Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA cabinet minister was among senior Tories who pushed for Reform UK’s Howard Cox to be their candidate for London mayor instead of the beleaguered Susan Hall, The Independent understands.A source close to the prime minister’s inner circle has claimed they wrote to Rishi Sunak pleading with him to select the right-wing motorist campaigner Mr Cox ahead of the decision by London party members to nominate Susan Hall.The claims come as Ms Hall’s former deputy leader in Harrow Council, Barry Macleod-Cullinane, today endorsed Labour’s Sadiq Khan as a Savanta poll put him 10 points ahead of his Conservative rival.The source said: “Howard has worked with [the minister] and other [Conservative] MPs for many years on the Fair Fuel UK campaign and he is a great campaigner. [The minister] thought he would make an excellent candidate for London mayor and told the PM but was ignored.”Sources close to Mr Cox have also told The Independent that he has been lobbied by a number of senior Tory MPs including ministers even after he committed to Reform.Tory ministers preferred Reform’s Howard Cox to Susan Hall More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailUnions have backed Labour’s commitment to worker’s rights in the face of claims that the party is planning to water down their workers rights reforms to appease business. The Trade Unions Congress and GMB union have backed Keir Starmer’s commitment to the deal, despite May Day reports that Labour may be about to weaken their proposals.Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC said he still expects Labour to “deliver the employment bill in the first 100 days” and said Sir Keir had “re-affirmed his commitment to delivering the New Deal, in full, just yesterday to hundreds of shop workers at USDAW’s national conference.”A GMB spokesperson also said that Sir Keir has been “clear about the importance of the agreement” and said that their union “looks forward to it being honoured”.The unions have intervened amid reports from the Financial Times that shadow ministers have been discussing their New Deal for Workers with corporate leaders and are looking to unveil a watered down version of the plan as part of their pro-business push.Deputy leader Angela Rayner has spearheaded the New Deal for Workers More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak risks inflaming his row with Ireland over the return of asylum seekers after he accused the Irish government of “cherry picking” international agreements. The prime minister said his administration was seeking “urgent clarification” there would be no new checkpoints at or near the border with Northern Ireland as tensions between London and Dublin escalate. Ireland has hit out at what it says is a high number of recent arrivals coming from the UK. It has said it will redeploy 100 police officers to deal with the problem, although it has denied that these will be used along the border, the scene of much violence during the Troubles. The Irish cabinet has also approved a plan to start returns to the UK, something Mr Sunak says the UK will not accept.An open border is a key tenet of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought the Troubles to an end. Mr Sunak told MPs there could no be “cherry-picking” of international agreements from the Irish government. He said the UK had “made commitments to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and … the Irish government must uphold its promises too.”We can’t have cherry-picking of important international agreements and so the Secretary of State is seeking urgent clarification that there will be no disruption or police checkpoints at or near the border.” He added: “And I can confirm that the United Kingdom has no legal obligation to accept returns of illegal migrants from Ireland.” Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, London (House of Commons/PA) More

The moment immigration enforcement removed migrants from homes for deportation to Rwanda was filmed on video released by the Home Office on Wednesday, 1 May.A series of operations were carried out this week with more due to take place soon, the Home Office said.It has not been confirmed how many people were detained or where they were taken into custody.Footage shows authorities raiding homes and removing people before detaining them in a vehicle.It comes after Rishi Sunak’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week. More

The Home Office has detained the first set of migrants for deportation to Rwanda, with flights set to take off at the beginning of July. A week after Rishi Sunak’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill gained royal assent, the government said the first phase of detentions was underway for deportation flights. James Cleverly said enforcement teams are working “at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here” as part of the “pioneering” scheme. James Cleverly said enforcement teams are working ‘at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here’ More

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told off MPs for behaving like teenagers during a heated Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (1 May).Sir Lindsay told members to “stop banging on furniture” and said “We are not in the sixth form now” as he threatened to remove them from the Commons over their inappropriate behaviour.Sir Lindsay’s comments came as Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer faced each other in the Commons ahead of local elections in 107 local authorities across England tomorrow (2 May). More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch live as Rishi Sunak faces Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, 1 May, after the government paid an asylum seeker £3,000 to relocate to Rwanda.The failed asylum claimant became the first person to be paid under a voluntary return scheme running alongside the government’s controversial deportation agreement with the country.He is understood not to be from Rwanda originally.He is also understood to now be in Rwanda after his commercial flight left on Monday evening, The Sun reported.Labour has criticised the move as an expensive attempt by the Conservative Party to gain votes ahead of Thursday’s local elections, in which the Tories are expected to endure heavy losses.“Stopping the boats” is one of the prime minister’s five pledges to the public.Kemi Badenoch said the decision of the failed asylum seeker to voluntarily relocate to Rwanda shows it is a safe country.The business and trade secretary told Times Radio: “One of the big arguments about this scheme was Rwanda wasn’t a safe country, and actually people are volunteering to go there.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe government has been accused of an “extortionate pre-election gimmick” after paying an asylum seeker £3,000 to relocate to Rwanda.Under a scheme running alongside the government’s controversial deportation agreement with the east African nation, ministers can pay failed asylum applicants up to £3,000 to get on a flight to Kigali.And on Tuesday, an African man became the first to take the government up on its offer, just in time for Thursday’s local elections.Rishi Sunak has moved to end the parliamentary deadlock over his Rwanda Bill which will pave the way for deportation flights to get off the ground once it becomes law (PA) More