Summary of the day …
The Labour government has said it had “no plans” to send prisons to Estonia due to prison over-crowding in England and Wales amid widespread media reports it had made the plans. A no 10 spokesperson said the Estonia plan had been considered by the previous Conservative administration. Data showed the prison population in England and Wales reached a record level this week
Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper, other senior ministers and leading figures from security and law and order agencies met to discuss cross-Channel small boat crossings. Cooper said “In the first half of the year, the number of crossings that we inherited from the previous government were at a record high for spring crossings. The numbers for July and August have been lower than in previous years”. She criticised the level of deportation under the Conservatives, saying they had been lower than under the previous Labour administration
Green party of England and Wales co-leader Adrian Ramsay has criticised the new Labour government’s track record on climate policies, saying that “Labour’s obsession with growth at any cost” shows they “are becoming the party that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”. He urged the prime minister to attend COP29 in person, and said Labour was “weak” on the climate crisis because they “don’t seem to understand that the climate crisis is no longer something distant on the horizon”
Claire Hanna looks set to replace Colum Eastwood as SDLP leader unopposed, after she was the only candidate to have declared her interest before the deadline. She said “I’m looking forward to getting stuck in if that’s what the members decide”. The appointment will be ratified on 5 October
Ayoub Khan, the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, has called on Kemi Badenoch to retract her comments that independent MPs were elected in July “on the back of sectarian Islamist politics” and promoting “alien ideas that have no place here”. He said her comments were “deeply offensive”
Security minister Dan Jarvis has welcomed a nine year sentence for a man who participated in violent disorder propagated by the far-right last month. Jarvis said it “reflects the very serious nature of the criminality that we saw on that day,” after 27-year-old Thomas Birley was found guilty of arson with intent to endanger life
Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has reacted strongly to a letter he has received from first minister Eluned Morgan, and said that “any notion that having two Labour governments working together would benefit Wales has been blown out of the water”. Morgan had said she would press the government in Westminster for “a fair approach to the application of the Barnett formula”. Ap Iorwerth said the formula was outdated and unfair, and “The notion that a ‘fair approach’ can be adopted to the application of it is a ludicrous contradiction in terms”
Robert Jenrick, who is vying to be next leader of the opposition, has said the resignation overnight of Northern Ireland’s veterans commissioner is “deeply concerning”
UK house prices hit a two-year high last month, in the latest sign that the property market has recovered from the aftermath of Liz Truss’s infamous mini-budget that sent borrowing costs soaring
Jonathan Powell has been appointed as a special envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands
Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby & Wigston Neil O’Brien has described it as “unbelievable” and “shameful” that the government is not able to provide a constituency-by-constituency breakdown of how many people will lose their winter fuel payment under the new policy being introduced by Keir Starmer’s government.
UNBELIEVABLE. Ahead of Tuesday's big debate on the Winter Fuel Payment govt are refusing to reveal how many people will lose out in each constituency. PQ answer I just got just says how many currently get it (on old boundaries). They know the truth, but won't admit it. SHAMEFUL. pic.twitter.com/r0AX498141
— Neil O'Brien (@NeilDotObrien) September 6, 2024
