Closing summary
That’s all from me on the politics blog for today, here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:
Newly-appointed shadow housing secretary James Cleverly has criticised the prime minister for a “disconnect from reality” when it comes to housing asylum seekers. The Tory MP and former home secretary said asylum hotels are being reopened and that more asylum seekers are likely to be sent to an accommodation centre in his own constituency of Braintree.
Essex police have denied claims officers “bussed” counter-demonstrators to a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping last week. The claims have promoted a call from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for the force’s chief constable to resign. Clacton MP Farage earlier posted a video on X, saying: “This video proves EssexPoliceUK transported left-wing protesters to The Bell hotel in Epping. There is no way Chief Constable BJ Harrington can stay in position.”
A record number of police officers were sacked from forces in England and Wales in the past year, new figures show. Latest Home Office data reveals 426 officers were dismissed or had their contracts terminated in the 12 months to March. This is up 17% year on year from the previous record of 365 and more than double the number fired at the start of the decade, when 164 officers were dismissed in 2019/20.
Kemi Badenoch blamed Labour for the strains on social cohesion highlighted by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner. The Conservative leader said: “I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to actually understand what is going on.” Speaking in north-west London she said Hillingdon Council had a £17 million deficit because it has had asylum seekers “dumped on their doorstep”.
Charities have warned of the increasing danger to asylum seekers posed by far-right protesters after small boat arrivals were moved from their usual landing place in Dover to further along the coast to avoid clashes. The Guardian understands that Home Office officials received intelligence that some of those participating in what was billed the Great British National Protest in Dover on Saturday afternoon could have been planning to target Kent Intake Unit, where small boat arrivals are initially processed after being escorted to shore in Dover by the Border Force.
Reform UK councillors have been accused of hypocrisy after voting to spend £150,000 on hiring political advisers at a county council despite pledging to cut waste and save money. The plans were put forward by Reform councillor George Finch, a 19-year-old who was narrowly elected as the leader of Warwickshire county council during a meeting on Tuesday, which was picketed by protesters.
Labour’s deep aid cuts will hit children’s education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according to the government’s own impact assessment. Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence.
A scheme backed by the Scottish and UK governments will offer advice and training to oil and gas workers looking to move into green energy. The pilot will help about 200 current or former workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire with support and funding for training courses, in a move energy minister Michael Shanks said would “help deliver a fair and prosperous transition”.
The UK competition watchdog has said that it intends to take action to open up Apple and Google’s mobile platforms to more competition to benefit consumers, businesses and app developers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has designated the tech companies as having “strategic market status” – as they hold an effective duopoly for access on mobile devices – and now intends to force Google and Apple to make changes to their mobile platforms.
The defence secretary has signed an agreement paving the way for the export of Typhoon fighter jets to Turkey. John Healey and Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler signed a memorandum of understanding at the International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul.
The children’s writer Michael Rosen, one-time political strategist Alastair Campbell and former education secretaries Charles Clarke and Estelle Morris have urged the prime minister to honour his pre-election pledge to embed speaking skills in England’s schools. They are among 60 signatories to an open letter to Keir Starmer, calling on him to establish oracy as a core part of Labour’s revised national curriculum and make it the fourth ‘R’ in education, alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is visiting London to sign a landmark free trade agreement between his country and the UK, a pact viewed as a political and economic prize amid global trade tensions unleashed by the US president, Donald Trump. For Britain, eager to score a post-Brexit win, the deal is its most economically significant trade agreement since leaving the EU. For India, it marks its first major free trade pact outside Asia. For both, analysts say, the agreement signals a long-term economic partnership.
Campaigners have called for Keir Starmer to tell parliament whether US nuclear weapons have returned to British soil after a distinctive US air force transport flight was spotted landing at RAF Lakenheath on Friday morning. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and several experts believe that it is highly likely that a number of US B61-12 gravity bombs were delivered to a US air force squadron last week, the first US nuclear deployment in the UK since 2008.
One of television’s most prominent directors has accused the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, of attempting to “bully the BBC” over its coverage of Gaza, following her repeated attacks on its director general, Tim Davie. Peter Kosminsky, the writer and director of the BBC drama Wolf Hall, claimed the government was acting like a “tinpot dictatorship” in heaping political pressure on Davie.
Len McCluskey, the former head of Unite, accepted private jet flights and football tickets arranged by the company building a multimillion pound hotel for the union, according to an internal dossier. The Flanagan Group, which is run by friends of McCluskey, overcharged Unite by at least £30m for the Birmingham hotel and conference centre project, the interim report said.
Updated
Essex Police have made 10 arrests following a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping last week.
Giving an update to the media in Chelmsford, chief constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: “I want to thank the people of Epping, I want to thank the people of Essex.
“I also want to thank all those who have turned up to protest and express their views peacefully and lawfully, because there have been many of those.
“What has been unacceptable has been the people who have come to Epping and committed violence, who have attacked people who work at the hotel, who have attacked officers, who have damaged property and who have caused fear and disruption to the people of Epping.
“That is not tolerable, it will not be tolerated, and to that end, we have made 10 arrests.”
