UK Politics

Boris Johnson will dodge confrontation with the Prince of Wales over his scheme to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda, which Charles has reportedly branded “appalling”.The pair are to meet on Friday at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) summit in the African country, where the prime minister initially told reporters he would explain the “obvious merits” of the plan to the heir to the throne.But Downing Street later backed away from the promise, saying it was “unlikely” Johnson would mention the scheme, which involves flying asylum-seekers who cross the Channel in small boats to Rwanda without first assessing their claim for sanctuary in the UK.No 10 also said the PM did not raise the issue of human rights in talks with Rwandan president Paul Kagame, despite a slew of reports of political repression, alleged assassinations and the imprisonment of critics.Mr Johnson insisted that the east African nation had undergone an “absolute transformation” and said it was “condescending” to oppose plans forcibly to relocate asylum-seekers there.The scheme was roundly condemned at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe by MPs from across the continent who described it as “unethical” and “racist”.Plans for the first flight were halted at the last minute last week by rulings from the European Court of Human Rights and the UK’s Appeal Court, and further attempts to fly migrants out are not likely to be made until after a judicial review next month.But No 10 said that the policy would not be “at the forefront of his mind” when Mr Johnson joins the Prince for talks over a cup of tea, in their first conversation since reports of the Charles’s private remarks. It was understood that the Prince is also unlikely to bring it up.Despite being in Rwanda for the first time since becoming PM, Mr Johnson was not expected to visit the facilities set up to receive “tens of thousands” of asylum-seekers from the UK once the scheme gets under way.The government in Kigali said it had already received payments under a £120 million economic and migration deal signed by home secretary Priti Patel two months ago, and some of the money had already been spent.Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said: “Because that was intended to prepare for all the accommodations and all the other institutions to beef up the processes – so that’s been done.”A Downing Street account of talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Kagame suggested that the pair were trying to claim success for the scheme, despite the fact that no migrants have yet been removed from the UK.A No 10 spokesman said: “The leaders also praised the successful UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, which is tackling dangerous smuggling gangs while offering people a chance to build a new life in a safe country.”Mr Johnson defended the scheme, which has been described by Church of England bishops as bringing “shame” on Britain.Speaking to reporters as he prepared to fly to Rwanda, the PM said he hoped the trip would “perhaps help others to shed some of their condescending attitudes to Rwanda and how that partnership might work”.And speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a school in Kigali, he said: “People need to keep an open mind about the policy, the critics need to keep an open mind about the policy.“A lot of people can see its obvious merits. So yeah, of course, if I am seeing the prince tomorrow, I am going to be making that point.”Mr Johnson said he found it “utterly shocking” to see evidence of the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus at a memorial in Kigali.“We must do everything we can to ensure that human hearts never again are allowed to breed such hatred,” he said. More

Government plans to change the law to allow firms to hire agency workers to replace striking staff have today come under fire – including from representatives of recruitment agencies.With ministers braced for a “summer of discontent” as groups including nurses, teachers and mail workers mull industrial action, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tabled legislation which will remove a 1973 law banning the use of agency workers as strike-breakers.And transport secretary Grant Shapps said that change would mean future strikes would cause less disruption by allowing “flexible, fully skilled staff to continue working throughout”.Speaking on the second day of strike action by rail workers in the RMT union, Mr Shapps said: “Despite the efforts of militant union leaders, they cannot bring our country to a standstill.”However, government sources acknowledged that the reform would not necessarily prevent disruption in future rail strikes, as employers were unlikely to be able to find temporary workers to fill skilled posts like signalman.And the chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, Neil Carberry, said agency workers were unlikely to want to cross picket lines and place themselves at the centre of controversial disputes.Changing the law to allow firms to hire agency workers to replace staff on strike during industrial disputes will not work, the head of the UK’s recruitment body has“It is not something agencies want, and will not achieve the goals the Government claims,” he said.“Inserting agency workers into strikes will only lengthen disputes. It will also not provide the workers that Government wants, and it puts agencies and agency workers in a very difficult position, with potential health and safety and reputational risks to consider.“Agency workers are in high demand, and most will not choose a job that forces them to cross a picket line over another where they do not have to.”TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that agency workers would be placed in an “appalling and impossible” position if asked to act as strike-breakers.The union organisation has warned that the legislation could breach an International Labour Organisation convention to which the UK is a signatory.Ms O’Grady accused the government of “chasing headlines, rather than acting in the national interest” in the rail dispute. :“The government should be getting people around the table to find a fair resolution to this rail dispute,” she said.“But ministers are more interested in cynically picking a fight with unions than reaching a negotiated settlement.“Having slammed P&O for replacing experienced workers with agency staff, Grant Shapps is using the same playbook.“These plans are a deliberate attempt to undermine the right to strike and to reduce workers’ bargaining power.“Bringing in less qualified agency staff to deliver important services will endanger public safety, worsen disputes and poison industrial relations.” More

Boris Johnson fails to deny he offered Carrie Symonds top jobBoris Johnson has insisted it would be “crazy” for him to resign as prime minister if the Tories are dealt a double-blow in this week’s by-elections, in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton.Speaking to reporters travelling with him in Rwanda, Mr Johnson sought to defy those claiming his electoral stock may have been critically damaged by the Partygate saga, protesting that “it was only a year ago” that his party defied historical precedent to win Hartlepool by-election.“Governing parties generally do not win by-elections particularly not in mid-term,” he said. “You know, I’m very hopeful, but you know, there you go. That’s just the reality.”His comments came as former Brexit minister Lord Davist Frost claimed that we might never get evidence to show “one way or the other” if leaving the EU has been bad for the economy “as there was “so much else going on”.Lord Frost suggested one test of Brexit’s failure “would be if we are still debating this in five or six years’ time in the same way”.Show latest update

1655995256ICYMI: The Tories are at risk of losing more than both by-electionsFor the Conservative Party to lose one by-election would be unfortunate – to lose two would be a sign it is at risk of foregoing its electoral footing, writes Professor John Curtice.Read his full analysis here: Matt Mathers23 June 2022 15:401655994162Collapse in Tory support threatens ‘Conservative Celtic Fringe’ in South-West, poll findsA collapse in Conservative support across the South-West of England could see the party lose 11 seats in a general election – and come within a hair’s breadth of losing the constituency of Jacob Rees-Mogg.YouGov found that Tory vote share in the seats which they dubbed the “Conservative Celtic Fringe” has dropped a remarkable 19 points since the 2019 general election, leaving Boris Johnson’s party on 38 per cent in the region.Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports: Matt Mathers23 June 2022 15:221655993303Shocking to see genocide memorials in RwandaBoris Johnson found it “utterly shocking” to witness the images and physical memorials of the genocide in Rwanda as he was led around a museum by survivors.The prime minister bowed his head during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where the remains of an estimated 250,000 people are interred.Mr Johnson wrote a lengthy message in the visitors book before pausing at the flame of remembrance marking 28 years since the 100 days that saw Hutu extremists claim the lives of around 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.”It has been utterly shocking to see these images, and so many physical memorials, of the appalling and inexplicable genocide against the Tutsis,” it read.”We must do everything we can to ensure that human hearts never again are allowed to breed such hatred.”Matt Mathers23 June 2022 15:081655991572Rail workers to ‘pause’ and ‘consider’ state of play next weekRail workers will “pause” and “consider” their position next week following three days of walkouts, a union boss has said.Mick Lynch, secretary general of the RMT, spoke to Sky News earlier.Watch some of his interview below: Matt Mathers23 June 2022 14:391655990463Momentum to keep list of Labour MPs who fail to back rail strike Left-wingers in the Labour Party are upping the ante on the party’s MPs to support this week’s rail strike, after Keir Starmer banned frontbenchers from picket lines.Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports: Matt Mathers23 June 2022 14:211655989556Johnson too busy to visit Rwanda asylum seeker accommodationBoris Johnson is too busy to visit some of the accommodation sites in Rwanda earmarked for hosting asylum seekers deported from the UK, Downing Street has suggested.Mr Johnson is in the African country for the first time since becoming prime minister.But a No 10 spokesman suggested it would not be a good use of the PM’s time to visit the hotels, which are being paid for by UK taxpayers. More

A collapse in Conservative support across the South-West of England could see the party lose 11 seats in a general election – and come within a hair’s breadth of losing the constituency of Jacob Rees-Mogg.YouGov found that Tory vote share in the seats which they dubbed the “Conservative Celtic Fringe” has dropped a remarkable 19 points since the 2019 general election, leaving Boris Johnson’s party on 38 per cent in the region.The figures were released on the day of a by-election in the Devon seat of Tiverton & Honiton, where Liberal Democrats are hopeful of overturning a massive Conservative majority in an area which has been “true blue” since 1923.Out of 41 West Country seats which have been in Tory hands since 2015 and voted Leave in 2016, some 11 would fall to Labour or Liberal Democrats if the YouGov findings were borne out in a general election, with a further four on a cliff-edge.Among those most at risk of loss are environment secretary George Eustice’s Camborne and Redruth, which was held by both Labour and Liberal Democrats under its pre-2010 title of Falmouth and Camborne.Based on the YouGov figures, Mr Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset would be at risk, but the Cabinet Office minister would be expected to scrape back into parliament by a slim margin.As well as Camborne and Redruth, Labour would pick up both Bournemouth constituencies and the seats of Gloucester, Kingswood, and Swindon South.The Liberal Democrats would re-take Wells, Chippenham, Taunton Deane, and St Ives.And East Devon would be at risk to an Independent who has stood in the past three elections on a pro-NHS ticket and ran Tories close in 2019.In the 41 seats studied by YouGov, Conservatives took a 57 per cent share of vote in 2019, with Labour and Lib Dems neck and neck on 19 per cent.Polling of 813 voters across the constituencies saw the political landscape transformed, with Tories on 38 per cent (down 19 points), Labour on 24 (up 5) and Lib Dems on 22 (up 3).YouGov associate director Patrick English said: “The scale of losses which might occur in the Conservative Celtic Fringe do not come anywhere close to those in the Red Wall in 2019.“But if the Tory seat total takes a hit from its South-Western flank at the same time as it does in the Red Wall former Labour heartlands and across the new Blue Wall front, this Labour and Liberal Democrat pincer movement could become very costly to the Conservatives indeed.” More

Left-wingers in the Labour Party are upping the ante on the party’s MPs to support this week’s rail strike, after Keir Starmer banned frontbenchers from picket lines.MPs will be bombarded with emails urging them to “do their jobs” from Thursday as campaign group Momentum launches a new website to help voters check whether their local representative has turned out.The group will publish “a running, public total of Labour MPs who have backed the strike and turned up to picket lines” so constituents can see what stance their MPs takes.The site will also make it easy for people to write to their local MP to urge them to back the industrial action.It comes after Aslef train drivers’ union general secretary Mick Whelan warned that Sir Keir’s anti-union policy for frontbenchers “may end the party”.The Labour leader issued the no-picket edict to his team over the weekend in a bid to impress voters and pundits who might be sceptical of industrial action.But the move may have backfired, as polling on the industrial action shows the public far more supportive of the walk-out than many expected.One survey by Savanta ComRes found that 58 per cent of people polled believe the strikes are justified, against just one-third (34 per cent) who say they are not. A separate poll by YouGov found that 37 per cent described themselves as supportive of the strikes and 45 per cent opposed, while another survey by Opinium found 41 per cent in support and 42 per cent opposed.Since the polls were conducted RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has also won plaudits for calm and direct media appearances defending workers’ decision to walk out – though it remains to be seen whether this will shift public opinion further.Labour MP John McDonnell, a former shadow chancellor said: “There can be no doubt that the workers of the RMT are absolutely right to strike to protect their conditions and conditions, and there can be no doubt that every Labour MP should be out there on the picket line supporting them. Our Party was founded to stand up for workers and to stand with them. “The responsibility for these strikes lies firmly on the Tories, who have deliberately picked a fight with the rail workers and their union the RMT. It is dangerously irresponsible for this Government to play political games with people’s livelihoods right in the middle of a cost of living crisis.”And Labour MP Zarah Sultana said: “Throughout the pandemic, rail workers kept the country moving, and were rightly celebrated for their essential service. “But now, thanks to this Tory government and greedy profiteers, they face job losses and real-terms paycuts. RMT members can win this fight – but they need the solidarity of each and every one of us. That’s what the labour movement is all about.”Labour MP Richard Burgon added that it was “important that we stand with workers, in the rail industry and more widely, who face the biggest attacks on their living standards in decades and who desperately need a pay rise”.While the Labour Party was founded as the parliamentary wing of the trade union movement, some moderates in the party now believe the cause of organised labour polls badly, and try to avoid overtly associating with it where possible.But several Labour frontbenchers have privately expressed exasperation at the ban on attending pickets, and five are expected to be disciplined by the party machine for breaking ranks.In an email to shadow ministers ahead of the first rail walkout on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: “We must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded that frontbenchers including [parliamentary private secretaries] should not be on picket lines.“Please speak to all the members of your team to remind them of this and confirm with me that you have done so.”Rail workers across train operating companies and infrastructure manager Network Rail are asking for a new pay settlement so that their wages keep up with inflation. They are also opposing job cut. The government has been criticised for not stepping in to help solve the dispute.A Momentum spokesperson said: “The Labour Party was founded over 100 years ago to represent the interests of workers. There is no mandate in the party or the public for Sir Keir Starmer to abandon our very identity. Indeed Labour voters and the wider public back the strike.”Each and every Labour MP now faces a choice – stand with rail workers and the wider labour movement, or leave behind the people we are supposed to represent. Members and workers won’t let them sit on the fence.” More

Voting is underway in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton for Thursday’s crucial by-elections, which could see Conservative Party candidates routed in both constituencies, a rare double-defeat in prospect not seen since the Second World War.Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to reclaim the “red wall” West Yorkshire seat for Labour after it fell to the Tories in 2019 for the first time since 1932 while, in Devon, the Liberal Democrats are hoping to cause a major upset and have claimed the polls are “neck and neck”.Both by-elections are being held in response to Tory MPs being forced to resign in disgrace.In Wakefield, Imran Ahmad Khan stepped down after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at a party in 2008.In Tiverton & Honiton, Neil Parish bowed out after admitting to watching pornography on his phone in the House of Commons on two separate occasions, claiming that he had been browsing for agricultural equipment when he was mistakenly redirected to an X-rated streaming site.Opposition candidates will be hoping that public disgust at both scandals will tap into wider discontent with Boris Johnson over scandals such as the Partygate affair, as well as greivances about the cost of living crisis.The Tories have opted for Wakefield councillor and former teacher Nadeem Ahmed as their man to defend the seat after the fall of Khan, while Labour has nominated NHS worker Simon Lightwood as his challenger, who would require a 3.8 percentage point swing in his favour to overcome a Conservative majority of 3,358.The other candidates in contention are: Akef Akbar (independent), Paul Bickerdike (Christian People’s Alliance), Mick Dodgson (Freedom Alliance), Sir Archibald Stanton Earl ’Eaton (Monster Raving Loony Party), Jayda Fransen (independent), Jordan Gaskell (Ukip), David Herdson (Yorkshire Party), Therese Hirst (English Democrat), Christopher Jones (Northern Independence), Jamie Needle (Liberal Democrats), Ashley Routh (Green), Ashlea Simon (Britain First) and Chris Walsh (Reform UK).In Devon, the Liberal Democrats are hoping to turn the tide and win a constituency that has been blue even since it was created in 1997, a feat that would necessitate a 22.8 per cent swing in the party’s favour to eat into the 24,239 majority Mr Parish secured at the 2019 general election.The party’s candidate is former army major Richard Foord, who is running against Tory Helen Hurford, an ex-headteacher and beauty salon owner, for the right to replace Mr Parish, with Labour’s Liz Pole also challenging.The remaining candidates are: Jordan Donoghue-Morgan (Heritage Party), Andy Foan (Reform UK), Frankie Rufolo (For Britain Movement), Ben Walker (Ukip) and Gill Westcott (Green).Polling stations opened in both constituencies at 7am on Thursday morning and will remain so until 10pm, after which ballot papers will be counted, with the results expected between 4am and 6am on Friday morning. More

Boris Johnson has suggested it would be “crazy” for him to resign if the Conservatives are dealt a double blow by losing two key by-elections this week.The Prime Minister played down the Tories’ chances as they seek to defend the seats of Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton in two scandal-triggered votes on Thursday.Defeat in both constituencies against the backdrop of the partygate scandal and a cost-of-living crisis would further raise the nerves of Tory MPs, 148 of whom recently voted no confidence in Mr Johnson’s leadership.Wakefield in West Yorkshire was part of the “red wall” of former Labour strongholds seized by the Tories that propelled the Prime Minister to an 80-seat majority in the 2019 general election.The other battleground, in Devon, was last won by the Tories with a majority with more than 24,000 votes, but the Liberal Democrats are hopeful of their chances.But Mr Johnson, who will be on an official visit to Rwanda when the results roll in on Friday, was defiant that he would not be quitting if both are lost.“Are you crazy?” he told reporters travelling with him to Kigali when prospects of his departure was raised.Mr Johnson added: “Come on, it was only a year ago that we won the Hartlepool by-election, that everybody thought was… you know, we hadn’t won Hartlepool for, I can’t remember when the Tory party last won Hartlepool – a long time. I don’t think it ever had.“Governing parties generally do not win by-elections particularly not in mid-term. You know, I’m very hopeful, but you know, there you go. That’s just the reality.”The last time a Government lost two by-elections on the same day was more than 30 years ago when Tory prime minister John Major was dealt a double defeat.Under current Conservative rules, Mr Johnson is safe from a new vote in his leadership for a year.He declined to directly comment on suggestions that the Tory 1922 Committee could change the rules to allow a challenge sooner.“I’m focused entirely on delivering on the agenda of this government. My golden rule is the less you talk about Westminster issues, the more you talk about the things you want to talk to the country about,” Mr Johnson said.Tiverton and Honiton has been held by the Tories since its creation in 1997, but Conservative Neil Parish resigned earlier this year after admitting watching pornography in Parliament.Wakefield had voted Labour continuously from 1932 until 2019 when it was won for the Conservatives by Imran Ahmad Khan.But Mr Khan resigned in disgrace earlier this year after being convicted for sexually assaulting a boy. More