Early evening summary
Rishi Sunak has been widely criticised for accepting a £1,000 bet with TalkTV presenter Piers Morgan relating to whether he will manage to get deportation flights off to Rwanda before the election. Morgan said he would bet £1,000 that the flights would not happen, with the money going to charity, and Sunak insisted he wanted to get people on the planes. Sunak, whose family has a fortune worth hundreds of millions of pounds, was accused of being not just out of touch with the experience of ordinary Britons, but “grotesque, callous and downright cruel”. (See 4.30pm.)
Rishi Sunak has acknowledged that he has failed to keep his promise to cut healthcare waiting lists.
Disability Action Plan aimed at improving disabled people's lives 'here and now', says minister
A Disability Action Plan published by the government today is aimed at “improving disabled people’s daily lives in the here and now”, Mims Davies, the minister for disabled people, told MPs today.
The plan includes 14 goals for this year such as supporting disabled people who want to be elected to public office, including disabled people’s needs in emergency and resilience planning, and making playgrounds more accessible.
Updated
In the Commons Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesperson, used a point of order to ask for confirmation that Rishi Sunak’s £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan was a registerable interest and one that he would have to declare in future proceedings.
In response Sir Roger Gale, a deputy speaker, said that if every MP who made a bet had to declare it, the register might get rather full. But that was not a matter for him, he said.
Raising a point of order in Parliament to ask whether Rishi Sunak's £1000 bet over Rwanda will be published in his register of interests. If the Prime Minister has a financial interest in pushing the Rwanda scheme then surely he ought to mention it when he speaks in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/OalrpSNedT
— Alistair Carmichael MP (@amcarmichaelMP) February 5, 2024
Shapps tells MPs air strikes against Houthis to protect shipping in Red Sea will continue if necessary
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, has told MPs that the UK will continue if necessary to launch air attacks against the Houthis to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
After the UK participated in raids against the Houthis with the US for the third time at the weekend, Shapps told MPs:
We would much rather the Houthis simply stopped attacking international shipping, stopped damaging global trade and stop harming the prospects of their own people.
At the same time, appeasing the Houthis today will not lead to a more stable Red Sea, indeed a more stable region.
We are not seeking confrontation and we urge the Houthis and all those who enable them to stop these illegal and unacceptable attacks.
But, if necessary, the UK will not hesitate to respond again in self-defence.
The PM’s £1,000 Rwanda bet has made the top of Radio 4’s PM programme. With commendable BBC fairness, the presenter, Evan Davis, says that even though Sunak shook hands with Piers Morgan after challenged to the bet, he did not confirm it verbally. Davis says No 10 has not given an answer when asked whether or not Sunak did think he was agreeing to a bet.
(Looking at the video footage, it is fairly obvious that Sunak was accepting – while somewhere in his head a warning signal was going off telling him not to say the words “bet” or £1,000”. A more experienced politician, or one with a better feel for how this would look, would not have let himself be bounced into this sort of competitive wallet-waving by Piers Morgan.)
Rishi Sunak is facing a growing wave of criticism over his £1,000 Rwanda bet with Piers Morgan. Here are comments on X from politicians.
From Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP
Words fail me that PM & Piers Morgan can be so callous about awful Rwanda policy that they place a bet on it
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) February 5, 2024
These are people’s lives they’re gambling over. Yet Sunak thinks nothing of agreeing a £1k bet. He’s supposed to be the head of government, not a punter in a casino
Words fail me that PM & Piers Morgan can be so callous about awful Rwanda policy that they place a bet on it
These are people’s lives they’re gambling over. Yet Sunak thinks nothing of agreeing a £1k bet. He’s supposed to be the head of government, not a punter in a casino
From Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson
I note that the Prime Minister did not choose to make the same wager on whether he would clear the growing NHS backlog.
— Alistair Carmichael MP (@amcarmichaelMP) February 5, 2024
Instead of placing a trashy bet on the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak should put his money where his mouth is on the NHS. https://t.co/vc0eKXW77d
I note that the Prime Minister did not choose to make the same wager on whether he would clear the growing NHS backlog.
Instead of placing a trashy bet on the Rwanda scheme, Rishi Sunak should put his money where his mouth is on the NHS.
From Tonia Antoniazzi, a Labour whip
Thanks to 14 years of shambolic Tory Government over 1/3 of UK adults have less than a grand in their savings. Meanwhile our multimillionaire Prime Minister is casually betting that amount to prove he can be cruel to asylum seekers.
— Tonia Antoniazzi MP (@ToniaAntoniazzi) February 5, 2024
Sunak sinks to a new low. https://t.co/gRksDcuQkq
Thanks to 14 years of shambolic Tory Government over 1/3 of UK adults have less than a grand in their savings. Meanwhile our multimillionaire Prime Minister is casually betting that amount to prove he can be cruel to asylum seekers.
Sunak sinks to a new low.
From Jim McMahon, Labour’s shadow minister for English devolution and local government
Rich men throwing around a grand on the future of someone else life is just grim. https://t.co/mIyU5k3Io9
— Jim McMahon MP (@JimfromOldham) February 5, 2024
Rich men throwing around a grand on the future of someone else life is just grim.
From Plaid Cymru’s Hywel Williams
For the Prime Minister to take bets on the futures of vulnerable people is utterly repulsive
— Hywel Williams AS/MP (@HywelPlaidCymru) February 5, 2024
Cywilydd ar Sunak https://t.co/YWPP20zCSi
For the Prime Minister to take bets on the futures of vulnerable people is utterly repulsive
Cywilydd ar Sunak [Shame on Sunak]
Updated
The campaign group Hope Not Hate has written to the House of Commons speaker to ask that he block a meeting which independent MP Andrew Bridgen is hosting this evening in Parliament which is due to be addressed by an MEP from Germany’s far right Alternative für Deutschland party.
MPs have condemned plans by the former Tory backbencher to host the event weeks after members of the AfD party were caught in discussion with neo-Nazis about carrying out mass deportations.
There was also concern that parliament could be used as a platform for the dissemination of conspiracy theories after Bridgen said the event, billed as a meeting of the Save Our Sovereignty campaign group, would discuss issues including “vaccine harms”, 15-minute cities and a “power grab” by the World Health Organization.
Georgie Laming, Director of Campaigns at Hope not hate said:
We can see a clear pattern of radicalisation from Andrew Bridgen. He is using his platform as an MP to invite and promote some of the most controversial and hateful politicians and ideas.
When the German government is actively considering banning the AfD for undermining democracy, it is not right to be hosting its members in our seat of government.
SNP condemns Sunak's £1,000 Rwanda bet as 'grotesque, callous and downright cruel'
The SNP has gone further than Labour (see 4.03pm) and is arguing that Rishi Sunak’s £1,000 Rwanda bet with Piers Morgan was in breach of the ministerial code and the Nolan principles for standards in public life.
Kirsty Blackman, the SNP’s spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, said:
Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel - and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland.
It’s particularly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of the richest men in the UK, thinks it’s appropriate to accept a £1,000 wager - and will remind ordinary working families that near billionaire Sunak doesn’t have a clue what life is like for the rest of us in a cost of living crisis.
In an open letter calling for an inquiry, addressed to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, and Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s independent adviser on ministerial interests (aka the “ethics adviser”), Blackman explains she thinks Sunak has broken the code. She says:
It also appears to be a clear breach of the ministerial code and the Nolan Principles of Public Life.
Section 1.3 of the ministerial code is clear that:
f. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their public duties and their private interests;
g. Ministers should not accept any gift or hospitality which might, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgement or place them under an improper obligation;Point 1.2 and 1.3 of the Seven Principles of Public Life state that:
1.2 Integrity - Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.
1.3 Objectivity - Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.The bet falls below the high standards people should expect of those in public life - not least the most powerful person in the Westminster government.
Labour says Sunak's £1,000 bet with Piers Morgan over Rwanda policy shows he's 'out of touch'
In his interview with Rishi Sunak on TalkTV Piers Morgan said he was willing to bet the PM £1,000, with the money going to a refugee charity, that no deportation planes to Rwanda will take off before the general election. Sunak said he was working “incredibly hard” to get the flights going and he accepted the bet (although a bit reluctantly, judging by the clip).
EXCLUSIVE: Rishi Sunak bets Piers Morgan £1,000 to a refugee charity that he will get illegal immigrants on planes before the election.
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) February 5, 2024
Watch more on YouTube at 2pm: https://t.co/mxTnxUVa3G@piersmorgan | @RishiSunak | #PMndthePM pic.twitter.com/O5BY7NupNm
Labour says this shows Sunak is out of touch. Responding to the inteview, Jonathan Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said:
Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping £1,000 bets
It just shows that Rishi Sunak is totally out of touch with working people.
(Presumably one reason why Sunak did shake on the bet was because, if he hadn’t, he might have been accused of not having confidence in his own policy.)
Updated
Rail services in north of England have got worse over past decade, says Andy Burnham
Rail services in the north of England have got worse over the past decade, Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor has said.
Speaking at the Transport for the North annual conference in Liverpool, Burnham said:
It’s 10 years this year since George Osborne came to Manchester and promised a Northern Powerhouse. That was going to mean HS2, HS3, as it was then called, now Northern Powerhouse Rail, better everyday services on the existing network.
You name it, we were going to be promised all of this.
Barely any of it has happened. In fact, new analysis that TfGM (Transport for Greater Manchester) has done says that rail services are poorer now than they were in 2016.
Speaking to the media after his speech, Burnham said:
This general election year, I think, lands at an uncomfortable moment for a government that promised to level up because we have proof that railways have gone backwards in the decade since George Osborne made that speech. It’s almost unbelievable.
Updated
Sunak says UK has not changed stance on recognising Palestinian state and Cameron's comments 'over-interpreted'
Rishi Sunak has said that David Cameron’s recent comments about the UK bringing forward the point at which it might recognise a Palestinian state have been “over-interepreted”.
Last week, speaking to the Conservative Middle East Council, Cameron, the foreign secretary, said it was important to give the Palestinian people “a political horizon so that they can see that there is going to be irreversible progress to a two-state solution and crucially the establishment of a Palestinian state”.
He restated the argument on a visit to Lebanon, saying recognition could come before the end of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Antony Blinken, Cameron’s US counterpart, has been exploring the same idea.
But at PMQs last week Sunak seemed less keen and, in his interview with Piers Morgan for TalkTV, Sunak said the UK’s position had not changed.
Asked if Cameron’s comments represented a shift in UK policy, Sunak replied:
No. Look, our position is the same, and as David was saying, we are committed to a two state solution, we are absolutely committed …
The government’s long-standing position has been that we will recognize a Palestinian state at the time that it is most conducive to the peace process.
Asked if that meant the UK could recognise a Palestinian state before the conclusion of peace talks, Sunak said it was “hard to speculate”. But he did not accept policy had changed. He went on:
I think it [the Cameron intervention] has been over-interpreted. What we are absolutely committed to is a two state solution, the recognition of Palestine should come at a point where it is most conducive to the overall process. But at the moment? No. At the moment what we are looking to do is build the conditions to get hostages out, aid in, a sustainable ceasefire that looks forward to the future that the foreign secretary talked about, where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side, both with dignity, with peace, with security and opportunity.
Updated
Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly insist they are united in wanting better public services and funding for NI
Michelle O’Neill, the first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, the deputy first minister, have been holding a press briefing.
O’Neill said the financial settlement for Northern Ireland “sounds good on the face of it”. But she said the executive needed more, because for many years it had been under-funded. She said the executive was working together on this. And “we are not going to give up on day one,” she said.
Little-Pengelly said Northern Ireland needed money for investment. And Rishi Sunak, as a former chancellor, understood that investment was needed if the public services were going to reform, she said.
Asked about her comment about a border poll taking place within 10 years, O’Neill said she did not want to talk about that today. Today she and Little-Pengelly were showing a united front, and focusing on public services.
Little-Pengelly says the executive will only find solutions by working together. That is what the public expect, she said.
Northern Ireland doesn’t just have its first nationalist first minister. It also has its first nationalist leader of the opposition, the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said today. The SDLP, a nationalist party, did not win enough seats in the elections to have a minister in the power sharing executive, and Matthew O’Toole, its leader at Stormont, will lead opposition to the executive.
Eastwood said:
We have seen monumental change in this place with the first ever nationalist first minister and the first ever nationalist leader of the opposition in Matthew O’Toole.
We’re very excited to be part of the official opposition, to begin to hold a new government to account. We’ve obviously been very frustrated over the last two years as the public have been that we haven’t been able to deal with the crisis in our public services but now we hope to support the new government in seeking more funds from the British government but of course we will also seek this new executive to have a plan for what they will do with that.
Leo Varadkar seeks to reassure unionists - summary of his press conference
Relations between London and Dublin are considerably better than they were when Boris Johnson was PM. There are still not ideal – the Irish government is taking the UK to the European court of human rights over its Troubles legacy act – but at his news conference Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach went out of his way to avoid saying anything that would cause trouble for No 10. Here are the main points.
Varadkar sought to reassure unionists worried about having a Sinn Féin first minister, saying he expected the new executive to focus on day-to-day issues. Some unionists were alarmed to see Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill take office, and she will have confirmed their fears by saying at the weekend that she expected to see a referendum on reunification within a decade. (See 11.22am.) Varadkar has said before that he does expected reunification within his lifetime. But, when asked about this issue, he said that was “not for today”. He backed Rishi Sunak in saying the executive should focus on day-to-day issues. (See 12.28pm.) And he insisted they were doing this. He told reporters:
Certainly, the sense that I got from the first minister, the deputy minister and the the executive is they’re very keen to get stuck into their briefs, and very keen to work on those day-to-day issues and we’re here to help.
He said that although he had “some reservations” about what was in the Safeguarding the Union command paper published by the UK government last week, “particularly some of the more negative language around the all-island economy”, overall it was acceptable. He explained:
Crucially, nothing in what’s been negotiated breaks any red lines. I remember when Brexit happened, we set out a number of objectives. One was to make sure there’s no hard border between north and south. The other was to make sure that the Republic of Ireland’s position in the European single market wasn’t undermined in any way. And the third was to make sure that the Good Friday agreement institutions would function. And all of those things are the case today. That makes it a very positive day in my view.
In the command paper the UK government describes the concept of an all-island economy, which was seen as a fact by previous governments, as “divisive and misguided”. And it says:
Whilst access to the EU market has broad support amongst business and consumers, the creation of a new political construct of the ‘all-island economy’ is clearly more divisive in nature and has been rejected by the current government.
Varadkar said that he felt confident that the Northern Ireland executive was now “here to last”.
He said he had had a good meeting with Sunak. But he sidestepped a question about why they had not held a joint press conference.
He said that, while he would not rule out reforming the way Stormont works, he was not suggesting that now because “a period of bedding down and focusing on the day-to-day issues really should come first”.
He rejected a report the claim in Policy Exchange report that Ireland is weak on defence. (See 1.12pm.)
Updated
Sunak government does not merit a top performance rating, says Gillian Keegan
Rishi Sunak’s government does not merit a top performance rating, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has said. Kevin Rawlinson has the story here.
Irish PM rejects claim from thinktank accusing Ireland of being too weak on defence
At his press conference Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, was asked about the Policy Exchange report out today criticising Ireland for being weak on defence. (See 11.49am.) He said he had not read the whole thing, but he had read a summary and did not agree with it. He went on:
As a country and a government, we take security and defence very seriously. We are dramatically scaling up our defence budget in the Republic of Ireland, and also we’re getting more involved in international security.
We’ve always been actively involved in the UN. But we are founding members of Pesco [Permanent Structured Cooperation – an EU organisation], which is the common European security and defence policy, we’re part of that. We’re also updating our relationship with Nato through the Partnership for Peace. So we take security matters very seriously.
Photograph: Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye/PA
Sunak declines to back call from Brianna Ghey's mother for under-16s to be banned from social media on phones
Rishi Sunak has declined to give his backing to calls by the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey for social media apps to be banned on smartphones for under-16s, PA Media reports.
Esther Ghey is campaigning for searches for inappropriate material to be flagged to parents in the wake of the sentencing of her transgender daughter’s killers.
Asked about the case during his visit to Northern Ireland, Sunak said:
As a parent, I am always worried about social media and what my young girls are exposed to
That’s why I’m pleased we have passed the Online Safety Act over the last year and that means the regulator now has tough new powers to control what is exposed to children online.
And if the big social media companies do not comply with that, the regulator is able to levy very significant fines on them and the priority now is making sure that act is up and running.
At the weekend Ghey told the BBC she wanted a law “that there are mobile phones that are only suitable for under-16s”. But Sunak declined to say whether the government would back such an idea.
In December it was reported that Sunak was considering banning under-16s from some social media. But at PMQs two weeks ago, when asked by a Conservative MP to confirm that he was considering this as an option, Sunak dodged the question.
In the US some states are legislating to restrict teenagers’ access to social media. In Florida a law is going through that would stop under-16s creating a new social media account.
Irish PM seeks to de-escalate row about Irish reunification, saying NI executive should prioritise day-to-day issues
At Stormont Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, is speaking to the media at Stormont.
He says he is keen to work with the new executive, and to get North/South cooperation up and running again. The North South Council, set up under the Good Friday agreement to allow the Irish government and the Northern Ireland executive to liaise, has not been meeting.
Asked about reunification, and what Rishi Sunak said about Michelle O’Neill (see 11.22am and 11.56am), Varadkar says:
The priority for any new executive in any government in any country has to be the day-to-day concerns for people.
Another reporter tries, and asks Varadkar if he expects to see a united Ireland. In the past Varadkar has said he does expect to see a united Ireland in his lifetime, but now he says that is not a question to answer today.
This is from Christopher Hope from GB News.
Leo Varadkar press conference at the Stormont parliament building:@GBNEWS: “Will you see a united [island of Ireland] within 10 years?
Varadkar: “That’s not for today.”
Leo Varadkar press conference at the Stormont parliament building:@GBNEWS: “Will you see a united [island of Ireland] within 10 years?
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) February 5, 2024
Varadkar: “That’s not for today.” pic.twitter.com/rIYeHBDlKV
Updated
Sunak defends funding settlement for Northern Ireland, saying it is 'significant and generous'
Rishi Sunak has also defended the £3.3bn funding deal for Northern Ireland that has been described as inadquate by the new executive. (See 10.48am.) Asked about their objections, he said:
The funding package that we put on the table before Christmas has, I think, been widely recognised as being significant and generous.
[It is focused on] long-term sustainability, ensuring that Northern Ireland has the funding it needs, not just for today to deal with the immediate challenges, but it is on a path to be able to provide high-quality public services into the future.
Updated
Sunak urges Northern Ireland executive to focus on 'things that matter', not constitutional change
Rishi Sunak has urged the new Northern Ireland executive to focus on “the day-to-day things that matter to people”, not constitutional change.
Speaking to broadcasters, the PM refused to endorse Michelle O’Neill’s claim that a referendum on Irish reunification could be held within a decade. (See 11.22am.)
Asked about the new first minister’s comment, Sunak said:
I had very constructive meetings this morning with the executive, with political leaders across Stormont, and it is a historic and important day for the country, because Northern Ireland’s politicians are back in charge, making decisions on behalf of their people, which is exactly how it should be.
Now, our new deal gives them more funding and more powers than they have ever had, so they can deliver for families and businesses across Northern Ireland. And that’s what everyone’s priority is now.
It is not constitutional change, it is delivering on the day-to-day things that matter to people.
Updated
Ireland's neutrality and minimal defence spending poses 'grave back-door security risk to UK', rightwing thinktank claims
Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin president, is leader of the opposition in the Irish parliament and it seems likely that after next election she will be taoiseach, leading the government. Today Policy Exchange, a rightwing thinktank with good links to the UK government, has published a report claiming that Ireland’s neutrality, and its very limited spending on defence, poses a security threat to the UK and suggesting that, with Sinn Féin in power in Dublin, this problem could get worse.
It says:
As well as proving a menace in the maritime domain, Russia – alongside China and Iran – seeks to degrade the UK and its allies through unconventional means. Cyber warfare, institutional espionage, and educational and economic infiltration are all subthreshold methods employed by these authoritarian regimes to destabilise the West.
The combination of ROI’s [the Republic of Ireland’s] flimsy security and intelligence apparatus, unwillingness to acknowledge these threats, and soft border with Northern Ireland poses a grave back-door security risk to the UK. Adversaries are certain to target the ROI, due to its close integration into transatlantic economic and digital systems, membership of the EU, and self-imposed exclusion from multilateral security frameworks. There is already strong evidence of a subversive and illegal Russian, Chinese and Iranian presence across Irish society and sensitive institutions …
As it stands, Sinn Féin is expected to win the ROI’s next election in 2025, a party which will be no friend to British interests. Sinn Féin’s long history of Anglophobia, and conflict with the British state and security services – as well as its opposition to Nato, Russian sympathies, and general anti-western sympathies – will obstruct any meaningful recalibration of security arrangements with the UK. If Sinn Féin wins in 2025, the UK is therefore looking at many more years of an uncooperative, and likely hostile, neighbour in the face of growing external threats.
Asked about the report in an interview with Sky News, Peter Hain, a Labour former Northern Ireland secretary, suggested this was an exaggeration. “The Irish government is going to want to be friends with the British government, whoever is in power, because of our close economic relationship,” he said.
Updated
Jeffrey Donaldson urges Michelle O'Neill to drop talk of border poll and focus on 'issues that really matter'
In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Michelle O’Neill, the new first minister, said she expected a referendum on Irish reunification within a decade.
The Good Friday agreement says that, if it appears “likely” that people in Northern Ireland would vote to join a united Ireland, the UK government must hold a referendum.
But the Safeguarding the Union command paper published by the UK government last week said that this was unlikely to happen for decades. It said:
On the basis of all recent polling, the government sees no realistic prospect of a border poll leading to a united Ireland. We believe that, following the restoration of the devolved institutions, Northern Ireland’s future in the UK will be secure for decades to come and as such the conditions for a border poll are unlikely to be objectively met.
In an interview this morning Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, said that he did not agree with O’Neill about a referendum taking place within a decade and that she was wrong to raise the issue. He told Sky News:
I don’t agree with that at all. I think that Michelle O’Neill, instead of focusing on a divisive border poll – she says she wants to be a first minister for all, well that means the unionist community …
Let’s move forward together. Let’s focus on the issues that really matter to people. They’re not interested in a divisive border poll.
When the Democratic Unionist party held the first minister post it smirked at Sinn Féin references to Michelle O’Neill, then the deputy first minister, being “joint first minister”.
The posts are indeed joint, with equal authority, but the DUP brandished “first minister” as a talisman and reminder that it was the bigger party. Secure in supremacy, it rejected an offer to rename the posts joint first minister.
With Sinn Fein now revelling in having Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister Sir Jeffrey Donaldson performed a smooth, blink-and-you-miss-it U-turn on BBC Radio Ulster on Monday when he referred to his party colleague Emma Little-Pengelly as “joint first minister”.
Let’s see if O’Neill repeats the one-upmanship of Ian Paisley senior who used to refer to Martin McGuinness as “my deputy”.
British Muslims losing trust in Labour over its handling of Israel-Gaza war
Labour has much work to do to retain support among Muslim voters, a senior party figure has said as a poll suggested the party had lost a portion of its Muslim voter base over its handling of the Israel-Gaza war. Aletha Adu has the story.
Northern Ireland at risk of 'further damaging cuts' because £3.3bn funding settlement not enough, NI executive tells Sunak
According to PA Media, Rishi Sunak opened his meeting with Michelle O’Neill, the new first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, the new deputy first minister, with the words:
It has taken a lot of hard work and indeed courage to get us sitting round this table. Today isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and the real work starts now.
It certainly does. The Safeguarding the Union package announced by the UK government last week included £3.3bn for Northern Ireland. But, in more or less its first decision since being revived as a result of that deal, the new power sharing executive has published an open letter to the PM saying that that sum is not enough.
The letter says the current funding settlement “does not provide the long-term sustainability required”.
The financial package states that it will provide a ‘Welsh-style needs-based factor’ that will see future Barnett consequentials increased by 24% from 2024-25. Whilst in Wales this needs-based factor serves to guarantee that Welsh funding will not fall below its assessed level of need, applied from the wrong starting point, as proposed locally, will trap executive funding below need after the short-term funding is exhausted, potentially for decades. Scotland and Wales are both funded considerably above need, whilst this proposed approach ensures our public services will be consistently funded below need, under a ‘fiscal ceiling’.
Whilst we recognise that the short-term funding provided through the financial package supplements and supports our near-term position, it does not provide the long-term sustainability required.
Specifically, the letter also says the executive needs more money for public sector pay. Under the current settlement, there is a risk of “further damaging cuts”, it says.
There is also a clear public expectation that the financial package will fully address public sector pay pressures. However, the reality is that the current package does not meet this expectation nor provide a sustainable solution. The £584m amount included for pay in the December package falls short of the known pressures of c£690m, which aim to broadly reach pay parity with GB, where industrial disputes are not yet fully resolved, and is for one year only.
It is hoped that flexibility will be provided to use any of the £559m not required for debt repayments towards pay pressures. However, even this may not be sufficient. The recurrent cost of these pay awards will also put significant pressure on the executive’s finances. This means that the executive would be forced to make further damaging cuts to public services of the order of hundreds of millions of pounds next financial year and every financial year, in order to meet growing pay pressures.
In effect, the executive would be required to make decisions on whether to cut services or provide fair pay. As you will be aware these issues are interdependent and given the current deterioration of public services and level of industrial action, either option will be near impossible to implement and will cause further lasting damage to citizens, which will be difficult to reverse.
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and vice president Michelle O’Neill, the first minister in Northern Ireland, have held talks with Rishi Sunak and Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, PA Media reports. PA says:
It is understood the Sinn Fein leaders objected to elements of the recent UK deal with the DUP amid concerns it adopted a pro-union approach to issues such as a border poll and the development of an all-island economy.
The republican party is understood to have made clear its intent to drive an all-island economy through the economy and finance departments it now holds in the newly-formed ministerial executive in Belfast.
They also are believed to have stressed the requirement for the UK government to remain impartial in relation to the calling of any future referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future.
The Israel-Hamas conflict was also spoken about, with McDonald understood to have stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire and the need for international rule to be upheld in the region.
McDonald posted this on X.
Early meeting with @10DowningStreet @RishiSunak in advance of first Executive. Change is all around and must be managed. Shared commitment to partnership and respect at heart of progress.
Early meeting with @10DowningStreet @RishiSunak in advance of first Executive. Change is all around and must be managed. Shared commitment to partnership and respect at heart of progress. pic.twitter.com/pexciJeXsY
— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) February 5, 2024
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Some may believe football is more important than life or death but the Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) begs to differ. It has suspended an assembly member, Justin McNulty, who vanished from Stormont’s first sitting on Saturday to manage a Gaelic football team.
McNulty, who represents Armagh and Newry, slipped away early to steer County Laois to victory over County Wexford and missed his party leader, Matthew O’Toole, being nominated opposition leader.
“We weren’t informed he was going to leave nor was permission sought,” O’Toole – a former Downing Street civil servant – told the BBC on Monday. “This was a decision we had to make.” Some in the party – and people in County Louth - have backed McNulty.
Sunak says, while he 'passionately' backs union, UK government will 'always respect constitutional nationalism'
In an article for the Belfast Telegraph published today, Rishi Sunak has said that, while he “passionately” believes in the union, the UK government will “respect the desire for a united Ireland” felt by nationalists.
He said:
The agreement [announced last week] safeguards the union. Far from being neutral on the Union, I passionately believe in it, consistent with the principles in the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement. Northern Ireland is stronger in the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom is far, far stronger for having Northern Ireland in it. So I was pleased that the House of Commons last week passed legislation to affirm Northern Ireland’s constitutional status as part of the UK. It was right to do so because without those new protections, we would have been unable to restore power-sharing.
Of course, I recognise there are many people in Northern Ireland who do not share these views and have different political aspirations.
The government will always give full and equal respect to constitutional nationalism and the desire for a united Ireland, pursued through peaceful and democratic means — just as we recognise that there are a growing number of people who do not define their aspirations by reference to one tradition or another.
This passage addresses concerns raised by the Irish government, and by the SDLP, a nationalist party in Northern Ireland, about language in the Safeguarding the Union command paper published last week seen as implying the UK government had weakened its commitment to allowing people in Northern Ireland a referendum on reunification if they want one.
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Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale says she voted SNP in 2019 Euro elections because she was 'mad about Brexit'
Kezia Dugdale, the former Scottish Labour leader, has admitted she voted for the Scottish National party in a protest against Brexit in May 2019, in the last European elections involving the UK.
Dugdale, who was Scottish party leader from 2015 to 2017 and was still a Labour MSP at the time, has long made clear her opposition to the UK leaving the EU. She has told a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Labour’s Scottish Challenge, she was “so mad about Brexit.”
While that election was largely symbolic – the then prime minister Boris Johnson was negotiating the UK’s departure, Labour lost both of its Scottish MEPs, including the country’s longest serving MEP David Martin.
Dugdale’s switch mirrored defections by tens of thousands of Scottish Labour voters in 2019: the party recorded just 9% of the vote, its worst result amid a series of electoral humiliations at the hands of the SNP.
She said:
I voted SNP once in my life and that was in the European Union elections immediately after Brexit, where I was so mad about Brexit.
I felt I could vote for the SNP in that European Union election, because that in no way could be construed as a vote for independence.
Dugdale, who resigned as a Labour member when she quit Holyrood in July 2019 to become head of the John Smith Centre think tank at Glasgow university, insisted she had “voted Labour in every election since then”.
Even so, the defection will harden suspicions amongst her Labour critics about her pro-independence leanings. Married to the SNP’s education secretary, Jenny Gilruth, Dugdale has acknowledged she could vote yes in a future referendum.
She told the Edinburgh international book festival last year:
If you are presented with a binary choice between an independent Scotland in a progressive Europe or Little Boris Brexit Britain, I know where my cards would fall down.
I also know I couldn’t argue with the same strength for the union that I did in 2014 now. That doesn’t mean I’m ready to vote yes; there are big, big questions we need to debate as a country and resolve.
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Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA
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Rishi Sunak admits he has failed on pledge to cut NHS waiting lists
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in Belfast today, where he is meeting political leaders, including the new first minister, Michelle O’Neill, and deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, and the taoiseach (Irish PM), Leo Varadkar. This is a (rare) good news story because, with his two revisions to the Northern Ireland protocol (the Windsor framework announced last February, and last week’s Safeguarding the Union tweaks and enhancements to the framework), and the DUP finally lifting its two-year boycott of Stormont, Northern Ireland can now move forward with devolved government in place and the Brexit disruption, if not over for good, at least receding.
But Sunak will know that prime ministers never get any credit with British voters for achievements in Belfast, and so there is an equally important story in an interview he gave to Piers Morgan on TalkTV, being broadcast tonight. Sunak admitted that he has failed on his NHS waiting lists target.
The fact that he has failed is not, of course, news. Last January as one of his five pledges, Sunak said: “NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly.” He did not say when, but waiting lists have been going up and so every assessment last month of how Sunak was doing on his pledges, like the Guardian’s, marked this down as failing.
But getting a frontline politician like Sunak to admit a failure on this scale is another matter, and Morgan did make news by forcing the PM into an awkward moment of candour. Last month, in interviews on the pledges, Sunak claimed he was “making progress”. But when Morgan asked him about waiting lists, Sunak said almost the opposite: “We haven’t made enough progress.”
The exchange went on:
Morgan: “You failed on that pledge?”
Sunak: “Yes, we have.”
Morgan: “Because you said, NHS waiting lists will fall. In fact, they are slightly coming down now. But the waiting list is still nearly half a million more than it was at the start of last year. Do you accept that?”
Sunak: “Yes. And we all know the reasons for that and what I would say to people is look we’ve invested record amounts in the NHS, more doctors, more nurses, more scanners. All these things mean that the NHS is doing more today than it ever has been. But industrial action has had an impact.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Rishi Sunak is due to meet Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly, Northern Ireland’s new first minister and deputy first minister, at Stormont. He is meeting Leo Varadkar, his Irish counterpart, too.
Morning: Sunak is expected to hold a press conference.
2.30pm: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
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