Rishi Sunak defends accepting Frank Hester’s donations to Conservative party – UK politics live

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Sunak restates determination to get first deportation flight to Rwanda off in spring

Rishi Sunak has also restated his determination to get the first deportation flight to Rwanda leaving in the spring. Asked in a pooled interview when this would happen, he replied:

I am still committed to the timeline that I set out previously, which is we aim to get a flight off in the spring.

GB News claims Ofcom ruling saying its Tory presenters broke impartiality rules is 'chilling development for free speech'

Here is the full text of the GB News response to the Ofcom ruling saying it broke impartiality rules. (See 11.01am and 12.04pm.)

We are deeply concerned by the decisions Ofcom has made today.

We will raise this directly with the regulator in the strongest possible terms.

Ofcom is obliged by law to promote free speech and media plurality, and to ensure that alternative voices are heard.

Its latest decisions, in some cases a year after the programme aired, contravene those duties.

Extraordinarily, Ofcom has determined that a programme which it acknowledges was impartial and lacking in any expression of opinion, still somehow breaches its impartiality rules just because an imaginary viewer might think otherwise.

Ofcom has now arbitrarily changed the test so that it is no longer ‘Was it impartial?’ but ‘Could someone think it might not be?’

This is a chilling development for all broadcasters, for freedom of speech, and for everyone in the United Kingdom.

These decisions go against established precedent and raises serious questions about Ofcom’s oversight over its own regulations.

It appears that Ofcom is trying to extend the regulations, rather than enforcing definitions which have been settled for many years.

GB News is a regulated broadcast channel and takes its obligations very seriously.

We are committed to continuing to feature serving politicians hosting programmes and will continue to do so – just as other Ofcom regulated services have in the past and still do.

Sunak defends accepting Hester donations, saying 'when someone expresses remorse, that should be accepted'

In his pooled interview Rishi Sunak defended his decision not to return money given to the Conservative party by Frank Hester. Hester has given the party at least £10m, and another £5m is said to have been paid recently, or at least been offered.

Asked why the party would take £5m from someone Sunak himself had said had made a racist comment, Sunak replied:

He’s already apologised for these comments. And my point of view is when someone apologises genuinely, expresses remorse – that should be accepted. And that’s that.

Critics of the Tories have said that, while Hester has said that his remarks about Diane Abbott were rude, he has argued they were not related to her race or gender. Hester has also expressed his opposition to racism.

Sunak claims Tories are 'united' in wanting better future for UK, and claims talk about leadership situation 'doesn't matter'

Rishi Sunak has claimed that “all Conservatives are united in wanting to deliver a brighter future” for Britain.

In a pooled interview after his economy speech this morning, asked why he did not let one of his “disloyal colleagues” have the “poisoned chalice” of being PM, Sunak replied:

I’m not interested in all Westminster politics. It doesn’t matter.

What matters is the future of our country. And that’s what I am squarely focused on.

That’s what I get up every morning, working as hard as I can, to deliver – whether it’s cutting people’s taxes, increasing the state pension … today increasing the number of apprenticeships and talking to small businesses.

Those are the things that matter to people. And as we have seen over the last few weeks, our plan is working. Inflation is coming down, wages are growing and the economy is back to growing again.

Asked why he could not get Tory MPs to “shut up” about the leadership, Sunak replied:

All Conservatives are united in wanting to deliver a brighter future for our country.

And, after listing tax cuts, state pension increases, and progress on tackling illegal migration as things that matter to people, Sunak said:

We are absolutely united in delivering for the country on these important matters.

GB News has described the Ofcom ruling saying it broke impartiality rules on five occasions by allowing Tory MPs to act as news presenters (see 11.01am) as a “a chilling development … for freedom of speech”. These are from the BBC’s George Mann.

Now @GBNEWS has responded ‘This is a chilling development for all broadcasters, for freedom of speech, and for everyone in the United Kingdom.’

More from GB News: These decisions go against established precedent and raises serious questions about Ofcom’s oversight over its own regulations.
It appears that Ofcom is trying to extend the regulations, rather than enforcing definitions which have been settled for many years.

GB News is a regulated broadcast channel and takes its obligations very seriously.

UPDATE: See 12.49pm for the full statement.

Badenoch says she does not see case for government support specifically intended to help black people in business

At the business event Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, was asked if there was any government support specifically for black women in business in rural areas. The question was posed by Sandra Murphy, CEO of Equidiet Ltd. She said she created the world’s first liquid feed for horses and was the ninth black woman in the UK to get a patent. She said she lived in Lincolnshire, and worked in a very white, middle class industry (the horse industry).

Badenoch said she understood Murphy’s situation. She said her constituency, Saffron Walden in Essex, is 98% white. But people voted for her even though she looks “completely different from the average person walking down the street”, she said.

But there was no specific ethnicity-based support programme for someone like Murphy, she said. She explained:

We don’t have any specific ethnicity-based support programme, but that is for a particular reason.

There is a very clear need when looking at women in particular, in the workplace versus men. It’s very simple, it’s quite binary, there’s a lot of data and a lot of evidence.

With ethnicity, there’s a whole spectrum, there’s lots of different people, and we had a report that came out about a year or two ago Inclusive Britain, and there’s a programme in there about inclusion at work.

What we are trying to do is make sure that people face attitudes that are better, and that will help in terms of things like access to finance and so on.

I personally, and I say this not just as the business secretary but also as the equalities minister, worry that if we divide people into too many groups, at some point it stops being about helping people overcome discrimination and actually just about which group is getting which pot of money.

At the start of the year barely a day went by without CCHQ issuing at least one press release, sometimes more, pointing out that some Labour MP had confirmed the party’s commitment to its £28bn green investment plan, and claiming that this would have to be funded by higher taxes. Keir Starmer ultimately abandoned the £28bn spending target in February. This did not entirely stop the torrent of ‘Labour tax rise’ claims from CCHQ, but the flow has dried up a bit, and they make the papers much less often now.

Now the Conservative party is on the receiving end of a similar tactic. Labour says that Rishi Sunak’s long-term pledge to abolish national insurance would have to be funded by spending cuts, or tax rises, and it has just released this statement from Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, about Sunak’s reference to his long-term aspiration in his speech this morning. (See 10.41am.)

Jones said:

Once again, Rishi Sunak is promising his £46bn unfunded plan without a single word on how he will pay for it.

Families across Britain know only too well the consequences of the Tories’ unfunded promises. The biggest threat to the economy and family finances is five more years of Conservative chaos.

The Tories must come clean about how they will pay for their plan or whose taxes will have to go up.

Rishi Sunak’s Q&A with business figures is over. He did not take any questions from journalists, although he is doing media interviews later in the day. Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, is speaking at the same event now. There is a live feed at the top of the page.