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Farage rows back on promise to stop small boats within two weeks if he becomes PM
Speaking at the Reform UK conference in Birmingham on Friday, Nigel Farage promised to stop small boat crossings within two weeks if he wins the next general election.
But in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Farage appeared to shift his position, admitting after being pressed that he would stop the small boats within two weeks of passing laws to deport people more quickly, which could take months to go through the legislative process.
“As soon as the law is in place, as soon as you have the ability to detain and deport you will stop it in two weeks,” he said.
Farage said Reform “actually” intends to deliver its promises, unlike other parties who he claims just say what the public wants to hear until they assume power.
At a press conference last month, Farage revealed a five-year plan to detain and deport all migrants who arrive in the UK illegally and suggested 600,000 people could be sent back over five years.
Farage has been accused of demonising all migrants with his increasingly right-wing rhetoric, with his proposals labelled as unworkable and undermining of basic human rights.
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Closing summary
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage appears to have rowed back on his recent pledge to stop migrants arriving on small boats within two weeks of entering government if his party wins power, admitting it could take months for the appropriate legislation to go through parliament.
The new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is looking to reform the European convention on human rights (ECHR) in a bid to stave off advances from Nigel Farage’s Reform party, according to reports.
The government is also reportedly close to agreeing a “one in, one out” returns deal with Germany, having already sealed one with France over the summer.
The defence secretary, John Healey, confirmed reports that the government is “looking at the potential use of military and non-military use sites for temporary accommodation” for asylum seekers as an alternative to hotels.
Healey said the under pressure prime minister, Keir Starmer, is “going up a gear” after his extensive cabinet reshuffle triggered by Angela Rayner resigning after breaching the ministerial code over her tax arrangements.
Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf said Boris Johnson would never be welcome in his party, adding that the former Conservative leader was one of the worst prime ministers in British history and accused him of betraying Brexit voters.
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Boris Johnson was one of the worst prime ministers in British history, Zia Yusuf says
Nadine Dorries, a former Conservative culture secretary and close Boris Johnson ally, has recently joined Reform UK, claiming that the Tory party is “dead”.
She is the latest in a number of defections from the Conservative party to Reform, including ex- Welsh secretary David Jones and ex-Tory chair Jake Berry.
Dorries was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying that former prime minister Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage “must unite to crush Labour”.
Farage, Reform UK’s leader, has said he has a good personal relationship with Johnson, but said the former prime minister joining Reform is not feasible as he presided over high levels of immigration while in office.
Speaking on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme Reform UK’s head of policy Zia Yusuf made his views clear.
“We certainly would not welcome Boris Johnson – that’s never going to happen,” Yusuf said.
“He threw open our borders. The Boris wave, which is millions and millions of non-EU migrants flooding into the country post-Brexit, betrayed every single person that voted Brexit. Frankly he was one of the worst prime ministers in British history.”
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian senior staff correspondent
The UK and Irish governments are “on the verge” of creating a new framework to deal with historic killings in Northern Ireland that will replace the controversial Northern Ireland Legacy and Reconciliation Act brought in by the last Conservative government, ministers on both sides of the Irish sea have said.
New legislation on both sides of the Irish sea is likely. The legacy act had been opposed by all five main political parties in Northern Ireland and the Irish government which had brought a rare inter-state lawsuit against the UK on the grounds that it closed off victims’ rights to inquests and the truth about their loved ones.
Simon Harris, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, told reporters at the British Irish Association conference in Oxford over the weekend:
People’s trust in the north, people’s trust across the island in legacy mechanisms is pretty well shook because of the actions of previous governments, nothing to do with the current British government.
I believe we’re on the verge of being able to develop a framework here that will be transparent, human rights compliant, ECHR compliant, and that will really bring us to a much, much better place.
Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn told the BIA the framework for legacy would involve a package of measures including the “resumption of a number of inquests that were prematurely halted by the Legacy Act”.
It will also include a human rights compliant legacy commission that can launch “investigations capable of referring cases for potential prosecution where evidence exists of criminality” alongside a new oversight body, a victims panel, public hearings and representation from families, Benn added.
Veterans representatives, who supported the legacy act, have argued that soldiers involved in killings were doing the job of the state and should not be persecuted decades after incidents during the troubles.
Benn told the BIA that those who had served the state involved in killings including police and soldiers who had been sent to Northern Ireland “to keep people safe” and who would be asked to participate in the legacy process would be “treated with dignity and respect”.
Reshuffle of junior ministers raises fears over future of Labour’s workers’ rights bill
Aletha Adu
My colleague Aletha Adu has written a story about how Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of junior ministers has prompted concerns over the future of Labour’s workers’ rights package. Here is an extract from her piece:
Justin Madders, the employment rights minister, was one of the first on the junior benches to be sacked on Saturday. Despite being seen as one of the architects of Labour’s “new deal for working people”, Madders’ departure was not formally announced in No 10’s list of appointments. Instead, he revealed the news himself.
“It has been a real privilege to serve as minister for employment rights and begin delivering on our plan to make work pay,” he said on X. “Sadly it is now time to pass the baton on – I wish my successor well & will do what I can to help them make sure the ERB is implemented as intended.”
Madders’ removal, along with Rayner’s forced departure from her two government positions and post as Labour’s deputy leader, removes the key figures who helped design Labour’s employment rights bill – a policy unions praised as the government’s most ambitious commitment to workers’ rights in decades.
However some within government have rowed back on this notion, insisting Starmer remains committed to the bill, describing it as good for business, workers and the economy – a central plan to make people better off.
Starmer will also not attend this year’s TUC conference, a decision that has intensified concerns and rumours among unions and some inside Labour that the government is distancing itself. Rayner was the cabinet minister closest to the unions, and Madders had been given the job of turning the new deal into legislation.
Zack Polanski spoke to the Guardian’s senior political correspondent, Peter Walker, following his victory. Here is some of the write up of the interview:
Asked if the Greens might hypothetically stand down candidates in a pact with the new party, he said: “It’s not my starting point, because at the moment I’m not quite sure what Zarah Sultana’s and Jeremy Corbyn’s platform is going to be.”
Polanski said he expected the Greens’ programme to be more radical and would need to be shown “very strong arguments” for any formal pact. A more likely outcome would be cooperation over which seats each party targeted.
He rejected the idea that the left of politics was a crowded field, highlighting that Starmer had not even condemned Farage’s “toxic tirade” about the proposed mass deportation of immigrants, merely saying he was “going to do it in a different way”.
“I don’t believe that the left of politics is actually a contested field,” he said. “Admittedly, if Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana do set things up, then it will be a busier place to be.
“I’m sick of being in media studios where I or the other Green is the only person who’s making the humanitarian argument. But if there are more personalities in our political spaces making those arguments, yes, at election time, there’s going to have to be conversations about how do we cooperate and make sure we’re getting out of each other’s way. But more widely in politics, I think more voices on the left is actually just a really good thing.”
Polanski presented himself as an insurgent voice during the election race, despite being deputy leader, arguing that the Ramsay-led tactic of gradually amassing councillors and then MPs was too timid and slow for an era in which Farage could win the next election.
Zack Polanski, the self-styled “eco-populist”, last week won the election to lead the Green party in England and Wales, taking nearly 85% of the votes. He beat Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who were standing on a joint ticket.
Graph showing candidates’ vote shareSpeaking to Sky News this morning, Polanski, a former actor who was the party’s deputy leader, urged left-leaning voters to back the Greens, saying there is no “time to wait around” for a new party from Jeremy Corbyn and Zara Sultana.
Polanski said:
I like Jeremy Corbyn, I like Zara Sultana. A lot of our politics is similar and I share lots of platforms with them. Jeremy said it himself the other day – we are different people. Whatever they are going to set up does not exist yet.
I don’t think we have time to wait around – I would say to anyone who wants to have social, environmental, racial and economic justice – join the Green party right now.
Conservative party chair Kevin Hollinrake has accused Reform UK of copying the former government’s migration policies.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Hollinrake said:
All Reform are doing now – a few weeks ago they were talking about towing the boats back to France and they realised they couldn’t do that.
And all their plans now are a copycat – exactly the plans that we had in the last government.
We tried to get through – eventually got past parliament in passing the Rwanda Act – to return people to their own country and if that could not happen to a third country, Rwanda. We got huge criticism for it – and Reform are now copying those plans.
The Rwanda policy was heavily criticised by opposition MPs, charities and human rights groups, who argued it was costly, unworkable and inhumane.
Farage rows back on promise to stop small boats within two weeks if he becomes PM
Speaking at the Reform UK conference in Birmingham on Friday, Nigel Farage promised to stop small boat crossings within two weeks if he wins the next general election.
But in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Farage appeared to shift his position, admitting after being pressed that he would stop the small boats within two weeks of passing laws to deport people more quickly, which could take months to go through the legislative process.
“As soon as the law is in place, as soon as you have the ability to detain and deport you will stop it in two weeks,” he said.
Farage said Reform “actually” intends to deliver its promises, unlike other parties who he claims just say what the public wants to hear until they assume power.
At a press conference last month, Farage revealed a five-year plan to detain and deport all migrants who arrive in the UK illegally and suggested 600,000 people could be sent back over five years.
Farage has been accused of demonising all migrants with his increasingly right-wing rhetoric, with his proposals labelled as unworkable and undermining of basic human rights.
“Clear, swift, fair action” was taken over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs, John Healey told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
Asked whether people had a right to feel let down by Labour, who promised to clean up politics when in power, the defence secretary said: “These sort of things are part and parcel of government. It isn’t whether they happen, it’s how a prime minister and a government deals with them.”
“And I think we’ve seen this week clear, swift, fair action,” he added.
Angela Rayner is an 'inspiration' not a 'victim', defence secretary says
John Healey is being interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. He touches on Angela Rayner’s resignation and what her departure means for government.
As a reminder, Rayner, who as housing secretary underpaid about £40,000 stamp duty on her seaside flat, stepped down after breaching the ministerial code over her tax arrangements.
She stepped down as housing secretary, deputy prime minister and deputy Labour leader, a move which will likely trigger a new deputy leadership election by party members.
Healey told the BBC:
Our government will miss Angela Rayner. She has not been a victim, she’s under a lot of pressure … she’s been an inspiration to many, particularly to working class women.
She’s been a very effective minister, leading the overhaul, the biggest overhaul of employment rights in a generation, and also starting the planning reforms that will lead to us building a lot more homes.
So any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we have a good new team in place now and that is our job.
Mahmood will be 'just as tough as Cooper' on Palestine Action, defence secretary says
John Healey also said Shabana Mahmood will be “just as tough as Cooper” on Palestine Action, the campaign group opposing Israel’s assault on Gaza that the government controversially proscribed under the Terrorism Act in July, making membership of or support of the group a criminal offence.
More than 425 people were arrested in London yesterday at the largest demonstration yet opposing the proscription of Palestine Action.
“I expect her to defend the decision the government has taken top proscribe Palestine Action because of what some of its members are responsible for and were planning and I expect her to do that in the courts as well,” Healey told Sky News.
“If we want to avoid a two tier policing and justice system in this country, when people break the law, there have to be consequences,” he added. “That’s what was happening yesterday.”
Military sites could be used as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, defence secretary says
Trevor Philips asks the defence secretary, John Healey, if Shabana Mahmood is going to put asylum seekers in “containers” in disused military facilities.
Healey said:
I think you’ll start to see Keir Starmer insist that dealing with the small boats, solving the immigration illegal immigration crisis, is part of the jobs the whole of government, not just the Home Office.
So with the Home Office, I have been putting military planners into their Border Command and into their planning for the future, and we are looking at the potential use of military and non military use sites for temporary accommodation for the people who come across on these small boats that may not have a right to be here or need to be processed before we can decide whether or not they should stay or whether or not we deport them like we have done in record numbers over the last year.
Healey did not confirm a date when these transfers to military facilities would happen but said he is working on the plans jointly with the Home Office. It comes after a wave of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers over the summer.
‘Solving the illegal immigration crisis is the job of the whole government, not just the Home Office’
Defence Secretary John Healey confirms the government is looking at using military facilities to temporarily house asylum seekers
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/27cXYyiW5U
Starmer has decided to 'go up a gear' and focus on the 'next phase of delivery' of government priorities, minister says
Defence secretary John Healey has been interviewed by Trevor Phillips on his Sky News programme this morning. He asks the defence secretary why Keir Starmer has replaced Yvette Cooper, the experienced former home secretary, with Shabana Mahmood as part of his reshuffle and not let her “get on with the job”.
Healey defends the reshuffle, suggesting it shows the government is “going up a gear” and starting on the “next phase of delivery”. He says Mahmood got to “grips” with prison and criminal justice reform and will be able to do the same in the Home Office over small boats.
Healey rejects the idea that the government reshuffle is an indicator that ministers had not been performing on their briefs.
“There is another story this last week, which is that Bridget Philipson has extended free childcare … and funded childcare that will save parents £7000 a year. Yvette Cooper tigethend up the rules for refugee families coming to Britain,” the defence secretary said.
New home secretary considering reform of European convention of human rights to head off Reform advance
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is expected to move Labour further to the right on migration to stop the advance of Reform, which has been enjoying a double digit poll lead having exploited a political vacuum left by the government over the summer.
Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s leader, has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027 and declared he will run on a pledge to “stop the boats” within two weeks of entering No 10.
The Sunday Times is reporting that Mahmood, conscious of Farage’s popularity with voters, is likely to want to reform the European convention on human rights (ECHR), with a source telling the paper that the former justice secretary would “start with the unthinkable and work backwards”.
Despite warnings that ECHR withdrawal would threaten the Good Friday agreement, Farage has insisted he would leave the convention and replace it with a British Bill of Rights applying only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, has also said she would look into leaving the ECHR.
Desperate to speed up asylum processing to bring down the backlog and end hotel use, Mahmood is set to announce shortly that hotels used to house asylum seekers will be moved into barracks on former military bases, according to the Telegraph.
It is also being reported that the UK government is close to agreeing a “one in, one out” returns deal with Germany, having already sealed one with France over the summer.
The deal with France allows the UK to return one person who has entered the country by irregular means in return for taking someone in France whose claim for asylum in the UK is expected to have a greater chance of success.
It has been hailed as a “gamechanging” by ministers but it will apply to a very small amount of asylum seekers, at least at first. As boats do not launch from Germany, the deal with Friedrich Merz’s government would more likely cover migrants who have crossed through the country to reach France, according to the Telegraph. We will have more on this later.
