Evening summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s stories:
Rishi Sunak has set a new goal of bringing immigration numbers down below the level he “inherited”, which was about 500,000 net arrivals a year when he became prime minister. He redefined his target on immigration after earlier in the week backing away from the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promise to reduce it below the level then of about 220,000. Sunak said he would not put a number on the level of net immigration he would like to see, but that he wanted it to come down below what it was when he took over. Figures released in November show net immigration was 500,000 for the year to June 2022.
Rishi Sunak works “incredibly closely” with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, on immigration policy, Downing Street has said. A No 10 spokesperson added that the prime minister would not “put a number” on his ambition to bring overall immigration down, but that he would “take stock” of official net immigration figures due to be released later this month.
Immigration could increase in the “short term” under a Labour government, the party’s chair has suggested, but would ultimately be reduced by addressing the domestic skills shortage. Anneliese Dodds indicated Labour would focus less on a target-based approach to the number of people entering the country, and more on training within the UK. As an examples, she pointed to the party’s pledge to double the number of medical school places and to train 10,000 more nurses and midwives each year.
The BBC board has commissioned a review of the broadcaster’s coverage of immigration, including small boats crossing the Channel, to “consider whether due impartiality is being delivered”, the corporation has said. The review would be jointly chaired by Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory based at the University of Oxford, and Samir Shah, the chief executive of the independent television and radio production company Juniper, PA Media reported. It would also assess the coverage of topics such as the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, the impact of immigration on communities in the UK, and the admission of refugees from Ukraine.
More than 200 BBC journalists in Northern Ireland are on a 24-hour strike to protest against cuts to jobs and programming. The National Union of Journalists’ strike, which started at 12.15am on Friday, resulted in BBC Radio Ulster replacing its usual Friday fare – Good Morning Ulster, the Nolan Show, TalkBack – with content from Radio 5 Live. The station still broadcast hourly news bulletins. The action coincided with the counting of votes from the local government election held on Thursday.
Peers have supported moves to give employees the right to request flexible working from their first day in a job, PA Media reports. The employment relations (flexible working) bill is a “very welcome starting point and not an end point” for changing working conditions, according to Labour. The measures are supported by the government and received an unopposed second reading in the House of Lords.
Plans to shake up the railway network may be watered down, with legislation to give powers to a proposed new public sector body facing possible delay, it has been reported. The creation of Great British Railways (GBR), announced in 2021 by the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a way to simplify the rail network and improve services for passengers, might not be brought forward in this year’s king’s speech, the Times said, citing officials at the Department for Transport.
Rishi Sunak’s personal family fortune has fallen by more than £200m over the last year. Sunak, a former hedge fund manager and reputedly the UK’s wealthiest ever prime minister, and his wife, the businesswoman Akshata Murty, have an estimated worth of about £529m, according to the latest Sunday Times rich list, a fall from £730m in 2022.
Sinn Féin appears to have made a strong start as the first results of Northern Ireland local government elections emerge. By 3pm on Friday, the party was leading the way with 29 councillors elected, ahead of the DUP with 18 seats, the Alliance party with eight seats, the UUP with four and the SDLP with one seat. The elections use the single transferable vote system where voters rank candidates in order of preference.
Carers will be able to take unpaid leave from their jobs after a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP’s bill passed in Westminster. North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain’s carer’s leave bill will become law after it passed its final stage in the House of Lords on Friday, PA Media reported. It will take effect next year once it is given royal assent.
Rishi Sunak has talked up Ben Wallace as a potential Nato secretary general, after the defence secretary confirmed his interest in the job. The prime minister praised Wallace as “widely respected” among his international counterparts when asked about his cabinet minister touting himself to succeed Jens Stoltenberg next year. Wallace has long been tipped as a contender, owing to his role in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, despite the secretary general job often going to more senior politicians, such as former prime ministers.
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Migration could increase in the “short term” under a Labour government, the party’s chair has suggested, but would ultimately be reduced by addressing the domestic skills shortage.
Anneliese Dodds indicated Labour would focus less on a target-based approach to the number of people entering the country, and more on training within the UK.
She pointed to the party’s pledge to double the number of medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses and midwives each year as an example.
Asked on Sky News whether Labour wanted migration to increase, Dodds said:
Well, what we would see if we had an immigration system that was working properly would be potentially in some areas where there’s a short-term need for skills, you could see in the short term actually people who are coming in increasing in number. But in the medium- and long-term, a reduction, because we would be training people up in our own country.
We’ve not had that unfortunately under the Conservatives. We’ve got skills shortages and those shortages are not being filled because there’s not the domestic upskilling that needs to be taking place.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has conceded he believes immigration into the UK is “too high”, but refused to commit to bringing levels down by the next election.
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Sinn Féin makes strong start in first results of Northern Ireland local government elections
Sinn Féin appears to have made a strong start as the first results of Northern Ireland local government elections emerge.
By 3pm on Friday, the party was leading the way with 29 councillors elected, ahead of the DUP with 18 seats, the Alliance party with eight seats, the UUP with four and the SDLP with one seat.
The elections use the single transferable vote system where voters rank candidates in order of preference.
This means how voters transfer their vote can lead to tight races for the final seats in each of the 11 council areas.
The general pattern around voter turnout appeared to be up slightly in areas which would be regarded as predominantly nationalist/republican and down slightly in areas viewed as unionist-majority.
Opinion polls before the election suggested Sinn Féin would emerge as the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland, as they became the largest party at Stormont following last year’s assembly election.
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Carers will be able to take unpaid leave from their employment after a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP’s bill passed in Westminster.
North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain’s carer’s leave bill will become law after it passed its final stage in the House of Lords on Friday, PA Media reported. It will take effect next year once it is given royal assent.
An estimated 2.4 million unpaid carers across the UK will have a statutory right to take five days of unpaid leave a year from their paid jobs. The entitlement applies to all employees regardless of length of service and starting from day one of their employment.
It also aims to minimise the pressure on employees who have to juggle work and caring.
It has been described by charity Carers UK as a “landmark” piece of legislation which would help unpaid carers balance their work and caring commitments.
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It is a topic Rishi Sunak would no doubt prefer to avoid: the record-breaking jump in net immigration – soon to be revealed in official figures – which is already causing increasingly fractious rows within his cabinet.
Even a trip to the G7 summit in Japan was not far enough, with reporters on the flight asking directly whether the prime minister intended to stick to Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto pledge to bring net immigration down.
Sunak’s response was, at best, evasive, and included the suggestion that he blamed the rise in foreign workers – a leading factor in driving up figures – on Boris Johnson’s administration.
“I’ve inherited some numbers, I want to bring the numbers down,” he said. Pushed as to whether he stood by Johnson’s pledge, he refused to do so, saying: “I’ve said I do want to bring legal migration down. I think illegal migration is undoubtedly the country’s priority, and you can see all the work I’m putting into that as well. But on legal migration as well we are committed to bringing those numbers down.”
His refusal to reiterate Johnson’s promise has done little to calm a briefing war which has raged all week between members of Sunak’s cabinet over whether the UK should issue more visas for foreign staff in industries short of workers.
Peers have supported moves to give employees the right to request flexible working from their first day in a job, PA Media reports.
The employment relations (flexible working) bill is a “very welcome starting point and not an end point” for reforming working conditions, according to Labour.
The measures are supported by the government and received an unopposed second reading in the House of Lords.
Under the current rules, a person who has 26 weeks of continuous service with their employer can request a change to their working hours, times or location.
They are also required to explain the effect of the change on their employer and can only make one request in a 12-month period.
The bill seeks to amend existing legislation to allow employees to make two requests a year, to no longer have to explain the impact on their employer and require consultation before an application is refused.
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Plans to shake up the railway network may be watered down, as legislation to give powers to a proposed new public sector body could be delayed, it has been reported.
Great British Railways (GBR), announced in 2021 by the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, as a way to simplify the rail network and improve services for passengers, might not be brought forward in this year’s king’s speech, the Times said, citing officials at the Department for Transport (DfT).
The body was to absorb the state-owned infrastructure management company Network Rail and take on many functions from the DfT, with its tasks to include issuing passenger service contracts to private companies to run trains, PA Media reported.
It was initially due to be launched in early 2024 but was delayed as the government axed its plan to introduce a transport bill during the current parliamentary session, citing the need to prioritise legislation related to the energy crisis.
But the legislation required to set up the body may now also be excluded from the next parliamentary session, the last before a general election that the Conservatives may lose.
According to the Times, DfT sources have been told the railways are not a priority for the prime minister, Rishi Sunak. They believe a significantly watered-down version of GBR could be established, without overall control of the railways, the newspaper said.
The DfT sought to downplay the report, with a spokesperson saying:
The government remains fully committed to reforming our railways and will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows, having already taken numerous steps towards reform.
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Rishi Sunak works 'incredibly closely' with Suella Braverman on immigration policy, says No 10
Rishi Sunak works “incredibly closely” with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, on immigration policy, Downing Street has said.
A No 10 spokesperson added that the prime minister would not “put a number” on his ambition to bring overall migration down but that he would “take stock” of official net migration figures due to be released later this month.
“[The prime minister] said specifically ‘I won’t put a number on it.’ We don’t know what the numbers will be next week and it’s right we take stock of those,” Downing Street said, adding:
But of course, the prime minister speaks to his cabinet colleagues and the home secretary specifically, they’ve worked incredibly closely on the ‘stop the boats’ bill and the work the government’s taking forward to try to tackle illegal immigration.
Of course the prime minister will work closely with cabinet ministers on the ambition to reduce overall migration.
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It’s family photo time at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, today. Here are the leaders, including Britain’s Rishi Sunak, at the Itsukushima shrine this morning.
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BBC commissions review of migration coverage
The BBC Board has commissioned a review of the broadcaster’s coverage of migration, including small boats crossing the Channel, to “consider whether due impartiality is being delivered”, the corporation has said.
The review would be jointly chaired by Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory based at Oxford University, and Samir Shah, the chief executive of the independent television and radio production company Juniper, PA Media reported.
It will also assess the coverage of topics such as the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda, the impact of migration on communities in the UK, and the admission of refugees from Ukraine.
The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, said:
Madeleine Sumption and Samir Shah are well-known for their expert understanding of the issues involved in delivering impartial coverage of migration, which is an important and often intensely contested subject.
Their combination of evidence-based academic research and working knowledge of impartiality in broadcasting make them highly qualified to lead the thematic review into BBC migration output. Their findings will ensure the BBC continues to have the correct approach to producing coverage that audiences can trust.
The review’s work would begin “in the coming days”, the broadcaster said, as it committed to publishing its findings.
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More than 200 BBC journalists in Northern Ireland are on a 24-hour strike to protest against cuts to jobs and programming.
The National Union of Journalists’ strike, which started at 00.15am on Friday, resulted in BBC Radio Ulster replacing its usual Friday fare – Good Morning Ulster, the Nolan Show, TalkBack – with content from Radio 5 Live. The station still broadcast hourly news bulletins.
The action coincided with the counting of votes from the local government election held on Thursday.
“The decision to strike on such a significant news day has not been taken lightly and reflects frustration on the part of NUJ members,” said the NUJ assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley. “They want to report the news rather than make their own headlines, it is regrettable that they find themselves in this situation.”
The BBC journalists are protesting against the axing of Radio Foyle’s flagship two-hour morning show – it has been replaced with a 30-minute news programme – and a reorganisation of services in Northern Ireland which shifts funds to digital services.
The corporation said it needed to make savings in some sectors while investing in online services. “The BBC’s region-wide programming from Foyle has been increased and its net staffing levels will be maintained,” said a spokesperson. “Our engagement with staff and the trade unions will continue.”
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Rishi Sunak has seen his personal family fortune fall by more than £200m over the last year.
Sunak, a former hedge fund manager and reputedly the UK’s wealthiest ever prime minister, and his heiress wife, Akshata Murty, have an estimated worth of about £529m in the latest Sunday Times rich list, a fall from £730m in 2022.
Murty owns a small stake in Infosys, a $64bn (£52bn) Indian IT firm co-founded by her billionaire father. The value of that stake has fallen, driving the drop in the couple’s fortunes.
Murty owns just under 1% of the business. The company’s shares have lost about a fifth of their value in the last year as investors have worried about the future of the Indian technology sector.
Rishi Sunak praises Ben Wallace after defence secretary confirms interest in Nato secretary general job
Rishi Sunak has talked up Ben Wallace in his effort to be the next Nato secretary general, after the defence secretary confirmed his interest in the job.
The prime minister praised Wallace as “widely respected” among his international counterparts when asked about his cabinet minister touting himself to succeed Jens Stoltenberg next year.
Wallace has long been tipped as a contender owing to his role in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, despite the secretary general job often going to more senior politicians such as former prime ministers.
The defence secretary has never previously said outright that he would like the job, but told the German news agency dpa on Thursday: “I’ve always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now.”
He added that secretary general of the transatlantic alliance “is a fantastic job and Nato is an incredibly important part of all our securities”.
He added: “But it’s not for me to decide. It’s for all the other allies.”
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Rishi Sunak says he aims to bring immigration below level he ‘inherited’
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that Rishi Sunak has set a new goal of bringing migration down below the level he “inherited”, which was about 500,000 net arrivals a year when he became prime minister.
He redefined his target on immigration after earlier in the week backing away from the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promise to reduce it below the level then of about 220,000.
Sunak said he would not put a number on the level of net immigration he would like to see but he wanted it to come down below what it was when he took over. Figures released in November show net immigration was 500,000 for the year to June 2022.
Experts believe net immigration figures for this year could come in at between 600,000 and 1 million, prompting a backlash among Conservative backbenchers.
Speaking to broadcasters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunak said he was “crystal clear” he wanted to reduce immigration, but when pressed on how far, he said:
I’m not going to put a precise figure on it but I do want to bring them down.
He said:
The numbers are too high and we want to bring them down. Now, the numbers last year were impacted by the fact that we welcomed Ukrainian refugees to the UK. Again, that’s something I think we are proud of.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is expected to join the summit in person as Sunak and allies seek to turn up the pressure on Russia. But more on that later.
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