Summary of the day
Downing Street declined to say when asylum seekers might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, after traces of legionella bacteria were found. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back on to the boat as soon as possible.”
Asked if the prime minister still had confidence in the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the work of the Home Office after the Bibby Stockholm evacuation, No 10 said yes.
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, claimed that ministers at the Home Office were only informed of the situation on Thursday night, and acted swiftly. Thirty nine people were removed from the vessel on Friday. He backed people being returned to the vessel.
Former home secretary Priti Patel has accused the government of being “secretive” and “evasive” about plans to house asylum seekers on a disused RAF base.
Rishi Sunak’s government has attempted to define this week’s media activity as being about the NHS, and immediately sparked a row with devolved administrations over a call by the UK health secretary that waiting patients in Scotland and Wales would be welcomed to get treatment faster in England, where a record 7.6 million people are on NHS waiting lists.
The Welsh health minister, Eluned Morgan, described Barclay’s comments as a “naked political hit” and said “the fact is we measure very, very differently. We count in our statistics diagnostics and therapies. None of those are counted in the English figures. He should concentrate on his job and I will concentrate on mine.”
The Scottish health secretary, Michael Matheson, said: “The NHS in England is about to experience its fifth round of strikes by junior doctors. Rather than attempting to involve themselves in devolved areas, the UK government would be well served focusing on tackling the many issues in the health service south of the border.”
Barclay would not be drawn on claims that two-thirds of cancer targets in NHS England will be scrapped. Asked about the newspaper reports he said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” on cancer targets in England. During a visit to Edinburgh he said “under the last Labour government, we had targets, we hit those targets. We didn’t walk away when the going got tough. With this government, it’s targets that they’ve repeatedly failed to hit. And now what they’re doing is moving the goalposts and even where they’re keeping targets after this streamlining, there’s targets they’re still not hitting.”
Sinn Féin’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly, has described as “sinister” the posting of documents, purporting to be part of a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak, on a wall facing its offices on the Falls Road in Belfast. Kelly said the document, with the names of officers removed, was posted on the wall overnight alongside his photo and a threatening message. PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said: “We are aware that some redacted information from the Tuesday 8 August data breach has allegedly been posted on a wall in west Belfast today. We have commenced an investigation into this matter.”
Starmer has played down any assertions of a split between Scottish and UK Labour. “Anas and I have got a very, very strong working relationship,” he said, referring to the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar.
Starmer also responded to comments from Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, that a minority Labour government would be “the best outcome for Scotland”. The Labour leader said: “I want a majority Labour government so that we can fix and rebuild our country and take our country forward, so that’s what I’m aiming for. I’m not going to do a deal with the SNP, and among the reasons for that is the appalling record they’ve got in government.”
I will be closing the live blog shortly. Thank you for all your comments, and I will see you here again tomorrow.
Updated
I notice in the comments a few of you have questioned the John Redwood quote in the opinion piece I linked to earlier, notably the bit about “loose language by some on both sides of the migration debate”:
The recent use of swear words and loose language by some on both sides of the migration debate creates much heat but little light on a sensitive subject. Left and right agree that the people smugglers are evil, exploiting some vulnerable asylum seekers and some economic migrants who are persuaded to try to cheat the system. All agree we need to stop the dangerous small boats. None of us want to see people drowning.
I’m going to assume that he was referring to Diane Abbott’s deleted tweet, her response to Lee Anderson’s comments that disgruntled asylum seekers should “fuck off back to France”, that “these migrants have indeed fucked off. To the bottom of the sea” following the deaths of 41 migrants in a shipwreck off Italy. There did appear to be a concerted effort on social media to whip up some outrage about Abbott’s use of language, which Redwood presumably saw, despite the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, having defended Anderson’s choice of words.
A reminder you can read that panel in full here: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on ‘woke’, migrants and the environment save the Tories?
Updated
The SNP has decided that two can play at that game, if the UK government is going to insist on spending the day talking about health service statistics.
📉 Westminster lags behind almost every other nation in North West Europe when it comes to health spending.
— The SNP (@theSNP) August 14, 2023
🏴 The Scottish Government spends more per person on health than the UK does.
❌ But Westminster’s spending decisions are holding Scotland back from investing more. pic.twitter.com/2XvJb3jXSz
The Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled jets on Monday to intercept two Russian bombers that were travelling north of the Shetland Islands in Scotland.
PA Media reports armed forces minister James Heappey said: “RAF crews at Lossiemouth maintain a constant watch over UK airspace and are always ready to take action at a moment’s notice to keep our country safe.
“Pilots launched in their Typhoon jets to intercept two Russian long-range bombers this morning, monitoring them as they passed north of the Shetland Islands, ready to counter any potential threat to UK territory.”
Our opinion desk today has assembled a panel being asked the question: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on “woke”, migrants and the environment save the Tories?
It features North Yorkshire Conservative councillor Tom Jones, Labour party parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green Faiza Shaheen, president of the Liberal Democrats Mark Pack, former leader of the Green party Natalie Bennett and Conservative MP for Wokingham John Redwood, who has surely never knowingly put the “woke” in Wokingham.
As a sample, here is Tom Jones:
The fact is, after delivering an 80-seat majority, those who lent their vote in 2019 have a right to ask for higher interest than ministers waging a culture war. That’s the crux of the credibility issue: after 13 years in power, voters expect action, not politically toothless gestures against cultural left-liberalism. Credibility can only be earned by doing what Conservative governments are elected to do; that is to govern conservatively, rather than complain about their inability to do so.
And here is Natalie Bennett:
Samuel Johnson’s maxim clearly has to be updated. The “last refuge of a political scoundrel” is now culture war. Our prime minister is following the Trumpian lead of attacking the principled, the innovative and the honest in the hope of energising voters who value noise over substance, aggression over compassion.
Sunak is no William Pitt the Elder, for this is clearly the desperate last stand of a discredited government out of ideas. It is clearly detached from the reality of the world now in the climate crisis … [and] Sunak won’t acknowledge that treating refugees decently is absolutely a British value.
You can read more here: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on ‘woke’, migrants and the environment save the Tories?
Updated
The Sky News political correspondent Amanda Akass has said “we are still suffering from quite a lack of clarity over exactly who in government knew what and why the decision to remove those migrants [from the Bibby Stockholm] was only made on the Friday”.
Here is a reminder of the timeline:
On Sunday 6 August it emerged an internal health document had warned that many could be infected if there was an outbreak of a disease such as diphtheria onboard.
On Monday 7 August the first asylum seekers were moved on to the barge.
Dorset council said it got results indicating there was legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm also on Monday 7 August, and told the Home Office contractor that operates the barge.
On Tuesday 8 August, Dorset council also said Home Office officials were present at a meeting on Tuesday and were told about the findings then.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, and the prime minister’s official spokesperson have both asserted to the media today that Home Office ministers only found out about this on the evening of Thursday 10 August, and acted swiftly.
Thirty-nine people were removed from the vessel on Friday 11 August.
Akass suggested the government today attempting to stress when ministers were informed “does rather seem to be a bit of an effort to shift attention on to the junior officials who were at that meeting, rather than exactly what decisions were made by government ministers”.
Updated
The number of black and minority ethnic (BME) workers in insecure work has more than doubled, from 360,200 to 836,340, between 2011 to 2022, data reveals.
The research, published by the Trades Union Congress on Monday, showed the proportion of BME workers in low-paid and insecure work increased from 12.2% to 17.8% in the last decade. In comparison, the proportion of white workers in insecure work only rose marginally from 10.5% to 10.8%.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, described the the findings as “structural racism in action”, adding: “No matter your background, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect at work. But too many black and ethnic minority workers are trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs with limited rights and protections, and treated like disposable labour.
“The massive and disproportionate concentration of BME workers in insecure work – like in the gig economy – is structural racism in action.”
The term “insecure work” covers people on low pay, on variable hours, such as zero-hours contracts, or doing seasonal or agency work.
Read more here: Data on insecure work in UK shows ‘structural racism in action’, TUC says
The Welsh health minister has hit back at the UK health secretary, Steve Barclay, accusing him of a “naked political hit” after the Tory minister’s criticism of the nation’s waiting lists.
Eluned Morgan rejected Barclay’s comments, after he said he would be “open to requests” for patients from Wales and Scotland to be treated on the NHS in England.
The government has decided to make the NHS the theme of its communications this week, as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, seeks to meet his pledge of cutting waiting lists. According to the most recent NHS England data, a record 7.6 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of June.
Barclay told the BBC on Monday: “In England we have virtually eliminated waits of over 18 months, whereas in Wales for example there are over 70,000 patients waiting more than 18 months.”
The Conservatives have been using the attack line on social media.
Under the Labour-run NHS in Wales, patients are four times more likely to wait over a year for treatment than in England.
— Steve Barclay (@SteveBarclay) August 14, 2023
Keir Starmer says Wales is his “blueprint” for a Labour government.
That’s why Labour cannot be trusted with the NHS. pic.twitter.com/fy20vRD76t
But the Welsh minister for health said progress had been made in recent months to improve the NHS in Wales, adding that Cardiff was “far more honest with the public” over health service data than London.
Morgan told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “I think it’s just summer political fever time. They’re taking this opportunity to try to distract attention from the fact that they have 7.5 million people waiting on their waiting list. And the fact is we measure very, very differently.
“We count in our statistics diagnostics and therapies. None of those are counted in the English figures. Of course we are still challenged, we’re all still getting over the pandemic. We do have waiting lists that are too long in Wales, but it’s a situation that is not considerably better in England.”
PA Media reports the Labour politician was also sceptical of Barclay’s offer for Welsh patients to be treated in England.
“Where on earth would he find the capacity from in England, when he has got 7.5 million people waiting for treatment there? It’s a naked political hit in the middle of the silly season … He should concentrate on his job and I will concentrate on mine.”
Updated
There are some images from PA now of Sinn Féin police spokesperson Gerry Kelly addressing the media in Belfast where documents purporting to be from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak were pasted up. [See 12.54 BST]
Priti Patel criticises 'secretive and evasive’ plan to house asylum seekers at Essex RAF base
The former home secretary Priti Patel has accused the government of being “secretive” and “evasive” about plans to house asylum seekers on a disused RAF base that has become the target of protests and legal challenges, Ben Quinn reports.
Updated
Sinn Féin’s policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly has given a little more information to the media about the incident in Belfast this morning which appears to show that dissident Republicans do have hold of the data leaked from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
PA Media reports he said:
One of the staff in the office got in touch with me this morning when he came into work. He noticed that on the side of the library there was a number of documents pasted up. There was a photograph of myself and then there was a statement saying in large writing ‘Gerry, we know who your mates are’.
Under that there was what appeared to be, and what turned out to be, a section of the leaked documents that were put out. It did not have the names of the police officers involved, but it had everything else. It wasn’t the whole 10,000 [names], but it was a substantial number.
He added:
I look upon this as a threat by dissidents to me and I will not be intimidated. More serious is that this is the dissidents, or whoever is involved, putting out that their claim that they have access to the leaked documents, they are putting out a verification on that. I think that is their main intention.
Updated
PSNI data leak document and 'sinister' threat posted on wall opposite Sinn Féin office in Belfast
Sinn Féin policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly has described as “sinister” the posting of a document, purporting to be part of a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak, on a wall facing its offices on the Falls Road in Belfast.
Kelly said the document, with the names of officers removed, was posted on the wall overnight alongside his photo and a threatening message.
PA Media reports he said in a statement: “This is a very obvious attempt by dissident republicans to intimidate me.
“Even more sinister, this is a very public indication that the dissidents do have access to the sensitive information in the data leak document. It therefore represents a very real threat to the officers, and the civilian staff involved.
“I have of course reported this incident to the PSNI and I would appeal to anyone with information to bring that information forward.
“Sinn Féin represents the vast majority of people in the nationalist community and we will certainly not be intimidated by dissident groups who have virtually no support and who offer nothing but disruption and threats in an attempt to make themselves relevant. They should disband and end their anti-community activities.”
PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said: “We are aware that some redacted information from the Tuesday 8 August data breach has allegedly been posted on a wall in west Belfast today. We have commenced an investigation into this matter.
“From the outset we have been planning for this potential development and that plan is now being put into place.
“We recognise the impact this may have on our officers, staff and their families and additional security and reassurance patrols have already been implemented across Northern Ireland as part of our organisational response.
“The safety and welfare of our officers and staff remains our priority and we have reminded them of their personal safety and security both on and off duty.”
At the weekend it emerged that about 200 police officers and staff were not informed by the PSNI about the theft of devices and documents with data potentially affecting them for almost a month.
The data leak happened after a spreadsheet was mistakenly published online detailing the surname, initial, rank or grade, location and the departments of all current PSNI officers and civilian staff members.
Incidentally, PA Media reports that asked if the prime minister still had confidence in the home secretary and the work of the Home Office after the Bibby Stockholm evacuation over safety, No 10 said yes.
But his official spokesperson said: “I think we will be communicating with all relevant groups to see if there are any lessons that can be learned, as you would expect in any public health situation. We remain confident that we have acted quickly once informed.”
Updated
Government has no timetable for returning people to the Bibby Stockholm, but says 'soon as possible''
Downing Street declined to say when asylum seekers might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, after traces of legionella bacteria were found.
PA Media reports the prime minister’s official spokesperson said:
We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back onto the boat as soon as possible. The Home Office is awaiting the results of further tests. Once those have been completed, obviously the intention is to return people.
The spokesperson said the Home Office was still “clarifying” when officials were made aware of issues on the barge.
“Ministers were made aware on Thursday evening about the results of the test,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said.
Asked who made the decision to put people on the boat before the test results for Legionella bacteria came back, he said it was a “decision taken by the Home Office in conjunction, having all the relevant tests being done and making sure that the checks are in place”.
The spokesperson added: “These are routine precautionary tests for legionella, which is why people were able to embark.”
Updated
Today my colleague Aamna Mohdin has an interview with Dawn Butler, the third Black woman to be elected an MP. In it she talks about the consequences of calling Boris Johnson a liar in parliament:
“There’s a certain group of white men who constantly try to put me in my place, who constantly try to push me back and say: ‘No, you’re not getting any further.’ They don’t want the system to change, because the system works for them the way it should,” Butler says.
“I had this internal battle that was raging for quite a while. I tried to use all of the parliamentary levers to hold the prime minister to account and nothing was working. In the end, I got so frustrated that I had to do something about it and so that’s why I called him a liar,” she says.
She did so on 22 July 2021. There was a handful of MPs present, wearing masks and social distancing. The deputy speaker asked her to withdraw her words, as under Commons rules it is forbidden for an MP to accuse another of lying. But Butler refused.
“I knew it was breaking parliamentary protocol, but this is a system that isn’t working. How can we allow someone to come to parliament and lie in parliament consistently and not call it out?”
She was duly ejected. While Keir Starmer said, three days later, that Butler was right, she says she faced criticism from other MPs – including from within her own party. One Labour colleague texted to ask if she had done it to embarrass the deputy speaker, while others quietly unfollowed her on social media.
“I knew I was doing this as a lone MP,” Butler says now. But “I wasn’t expecting quite the shame that other people felt. It was really obvious why I did it, because the prime minister kept lying. Had you not heard him?”
In June 2023, the privileges committee concluded not only had Johnson deliberately misled parliament, he was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him. In short, Butler was right.
You can read more here: Dawn Butler – ‘It is shocking, the disrespect for Black women in the Commons’
Updated
Keir Starmer has also responded to comments from Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, at an Edinburgh festival fringe show that a minority Labour government would be “the best outcome for Scotland”.
PA Media reports the Labour leader said: “I want a majority Labour government so that we can fix and rebuild our country and take our country forward, so that’s what I’m aiming for.
“I’m not going to do a deal with the SNP, and among the reasons for that is the appalling record they’ve got in government. So my ambition is to actually drive Britain forward to that better future that I’m absolutely convinced that we can achieve.”
Updated
Starmer: no split and 'very strong working relationship' between Scottish and UK Labour leaders
Speaking during his visit to Edinburgh on Monday, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has played down any assertions of a split between Scottish and UK Labour.
“Anas and I have got a very, very strong working relationship,” he said, referring to the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar.
“So anybody who’s trying to find division is going to have a very, very long search. We obviously talk about these issues a great deal.”
PA Media reports Starmer went on to say if his party wins the next election it would implement an “anti-poverty strategy” that would not “simply be a question of welfare benefits”.
“I want to grow our economy and give everybody, including in Scotland and elsewhere, the opportunity to be part of that growing economy,” he said.
Scottish Labour has adopted different positions to the Westminster leadership in recent months over Starmer’s failure to commit to scrapping the “two child” benefit cap that disallows benefits being claimed on more than two children unless the third can be proved to the state to have been conceived through rape.
Scottish Labour had also backed plans for Scotland to move to a system of self-identification for transgender people. That move was blocked by the UK government, and Starmer criticised the “cavalier” approach of the Scottish government to introducing the change. UK Labour is now vowing to overhaul what it called an “outdated” law to make it easier for transgender people to transition, while maintaining protections for single-sex spaces.
Updated
UK health authorities outside England have not taken kindly to the health secretary, Steve Barclay, and his department suggesting that patients may get treated faster by crossing borders into England.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has claimed that: “In Wales, more than 73,000 people are waiting over 77 weeks for treatment, and at least 21,600 people are waiting over 78 weeks for an outpatient, day case or inpatient appointment in Scotland,” while boasting that: “In England, waiting times for patients over 78 weeks have been virtually eliminated.”
The Scottish health secretary, Michael Matheson, is quoted by the National in Scotland as responding:
The NHS in England is about to experience its fifth round of strikes by junior doctors, with the waiting list for hospital treatment rising by over 100,000 to a record high of over 7.5 million as a result of the UK government’s refusal to even get around the negotiating table. Rather than attempting to involve themselves in devolved areas, the UK government would be well served focusing on tackling the many issues in the health service south of the border.
A government statement from Wales claimed: “Long waiting times are falling every month in Wales and have more than halved in the past year. The overall growth in waiting lists in Wales has been smaller in Wales than in England over the last 12 months. Wales has also outperformed England in major emergency department performance in nine out of the last 10 months.”
Updated
Starmer: government 'moving the goalposts' over cancer targets in England
Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” on cancer targets in England.
Speaking to broadcasters in Scotland – where health policy is devolved – the Labour leader said: “I want swifter diagnosis, of course I do – both for the individuals concerned and obviously for the health service.
“The way to do that is to have a health service that’s fit for the future. We haven’t got one. I’ve set out a plan for that which involves people, technology and reform.
“And under the last Labour government, we had targets, we hit those targets. We didn’t walk away when the going got tough.
“With this government, it’s targets that they’ve repeatedly failed to hit. And now what they’re doing is moving the goalposts and even where they’re keeping targets after this streamlining, there’s targets they’re still not hitting.
PA Media reports he added: “So just as we’ve had on the economy, just as we’ve had on asylum, we’ve got complete failure from the government on this front as well.”
On the possibility of a Labour government working with authorities in Wales and Scotland on a coordinated approach to cut waiting times, Starmer said: “I think the example I would give is the last Labour government. We introduced targets, particularly for waiting times, and we hit those targets by working cooperatively across the board and brought those targets down.”
Updated
Tom Whiting, acting director general of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), has warned against making changes to the system that would result in senior officers chairing disciplinary hearings.
PA reports that in a letter published in the Times today, he agreed with Sir Mark Rowley that the current system is too slow. Rowley is the head of the Metropolitan police and Britain’s most senior police officer.
But, Whiting added: “The proposal that chief officers, like other employers, should have the final say on dismissals once police officers are found to have seriously breached police standards is … a reasonable one. But we would urge caution in returning to a system in which the police themselves, in all likelihood less senior than a chief officer, sit as the chair – the judge and jury – on a police disciplinary panel.
Whiting said: “Legally qualified chairs were introduced to bring much-needed independence and more objectivity to the system. When confidence in policing has been severely dented by misconduct cases of the worst kind, independence must remain at the core of the police disciplinary system.
“Serious consideration should be given to introducing a fitness-to-practise regime, similar to the systems that regulate, for example, solicitors, doctors and nurses.”
The IOPC wants lawyers to preside over misconduct hearings, but chief constables to decide on the punishment if misconduct is proven. Rowley is pushing for force chiefs rather than independent lawyers to have the final say on which officers are sacked.
In July Rowley said he was frustrated with the Home Office for its slow progress at reviewing “perverse” rules that prevent him from being able to sack his own officers, saying:
Some of the decisions are made outside the Met, so people we’ve decided shouldn’t be police officers, an independent lawyer says ‘bad luck, you’ve got to keep them’. That can’t be right. No other employer has to deal with that.
You’re robustly challenging me on the culture of the Met and our ability to build trust in communities. It seems perverse that I don’t get to decide who works here – that’s a bit weird.
Updated
Monday's newspaper front pages
If you haven’t had a chance to pop to the newsagents yet today, here is how the newsstands looked.
The Guardian leads with a report from our education editor, Richard Adams, that experts say disadvantaged students will bear the brunt of grade deflation.
Guardian front page, Monday 14 August 2023: Lower-income pupils expected to be hit hardest by ‘grade deflation’ pic.twitter.com/dPmzEzbxpE
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 13, 2023
The Telegraph has concerns over the way the Covid inquiry is addressing issues involving children.
Daily Telegraph: Children ‘ignored’ by Covid inquiry #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/FjAEeeAdr6
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 13, 2023
The Conservative government is trying to make this week “NHS week” in its media dealings, and the Daily Mail has picked up a line, gleefully shared by senior Tories, that patients are seeking treatment in England to avoid the Labour-led devolved NHS in Wales.
Where Labour runs something, they run it badly.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) August 14, 2023
Like London and Wales.
Big rise in Welsh patients fleeing Labour-run NHS Wales to @Conservatives run NHS in England. @WelshConserv @DavidTCDavies #LabourChaos pic.twitter.com/FDxSd0Xaml
You can imagine how well that Tory line has gone down outside England. The National has “Back off out of devolved issues” aimed at health secretary Steve Barclay as its lead.
Today's National is in shops now! 📰 pic.twitter.com/nHH72jbn2s
— The National (@ScotNational) August 14, 2023
The Times leads with reports of chaotic scenes near the Channel in France ahead of the fatal attempt to cross it at the weekend.
The Times: Shots fired in migrant clash before
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 13, 2023
vessel sank #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/L9LSSAwv1V
The Daily Express, meanwhile, has one of its regular triumphant Brexit lines in pride of place.
Daily Express: BREXIT BOOST BRINGING BUSINESS BACK TO BRITAIN #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Y58Pcv6UZq
— George Mann (@sgfmann) August 13, 2023
Updated
Labour: Bibby Stockholm shows government is 'chasing headlines but not governing'
Labour’s shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Peter Kyle, was also out in the media round this morning. He said that the government had got itself into a mess over immigration because “it is chasing headlines but is not governing.”
He told viewers of Sky News:
We are in this mess because we have a government that is chasing headlines, but is not governing. A government that actually cared about getting the administration of our country right, getting the administration of difficult issues like this right, would have known about what tests to take on that barge. We knew for weeks that the barge was being prepared for this sort of duty. What they really want to do is get conversations up in the newspapers, but not solve the fundamental problems.
"We are in this mess because we have a government that is chasing headlines but is not governing."@peterkyle MP responds to the news asylum seekers were moved off the Bibby Stockholm because of the discovery of Legionella.https://t.co/HisRcRBQpM
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 14, 2023
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/hH27ptDZJl
Health secretary: people should be put back on Bibby Stockholm barge
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, was also pressed on this morning’s media round about the evacuation of asylum seekers from the Bibby Stockholm barge after traces of legionella bacteria were found. The government had attempted to make a big play of sending people on to the barge, only to almost immediately have to take them off due to a health scare.
Barclay said this morning that Home Office ministers were not told about the situation until the night of 10 August, despite claims a local council told the contractors running the vessel about test results on 7 August – the day people were taken on to the barge.
“As soon as ministers were notified on Thursday night, there were some concerns with that, they took instant action,” PA Media reports the health secretary told Sky News.
He added: “It may be the council notified the Home Office, that is an issue for those in the Home Office to respond to, obviously this is a Home Office lead. My understanding from colleagues in the Home Office is it was notified to Home Office ministers on Thursday and they then took very quick action as a result.”
He also said asylum seekers should be moved back on to the barge, telling viewers: “It is costing around £6m a day in terms of the cost of hotels. It is important that we both maintain safety standards, but also reflect the pressure on the taxpayer position in terms of that £6m.”
Arguing that nobody had fallen ill because of the health scare, he said: “There has been no concerns in terms of anyone that has been on the barge and all those people are being subject to health assessments.”
'Do you think people should be put back on the Bibby Stockholm?' - @JayneSeckerSky
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 14, 2023
Health Secretary Steve Barclay: 'Yes I do, it is right that we are using the barges, it's one of a number of measures being used. Progress is being made'https://t.co/BujM8eu37K
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/vqPaLOknNe
Updated
Health secretary refuses to comment on reports two-thirds of cancer targets in NHS England will be scrapped
Steve Barclay would not be drawn this morning on the media round into claims that two-thirds of cancer targets in NHS England will be scrapped.
Asked about the newspaper reports by BBC Breakfast, PA Media reports the health secretary said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”
He had earlier said: “This is something led by clinicians working in cancer.
“It is not something being imposed by the government, it is in response to requests by those working in the cancer field and any changes, if they are announced in the coming days, will be in consultation with the leading cancer charities.”
Prof Pat Price, a visiting oncology professor at Imperial College London and co-founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign, had earlier said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she had asked the government minister to meet her “many times” but that she “hadn’t had a response”.
She said: “We’ve kindly met with his special adviser but we need to meet with him.
“We’ve had letters from the community a year ago that have not been responded to.”
Price criticised the government’s plans to scrap cancer targets for patients to see a specialist within two weeks, describing it as “fiddling around with targets” in the middle of a crisis.
Some supporters of the change, which include Cancer Research UK, believe it may lead to improvements in diagnosis.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our live UK politics coverage. Parliament is in recess so there isn’t much down in the diary for today, but there is still plenty of news around. Here are the headlines:
Home Office contractors were told that potentially deadly legionella bacteria had been detected on the Bibby Stockholm hours after asylum seekers were taken onboard the barge. Dorset council flagged the legionella test results to the barge contractors on the day they received them, Monday 7 August, raising questions about why the evacuation of 39 people from the barge took four days. Health secretary Steve Barclay this morning said that home office ministers were informed on Thursday.
The Times reports that “gunfire and clashes involving migrants desperate to get to Britain broke out in Dunkirk in the hours before a small boat sank in the Channel killing six people” at the weekend. A teenager who attempted the journey told the paper there were clashes as people sought places on the boats.
The scrapping of a target for patients to see a specialist within two weeks if their GP suspects they have cancer is expected to be confirmed within days under new plans by the NHS in England. Instead, the new “faster diagnosis standard” proposes that patients who have been urgently referred should have cancer ruled out or receive a diagnosis within 28 days.
Steve Barclay refused to be drawn on the claims during his morning media round. On the BBC this morning the health secretary said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced it is opening a consultation to seek views on the introduction and design of pack inserts for tobacco products, such as cigarettes and rolling tobacco.
The Telegraph has led with a story that Save the Children UK and the NSPCC are among groups that have come together to write to Lady Hallett, the chair of the Covid inquiry, to demand an explanation for “unacceptable delays” in examining the impact of the pandemic on young people, claiming the inquiry is “silencing” children.
About 3.9m working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to analysis by the Resolution Foundation.
It is Martin Belam here with you this week. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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