Afternoon summary
Rishi Sunak has defended his decision to authorise Britain’s participation in joint US/UK air strikes against the Houthi military to protect shipping in the Red Sea. In a statement to MPs, he said people should not believe “the malign narrative that this is about Israel and Gaza”. The Houthis were attacking ships from all over the world, he said. (See 3.42pm.)
Sunak has said that his government is willing to ignore injunctions from the European court of human rights (ECHR) that block deportation flights to Rwanda. He made the comment ahead of votes on the Rwanda bill in the Commons tomorrow and on Wednesday, in an attempt to reassure Tory MPs who complain the bill as drafted does not make it clear that these injunctions will be ignored. This is one of several issues where rightwingers are trying to toughen the bill. But No 10 has signalled that it is opposed to significant amendments. (See 2.31pm.)
Keir Starmer has told Labour members they should ignore a poll saying the party is on course to win by a landslide and instead “fight like we’re 5% behind”. (See 12.26pm.) Labour’s national campaign coordinator, Pat McFadden, made the same point in a post on X.
Labour candidates and members should ignore this poll.
— Pat McFadden (@patmcfaddenmp) January 15, 2024
Fight like we are behind. Fight like every vote matters.
Change will only come for the country if people vote for it, and not a single vote has been cast. https://t.co/9o5vYWkvER
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Northern Ireland set for largest ever public sector strike as pay awards held up over deadlock at Stormont
Health trust bosses in Northern Ireland have warned that mass strike action planned for the region on Thursday will have a “profound impact” on services, PA Media reports. PA says:
The chief executives of the five hospital trusts and the Northern Ireland ambulance service said the disruption will be on a “massive and unprecedented scale”, with a best-case scenario resulting in a service similar to that offered on Christmas Day.
Workers are demanding that a pay award made to counterparts elsewhere in the UK is introduced in Northern Ireland.
The strike by health workers on Thursday will be part of the largest public sector strike in Northern Ireland’s history when workers with 15 trade unions will take part in industrial action also covering education and the civil service.
The Stormont assembly is to be recalled later this week in a bid to back a motion to endorse fair pay settlements for the public sector workers.
The recall petition tabled by Sinn Féin received the required 30 MLA signatures. But several previous attempts to reconstitute the assembly have already failed as the DUP has not supported the election of a speaker at the outset of the sittings. The DUP has been boycotting power sharing for almost two years as a protest against the Northern Ireland protocol.
In December, the UK government offered the parties a £3.3bn package to stabilise finances in Northern Ireland, including £600m to settle public sector pay claims. However, it is dependent on the Stormont institutions being restored.
The Northern Ireland parties want Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, to release the funds for the public sector pay awards immediately. But the Northern Ireland Office says he has no authority to negotiate pay in the region as it is a devolved matter for the Stormont parties.
Heaton-Harris met Northern Irish leaders today and afterwards Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said Heaton-Harris should increase public sector pay. “You don’t need to have a functioning Stormont in order for the secretary of state to use the temporary powers that he has given to himself for that purpose,” Donaldson said.
Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland and first minister designate, said it was becoming “increasingly untenable” for the DUP to refuse to enter power-sharing over Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The BBC has a good live blog with more on what happened at today’s talks here.
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