Rishi Sunak has refused to back his home secretary’s target to bring the number of small boats crossing the channel to zero this year.
No 10 said the prime minister would not set a deadline for delivering his pledge to stop the boats.
Earlier James Cleverly was asked what his target was for crossings this year and told LBC Radio: “Well, my target is to bring it down to zero. I mean, I’m completely committed…”
Asked if he was referring specifically to 2024, he said: “That’s my target. My target is to reduce it to zero, to stop the boats. And I’m unambiguous about that.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman said the two men were united in wanting to stop the crossings.
But he would not repeat Mr Cleverly’s target. Pushed on the 2024 target, the spokesman said the PM wanted to “stop the boats as soon as possible” but he would not “set out a deadline”.
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Rishi Sunak is facing calls for an inquiry into secret meetings he held with Dominic Cummings.
The Lib Dems want the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser to probe whether the talks, which were not logged on official records, broke the ministerial code.
We’ll have updates on this story and others from Westminster and elsewhere throughout the day.
Stay tuned for all the latest updates.
What are the meetings all about?
The PM reportedly asked Boris Johnson’s ex-chief aide for advice on winning over the public as he pushed for a “secret deal” with Mr Cummings to help the Tories “smash” Labour in 2024.
Full report:
ICYMI: Tory MPs share horror over Sunak’s ‘secret election talks’ with Cummings
Conservative MPs have expressed their horror at claims that Rishi Sunak held secret talks with Dominic Cummings about the former senior adviser to Boris Johnson making a return to government.
Adam Forrest reports:
Watch: Sunak claims Cummings would have ‘nothing to do’ with his government in campaign speech
James Cleverly apologises for joking about spiking his wife with date rape drug
Archie Mitchell reports:
Sunak claims to have cleared backlog of legacy asylum claims
Rishi Sunak has claimed to have cleared the backlog of older legacy asylum claims but figures reveal that 4,500 cases are still waiting for a decision, Holly Bancroft reports.
New data released by the Home Office shows that all cases in the legacy backlog have now been reviewed, with 86,800 decisions made, but thousands of more complex cases are still waiting for the additional checks or investigation needed for a final decision.
The government have also processed around 25,300 newer asylum claims, in addition to the legacy cases, taking the total number of decisions made in the past year to over 112,000.
Government data published on Tuesday showed that the legacy backlog was drastically cut in the last few months of last year. There were 33,253 decisions left to make in October, but this fell to 4,537 by 28 December.
The Prime Minister praised his Government’s ‘relentless action’ after the Government insisted it met a target to clear a backlog of asylum claims (PA)
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The Prime Minister praised his Government’s ‘relentless action’ after the Government insisted it met a target to clear a backlog of asylum claims (PA)
Labour attacks Tories with ‘tax calculator’ ahead of national insurance cut
The party said that, even with a national insurance cut coming into force on January 6, families in Britain were still likely to be £1,200 a year worse off under Tory tax plans.
Archie Mitchell reports:
Nearly 5,000 legacy asylum claims still ‘awaiting an initial decision’
There were 4,537 asylum applications in the legacy backlog that were still “awaiting an initial decision” as of December 28 2023, provisional figures from the Home Office show.
Asylum applications made before June 28 2022 are counted as legacy cases.
The government had pledged to clear the legacy backlog by the end of 2023.
This backlog stood at 100,548 at the end of June 2022, meaning it had been cut by 95 per cent as of December 28 2023.
Ministers’ decisions made via WhatsApp ‘must be recorded’
Ministerial decisions made via WhatsApp must be recorded, civil servants have been told in new guidance, Archie Mitchell reports.
The Times reported that ministers’ private offices have been reminded of their “duty” to keep accurate records.
It means decisions made using WhatsApp must be recorded, although the messages themselves do not need to be preserved.
It comes after intense scrutiny of the use of WhatsApp at the top of government, with the Covid-19 inquiry highlighting the often-chaotic behind the scenes communications of senior officials and ministers.
Rishi Sunak and his predecessor Boris Johnson have both failed to hand significant numbers of WhatsApp messages to the inquiry, blaming technical problems.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson after giving evidence to the Covid inquiry (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
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Former prime minister Boris Johnson after giving evidence to the Covid inquiry (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
