Rwanda bill – latest: Rishi Sunak pushes Tory MPs to back ‘stop the boats’ plan ahead of crunch vote
Prime minister faces mounting rebellion over flagship immigration policy
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Your support makes all the difference.Rishi Sunak is staging a last-ditch bid to win over right-wing Conservatives MPs threatening to defeat his Rwanda deportation legislation.
The PM faces a mounting rebellion over the flagship immigration policy, with Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith poised to back rebel amendments to the bill.
Mr Anderson and Mr Clarke-Smith said they would defy the Government by joining more than 60 Tory MPs who are seeking to disapply international law from the Bill and curtail asylum seekers’ rights to appeal against flights to Kigali.
But any attempt by Mr Sunak to placate them would be opposed by more moderate Tories, who are keen to protect the legislation against breaches of international law.
It comes as the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has concluded after a legal assessment of the UK government’s new Rwanda bill that it’s not compatible with international law.
The UNHCR said the modified Rwanda scheme “does not meet the required standards relating to the legality and appropriateness of the transfer of asylum seekers and is not compatible with international refugee law”.
Recession fears as Christmas sales much lower than expected
Sales by UK retailers has fallen at its fastest rate in nearly three years in December as people did some of their Christmas shopping earlier than usual.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that retail sales volumes have had the worst performance since January 2021, and are thought to have dropped 3.2 per cent in December, down from a rise of 1.4 per cent the month before.
Zoe Grunewald reports:
Christmas retail sales fall unexpectedly in December
Shoppers spent less in December than previous years, spending less and buying earlier
ICYMI: Robert Harris is right – Rishi Sunak’s popularity has entered ‘death valley’
With polling this bad, you could almost mistake it for the plot in one of the ‘Fatherland’ author’s new thrillers, writes John Rentoul. Yet the PM soldiers on – or, at least, he’s trying to...
Read John’s piece in full here:
Robert Harris is right – Sunak’s popularity has entered ‘death valley’ | John Rentoul
With polling this bad, you could almost mistake it for the plot in one of the ‘Fatherland’ author’s new thrillers, writes John Rentoul. Yet the PM soldiers on – or, at least, he’s trying to...
Tata steel bosses urged to ‘look again’ at alternatives
Tata Steel bosses should “look again” at an alternative, union-proposed plan to closing the blast furnaces in South Wales, a shadow minister has said.
Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon - home of the Port Talbot steelworks - told Sky News: “The steelworks here in Port Talbot is the beating heart of our economy and of our community.
“Multi-unions (sic) have come together and put a plan on the table which would actually be much more of a bridge rather than a cliff edge to the changes that we know have to take place within our steel industry.
“But instead of that, we have got a plan which has been cobbled together between Tata Steel and the UK government which is going to use £500 million of taxpayers’ money to make 3,000 men and women redundant.
“And it is also going to remove the British capability to make its own steel from scratch.
“We will become the only country in the G20 that is no longer able to do that, so that is not the right way to go. Tata Steel should really look again at the multi-union proposal.”
More comments from Mr Kinnock below:
Jeremy Hunt hints at more tax cuts before general election
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signalled he wants to cut taxes in the Budget, as the Tories gear up for an election in the face of dire poll ratings.
Tory MPs are clamouring for a move that would win votes as the latest opinion poll by YouGov shows support for the Tories is at its lowest level since Liz Truss’s final days as prime minister.
Holding out the prospect of more money for the NHS, families and the armed forces, Mr Hunt said he wanted to focus on growth in the Budget on 6 March.
Jane Dalton has more details:
Jeremy Hunt hints at more tax cuts before general election
Jeremy Hunt aims to help Tories win votes after dash to Davos in private jet
Government has ‘no industrial strategy’ - Labour
The government has “no industrial strategy”, says shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock, Zoe Grunewald reports.
Mr Kinnock has accused the government of “sitting on its hands” over the expected closure of the Tate steel plant.
He told Times Radio it was “deeply frustrating” that the government implemented a “short term plan” by pursuing a narrow Electric Arc Furnace-only model, rather than innovate.
Tata Steel is expected to confirm plans to press ahead with plans to close both blast furnaces at its biggest plant, likely resulting in more than 3,000 job losses.
Home Office using dummy plane to practice forcing migrants onto Rwanda flights
The Home Office has hired an aircraft hangar and a dummy plane for security officials to practise forcing asylum seekers onto flights to Rwanda, it has emerged.
As the government prepares for deportation flights to take off, security guards have undergone special training programmes to deal with disruptive people.
Archie Mitchell reports:
Home Office hires dummy plane to practice forcing migrants onto Rwanda flights
The Home Office believes five officers will be needed for each migrant being deported
‘Dogs in the street’ know Rwanda flights are ‘probably never going to happen’ - senior Tory
A senior Conservative peer has cast doubt about whether prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy will ever see asylum seekers deported to east Africa.
Ahead of the House of Lords debating the Safety of Rwanda Bill, former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Ruth Davidson said there “are dogs in the street that know” that deportation flights are “probably never going to happen”.
In comments made to The Today Podcast and broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Davidson said: “Let’s have a debate about immigration, absolutely.
“Every sovereign nation should be in charge of who comes in; not everybody has a right to go to every country in the world — I completely get all of that. But where is the balance in this, rather than some of the language that is being used, some of the knots that people are getting into?
“And this thing about putting people on planes to Rwanda. I mean, there are dogs in the street that know that, one, it is probably never going to happen.
“And two, if it does, it is going to be a number so small that it makes very little difference to the bottom line.”
Sunak out and about in southeast
Rishi Sunak will be out and about on a series of regional visits this morning and give interviews to local outlets.
He is likely to discuss immigration following the successful passage of his Rwanda plan through the House of Commons.
No 10 insists that the visits are not a campaigning trip, Playbook reports.
Yesterday, the prime minister visited Gatwick Airport where he met and chatted with staff.
Chancellor hints at lowering taxes in budget
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says he wants to cut taxes in the next budget, in what commentators believe is an effort to win back votes amid the Conservatives’ dire opinion poll ratings.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Hunt said: “In terms of the direction of travel we look around the world and we note that the economies growing faster than us in North America and Asia tend to have lower taxes, and I believe fundamentally that low-tax economies are more dynamic, more competitive and generate more money for public services like the NHS.
“That’s the direction of travel we would like to go in but it is too early to say what we are going to do.”
Reminder: Brexit will leave UK £300bn worse off, say economists
In case you missed it: Brexit is set to leave Britain’s economy £311bn worse off by the middle of the next decade, a damning new report by top economists has found:
Brexit will leave UK £300bn worse off by 2035, say economists
London mayor Sadiq Khan says huge damage revealed in report shows ‘it’s obvious Brexit isn’t working’
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