of Conservatism. It is a striking transformation but one that is flattering for Frost, as well as the convenient for the paper, which is now increasingly critical of Johnson and happy to use the peer to champion an agenda it also shares.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Lawyers launch a bid at the high court to stop the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
At some point Johnson is expected to be campaign in Tiverton and Honiton.
And Keir Starmer is in Belfast, where he is meeting political figures to discuss the Northern Ireland protocol.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
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