Markus Andrews

No target has been set “for the moment” on the number of refugees from Afghanistan that could be granted asylum in Britain in the longer-term, No 10 has said.It comes after Canada pledged to assist resettling 20,000 vulnerable Afghans threatened by the Taliban, but Downing Street stressed the government wanted to work with international leaders to agree a “unified approach”.Asked whether the government had set a target for the number of refugees Britain may give sanctuary to, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We haven’t set targets for the moment. We want to talk to other international leaders on that to agree a way forward.”Pressed on whether there were any plans in the longer term to make it easier for refugees from the country to come to Britain, they added: “We’ll be setting out detail in the coming days on our approach to wider asylum claims.“We’ll be speaking to other world leaders about how we can take a unified approach. I think it’s clear that no one country has the capability to deal with this alone and we want to work together on that.”Sharing a tweet from the Canadian government at the weekend, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she hoped the UK “does similar and offers as much refuge for vulnerable Afghans as possible”.The issue is likely to be highlighted on Wednesday as MPs debate the situation in the country following the Taliban’s capture of key Afghan cities, including the capital Kabul. On Sunday, the government requested the one-day recall of Parliament on Wednesday amid intensifying criticism from backbench Conservative MPs. The request was rapidly granted by the speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.Meanwhile, No 10 added that the prime minister would hold a third emergency Cobra meeting on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan on Monday afternoon, as the UK continues efforts to evacuate British citizens and Afghan people granted visas.The prime minister’s official spokesperson said 370 people had been evacuated on Saturday and Sunday, with “significant numbers” in the coming days.“We have reinforced our capability with 600 military personnel, who are there to facilitate the removal of people with UK visas and British nationals.“Hundreds everyday will be leaving on flights, but it is a fluid situation,” they said.“We want to obviously continue to do this as long as we are able to do so and as long as this is safe to do so. You’ll appreciate the US has said they will be leaving at the end of the month — we’ll keep that under review.”No 10 also confirmed reports over the weekend that the UK’s ambassador to Kabul, Sir Laurie Bristow, was still in the country helping to process visas at the airport, alongside diplomatic staff and officials from the Home Office.They added: “There are people on the ground who can consider visa applications and there are some rules as regards to those who have family members who can be considered, I think, on a case-by-case basis but we have already removed a large number of Afghan nationals under the ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme and we’ll continue to do so.” More

Britons can enjoy discounts on holidays, clothes, gym classes and bus and taxi trips in return for Covid jabs, as the fight against “vaccine hesitancy” is stepped up.Asda, lastminute.com, National Express, the Better leisure group and the Free Now taxi app have joined forces with the government to offer the rewards.The move – which comes as first doses for 16- and 17-year-olds in England are accelerated before schools return in September – was hailed as “fantastic” by the health secretary Sajid Javid.“Get the jab as soon as possible and take advantage of these excellent offers – whether that’s for taxi rides, gym passes or trips away with family and friends,” he urged the public.The announcement coincides with the lifting of isolation rules for double-vaccinated people who are identified as close contacts of Covid cases, from Monday.The taxi companies Uber and Bolt, as well as Deliveroo, had already backed the vaccination programme with offers to people who came forward to be jabbed.The new rewards available will be:* £30 gift cards towards foreign holidays for all young people getting vaccinated through the lastminute.com website.* £10 vouchers for Asda’s clothing brand George for 18- to 30-year-olds spending more than £20 – offered at pop-up clinics in London, Birmingham and Watford.* £10 discounts on Better membership and a free three-day pass at any of the firm’s 235 leisure centres across the UK.* Up to £1m in free taxi rides for over-18s until the end of September, offered by Free Now.* Five-day unlimited travel for 1,000 people travelling on National Express buses in the Midlands.Mr Javid added: “It is fantastic to see more companies backing the phenomenal vaccine rollout and joining the public as they do everything they can to continue protecting their loved ones, themselves, their community and this country.”Andrea Bertoli, chief executive of lastminute.com, said: “We know this summer has been difficult for everyone, so we’re delighted to be partnering with the government’s young people’s vaccination scheme.”And Joseph Rham, commercial director at Better, said: “We hope that by offering free passes and discount vouchers to our 235 gyms, leisure and sports centres across the UK, we will encourage many more young people to take up their vaccine.”There are hopes of declining vaccine hesitancy among adults, with 70 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds now having had their first dose.Data last week suggested more than 84,000 lives have been saved by the vaccine programme since the first jab was delivered to 91-year-old Margaret Keenan last December.It is calculated to have stopped about 23 million infections – preventing the pandemic from exploding again after lockdown rules in England were lifted last month.However, cases remain much higher in the UK than elsewhere in Europe, with 29,520 new infections – and 93 further Covid-related deaths – recorded on Saturday. More

Britain’s defence secretary Ben Wallace broke down in tears during an interview on Monday, admitting the UK may not be able to get all the remaining UK nationals and their local allies out of Afghanistan.The Operation Pitting rescue operation, involving 600 troops, is attempting to evacuate around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans out of Kabul in the coming days.Mr Wallace said the military side of Kabul airport was “secure” and that government was doing everything it could to evacuate up to 1,500 British citizens and Afghans with links to Britain in the next 24 hours.Choking up during an interview on LBC, the defence secretary said: “Our obligation has to be to get as many people through the pipeline as possible. It’s a deep part of regret for me is …,” before he was overcome with emotion.Collecting himself, Mr Wallace said: “That some people won’t get back. Some people won’t get back. And we will have to do our best as third countries to process those people.”Asked why he felt the emergency evacuation so personally, Mr Wallace, who was a captain in the British Army, said: “Because I’m a soldier … Because it’s sad.”He added: “The west has done what it’s done. And we have to do our very best to get people out and stand by our obligations and 20 years of sacrifice.”Mr Wallace said the government was aiming to fly out 1,500 people over the next 24 to 36 hours. The speed of the Taliban advance suggests there may only be a short window to get people out.In a sign of desperation, the British ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow was said to be helping diplomats process the applications of Afghans keen to leave the country.Mr Wallace said Border Force officials had joined troops to “accelerate” the process of approving Afghan interpreters and others who have worked with British officials. “The next group of Afghans to come out is 782 [people], and we’ll make sure we’ll get them in the next 24 to 36 hours out of the country.”At least five people have died at Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly board evacuation flights, witnesses have said.One eyewitness told Reuters on Monday that they had seen five bodies being carried away at the airport, while another said it was unclear how the victims had died.Repeated gunshots can be heard in some videos taken at the airport, while others show crowds of people squeezing up ramps, desperate to get a seat on overcrowded planes.Mr Wallace acknowledged the Taliban was now fully in control of Afghanistan, and insisted British forces will not be returning to fight the insurgents. “I mean, you don’t have to be a political scientist to spot that’s where we’re at,” he told Sky News.Asked if British troops could still return to fight in Afghanistan with Nato, Wallace said: “That’s not on the cards – we’re going to go back.” It echoes comments by Boris Johnson, who said at the weekend there is no “military solution” to the conflict in Afghanistan.The defence secretary it was not yet the right time to decide on whether to recognise the Taliban as the Afghan government.“I think there is a lot of more to come before those decisions are made,” Mr Wallace said. “The proof of the pudding will be obviously in their actions rather than their rhetoric.” More

British troops are racing against the clock to get remaining UK nationals and their local allies out of Afghanistan following the dramatic fall of the country’s Western-backed government to the Taliban.UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said the military side of Kabul airport was “secure” and that Britain was doing everything it could to evacuate both British citizens and Afghans with links to Britain.The Operation Pitting rescue operation, involving 600 troops, is attempting to evacuate around 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans out of Kabul in the coming days.“The military side of the airport is secure and controlled, and military flights are coming in and out,” Mr Wallace told Sky News on Monday. “They’ve just brought in more British soldiers.”The cabinet minister added: “Our target is … about 1,200 to 1,500 exit a day in the capacity of our aeroplanes, and we’ll keep that flow.”However, the speed of the Taliban advance suggests there may only be a short window to get people out. In a sign of desperation, the British ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow was said to be helping diplomats process the applications of Afghans keen to leave the country.Mr Wallace said Border Force officials had joined troops to “accelerate” the process. “The next group of Afghans to come out is 782 [people], and we’ll make sure we’ll get them in the next 24 to 36 hours out of the country.”The minister told BBC Breakfast that work is under way to “remove any bureaucratic barriers” to make sure people pass screenings. “Currently, this is not about capacity on planes, it’s about processing speeds, so that’s why I’m trying to fix that.”The defence secretary also acknowledged the Taliban was now in control of Afghanistan, and insisted British forces will not be returning to fight the insurgents.“I acknowledge that the Taliban are in control of the country,” Mr Wallace told Sky News. “I mean, you don’t have to be a political scientist to spot that’s where we’re at.”Asked if British troops could still return to fight in Afghanistan with Nato, Wallace said: “That’s not on the cards – we’re going to go back.” It echoes comments by Boris Johnson, who said at the weekend there is no “military solution” to the conflict in Afghanistan.Britain has relocated its embassy to Kabul airport from the city. Asked how it felt to see the Taliban flag flying over the former British embassy building in Kabul, Mr Wallace said: “Symbolically, it’s not what any of us wanted.”The defence secretary it was not yet the right time to decide on whether to recognise the Taliban as the Afghan government. “I think there is a lot of more to come before those decisions are made,” he said. “The proof of the pudding will be obviously in their actions rather than their rhetoric.”Mr Wallace added: “I think we all saw that and felt a real sense of sadness that first of all the forces that the British and the international community had invested in had melted away in some areas so quickly.”“You don’t fix things overnight in global issues, you have to manage them … when that deal was done a few years ago, what happened was ultimately we undermined the community – the deal undermined the Afghan government and left it in a place that ultimately saw the end.”MPs won’t return to Westminster on Wednesday in an emergency recall of parliament to debate the crisis. Labour called on the government to urgently expand the resettlement scheme for Afghans to ensure that none were left behind.Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Some of them have already been killed, others have received threats to themselves and their families. We have an obligation as a country to make sure that they are safe.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the prime minister must set out immediate plans to prevent the fall of the Afghan government turning into a humanitarian crisis.Videos depicted chaotic scenes at Kabul airport on Sunday, the only way out for thousands of people following rapid advance of the Taliban into the capital.Remaining US personnel and Afghans fearing the return of Taliban rule were seen climbing onto military aircraft, scenes which drew comparisons with the hasty exit of US forces from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.Chinook helicopters had shuttled back and forth between the US embassy and airport to remove remaining staff.More than 60 countries issued a joint statement saying Afghans and international citizens who want to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to depart and added that airports and border crossings must remain open. More

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab is under fire after spending the past week on holiday abroad while the situation in Afghanistan was unravelling.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Mr Raab was returning to the UK on Sunday and was “personally overseeing” the department’s response to the crisis.However shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said that his absence during a moment of major international upheaval was unacceptable.”For the foreign secretary to go AWOL during an international crisis of this magnitude is nothing short of shameful,” she said.”A catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes and while the foreign secretary is nowhere to be seen, hundreds of British nationals are being evacuated and his department is cancelling scholarships for young Afghans.”The chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, was also scathing when asked about the FCDO’s likely response to the collapse of the Afghan government.”I don’t know what is in the works because we haven’t heard from the foreign secretary in about a week, despite this being the biggest single policy disaster since Suez,” he told BBC News.An FCDO spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary is personally overseeing the FCDO response and engaging with international partners. He is returning to the UK today, given the situation.”Mr Raab meanwhile tweeted that he had been sharing his “deep concerns” about the situation in Afghanistan with Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.He said they had agreed it was critical that “the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected”.PA More

Around 800,000 homes have been built to lower emissions standards or without carbon offsets because the government scrapped tough environmental rules six years ago, it can be revealed. Ministers were accused of wasting “years of vital progress” in the fight against the climate emergency, baking in high-carbon housing stock for decades, and driving up energy bills for families.The last Labour government introduced a legal requirement for new homes to be made net zero carbon by 2016, but in 2015 the Conservative government scrapped the plan at the last minute.796,710 new dwellings have been built since then, according to official figures – practically none of them net zero and all expected to last well beyond when the whole economy must hit net zero. It comes amid concern about the influence of property developers on the Conservative party, with the party having taken £891,000 in donations from the sector in the first quarter of 2021 alone. Companies linked to property developers have donated over £10 million to the governing party since the start of 2019 and Labour says Tories have consistently put the interests of donors ahead of the public.Approached about the policy change, the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government said the net zero requirement’s inclusion of “carbon offsetting” as a possible way for homes to hit net zero justified ending the requirement altogether.However, the government could have changed the rules of the schemes to simply not allow carbon offsetting.Offsetting, which involves strategies like planting trees to reduce the net emissions of a project, is also used in other areas of government policy, including as part of the government’s own national net zero emissions target.Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said: “The Government’s dither and delay means we’ve lost six years of vital progress in reducing emissions and lowering energy bills. “Sadly this mistake isn’t just a one-off but part of a damaging pattern. Just this year, the Government axed the Green Homes Grant scheme which could have helped households insulate their homes, reduce their emissions, and save money on bills. “800,000 households could have had lower energy bills and zero carbon homes by now if the zero carbon hones standard had not been abolished. Hundreds of thousands more homes will also be built before this standard comes in.”The Conservatives cannot be trusted to deliver, whether it’s on reducing emissions or protecting family finances.”The government has now said it will require homes to be made net zero by 2025, with higher emissions standards phased in. Offsets will also be used as part of the government’s plan to eventually make homes net zero.A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government said: “The Zero Carbon Homes policy involved carbon offsetting, rather than making homes zero carbon, and would have would have provided limited benefits to consumers as it wouldn’t necessarily have increased the efficiency of their homes.“By delivering carbon reductions through the fabric and building services in a home, rather than relying on wider carbon offsetting, the Future Homes Standard ensures new homes will have a smaller carbon footprint than any previous government policy.” More

Boris Johnson has urged other Western nations not to “prematurely recognise” the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, as he denied its sudden takeover is a surprise.After chairing an emergency meeting, the prime minister said his priority is to get remaining UK nationals – and Afghans who have helped its mission – out of the war-torn country “in the next few days”.But he also asked foreign capitals to hold back from recognising the likely new Taliban-led government in Kabul until after discussions at the United Nations and Nato this week.“We don’t want anybody bilaterally recognising the Taliban,” Mr Johnson said, speaking in Downing Street.“We want a united position amongst all the like-minded, as far as we can get one, so that we do whatever we can to prevent Afghanistan lapsing back into being a breeding ground for terror.”In a statement just five weeks ago, the prime minister had told Parliament there was no reason to expect an imminent Taliban triumph in Afghanistan.But he insisted: “It’s very clear from what I said the situation in Afghanistan was going to change.“It’s fair to say the US decision to pull out has accelerated things. But we’ve known for a long time that this was the way things were going.”Mr Johnson spoke as Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, rushed back from holiday to confront the crisis – amid fierce criticism of his invisibility in recent weeks.Parliament will be recalled for one day on Wednesday to debate the dramatic events in Kabul, where the militant Islamist group is poised to declare an “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” from the presidential palace in Kabul.Senior Conservatives are turning on the government over its paralysis, after the prime minister insisted the UK is hamstrung following the US pullout.All commercial flights have been suspended from Kabul Airport, Nato says, leaving only military aircraft allowed to operate.But Mr Johnson defended the UK’s record on evacuations, with almost 2,000 Afghans already resettled in the UK, saying: “We’re going to get as many as we can out in the next few days.”And he said: “It is very important that the West should work collectively to get over to that new government – be it by the Taliban or anybody else – that nobody wants Afghanistan once again to be a breeding ground for terror.”The prime minister also denied that the huge gains made in the 20 years since the 2001 US-led invasion were now doomed to disappear.“A lot of women and girls were educated, thanks the efforts of the UK,” Mr Johnson said.“Human rights and equalities were promoted and protected in a way that Afghanistan hadn’t seen before. Of course we don’t want to see that thrown away.” More

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered an election Sunday as he seeks to capitalize on Canada being one of the most fully vaccinated countries in the world. Trudeau announced the election would be held on Sept. 20 after visiting the governor general, who holds a mostly ceremonial position representing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Trudeau is seeking to win a majority of seats in Parliament. His Liberal Party fell just short of that two years ago and must rely on the opposition to pass legislation.The election comes as Canada is experiencing a new wave of COVID-19 cases, apparenly driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus. Trudeau isn’t as popular as he once was, but his government’s handling of the pandemic has been widely viewed as a success. After a slow start Canada now has enough vaccine for every citizen. More than 71% of eligible Canadians are full vaccinated and over 82% have received at least one dose. The government has spent billions to prop up the economy amid lockdowns that have now lifted. But if the result is another minority government, the “knives will start to come out,” said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto “Trudeau is not widely liked. He’s what the Liberals have so they will fall in behind him, but if he loses he’s toast,” Bothwell said. “It’s not that he’s unpopular but there’s no affection there. The Liberals behave as if he is this beloved figure but he’s not. The novelty is gone. But there’s still enough there and the performance on COVID was pretty solid so I think people will balance these things going into the election and vote for Trudeau.” Trudeau, the son of the late Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, became the second youngest prime minister in Canadian history when he was first elected with a majority of seats in Parliament in 2015. The Liberal’s victory ended almost 10 years of Conservative Party government in Canada, but scandals combined with high expectations have damaged Trudeau’s standing.His father served as prime minister from 1968 to 1984 with a short interruption.Opposition leftist NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said it is “selfish” for Trudeau to call an election in a pandemic. Ontario, Canada’s largest province, reported more than 500 cases for the fourth straight day.Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said many Canadians will resent having an election they see as unnecessary, but said the Liberals will win the most seats. “Trudeau is seen as having delivered on vaccines and there has been widespread support for the government’s income-and job-support programs to counter COVID’s economic fallout,” Wiseman said. “Canadians compare their situation to the U.S. The current spike in the U.S. contributes to smug complacency among Canadians. This feeling benefits the Liberals at present.” More