Afternoon summary
Refugee Council disputes Jenrick's claim government on track to clear backlog of asylum applications this year
In the Commons Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, claimed the government is “on track to process the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of the year”.
But the Refugee Council says the government would have to quadruple the rate at which claims are being processed to achieve this. Enver Solomon, the charity’s CEO, explained:
More than 150,000 people are living in limbo because the government has failed to run an efficient and effective asylum system resulting in billions of pounds being wasted on using hotel accommodation. The majority are refugees escaping bombs and bullets, repression and persecution, without alternative ways to seek safety in the UK.
The government is still failing to make timely decisions with just 11,000 cases being processed in the last three months. To clear it by the end of the year will require a near quadrupling in the number of decisions made each month.
Solomon also said the plans announced today were not “serious, workable solutions”. He said:
They won’t address the challenges of the system the government itself admits is failing due to its own mismanagement. Instead we should be providing accommodation which treats people with humanity, dignity and compassion, not barges and shipping containers.
This is not who we are as a country. We can do so much better than this when it comes to reaching out to support those in need of safety and sanctuary.
Rishi Sunak has promised to clear the backlog of asylum applications by the end of this year, but No 10 has said this promise only covers the backlog of 92,601 claims in place before the Nationality and Borders Act come into force last summer – not the total backlog. Jenrick told MPs today that more than 11,000 cases in the backlog had been dealt with in the last three months. That suggests even hitting the No 10 definition of the target, although the government says it is hiring more staff to process applications.
Here is the Home Office press release with details of the announcement made by Robert Jenrick in the Commons earlier about the plans to move asylum seekers out of hotel accommodation into new places, including former military sites in Lincolnshire and Essex, and a non-military site in East Sussex.
Julian Knight to remain suspended until further complaints resolved, says Tory chief whip
Simon Hart, the government chief whip, has decided that Julian Knight will not have the Conservative whip restored until futher complaints about him are resolved. (See 3.55pm.) That means he will remain suspended from the parliamentary party. A spokesperson for Hart said:
Following further complaints made to the whips office, we will not be restoring the whip to Julian Knight.
These complaints, if appropriate, will be referred to the relevant police force, or appropriate bodies.
The introduction this month of the illegal migration bill, and then the budget, have done little to improve Rishi Sunak’s approval ratings, a poll by Ipsos suggests.
In its summary of the findings, Ipsos says:
The latest update to the Ipsos Political Pulse, taking March 17th-20th following the budget, shows little change in Rishi Sunak’s personal poll ratings and a majority of Britons still holding an unfavourable opinion towards the Conservative party.
Here are the figures for Sunak and Keir Starmer’s approval ratings.
And here are the figures for their parties.
This is from Keiran Pedley at Ipsos, summarising what the poll says.
What do we learn?
— Keiran Pedley (@keiranpedley) March 29, 2023
- Lots of politics in the past month or so but little impact shown in Sunak ratings.
- Con brand continues to weigh down prospects of a Sunak / comeback bounce.
- Negative public mood persists but less so than the winter.
- Public think Brexit going badly.
Updated
SNP MP John Nicolson cleared of cyberbullying Nadine Dorries
The SNP MP John Nicolson has been cleared of bullying the former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries after a six-month investigation, my colleague Aletha Adu reports.
The plan to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire has been called a “backward step” for the area, PA Media reports.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 migrants will be housed at RAF Scampton and more will be housed at other bases and private facilities across the country, the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, told MPs.
The confirmation of the plans means that a £300m regeneration project at Scampton, formerly the home of the Red Arrows and the 617 Dambusters Squadron, has been put on hold, despite several calls for migrants to be housed elsewhere so the regeneration project can go ahead.
A spokesperson for Scampton Holdings Ltd (SHL), the company leading the redevelopment, said it was “absolutely devastated” by the government’s decision, with the company’s chair, Peter Hewitt, saying the decision was “incredibly difficult to understand”.
Hewitt said: “Earlier this week Sir Edward Leigh MP met with the prime minister and presented our case, including numerous letters of support from blue-chip businesses, academia, historians and the Local Enterprise Partnership. Despite assurances that these plans will only be temporary, it is nothing short of a backward step for the economic growth of the region.”
West Lindsey District Council had planned to buy the RAF base from the Ministry of Defence and transfer ownership to SHL through a development agreement.
The site would then be redeveloped to create “aviation heritage, business, aerospace, space and aviation technology and education opportunities”, according to the council, with an operational runway at the heart of the plans and thousands of jobs set to be created.
Updated
Tory MP Julian Knight criticises Met police for taking four months to accept allegation against him was false
Julian Knight, the Conservative MP, says he has been cleared by the police in relation to a serious allegation that had led to the Tory whip being removed, and to him having temporarily to stand aside from chairing the Commons culture committee.
In a statement criticising the government whips and the Metropolitan police for their response to the allegation, he said:
Had the police taken the simple step at outset of interviewing me under caution, they would have seen that the allegation was false and scandalous. Instead, they waited four months, without ever talking to me, before deciding there was nothing for them to investigate.
I have been left effectively to prove my innocence through my public statements and letters to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police and the chief whip. That cannot be right.
Knight also said that, in naming him in connection with the complaint, “the Conservative whips office acted disgracefully”. He was suspended by the party over the complaint in December.
Updated
Simon Jones, a report for BBC South East, points out that the new sites announced by the government today would only be able to house about a tenth of the asylum seekers currently in hotel accommodation.
The three new sites announced by the government to accommodate asylum seekers in East Sussex, Lincolnshire and Essex will be able to accommodate a total of 4,900 people. The current hotel population stands at 51,000 asylum seekers.
— Simon Jones (@SimonJonesNews) March 29, 2023
Scampton and Wethersfield are each due to accommodate about 200 people initially, with capacity gradually increasing to 1,700 at Wethersfield and 2,000 at Scampton.
— Simon Jones (@SimonJonesNews) March 29, 2023
Yousaf appoints new Scottish government cabinet, with women in majority for first time
Humza Yousaf, the new Scottish first minister, has appointed his first cabinet, PA Media reports. PA says:
Deputy first minister Shona Robison, who was appointed to the deputy role yesterday, will also take on the finance portfolio, while Yousaf’s campaign manager in the SNP leadership race, Neil Gray, will be elevated to cabinet secretary for wellbeing, economy, fair work and energy.
Both were praised by Yousaf in his acceptance speech after the announcement of his win on Monday.
Elsewhere, the former net zero secretary Michael Matheson will replace the first minister in the health portfolio, and former transport minister Jenny Gilruth will take over at education.
Mairi Gougeon and Angus Robertson will remain in their respective posts of rural affairs and constitution.
Shirley-Anne Somerville – previously education secretary – has been asked to take over from the deputy first minister in social justice, while the former drugs minister Angela Constance will be elevated to cabinet secretary for justice and home affairs.
Mairi McAllan will become the youngest member of the cabinet, taking on net zero and just transition after being a junior minister in that portfolio under Nicola Sturgeon.
In its news release on the appointments, the Scottish government says this is the first time a majority of cabinet ministers are women. It also says half of the new cabinet ministers are under 40.
Updated
Cleverly confirms he opposed former RAF base in his constituency being chosen as site for asylum seekers
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary and MP for Braintree, has issued a statement to confirm that he opposed the decision to house asylum seekers in the former RAF base at Wethersfield, in his constituency. He said:
The Home Office has confirmed that the former MDP Wethersfield will become a temporary asylum reception centre.
Although this decision isn’t the result my constituents and I wanted, I have received assurances that community safety will remain paramount.
I have made my views on the site clear from the beginning. My views, and those of local residents, were taken into account by the Home Office and considerable mitigations for the local community will be put in place.
Originally an RAF base, Wethersfield was later taken over by Ministry of Defence police.
Updated
Betty Boothroyd’s funeral, which took place earlier today, reflected how the former Commons speaker was regarded in all walks of life, the rector of Thriplow said. The Rev Angela Melaniphy, who led the service, told the PA news agency that “it was Betty’s service”. She said:
She’d planned it, she’d chosen all the music. The entry music was Climb Ev’ry Mountain sung by Dame Patricia Routledge, who was a very close friend of Baroness Betty Boothroyd’s.
What was lovely about it was that her family was there, her very close friends were there, members of the village were there and members of parliament were there.
And so it was a service that included all of her life and each part of that reflected how highly she was regarded.
Melaniphy told the congregation that to villagers, Lady Boothroyd was “simply Betty”. She told PA:
She was a very popular resident. She was really a member of the village. She drank at the local pub, she shopped at the local shop. She actually was a neighbour, she used to visit housebound neighbours and chat to them.
In later years, she walked down her drive and sat on a bench outside her house and chatted to people who came past.
And, as I said in the service, that in the country she was known to many people as Baroness Boothroyd, in parliament she was madam speaker, but to us she was simply Betty.
Updated
Jenrick implies that, if boats were used to house asylum seekers, they would be in port, not offshore
The Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price asked Robert Jenrick if any ships or barges used to house asylum seekers would be offshore, or moored in a port. If they were going to be quayside, “what conversations has he had with port operators about the operational challenges to their business for hosting what is essentially a residential community long-term”, she asked.
Jenrick implied that, if boats were used, they would not be offshore because the government does not have the powers to detain asylum seekers for long periods. He told Doyle-Price:
I am not going to comment on press speculation … We don’t, as she knows, currently have the powers to detain individuals for prolonged periods of time, and so any form of accommodation would be non-detained.
Updated
During his statement Robert Jenrick confirmed that the government was considering using ‘“vessels” to house asylum seekers, but he said nothing to suggest that the use of a barge, or barges, for this purpose (see 9.22am) was a certainty.
The Conservative MP Richard Drax told Jenrick that the use of boats or barges would be “totally and utterly out of the question”. He explained:
Land-based reception camps in the right place has to be the solution. Does [he] agree with me that if you look at what’s happened in hotels so far with illegal migrants, we’ve had all kinds of issues with local residents, disappearing children, sexual assaults etc.
So would he agree with me that putting these people on boats or on barges where the problem’s going to be exacerbated ten-fold is totally and utterly out of the question.
Jenrick told Drax he did “see merit” in using boats or barges.
Updated
The Jenrick statement is now over. I have beefed up some of the earlier posts to include direct quotes, but you may need to refresh the page to get those to appear.
Updated
Labour’s Tahir Ali says this is just “headline-grabbing scaremongering”.
Jenrick says this is better than doing nothing, which is what Labour is proposing.
Jonathan Gullis (Con) says people in his constituency are outraged by the use of a hotel in Stoke-on-Trent by asylum seekers. He asks for confirmation that Stoke will be a priority area of young men being moved out of hotel accommodation.
Jenrick says he would like the hotel in Stoke by the station being used for asylum seekers to be closed for this purpose as soon as possible.
Updated
Back in the Commons, William Wragg opened his question to Robert Jenrick a few minutes ago by telling him that he was “one of the abler ministers in the Home Office” – which souned like a dig at Wragg’s boss, Suella Braverman.
Wragg then warned the government not to adopt a “Gerald Ratner approach” to this problem – just highlighting the problem. But what would be even worse would be a “something must be seen to be done” approach, he said. He suggested this had led to this “Rosie and Jim idea of barges all over the place”.
Jenrick said he agreed that a performative approach to this would be wrong. People wanted to see the government acting and taking difficult decisions, he said.
Updated
Liz Truss criticises Hunt for putting up corporation tax (which he first announced when she was PM)
Turning away from the Jenrick statement for a moment, Liz Truss has hit back at Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, over what he said about her mini-budget in his evidence to the Treasury committee this morning. Hunt said that there were mistakes in the mini-budget, and that it showed “you can’t fund tax cuts through increased borrowing”.
In response, a spokesperson for Truss told journalists:
Liz was always clear that you can’t deliver economic growth and thus reduce borrowing by hiking taxes. Raising corporation tax from 19% to 25% looks like a pretty bad mistake right now when you consider how a firm like AstraZeneca is locating its new plant in Ireland, where corporation tax is half the rate now being levied by the British government. The Treasury looks like it will lose revenue as a result of that decision.
Truss seems to have forgotten that the decision to reverse the corporation tax cut was originally announced by Hunt after she appointed him chancellor, and when she was still prime minister. (Admittedly, by that point she was basically a hostage PM, with Hunt running the country.)
Updated
Edward Timpson (Con) asks if children will be moved into any of the sites named by Jenrick.
Jenrick says it is not his intention to house minors on these sites. They will be used by single adult males, he says.
Jenrick says it is peculiar that people on the left are happy for servicemen and women to be housed in barracks but not asylum seekers.
Updated
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, says she, too, is opposed to the use of an RAF base at Wethersfield. This is the site in James Cleverly’s constituency. Patel says, as another Essex MP, she also thinks that it is not suitable.
UPDATE: Patel said:
I am an Essex MP and I’m the other MP for Braintree District. Wethersfield is not in my constituency, [it] is in the constituency of the foreign secretary.
It is no difference, if I may say so, in terms of the rurality and the village size to a former site, not in Essex, which was Linton-on-Ouse, which was cancelled by the current government.
Can I ask why it is deemed appropriate for asylum seeker accommodation to be placed in a rural village in Essex with single men where there is no infrastructure, no amenities, but it was not appropriate for somewhere like Linton-on-Ouse?
In response, Jenrick said:
I can say that we don’t have a current plan to proceed with Linton-on-Ouse, but the sites that I’ve announced today are just the first set that we would like to take forward.
Because we want to remove people from hotels as quickly as possible and to move to this more rudimentary form of accommodation, which will reduce pull factors to the UK and defend the interests of the taxpayer.
Updated
Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s home affairs spokesperson, said the government seemed to be bringing back internment camps, which was “despicable”. She asked about the Bloomberg report saying using boats would cost even more than using hotels. (See 12.41pm.)
In his response, Jenrick did not address the cost point. But he accused the SNP of being “humanitarian nimbies”, claiming that Scotland was not housing its share of asylum seekers.
Updated
Sir Edward Leigh (Con) said the local council would fight the plan to use RAF Campton (the airfield used by the Dambusters) in his constituency. He attacked the plan strongly.
Jenrick acknowledged that Leigh was representing his constituency. He told him that the heritage buildings on the site would not be affected.
UPDATE: Leigh said:
Although the minister did not mention RAF Scampton by name, we assume that that is the base in Lincolnshire he is referring to.
I can inform him that the moment this is confirmed the local authority West Lindsey will issue an immediate judicial review and injunction against this thoroughly bad decision which is not based on good governance, but the politics of trying to do something.
And in response Jenrick said:
Whilst this policy is without question in the national interest, we understand the impact and the concern that there will be within local communities.
And all parts of government want to work closely with him, with his local authorities, to mitigate the issues that will arise as a result of this site.
I can say to him that there will be significant package of support for his constituents. There will be specific protections for the unique heritage on the site.
We don’t intend to make any use of the historic buildings, and indeed in our temporary use of the site to ensure that those heritage assets are in fact enhanced and preserved.
We do see this as a short-term arrangement, and we would like to enter into an agreement, as he knows, with West Lindsey District Council so that they can take possession of the site at a later date and their regeneration plans … can be realised in due course.
Updated
In his response to Cooper, Robert Jenrick said Labour “don’t have the faintest clue how to tackle this issue”. He accused Labour of being weak.
What we’ve laid out today is three months of intense work which is seeing the backlog coming down.
The Labour party are too weak to take the kind of tough decisions that we are taking today. And in their weakness they would make the United Kingdom a magnet, there would be open doors, an open cheque book, and there would be open season for abuse.
Updated
Labour says asylum seekers accommodation announcement 'admission of failure'
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said this statement was “an admission of failure”. She suggested that was why Robert Jenrick was making it, not Suella Braverman herself.
And she pointed out that Tory local authorities were fighting these plans. Highlighting the foreign secretary’s opposition to the use of a site in his constituency, she asked Jenrick to confirm that the foreign secretary was backing legal action against the home secretary – “a first, even for this chaotic government”.
UPDATE: Cooper said:
The prime minister has just said the home secretary was wrong, the Rwanda flights won’t start this summer.
They’ve nowhere to send people too, and instead of speeding up asylum decisions they are just going to cancel them, so that means more people in asylum accommodation and hotels and more flimflam headlines that just don’t stack up.
Today it was barges, and it turns out there aren’t any. Desperate to distract everyone from the damage they might want to do to the Dambusters heritage [see 1.01pm], instead they start talking about ferries and barges.
Three years ago they said the same thing. Last summer the prime minister said it would be cruise liners. The Home Office civil servants said ferries would end up costing more than the hotels they are already spending so much money on.
So instead the immigration minister has been sent around the country with a copy Waterways Weekly trying to find barges instead, and he still hasn’t found any …
Yesterday Tory MPs again voted against Labour’s plans for a legal requirement for councils to be consulted, instead he has Conservative councils backed by Conservative MPs taking action against him.
So can he confirm that the foreign secretary [James Cleverly] is backing legal action against the home secretary [Suella Braverman]? Frankly that is a first even for this chaotic government.”
They are flailing around in a panic chasing headlines, barges, oil rigs, Rwanda flights, even wave machines, instead of doing the hard graft. They have lost control of our border security, lost control of the asylum system, lost control of their budget, and lost control of themselves.
Updated
Jenrick claims action needed to stop public spending 'eye-watering amounts' on asylum seekers
Jenrick ended by saying basic health care will be provided onsite at these sites, and there would be security.
Local authorities would get funding to help cover the costs, he said.
He said action was needed “to save the British public from spending eye-watering amounts accommodating illegal migrants”.
He ended saying inaction was not an option.
Updated
Jenrick confirms military sites being used to house asylum seekers, including in Sunak's constituency
Jenrick says he is today announcing the first tranche of alternatives to hotel accommodation. He says:
The government will use military sites being disposed of in Essex and Lincolnshire and a separate site in East Sussex. These will be scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation to several thousand asylum seekers through repurposed barrack blocks and portacabins.
In addition, [Rishi Sunak] is showing leadership on this issue by bringing forward proposals to provide accommodation at Catterick Garrison barracks in his constituency.
We’re continuing to explore the possibility of accommodating migrants in vessels as they are in Scotland and in the Netherlands.
Jenrick says the use of hotels will not end overnight. But these measures will “relieve pressure on our communities” and will “manage asylum seekers in a more appropriate and cost-effective way”.
Updated
Jenrick says accommodation for asylum seekers should meet their 'essential living needs and nothing more'
Jenrick says the government will increase funding for local authorities to help them meet the cost of accommodating asylum seekers.
The government is committed to meeting its obligations.
But, he goes on:
Accommodation for migrants should meet their essential living needs and nothing more. Because we cannot risk becoming a magnet for the millions of people who are displaced and seeking better economic prospects.
Updated
Jenrick says asylum system has been 'overwhelmed' by people arriving on small boats
Robert Jenrick says the illegal migration bill goes further than any previous legislation, while still meeting the UK’s international obligations.
The sheer number of small boats have overwhelmed our asylum system and forced the government to place asylum seekers in hotels.
These hotels take valuable assets from communities and place pressures on local public services.
Seaside towns have lost tourist trade, weddings have been cancelled and local councils have had their resources diverted to manage them and the hardworking British taxpayer has been left to foot the eye-watering £2.3bn a year bill.
He goes on:
We must not elevate the wellbeing of illegal migrants above those of the British people. It is in their interests we are sent here.
Updated
Robert Jenrick's statement to MPs on housing asylum seekers
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, is about to make his statement about housing asylum seekers.
We may find out how solid the plans are to house them in a barge, or barges. (See 9.22am.)
Alex Wickham from Bloomberg says that leaked Home Office documents show that in the past this option was ruled out as being even more expensive than using hotels.
EXCLUSIVE: Home Office rejected plan to put migrants on ships/barges last year because it could be MORE expensive than using hotels
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) March 29, 2023
— Leaked docs show costs of £100,000s-an-HOUR to moor ships
— Officials warned it could surpass the £7m-a-day for hotelshttps://t.co/9MtfnqqUMl
Updated
David Linden (SNP) says Rishi Sunak is on record as saying he has no working-class friends. [It was a video when he was a student.] Where might he meet some?
Raab says the government has been doing a lot for working people.
Updated
Wendy Morton (Con) asks whether people in her constituency will benefit from the pilot of the antisocial behaviour action plan policies. She says they are worried the Labour police and crime commissioner will direct the money somewhere else.
Raab says it is for PCCs to decide where the money goes, but Morton will make her submissions in her usual, forceful way, he says.
Updated
Stephanie Peacock (Lab) asks about a hospital in her constituency providing palliative care.
Raab says he is happy to look at this if Peacock writes to him.
Chris Bryant asks about Paul O’Grady/Lily Savage, who campaigned against oppression of every kind. Isn’t it time we celebrate our drag queens who inspire us to be a better nation?
Raab agrees. He says O’Grady’s comedy broke barriers. And he says he showed why it is necessary to avoid the constraints of “wokery” on comedy.
Caroline Nokes (Con) says victims of revenge porn have to prove that the offender intended to cause distress. Will the government tighten the law?
Raab praises Nokes for her campaigning on this. He says the online safety bill is being changed to toughen the law on this. The government will consider further changes, he says.
Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) says there are 800 fewer GPs than in 2019. What does Raab say to patients affected?
Raab says access to general practice is improving, and the number of GPs in training is at record levels.
Updated
Douglas Chapman (SNP) says the recent BBC drama about the Brink’s-Mat robbery reminded us that only half the Brink’s-Mat gold was recovered. But with Covid fraud, only 1% of the money has been recovered.
Raab says fraud is getting more complex but funding to deal with it has increased.
Updated
Cat Smith (Lab) asks what the government is doing to protect Royal Mail.
Raab says the pandemic created problems for the company. He will ensure Smith gets a meeting with a minister.
James Grundy (Con) says his constituents want Leigh to break away from Wigan council. He says this is the year to give the town its independence and “get Lexit done”.
Raab says Grundy can meet the local government minister to discuss this.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, asks about the increase in the terrorism threat level for Northern Ireland. Will the government provide the police with the resources they need to counter this threat?
Raab says it is disappointing that the threat level has gone up. But violence has been going down since its peak in 2009-10.
Mhairi Black, the SNP deputy leader at Westminster, says video footage has emerged of Tory MPs offering their services for money. Matt Hancock asked for £10,000 a day. What will Raab’s daily rate be when he is booted out of office?
Raab claims the Tories have tightened up the lobbying rules.
Black says, as Raab’s colleagues “eye up barrels of cash from fake companies”, it is the people of this country who are led by donkeys. She says Hancock is asking for £1,500 an hour, but nurses get £15 an hour. Who offers better value for money?
Raab says he is glad most health workers have accepted a pay settlement.
Updated
Rayner says Raab is refusing to apologise. He has no sense of shame. Raab is spending all his time trying to save his job, not doing his job. The PM has given the levelling up secretary responsibility for antisocial behaviour. She says this may be Raab’s last PMQs. “Will he walk before he’s pushed?”
Raab says Rayner always comes with “the usual bluster of political opportunism”. Labour tried to block the small boats bill. The Tories deliver; Labour plays politics, he says.
Will Dominic Raab "walk before he's pushed?" asks Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, referencing reports it "might be [his] last PMQs"
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 29, 2023
The deputy PM says that the government "delivers for Britain, she likes to play her political aims"https://t.co/vn9IlHAuMQ #PMQs pic.twitter.com/YMS7EDscOq
Updated
Rayner again asks Raab to apologise for his failure to deal with the court backlog.
Raab says Rayner has ignored the impact of the pandemic, or the strike by defence lawyers. Funding for victim support has quadrupled since the Tories came to power, he says. If Labour were serious about this, they would not have voted against longer sentences, he says.
Updated
Angela Rayner asks Dominic Raab to apologise for low rape charge and conviction rate
Rayner says 300 women will be raped today. And only 1.6% of cases are charged. Over 98% of rapists will never see the inside of a courtroom, let alone a prison. Women are worried. She says more than 500,000 rape cases have been reported by the police since the Tories have been in power. Rapists are left to walk the streets. Will Raab apologise?
Raab says the CPS is in charge of charging people, and Keir Starmer used to be in charge of that. He says the conviction rate has gone up to 69%. And the completion case for rape cases has come down by 10 weeks, he says.
Updated
Rayner asks that the government is doing to protect women and girls.
Raab says rape convicitions are increasing.
Rayner says anti-social behaviour is not just running out of control in Raab’s department. It is across the country. The Tories have lost control of crime. Why are there 6,000 fewer neighbourhood police officers on the street?
Raab says Labour voted against the government’s police plan. He says crime levels are lower than under Labour, and violent crime has halved.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, pays her own tribute to Boothroyd. And she pays tribute to Paul O’Grady too, saying he was a national treasure and a “true northern star”.
She says it has only taken 13 years for the government to launch an antisocial behaviour policy.
Raab knows all about the culture of fear that can be caused by thugs who create a climate of fear. Will he be brought to justice?
Raab says he can assure MPs he has never called anyone scum.
If Rayner were serious about dealing with antisocial behaviour, she would back the plan, he says.
Updated
Dominic Raab starts by saying all MPs will want to pay tribute to Lady Boothroyd.
Updated
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs.
Dominic Raab prepares to face Angela Rayner at deputy PMQs
Today’s PMQs will be a B team affair because Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are both attending the funeral of Betty Boothroyd, the former speaker. There will be a service near her home in Cambridgeshire.
Even the speaker’s office is fielding a substitute today, because Sir Lindsay Hoyle is speaking too. On Monday, a Commons motion was passed giving him leave of absence. Dame Eleanor Laing is in the chair instead.
In the press gallery journalists cannot decide whether this is dreadful blunder by the funeral organisers, because Boothroyd would have hated to see PMQs interrupted, or whether this is exactly in line with her wishes, because she would have loved being centre of attention one last time on PMQs day. (I suspect the latter.)
As usual, Dominic Raab and Angela Rayner will be standing in for Sunak and Starmer respectfully.
Conceivably, it could be Raab’s last outing as a supply PM. The inquiry into allegations he bullied his civil servants is due soon.
This morning he said that he felt “heart and soul” he had done nothing wrong. He told Sky News:
I’m a professional, I called for the investigation so there’s no point in complaining about it.
It will conclude when it concludes, that’s not within my control. Anyone accused of things that you feel very passionately and heart and soul are wrong you will feel aggrieved, but I’m a professional – I’m very focused on the job I’m doing.
Updated
Turning away from the Treasury committee for a moment, the Liberal Democrats have launched their local election campaign with a stunt that echoes and parodies a Boris Johnson photocall from the 2019. The Lib Dems are signalling their intention to knock down the Tory “blue wall”. Henry Riley from LBC has the clip.
The Lib Dem’s have ARRIVED
— Henry Riley (@HenryRiley1) March 29, 2023
(Local election launch in Berkhamsted)@LBC @LBCNews @LibDemPress pic.twitter.com/2W3IMpRjqZ
It is very Lib Dem. When Johnson drove through a wall labelled “gridlock” with a “Get Brexit Done” JCB, he insisted on driving himself. In this version, Ed Davey is in the passenger seat and someone else is at at the wheel. Health and safety perhaps.
It is a big improvement on the last Lib Dem photocall of this kind, which did not quite convey the impression intended because of Davey’s diminutive orange mallet.
Updated
There are no urgent questions in the Commons today, which means the Robert Jenrick statement on accommodation for asylum seekers will start at around 12.30pm.
Hunt plays down concerns lifting lifetime pensions savings cap creates inheritance tax loophole
Browne asks if the Treasury is looking at changing the rules that allow people to pass on their pension pots to their children when they die free of inheritance tax.
(Experts have suggested that Hunt is creating a massive inheritance tax loophole.)
Hunt says if this happens people do pay tax, at the marginal rate. So they are not escaping tax, just paying it in a different way.
Browne says, for basic rate taxpayers, that still amounts to an advantage. He says the Treasury should look at this issue.
Anthony Browne (Con) ask Hunt why he did not just create a doctors-only scheme to remove the cap on tax-free pensions savings.
Hunt says a doctors-only scheme would have been regressive, because the scheme that the government did announce would not help the wealthiest 20% of doctors.
He says a doctors-only scheme would not have been a lot cheaper.
And he says he wanted to remove barriers to work for people in their 50s generally.
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Douglas Chapman (SNP) asks Jeremy Hunt if HS2 has “hit the buffers”. He suggests the money should be spent elsewhere.
Hunt says he does not agree. Countries like Germany or Japan have less regional inequality because people can travel around the country much more easily. In Japan you can get on a bullet train and get to Tokyo within three hours.
Chapman says he does not expect a bullet train to arrive in Scotland any time soon.
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Back at the Treasury committee Andrea Leadsom (Con) asks why post-pandemic economic inactivity is higher in the UK than in other G7 countries.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, says that is a good question. A lot of people over the age of 50 have given up work, he says. For some people, like doctors, pension rules are a factor. He says he has addressed this.
Q: That does not answer the question. Why is the situation worse in the UK?
Hunt says the UK is about “middle of the pack” for OECD countries.
Q: Are people being more honest about their health? Or has health got worse?
Hunt says the government has some of the answers to this, but not all of them.
The number of long-term sick has grown. There are 2.5 million people who are long-term sick or disabled. He says the DWP white paper is addressing this.
Yesterday, when Rishi Sunak was giving evidence to the Commons liaison committee, there was a cryptic question from Labour’s Catherine McKinnell, who wanted to know if he had anything to declare in relation to the government’s childminder recruitment bonus scheme. People who sign up as a childminder will get a £600 bonus, but £1,2000 if they sign up through an agency.
Sunak said all his interests were declared. And he defended the anomaly, saying agency recruitment costs were higher.
In a report for the i, Richard Vaughan and Paul Waugh explain what prompted the question; Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, has shares in a childcare agency that could benefit, they report. They say:
According to Companies House, Ms Murty was listed as a shareholder in Koru Kids as recently as 6 March 2023 and has been since March 2021 …
Agencies such as Koru Kids can expect to see a major increase in business as a result of the pilot, as it will drive prospective childminders to sign up via agencies.
No 10 told the i that it would not comment on Murty’s business arrangements because she was a private individual, and that Sunak had declared all relevant interests.
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Q: How many couples will lose access to child benefits because of your stealth taxes on the higher rate tax threshold?
Hunt says he will have to write to the committee with the anwer.
But he says the childcare plans will make a big difference to many people.
Hunt says Treasury has not yet decided how much extra DHSC will get to fund pay deal for NHS workers
Eagle how the pay settlement for health workers will be funded.
Hunt says, as with all pay settlements, departments fund them from the money they get in the spending review. But in exceptional circumstances they can speak to the Treasury about extra help.
He says this is a special situation, because of inflation.
There will be a discussion about how much help health will get. But that discussion has not taken place yet, he says.
(That means the Department of Health and Social Care does not know yet how much extra money it will get.)
He says there will be no reduction in frontline services. But that does not mean departments won’t have to make efficiency savings, he says.
Q: Public sector workers have had huge pay cuts?
Hunt says the government has spent almost £100bn helping people with the cost of living, with particular help for people on low incomes.
Q: So, if workers are voting on pay offers, your message is they are not fully funded, and much of it will come from existing budgets?
Hunt does not accept that. He says he will fund these pay rises in the way they are always funded. He goes on:
But we make a commitment that there will not be a degredation of frontline services for the public.
Back in the Commons Treasury committee, Labour’s Angela Eagle asks if £10,000 a day is a good rate for a former chancellor. She is referring to Kwasi Kwarteng.
Jeremy Hunt says he does not know. He says he hopes to be chancellor for a long time.
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Kate Forbes turned down cabinet job get get better work-life balance, says Scotland's new deputy first minister
Kate Forbes chose to turn down a cabinet post in the Scottish government to achieve a better work/life balance, Shona Robison, the new deputy first minister, said this morning.
Forbes was narrowly beaten by Humza Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest. Yesterday Yousaf offered Forbes, who had been finance secretary, the post of rural affairs secretary, but she turned it down and is returning to the backbenches.
This was widely seen as a blow to Yousaf’s hopes of uniting the party after a leadership contest that was particularly acrimonious and damaging to the SNP’s reputation.
In her first broadcast interview in her new role, Robison said Forbes refused a cabinet job mainly for personal, not political reasons. She said:
I understand that the discussion was very cordial and was very much centred on what Kate’s thoughts were and I think she had reflected upon how hard the campaign had been for family life and her desire for a better work-life balance and she decided that time out of the spotlight would be best to spend time with her family, which is understandable.
This is consistent with what Forbes said on Twitter yesterday.
To the great credit of @HumzaYousaf the first official convo he had after Monday’s result was with me. He has been respectful, supportive & warm throughout. In whatever capacity I serve, I’ll support him. Ps after 5 long weeks, I’ll be delighted to see more of my family!
— Kate Forbes MSP (@_KateForbes) March 28, 2023
Robison also said that Yousaf’s cabinet would be unlike Nicola Sturgeon’s. She said:
I think what you’ll see is a cabinet that looks quite different and feels quite different.
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Hunt tells the Treasury committee that he believes in NHS reform. It was not possible to pursue that during the pandemic, he says. But he says in the autumn statement he asked Patricia Hewitt, the former Labour health secretary, to carry out a review. She is looking, in particular, at whether the NHS has too many targets, he says.
Danny Kruger (Con) goes next. He asks if the government has had a consistent growth strategy over the past few years.
Hunt says, with the exception of the mini-budget, there has been consistency.
Baldwin asks about the Office for Tax Simplification. Kwasi Kwarteng abolished this when he was chancellor. Baldwin asks why Hunt has not reversed that. Is that because the tax system does not need simplification?
No, says Hunt. He says he still wants to simplify the system.
He will take that as a personal responsibility, instead of having a body in charge of it.
He says he will be asking his officials to simplify measures before budgets; he just does not think a special body is needed.
Jeremy Hunt gives evidence to Commons Treasury committee about the budget
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has just started giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget.
Harriett Baldwin (Con), the chair, put it to Hunt that the budget projections based on the assumption that fuel duty will rise next year are a “fiction”. She made the same point to Rishi Sunak yesterday.
Hunt said he did not accept that. When it was put to him that he would not be putting up fuel duty by 12p in an election year, he said that he did not know what he would do.
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Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new first minister, has posted a picture on Twitter of his family praying after breaking their Ramadan fast in Bute House, the first minister’s official residence, last night.
My family and I spending our first night in Bute House after today's parliamentary vote. A special moment leading my family in prayer in Bute House as is customary after breaking fast together. pic.twitter.com/yjPY1vpJMB
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) March 28, 2023
Severin Carrell has written an article setting out the challenges facing Yousaf in his new job.
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Overseas aid budget cut to meet soaring costs of housing refugees in UK
A third of the UK’s overseas aid budget was spent by the Home Office on housing refugees in a poorly managed programme that contained few cost-saving incentives, the government’s independent watchdog on aid has found.
Here is the report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact. And here is our news story by Patrick Wintour.
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Dominic Raab claims hotel accommodation acts as ‘incentive’ for small boat arrivals
Good morning. We are getting a statement in the Commons later on plans to stop housing new asylum seekers in hotels, and instead to put them in disused army barracks, on ships – and possibly even on a barge.
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, has been giving interviews this morning and he told Sky News that one reason for moving people out of hotel accommodation, which is costing the government more than £6m a day, was that it was acting as an “incentive” for small boat arrivals.
We must end this perverse incentive through the hotels and more generally with the hospitality that in a broader sense this country gives, encouraging the wrong people, which is the criminal gangs and illegal migrants, to make these very dangerous journeys.
But on Sky, and in other interviews, Raab was less keen to confirm one of the most eye-catching claims in some of the reports about today’s announcement – that asylum seekers will be placed on a barge.
Wednesday's Mail: "Migrants to be housed on cruise ships and barges" #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/I6wdjAyD7I pic.twitter.com/0hLR0B4jci
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) March 28, 2023
Wednesday's Times: "Hundreds of migrants to be housed in giant barge" #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/ENtg4p45xp pic.twitter.com/SGq7tD6ywG
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) March 28, 2023
In its story the Times reports:
Ministers have procured an “accommodation barge” capable of holding hundreds of migrants, which is being refitted. They have yet to decide where it will be moored, although it will be in a port rather than at sea.
The Refugee Council said it was “deeply concerned” by the plans, saying the suggested accommodation is “entirely unsuitable” to the needs of asylum seekers.
Asked in various interviews to confirm that a barge would definitely be used to house asylum seekers, Raab just said it was an option. As Sunder Katwala, from the British Future thinktank, explains in this Twitter thread, similar ideas have been briefed by government repeatedly in the past, without actually happening. The Guardian has been told that the Home Office is considering using a former cruise ship from Indonesia. But that might sound a bit too luxurious for papers like the Daily Mail, and so it is not hard to see why their story is about barges instead.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.45am: Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the budget.
Noon: Dominic Raab faces Angela Rayner at PMQs. Rishi Sunak is away at Betty Boothroyd’s funeral.
After 12.30pm: Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, gives a statement to MPs about plans to house asylum seekers.
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