Closing summary
Thank you for following our live coverage of events in Belfast, where protests erupted on Tuesday after a stabbing incident on Monday.
Here is a quick wrap up of the latest:
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Anti-immigration protesters torched buildings and vehicles in Belfast on Tuesday evening and blocked roads, a day after a stabbing allegedly by a Sudanese refugee, captured in a graphic video that shocked the country.
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British prime minister Keir Starmer described the attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, as “sickening”. Video of the incident was shared widely on social media.
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Police charged a Sudanese man late Monday over a knife attack that left one person with serious neck and head wounds. The suspect, whose name has not been released, was with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place and making threats to kill. The 30-year-old man is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
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Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, slammed the protests and urged calm. “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said on X. “Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur. There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight. No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm”.
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The leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the incident, saying “there is no place in our society for this kind of brutality”.
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US tech billionaire Elon Musk had earlier retweeted a post by anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – also known as Tommy Robinson – adding: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”.
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As anti-immigration figures, including Reform party leader Nigel Farage and Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, demanded details about the attacker, the interior ministry confirmed he was a Sudanese refugee with a residence permit valid until 2028. Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said he had arrived in the UK in 2023 via Paris and Dublin.
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Tensions were already high in Britain after violent skirmishes last week in Southampton, southern England, over the police handling of the murder of a young white student stabbed to death by a British Sikh man.
On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.
As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.
As they stormed the property, some claimed to be “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. A woman in the crowd said to her friend: “There’s wee girls inside.”
Read the full text of this compelling dispatch below:
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has also weighed in, saying:
Taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.
While Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said:
“The scenes of disorder we have witnessed in some parts of Northern Ireland this evening are only damaging communities and putting innocent lives at risk. There is no justification at all for this type of destruction and thuggery.”
Responding to the unrest in Belfast on Tuesday evening, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson said:
Sporadic pockets of disorder have broken out in a number of locations across Northern Ireland this evening, including incidents in which a number of vehicles have been set on fire. We are urging everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk.
Officers are on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise and helping to keep people safe. We are again appealing for calm and ask all voices of influence within local communities to encourage peaceful protest and discourage any involvement in violence or disorder.”
A man is set to appear in court charged with attempted murder over a stabbing attack following a night of violence in Belfast.
The 30-year-old accused, who is Sudanese, is also charged with possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place and making threats to kill.
He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court later on Wednesday.
Immigrant communities in Belfast have expressed fear that they could be targeted, following the attack.
As the Guardian reports, Sudanese business owners on Sandy Row, a loyalist area of central Belfast, closed their stores with steel shutters by 4pm and said they planned to stay at home that night.
The Belfast Islamic Centre cancelled evening prayers. Ameer Ibrahim, a project manager who spoke in a personal capacity said:
We are telling our congregation to go home, don’t go out, look after your children, don’t share rumours and do listen to the authorities.”
Some new images from the ground in Belfast, where teams are working to extinguish the fires set during demonstrations in response to Monday night’s stabbing attack in the city.
North Belfast MP John Finucane described the violence from the protests as “despicable” and unacceptable.
“The scenes we are seeing this evening are shameful and there is no place for it on our streets.
“Family homes and businesses attacked, cars and buses burned out, and parts of our community in flames.”
Later, on the Shankill road, two phone shops had been looted, and an African shop had been set on fire, with smoke spilling into the street and fire engines stationed outside as a few stragglers braved the rain to watch the fire fighters tackle the flames.
Northern Ireland’s first minister Michelle O’Neill described scenes of violence in Belfast as “outright thuggery”.
In a social media post, O’Neill said: “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice.
“This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.
“The attack in North Belfast was heinous and wrong.
“But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here.
“Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur.
“There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight.
“No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm.”
Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn condemned the “thuggery” seen in some areas on Tuesday evening in response to the Belfast stabbing attack.
He said on X: “People have been rightly shocked by the brutal attack in north Belfast, but the police must be allowed to do their job so the law can take its course.
“The scenes of disorder we have witnessed in some parts of Northern Ireland this evening are only damaging communities and putting innocent lives at risk.
“There is no justification at all for this type of thuggery. I echo the call from the PSNI for this violence to end now.”
Updated
By around 11pm, heavy rain started to fall over Belfast, and the crowds that had gathered began to disperse more quickly, leaving the burning wreckage of vehicles and street furniture behind them.
On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside, write Hannah Al-Othman and Rory Carroll.
As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.
As they stormed the property, some claimed to be “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. A woman in the crowd said to her friend: “There’s wee girls inside.”
Nearby, a car was set on fire. As the chaos unfolded, a man in a skull face mask told people to put their phones away. Helicopters circled overhead, and two police officers looked on from their car as smoke billowed towards the sky – but appeared to conclude that it was not safe to intervene.
By the time reinforcements arrived in four police vans, most of the hundreds-strong crowd had melted away, leaving only a few stragglers in their wake.
The violent scenes played out after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder in relation to a knife attack filmed in a graphic video widely shared on social media on Tuesday. Footage was posted by Tommy Robinson and other far-right figures, prompting demands for protests in response.
Updated
On a terraced street strung with union flag bunting, off Newtownards Road in east Belfast, within view of the city’s famous yellow Samson & Goliath cranes, a house has been set alight, the white render stained black with soot.
A group of men and women stood watching as fire engines blocked the street, as firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control, with the flames spilling out onto the street.
On a parallel street, a smaller fire burned in the middle of the road, the smell of burning plastic heavy in the air. At the end of the Newtownards Road closest to the city centre, a row of police vans and cars were stationed, poised to respond to any escalating violence.
At the other end of the road, the shell of a burned out bus stood beside a pavement littered with shattered glass, and in front of upended, smouldering wheelie bins, as a union flag fluttered gently from a flagpole overhead.
Men in masks and hoods stopped to pose for photographs beside the wreckage of the bus as they moved away from the scene of the violence.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long said “hate cannot be allowed” to win, as disorder broke out in a number of areas.
Long said: “Earlier today, I stood beside the First Minister, deputy First Minister and the PSNI Chief Constable and we appealed for calm.
“Sadly, there are those who have chosen to ignore those pleas; they are intent on wreaking destruction on the very communities they claim they are trying to protect.
“They are weaponising the genuine hurt, concern and anger that people are feeling for their own misguided purposes.
“There is no place for masked thugs to take to the streets and threaten, intimidate, disrupt and cause wanton damage – it is simply disingenuous to claim this is being carried out for the good of Northern Ireland.
“I would appeal once again to communities not to allow themselves to be used and abused in this manner. Disorder on the streets, such as we are seeing tonight, is diverting valuable police resources away from those who genuinely need them. These are not the actions of people who genuinely care about their communities.
“While I recognise and understand the concerns following on from the attack in north Belfast, hate cannot be allowed to win.”
Footage of a Glider bus being set on fire by protesters in east Belfast this evening.
Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has appealed for calm following outbreaks of violence in a number of areas.
In a social media post, Little-Pengelly said: “I know all are horrified about what has happened. I know so many are angry and there are those who want to register a protest.
“This is an appeal to act in an entirely peaceful way. Violence does not advance any cause, it damages it.
“Destroying things within your own community benefits no one.
“Taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong. Safety is at the heart of so much of the concern.
“Engaging in violence risks your own safety, that of others and fundamentally does any cause or campaign to be heard terrible disservice and damage.”
Residents are being removed from houses which have caught fire in Lendrick Street in east Belfast.
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service officers attended the scene on Tuesday night.
Updated
As dusk began to fall, the roads leading from west Belfast to the city centre were blocked with bonfires, plastic road blocks, street furniture, and wheelie bins set alight.
Groups of men in balaclavas wandered the streets, carrying plastic bottles filled with what appeared to be petrol, and formed crowds around the fires, as cars were forced to turn around.
Police cars sat at a distance, with officers occasionally directing motorists who had been blocked from reaching their destinations.
Across the city centre, smoke hung thick and heavy in the air, and smoke could be seen rising into the sky from several directions.
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A spokesperson for Translink, which operates public transport services in Northern Ireland, said all bus and train services have been suspended for the rest of the night.
The spokesperson said: “We utterly condemn this attack on our Glider service.
“The safety of our staff and customers is our top priority and all bus and train services are suspended for the rest of tonight in the interests of safety.
“We are liaising closely with the PSNI and will continue to follow their guidance.
“We intend to resume services as normal tomorrow morning. Passengers are advised to check Translink’s socials for up to date travel information.”
Hannah Al-Othman has more on the disorder near the Shankill Road that culminated in a house being stormed by masked men:
On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankhill road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.
As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.
As they stormed the property, some claimed to be “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. A woman in the crowd said to her friend: “There’s wee girls inside”.
Nearby, a car was set on fire. As the chaos unfolded, a man in a skull facemask told onlookers to put their phones away. Helicopters circled overhead, and two police officers looked on from their car nearby as smoke billowed towards the sky - but appeared to conclude that it was not safe to intervene.
By the time reinforcements arrived in four police vans, most of the hundreds-strong crowd had melted away, leaving only a few stragglers in their wake.
Updated
A ramshackle group of about 60 protesters gathered in Parliament Square in London, shouting that police were “traitors” and attempting to goad individual officers.
Some shouted anti-immigrant slogans and chanted about the murder of Henry Novak and about the attempted murder in Belfast, which a Sudanese man has been arrested for.
There was some pushing and shoving but the police maintained order and most of the group protested peacefully. By 9pm only a handful remained.
Updated
The PSNI’s assistant chief constable said there had been “sporadic pockets of disorder” and urged everyone to remain calm.
“Officers are on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise and helping to keep people safe,” Ryan Henderson said.
He asked “all voices of influence within local communities to encourage peaceful protest and discourage any involvement in violence or disorder”.
Northern Ireland’s education minister, Paul Givan, has said any violence at anti-immigration demonstrations will “distract” from protesters’ message as he attended a protest in Lisburn.
Givan said: “There is a genuine shock about what happened last night. I think it has sent shockwaves across the community.
“What we have witnessed here in Lisburn has been a peaceful protest because people have felt that their voices aren’t being listened to, particularly when it comes to uncontrolled immigration within the United Kingdom and on the island of Ireland.
“It is important that people do conduct themselves in a peaceful manner to make sure that the key issues here around immigration can be heard and we are not distracted by any form of violence.
“That will only distract. People should express their views in a peaceful manner.”
Soon after, a car was set alight, on the street draped in loyalist flags, where walls were lined painted with graffiti saying “local homes for local people.”
A lone police car was stationed at the far end of the street, with officers looking on as a plume of black smoke stretched skyward.
Around three hundred people, mostly dressed in dark colours, had gathered on the Shankhill Road by 8pm.
“Can we all say the Lord’s Prayer for the victim of this crime?” a woman said, through a megaphone with the crowd joining in to recite the prayer, ending with clapping and cheering.
The crowd then set off marching through the streets of west Belfast. Soon after, windows were put through and groups of men balaclavas rushed into a house, attacking the windows with bricks, while the air was thick with smoke from fireworks.
Protesters have set fire to a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast as disorder flared at an anti-immigration demonstration organised in response to Monday night’s stabbing attack in the city.
Updated
The Sudanese barber shop owner was at his cash register and smiling at the question, “Did he feel safe in Belfast?”, when two men strolling down the street paused at his open doorway and unleashed a sudden, shrieking howl.
It ended as abruptly as it began and without saying a word the two men, white, in their 20s, wearing grey tracksuits, resumed their stroll.
The barber shop staff, all from sub-Saharan Africa, said nothing and the shop owner continued smiling. “Safe?” The question struck him as ridiculous. “You can never be safe. I can at least close early.”
It was Tuesday afternoon and fears were growing that dozens of anti-immigrant protests could break-out across Northern Ireland after a Sudanese asylum seeker was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The man, aged 30, was later charged with attempted murder and will appear in court on Wednesday.
Footage of the attack, which took place on Monday night, was shared on social media and became a rallying call for Tommy Robinson, Elon Musk and other far-right agitators.
By 4pm on Tuesday all the foreign-owned stores on Sandy Row, in central Belfast, had pulled down steel shutters and staff sped home to hunker down for the night, a scene repeated across other parts of Belfast.
Crowds are beginning to gather at sites in Belfast following the knife attack in the north of the city.
A number of people are on the Newtownards Road in the east of the city.
A crowd is also gathering close to the Crumlin Road roundabout.
There had been calls on social media for protests to take place across Northern Ireland following the attack on Monday night which have been discouraged by police chiefs and politicians including the first secretary.
A man arrested on suspicion of the Belfast knife attack has been charged with attempted murder, police said.
The 30-year-old accused, who is Sudanese, is also charged with possession of an article with blade or point in a public place and making threats to kill.
He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
A Bill which will clamp down on late payments by companies has passed its first hurdle in the House of Lords.
The Commercial Payments Bill was passed unopposed at second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening.
The Bill will change payment terms in commercial contracts to a maximum of 30 days for public authorities, and 60 days for non-public authorities.
It will also strengthen the existing legal right to interest on late payment of commercial debts.
The small business commissioner will also be given the power to investigate larger firms suspected of repeatedly paying late and breaching legislation.
More ministers are coming out with appeals for calm, ahead of potential unrest.
Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson said that more violence would be the “worst possible response” to the Belfast knife attack. Speaking on LBC Radio, she said: “What we’re urging now is a period of calm.
“I appreciate that people are horrified by what they have seen, but the worst possible response to that kind of violence would be further violence or disorder.”
There are also concerns about who might be targeted.
First minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill said that those who seek to stoke-up tensions, particularly on social media, “do not represent us”.
She urged people to separate the knife attack from others from minority ethnic communities, saying: “We need to say no racism, no to hatred, no to sectarianism that is out there in our society.”
Updated
At the Stormont news conference Michelle O’Neill, the first minister, insisted that Northern was not operating an “open borders” immigration system.
She said:
I don’t know any country that has open borders.
I believe in an immigration system that is fair and managed and enforceable and compassionate and human rights compliant, but that is not the debate for today.
The debate today is about our society, about our inclusive society, our welcoming society.
Our conversation today is about our thoughts are very much with that gentleman who finds himself as a victim of that violent and horrific attack last night.
Our thoughts today are about creating calm in our society.
That’s all from me for today. My colleague Siraj Datoo is taking over now.
Belfast knife attack suspect was Sudanese national with leave to remain in UK until 2028, Home Office says
The Home Office has confirmed the suspect in the Belfast stabbing incident is a Sudanese national with leave to remain in the UK until 2028, the Press Association reports.
Following the stabbing on Monday night, which left a man with significant injuries to his eyes, the Home Office said the suspect had entered the UK in 2023 and was granted refugee status the same year.
He claims to have entered the UK via the Common Travel Area, they added.
(An earlier post, at 4.28pm, has been corrected because it originally said Nigel Farage was talking about indefinite leave to remain when in fact he was talking about leave to remain.)
Elon Musk backs far-right, online calls for protests in response to Belfast stabbing
It is not to see why the Police Service of Northern Ireland is worried about disorder tonight. There is a history of anti-immigrant rioting in Northern Ireland, with the most prominent recent example being last year’s mob violence in Ballymena, which led to dozens of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma families having to flee their homes.
Tommy Robinson, the far-right, anti-migrant activist and provocateur, has been using his X account to publicise a list of places where he is calling for “mass protest” in Northern Ireland. Within the last hour, his list has been retweeted approvingly by Elon Musk, who owns X and has 240m followers on the platform.
These are the sorts of people Jon Boutcher, the PSNI chief constable, probably had in mind when he spoke earlier about the risk posed by “people who know nothing about Northern Ireland … [commenting] from afar through social media”. (See 4.49pm.)
PSNI chief urges people not to be 'fooled or duped' by voices online 'inciting hatred' and encouraging 'awful behaviour'
At the Stormont press conference Boutcher suggested the “toxic” nature of online debate was making policing more difficult. He urged people to ignore voices online “inciting hatred”.
He said:
We have got incredible communities across Northern Ireland.
The challenge we face with today’s online toxic nature, and the inciting of hatred, is that that manifests itself by people doing things that they would not ordinarily do, and they are incited by people who are faceless and know nothing about this brilliant, vibrant place.
I said earlier, what defined Northern Ireland last night was the reaction of the neighbours of that victim in going to his aid without any fear for their own safety.
That’s the Northern Ireland that I know and I appeal again – and that’s why we’re all here today – for everybody who is repulsed by what happened last night to understand the person responsible is in custody.
Where there are any concerns about immigration, let’s have those through a political debate. Let the criminal justice process take its course.
And let’s just remember that all of our communities in Northern Ireland almost entirely contribute positively to this place.
And don’t be fooled or duped into a trap by people online inciting awful behaviour.
At the press conference Naomi Long, the justice minister, said there were “challenges” with the common travel area, which allows people to cross the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland without having to pass through controls.
She said:
I have raised the issue with the Home Office in the past around trafficking, both human trafficking and other trafficking across the border. I’ve raised it also with Jim O’Callaghan [the Irish justice, home affairs and migration minister] though it is more for the Home Office to do so.
But I recognise that there are challenges when you can travel freely, and what we don’t want on either side of the border is to see the common travel area being exploited for ill purposes.
We have been clear about that. The important thing, however, now is not to demonise any particular community, any particular group of people.
In response to a question at the press conference about the legal status of the suspect, Boutcher said that would be something for lawyers to debate.
He went on:
There was nothing to prevent that individual from coming into this country, and he sought leave to remain through his asylum application. His status when he crossed that border is still undetermined by us, but it’s something that we’ll be looking at, and will come out in the fullness of time.
PSNI chief urges people not to let those 'who know nothing about Northern Ireland' stir up disorder via social media
In his opening statement at the press conference Boutcher also warned people against being influenced “from afar through social media” in the wake of a knife attack. He said:
There will be an increased police presence across Northern Ireland this evening and in the coming days to provide help, support, and reassurance for all our communities, and to keep everybody safe.
There is considerable posting on social media. I appeal for everyone to be mindful of what they view and share online. Sharing footage risks causing further trauma to the injured man’s family and loved ones, and may impact on this investigation.
He also said plans for protests were being carefully monitored.
We are aware, of course, of protest activity being discussed across Northern Ireland this evening, and we continue to monitor this very carefully.
And I understand that last night’s attempted murder will leave people feeling enraged with emotions from fear to anger, but please, please let the PSNI, let the police do their job unfettered and undistracted by wider concerns there may be about disorder.
Do not let people who know nothing about Northern Ireland impact on the behaviours of our people in Northern Ireland from afar through social media.
Remember the actions of those members of the public, they truly define our society in Northern Ireland, they saved a man’s life last night.
Do not let the actions of that man impact on any further harm to anybody else in Northern Ireland.
In his statement at the press conferene Boutcher said the people who intervened to help the stabbing victim last night saved his life.
He said:
I want to especially acknowledge the courage of those members of the public who ran towards danger to intervene and help the injured man and the PSNI officers who arrived so quickly to arrest the offender.
I have absolutely no doubt that those members of the public saved that man’s life.
Belfast knife attack suspect arrived in Belfast from Dublin in 2023 and claimed asylum, chief constable says
At the press conferencce Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the PSNI, gave more details of the identity of the suspect. He said the suspect was understood to be Sudanese.
He said:
It’s my understanding that the suspect was granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the 28 of September of 2023.
Again, this is to be confirmed, but I’m informed that he made his way from Sudan to Paris at dates unknown, and from Paris he flew to Dublin at a date yet to be determined.
From my current understanding, he then travelled from Dublin to Belfast by bus on the 10 of February of 2023 and claimed asylum on that date.
There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
I’ve been in direct contact with the head of terrorism policing in the UK. At this stage we have no information to suggest that this was terrorist related.
I do appreciate the nature of the attack has led to speculation it is terrorist related, however there is nothing to suggest that that is the case.
Updated
Emma Little-Pengelly, Northern Ireland’s DUP deputy first minister, said the suspect in the Belfast attack should be deported if convicted. She said the attack was “brutal, disgusting and horrific” but appealed for “calm across all of our communities”.
Naomi Long, Northern Ireland’s justice minister and the Alliance party leader, said the attack was “barbaric”, but appealed for calm. She said:
We also know that there are many in our community today who are fearful, who are afraid because they fear that others will associate them with the person who was involved in this attack.
We need to reassure them too that their safety, along with everyone else’s safety, is our primary concern.
Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, has been speaking at a press conference at Stormont with other political leaders and the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Jon Boutcher.
O’Neill said:
Violence like this is no place in our community, and my thoughts are very much with the injured man, his loved ones, and everyone that’s been affected by this horrific attack …
We’ve been in contact throughout the course of today with the chief constable, with local representatives, with officials, and we will continue to work closely with all relevant authorities in the days ahead.
I give my full support to the community during this extremely, extremely difficult time. I urge people to allow the PSNI the space and the time that they require to carry out a full and thorough investigation. The person who is responsible for this horrible crime must face justice and must face the full force of the law.
Leave to remain handed out by Home Office 'like Smarties', Farage claims
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has claimed that leave to remain is handed out by the Home Office “like Smarties”.
Speaking to journalists on a visit to Grangemouth in Scotland, and referring to the revelation that Police Service of Northern Ireland said they understood the suspect in the Belfast knife attack had leave to remain (see 2.47pm), Farage said:
I mean, it’s absolutely shocking, barbaric, ghastly.
We know that he’s Sudanese. No 10 are refusing to say whether he came here illegally, which I think tells us probably all we need to know.
He was given leave to remain, as almost all these people are. We dish out leave to remain like Smarties to people about whom we know nothing, and some of whom cause great harm in our country. Frankly, these people shouldn’t be here. It’s as simple as that.
UPDATE: The headline, and the first paragraph, have been changed because initially they wrongly said “indefinite leave to remain”, when it should have been leave to remain. I’m sorry for the error.
Updated
Rhun ap Iorwerth says Plaid will work with Greens to stop Wales being last nation in Britain allowing no-fault evictions
Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Welsh first minister, has said the country is “lagging behind” England on protections for renters, who are still at risk of no fault evictions.
Speaking at first minister’s questions in Cardiff, ap Iorwerth said he hoped to work alongside the Welsh Greens to increase protections for tenants in Wales.
The Renters Rights Act came into force in May and ended the power for landlords to turf out tenants without a legal reason in England.
Wales is now the only nation in Great Britain where private landlords have the power to evict tenants without giving a reason.
At FMQs Anthony Slaughter, the leader of the Welsh Greens, said:
In your manifesto you promised to protect renters – what is the government’s plan to move at pace to end no fault evictions and stop rents escalating through bidding wars?
Ap Iorwerth said:
It is the truth now that we are lagging behind England when it comes to protection for renters, and that’s something that we will move at pace to put right.
He said Plaid Cymru wanted to work “in partnership” with the Greens on this.
Updated
Rupert Lowe, the Restore Britain MP, says he has tabled a Commons early day motion demanding the release of information about the immigration history, religion, and asylum record of the suspect in the Belfast stabbing.
And Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, says his party has already announced a ban on giving visas to people from Sudan.
Badenoch accused of 'not being honest' about impact of axing public sector equality duty
Here is some more response to Kemi Badenoch’s pledge this morning to get rid of the public sector equality duty.
This is from Andrea Egan, general secretary of Unison, the largest public sector union.
Our rights and equalities protections are there to defend ordinary working class people – those who run our public services and rely on them.
The Tories and Reform want to roll it all back to divide and exploit us.
We won’t let them.
This is from Akiko Hart, director of the human rights campaign group Liberty.
The UK’s human rights laws underpin our daily lives by protecting us from discrimination because of who we are, who we love, or what we believe in.
Those calling to weaken or scrap important safeguards like the public sector equality duty, a vital part of the Equality Act, are not being honest with the public about what they stand to lose. The duty allows everyone the opportunity to fully participate in society, and not be held back just because of who they are. It means that you don’t lose out at work, at school, or elsewhere just because you are disabled, pregnant or a woman. The duty is an essential safety net which not only compels public bodies to respect our rights, but also enables us to seek justice when they get things wrong.
And this is from MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development), a group that encourages Muslims to be more active in public life. It says:
Kemi Badenoch says the Equality Act should be “a shield to protect you from discrimination, not a sword for social engineering.” But the duty she wants to scrap is exactly what makes that shield work. It requires public bodies to consider who their decisions might harm before they act. Remove the duty and you take the shield away.
This is also a remarkable reversal from Badenoch, who in December 2023 when minister for women and equalities, wrote to every public authority instructing them to comply with this very duty, and stated that there is no hierarchy of rights because every person holds a protected characteristic. Either she was wrong then, or she is being opportunistic now.
The duty imposes no quotas and dictates no outcomes. It simply requires public bodies to think about who might be left behind. It is why a council must weigh the impact on an elderly resident before scrapping the bus route she depends on. It is the duty the Home Office was found to have breached over Windrush in 2020 – and the one the High Court used to quash an unlawful Windrush decision in 2024, twice holding Badenoch’s own party to account.
Strip it away and every community – Muslims, disabled people, older people, women and others – is left exposed to institutional bias that no public body is required even to consider. When the powerful are freed from the duty to think before they act, it is always the quietest voices who pay first.
Northern Ireland party leaders release joint statement condemning Belfast knife attack
The leaders of all the main parties in Northern Ireland have released a joint statement about the Belfast knife attack. They say:
As leaders of Northern Ireland’s main political parties, we are united in our condemnation of the horrific incident in North Belfast last night.
There is no place in our society for this kind of brutality. Our immediate thoughts are with the victim and his family, and we hope he makes a full and complete recovery.
Our thoughts are also with those eyewitnesses to the incident, as well as those brave members of the public who intervened.
We recognise the distress and fear this incident will cause within the local community. We urge people not to share the deeply disturbing images or videos, as their graphic nature would only serve to retraumatise those involved.
We support the Police Service of Northern Ireland in their ongoing investigation and urge anyone with information, or relevant footage, to assist them. It is essential that the facts are established through proper investigation and due process.
We are committed to ensuring that violence and hatred in any form will not be allowed to divide our communities. We call for calm and for space to allow justice to take its course.
The statement is signed by Michelle O’Neill from Sinn Féin, Naomi Long from the Alliance party, Gavin Robinson from the DUP, Jon Burrows from the UUP and Claire Hanna from the SDLP.
PSNI appeals for calm, amid fears protests planned in response to knife attack could lead to disorder
Henderson also appealed for calm at the press conference. He said:
We’re also aware of calls this evening for protest activity across Northern Ireland, and continue to monitor that situation accordingly.
I understand that last night’s attempted murder will leave people feeling a range of emotions from fear to anger.
Our officers have a role to facilitate and accommodate peaceful protest.
But Henderson also said the police did not want to see a repeat of the sort of disorder seen on previous occasions.
No one needs to see a repeat of this. This only causes damage to the community, and unfortunately, young people often get caught up in that disorder, so I appeal for calm and the safety of all of our communities in response to this.
All of our focus must be on a criminal justice investigation.
PSNI says it understands knife suspect had been given leave to remain in UK
Henderson said he thought the knife attack suspect had been given leave to remain in the UK after arriving via Dublin. He said:
My understanding is that the individual came into Northern Ireland from Dublin, moving up, and then was granted leave to remain.
He said the Home Office “will be confirming that in more detail in due course”.
At the press conference Ryan Henderson, the PSNI’s assistant chief constable, said the victim of the knife attack in Belfast suffered significant injuries to his eyes and serious slash wounds to his back and face after being attacked with a kitchen knife.
As the Press Association reports, Henderson said detectives arrested a man, now thought to be Sudanese and aged in his 30s, on suspicion of attempted murder, and are not looking for anyone else. He said:
I share the public revulsion over the brutal nature of this attack, which has created concern not only here in Northern Ireland, but much further afield, and I understand also that there will be questions regarding the nature of the attack.
Updated
PSNI says no evidence to suggest Belfast knife attack terror-related
Henderson told reporters at the PSNI press conference that that there was no evidence of a terrorist aspect to last night’s knife attack. He said:
Throughout today we’ve been liaising senior counterterrorism partners.
At this stage, we have no information to suggest that this was a terrorist-related incident.
However, I must stress, I must stress, we are still at the early stages of our investigation.
PSNI says Sudanese suspect in Belfast knife attacked entered UK from Dublin
The Sudanese suspect in a knife attack in Belfast entered the UK from Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.
The information came out as Ryan Henderson, the PSNI’s assistant chief constable, held a press conference.
I will post more details from it shortly.
Reform UK would lead 'most pro-women government in British history', Suella Braverman claims
Reform UK issued its response to Kemi Badenoch’s speech last night, on the basis of the CCHQ advance briefing. It came in the form of a statement from Suella Braverman, the former Tory home secretary who is now Reform’s equalities spokesperson. She claimed Nigel Farage would led “the most pro-woman government in British history”.
She said:
The Tories are offering a sticking plaster when the whole rotten system needs replacing. Scrapping one duty [the public sector equality duty] while leaving the rest of Blair’s identity politics framework untouched will do nothing to restore common sense, protect women’s rights, or end the culture of state-sponsored discrimination.
Only Reform UK is prepared to replace this failed model out at the root. We will restore equality before the law, protect single-sex spaces, uphold biological reality, and ensure women and girls are never again forced to surrender their rights to ideological dogma.
A Reform government will be the most pro-women government in British history. We will strengthen maternity protections, defend female-only spaces, protect women’s sport, tackle violence against women and girls, and put the interests of ordinary women back at the heart of public policy.
This is quite a claim. And if Farage really does intend to lead the most pro-women government in Britain, he has been remarkably bad at making this case to the nation’s women. As this recent British Social Attitudes report says, there is a 9-point gap between the proportion of women backing the party (19%) and the proportion of men who back it (28%). Among under-35s, the gap is even bigger – at 13 points.
The gender gap is even larger than it was at the time of the Brexit referendum in 2016, when Farage’s leave side had a 5-point lead with men, and even larger than at the 2024 election, when Reform UK had a 6-point lead with men.
The gender bias in the Reform UK vote may be linked to the fact that women are poorly represented at the top of the party. In 2024, when five Reform UK MPs were elected, 0% of them were women. The equivalent figure for the Conservatives was 24%, for the Lib Dems 44% and for Labour 46%. There are now eight Reform UK MPs, and two of them are women, meaning they are now on a par with the Tories.
Updated
TUC accuses Badenoch of wanting to 'legalise discrimination' with her Equality Act overhaul
The TUC has accused Kemi Badenoch of wanting to “legalise discrimination”.
In a statement responding to her speech this morning. about getting rid of the public sector equality duty, Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said:
Make no mistake – Kemi Badenoch wants to legalise discrimination.
This proposal would give a future Tory government a free hand to harm your life chances if you’re a woman, gay, black, disabled, or working class.
The Conservatives’ austerity policies tore apart the social fabric of this country, pitting communities against one another. Now, they want to double down, sowing seeds of division between working people once again.
Working people are sick and tired of this kind of politics. We need to tear down the structural barriers holding communities back, not the handful of laws protecting them.
Updated
White House urges UK not to ban social media for under-16s
The White House has urged the UK not to impose a social media ban for under-16s, saying such restrictions could impose a “disproportionate” burden on US tech firms, Dan Milmo reports.
Richard Tice (Reform UK) asked Benn if he would return to the Commons later today to give a further statement about the suspect.
Benn said he would report to MPs “in an appropriate form as soon as I am able to do so”.
Shockat Adam (Ind) asked Benn if he agreed “crime and heroes come in all different hues and colours”. Benn said all MPs should appeal for calm.
Benn says Belfast attack should not lead to members from accused's community being attacked
Ayoub Khan (Ind) asked Benn if he agreed “we must not let the heinous actions of one person be taken as an opportunity to taint an entire community”.
Benn said he agreed. He went on:
When I think back to those who were attacked in the wake of the terrible events in Southport and then in Ballymena, we know that in Northern Ireland certain individuals were attacked who had nothing to do with any of this simply because of the colour of their skin. And that is not what this country is about.
Identify an attacker, due process in due course after investigation.
Do not cast aspersions on a whole community. Many people from all backgrounds bring so much to our national life.
Carla Lockhart (DUP) said people in Northern Ireland were very concerned about uncontrolled immigration. She asked how many people there were in Northern Ireland of the same nationality as the accused.
Benn said the facts would be provided in due course once they were checked.
Lee Anderson (Reform UK) asked if the accused entered the UK as an asylum seeker?
Benn said, until he had had that confirmed, he could not say. But the PSNI was leading on this, he said.
Benn says initial report about nationality of accused now seems to be wrong
Julian Lewis (Con) said he was “baffled” why Benn was not willing to tell MPs whether the accused entered with UK illegally, or on a visa. He went on:
This information will come out sooner or later. And what we have learnt from similar terrible incidents like this is the longer it is withheld, the worse the rumour mill goes into action.
Benn said it was important for the police to be certain of the facts before they released them. He went on:
The police originally said they believed him to be of one nationality, it may well turn out that he is in fact of another nationality, which does demonstrate the point I’m trying to put to the house that it is important that the police lead on that, so that the full facts can come out.
Benn challenges TUV MP Jim Allister over his claim 'alien culture' factor in attack
Jim Allister (TUV) said:
What I want to know and what I know, my constituents want to hear, is what will be done to stop the importation of an alien culture that thinks is appropriate to try and behead someone?
He said he wanted to know if the accused was in the UK with a visa, or illegally.
MPs should not have to wait for a statement from the chief constable, he said.
He said truth and transparency would be “the greatest antidote to rising tensions”.
In response, Benn said he did not accept Allister’s use of the term “alien culture”. He said the British people had had enough of violence whatever the background of the people committing it.
And he said it was for the police to be in charge of the release of information because tit was a live investigation.
Jim Shannon (DUP) asked for an assurance that the right to protest would be upheld.
Benn said he supported the right to protest. But he said at the moment “the last thing people should be doing is stretching their resources across Northern Ireland to deal with protests that aren’t going to help anyone”.
Speaking for the Conservative party, Matt Vickers, a shadow minister, said it was vital that the facts were established. He said it has been reported that the attacker was a foreign national. He asked Benn to confirm his immigration status.
He went on:
It is urgent the facts are put on the public record to avoid speculation and prevent an information vacuum, which the independent reviewer of terror legislation has warned about.
If there has been failings on our borders, this is yet another reminder that we do need stronger borders. And this is why we believe it is time to leave the ECHR [European convention on human rights].
Benn said the Police Service of Northern Ireland would be holding a press conference (around now).
He said information would be released, but in line with the proper procedure.
Benn declines to comment on identity or immigration status of suspect in Belfast attack
In his response to Robinson (see 1.01pm), Benn did not comment on the identity or immigration status of the accused – but he defended the government’s immigration record.
He said:
Any foreign national who abuses the hospitality of this country to commit crimes should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. We need to allow the criminal justice process to take place.
On [Robinson’s] question about net migration, as he will know, it is now down 82% from the peak reached under the previous government.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson says accused was in Belfast on visa and must be 'convicted and deported'
Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader who tabled the UQ, said the attack last night was “chilling”. He said it involved “the systematic mutilation and attempted slaughter of a citizen of Belfast on our streets”.
Robinson praised the person who intervened to help the victim armed just with a hurling stick.
He went on:
What occurred last night will have profound implications for community cohesion in this country. This needs to be a time for honesty and openness and truth.
Will [Benn] confirm that he and his government recognise that uncontrolled immigration needs to end here?
Will he confirm that the government needs to reassure and protect our population, who for too long have had their concerns ignored.
Robinson also said he backed the chief constable’s appeal for calm. He went on:
Will [Benn] confirm that the actions last night in no way reflect or represent the values of our nation, that the victim belongs in Belfast, but the attacker does not?
Having abused the privilege of our nation, the perpetrator living in the UK under a five-year visa needs to be convicted and deported – on the first flight out on a one way ticket.
Updated
Hilary Benn urges calm in statement to MPs about 'horrific' attack in Belfast, and asks people not to repost video footage
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, is responding to the UQ. (See 12.43pm.)
He says:
Shortly after 10.30pm last night a man in his 40s was subjected to an horrific, sustained knife attack in a street in north Belfast.
He is in hospital in a serious condition, having suffered very severe injuries.
I know the thoughts of the whole house would be with him and his loved ones at what must be a time of unimaginable distress.
The response from the Police Service of Northern Ireland was immediate.
A man in his 30s was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He remains in police custody and the PSNI are continuing to investigate. They have declared it a critical incident.
Benn goes on to praise the way some people responded to the attack.
But amidst the horror of what happened we also saw something extraordinary when confronted with scenes of terrifying violence.
Members of the public did not walk on by.
Instead, a number of them stepped forward and at immense risk to their own safety.
They intervened to pull the assailant away and protect the victim until the police arrived.
To those individuals I would like to say this. You showed the very best of humanity, and you have the profound gratitude of this entire house.
Benn ends with advice from the police.
This was a horrific and brutal attack. And the PSNI are seeking to provide support and reassurance to the local community.
The chief constable, to whom I have spoken twice this morning, and his officers have our full, unwavering support as they pursue their enquiries.
I would also like to repeat their appeal not to share or repost footage of the attack out of respect for the victim’s family.
I echo the words of the prime minister this morning that there is no place for such violence on our streets. All of us have a responsibility now to urge calm and let the police do their job.
A Northern Ireland minister is due to respond to an urgent question in the Commons shortly about the stabbing in Northern Ireland.
Here is our story on it, by Rory Carroll and Vikram Dodd.
Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader, has tabled the question.
Badenoch says her thinking about identity politics partly influenced by having mixed-race children
Q: You said in an interview recently that identity politics could lead to civil war. What did you mean by that?
Badenoch said she was not saying the UK is on the cusp of civil war now. Instead she was warning about what might happen in the future, she said.
When you look at countries that have had civil wars, it is always, almost always, around identity.
She said her views on these issues were influenced by her children.
I think about my children when I think about these policies.
They are half black and half white, and I want them to feel that they can be both, that they don’t need to choose, that no one is going to be judging them, because they look like their mother or their father, but they will be judging them as individuals.
And that is the principle that I think all of us, whatever our political views, must share.
Q: Do you think people who run staff networks in the civil service, like groups for minority ethnic staff (see 12pm), should be allowed time off for those activities, or access to facilities?
Badenoch said her experience of staff networks in the civil service was that they were run by people “furthering their own personal careers at the expense of other civil servants”.
They should not be supported with taxpayers’ money, she said.
Q: Does the entire Conservative party agree with you on this?
Badenoch said she had been very clear about the direction the Tory party was going in. She went on:
I said that we’re signing a contract about the agenda we’re taking into government, because I want everybody to understand what it is we’re going to deliver.
If there is a Conservative, MP who does not believe in equality under the law or wants different treatments for different groups on the basis of skin colour or protected characteristics, then they are probably are not a Conservative MP.
Q; What is your response to the Telegraph story today about a secret report saying the last government wasted £28bn?
The report, by Rozina Sabur, says:
Terrorists, hostile states and gangsters have been given more than £28bn of taxpayers’ money, including through aid payments, according to a secret government report.
The Telegraph can reveal details of a dossier showing that billions of pounds went to organised crime, with millions going to Russia and Islamic State.
It demonstrates that foreign aid and Covid relief loans were appropriated on a vast scale by Britain’s enemies, with the money beyond reach and those who took it unpunished.
More than £28bn ended up in the hands of those wishing to harm Britain between 2015 and 2021, according to the report, which was commissioned and produced by the Cabinet Office but was buried during the previous government.
Badenoch said she thought the government should always be wary of giving away large amounts of money in grants.
But she claimed this story was related to the topic of her press conference. She said she was a Treasury minister at the time of Covid. And the Treasury was under a lot of pressure to ensure that ethnic minority businesses were getting full access to Covid bounceback loans, she said.
Badenoch says she agrees with Idris Elba having 'woke James Bond would 'ruin entire franchise'
Q: Idris Elba says audiences do not want to see a black actor playing James Bond. Would you like to see someone from a different background playing 007?
Badenoch replied:
I agree with Idris Elba that we should not make James Bond woke because that will ruin the entire franchise.
But Badenoch said that was a decision for the people who make the films. And audiences would deliver their verdict. She believed in capitalism, she said, and that was how it worked.
Q: It is almost 10 years since Theresa May gave her ‘burning injustices’ speech when she became PM. She said: “If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white.” Do you think those injustices have been tackled?
Badenoch said she wishes May had spoken to her before the speech, because she would have encouraged her to frame it differently.
I do believe that everyone suffers injustice; it doesn’t matter the colour of your skin.
I do think that if you are an ethnic minority, or any kind of minority, it is the fact of being in a minority that means that you are probably more likely to experience something that the majority group does not, whatever minority you are. That is a fact.
That is why we have an Equality Act. That is why those laws are there to prevent discrimination.
But when you have public bodies then going beyond preventing discrimination to achieve outcomes, try and do something different, and accept any mention of racism as true without examining the facts, that is a problem.
Badenoch says identity-based staff networks in police, and public organisations, should not have say over policy
Q: Are you opposed to the police and other public sector organisations allowing staff to set up and run groups for staff members from different minority ethnic groups?
Badenoch said she did not like groups like this. But she believed in freedom of association. She went on:
If you are black police officers and you want to hang out together and go to the pub, or play tennis, that’s fine.
But should you organise within the police and start changing policy on the basis of your race? No.
And the way I know that that is not the right answer is because if you swap the races and if you had the White Police Officers Association and said that they should start making policy for white people in the police, I think everyone would be up in arms ..
I don’t think those identity networks in the civil service, or the police, should have any say in public policy or how those organisations are run.
Q: Do you think Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, was right to stop the Met police signing a contract with Palantir? What do you think of that?
Badenoch agreed that was an example of Khan putting ideology ahead of the need to focus on getting results.
Q: Do you think subjecting more black boys to stop and search could inflame tensions?
Badenoch dismissed this concern. She said:
Some people who will feel uncomfortable. But the truth is that, when black boys are searched, more knives are found. The incidence of knife carrying is higher.
So we can’t leave people to carry knives because we think that we’ve we searched enough people for today because that means someone else’s life gets lost.
And the people who tell me more than anyone that they want to stop and search are the mothers of young black boys who have been killed by their peers …
I’m not going to run away from an outcry and allow other people’s children to be killed, just so I can have a quiet life. That is not fair.
Updated
Q: Have you got plans to go further in changing equality law, or is it just this?
Badenoch said she had been looking at this for years and there was “a lot that needs to be done”. She said her party was also looking at how this applied in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland because those countries were all run by parties that want to break up the UK.
She said she wanted to stop “lawfare” in a range of areas.
Badenoch accuses police leaders of wrongly accepted their officers institutionally racist
Q: Do you think the police can be trusted to deal with racially-charged outcomes?
Badenoch replied:
I do think that most frontline police officers are good people.
I think a lot of the issues have actually been with the senior police chiefs.
They were the ones who I spoke to, and they were the ones who told me, ‘Come on, you don’t understand. We really are institutionally racist’, and then could not explain exactly how they were.
Badenoch said this was not an anti-police speech.
This is not an anti-police speech. It’s actually pro-police because I want to free them to be able to do their jobs without worrying about box ticking or compliance on issues that are not core to the function of saving lives and catching criminals.
Updated
Badenoch claims public sector equality duty 'creating inequality of outcomes'
Q; Are you giving up on trying to reduce inequality of outcomes?
Badenoch claimed that the public sector equality duty was “creating inequality of outcomes”. And it was destroying trust in institutions, she said.
Q: What is your response to the attack in Northern Ireland? A Somalian man has now been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder?
Badenoch replied:
I’m absolutely horrified. It is a horrific incident. I haven’t heard anything about who the, attacker might have been, but I think a lot of people will start wondering yet again, is this someone who should not have been in our country? Have there been failings around our borders? I would urge the police to bring the facts out as quickly as possible so that we can get some clarity.
Q: What do you say to people who argue that, if the requirement to think people may need to be treated differently is not in law, people might not do it? And did you ever propose getting rid of the public sector equality duty when you were in government?
On her message to people who think the law is needed, Badenoch said:
I would say to those people that the Equality Act protects your rights, but we need to make sure that we do not create a society where people retreat into groups.
We are seeing separatism in our country occur because different people are being treated differently. And when you have that, there will be a backlash.
And, on her time in government, she said she did not propose getting rid of the public sector equality duty. But, having written “thousands of letters” about how the Equality Act should be applied, “I’ve decided that people just need to have this public sector equality duty removed because when I try to get them to think more carefully and sensibly about it, they ignored it.”
Q: Do you accept the principle that some people need to be treated differently?
Badenoch replied:
Do I believe that people need to be treated differently in certain circumstances? Yes. But the principle remains the same, that we are equal under the law …
Badenoch said '“common sense” was the solution.
Of course, there are incidents of racism, but you don’t need to ask the police to accept as a fact anyone saying this is racist, irrespective of what is in front of them, irrespective of the circumstances … That’s what I’m saying. Let’s bring equal treatment back.
Badenoch is now taking media questions.
Q: Doesn’t it make sense for public sector workers to take things like disability into account when dealing with people? You will take away that requirement.
Badenoch said she was bringing back common sense.
You don’t need a duty to tell you to take account of differences. Quite often differences are obvious. We don’t need the protected characteristic of age and the public sector equality duty to tell us not to treat children in the same way that we treat adults.
What is happening is that people have stopped thinking and are just trying to follow the process, so they don’t get into trouble. I want people to bring their judgement back.
Badenoch says public service workers do not need equality law to get them to treat people fairly
Badenoch said people did not need the public sector equality duty to act properly in public services.
I have trust in people. I don’t believe the public service is full of lots of racists and people who don’t care about disability, and unless they’re giving this box to tick, they’re not going to do that. I don’t believe that. And we should stop enshrining that belief.
I say this listening to other ethnic minorities, especially young people – it makes them feel that every white person is racist and it’s only the law that is protecting them. That is not what our country is.
We need to change the culture. We need to sweep all of this stuff away …
The law of diminishing returns is applying to these regulations. We need to get back to the core function of public services – frontline delivery.
Updated
Badenoch dismisses claims savings from getting rid of public sector equality duty would be minimal
Badenoch is now taking questions.
The first come from Hannah White, head of the IfG.
Q: How will scrapping the public sector equality duty lead to better services in areas like health?
Badenoch said this would stop “officials from wasting their time on a lot of things that have nothing to do with delivering frontline services”.
White said public spending on EDI initiatives was actually very small.
Badenoch said the second, third, fourth order consequences of the way the people are carrying out their jobs [in line with equality law] is wasting a lot of time and money”.
She said the Tories had estimated the cost of this at £420m.
But the consquences went further, she said.
If you look at the actions and the loss of trust, this is costing us billions. We need to get people focussed on delivering their core functions.
Badenoch said that the Conservatives wanted more use of stop and search.
And the reason why we want to triple stop and search and hire 10,000 more police officers is because we believe that this will lead to safer streets.
I’m afraid it doesn’t matter if more black boys are searched because it will mean more black lives are saved.
Badenoch said confidence in the police was collapsing.
Confidence in our institutions is now collapsing and how could it not?
When people can see, as we do in my own constituency, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities breaking laws that no one else would get away with,\
When rapists are being put in women’s prisons because the justice system prioritises the protected characteristic of gender reassignment over women’s privacy, dignity and safety.
When people see pro-Palestinian marchers chanting slogans that others would be sent to jail for tweeting.
Yes, people will believe in two tier policing when they see this.
Common sense has gone out of the window and people are left wondering which rules apply to whom.
Badenoch said fear of being seen as racist led to a box ticking culture.
These institutions stopped worrying about getting the law wrong and worried desperately about a career ending accusation of racism.
The safest path for them to avoid this accusation was not common sense or the facts in front of them. It was to follow the process.
So people replaced thinking with box ticking. They outsourced decision making to activists and left wing pressure groups.
Badenoch said the Nottingham killings, the Southport attack and the Henry Nowak case were all different, but they showed “a common weakness” in the system.
Authorities conditioned to see minority status as victimhood.
They withhold information, they avoid difficult conversations, and they allow reputational concerns to dominate their decision making.
They have spent so long worrying about institutional racism that they have become institutionally incompetent.
They are systematically failing to fulfil their role to do what they are there to do.
Badenoch says fear of being accused of racism is leading to authorities not intervening early to prevent crime
Badenoch said the fear of being accused of racism was leading to the authorities not acting early in a way that would prevent crime.
What do the Nottingham murders, the Southport attack, the Manchester Arena bombings and the rape gangs all have in common? All these crimes could have been stopped if people had intervened instead of having a fear of being called racist.
We would not have had so many girls abused by rape gangs if local authorities had not looked away because they were too scared to point out the obvious. That’s why those unspeakable crimes went on for years.
Badenoch said, after the murder of Stephen Lawrence, it was right that people wanted to ensure this did not happen again.
It led to the Macpherson report, she said.
[It] wanted to put right what went wrong with policing in the 1990s.
However, in attempting to do so, it also enshrined a principle which I believe is wrong that a racist incident is racist if it is perceived as racist by the victim or any other person.
This may have made sense in a different context long ago, but today, when we look at the response to Henry Novak’s murder and the police’s acceptance that the murderer was correct when he accused Henry of racism, it is clear that mere accusations are being accepted as facts.
The Macpherson report led in 2001 to the race equality duty, which then morphed in the Equality Act to the public sector equality duty, which is what I’m talking about today, covering everything from race to sex to sexuality and much more.
Badenoch says she is opposed to people being treated differently on basis of identity groups
Badenoch says the idea that people should be treated equally under the law is “a value so deeply ingrained in our culture that most people in Britain accepted as a self-evident truth”.
But activists have been telling the police “to treat people differently on the basis of identity groups, eroding a centuries old principle principle that has made Britain the amazing country”.
She goes on:
Equality law, properly designed, should protect us all in the same way. It should be a shield, not a sword.
It should protect people from discrimination. It should protect people from being treated differently because of their race, sex, religion, sexuality, disability or age.
This understanding and this principle are being perverted. Treating people equally fairly will not deliver equality of outcome because sometimes a difference in outcome is fair.
She says, having lived on three continents, she thinks Britain is the least racist country on earth.
Badenoch claims police who arrested Henry Nowak influenced by guidance saying hate crimes should be treated as priority
Kemi Badenoch starts by talking about the video filmed by the police as they arrested Henry Nowak.
She says it was hard to watch because she “found myself willing the police to stop, to at least consider Henry’s story and check if he had been stabbed”.
She says she met Nowak’s family last week. They do not want this case to be used to divide people.
She goes on:
They want the police to become an institution that we can trust again.
And if we want to honour that wish to honour Henry’s memory, we need to ask the right question.
I believe that question is why did the police take an accusation of racism more seriously than the claim that Henry had been stabbed?
This question goes beyond policing.
Why are public bodies so unable to act with common sense when race or identity is involved?
Why are they so distracted, busying themselves with things that have nothing to do with their core function?
Badenoch says the speech she is giving today is the basis of work she has been doing for months on equality law. Some of what she says will be “very uncomfortable” for some people.
She goes on:
In some ways I feel for those police officers because they were following guidance. They have been trained on guidance which does not apply equality under the law. Guidance which says hate crimes should be treated as a priority. Many people don’t know what is in this guidance and that is why it needs to be exposed.
UPDATE: As explained earlier (see 9.20am), the judge who presided over the trial of Nowak’s killer did not endorse this theory in his summing up.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch is about to give her speech.
She is at the Institute for Goverment, and was introduced by Hannah White, the IfG’s COE.
Unions rebuff Farage and say Reform ‘cosplaying’ as workers’ champions
Major trade unions and the TUC have rebuffed Nigel Farage’s call for unions to affiliate to Reform UK, saying the party is “cosplaying” as workers’ champions and has opposed new employment rights, Jessica Elgot reports.
Starmer condemns 'horrific' attack in Belfast, as Tories and Reform UK ask for 'facts' about accused to be disclosed
There has been a brutal stabbing in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a place with a long history of violence – even though the Troubles are long over, paramilitary-style assaults still happen quite regularly – but this attack was particularly vicious and it is getting a lot of attention this morning in part because pictures are circulating which appear to show the attacker was not white.
Rightwing politicians are saying the police should give details of his identity as soon as possible.
This is from Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader.
What happened in Belfast last night is horrific.
The authorities must reveal the identity and status of the attacker immediately.
The public are entitled to the truth.
Rupert Lowe, the Restore Britain leader, has issued this statement.
And Alex Burghart, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, has issued this statement on behalf of the Conservative party.
Last night there was an appalling and brutal attack in North Belfast – which was met by extraordinary bravery by some local people.
The police have made an arrest and it is vital that they are able to do their job.
Residents should be told the facts of the case as soon as possible.
In response to the concern, Keir Starmer has issued this statement.
The horrific attack in Belfast last night is sickening.
I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.
My thoughts are first and foremost with the victim, and I thank the first responders, including members of the public who intervened.
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Why Badenoch says she wants to get rid of public sector equality duty
Here is an extract, released by CCHQ overnight, from the speech Kemi Badenoch is giving this morning. In it, she explains why she wants to get rid of the public sector equality duty.
There are so many problems [in equalities legislation] to fix. Many of them are currently as a result of the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act.
It is a duty that is subjective ... with no clear rules ... and whatever its intention ... in practice, it has become a minefield that exposes almost every significant public decision to legal challenge.
A court recently found that prison officials had breached their duty because their separation of prisoners was disproportionately affecting Muslims convicted of Islamic terrorism.
These terrorists could now be eligible for compensation.
This is madness.
This duty is compromising security decisions ... like isolating dangerous criminals ... in case the terrorists call us racists.
Far from equal outcomes ... this duty is leading to ludicrous outcomes ...
Like the Norfolk constabulary telling a job applicant that because of her ‘gender critical’ views [biological sex is real!] ... she would not be ‘suitable’.
The public sector equality duty has turned equality into a zero-sum game where some groups are preferred over others.
And the more public bodies chase equality of outcome ... the further they move from equal treatment ... and equality under the law.
That’s why I can announce today that a Conservative government will repeal the public sector equality duty in its entirety.
This is not a universal view. As Ben Quinn reports, Mary-Ann Stephenson, the newish chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, wrote her PhD thesis on the PSED and has argued that evidence largely suggests it has positive impact on equality practice in public authorities.
What is the public sector equality duty?
Here is a description of the public sector equality duty from guidance issued by the government to local authorities.
The duty is a statutory duty on listed public authorities and other bodies carrying out public functions. It ensures that those organisations consider how their functions will affect people with different protected characteristics. These functions include their policies, programmes, and services. The duty supports good decision-making by helping decision-makers understand how their activities affect different people. It also requires public bodies to monitor the actual impact of the things they do. For example, to keep under review how different groups of pupils are performing at school and to identify and take action if some pupils with protected characteristics need more support than others.
Reform UK defends its town hall Ukrainian flag bans in response to criticism from Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”. The Ukrainian president made the comment in an interview with Pippa Crerar and Luke Harding.
In response, Reform UK has defended the flag policy being adopted by some Reform-led councils, saying not flying the Ukrainian flag does not mean the party is not supporting Kyiv in its fight against Russia.
Asked on Newsnight last night if she agreed with Zelenskyy, Laila Cunningham, Reform’s candidate for London mayor, replied:
No, I think we should only have British flags.
Asked why, she replied:
Because we’re a British country. We can’t have flags [for all conflicts]. We’re a British country and our public buildings should have the British flag.
It doesn’t mean that we don’t support Ukraine, in any way.
Labour accuses Badenoch of wanting to ‘turn clock back’ with plan to scrap public sector equality duty
Good morning. For the last week or so much of the media has been dominated by a debate triggered by the murder of Henry Nowak, and claims that video footage of the police handcuffing him as he was dying showed that the police cared more about an accusation of racism than they did about a stabbing. The judge who presided over the trial of Nowak’s killer did not accept this allegation at all – in fact, he defended the police officers involved – but the lack of any evidence to back up this theory has not stopped it being spouted widely, by rightwing politicians and by media organisations that support them.
This morning, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, is giving a speech in part responding to this debate. Reform UK and Restore Britain have been more forceful than the Tories in claiming (despite all the evidence suggesting the opposite) that the police in the UK are biased against white people. But the Tories have leant into this too, and in her interview on the Today programme this morning Badenoch presented her version of this claim. She said:
The public sector equality duty is having the worst impact, I believe, when it comes to the police.
The Henry Nowak murder has shocked the entire country.
If you look at the police response, their inability to take a stabbing, or an allegation of a stabbing, more seriously than an allegation of racism I think is rooted in the Equality Act and in that principle that if someone says something is racist, then it should be accepted as fact.
In her speech today Badenoch is calling for the public sector equality duty to be scrapped, as part of an overhaul of the Equality Act. Ben Quinn has a preview of the speech here.
We will be covering it in detail this morning.
A lot of the response to the Nowak murder has been wholly opportunist, but that charge does not apply to Badenoch because she has a long record of wanting to roll back equality legislation. As equalities minister in the last government, she was the person who presented the Sewell report to parliament, a highly controversial document downplaying the existence of structural or institutional racism. Experts rubbished the report’s findings, and even in the Conservative party not everyone agreed. But, for Badenoch, it reflected her core belief that identity politics has gone too far. This morning’s speech is an extension of ideas she has been developing for years.
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, was on the interview round for the government this morning. She said getting rid of the public sector equality duty would “turn the clock back”. She told Sky News:
What [Badenoch is] saying is she wants to repeal a duty which stops pregnant women being sacked, women on maternity leave being sacked, which prevents discrimination against disabled people, which prevents discrimination on age grounds. You know, people thinking, ‘Oh, you’re too old for this job, despite all of your experience’.
That’s not common-sense middle ground. It’s turning the clock back to the past.
So, she needs to spell out which elements of that she’s going to withdraw, which I think are really, really important.
Because, look, our public services and our companies need to draw on all of the talents of the British people if they’re going to succeed, that is what the public sector equality duty is all about.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
10am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech on Conservative plans to overhaul the Equality Act.
Morning: David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy PM, is unveiling plans to use AI in courts.
11.30am: James Murray, the new health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Mary-Ann Stephenson, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Committee, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee.
3.15pm: Alex Norris, the minister for border security and asylum, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about asylum accommodation.
3.30pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, gives a speech to the GMB conference.
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