Here's a summary of today ...
- Six years since the Brexit referendum, David Lammy says the UK still lacks a clear foreign policy. The shadow foreign secretary accused the Conservatives of being “stuck in a fever dream of 2016”.
- Covid outbreaks in care homes have risen for a third consecutive week and hospital numbers are continuing to rise, according to latest government figures.
- Boris Johnson is “unlikely” to bring up the Rwanda asylum policy with Prince Charles when they meet, Downing Street has said. The prime minister’s spokesperson said the issue will not be “at the forefront of his mind”.
- British Airways workers based at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over pay. Members of the GMB and Unite backed industrial action. The unions said holidaymakers face disruption, warning of a summer of strikes.
- The prime minister has also said he will stress the “obvious merits” of his Rwanda asylum policy when he meets Prince Charles in Kigali tomorrow after his condemnation of the “appalling” plan.
- The prime minister has defended the legality of his controversial asylum policy, claiming it is not unlawful and that he is “just going to keep going”. Speaking from a school in Kigali, Boris Johnson told those with concerns over the plan to “think about the way these two countries can work together to solve what is a very complex problem of illegal people trafficking”.
- Boris Johnson claimed in his address in Kigali that the Commonwealth has “the super-fertiliser” for prosperity. The prime minister told the Commonwealth Business Forum that the Commonwealth has the power to “forge a new Africa” and share African countries’ optimism.
- The prime minister earlier suggested it would be “crazy” for him to resign if the Conservatives lost both byelections. “Are you crazy?” Boris Johnson told journalists travelling with him to Kigali when prospects of his departure was raised.
- Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, said the true economic impact of Brexit may never be known and said he wished Boris Johnson would stop making “factually incorrect statements”. He made the comments at an event held by the think tank UK in a Changing Europe, held six years after the EU referendum.
- Boris Johnson visited the Rwandan president this morning while voting got under way in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, where the Conservatives face two vital byelections. The prime minister is in Kigali where he visited Paul Kagame at his office following heavy criticism about his deportation policy to the east African country.
That’s it from me for today, and for the blog. Thanks for reading.
Updated
The government hasurged unions to call off rail strikes “as quickly as possible”. No 10’s comments come ahead of a third planned strike on Saturday.
A Downing Street spokesperson said:
My understanding is there were talks between the RMT and Network Rail today.
But what we want to see is for the unions to call off the strikes, to continue to negotiate and to come to an agreement with their employer.
We don’t want to see this strike action to continue for a moment longer than it has to.
Asked whether it was possible to do before Saturday’s strike, he said: “That’s a question for the unions.”
He said the government has not been alerted to any further rail strikes after this week.
Updated
