A summary of today's developments
The government suffered two defeats on Wednesday in the House Lords over its Safety of Rwanda bill. Peers voted to accept Motion D1 which adds an exemption to the removal to Rwanda for people who have supported the UK armed forces and their families. The contents voted 247, the not contents 195, meaning the Bill will be sent back to the Commons for debate once again. Earlier, Downing Street said it would not be offering concessions.
Peers also voted to accept Motion B1 which would reinstate the Lords amendment on a monitoring committee to decide when Rwanda is safe. The contents voted 245, the not contents 208.
Labour said it remains “completely confident” that Angela Rayner has complied with all rules after the chief constable of Greater Manchester police said she was facing investigation “over a number of assertions knocking about”. Keir Starmer told MPs he believed the accusation that Rayner lied about her primary residence to avoid tax was a “smear”.
James Daly, the deputy chair of the Conservative party, wrote to Greater Manchester police asking them to investigate Angela Rayner and, when the force initially declined to look into it, he successfully persuaded them to think again. But in media interviews, Daly refused to say what he thinks Rayner did wrong
Labour said it is “deeply concerning” that Rishi Sunak refused to rule out cutting the NHS or pensions, or putting up taxes, to fund his £46bn long-term plan to abolish national insurance in a statement after PMQs.
James Cleverly has criticised the Labour party over the continual delays to the passage of the Rwanda bill.
“Terrified that the Rwanda scheme will work, and desperate to delay or disrupt over a hundred votes about stopping the boats, Labour have acted again to block the passage of the Rwanda bill,” the home secretary said.
Peers vote to accept Motion D1 in further setback for Rishi Sunak
Peers have voted to accept Motion D1.
The contents voted 247, the not contents 195, meaning the Bill will be sent back to the Commons for debate once again.
Peers have divided to vote on Motion D1 which adds an exemption to the removal to Rwanda for people who have supported the UK armed forces and their families.
The fresh amendment to the Rwanda bill means it will be sent back to the Commons for debate once again.
Peers vote to accept Motion B1.
Peers have voted to accept Motion B1.
The contents voted 245, the not contents 208.
Over to the House of Lords now on the Safety of Rwanda Bill.
Peers have divided to vote on Motion B1 which would reinstate the Lords amendment on a monitoring committee to decide when Rwanda is safe.
The Home Office has confirmed a new deal with Vietnam to strengthen collaboration on efforts to tackle illegal migration, including through deterrence communication campaigns and intelligence-sharing.
Officials said the agreement will “continue to facilitate the process for the return of those with no right to remain in the UK” and lead to the development of a joint action plan to tackle human trafficking.
Vietnamese nationals made up 5% of small boat arrivals in the UK in 2023, up from 1% in 2022 but the same proportion as in 2021, Home Office figures show.
From 2018 to the end of 2023, there were 3,356 Vietnamese small boat arrivals, putting Vietnam in the top 10 source countries.
Government officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.
This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of people who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives have been forced to pay back huge sums after being chased by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over “honest mistakes” that officials could have spotted years earlier.
Dozens of unpaid carers have said they feel powerless to challenge the penalties, which often run into many thousands of pounds, even when the government is at fault.
Now the Guardian has learned that the DWP is warning carers that their fine may increase if they appeal against a repayment order.
The DWP said: “Carers across the UK are unsung heroes who make a huge difference to someone else’s life and we have increased carer’s allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010.
“We have safeguards in place for managing repayments, that’s why visiting officers are available to provide support and assistance to customers when attending their homes, particularly for those deemed vulnerable.
“Claimants have a responsibility to inform DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award, and it is right that we recover taxpayers’ money when this has not occurred.”
According to Sky’s Beth Rigby, the government are saying, if they lose in the Lords tonight on the two remaining issues on the Rwanda bill (and it is expected the government will lose), Labour will be to blame for the bill not becoming law until next week.
Update: Now looks like Lab to whip on two amendments in HoL tonite. Lab source tells me if votes go thru, Rwanda Bill won't get back to HoC until Monday (this fourth time bill in Lords). Govt figure: "We wanted to get it done today, but it shows Lab for their true colours." https://t.co/Bo3venfXuP
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) April 17, 2024
Update: Now looks like Lab to whip on two amendments in HoL tonite. Lab source tells me if votes go thru, Rwanda Bill won’t get back to HoC until Monday (this fourth time bill in Lords). Govt figure: “We wanted to get it done today, but it shows Lab for their true colours.”
Labour figures say it is the government that decides when debates take place and that, if ministers wanted “ping pong” to wrap up this week, they could have made that happen, by bringing the bill back to the Commons later tonight, or tomorrow.
Although peers are still refusing to back down on their two priority issues (see 9.55am), it is expected that at some time soon they will back down and let the government have its way.
That’s all from me for tonight. My colleague Nadeem Badshah is now taking over.
The Conservative MP Sir Robert Buckland, a former justice secretary, voted with the opposition against the government on two of the Lords amendments to the Rwanda bill. These were the ones saying the monitoring committee should decide when Rwanda is safe, and Afghans who worked with British forces should be exempt from deportation to Rwanda.
He was the only Tory MP who rebelled by voting against the government this afternoon.
The full division lists are here.
This is from Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, on the Commons vote earlier taking out the Lords amendment exempting Afghans who helped British troops from deportation to Rwanda.
Tory MPs just voted to insist that Afghan interpreters who served British armed forces can be sent to Rwanda.
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) April 17, 2024
A scheme which costs £2m per asylum seeker. A £500m+ scheme for less than 1% of asylum seekers. Which now includes those who worked with our troops
Shameful & shambolic https://t.co/yhoTS1BwpR
Tory MPs just voted to insist that Afghan interpreters who served British armed forces can be sent to Rwanda.
A scheme which costs £2m per asylum seeker. A £500m+ scheme for less than 1% of asylum seekers. Which now includes those who worked with our troops
Shameful & shambolic
In the House of Lords peers have been told they have until 5.55pm to submit amendments for the latest debate on the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.
Politico says peers are going to force votes on the two amendments they most want to see added to the bill. They are the ones flagged up by David Anderson this morning: letting the independent monitoring committee make the final decision about if and when Rwanda is a safe country (an amendment originally tabled by Lord Hope of Craighhead, a former deputy president of the supreme court); and exempting Afghans who helped the British in Afghanistan from deportation to Rwanda (an amendment originally tabled by Des Browne, the former Labour defence secretary).
John Crace has been back this week, and today he sketched PMQs. Here it is.
James Daly, the Conservative party deputy chair, could be forgiven for not wanting to say what Angela Rayner is supposed to have done wrong in relation to the council home she brought, and sold, before she became MP. (See 2.29pm.) The exact “charge sheet” as set out by her critics keeps changing.
The story was triggered by the publication of a biography of Rayner by Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory donor and former deputy party chair who has now published biographies of several leading political figures. Political research is one of his hobbies and, as well as running his own private polling operation, he pays for researchers to help him write books.
The biography describes how Rayner used right to buy to purchase her council home in Stockport, and quotes neighbours claiming that for some of the time she was supposed to be living there she was actually living with her husband in a different road in the town. Ashcroft did not directly accuse Rayner in the book of breaking the law, but he suggested she had questions to answer about whether she had complied with conditions attached to right-to-buy purchases.
The story did not take off until the Mail on Sunday published a story in February suggesting that Rayner avoided paying capital gains tax (up to £3,500) that it said she should have paid when her home was sold. Rayner denies this. The story was based on information in the Ashcroft book, but it was the Mail, not Ashcroft, that raised the CGT issue.
For several weeks the story focused on the capital gains tax issue. But when the matter was referred to the police by Tories, the main allegation shifted to one that Rayner may have broken electoral law by putting her wrong address on the electoral register. (The police don’t normally investigate tax matters.) Media stories focused on this for a while, until it became widely understood that prosecutions relating to the electoral register have to be lodged within 12 months of the offence being committed.
That prompted a search for another rule that Rayner might have broken. One suggestion is that, if she moved out of her right-to-buy home early, she should have repaid some of the discount she received when she bought it.
But this afternoon the Telegraph is focusing on an alternative allegation; it is claiming that Greater Manchester police are investigating claims that Rayner wrongly claimed a single person’s council tax discount on the property.
Rayner has repeatedly said that Ashcroft was wrong to say that she was not living in the home she brought when she said she was. She has also said her circumstances were unusual at the time partly because she had a very premature baby who spent eight months in intensive care.
Matthew Parris is not the only former Tory MP who feels that attacks on Rayner have gone too far. (See 11.39am.) In a letter published in the Times yesterday, Nick Boles, who served as a minister under David Cameron, attacked the hounding of Rayner in language that echoes what Keir Starmer said at PMQs. Boles said:
Having served for nine years as an MP I know how low politicians can stoop when their backs are against the wall. But the Conservative attack on Angela Rayner is one of the most grotesque spectacles of hypocrisy I have witnessed. On one side is a billionaire Tory peer, Lord Ashcroft, and a multimillionaire Tory prime minister, Rishi Sunak, whose families have all avoided paying millions of pounds in UK tax as beneficiaries of non-dom status and who live lives of luxury. On the other is a woman who grew up in poverty caring for her illiterate mother, who is now mother to a child who is registered blind, and who through her own guts and character has risen to be deputy leader of the Labour party. Even Rayner’s accusers accept that the most she might have benefited from the error that they allege – and which she denies – is less than £3,000 in tax.
I suppose that her attackers cannot bear the idea that they are about to lose to a woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps. And who is going wipe the floor with them.
Rwanda bill faces further delay under government plan to put off further debates until next week if it loses in Lords tonight
The Rwanda bill may not become law until next week. MPs had expected the “ping pong” process to conclude late this evening, or tomorrow, but if the House of Lords does not accept the government’s version of the bill tonight, ministers are now expected to delay its return to the House of Commons (the next round of “ping pong”) until Monday next week, the Guardian has been told.
Rwanda bill showdown continues, as it returns to Lords with peers planning further attempt to insert safeguards
MPs have now voted down all four amendments to the Rwanda bill inserted by the House of Lords yesterday. The government won the last two votes by 310 votes to 240, and by 302 votes to 244.
The bill is now going back to the Lords, where peers will debate it again at around 6pm.
Peers are not expected to back down tonight, and they are likely to hold votes on reinserting at least one of their safeguards back into the bill, and possibly two. The two priorities are letting the monitoring committee decide whether Rwanda is safe, and exempting Afghans who helped British troops from deportation to Rwanda. (See 9.55am.)
Updated
The government has won the second Rwanda bill vote in the Commons, by 306 votes to 240, exactly the same majority as in the previous division. MPs are now voting for a third time.
The government has won the first of today’s votes on the Rwanda bill by 306 votes to 240 – a majority of 66. It is expected to vote down all four of the amendments passed by the House of Lords yesterday (see 9.55am) quite easily. The second division is taking place now.
In the Commons the Rwanda debate is over, and MPs are now voting on the amendments to reject the four ones passed by the Lords.
In the interests of accuracy, it is worth pointing out that Keir Starmer was wrong to describe Rishi Sunak as a “billionaire” at PMQs. (See 12.06pm.) Or Starmer was only accurate if allowed considerable leeway for rounding up. The Sunday Times rich list said Sunak and his wife were worth £730m in 2022, but last year this was down to £529m.
At PMQs Starmer also seemed to be referring to Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory deputy chair and party donor who wrote the biography of Angela Rayner that triggered the controversy about her housing arrangements, as a billionaire who smeared her. I have not posted that quote because it was impossible to hear exactly what he said. But Ashcroft is reportedly a bona fide billionaire, unlike Sunak who is only a bona fide millionaire.
Labour says sending Afghans who helped British troops to Rwanda would be 'simply unconscionable'
Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, criticised the government for rejecting the four Lords amendment. He was particularly critical of what Tomlinson said about Afghans who served with British troops. (See 3.03pm.) He said Britain owed these people a debt of honour and gratidute. “The idea that we might send them to Rwanda is simply unconscionable,” he said.
Minister says government has already started review of how Afghans who helped British troops can be eligible for asylum
And this is what Tomlinson said about the Lords amendment that would exempt Afghans who have served with British forces in Afghanistan from deportation to Rwanda. He said:
This government recognises the commitment and responsibility that comes with combat veterans, whether our own or those who have shown courage by serving alongside us … We will not let them down.
Section four of the Illegal Migration Act enables the secretary of state to specify categories of persons to whom the duty to remove will not apply.
And, once the United Kingdom’s special forces Arap review … has concluded, the government will consider how to revisit our immigration legislation and how it will apply to those who will be eligible as a result of the review.
In response to a question about why people should believe that this review will make any difference, Tomlinson said Rishi Sunak had a veterans minister, Johnny Mercer, sitting at the cabinet table, and James Cleverly, the home secretary, was a veteran too. “We will not let them [veterans and people who worked with them] down,” he said.
Updated
Tomlinson told MPs that the Lords amendment allowing officals to rule that Rwanda is not safe for particular asylum seekers was not acceptable because it ran “contrary to the core purpose of this bill”.
The second Lords amendment would ensure that Rwanda cannot be treated as a safe country until the independent monitoring committee has confirmed that it is safe.
Tomlinson said the bill would only take effect when the UK-Rwanda treaty (requiring Rwanda to make changes to its asylum system to address concerns raised by the UK supreme court) has come into force, and that treaty would only come into force when the changes have been implemented.
He also said that the monitoring committee would be monitoring how Rwanda was complying with asylum rules daily, for the first three months.
Sir Bob Neill (Con), chair of the Commons justice committee, suggesting the Lords amendment on this point was reasonable. But Tomlinson argued that it was unnecessary.
Tomlinson said the amendment passed by the Lords making it explict that the bill has to be implemented in accordance with international law was unnecessary.
Michael Tomlinson, the illegal migration minister, is opening the debate for the government. He is explaining why the government is rejecting the four amendments passed by the House of Lords yesterday.
He said all four amendments were either “unnecessary or wrecking”.
No 10 says is it not considering concessions as MPs begin debating Lords amendments to Rwanda bill
In the Commons MPs are now debating the latest Lords amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.
As Rajeev Syal reports, there were suggestions this mornin that the government might offer concessions intended to allow Afghans who served with British troops in Afghanistan to be exempt from deportation to Rwanda. This is one of two issues on which peers are most reluctant to back down. (See 9.55am.)
But, at the post-PMQs No 10 lobby briefing, Downing Street said it would not be offering concessions. A spokesperson said:
We’re not considering concessions. We believe that the bill as it stands is the right way forward.
On the issue of Afghans who served with British forces, the spokesperson said:
We’ve already offered a number of safe and legal routes to the UK for individuals in that category. The UK government offer under Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) is one of the most generous of any country, and we’re proud to have relocated over 16,000 people to safety in the UK in the scheme so far.
Tory deputy chair James Daly declines to say what Rayner supposed to have done wrong
James Daly, the deputy chair of the Conservative party, wrote to Greater Manchester police asking them to investigate Angela Rayner and, when the force initially declined to look into it, he successfully persuaded them to think again.
But in interviews Daly has refused to say what he thinks Rayner did wrong. He did this yesterday on Politics Live, and again today on Sky News.
"Why won't you say?" asks Sky's @BethRigby
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 17, 2024
Conservative James Daly MP refuses to answer multiple times when asked what he thinks Angela Rayner has done wrong, despite being the person who contacted the police about her.https://t.co/qeYG7JJ2VK
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/wBcR1ddxVk
In another interview on Radio 4’s the World at One, Daly defended his refusal to say what he was alleging. He said, now that the police have decided to investigate, he thought it was preferable to allow them to get on with their job.
Updated
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, told Radio 4’s the World at One that he thought the Conservatives were using the Angela Rayner allegations as a deliberate distraction strategy. He said:
This is a familiar Conservative party playbook now. We saw this couple of years ago in relation to Durham [the “beergate” allegations] where we saw the same tactics used. I think it’s a very deliberate attempt to distract from just talking about the fact they’ve got £46bn of unfunded commitments.
Streeting said Rayner had repeated answered questions about this affair (she insists she has done nothing wrong) and he said she would be talking to Greater Manchester police. Predicting that Rayner would “draw a line under all of this and come out stronger”, he went on:
If people are in any doubt whatsoever about Angela Rayner’s integrity or confidence, look at the fact that she said if the police find she has broken the law, she will resign as deputy leader of the Labour party. That’s a stark contrast, by the way, to the prime minister who was fined for breaking the Covid rules he asked everyone else to follow.
Labour says it's 'deeply concerning' Sunak won't rule out cutting NHS or pensions to fund £46bn national insurance plan
Labour has said it is “deeply concerning” that Rishi Sunak refused to rule out cutting the NHS or pensions, or putting up taxes, to fund his £46bn long-term plan to abolish national insurance. In a statement after PMQs, Pat McFadden, the party’s national campaign coordinator, said:
The prime minister was given three chances today to rule out cuts to the NHS, cuts to the state pension or income tax increases to pay for his completely unfunded £46bn plan to scrap national insurance. It will be deeply concerning for the whole country that he pointedly refused to do so.
In the week when Liz Truss has been busy reminding everyone of the consequences of unfunded Tory promises, the British public deserve answers. It’s time for Rishi Sunak to come clean and stop avoiding the question on everyone’s lips: how is he going to pay for it?
Updated
I have beefed up the earlier post about Keir Starmer’s response to Rishi Sunak’s comment about Angela Rayner (see 12.06pm) with the best version we have of Starmer’s quote. He said:
You’ve got a billionaire prime minister … whose family has used schemes to avoid millions of pounds’ worth of tax, smearing a working-class woman.
You may have to refresh the page to get the update to appear.
As explained earlier (see 1.22pm), it was impossible to hear the full quote because Tory MPs were barracking so loudly.
PMQs - snap verdict
Political aficionados tend to love general elections, but in some respect there’s a good reason to dread them too. At the moment when the policy debate should be at its most enlightening, it degenerates. Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former political strategist, once said that his policy for winning was to “flood the zone with shit”. That is a bit extreme as a description of today’s PMQs, but not by much.
Keir Starmer started with Liz Truss, and then for most of PMQs sought to resume the attack over Sunak’s long-term £46bn plan to abolish national insurance, which Labour (quite reasonably) argues would require either massive spending cuts or tax increases. But, in his very first response, Sunak threw the Angela Rayner story on the table and from then on he just blasted back with a hail of smear and negativity. Of course, this is not unprecendented. PMQs is like this much of the time. But today it felt excessive, and linked to the imminent arrival of the local elections next month, and the general election soon.
Starmer must have been expecting Sunak to attack him over Rayner. He had a response (see 12.06pm) where he said something about how a “billionaire prime minister” was “smearing a working-class woman” – but I don’t have the full quote because Tory MPs were shouting so loudly it was impossible to hear what he was saying. His strongest rebuttal line on this story was drowned out.
In the rest of his response, Sunak deployed the full gamut of CCHQ attack lines against Labour: Wales, Corbyn, Birmingham, taxes etc. But it was quite suprising to hear him claim: “A few weeks ago [Starmer] finally admitted it to The Sun, what did he say he would do? I quote, he said ‘we would put up taxes’.” The Tories have also been running this seven-second clip on social media, but it is a textbook example of selective quotation dishonesty. What Starmer actually said was: “We are going to put up taxes, we’ve already said that, in relation to the VAT on private schools, the non-dom tax status, some of the loopholes that we’ve identified … we do not want to see an increase on tax for working people.”
To be fair to Sunak, within the context of PMQs (judging it according to its own “rules”, and by how it is perceived by MPs) all this worked for him very well, and he saw off Starmer quite easily. His first response was an effective pivot to the Rayner story.
All I would say is [Starmer] ought to spend a bit less time reading that book and a bit more time reading the deputy leader’s [Angela Rayner] tax advice.
This was not Oscar Wilde, but in Commons terms it counts as high wit. His later jibe about Hizb ut-Tahrir (see 12.19pm) was crude and unfair, but punchy and memorable too.
There must be a better way of holding prime ministers to account. But, if Starmer wins the next election, he does not seem inclined to try to find one. In his new biography, Tom Baldwin quotes Starmer as saying of PMQs: “It is what it is and I don’t see any prospect of it changing any time soon.”
Preet Kaur Gill (Lab) says Andy Street in the West Midlands has only built 46 social homes.
Sunak says, unlike Labout in London, Street has hit all his housing targets. He says the Tories will protect people from what happened in Birmingham under Labour.
Catherine McKinnell (Lab) says crime levels in “Tory-run Teesside” are some of the highest in the country. She says Sunak has lost control of crime.
Sunak says: “What a joke.” He says people with a Tory police and crime commissioner are less likely to be victims of burglary or robbbery.
Updated
George Galloway (Workers Party of Britain) says on Monday Rishi Sunak told MPs he was going to call Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM. How did it go, and will Sunak do if Netanyahu ignores is call not to escalate the situation.
Sunak says he told Netanyahu that “significant escalation is not in anyone’s interest, and it’s a time for calm heads to prevail”.
Nickie Aiken (Con) criticises Sadiq Khan’s record on policing.
Sunak says Khan is failing London on crime. He goes on:
Burglary is down across England. It’s up in London. Violent crime is down across England but up in London. And the Labour mayor is the only one of 43 police and crime commissioners to have missed his police recruitment target.
Updated
Alison Thewliss (SNP) says a Ukrainian MP is in the gallery. How does the PM response to president Zelenskiy’s claim that his country would not be suffering if it had proper air defence.
Sunak says air defence is an important part of the UK aid being supplied to Ukraine.
Updated
Daniel Zeichner (Lab) says Sunak dodged the questions about Liz Truss earlier. What does he think was her greatest acheivement?
Sunak says, while Labour wanted to take the UK back into the EU, Truss was signing trade deals. As a result the UK is now the fourth largest exporter in the world, he says.
Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) asks about a constituent raped by a boyfriend. She was told that reading the transcript of her trial would help her come to terms with what happened. But she was told it would cost £7,000 to get one. In another case someone was told they would have to pay £22,000 to get a transcript. She says the constituent is in the gallery. Will the government help?
Sunak says homicide victims can already get these court transcripts. He says the government wants to reduce transcript costs for other crime victims.
Dame Andrea Jenkins (Con) asks about Angela Rayner.
Sunak says Starmer should show some leadership and insist on reading the legal advice Rayner says he has had clearing her conduct over the sale of her home. He goes on:
It says a lot about his priorities, when it comes to his legal expertise, he’s more than happy to help Hizb ut-Tahrir but refuses to help his own deputy leader.
Updated
Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, asks if Sunak agrees with Gordon Brown, who said in an FT interview this week that forces tearing the country apart were stronger than those holding it together.
Sunak says he agrees with Brown about Scottish independence being a bad idea.
Flynn asks if Sunak welcomes the support from Labour in refusing Scotland a say on its future.
Sunak says the SNP should stop trying to lock up JK Rowling and and focus on doing what the Scottish people want.
Updated
Starmer says Sunak has missed two opportunities to rule out cutting pensions, or putting up taxes, to fund the abolition of national insurance.
Sunak says Starmer is just sniping from the sidelines. He says pensions are going up, childcare is being expanded, and inflation is down.
Starmer asks again how Labour would fund its plan to get rid of national insurance.
Sunak claims Labour has taken on a new adviser who thinks supporting pensioners is a disgrace.
Sunak is referring to Edward Troup – a former adviser to the Conservative party.
Updated
Starmer says that, to abolish national insurance, the Tories would have to cut pensions or put up taxes. Which is it?
Sunak says Starmer told the Sun recently he would “put up taxes”.
He is quoting Starmer very selectively. Starmer was talking about putting up taxes in the limited areas already made public, like VAT on school fees.
Starmer asks how the Tories would fund their £46bn plan to get rid of national insurance.
Sunak says when he was running for leader, he said he disagreed with Liz Truss. But Starmer tried to make Jeremy Corbyn PM despite Corbyn’s lack of support for Nato, and the antisemitism in the party.
Updated
Starmer dismisses Tory attack on Rayner as 'billionaire PM smearing working-class woman'
Starmer says the Tories have been smearing a working-class woman.
He says Truss blames everyone, including the “poor old lettuce”, who she claims was part of the deep state.
It is not clear if Starmer is quoting the book, or the Daily Star splash.
Daily Star knocking it out the park again… pic.twitter.com/DyCIufGSkc
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) April 17, 2024
Sunak says people would pay more tax under Labour.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
You’ve got a billionaire prime minister … whose family has used schemes to avoid millions of pounds’ worth of tax, smearing a working-class woman.
Updated
Keir Starmer also welcomes the post office operators. And he says it is 35 years since the Hillsborough disaster. There must be a Hillsborough law, he says.
He says he has a copy of Liz Truss’s book. “It’s a rare unsigned copy.” She claims her kamikaze budget was “the happiest moment” of her premiership. Has Sunak met anyone with a mortgage who agrees?
Sunak says Starmer should spend less time reading that book, and more time reading Angela Rayner’s tax advice.
Tory MPs are cheering as if Sunak were Churchill.
Updated
Selaine Saxby (Con) asks about bus services in her North Devon constituency. She blames the Lib Dem council for not reopening a bus station.
Sunak says the government is giving Devon £17m for bus services. He has a pop at the Lib Dems too.
Rishi Sunak starts by saying there are post office operators in the gallery watching. It has been one of the country’s biggest legal scandals, he says.
Updated
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Sunak faces Starmer at PMQs
PMQs is starting soon.
Updated
Richard Holden was the Conservative MP who did most to publicise the so-called “beergate” controversy and to get Durham police to investigate claims that Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner broke lockdown rules at a Labour event in 2021. In some respects Holden’s campaign was a complete flop. Starmer and Rayner were exonerated by the police, and Starmer got credit for promising that he would resign if he was found to have broken the law. But, for Holden, it was a career highlight. Tory HQ liked the fact that the row distracted Starmer and put him on the defensive for months, and without “beergate” it is hard to imagine that Holden would have ended up as Tory chair.
Now he is trying the same strategy with Rayner, and the controversy about the sale of the council home she brought long before she became an MP. In response to the news that Greater Manchester police are investigating a number of aspects of this case, Holden issued a statement this morning saying:
Despite multiple allegations about the most senior member of his team, Sir Keir Starmer is still refusing to deal with the serious ethics scandal engulfing Angela Rayner because he is too weak to lead.
He should show some leadership and instruct Angela Rayner to publish her legal advice.
One of the papers that has pushed this story most aggressively is the Times. But, to their credit, today they have published a column from Matthew Parris, one of their star writes (at least for now?), suggesting it’s all a non-story and that it is being driven by “misogyny and class condescension”. Parris says:
The hounding of Angela Rayner is outrageous: brutal, snobbish and completely out of proportion to any mistake she may (or may not) have made. The sums are tiny and the issue itself — the deeming of a property as a main residence for capital gains tax purposes — has always been a matter of public confusion. I for one have discovered from the recent press reports that my own understanding was pretty cloudy.
As for the issue of the electoral register, the underlying purpose of the law here is to prevent voter fraud, and nobody is accusing Rayner of that. Every now and again we do just seem to lose our heads: in my book Great Parliamentary Scandals I devoted an extended chapter to a similar media frenzy after John Major’s “Back to Basics” speech. This led (for example) to front-page headlines about a little-known Tory backbencher who had kissed a young woman on a park bench.
So let’s cut to the chase: the “Get Rayner” media mood has been whipped up by party politicians, and the rest of us should have nothing to do with it. To me there’s more than a whiff both of misogyny and of class condescension in the portrayal of an uppity young woman — a left-winger for heaven’s sake — who has called the Tories rude names, benefited from Tory council-house sales and ought to know her place. Where was the Tory rage against the millionaire Nadhim Zahawi and his (he insists) mistaken tax declarations? Like the hounding of Peter Tatchell when he was a Labour candidate in a Bermondsey by-election in 1983, the Rayner affair is one of those stories we shall look back on and shudder at our loss of all perspective.
Much good sense from Matthew Parris in the @thetimes today about the media hypocrisy exaggerating wildly the significance of allegations against Angela Rayner pic.twitter.com/xesi73SN0A
— Chris Rennard 🔶💙🇺🇦 (@LordRennard) April 17, 2024
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Police looking into ‘a number of assertions’ about Angela Rayner
Labour has said it remains “completely confident” that Angela Rayner has complied with all rules, after the chief constable of Greater Manchester police said she was facing investigation “over a number of assertions knocking about”, Aletha Adu reports.
There are two urgent questions in the Commons today: a Labour one on Gaza, and a Lib Dem one on the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
AFTER 1230 TODAY:
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) April 17, 2024
1. Urgent question: @DavidLammy asking for a statement on humanitarian situation in Gaza.
2. Urgent question: @wendychambLD asking for a statement on the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan
The second one may prompt some comment on the Rwanda bill. In the House of Lords yesterday the Labour peer Vernon Coaker said Pakistan has used the UK’s legislation to justify its policy of deporting refugees back to Afghanistan.
At a dramatic business committee hearing in February Henry Staunton, who was sacked as Post Office chairman by Kemi Badenoch, revealed that the disciplinary inquiry cited by Badenoch as one reason for his removal was in fact an inquiry into Nick Read, the current Post Office chief executive.
This morning the Post Office has issued a statement saying that inquiry has now concluded and that Read has been exonerated. It said:
Over the last few months an independent barrister has been investigating a Speak Up complaint into various allegations, which included a number of misconduct allegations against our CEO, Nick Read. Following several interviews and examination of documents by the barrister, Nick has been exonerated of all the misconduct allegations and has the full and united backing of the board to continue to lead the business.
The board regards the Speak Up process as critical to the open and supportive culture it wants to encourage at the Post Office. The integrity of that Speak Up process relies on confidentiality for whistleblowers and therefore we will not be providing further detail on this or any other Speak Up investigation. It is unacceptable that this specific process was referred to in the public domain but notwithstanding that, Post Office wants to make clear that Speak Up allegations will always be thoroughly and consistently investigated, whoever they are aimed at.
NatCon conference to resume after Brussels court overturns closure order
The NatCon conference featuring Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman and the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, among its speakers is resuming today after a Brussels court overturned a local mayor’s decision to close it down. Lisa O’Carroll has the story.
Cameron says Israelis 'making decision' to retaliate against Iran
David Cameron, the foreign secretary, has said that Israel is gearing up to retaliate after the mass Iranian drone and missile attack launched on Saturday night.
Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem this morning, where he has meetings scheduled with senior figures including Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, Cameron said:
It’s right to have made our views clear about what should happen next, but it’s clear the Israelis are making a decision to act. We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible. And in a way that, as I said yesterday, is smart as well as tough.
But the real need is to refocus back on Hamas, back on the hostages, back on getting the aid in, back on getting a pause in the conflict in Gaza.
On Monday Cameron was urging the Israelis not to retaliate, saying they should “take the win” and not do anything to escalate the conflict.
Martin Belam has more coverage of this on his Middle East crisis live blog.
Sunak claims fall in inflation shows 'plan is working', despite drop being less than expected
The UK’s annual inflation rate fell by less than expected in March to 3.2%, complicating the timing of a first Bank of England interest rate cut, Richard Partington reports.
But that has not stopped Rishi Sunak claiming the latest figures show his economic policy is working. In a clip for broadcasters he said:
Today’s figures show that after a tough couple of years, our economic plan is working and inflation continues to fall.
Having been 11% when I became prime minister, it’s now fallen to just over 3%, the lowest level in two-and-a-half years.
We have also seen energy bills falling, mortgage rates falling and, just this week, data showed people’s wages have been rising faster than inflation for nine months in a row.
My simple message would be: if we stick to the plan, we can ensure that everyone has a brighter future.
Graeme Wearden has more reaction to the inflation figures on his business live blog.
Suank facing final showdown with Lords over Rwanda bill as peers fight to protect migrants who have helped British troops
Good morning. It is now more than five months since Rishi Sunak promised “emergency” legislation to address the supreme court judgment saying the government’s Rwanda deportation policy was unlawful. It has not proceeded at the pace of normal emergency legislation, but the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill is now expected to clear parliament within the next 24/36 hours, and it should become law by the end of the week. (It does not became law until the king grants royal assent, and it can take a few hours to get Charles to sign the relevant bit of paper.)
But before parliamentary officials can send the bill to the Palace, the Commons and the Lords have to agree, and there are still four outstanding issues unresolved. Last night peers passed four amendments inserting safeguards into the bill. They would:
1) Include a provision making explicit that the bill has to be enforced in accordance with international law.
2) Ensure that Rwanda cannot be treated as a safe country until the independent monitoring committee has confirmed that it is safe, and also give the committee the right to say if Rwanda no longer remains a safe country.
3) Allow officials to rule that Rwanda is not safe for particular asylum seekers.
4) Exempt people who have worked for the British army in countries like Afghanistan from deportation to Rwanda.
Normally the “ping pong” process, when a bill is shuttling between the Lords and the Commons as the two sides try to reach agreement, ends with peers capitulating, and the government getting its way. Peers are not elected and, although in theory they can block a bill at this point, most of them think they do not have the democratic right to do that.
But with some bills peers hold out for as long as possible in the hope of securing a last-minute concession, and this morning there are signs that they are going to keep pushing a bit more on at least two of the issues – 2) and 4).
On the Today programme David Anderson, a crossbench peer and the former independent reviewer of terrorist legislation for the government, confirmed that members of the Lords felt particularly strongly about these issues.
On protection for asylum seekers who have helped the British army [point 4)], Anderson pointed out that the majority in the Lords in favour of this last night was particularly large – 57 votes. The Labour party is focusing on this issue, and this morning Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, retweeted a letter from colleagues urging the government to back down on this point.
Commons will vote again today on whether to send Afghans who served alongside British armed forces to Rwanda.
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) April 17, 2024
People who put their lives at risk helping UK & who UK Govt promised to help in return.
Truly, truly shameful that Tory MPs are insisting they go. Govt must rethink pic.twitter.com/vQohe9iCDl
But Anderson said he felt particularly strongly about point 2), which he said addressed the “lie” at the centre of the bill, the claim that Rwanda is a safe country. He said the bill as drafted says Rwanda will be judged as safe “for all time” and that “there is simply no mechanism to change it”. He went on:
The problem is, we have no evidence that Rwanda is safe. All the evidence that is put before us demonstrates that at the moment it is not. The supreme court said in November it wasn’t safe. We signed a treaty with Rwanda which was supposed to remedy the defects, and this Act will come into force when the treaty comes into force. But even the treaty itself accepts that signing the treaty doesn’t make Rwanda safe.
Anderson said the “very modest” amendment being pushed by the Lords would say Rwanda will only be considered safe when the government’s monitoring committee confirms that. He said its members were handpicked by the government and included Alexander Downer, a former Australian foreign minister who is a “great proponent of the offshoring of asylum seekers”. Anderson went on:
All this amendment would say is that, instead of us in parliament in London being expected to assert in legislation that Rwanda is safe, when the evidence is including, from the government itself last night, that it isn’t currently safe, it’s a work in progress – instead of having to sign up to that untruth, the government would invite the monitoring committee to certify that Rwanda is safe and when it is safe, the flights can begin.
And should by any chance Rwanda ever cease to be a safe country, well the monitoring committee should say that as well.
Anderson also said any amendments that might have delayed the bill, or blocked it, had been dropped by the Lords.
Here is the agenda for the day.
12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
After 12.45pm: MPs debate on the latest Lords amendments to the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill. There are four Lords amendments the government wants to vote down and the divisions will take place after a debate lasting up to an hour.
Afternoon: Peers are expected to vote again on the Rwanda bill.
Also, David Cameron is in Israel, where he is due to meet a range of leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
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