Rishi Sunak refuses to back James Cleverly on target of stopping all small boat crossings this year - latest

No 10 says PM will not set a deadline on his pledge to stop vessels crossing the English Channel

Sunak claims Cummings would have ‘nothing to do’ with his government in campaign speech

Rishi Sunak has refused to back his home secretary’s target to bring the number of small boats crossing the channel to zero this year.

No 10 said the prime minister would not set a deadline for delivering his pledge to stop the boats.

Earlier James Cleverly was asked what his target was for crossings this year and told LBC Radio: “Well, my target is to bring it down to zero. I mean, I’m completely committed…”

Asked if he was referring specifically to 2024, he said: “That’s my target. My target is to reduce it to zero, to stop the boats. And I’m unambiguous about that.”

The prime minister’s official spokesman said the two men were united in wanting to stop the crossings.

But he would not repeat Mr Cleverly’s target. Pushed on the 2024 target, the spokesman said the PM wanted to “stop the boats as soon as possible” but he would not “set out a deadline”.

Key Points

• Sunak refuses to back Cleverly’s target of stopping all small boats this year
• Cleverly says asylum backlog cleared but Labour slams ‘false’ claim
• Sunak holds secret election meetings with Cummings
• Lib Dems call for talks to be investigated by ethics chief
• Pair discussed ‘nuclear weapons’ and other policy areas

[2 January 2024 10:47 · Matt Mathers]

Rishi Sunak under fire over ‘misleading’ claim to have cleared asylum backlog

Rishi Sunak’s claim to have met a pledge to clear the backlog of so-called legacy asylum claims has been branded misleading as thousands are still awaiting a decision.

The prime minister credited “relentless action” as the government announced on Monday that it had met a target to clear a backlog of asylum claims.

Archie Mitchell reports:

[2 January 2024 11:26 · Matt Mathers]

Total asylum claim backlog stands at nearly 100,000

The total asylum backlog now stands at 98,599, new figures released by the government show, Holly Bancroft reports.

This is a decrease on record high levels in early 2023, when the backlog stood at nearly 140,000.

But it is still historically high. In March 2020, the backlog stood at 40,000 and in 2013 the backlog was down at 9,500.

File photo: A group of migrants are brought in to Dungeness in Kent in August 2023 (PA Wire)

[2 January 2024 11:35 · Matt Mathers]

Sunak: We’ve cleared the asylum backlog

The prime minister has raised eyebrows with a tweet claiming to have cleared the backlog of asylum seekers last year, Archie Mitchell reports.

Rishi Sunak said: "I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023.

"That’s exactly what we’ve done."

But figures published on Tuesday show thousands of more complex cases are still awaiting final decisions, while the backlog of asylum seekers stands at 98,599.

[2 January 2024 11:45 · Matt Mathers]

Yvette Cooper: Sunak and Cleverly’s claims ‘just not true’

Yvette Cooper has slammed Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly’s claims to have cleared the backlog of asylum seekers, Archie Mitchell reports.

The shadow home secretary said the PM and Mr Cleverly have not even cleared the so-called "legacy" backlog of older asylum cases.

And she pointed to the total backlog of asylum seekers, which now stands at 98,599.

In a devastating thread on X, Ms Cooper said: "It’s one of five Sunak broken promises on asylum & small boats this year - yet another year of Tory asylum chaos, of gimmicks instead of grip."

[2 January 2024 12:05 · Matt Mathers]

Rishi Sunak: ‘I’ll put more money in your pockets’

Rishi Sunak is to kick off the general election year with a series of events promising to put more money in voters’ pockets, Archie Mitchell reports.

The prime minister will make his first public appearance of the year on Thursday and will turn his focus to the economy, arguing it has turned a corner on his watch.

He will highlight a recent national insurance tax cut and raise the prospect of more to come to entice voters, telling them he "always wanted to get tax down".

A government source told The Times: "The prime minister’s been clear he’s a strong believer in low taxes and, if it’s possible to do so responsibly, he and the chancellor will be looking at ways to keep even more money in people’s pockets this year."

File photo: Rishi Sunak delivers New Year message as he looks ahead to 2024 (Rishi Sunak)

[2 January 2024 12:20 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: Junior doctors’ strike to go ahead this week amid standoff with government

Strikes by junior doctors in England will go ahead this week because unions are locked in a standoff with the government, an NHS leader has said.

NHS Confederation chief Matthew Taylor has said that a resolution is extremely unlikely as neither side is willing to budge from their position.

Holly Bancroft reports:

[2 January 2024 12:50 · Matt Mathers]

I want to end the dilemma of choosing between career and childcare

Education secretary Gillian Keegan hopes the biggest expansion of free childcare in this country’s history will have a transformative impact on the lives of working families

Read her full comment piece here:

[2 January 2024 13:05 · Matt Mathers]

Rishi Sunak asylum claim hit by fact check: ‘The backlog has not been cleared’

Rishi Sunak’s claim to have cleared the backlog of asylum seekers was hit by a fact check, Archie Mitchell reports.

The post on X, in which the PM claimed he had delivered on a promise to clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023, has had a “community note” added.

The note clarifies Mr Sunak’s tweet, saying: “The backlog has not been cleared.”

The asylum backlog is now at 98,599, figures show, and Labour has accused the PM of telling a “barefaced lie” over the claim.

[2 January 2024 13:25 · Matt Mathers]

Rishi Sunak accused of ‘barefaced lie’ over asylum claims

Rishi Sunak has been accused of telling a “barefaced lie” after claiming to have cleared the backlog of asylum applicants, Archie Mitchell reports.

The prime minister said he had delivered on a promise to clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023.

“That’s exactly what we’ve done,” Mr Sunak said. But the asylum backlog is now at 98,599, figures show.

Stephen Kinnock, Labour’s shadow immigration minister, said: “The PM’s barefaced lie that he has cleared the asylum backlog would be laughable if it wasn’t such an insult to the public’s intelligence.

“Statistics published this morning by his own govt show there are still around 100,000 cases languishing in the Tories’ never-ending backlog.”

Labour’s Stephen Kinnock (PA)

[2 January 2024 13:40 · Matt Mathers]

No 10 denies Sunak was ‘wrong’ when he said backlog was cleared

Downing Street denied that Mr Sunak was “wrong” when he tweeted this morning that the backlog has been cleared, Kate Devlin reports.

This morning the prime minister wrote: “I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”

But provisional figures from the Home Office show 4,537 asylum applications in the legacy backlog still “awaiting an initial decision” as of December 28.

Asked if Mr Sunak was “wrong” No 10 said: “No. As I said we’ve cleared that backlog. What that entails is processing 100,000 claims as we have done. As a result of that processing there is a small number, four and a half thousand, that require additional (work)”.