UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA girl aged seven was among five migrants who died as they tried to cross the English Channel hours after parliament passed Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill.The tragic deaths prompted senior figures in the United Nations to urge the prime minister to reconsider his controversial plan to send asylum seekers who arrive on small boats on a one-way flight to Rwanda. The victims were caught up in a panicked crush when their small craft, vastly overloaded with 112 people, ran aground on a sandbank shortly after setting off from the French coast.French navy sailors found them and took them ashore as they rescued 47 survivors from the stricken vessel. More than 50 others left on board managed to get the engine working again and continued towards Britain.Mr Sunak said the tragedy underscored the need for his Rwanda plan, which he hopes will create a deterrent effect. But leading lawyers, a former national security adviser, and opposition MPs said the plan was doomed to fail as it would not stop migrants from making the journey. Hours after the tragedy, boats similarly packed with asylum seekers were photographed leaving French shores.Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said the legislation “marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention”.The human rights arm of the Council of Europe – whose institutions include the European Court of Human Rights, whose oversight Mr Sunak has threatened to withdraw from over the policy – said it raised “major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law”.Lawyer and crossbench peer Alex Carlile told The Independent that Mr Sunak should “think again” and “drop the politics and the boasts”.“There is no evidence that this scheme will do more than remove about 1 per cent of the unresolved refugees,” he said. Former national security adviser Peter Ricketts, who is also a crossbench peer, said he did not think the Rwanda bill would make the “slightest difference to the number of desperate people risking their lives to get here”.Sir Keir Starmer said there is “no doubt that we have to stop these small boat crossings” but he added that he would “build up our border security, to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade and stop those boats arriving in the first place. Not a gimmick which nobody thinks is going to work.”Labour also made clear that it does not plan to send any asylum seekers to Rwanda if it enters Downing Street, not even as an interim measure while it scraps the scheme. Prime minister Rishi Sunak addresses a press conference in Downing Street this week More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAsylum seekers on the Bibbly Stockholm have said they feel like prisoners, are searched every time they go outside, and are unable to see friends because of detention-like conditions on the barge.A cleaner who worked on the controversial barge has also claimed that she was unfairly dismissed for being too friendly to residents, a new report on the asylum accommodation reveals. A report into the Bibby Stockholm, published by local refugee support groups and charity Care4Calais, found that asylum seekers are being extensively searched when they come off and on the barge – leaving them feeling trapped and unable to get support from friends outside. Campaigners are concerned about the ongoing isolation of the asylum seekers on board, which is berthed at Portland port in Dorset, and the detention-like conditions they are in. The report comes after an Albanian asylum seeker, Leonard Farruku, died on the barge in December 2023. His family have called for an independent investigation into his death and raised concerns about the conditions on the barge, including the vulnerability and complex mental health needs of those on board. Leonard’s sister Jola Dushku said: “He was a lovely person who came to the UK to build a new life full of hope. We feel the UK government should be held responsible for Leonard’s death.”Leonard Farruku died on the Bibby Stockholm barge in December 2023 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has awkwardly stepped in to prevent the head of Nato from answering a reporter’s question about the military alliance’s preparations for how the upcoming general election could affect Britain’s defence commitments.During a joint press conference in Warsaw with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister promised to boost Britain’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 in a pledge costing taxpayers £75bn over the next six years.Mr Sunak warned that the world is “the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War”, and pledged to put Britain’s defence industry “on a war footing”, in what marked the latest flurry of activity by the PM as he seeks to close the polling gap with Labour ahead of this year’s election.( More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritain will increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, a move which will mean billions of pounds in extra spending, Rishi Sunak has said.The prime minister set out plans to ramp up defence spending to meet the target by 2030, a move praised by former defence minister James Heappey. Mr Heappey, who quit last month and called for a boost to defence spending, said it was “enormous news” and “hugely needed”.Mr Sunak said it was “the biggest strengthening of our national defence for a generation”.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised an extra £75bn in defence spending over the next six years (Alistair Grant/PA) 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 meets Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk at a military base in Warsaw on Tuesday, 23 April, after his controversial Rwanda bill was given the green light in parliament.The group will visit the Warsaw Armoured Brigade before a delegation meeting.Mr Sunak and Mr Stoltenberg will then give a press conference.The British PM will pledge a record package of military aid for Ukraine as he travels to Warsaw and Berlin to meet the leaders of Poland, Germany, and Nato.Warning that Vladimir Putin “will not stop at the Polish border” if his assault on Ukraine is not thwarted, Mr Sunak will announce £500m in extra military funding and the UK’s largest-ever donation of key equipment.Mr Sunak will travel to Germany to hold one-on-one talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday.It comes after the PM’s Rwanda legislation faced a final parliamentary showdown on Monday.The bill was finally given the green light in the evening after the House of Lords gave up their fight with the House of Commons over amending the legislation.Mr Sunak’s bill is aimed at making the plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda legally watertight. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has refused to rule out a July general election amid speculation he could go to the polls as the first Rwanda flights take off.The day after his deportation bill finally cleared parliament, the prime minister was grilled about whether he would hold a summer election to capitalise on the scheme coming into effect.But, keeping the door open to a July contest, Mr Sunak told reporters: “All I’m going to say is the same thing I say every time, as I said in the first week of January, my working assumption is an election in the second half of the year.”It is still widely expected the country will go to the polls in October or November, but a July vote would help Mr Sunak avoid a surge in small boat channel crossings over the summer.Mr Sunak was quizzed about his election plans on a flight to Poland More

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inboxSign up to our free IndyTech newsletterAI could have profound implications for national security – including posing a host of risks, a new government-commissioned report warns.Artificial intelligence is a valuable tool to help senior officials in government and intelligence make decisions, it says. But it could also lead to inaccuracies, confusion and other dangers, it warns.Senior officials must be trained to spot those problems, and there is a critical need for any AI systems to be carefully watched and continuously monitored to ensure they don’t lead to more bias and errors, it warns.Problems may arise, for instance, because some officials believe that AI is far more capable and certain than it actually is. In fact, artificial intelligence often works on probabilities – and can be wildly wrong, it warns.Choosing not use AI comes with its own risks, including missing patterns across data that could be central to keeping people safe, the report says.But the vast risks of using it also means that there could be more bias and uncertainty. “There is a critical need for careful design, continuous monitoring, and regular adjustment of AI systems to mitigate the risk of amplifying human biases and errors in intelligence assessment,” the report says.Those are the conclusions of the new report from the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national research organisation for AI. It was commissioned by British intelligence agencies, the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO) and Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ).The official report did not give any information on how much AI is currently used by intelligence agencies, or how mature that technology is. But it urged that work to counteract the potentially major dangers should begin immediately, to ensure that any future introduction of AI is done safely.The government said that it would consider the recommendations of the report and that it was already working on combating the potential dangers that the technology could bring.“We are already taking decisive action to ensure we harness AI safely and effectively, including hosting the inaugural AI Safety Summit and the recent signing of our AI Compact at the Summit for Democracy in South Korea,” said Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister.“We will carefully consider the findings of this report to inform national security decision makers to make the best use of AI in their work protecting the country.”The report was written by the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS), which is based within the Alan Turing Institute. Officials there noted the importance of decision makers ensuring that they understand the nature of information that has been informed by artificial intelligence.“Our research has found that AI is a critical tool for the intelligence analysis and assessment community. But it also introduces new dimensions of uncertainty, which must be effectively communicated to those making high-stakes decisions based on AI-enriched insights,” said Alexander Babuta, director of The Alan Turing Institute’s Centre for Emerging Technology and Security.“As the national institute for AI, we will continue to support the UK intelligence community with independent, evidence-based research, to maximise the many opportunities that AI offers to help keep the country safe.”GCHQ, which jointly commissioned the report, said that it saw great potential in AI – but that it was important to work on safe uses of it too.“AI is not new to GCHQ or the intelligence assessment community, but the accelerating pace of change is,” said Anne Keast-Butler, director of GCHQ. “In an increasingly contested and volatile world, we need to continue to exploit AI to identify threats and emerging risks, alongside our important contribution to ensuring AI safety and security.” More

Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, and Grant Shapps arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday (23 April) just hours after the government’s controversial Rwanda Bill was passed.The prime minister is expected to unveil an extra £500 million of military funding to Ukraine and announce the largests supply of munitions as he reinforces his ties with key European allies.The largest package of munitions is expected to include a mix of 1,600 strike and air defence missiles; an unspecified number of Storm Shadow cruise missiles, one of the most powerful weapons; and 400 all-terrain and armoured vehicles.Mr Sunak will meet his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk, as well as Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of Nato, to discuss European security and support to Ukraine. More