Related video: Government wants to ‘deter’ migrants from making Channel crossings, says minister
France won’t be “blackmailed” by the UK over Priti Patel’s plans to crack down on migrant crossings in the English Channel, the country’s interior minister has said.
Gérald Darmanin insisted France won’t accept any “financial blackmail” from the UK after the home secretary threatened to withhold millions of pounds promised to France in order to fund efforts to intercept small ships in the Channel carrying migrants.
Mr Darmanin also said Paris would reject any practices which break maritime law in response to Ms Patel’s plans to turn migrant boats around when the reach England.
Meanwhile, a coordinator with Channel Rescue has warned that such action could put “the lives of thousands of innocent women, children and men have been put at greater risk”.
Kim Leadbeater pays tribute to ‘extraordinary’ sister Jo Cox in maiden Commons speech
Kim Leadbeater, Batley and Spen’s newly-elected MP, has paid tribute to her “extraordinary” sister Jo Cox who was murdered while representing the constituency in 2016.
In her maiden speech to the House of Commons, Ms Leadbeater said that she would “give literally anything not to be standing here today in her place”.
She added that her sister’s assertion in June 2015 that “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides” is “as true today as when she said it then”.
Ms Leadbeater concluded her emotional speech by saying: “If I can be half the MP my sister was, then it will be a huge privilege to get on with the job of representing the wonderful people of Batley and Spen.”
She was elected to the Yorkshire constituency in a by-election in June.
Andy Burnham: Criticising Tories without alternative plan won’t ‘cut through’
Andy Burnham has called on his party to present an alternative future for health and social care to the public, writing in the Evening Standard that simply criticising the Conservative Party’s proposals won’t “cut through”.
The government’s plan to raise National Insurance to fund NHS backlogs and social care reforms presents the “biggest opportunity Labour has had for some time to present a plan for a better, fairer country,” the Greater Manchester mayor wrote.
He added: “My advice to my party would be not to leave it too long before presenting one. Criticism of the Tory plan alone won’t cut through unless we say what we would do.”
Irish PM: ‘All parties’ want more flexible operation of NI Protocol
Taoisearch Michael Martin has responded to the DUP’s threat to pull ministers from Stormont in protest of the Northern Irish Protocol, saying that it has “created new challenges”.
The Irish PM said that “all parties” across the UK and Ireland would like to see “more flexible operation of the protocol” and that Europe is in “solution mode”.
Furlough: 1.6 million workers still on government scheme in July
There were 1.6 million workers on furlough at the end of July, according to government figures.
Economists now believe 1 million workers could be pushed into unemployment when the scheme ends this month.
The latest update comes as political pressure has been put on the government to reconsider the “double whammy” effect of discontinuing furlough and cutting the £20-per-week uplift in early October.
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Opinion: Priti Patel is willing for a price to be paid over migrant boats in the Channel – just not by her
How long will it be before some poor desperate Afghan who once helped Western forces – maybe even British troops in their worst days in Helmand Province – and who was left behind in Kabul finally makes his way to Europe and tries to get across the English Channel? What will his fate be?
Is it to be that they – and any family – will be “turned back” in their flimsy boat, now that Priti Patel plans include training for the Border Force to “turn back” the “illegal” migrants.
And what happens if the French simply refuse to escort and accept them back in France? They will be sticky in limbo, waiting to sink and drown, unwanted by two rich western powers, whose values they once thought they were trying to defend. Britain’s mission in Afghanistan really will be dead in the water.
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Lord West: Priti Patel’s migrant plan is ‘highly problematic’
Alan West, Baron West of Spithead, who was appointed the first sea lord and chief of the naval staff from 2002 to 2006 and later a Labour minister, has called Priti Patel’s migrants proposal “highly problematic”.
But while the retired Royal Navy admiral criticised Ms Patel’s plan to send migrant boats attempting to reach the UK back across the Channel, he also said that he can “understand” the Home Secretary’s annoyance with the current situation.
“I can understand the Home Secretary and people’s annoyance with what’s going on,” Lord West told the BBC.
“I mean, one has to sort of, I have to say rather jokingly, that there must be a sort of Inspector Clouseau running this operation in France that they’ve had all this time and lots of extra people, and in fact the number of people coming across has grown and grown and grown.”
But, he added, “when you start playing games about pushing ships back and pushing boats back, that is, as I say, it’s highly problematic. Very, very difficult to do.”
Irish minister: ‘No positive agenda’ served breakdown of Good Friday Agreement institutions
Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister has said that “no positive agenda” would be served by the breakdown of Good Friday Agreement institutions after Jeffrey Donaldson removed the DUP from such cross-border institutions established in Ireland to protest the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Simon Coveney said that “no positive agenda is served by blocking practical north/south cooperation or by the breakdown of the other institutions of the Good Friday Agreement”.
He added: “The North South Ministerial Council has an important agenda this autumn, including on improving health services, managing environmental challenges, cooperating in education and investing in infrastructure.
“As we emerge from the Covid pandemic, we should be focused on working together to support communities and businesses across the island.”
‘Tensions rising’: How French media reported on Priti Patel’s migrant boat plan
French media has highlighted rising tensions between France and the UK as it reported on Priti Patel’s new plan to push migrant boats back across the Channel.
Both countries have become embroiled in a war of words over efforts to tackle migrants crossing the Channel by boat.
France has “strongly rejected” the latest tactic reportedly sanctioned by Ms Patel, which would redirect migrant boats in the Channel back to France, according to Le Monde.
Read more from Zoe Tidman:
Boris Johnson accuses Churchill charity of trying to ‘airbrush’ former PM’s legacy
Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson has said that a charity set up in Winston Churchill’s name is trying to “airbrush” the wartime prime minister’s legacy after they announced that they would be distancing themselves from some of his views.
“The Prime Minister believes that Winston Churchill was a hero who helped save this country and the whole of Europe from a fascist and a racist tyranny by leading the defeat of Nazism,” the spokesperson said.
“It is completely absurd, misguided and wrong to airbrush his giant achievements and service to this country. The trust should think again.”
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust said in a statement that many of Churchill’s views on race are “widely seen as unacceptable today, a view that we share” as they announced that they would rename themselves The Churchill Fellowship. The charity also removed some images of Churchill from its website, but denied they were seeking to disown his legacy.
It is not the first time that the government has waded into so-called “culture war” issues: last year senior ministers criticised the BBC for scaling back the Proms, while a group of Conservative MPs hit out at the National Trust for acknowledging the link between colonialism and slavery with figures such as Churchill.
Calais politician says Patel’s migrant proposals ‘trample on international law’
A French politician has criticised Home Secretary Priti Patel’s proposals to send migrant boats headed for the UK back across the Channel, saying that Brexit meant leaving the EU — not the international community.
Pierre-Henri Dumont, a National Assembly member whose constituency includes Calais, tweeted that Ms Patel’s plans are “contemptible” and called on the British government to “change its domestic law and labour market” to discourage illegal immigration before “trying to trample on international law”.
“The British Minister Priti Patel proposes to turn back migrant boats in the English Channel,” he wrote.
“It is contemptible. Brexit means leaving the European Union, not leaving the international community.”
“By flouting international maritime law, by preventing migrants from applying for asylum, by risking drowning, the United Kingdom is de facto breaking the rules commonly accepted by all UN member states,” he continued.
“I call on the British government to come to its senses and fundamentally change its domestic law and its labour market – which encourage illegal immigration – before trying to trample on international law.”
