Afternoon summary
The SNP government has won a no confidence vote at Holyrood, but without MSPs coming any closer to knowing who will replace Humza Yousaf, who said on Monday he was resigning as party leader. John Swinney and Kate Forbes, the two leading candidates, are both still deciding what to do. According to a report in the Times, Swinney and Forbes met to discuss the leadership yesterday. In their story John Boothman and Kieran Andrews say:
A number of senior SNP politicians have publicly endorsed Swinney while support for Forbes has been more muted. However, Forbes, who narrowly lost last year’s leadership election to Yousaf after Nicola Sturgeon resigned, has refused to back down and said on Tuesday that she was seriously considering her options.
One of her supporters confirmed that Swinney and Forbes had met. However, when it was suggested that Swinney supporters would prefer an uncontested transfer of power, the source said: “They are not going to get it. Everything they do makes Kate look stronger.”
Several figures in the Swinney camp believe that he would have to offer Forbes a significant post to secure a deal to become SNP leader or to win a leadership battle. “He would need to say, ‘I would have Kate in cabinet’,” said one friend of Swinney.
According to a poll by Ipsos Scotland, Forbes has a five-point lead over Swinney amongst all voters on who would make the best first minister. But Swinney has a 10-point lead on this measure amongst people who voted SNP in 2021.
Women are understood to be among those detained by Home Office enforcement officers in a series of raids this week after being picked to be sent to Rwanda, PA Media reports. PA says:
Department officials refused to say how many people had been held so far, arguing that ongoing operations prevented them from doing so. They confirmed more than two people had been detained, with both men and women in custody.
Pictures of some of the operations, released by the Home Office, indicate at least two of those detained so far are men and both appeared to have been taken into custody while they were in houses.
Enforcement action is said to have taken place throughout the UK – in England, Wales and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland – since midday on Monday.
Children are not expected to be detained as part of the operations.
Home Office officials strongly suspect legal challenges will be made in light of the detentions ahead of Rwanda flights but are confident they will be able to defend any such action thanks to the laws and policies in place.
It is understood officials also fully expect applications for immigration bail to follow but stressed that anyone released from detention will be subject to strict bail conditions.
Migrants can only be detained if there is a realistic prospect of their removal from the UK. This means they could be released on bail in future if no action is being taken to deport them.
The Home Office may have to refer migrants for a bail hearing if they have been detained for four months or more.
