Afternoon summary
Labour and the Liberal Democrats both recorded an increase in their incomes last year, primarily from donations, while funds in the Conservatives’ coffers fell, according to newly released accounts that appear to show ebbing financial support for the Tories. The figures also show that Labour’s membership fell by almost 25,000 last year, to 407,445 at the end of December. Two years earlier it was over 500,000. (See 12.18pm and 2.46pm.)
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Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, has faced fresh criticism today from a Conservative colleague over her refusal to resign as an MP, despite announcing in June she intended to stand down “with immediate effect”.
In an interview with Times Radio, the Tory MP Tom Hunt said Dorries’s conduct was “pretty dreadful”. He said:
The entitlement that seems to have driven the decision in the first place, ie she didn’t get a place in the House of Lords so she’s throwing the towel in, is pretty extraordinary. It will stick in the throat of the majority of her constituents, I imagine …
I certainly don’t want to be associated with Nadine Dorries at all. I don’t know what she’s playing at, and I don’t know what her game is, but I think she’s shown right throughout her career, from the time she went on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, she’s shown she has a certain approach to being a member of parliament, and it’s a certain approach that seems to be driven by a degree of entitlement.
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Corbyn says Scotland should be allowed to hold second independence referendum soon
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, has said that the party should allow Scotland to hold a second independence referendum.
Speaking at an event at the Edinburgh festival fringe, Corbyn said:
I do support the principle of having a referendum and I hope that happens soon.
I suspect the British government will try and oppose it – I hope that a Labour majority would also support a referendum. I think it’s a democratic right to decide your own future …
My view is that if the people of Scotland want that referendum to defend their future, then they should have that right.
I don’t think there should be a power of veto by the UK government or the UK prime minister on this.
I made clear before the 2019 election that if we went into government we would be accepting of the principle that if Scotland wanted a referendum after two years, that would be what we would agree to do – that’s what I said at the time and that’s what I stand by.
The Scottish government can only hold an independence referendum with permission from the UK government and Rishi Sunak’s government is opposed. Keir Starmer is also against the proposal.
At the event Corbyn – who has had the Labour whip withdrawn because of what he said about the Equality and Human Rights Commission report into antisemitism in the party when he was leader and who will not be allowed to stand again as a Labour parliamentary candidate – said he had been “treated very badly” by the party.
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Commenting on the Labour party accounts (see 12.18pm and 2.05pm), a party spokesperson said:
Thanks to Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour party saw significant financial growth throughout 2022, and our finances have gone from strength to strength this year as we set out our five missions to transform Britain.
The Labour party is a changed party that is serious about getting into government and building a better Britain.
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group originally set up to promote Jeremy Corbyn and his agenda, says it is “saddening and worrying” that party membership has fallen for the third year in a row. (See 12.18pm.) It says:
When Keir Starmer ran for leader he celebrated Labour’s mass membership and pledged to build on the people-powered party built after 2015. Yet since then he has turned Labour back towards corporate donors and interests, rejecting member and union demands for popular, urgent policies like public ownership, while undermining their rights by stitching up parliamentary selections for loyalists.
Britain already has a party funded by the few and serving the few: the Tories. We need a Labour party funded by and run for the many, one that is true to its trade union roots and its founding mission.
These are Labour’s membership figures for the past four years.
December 2019: 532,046
December 2020: 523,332
December 2021: 432,213
December 2022: 407,445
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And here are the equivalent income and expenditure figures for the Conservative party in 2022, taken from the party’s accounts published by the Electoral Commission today.
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Labour says having to be ready for possible snap election in 2022 put strain on party resources
In his report included in the Labour party accounts for 2022 submitted to the Electoral Commission, David Evans, the general secretary and registered treasurer, says one problem he faced last year was having to be ready for a snap election. He says:
The year began with a number of known challenges and opportunities for the party and as always, further challenges and opportunities arose during the year …
One such challenge for the year was the potential for a snap general election during a turbulent time at the top of the government. Continuously being in a state of election-readiness can be demanding on the party’s resources and staff, however the party remains ready to fight a general election to deliver a Labour government at any time.
Given that Labour was ahead in the polls for the whole of 2022, a snap election was always unlikely. But it has been revealed that at one point Boris Johnson and his inner circle considered whether calling a snap election might enable him to see off Tory attempts to get rid of him as leader.
In his report Evans also says that in 2022 Labour income reached one of its highest levels for a non-election year. He says:
Some of the difficult decisions taken by the party in recent years to reduce the cost base are apparent in these financial results with running costs much reduced. However, income generated by the party grew to some of its highest levels outside of an election year. Party membership remains the primary source of income and although slightly reduced vs 2021, membership income exceeded targets as we welcomed new members and benefitted from an improved rate of retention. Without any national elections in England, Scotland or Wales the party’s hugely successful annual conference was the marquee event of the year which saw unprecedented demand and led to significant growth in commercial income.
This table shows Labour’s income and expenditure for 2022.
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SNP says cost of living crisis to blame for party membership falling by 30,000 since 2021
The latest accounts from the Electoral Commission (see 12.18pm) reveal that SNP finances have been hit by a combination of falling membership and reduced donations, with the party recording a loss of over £800,000. That is its second biggest deficit ever recorded and second largest of any major UK political party.
SNP treasurer Stuart McDonald blamed the drop in membership from 104,000 in 2021 to 74,000 by April this year on the cost of living crisis. This resulted in membership income falling from £2,516,854 in 2021 to £2,286,944 in 2022, while donations fell from £695,351 to £368,538.
He also underlined that his report “cannot and does not” comment on matters subject to the ongoing Police Scotland investigation, which is looking at the handling of £600,000 donations earmarked for a second independence referendum.
The accounts were submitted after an urgent search for auditors, after it emerged that the party had been without any accountants for months – a fact Humza Yousaf revealed he discovered only after he became leader.
The firm eventually hired, Auditors AMS, issued an unusual “health warning” on submission that some original documentation for cash and cheques received for membership, donations and raffle income were not kept by the party.
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Unlock Democracy, which campaigns for democratic reform, says the Rishi Sunak case (see 9.44am) shows why the system by which MPs and ministers declare their interests needs to be made simpler and more transparent. This is from Tom Brake, its director and a former Lib Dem MP and minister.
Though this might have been an inadvertent breach, the PM sets the standard others will follow. People will be alarmed that even the PM doesn’t seem to understand the rules that govern MPs’ conduct.
Rishi Sunak must now ensure that the entire system of MP and ministerial accountability is made more simple and transparent. That this judgement runs to 37 pages shows the absurd complexity of the current system.
The system for MPs and ministers registering and declaring interests is a labyrinth. As the recent Westminster Accounts revelations have shown, it is unbelievably complicated to arrive at a clear picture of the interests that may be influencing their behaviour. This must change.
Justice secretary Alex Chalk announces independent inquiry into Andrew Malkinson miscarriage of justice case
Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has announced an independent inquiry into the handling of the case of Andrew Malkinson, who was released from jail after spending 17 years in jail for a rape he did not commit.
Malkinson’s conviction was eventually quashed by the court of appeal, but the inquiry will examine why that took so long, examining the roles played by Greater Manchester police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Chalk said:
Andrew Malkinson suffered an atrocious miscarriage of justice and he deserves thorough and honest answers as to how and why it took so long to uncover.
The core function of our justice system is to convict the guilty and ensure the innocent walk free. Yet a man spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit while a rapist remained on the loose. It is essential that lessons are learned in full.
Danny Shaw, the home affairs commentator, says this means there are now four inquiries into this case.
BREAKING Independent inquiry ordered into Andrew Malkinson case @MoJGovUK & @attorneygeneral say it will examine @gmpolice @ccrcupdate & @CPSUK
So: there are now 4 inquiries:
CCRC review -Chris Henley KC
@policeconduct – IOPC – into GMP
Law Commission project
& this one
BREAKING Independent inquiry ordered into Andrew Malkinson case@MoJGovUK & @attorneygeneral say it will examine @gmpolice @ccrcupdate & @CPSUK
— Danny Shaw (@DannyShawNews) August 24, 2023
So: there are now 4 inquiries:
CCRC review -Chris Henley KC@policeconduct - IOPC - into GMP
Law Commission project
& this one
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Government spending on asylum has almost doubled in past year to £4bn, figures show
Government figures out today show that the Home Office spent £3.97bn on asylum in the UK in 2022-23, nearly double the £2.12bn figure for 2021-22. As PA Media reports, a decade ago, in 2012-13, the total stood at £500.2m.
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Labour party membership fell by almost 25,000 in 2022, while its income rose, figures show
Labour party membership continued to slide last year even as the party enjoyed one of its most financially successful years in recent history, PA Media reports. PA says:
Annual accounts published by the Electoral Commission show Labour had 407,445 members at the end of 2022, down almost 25,000 compared with 2021.
This was well below the recent membership peak recorded at the end of 2019, when there were 532,046 Labour members.
But Labour still achieved some of its highest income levels outside an election year, raising £47.2m and returning a £2.7m surplus after losing £5.2m in 2021.
A report from party treasurer David Evans said “difficult decisions” on reducing costs had contributed to returning Labour to surplus, while membership income “exceeded targets” thanks to new members and “an improved rate of retention”.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives recorded a loss of £2.3m in what the party described as a “turbulent year”.
Income from donations fell by £2.4m compared with 2021, with party officials saying this was partly due to “donor pledges moving into 2023”.
The party does not publish its total membership figure, but income from membership fees fell slightly from £1.99m to £1.97m. Around 170,000 people were eligible to vote in the summer leadership election last year.
The Liberal Democrats recorded a deficit of £753,789 in 2022, including a £185,839 loss incurred due to cancelling the party’s annual conference following the death of Elizabeth II.
The party did, however, record a slight increase in membership from 94,706 to 97,493.
The SNP recorded a deficit of £804,000 during 2022, which it said was not “out of keeping with other years in which nation-wide elections were fought”.
The party’s accounts also show a significant decline in membership since the end of 2021, when there had been 103,884 SNP members.
By the end of 2022, that figure had fallen to 82,598 while the accounts show that number had fallen even further by the end of June 2023, reaching 73,936.
UPDATE: The Labour accounts are here. And this is what they say about membership.
As at 31 December 2022 the total individual membership of the party was 407,445 (2021: 432,213)
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New figures suggest PM will struggle to keep pledge to clear 'legacy' backlog of asylum claims by December, experts say
In December last year, when he announced full details of his plans to stop small boats, Rishi Sunak said that he would clear the “legacy” backlog of asylum application claims by the end of 2023.
The Migration Observatory thinktank says today’s figures (see 10.11am) suggest it is hard to see how Sunak will achieve this goal. In an analysis it says:
Rishi Sunak pledged to clear the “legacy backlog” – the number of cases that were awaiting a decision on the 28th June 2022 – by the end of the year. Today’s data show that this specific group has fallen from around 99,000 on 30 June 2022 to 68,000 in June 2023. Since Sunak made his pledge in December 2022, the legacy backlog has been reduced by only around a quarter (23%) as of 30 June 2023, while half of the time to the deadline has elapsed.
However, the total backlog of applications has increased by 2,000 since the end of 2022, because 79,000 claims have been added to the ‘flow backlog’ (referring to claims submitted on or after 28 June 2022), of which 66,000 were awaiting a decision as of 30 June 2023.
Peter William Walsh, a senior researcher at the thinktank, said:
The backlog remains stubbornly high, despite falling numbers of asylum claims and more asylum caseworkers in the Home Office. It’s becoming harder to see how the government can meet its pledge to eliminate the so-called ‘legacy backlog’ of older claims by the end of the year, as the rate of decision-making would have to be more than doubled.
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41% of asylum applications in year ending June 2023 from small boat arrivals, down from 45% previous year, figures show
Today’s Home Office figures show that 41% of people who applied for asylum in the UK in the year ending in June 2023 arrived on a small boat. That is done from 45% in the previous year.
The Migration Observatory, a migration thinktank based at the University of Oxford, says this suggests the public debate on this is skewed. In a press statement, Peter William Walsh, one of its senior researchers, says:
Political debate has been hyper-focused on small boats, 90% of whom claim asylum. Yet in the year to June 2023, small boat arrivals made up only 41% of asylum claims – the remainder will have arrived in the UK via other routes.
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Albania provided most asylum applications in year ending June 2023, figures show
Albania was the country providing most asylum applications in the year ending in June 2023, the Home Office figures show.
As PA Media reports, there were 11,790 applications by Albanian nationals in that 12-month period, 7,557 of which came from arrivals on boats crossing the English Channel. PA says:
The number of Albanian small boat arrivals peaked during the summer of 2022 and by early 2023 had dropped below levels seen in 2021.
Afghans were the second most common nationality applying for asylum in the year to June 2023, with 9,964 applications, almost double the number in the previous 12 months (5,154).
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Labour says record high asylum backlog figures show system in 'complete chaos'
Labour says the latest Home Office figures showing the asylum application backlog at a record high (see 10.11am) shows the system is in “complete chaos”. Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, said:
These new statistics set out in stark terms the complete chaos the Tories have created in the immigration and asylum system.
The asylum backlog has reached a new record high, with 175,000 people now waiting for decisions. Only one per cent of last year’s 45,000 small boats cases have received a decision and the number of failed asylum seekers being returned is also down a whopping 70 per cent since 2010. This is a disastrous record for the prime minister and home secretary.
With this level of mismanagement, there is very little prospect of reducing the eye-wateringly high bill for hotel rooms for all those left in limbo, currently costing the British taxpayer £6m a day.
And, as millions of young people get their GCSE results, we have seen a 45 per cent rise in migrant work visas. [See 10.47am.] The Conservative government must finally get a grip on the skills and training system to ensure employers can hire our brilliant homegrown talent before recruiting from overseas.
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Asylum applications up 19% in year ending June 2023, figures show
Going back to the latest Home Office figures, they show that the number of asylum applications in the year ending June 2023 was up 19% on the previous year. However, more recently numbers have been slowing down, suggesting applications may have peaked.
The Home Office says:
There were 78,768 asylum applications (relating to 97,390 people) in the UK in the year ending June 2023. This is 19% more applications than in the year ending June 2022 (66,384 applications, relating to 79,922 people), but the number of applications have been decreasing again in 2023.
As shown in [the chart below], the current number of applications is higher than at the time of the European migration crisis (when in the year ending June 2016 there were 36,546 applications in the UK). However, it is 6% lower than the number of asylum applications in the previous peak in 2002 (84,132 applications), which was partly caused by conflict and political unrest at that time in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Somalia.
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Sunak says his international summit on AI safety to take place at Bletchley Park in November
Rishi Sunak has announced that the international summit on artificial intelligence (AI) safety he is planning to host will take place in November at Bletchley Park, the site of the second world war intelligence centre where the Enigma code was broken.
In a statement announcing the move, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said:
The major global event will take place on the 1st and 2nd November to consider the risks of AI, especially at the frontier of development, and discuss how they can be mitigated through internationally coordinated action. Frontier AI models hold enormous potential to power economic growth, drive scientific progress and wider public benefits, while also posing potential safety risks if not developed responsibly.
To be hosted at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, a significant location in the history of computer science development and once the home of British Enigma codebreaking – it will see coordinated action to agree a set of rapid, targeted measures for furthering safety in global AI use.
Preparations for the summit are already in full flow, with Matt Clifford and Jonathan Black recently appointed as the prime minister’s representatives. Together they’ll spearhead talks and negotiations, as they rally leading AI nations and experts over the next three months to ensure the summit provides a platform for countries to work together on further developing a shared approach to agree the safety measures needed to mitigate the risks of AI.
The government says the UK has “strong credentials as a world leader in AI”. It explains:
The technology employs over 50,000 people, directly supports one of the prime minister’s five priorities by contributing £3.7bn to the economy, and is the birthplace of leading AI companies such as Google DeepMind. It has also invested more on AI safety research than any other nation, backing the creation of the Foundation Model Taskforce with an initial £100m.
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People coming to UK on work visas up 45%, figures show
The Home Office figures out today show there was a 45% increase in the number of people coming to the UK on work visas in the year ending in June this year. That included a 157% increase in the number of people coming on health and social care worker visas.
And these are from Prof Jonathan Portes, an economist and migration specialist, on the figures.
But the big picture is that the post-Brexit migration system continues to drive two shifts; from EU to non-EU migration; and from sectors which benefited from free movement, to sectors where workers qualify under the new system
but the big picture is that the post-Brexit migration system continues to drive two shifts; from EU to non-EU migration; and from sectors which benefited from free movement, to sectors where workers qualify under the new system,
— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) August 24, 2023
Overall, this means migration is likely to be higher skilled and higher paid; but also less flexible, market-oriented and responsive to demand. The longer-term impact on the health of the UK economy remains uncertain
Overall, this means migration is likely to be higher skilled and higher paid; but also less flexible, market-oriented and responsive to demand. The longer-term impact on the health of the UK economy remains uncertain
— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) August 24, 2023
Most striking single data point is the continued very large numbers coming under the “Skilled Worker - Health and Social” route
Most striking single data point is the continued very large numbers coming under the "Skilled Worker - Health and Social" route pic.twitter.com/7QOhMDh5Dt
— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) August 24, 2023
UPDATE: I’ve corrected the headline to use the figure for the increase in all work visas (45%) not the figure for non-temporaray workers (78%).
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Labour says Sunak cases shows why parliamentary standards rules should be tightened
Labour says Rishi Sunak’s failure to declare a relevant interest to a Commons committee (see 9.44am) shows why the rules need to be tightened. In a statement on the case, Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said:
This is just further evidence that the system needs a full overhaul.
Despite his apology and repeated promises of change, Rishi Sunak recently ditched a key recommendation from parliament’s standards committee, which Labour supported, to tighten the rules around declaring interests and hospitality.
Labour will toughen up the system, increase transparency and introduce an independent ethics and integrity commission that will clean up our politics and restore standards to public life.
71% of initial asylum applications granted, latest figures show
The Home Office figures out today also show that 71% of initial decisions on asylum applications in the year to June 2023 were grants of refugee status, humanitarian protection or alternative forms of leave, PA Media reports. PA says:
This is “substantially higher” than in pre-pandemic years, when around a third of initial decisions were grants, the Home Office said.
The grant rate has been above 70% since 2021.
Before then, the previous high was in 1990, when it stood at 82%, although the volume of applications was much lower at that time.
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The Home Office says the rise in the number of cases in the asylum application backlog (see 10.11am) is “due to more cases entering the asylum system than receiving initial decisions”, PA Media reports.
However, the number of cases waiting a decision has risen by less than 1% in the three months to the end of June, suggesting the rise is slowing down, PA says.
“This is in part due to an increase in the number of initial decisions made, and an increase in the number of asylum decision makers employed,” the Home Office added.
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Asylum application backlog has reached record high of 175,457, figures show
Home Office figures show the backlog of asylum cases in the UK has hit a new record high, PA Media reports. PA says:
A total of 175,457 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2023, up 44% from 122,213 at the end of June 2022 and the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 139,961 at the end of June, up 57% year-on-year from 89,231 and another record high.
There were 23,702 initial decisions made on asylum applications in the UK in the year to June 2023, up 61% on 14,730 in the year to June 2022. It is also above the 20,766 decisions made in the pre-pandemic calendar year of 2019.
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Rishi Sunak apologises for ‘inadvertent’ breach of Commons rules about declaring interests
Good morning. Rishi Sunak has apologised for inadvertently failing to declare an interest to the Commons liaison committee. As breaches of the code of conduct for MPs go, this is at the most minor end of the scale. But it is still embarrassing for someone who promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” on the day he became prime minister. Sunak was trying to differentiate himself from his predecessor-but-one, Boris Johnson, who was notably deficient on all three measures.
Sunak’s apology came out late yesterday, after it emerged that Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, has published a 37-page dossier explaining how he had settled the complaint about Sunak via the rectification process. This is a system used to resolve minor complaints which he judges do not need to be referred to the Commons standards committee, normally because they involve minor and inadvertent breaches of the rule.
The complaint was triggered by the fact that Koru Kids, a childcare firm part owned by Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, is set to benefit from a funding measure in the budget. Sunak was questioned about this policy by the Labour MP Catherine McKinnell at the Commons liaison committee and, when she asked if the PM had anything to declare, Sunak replied: “No. All my disclosures are declared in the normal way.”
McKinnell wrote to the commissioner to ask if this was a breach of the Commons rule saying MPs must declare relevant interests in any parliamentary proceedings, including committee hearings.
After a lengthy investigation, Greenberg accepted that at the time of the hearing Sunak may not have been aware of his wife’s shareholding in Koru Kids. But he said Sunak had a duty to correct the record when he was fully aware of it, and he said that a subsequent letter to the committee saying that his interest had been “rightly declared to the Cabinet Office” did not go far enough.
Greenberg says that Sunak was “confused” because he had muddled the obligation to register interests (which, for ministers, can includes interests which do not get published) with the obligation to declare interests publicly (which covers interests that might be thought to influence action taken by MPs).
Greenberg says in his ruling:
I was satisfied that Mr Sunak had confused the concept of registration (whether in 25 the Register of Members’ Financial Interests or under separate arrangements made for Ministers) with the concept of declaration of interests under paragraph 6 of the Code and Chapter 2 of the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members. I formed the view that the failure to declare arose out of this confusion and was accordingly inadvertent on the part of Mr Sunak.
And here is the apology from Sunak, sent to Greenberg on 5 July and published yesterday.
As we discussed at our meeting, I now understand that my letter to Sir Bernard [Jenkin, chair of the liaison committee] was not sufficiently expansive regarding declaration (as distinct from registration). That letter referred to media coverage of my wife’s minority shareholding and pointed to my (correct) registration of that interest under the Ministerial Code. On reflection, I accept your opinion that I should have used the letter to declare the interest explicitly.
I apologise for these inadvertent errors and confirm acceptance of your proposal for rectification.
I will be covering any reaction to this today.
Also today, we have asylum and immigration figures coming out from the Home Office, and Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, is speaking at an event at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It is also GCSE results day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Mabel Banfield-Nwachi is covering them on a live blog.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
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