The new home secretary is expected to unveil plans to move asylum seekers from hotels into military barracks as Sir Keir Starmer seeks to harden his immigration policy amid rising numbers of crossings in the Channel.
Shabana Mahmood is reportedly set to announce the use of Ministry of Defence sites to house people after a wave of protests outside migrant accommodation over the summer.
The defence secretary John Healey confirmed to Sky News that he has placed military planners into the Home Office to scout out military facilities, after an estimated 1,000 people arrived in the UK by small boat over the course of Saturday.
It comes after the prime minister continued his major reshuffle of his top team and junior ministers.
The prime minister sacked Rachel Reeves’s sister from the Cabinet and farming minister Daniel Zeichner, while Jason Stockwood, who had a senior role at dating site Match.com, has been appointed to the Department of Business and Trade.
It comes as his chief secretary Darren Jones denied that Labour were in crisis, and rebuffed Nigel Farage’s prediction that there would be a general election in 2027.
Starmer moved quickly to appoint David Lammy deputy prime minister while Yvette Cooper has been moved from home secretary to take up a new role as foreign secretary, with justice secretary Shabana Mahmood replacing her at the Home Office.
Asylum seekers could be “temporarily” moved to military sites
Asylum seekers could be temporarily moved to military sites after Sir Keir Starmer told his new-look Cabinet to “go up a gear” amid rising numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel.
“I think you’ll start to see Keir Starmer insist that dealing with the small boats, solving the illegal immigration crisis, is part of the jobs of the whole of Government, not just the Home Office,” the Defence Secretary, John Healey, told Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show.
He said part of this would involve looking at moving asylum seekers into “temporary” accommodation on military sites, but did not confirm a date for when such transfers might take place.
Starmer makes further changes to his junior ministerial ranks in the reshuffle
Sir Keir Starmer has continued his major reshuffle following Angela Rayner’s resignation as housing secretary and deputy prime minister.
Here are the latest appointments:
- Chris Elmore MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
- Satvir Kaur MP as Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office.
- Josh Simons MP as Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office.
- Josh MacAlister OBE MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education.
- Olivia Bailey MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education.
- Blair McDougall MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Business and Trade.
- Kate Dearden MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Business and Trade.
- Kanishka Narayan MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
- Anna McMorrin MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Wales Office.
- Matthew Patrick MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Northern Ireland Office.
- Katie White OBE MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero.
Janet Daby MP, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, Justin Madders MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Feryal Clark MP, Fleur Anderson MP, and Dame Nia Griffith DBE MP have left the Government.
‘Labour are in complete meltdown,’ Scottish Conservatives deputy leader says
Scottish Conservatives deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: “Labour are in complete meltdown and their integrity is in tatters after only 14 months in government.
“Ian Murray’s sacking was entirely in keeping with the chaos that surrounds Keir Starmer’s shambolic Government.
“The fact Ian Murray has now had to be shoehorned into a junior ministerial role after such backlash is systematic of the weakness of Keir Starmer and his long list of U-turns.
“The uninspiring appointment of Douglas Alexander, who is nothing more than a yes man for Labour, will mean more of the same broken promises.”
Douglas Alexander ‘looking forward to being Scotland’s voice’
The new Scottish Secretary says he is “looking forward to being Scotland’s voice” in Westminster after his predecessor, Ian Murray, lost his position in Friday’s reshuffle.
His replacement Douglas Alexander spoke on BBC One’s The Sunday Show, where he discussed his new role and his plans.
He told host Martin Geissler: “I’m looking forward to being Scotland’s voice at the Cabinet table, making sure not just that I’m speaking up for Scotland, but that my Cabinet colleagues understand the importance of Scotland to their work.”
Starmer warned deputy leadership race is make-or-break moment
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Unions urge Government not to water down workers’ rights Bill
Unions are urging the Government not to water down its flagship Bill on workers’ rights following ministerial changes in recent days, saying people expected Labour to deliver on the promises it made during the general election.
The Employment Rights Bill, which is in its final parliamentary stages, was championed by former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and former employment rights minister Justin Madders.
Both have left the posts they were in as the legislation was taken through the Commons, which has raised concerns among some union leaders.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said on Sunday he had seen no evidence that the Bill was going to be watered down.
Ahead of the opening day of the TUC Congress in Brighton, he said: “The Government must, and should, deliver on the promises it gave to the British people last July.
“The Bill will level the playing field – extending the standards already set by the best employers, working with unions, to millions more.”
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Watch: Reform UK sings national anthem as Andrea Jenkyns takes the lead
Watch: John Healey reveals Starmer has told Cabinet to ‘Step It Up A Gear’
Vaccine sceptic doctor uses Reform conference speech to link king’s cancer to Covid vaccine
Reform UK has been criticised for allowing a vaccine sceptic cardiologist to address its conference, where he claimed Covid vaccines may have caused the King and Princess of Wales’s cancer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said it was “irresponsible” of the party to allow Dr Assem Malhotra to speak from the stage in Birmingham, where he made a series of claims about the pharmaceutical industry, politicians and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday.
Dr Malhotra, who described himself as a friend of controversial US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, said hundreds of studies showed the harms of mRNA vaccines and that they were interfering with genes.
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Who is in and who is out? Keir Starmer reshuffles junior ministers
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