Markus Andrews

James Cleverly has arrived in Rwanda to sign a new treaty to help revive the Government’s stalled asylum deal.The foreign secretary travelled to Kigali as Rishi Sunak bids to make the plan to send migrants to the African nation legally watertight after the Supreme Court’s ruling against the policy.Domestic legislation, which will be rushed through parliament to assert Rwanda is a safe destination for asylum seekers who arrive in Britain, is also planned.Mr Cleverly will meet his counterpart, Vincent Biruta, to sign the treaty and discuss key next steps on the so-called migration and economic development partnership. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA grandmother on a remote island is able to shop online for Christmas for the first time, saving herself a six-hour round trip, thanks to a new 4G mast.Alice Arthur, 63, said mobile internet access has “opened up a whole new world” as she shops for her seven grandchildren this festive season.Mrs Arthur lives on Bruray, one of the Out Skerries islands which are the easternmost part of Shetland.She previously had to make a lengthy trip to Lerwick, on mainland Shetland, to do her Christmas shopping, but can now shop online thanks to an EE 4G mast installed on the island as part of the Scottish Government’s 4G Infill programme.Mrs Arthur, whose grandchildren are aged between five and 24, said: “Gift buying for my grandkids was never easy as I was only able to choose from what was available on the Shetland mainland, and without many options to choose from, I was always worried that some of what I found wouldn’t be very exciting to them.“But now, with this new connectivity, there’s just so much choice.“I can find such a wide range of toys and clothing, at good prices, and have them delivered right to my door. It’s made things so much easier.”The £28.75 million Scottish 4G Infill programme (S4GI) is delivering 4G infrastructure and connectivity to rural and island communities across Scotland, which previously had no or extremely limited mobile coverage, while respecting the rural landscape.Scottish innovation minister Richard Lochhead said: “Thanks to our £28.75 million S4GI programme, we’ve brought 4G to these Shetland islands, showing our commitment to providing future-proofed connectivity to rural and island communities.“These phone masts mean residents, businesses and visitors in these communities can work, communicate and access services more efficiently.We are helping close the UK’s digital divideGreg McCall, BT Group“This is about creating opportunities for businesses, improving daily life and ensuring no-one – even the hardest to reach – is left behind in the digital era.”In addition to the mast in the Out Skerries, EE has recently activated a 4G mast as part of the S4GI programme on the island of Foula, Shetland.Through EE’s partnerships with the Scottish Government, WHP Telecoms, Cellnex UK and Scottish Futures Trust, EE 4G connectivity is now available on 51 of 55 S4GI mobile masts across Scotland.Greg McCall, chief networks officer at BT Group, said: “Alice’s story is a powerful reminder of how reliable 4G connectivity can transform the everyday lives of people in rural communities, especially those living in some of the UK’s most isolated areas.“These new 4G sites provide residents with fast and reliable access to online services like banking, healthcare, and shopping, while empowering rural Scottish businesses to take mobile payments and offer new digital experiences.“Together with the Scottish Government and our industry partners, we are helping close the UK’s digital divide and deliver the connectivity boost countryside communities can rely on.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritain’s deputy PM Oliver Dowden has warned the public they should buy candles, torches and battery-powered radios in the event of a crisis cutting power supplies.The senior Tory cabinet minister said Britons should be more “personally resilient”, as he suggested they were too dependent on devices activated by the internet.A national “resilience academy” will be launched to help people and businesses prepare for future pandemics, natural disasters and cyber-attacks, Mr Dowden has said.Rishi Sunak’s deputy announced the plans in the Commons – claiming the new academy will help the “whole of society” prepare for major risks.Mr Dowden also suggested that people stock up on battery-powered radios and torches, as well as candles and first aid kits to prepare for power cuts or digital communications going down, according to The Times.In a visit to Porton Down, the UK’s main military laboratory, he described the supplies as “analogue capabilities” that are worth boosting in our digital age.“The world has changed unrecognisably and our society is highly reliant on digital infrastructure,” he said. “The government needs to ensure that we are resilient in this digital age, ensuring that our structures take this into account, including considering those analogue capabilities that it makes sense to retain.”Mr Dowden listed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cyber-attacks, pandemics, the misuse of artificial intelligence and extreme weather among some of the risks the UK faces.Deputy PM Oliver Dowden has set out plans for a ‘resilience academy’ He said businesses will be offered training to deal with the impact of such threats, while a new website will provide the public with “practical advice” on how to be better prepared for future risks.Mr Dowden made the announcement as part of his first annual risk and resilience statement, which he had promised to give last year when launching the government’s UK resilience framework.He told the Commons the new resilience website “will provide practical advice on how households can prepare as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the simple steps individuals can take to raise their resilience”.Mr Dowden also said the government will develop a new volunteer hub aimed at helping authorities draw on a single pool of volunteers who want to help in future events similar to the Covid pandemic – saying it showed “the overwhelming community spirit” of the UK.Labour frontbencher Pat McFadden welcomed the measures but asked what the government is doing to bolster resilience in energy supplies and the “public estate”, as well as in elections.He said: “Why is it that the government’s new policy is to roll back on the transition mandated by its own legislation for net zero, and prolong a reliance on international fossil fuel markets? For these failures, the British public has paid a heavy price.The Labour figure added: “And how will the government increase resilience in the public estate? Schools’ capital budgets cut back under this prime minister’’ watch while he was chancellor. School roofs falling in, disrupting children’s education.”He also pressed ministers to implement recommendations of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, aimed at preventing Russia and other states from interfering with upcoming elections.Mr McFadden said: “With an election coming some time in the next year, I am sure the secretary of state would agree that we need to do all we can to ensure it is conducted in a free and fair manner.”Mr Dowden reminded the Commons that an election could be held in January 2025 at the latest. “Indeed it is not just in this nation, in many nations around the world next year – or indeed in this nation it could be the year after – elections will happen.“That is why we have instructed the democracy taskforce to make sure we are fully resilient,” he added. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Thousands of protesters rallied against the New Zealand government’s Indigenous policies on Tuesday as the Parliament convened for the first time since October elections.Demonstrations in the capital, Wellington, and in about a dozen other New Zealand cities and towns were organized by the minor Maori Party, which advocates for the rights of Indigenous New Zealanders who are known as Maori.Protesters demonstrated peacefully outside Parliament against what they described as the “anti-Maori” policies of the newly elected conservative-led coalition government.Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the new policies of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s administration would take New Zealand “back to the 1800s.”“Our protest this morning was an activation of our people,” Waititi said.The National Party-led government promises to review the Treaty of Waitangi and implement potential changes to how that foundation document signed by British colonists and Maori chiefs in 1840 affects modern laws.The government has also foreshadowed changes to the Maori Health Authority, a statutory agency responsible for ensuring that the New Zealand health system meets Maori needs.Luxon said his government was “deeply committed to improving outcomes for Maori and non-Maori.”“Maori have done very well in National-led governments in the past, and they’re going to continue to do well,” Luxon said.Lawmakers were sworn in on Tuesday after elections on Oct. 14 ousted the center-left Labour Party government that had ruled since 2017.The Maori Party won six of the 123 seats in the 54th Parliament.Party lawmaker Takuta Ferris wore a Maori headdress and performed a haka, a traditional dance or challenge accompanied by a chant, as he crossed the chamber to make an affirmation that confirmed his place in the Parliament.Other Maori Party lawmakers sang traditional Indigenous songs.Some Green Party lawmakers wore the Arab headdress known as the keffiyeh over their shoulders in a sign of support for Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war.Luxon’s National Party won 38% of the vote — the largest proportion of any party. He took almost six weeks after the election to reach a coalition agreement with another two parties: the populist New Zealand First party and the libertarian ACT Party.ACT Party leader David Seymour described the Maori Party protests as “divisive theatrics” that showed disrespect for the election result.“New Zealanders elected a government that will treat people equally, regardless of their race,” Seymour said.“It’s a sad day when a political party is protesting equal rights,” he added. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWebsites that display or publish pornographic content will be required to use age assurance measures such as credit card checks and photo ID matching on users under the Online Safety Act.Online safety regulator Ofcom has published draft guidance for platforms on how to protect children from pornography to ensure firms comply with the new internet laws.The draft guidance says websites must use methods which are technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair to carry out age checks, and recommends firms consider options such as open banking – where a user consents to their bank sharing information confirming they are over 18.Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checksDame Melanie Dawes, OfcomOfcom also suggests other methods which could be used, such as photo ID matching where an uploaded document such as a passport is compared with an image taken at that moment; verified facial age estimation technology; mobile network age checks which automatically block age-restricted websites if the operator knows the user is under 18; credit card checks or digital identity wallets where a user’s proof of age is stored digitally and can be shared with the online pornography service.However, the regulator said certain approaches would not meet its new standards, including self-declaration of age, online payments methods which do not require a person to be 18, such as a debit card, or general terms, disclaimers or warnings about content.Under the Online Safety Act, platforms which do not comply with the new laws will face enforcement action, including possible fines.“Pornography is too readily accessible to children online, and the new online safety laws are clear that must change,” Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said.“Our practical guidance sets out a range of methods for highly effective age checks. We’re clear that weaker methods – such as allowing users to self-declare their age – won’t meet this standard.“Regardless of their approach, we expect all services to offer robust protection to children from stumbling across pornography, and also to take care that privacy rights and freedoms for adults to access legal content are safeguarded.”Ofcom said it would continue to work with online pornography services to finalise the draft guidance before a final version is published in early 2025, from which the Government will bring the duties set out in it into force.Pornography can have an absolutely devastating impact on children and their view of healthy relationshipsTechnology Secretary Michelle DonelanTechnology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “Pornography can have an absolutely devastating impact on children and their view of healthy relationships.“Right now, 13 is the average age at which a child first encounters it online. This is exactly why I made protecting children from pornography a key objective of our Online Safety Act.“Companies must now work closely with Ofcom to ensure they have robust checks in place to stop children from seeing harmful content that they can never unsee.“Consulting on how platforms must meet their new duties is key to making sure companies know exactly what is expected of them, allowing us to press ahead with this new online safety regime and the vital protections for our children that come with it.” More

James Cleverly has outlined a raft of new restrictions on legal migration which he said will slash the number of people arriving in Britain by 300,000 a year.The home secretary said a ban on overseas care workers bringing family dependants and a drastically hiked salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700 will deliver the “biggest ever reduction”.“We will stop immigration undercutting the salary of British workers,” Mr Cleverly told the House of Commons on Monday 4 December.The strategy, which will also make it harder for Britons earning under the national average to bring over foreign spouses, comes after net migration levels soared to a record high. More

Sir Keir Starmer has defended his praise for Margaret Thatcher in a Daily Telegraph article over the weekend.Taking questions from reporters on Monday 4 December, the Labour leader said he was simply trying to distinguish between post-war prime ministers “who had a driving sense of purpose, ambition, a plan to deliver and those that drifted”.“It doesn’t mean I agree with what she did,” Sir Keir said of Thatcher.“But you don’t have to agree with someone to recognise they had a mission and a plan… I want a mission-driven Labour government.”Sir Keir added that the last 13 years of government has seen a “complete lack of leadership and a real drift”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as James Cleverly unveils changes to Britain’s legal migration system on Monday 4 December, after official statistics showed that annual arrivals had hit a record high last year.The home secretary shared a package of measures intended to bring down net migration.He told the Commons that the minimum salary requirement for a skilled worker from overseas will be significantly hiked to around £38,000.The increase from £26,200 a year for visas to work in Britain featured in a wider package announced as Rishi Sunak comes under huge pressure.The prime minister has vowed to “do what is necessary” to bring down net migration in the wake of an official estimate saying levels had peaked at 745,000 in 2022.The salary figure is lower than the £40,000 in the deal Mr Sunak allegedly agreed with his since-sacked home secretary Suella Braverman to win her support for the Tory leadership.Privately, two sources said, Ms Braverman and immigration minister Robert Jenrick had pushed for the cap to go even higher, to £45,000. More