Suella Braverman news – live: Home secretary warns Tories to stop infighting amid rift reports
Downing Street earlier denied a rift between Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak
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Setting out her vision for conservatism at a right-wing conference in central London, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has warned the Conservative Party to stop infighting.
Amid reports of fresh rifts in the cabinet, Ms Braverman told the audience at the National Conservatism conference: “One way that we Conservatives must distinguish ourselves from the Left is by not devouring ourselves through fratricide.”
Ms Braverman, who unsuccessfully ran as Conservative Party leader last year, added that she was “optimistic about the future of conservatism, our great nation and of Western civilisation”.
Earlier, Downing Street was forced to deny a rift between Ms Braverman and Rishi Sunak amid reports she would push the PM to bring down overall migration.
Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said: “She continues to represent the UK government views on all issues relating to the Home Office, as you would expect.”
Ms Braverman also attacked left-wing politics, saying it was “making people feel terrible about our past”.
Will Labour expand the vote to millions of EU citizens?
Keir Starmer is accused of ‘laying the groundwork’ to reverse Brexit. Adam Forrest takes a closer look at what the opposition leader is up to:
Will Labour expand the vote to millions of EU citizens?
Keir Starmer is accused of ‘laying the groundwork’ to reverse Brexit. Adam Forrest takes a closer look at what the opposition leader is up to
Sunak will use upcoming summits to stress importance of support for Ukraine
Rishi Sunak will use the upcoming Council of Europe and G7 summits to stress the importance of continued support for Ukraine, Downing Street has said.
The remarks came after the prime minister met with Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The two leaders “discussed the new package of support the UK has announced today, including further air defence missiles and drones,” Downing Street said in a statement.
“This builds on the confirmation last week that the UK has become the first country to provide long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.”
Suella Braverman’s comments on cutting migration in line with Government’s approach - Downing Street
Suella Braverman’s comments on cutting net migration were in line with the Government’s approach, Downing Street has said.
In a speech due to take place later on Monday Ms Braverman will argue that there is “no good reason” the UK cannot train its own workforce of lorry drivers and fruit pickers and stress the need for overall immigration to the UK to come down.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “She continues to represent the UK Government views on all issues relating to the Home Office, as you would expect.”
The spokesman added: “We want to see employers make long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on overseas labour as part of building a high-wage and high-skilled economy and we are supporting those industries in doing that.”
The 2019 Tory manifesto promised control over immigration and that “overall numbers will come down”.
But asked about what level the numbers would come down from, the spokesman said: “I don’t think we’ve set out a baseline.”
Voter ID was ‘gerrymandering’ which backfired on Tories, says Rees-Mogg
The Conservative government’s introduction of voter ID was an attempt at “gerrymandering” that backfired against the party, senior Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.
The former cabinet minister said the policy – which saw voters required to have photo ID when voting at England’s local elections – had made it harder for elderly Tories to vote and “upset a system that worked perfectly well”.
Speaking at the National Conservatism conference on Monday, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them – as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections.”
Adam Forrest reports:
Voter ID is ‘gerrymandering’ which backfired on Tories, says Rees-Mogg
Elderly Tory voters didn’t have ID for local elections, says ex-cabinet minister
‘Record number’ of affordable homes being built in London - Sadiq Khan
The mayor of London has announced that a “record number” of affordable homes are being built in the capital.
In a speech at Royal Eden Docks, east London, on Monday, Sadiq Khan said he would continue tackling the “grave social injustice” of unaffordable housing.
He said that a “record number” of 25,000 affordable homes had been started last year and that he had surpassed his 2015 promise to begin building 116,000 by 2023.
The mayor said the figures were “concrete proof that London is building again”, describing the programme as a “big bang in an affordable housing revolution”.
He said that affordable housing was the key to “safeguard the soul of our city” and reiterated calls for the Government to introduce a freeze on rental costs.
The latest figures from HM Land Registry showed that the average cost of properties in London was £532,212, the highest in the country, compared with a national average of £288,000.
In his speech, Mr Khan added that the housing crisis in London was “turbo-charging inequalities in wealth, health and happiness”.
He said: “As mayor, I don’t want to see London become a playground for the rich - I’m determined to build a London for everyone.
“We’ve completed more homes of all types than at any time since the 1930s.
“While the Government has shamefully scrapped its own home-building targets, we’re busy meeting ours.
“In London, not only have we hit our target of starting 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes, we’ve exceeded it, with an incredible record-breaking 25,000 affordable homes in the last year alone - more genuinely affordable homes than in any year since records began.”
The mayor also hit out at his predecessor, former prime minister Boris Johnson, who he said had “left a pipeline of three social rented homes”.
Watch: Zelensky calls for ‘coalition’ of jets after Sunak fighter plane talks
‘Cultural Marxism’ is ‘destroying cultural souls’, says Tory MP
Conservative MP Miriam Cates has claimed “cultural Marxism” is “destroying our children’s souls”.
The right-winger told National Conservatism conference: “We must end the indoctrination of our children with destructive and narcissistic ideologies.”
Cates said: “When culture, schools and universities openly teach that our country is racist, our heroes are villains, humanity is killing the Earth, you are what you desire, diversity is theology, boundaries are tyranny and self-restraint is oppression, is it any wonder that mental health conditions, self-harm and suicide, and epidemic levels of anxiety and confusion characterise the emerging generation?”
She began the conference with a call for families to be encouraged to have more children.
Cates said falling birth rates were “the one overarching threat to British conservatism and indeed the whole of Western society”.
ICYMI: Boris Johnson ‘scrapped knighthood for Michael Gove’ after ‘betrayal’
Boris Johnson scrapped a planned knighthood for Michael Gove after blaming him for blocking his return as prime minister last autumn, it has been reported.
Mr Johnson had planned to knight Mr Gove in recognition of his years of service in government since the Tories came to power in 2010.
The honour would have been considered a way of burying the hatchet after Mr Gove stood against his then-ally Mr Johnson in the 2016 Tory leadership contest.
Archie Mitchell and Jon Stone report:
Boris Johnson ‘scrapped knighthood for Michael Gove’ after ‘betrayal’
Former PM ‘blamed’ ally for ruining his comeback
‘Common sense’ to allow EU nationals full voting rights - Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer has indicated it is "common sense" to allow EU nationals who have worked for years in the UK to vote in a general election, as Labour considers extending the franchise.
The opposition leader said it "feels wrong" that people who have contributed to Britain’s economy and raised their children in the country are not allowed to cast a ballot.
Labour is open to both lowering the voting age to 16 and extending rights to settled migrants, but has stressed these are currently "ideas" being "looked at" rather than policy.
Speaking on LBC, Sir Keir said: "If someone has been here say 10, 20, 30 years, contributing to this economy, part of our community, they ought to be able to vote. You go to doors sometimes in a general election and you’re met with someone who says ‘look, I’m an EU citizen, I’ve been living here 30 years, I’m married to a Brit, my kids were raised and brought up here, they’re now working in the UK... but I can’t vote’.
"I think that feels wrong and something ought to be done about it."
‘Gerrymandering’ voter ID rules came back to ‘bite' Tories at local elections - Rees-Mogg
The government’s introduction of voter ID was an example of “gerrymandering” that came back to “bite” the Tories at the local elections, Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested.
Speaking about reports that Labour is considering expanding the vote to EU citizens, Jacob Rees-Mogg told the National Conservatism conference in Westminster: "Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them, as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections.
"We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well."
As a minister, Mr Rees-Mogg defended the introduction of voter ID in parliament.
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