A summary of today's developments
Rishi Sunak’s proposal to ban young people from ever being able to legally smoke tobacco has cleared its first Commons hurdle, despite a swathe of Conservative MPs voting against it. MPs voted 383 to 67, majority 316, to give the Tobacco and Vapes Bill a second reading.
The division list showed 57 Conservative MPs were among those who voted against giving the Bill a second reading. Among them were former home secretary Suella Braverman, business secretary Kemi Badenoch, former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick, former prime minister Liz Truss, and former housing secretary Sir Simon Clarke. Several serving ministers were also among those voting against, including Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, culture minister Julia Lopez, and communities minister Lee Rowley.
Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan has been given a fresh beating by peers, amid a continuing stand-off over the controversial policy. Despite MPs overturning previous changes by the House of Lords, the unelected chamber again pressed demands for revisions to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The latest government setbacks mean a continuation of wrangling at Westminster over the proposed law that aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali. However, the margin of the defeats was narrowed as the Tory administration drafted in rarely seen peers to bolster numbers.
Rishi Sunak warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against “further significant escalation” in Tel Aviv’s response to Iran’s attack. He tweeted: “Earlier today I spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu and reiterated our support for Israel’s security following Iran’s reckless attack at the weekend. “Further significant escalation will only deepen instability in the region. “This is a moment for calm heads to prevail.”
David Cameron has defended the United Nations after Liz Truss said she cannot see the purpose for it. In an interview with the BBC promoting her new book, Truss said: “I can’t see a purpose for the UN as it stands. At present it has been very ineffective at dealing with international situations, in fact positively damaging, for example, on Israel.” Cameron, the foreign secretary and who as PM was responsible for giving Truss her first cabinet job, was asked if he agreed. He replied: “I take the view that the United Nations has many problems and issues and the frustrations of dealing with the Security Council at the moment, when you’ve got a Russian veto and a Chinese veto, these frustrations are very great.”
Downing Street described the decision by Belgian police to shut down the National Conservatism conference as “extremely disturbing”.
Updated
The public health minister Dame Andrea Leadsom told Sky News: “The vast majority of Conservative colleagues are supporting it or abstaining on it, seeing how the bill progresses.”
She added that the bill was “absolutely not finger-wagging control freakery”, saying: “Once you’re addicted to nicotine, your freedom of choice is completely gone.”
“A freedom-loving, choice-loving individual would choose to allow children to be free from the addiction to nicotine.”
