UK politics live: Jenrick gets justice role in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet as Stride and Patel land top jobs
It comes as education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced a rise to university tuition fees
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Your support makes all the difference.Robert Jenrick has been named shadow justice secretary in Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s new-look shadow cabinet.
It comes just two days after the conclusion of a long Conservative leadership contest, in which Ms Badenoch comfortably beat Mr Jenrick in a run-off.
But Mr Jenrick was not the only high-profile addition to Ms Badenoch’s shadow cabinet.
Priti Patel will return to the front bench as shadow foreign secretary, while Mel Stride will take on under-fire Rachel Reeves as shadow chancellor of the exchequer. All three of them were Ms Badenoch’s rivals in the leadership contest, and will join what is being dubbed a “unity” shadow cabinet.
Earlier today, Badenoch-ally Laura Trott was named shadow education secretary, while Jenrick-supporter Neil O’Brien was named shadow minister for education.
The upheaval of the Tory front bench came as Labour unveiled plans to increase tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced on Monday afternoon that fees will rise to £9,535 from April 2025 in order to “secure the future of higher education”.
Starmer announces funding boost for Interpol in ‘clear message’ to criminals
The UK will increase its funding for Interpol projects, investing £6m this year, Sir Keir Starmer said.
Speaking at the organisation's general assembly in Glasgow, the prime minister said the money will support improved data sharing and faster communications capabilities, as well as a global fraud threat assessment network.
“We want to send a clear message to the world's most hardened criminals that there is no safe haven. There is no place you can hide from justice”, he said.
“Together, we've got the whole world covered, and together we will defeat you.”
Analysis: Yvette Cooper makes the case for international law against isolationists
While the home secretary was really just the warm up act in Glasgow at the Interpol conference for the prime minister, she made a very important point at a tipping point in world history.
With the Tories still considering withdrawing from the European Convention of Human Rights (EDHR) as they try to ape Nigel Farage, and Americans considering voting for an isolationist president in Donald Trump, Yvette Cooper made the case for international law.
She told the audience: “International security and domestic security are one and the same thing.”
At a time when political parties want to start to unpick the network of international agreements, Ms Cooper’s statement carries special significance.
UK to draw up new agreements with other nations to tackle smuggling gangs
The UK is drawing up new agreements with other countries to tackle people smuggling gangs and tackle the small boats crisis, Yvette Cooper has said.
Announcing a £150m package of measures to tackle the small boat crisis, the home secretary said the new agreements will “strengthen law enforcement, disrupt supply chains, break the business models of the gangs and to bring offenders to justice”.
“We know that the best way to strengthen UK Border Security, is to work in partnership with other countries”, she said.
Ms Cooper called for an “integrated global response” to tackle people smuggling gangs, saying they are “profiting from human misery, putting lives at risk, undermining border security and destabilising communities.”
She said: “Here in the UK, our new Border Security Command is leading the fight against the criminal gangs who, every week, are crowding vulnerable people into flimsy dinghies on the coast of France, leaving dozens this year to drown or be crushed to death as they attempt to cross the channel.
“But we know those gangs operate not just on our shores, but all across Europe and beyond - a network of exploitation stretching around the globe.”
Yvette Cooper calls for greater cooperation on tackling people smuggling gangs
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said she wants stronger international cooperation to tackle violence against women and girls, and child sexual abuse, the “scale of which should continue to shame us all”.
She told delegates at the Interpol conference in Glasgow: “We must also have a much stronger and more integrated global response to the organised immigration crime, which is growing around the world and profiting from human misery – putting human lives at risk, undermining border security and destabilising communities.”
Ms Cooper added: “We know these gangs operate not just on our shores but all across Europe and beyond, a network of exploitation stretching around the globe.”
Yvette Cooper says UK ‘proud to be at the heart’ of international policing efforts
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is speaking at the Interpol conference in Glasgow.
Ms Cooper said: “At a time when networks of organised and serious crimes fan the world, it matters more than ever to have equally integrated and global networks of law enforcement agencies working together to fight crime and to keep our communities safe.
“The UK is proud to be at the heart of those efforts. Every year our Interpol bureau in the National Crime Agency sends out 20,000 requests to partners around the world. And every day, they manage more than 1,000 incoming messages, and we see the impact of that cooperation here on our streets.”
Badenoch arrives at Tory HQ to unveil shadow cabinet
Kemi Badenoch has arrived at the Conservative Party headquarters to unveil her new shadow cabinet after winning the Tory leadership contest, ahead of its first meeting on Tuesday.
Ruth Davidson gives just 40 per cent chance of Kemi Badenoch leading Tories into next election
Ex-Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said she believes there is a 35 to 40 per cent chance that Kemi Badenoch will lead the Conservative Party into the next general election.
Speaking on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Ms Davidson said: “We don’t hang around with this sort of thing. We want the leader to be a net plus any time we go to the polls. And if they’re not, we don’t mess about.
“I would say, to put a figure on it, 35 per cent, 40 per cent? She’s got every opportunity to start the rebuilding. But there are things you really have to do when you’re in opposition, and part of that is you’ve got to put in the legwork, you’ve got to be humble. You’ve got to ask people for their vote, listen to them about what they need.
“You’ve got to show that the party’s changed. You don’t just stand up there and try and scold them into submission and become Conservatives. And I am yet to see any evidence that that is going to be her approach.”
Yvette Cooper says new Border Security Command funding is from Budget
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has said that the additional £75m announced today for Labour’s new Border Security Command is new funding from the Budget.
She told BBC Breakfast: “It’s in addition to the £75m we’d already talked about, which is only just starting to be invested now.”
Yvette Cooper refuses to commit to targets on reducing Channel crossings
The home secretary has avoided committing to specific targets on bringing down Channel crossings.
Pressed on when a drop in the number of migrant crossings could be expected, Yvette Cooper told BBC Breakfast: “We obviously want to make progress as far and as fast as possible. The prime minister has said we need to see significant progress being made.
“We know, of course, it does take time to get the investigators in place, to make sure that we can get the new technology in place. So we’re going to try and make progress as rapidly as possible.
“What I’m not going to do is what Rishi Sunak did ... [and] just, you know, set out slogans and say everything was going to be solved in 12 months, and all on the basis of a slogan, because I don’t think people will take that seriously anymore.”
She said high numbers of crossings in October were “linked to the weather” but that “we’ve actually got to go after the criminal gangs at the heart of this, rather than it simply being dependent on the weather”.
Politics Explained | Who will fill new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet?
One of the main reasons the Tories suffered so heavily in July was division. Divided parties do not win elections, and since Brexit Tory politics has been a soap opera, with the Conservative ranks riddled with infighting.
In a piece setting out what Kemi Badenoch needs to do to get the party back on track, pollster Luke Tryl tells The Independent that ending the infighting and picking a united top team will be one of her most important tasks.
On Sunday her first shadow cabinet appointment was revealed when interim chief whip Stuart Andrew tweeted that he was being replaced by Rebecca Harris, the MP for Castle Point in Essex. Dame Rebecca has been an MP since 2010 and a Conservative whip since 2018.
But Ms Badenoch is picking from a depleted pool, with the Tories having returned just 121 MPs in July. And a slew of Tory heavyweights including Rishi Sunak, James Cleverly, Jeremy Hunt and Oliver Dowden have said they will not serve in Ms Badenoch’s shadow cabinet, opting for stints on the backbenches instead.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has more analysis in this latest Politics Explained piece:
Who will fill new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet?
With a shallow pool of talent to choose from following election wipeout for the Tories, Kemi Badenoch has a job on her hands to pick a team that will give her the best platform in opposition. Archie Mitchell looks at the options
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