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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Jeremy Hunt ‘could adopt Labour tax-raising plans’ – as it happened

​​Rishi Sunak United Kingdom Chris Bryant Suella Braverman Amnesty International UK the Tory Party
Jeremy Hunt (right) pictured with Rishi Sunak during a visit to a factory in Yorkshire earlier this week.
Jeremy Hunt (right) pictured with Rishi Sunak during a visit to a factory in Yorkshire earlier this week. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

  • Sir John Major, the Conservative former prime minister, has said the UK should rejoin the single market. He has also said the government should not cut taxes in next week’s budget, but increase defence spending instead. This is from the broadcaster Andrew Neil, who interviewed him today.

Interviewed John Major at the Global Soft Power Summit in Westminster today. Three interesting news lines:

1. He is against the UAE or any other foreign governments from taking over the Telegraph and/or Spectator.

2. He thinks we should rejoin the single market and that Britain could negotiate a deal which would not leave us merely as a rule-taker.

3. He thinks that the government should increase defence spending rather than cut taxes. Interesting intervention one week before the Budget which I don’t think any media has yet picked up.

Updated

Diana Johnson, chairwoman of the Commons home affairs committee, has criticised the manner in which the Home Office published the 13 reports from David Neal, the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. She said:

Not only have all these reports been published in one go, but there is no ICIBI (independent chief inspector of borders and immigration) in post to provide a press release or a commentary on the contents of these reports.

This is wholly inadequate and raises serious questions about what the Home Office has been doing all this time.

Schools in England told by DfE they should not let pupils miss class to attend protests

Schools in England have been told they cannot grant absences for pupils to attend protests, according to new guidance issued by the Department for Education that comes into force next summer.

The guidance, published today, details new measures including raising fines on parents for unauthorised absences of five days or more. But it also includes a new prohibition on schools giving students leave to attend protests.

“Leave of absence should not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours,” the guidance states. The move comes after a series of school strikes over climate change gained in popularity in 2019, and more recently over the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the new guidance was “unhelpful” for head teachers. Barton added:

The pupils involved in protests feel very strongly indeed about the cause over which they are protesting, and that this can be a very difficult and sensitive situation to manage.

As such, we feel that these are matters that are best left to the discretion of schools.

Sunak's focus on clearing 'legacy' asylum backlog led to poor decisions and 'perverse outcomes', watchdog says

Rishi Sunak’s focus on clearing the “legacy'” backlog for asylum applications led to bad decisions and “perverse” outcomes, David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said. In a report based on an inspection of casework between June and September 2023, he said:

I am concerned that the focus on clearing the legacy backlog ‘at all costs’ has led to perverse outcomes for claimants and staff. The number of claims that have been withdrawn and counted as ‘outcomes’ has soared – 22% of all decisions made since June 2022 were withdrawals, and, incredibly, only one underwent formal quality assurance. This is not acceptable. Routine quality assurance on interviews and decisions has also been sacrificed for increased productivity. This has the potential to add to the appeals queue as a result of poor-quality refusals, and to further prolong the length of time a claimant’s life is put on hold.

13 reports from borders and immigration watchdog that were held back finally published by Home Office

The Home Office has published 13 reports from David Neal, the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration. They are all available here. Neal complained the Home Office had been sitting on them and delaying publication, and he was recently sacked after he started leaking what they said to journalists.

Grant to Jewish security charity announced by Sunak broke normal value-for-money rules, Home Office reveals

The Home Office has revealed that a four-year grant for a Jewish security charity announced by the PM was allowed even though it broke normal value-for-money rules.

In a speech last night to the Community Security Trust (CST), which provides security for Jewish schools and synagogues, praised the work it does and announced a long-term funding package for it. In October the government gave it an extra £3m, taking its total government support to £18m for this financial year.

Sunak said that, because “CST is going to be needed for many years to come”, he was changing the way it was funded and promising it at least £18m a year for the next four years.

To approve this Sir Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, required “ministerial direction” – a rare process where a civil service accounting officer only allows something to go ahead on written instructions because it contervenes the normal spending rules.

In his letter to James Cleverly, the home secretary, explaining this, Rycroft said that that spending the money on protecting Jewish communities were justified – but that other security providers should have been allowed to bid for the work. He said:

Regarding value for money, the grant standard is clear that government grants should be subject to competition by default. It is well established that competition unlocks savings and improves performance by encouraging applicants to compete against each other for the available funding.

To meet the propriety and value for money tests, and to avoid the need for a ministerial direction, I proposed that we could commit to JCPSG [Jewish community protective security grant] funding for four years but limit the direct award to CST to one further year and agree to use that period to run a competition for subsequent years. This approach would have both provided reassurance to the Jewish community and ensured that we meet the standards set out in MPM [managing public money]. You decided against this approach.

60% of voters say it's time for change of government, poll suggests

YouGov has published a new report on the state of public opinion. In his write-up, Matthew Smith summarises the findings like this:

The public say it’s time for change, and prefer Labour to the Conservatives, but expectations of the party are low.

This sentence probably understates how good the overall numbers are for Labour, even though it captures the impression given by the figures that people aren’t expecting wonders from a Labour government. One of the most telling findings is that 60% of people say it is time for a change.

Here are three of the most illuminating charts.

Plan for black-only audience nights at London theatre 'wrong and divisive', says No 10

Downing Street has criticised plans by a London theatre to have two nights set aside for a black-only audience.

As PA Media reports, Slave Play at the Noel Coward Theatre, which features Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington among the cast, will have two performances aimed at an “all-black-identifying audience” that is “free from the white gaze”. Organisers of Black Out shows say they do not “prevent or preclude anyone” from attending and “nobody” has been turned away in the past.

Asked about the proposal, the PM’s spokesperson told reporters:

The prime minister is a big supporter of the arts and he believes that the arts should be inclusive and open to everyone, particularly where those arts venues are in receipt of public funding.

Obviously, these reports are concerning and further information is being sought.

But clearly, restricting audiences on the basis of race would be wrong and divisive.

The former cabinet minister Sajid Javid played a key role in persuading Rishi Sunak to remove the Tory whip from Lee Anderson, the former Tory chancellor George Osborne has claimed.

Speaking on his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Ed Balls, Osborne said:

I think Sajid Javid plays the kind of unsung hero role in all this … He, as I understand it, did phone Downing Street and said ‘this is completely unacceptable and it’s not enough for this guy [Anderson] to apologise … You know, he’s got to go.’

Osborne also claimed there was “friction” between No 10 and the Treasury ahead of the budget. He said:

There’s certainly been friction between No 10 and No 11 –and it’s pretty obvious the No 10 would like to cut income tax now. That, specifically, is something that Rishi Sunak promised when he was running to be the Tory leader …

I think No 10 was interested in cuts in the headline rate of income tax. And the problem that they’ve not been able to get around is the fact that this is regarded as inflationary by the Office for Budget Responsibility. So in other words, if you cut income tax, you put inflation up. And if you think of the central mission of the Sunak government, it has been to get inflation down. And this has been the source of a lot of conflict and debate and arguments.

Jeremy Hunt reportedly now considering lifting two of Labour's four revenue-raising tax plans

The BBC and some other news organisations are reporting that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is considering raising revenue by scrapping non-dom status in next week’s budget. Labour is committed to the policy, which could raise up to £3.6bn, and ministers have always attacked the idea on the grounds that it would discourage wealthy investors from coming to the UK. But Hunt is desperate to find anything that might allow him to cut taxes for ordinary workers (a reduction in national insurance seems to be his preferred option), and this would help with that. It would hobble Labour, which wants to use money from the removal of non-dom status to fund an expansion of the NHS workforce.

ITV’s Robert Peston has posted a useful analysis on X.

Now Alex Wickham from Bloomberg reports that another proposed Labour tax increase, widening the scope of the windfall tax on energy companies, is also being considered by Hunt.

Labour only has only announced four proposals for new or higher taxes beyond those imposed by the government (although Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has talked in general terms about the case for closing “loopholes” – which could cover a range of options). They are: the extended windfall tax, closing a tax loophole used by private equity (carried interest), getting rid of non-dom status, and VAT on private school fees. Hunt now seems interested in lifting two of these proposals.

Updated

Humza Yousaf says he's 'very open' to calls for inquiry into police failings in Iain Packer case

FMQs at Holyrood was dominated by calls across the chamber for a judge-led public inquiry into manifold police failings in the Ian Packers case.

Packers was jailed for 36 years yesterday after he was found guilty of murdering Emma Caldwell in 2005 and a catalogue of sexual violence against 22 other women.

Both Conservative leader Douglas Ross, who described the case as “one of Scotland’s worst policing scandals”, and Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar used their questions to demand an inquiry.

Both also stressed that such an inquiry should be led by a judge from outside Scotland.

Humza Yousaf, the first minister, agreed there was a “strong argument” for this and said he was “very open” to calls for an inquiry.

He will meet Caldwell’s mother Margaret in the coming days.

Sarwar also highlighted “the wider culture within Scottish institutions where they fight to protect their reputations rather than protect victims” - noting recent reports into racism and misogyny in Police Scotland.

Ross also raised the “utterly shocking” surveillance of journalists and a police whistleblower after the Sunday Mail named Packer as the likely killer in 2015.

Home Office set to publish 13 reports from borders and immigration watchdog that were being held back

The Home Office is due to publish 13 of the 15 outstanding reports submitted by sacked borders and immigration watchdog David Neal on this afternoon, PA News reports. During his tenure, Neal had repeatedly raised concerns that the department was too slow to publish his reports.

UPDATE: Lizzie Dearden from has a list of the reports we are expecting.

Updated

No 10 claims PM 'reflecting views of public' when he said 'mob rule replacing democratic rule'

Downing Street has defended Rishi Sunak’s claim that “there is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule” (see 9.25am), saying he was “responding to and reflecting the views of members of the public”.

At the morning lobby briefing, asked what evidence there was about a public consensus on mob rule, the PM’s spokesperson slightly avoided the question, pointing to incidents such as MPs being threatened and meetings being disrupted.

Pressed on whether the public believed these amounted to mob rule, he said such events were intimidating politicians and “impacting the way in which the democratic process is being carried out”.

Asked if a country being under mob rule meant Sunak believed there had been a failure of political leadership, the spokesperson replied: “I don’t think he would accept that characterisation.”

He also declined to blame the police, saying they had “done an excellent job and are working tirelessly to keep the public safe”.

Updated

Unlock Democracy, which campaigns for democratic reform, says the Michael Gove story failing to declare VIP hospitality at a football match shows why MPs should not accept any “freebies”. This is from Tom Brake, the former Lib Dem MP who heads the organisation.

The simplest solution to MPs suffering from freebie ‘oversight’ would be to ban them from accepting freebies in the first place. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and free tickets to football matches, concerts, or race courses come with expectations from the companies donating them.

A reader asks this, prompted by the Rishi Sunak quote in the post at 9.57am.

I don’t understand Sunak’s reference to “Iranian generals”. Have they been joining protest marches too?!

Sunak seemed to be referring to reports about an online video shown to a meeting organised by the Islamic Students Associations of Britain. From the reports of this incident that I’ve read, no university seems to have been involved.

Dan Jarvis, the shadow security minister, replied to Tugendhat.

He welcomed the announcement about security spending, but said the minister in his statement had not considered the roots of this “poison”. He said it was hard not to see a connection between the polarised debate online and the greater threat of harm MPs now face.

And he challenged Tugendhat to say when the government would publish a definition of hateful extremism. That would be helpful he said.

In response, Tugendhat said work on the updated definition was underway, but he could not say when it would be ready.

Neither Jarvis nor Tugendhat mentioned Rishi Sunak’s claim that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule”.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat says government committed to ensuring MPs can serve without fear

In the Commons Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, is making a statement about the security of MPs.

He says the house brings the nation together. MPs come from all parts of the UK to debate, and to decide laws. All voices should be represented, he says.

Democracy only works if people can choose who they want, and if those MPs can say what they think.

But in recent days those principles have wavered. He says MPs have told him they feel they have to vote a certain way because “a threatening few” have put them in fear for their safety, and the safety of their families. The Commons has even been pressured into changing the way it debates, he says, referring to the way the speaker ignored procedural rules in the Gaza debate last week.

Tugendhat says the demontrators said last week they wanted parliament to lock its doors. That was a threat to democratic values, he says.

He says incidents of antisemitism are on the rise.

All voices should be heard, he says. And MPs should be able to serve without fear. That is why the government has committed £31m to protect them.

Tugendhat says the PM held a meeting with senior police officers. The police have agreed a new defending democracy protocol, he says.

Penny Mordaunt commends Lee Anderson for article in which he suggests his use of word 'Islamist' problematic

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, has commended Lee Anderson for a lengthy newspaper article he has written in which he suggested that his use of the word “Islamist” was problematic.

Anderson did not apologise in his Daily Express article for what he said last week about Sadiq Khan, but he went further than he has done before in accepting that his use of language caused offence. Mordaunt said this was the closest he might get to an apology.

In a GB News interview last week Anderson said:

I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of [Sadiq] Khan, and they’ve got control of London.

After Anderson refused to apologise, he was suspended from the Conservative party. Asked to explain what was wrong with Anderson’s remark, No 10 said on Tuesday that it was wrong to conflate all Muslims with Islamist extremism.

In his Express article Anderson said:

The point I was trying to make last week was that the mayor of London has lost control of our capital city as the extremists who hide under the Islam banner take over our streets in their attempt to change the course of our democracy.

These extremists are often labelled as Islamists which, on reflection, is totally unfair on Muslims in general and we must make sure that our language reflects this.

These extremists are not welcomed by our Muslim friends as they cast a dark shadow on the millions of decent Muslims in our country who have embraced our way of life.

To be clear when I call out these extremists, I am calling out a minute percentage of a group of people and because of this I have been called racist and Islamophobic …

I do not believe the mayor is an Islamist, I just think he does not care about our beautiful city and people in high places should have more sense than to make these outrageous claims that I am racist or Islamophobic.

During business questions Lucy Powell, the shadow leader of the Commons, asked Mordaunt if she thought Anderson’s original comments were racist or Islamophobic. Mordaunt replied:

I know that she will want to hear one word from the honourable member for Ashfield, but yesterday he did provide us with 1,000.

I read his piece in the Express and it is some distance from the view that he expressed in that interview, and I think that what he wrote in the Express is his genuine view.

Those thousand words, we might have to accept, are the closest we will get to a one-word apology that others seek.

Referring to suggestions that Anderons may join Reform UK, Mordaunt said:

I would rather ask [Anderson], whatever political hue he ends up being, to consider all the good he could do in these particular times with the trust and following that he built up.

Yvette Cooper dismisses government's response to murder of Sarah Everard as 'too little, too late'

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, was responding to Cleverly and she told him that his response was “too weak”, that the government was doing “too little, too late” and that the lack of urgency shown by the Home Office was “unfathomable”

She said she was “sick and tired of nothing changing”. People should not have to wait any longer, she said.

She said Labour wanted the government to introduce a mandatory framework for police vetting.

In response to Cleverly’s announcement that with certain offences, officers would be automatically suspended when charged (see 12.07pm), she said that was not enough. With these offences, officers should be suspended earlier.

She said she could not see why the government was not committing today to accepting the Angiolini recommendations. As an example, she cited recommendation six – that all allegations about indecent exposure or other sexual offences against serving officers – should be now be reviewed.

The first three recommendations cover indent exposure, and Cooper said the Home Office should be able to accept them immediately too.

She said the murder of Sarah Everard should have been a watershed. But it wasn’t, she suggested.

And she urged Cleverly to accept Labour’s proposal for a “Raneem’s law”.

Cleverly says findings of report into Wayne Couzens 'appalling' and promises prompt response to recommendations

In the Commons James Cleverly, the home secretary, is now making a statement about the report by Dame Elish Angiolini into the murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens.

The report was published earlier this morning. Vikram Dodd has a report on what it says here.

And the full report is here.

The report only covers part one of the inquiry, and it focuses on how Couzens was ablet to become and remain a police officer, and how red flags that should have shown how dangerous he was were missed.

Cleverly says:

Tragically the report identifies that Couzens was completely unsuitable to serve as a police officer and, worse still, there were multiple occasions where this should, could have been recognised.

Lady Elish found significant and repeated problems in recruitment and vetting throughout Couzens’ career, including overlooking his chaotic financial situation. This meant he was able to serve in a range of privileged roles, including as a firearms officer.

It is appalling that reports of indecent exposure by Couzens were not taken sufficiently seriously by the police and that officers were not adequately trained, equipped or motivated to properly investigate those allegations.

Had fuller inquiries been made in 2015 and 2020, Couzens could, perhaps probably would, have been removed from policing. Evidence of his preference for extreme and violent pornography and alleged sexual offending date back nearly 20 years prior to Sarah Everard’s murder.

And the inquiry found Couzens was adept at hiding his grossly offensive behaviour from most of his colleagues, but that he shared his vile and misogynistic views on a WhatsApp group. The other members of that group are no longer serving officers after a range of disciplinary processes.

Cleverly says the report makes 16 recommendations. The government will carefully consider them and respond in due course. The response will be prompt, he says.

But he says the government has already taken steps to improve vetting for police officers. He says funding has been provided to ensure that police get intelligence more quickly about potential problems with officers, the rules have been changed to ensure officers can be dismissed more easily, and police chiefs have been put back in charge of chairing misconduct panels.

He says there will be a new presumption that officers found to have committed gross misconduct will be sacked.

And he says he can announce today that for certain offences there will be an automatic suspension when people are charged.

He says the Everard murder started a national conversation about violence towards women and girls. He says they routinely feel unsafe. That is unacceptable, and change is needed, he says.

He says this has been made a priority – meaning it should be as important for the police as terrorism.

Labour claims Home Office asylum figures show Sunak has 'lost control of immigration system'

The Home Office has released a raft of data relating to asylum, immigration and small boats. The Labour party has been going through the figures and it claims the picture they present is damning.

Here are some of the findings it is highlighting.

  • Only 2% of people who have arrived in the UK in small boats since 2018 have been returned, the figures show. That amounts to 2,580 people being returned, of whom 1,889 were returned last year.

  • Almost 130,000 people are waiting for an asylum decision, the figures show. (See 10.18am.) Here is the table with the table with the figures.

  • There are 45,768 asylum seekers in hotel accommodation, the figures show. Labour says Rishi Sunak is committed to ending the use of hotel accommodation. Here is the table with these figures.

  • Almost 20,000 asylum seekers seem to have disappeared into the system, because their applications are marked as “implicitly withdrawn”, the figures suggest.

  • More than 600,000 work visas were issued in 2023, the figures show. Labour says this is because of skill shortages in the UK.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said:

These damning statistics show how Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have lost control of our immigration system and our border security - and have no plan to turn it around.

A year after promising to end their use, almost 46,000 people are still stuck in hotels. The Tories’ failure to clear the backlog and return small boats arrivals has blown a £4bn hole in the Home Office budget, paid at taxpayers’ expense. Meanwhile, work visas are soaring due to their failure to train people here in the UK.

The Conservative peer and former MP Stewart Jackson has also made the point about Rishi Sunak’s comments yesterday echoing what Suella Braverman has been saying. (See 9.25am.) He suggests Sunak is a weathercock, “buffeted by events”.

Rishi Sunak is now saying what #SuellaBraverman rightly said four months ago, and for which she was sacked. Tony Benn astutely divided politicians as between signposts and weathercocks. One can think ahead, the other is buffeted by events. We know which one is which, don’t we?

Updated

In his speech to the Community Security Trust last night (see 9.57am) Rishi Sunak said that, in addition to increasing government funding for the CST by £3m to £18m for this financial year, and promising £18m for next year, he could announce that it would be getting £18m a year for the next four years.

In response today the Board of Deputies of British Jews said:

We commend the prime minister on his powerful speech at the CST dinner last night, pledging more funding to protect the Jewish community, outlining a new protocol to safeguard our elected representatives and effectively police protests, and drawing a clear line between democratic dissent and mob intimidation.

The last few months have seen an extreme rise in antisemitic hate in the UK, which has had a significant effect on British Jews. The prime minister’s announcement has made it clear - those bringing chaos to our streets and academic institutions will no longer be allowed to act with impunity.

Parliamentary commissioner for standards says Gove being investigated - after revelation about omission from register

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, is has been placed under investigation by Parliament’s standards watchdog, PA Media reports.

The probe relates to Gove’s register of financial interests, according to the standards commissioner’s website.

The website does not give any more detail about the complain and details of investigations by the commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, are kept confidential until the inquiry is concluded. Those under investigation are barred from discussing the allegations.

But the Guardian last week reported that Gove failed to register VIP hospitality he enjoyed at a football match with a Conservative donor whose firm he had recommended for multimillion-pound personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here is the Guardian’s story.

After the Guardian contacted Gove about his failure to register the hospitality, he said he would be contacting the parliamentary authorities himself about the omission.

Updated

Commentators from the liberal end of the market have criticised Rishi Sunak for his that that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule”. Here are some of their posts on X.

From George Parker, the Financial Times’ political editor

From Alex Thomson from Channel 4 News

From the Guardian’s John Harris, who thinks anyone concerned about “mob rule” should start by looking at the actions of pro-Brexit campaigners

From Jon Sopel from the News Agents podcase

From Philip Stephens, a former Financial Times political editor and columnist

From Michael White, a former Guardian political editor

Polls have opened in the Rochdale byelection after a chaotic contest dominated by the war in Gaza, Josh Halliday reports.

Almost 130,000 people waiting for asylum decision in December 2023, figures show - down 20% on previous year

A total of 128,786 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of December 2023, down 20% from 160,919 at the end of December 2022, PA Media reports. PA says:

According to new figures from the Home Office, the total is also down 27% from the 175,457 people waiting for a decision at the end of June 2023, which was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

The number of people waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 83,254 at the end of December, down 24% year-on-year from 109,641, and also 41% down from the record 139,961 at the end of June 2023.

There were 3,902 asylum applications in the legacy backlog that were still awaiting an initial decision at the end of December 2023, updated Home Office figures show.

Asylum applications made before June 28 2022 are counted as legacy cases.

The government had pledged to clear the legacy backlog by the end of 2023.

This backlog had stood at 98,659 applications at the end of June 2022.

One asylum application does not always equal one individual, as an application can cover a group of people.

Updated

Hunt urged to boost UK economy by fixing ‘broken’ childcare system

Jeremy Hunt is being urged by business leaders to fix the UK’s broken childcare system to secure a boost to the economy worth £11bn by enabling more parents and carers to work, Richard Partington reports.

Sunak calls for end to 'passive tolerance of words and actions that go against what we stand for'

After his roundtable with police officers yesterday, where he made the comment about “mob rule” replacing democratic rule, Rishi Sunak gave a lengthy speech last night at a dinner for the Community Security Trust, a charity providing security for Jewish schools and synagogues. In it he elaborated on what he sees as the threat to democracy posed by pro-Palestinian activism. The full text is here on the No 10 website, but here are the key points.

  • Sunak said MPs were facing increasing intimidation and that he was not willing to accept this. He said:

As prime minister, I’m not prepared to stand by, and watch MPs forced out of public service because of fears for their safety.

Nor I am prepared to allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour seemingly intended to shout down elected representatives and hijack the democratic process through force itself.

It is as un-British as it is undemocratic.

And it cannot stand …

We will never give in to the threats of violent extremists.

We will not be cowed into changing the way our parliamentary democracy operates.

We will do whatever it takes to defend our democratic processes just as we will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.

  • He said he wanted to end “passive tolerance of words and actions that go against what we stand for”. He said:

It’s not enough merely to strengthen our physical security we must also be far bolder and more assertive in defending our British values.

We’ve got to end this passive tolerance of words and actions that go against what we stand for.

Yes, you can march and protest with passion; you can demand the protection of civilian life but no, you cannot call for Jihad there is no “context” in which its acceptable to beam antisemitic tropes onto Big Ben and there’s no cause you can use to justify the support of proscribed terrorist groups, like Hamas.

And yes, you can freely criticise the actions of this government, the Israeli government or indeed any government.

But no, you cannot use that as an excuse to call for the eradication of a state – or any kind of hatred or antisemitism.

These statements are fundamental to the liberal democratic values that define Britain.

They are the very essence of our identity of who we are as a country.

To belong here is to believe these things; to stand up for these things.

And it’s time we were much, much clearer about this.

Sunak seemed to be referring to the sort of words or behaviour covered by the legislation covering “glorifying” terrorism, but he did not show much allowance for the argument that “tolerance” of words and action you disagree with is also a fundamental liberal, democratic value.

  • He called for a tougher approach to tackling antisemitism in universities. He said:

What is happening right now on campuses is simply not acceptable.

Jewish students are being targeted, threatened, and assaulted simply for being Jewish.

The chaplain at the University of Leeds having to take his family into hiding after death threats because he’s an IDF reservist.

Iranian generals – let me say that again – Iranian generals - giving antisemitic speeches as people abuse the right to freedom of speech as a cover for hate speech.

This cannot go on.

Where people break the law on our campuses they will be met with the full consequences.

And where they create a culture of intimidation we will hold the university leadership to account.

University leaders must take personal responsibility for protecting Jewish students in their institutions.

Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan police, told the Today programme this morning that Rishi Sunak’s comments about “mob rule” (see 9.25am) were unhelpful. As HuffPost UK reports, Babu said:

Language is important. I don’t think that kind of language is helpful …

My daughters have been on marches, ordinary people, Jewish people, Muslim people, people of no faith, LGBTQ people, have all been on marches. So this is a wide spectrum of people, so to call these people a mob is not very helpful, particularly when you’re trying to appeal to them to stop marching.

Rishi Sunak accused of ‘hysterical nonsense’ after claiming ‘mob rule is replacing democratic rule’

Good morning. When Rishi Sunak (eventually) decided to take action against Lee Anderson after he claimed that the city of London, and Sadiq Khan, its mayor, were under the control of Islamists, people asked why he was not prepared to discpline, or even criticise, the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who had said something even stronger. “The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now,” she said in a Telegraph article. It was assumed that Sunak did not want to pick a fight with her because she has too much support within the party.

Now it seems there is another explanation: Sunak did not criticise Braverman because he broadly agrees with her. That is the implication of a No 10 briefing last night, which included this quote from what Sunak told a policing roundtable earlier in the afternoon. He said:

There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule. And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.

We can make a start today with the new Democratic Policing Protocol …

We simply cannot allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour which is, as far as anyone can see, intended to shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job.

That is simply undemocratic.

So it’s right that the protocol commits to additional patrols, provides clarity that protests at elected representatives’ homes should be treated as intimidatory.

And we’ve provided additional funding for protective security.

But we also need to demonstrate more broadly to the public that you will use the powers you already have, the laws that you have.

Campaigners and MPs have dismissed the claim that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule” as hypberbolic, alarmist and illiberal – and, frankly, just wrong. It is also an unusual electoral gambit, given that you might argue letting the country descend into “mob rule” would not reflect well on the political party in charge over the past 14 years.

This is from Tom Southerden, law and human rights director at Amnesty International UK.

Talk of ‘mob rule’ wildly exaggerates the issue and risks delegitimising the rights of peaceful protest.

Freedom of expression and assembly are absolutely fundamental rights in any free and fair society. The UK has undergone a major crackdown on protest rights in recent years, with peaceful protest tactics being criminalised and the police being given sweeping powers to prevent protests taking place.

This is from the SNP MP John Nicholson.

Beyond startling. Hysterical, fear mongering nonsense. There is no “mob rule” in England.

Unless one regards the Tory Party as an unruly mob. Probably consensus on that.

And this is from the Labour MP Chris Bryant.

Take me through this. Sunak thinks we have mob rule. He’s the prime minister. So, like, he’s in charge, yeah?

Here is Rajeev Syal’s overnight story about the row.

I will post more reaction shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Oliver Dowden, deputy PM and a Cabinet Office minister, takes questions in the Commons.

10.30am: The report into the circumstances that allowed Sarah Everard to be murdered by a serving Metropolitan police officer, Wayne Couzens, will be published. James Cleverly, the home secretary, is due to make a statement to MPs about the outcome of the inquiry, carried out by Elish Angiolini, at around 11.30am.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Noon: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.

After 12.30pm: Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, is expected to make a Commons statement on the Defending Democracy Policing Protocol.

Also, in Rochdale people have started voting in the byelection. Polls will close at 10pm, and the result is due in the early hours tomorrow morning.

If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.

Updated

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