News

David Lammy’s speech calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.The incident happened in London on Saturday 20 January.Labour’s shadow foreign secretary was addressing the Fabian Society conference on foreign policy when flag-waving demonstrators mounted the stage shouting: “When will you condemn the genocide? How many more children need to die?”After they were escorted away by security, more people in the audience stood up to launch verbal attacks on the party’s stance on the Middle East conflict.Once Mr Lammy returned after being temporarily rushed backstage, he joked: “I was born in Tottenham, don’t worry.” More

Rishi Sunak laughed as a disgruntled voter in Winchester pleaded with him to fix lengthy NHS waiting lists for treatment.The woman told the prime minister “you could make it all go back to how it used to be” before the prime minister appeared to chuckle nervously in an exchange caught on camera by Sky News.”If we had a problem, you could go to the hospital. My daughter spent seven hours waiting,” she added.Figures suggest that some 6.39 million patients across England were waiting for routine hospital treatment in November, down slightly from 6.44 million in October. More

Emily Thornberry was grilled during a heated debate on Rwanda on Thursday night’s BBC Question Time (18 January).The Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales was challenged to spell out Labour’s alternative when it came to stopping migrant boats crossing over the English Channel.A frustrated audience member aimed his comments directly at Ms Thornberry and said: “I have to say, I’m not too sure but Emily’s very quick to criticise the plan.“But then what’s your plan? You know, there has to be a plan. We’re a small island. We haven’t got room for everyone.”Ms Thornberry hit back by branding Mr Sunak’s plan a “gimmick” and saying Labour would target human-trafficking gangs. More

Rishi Sunak did not guarantee that a flight would take off to Rwanda before the general election if legislation passed the House of Lords quickly.Asked if he would give such a guarantee, the Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference today (18 January): “Look at my actions. “We had the Supreme Court ruling middle of November and within a matter of weeks after that happened we negotiated and signed a treaty with Rwanda, and brought fresh legislation to Parliament that had its first vote as well and was supported.“So, that gives you a sense, I hope, of the urgency with which we are attacking this problem.” More

Rishi Sunak has praised the Conservative Party for “coming together” to pass his Rwanda bill.The Prime Minister saw his legislation pass its third reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday night (17 January), after a would-be backbench revolt on his flagship policy largely melted away.Mr Sunak’s controversial deportation bill was passed by 320 votes to 276, giving the government a majority of 44.His leadership risked being thrown into question after Tory rebels threatened to bring the bill down, but the mutiny failed to materialise after an 11th-hour meeting in parliament ahead of the crunch vote. More

This is the moment Thérèse Coffey mistakes Rwanda’s capital for another country while hitting out at Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper.Ms Coffey made the mistake in front of MPs in Parliament on Wednesday (17 January).Aiming her comments at Ms Cooper, she said: “I have to say I was somewhat astonished by the speech of the shadow home secretary who can’t even get the name of the country right.“Talking about the ‘Kigali government’. We are talking about Rwanda. A respected country.”Kigali is the capital of Rwanda. More

Robert Jenrick urged MPs to “find a way through” the “entirely foreseeable” prospect of European judges challenging the Rwanda plan.The former immigration minister is leading Tory efforts to rewrite the legislation in the House of Commons.Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday (17 January), Mr Jenrick said: “It is, as I’ve said before, a bit like pulling the pin out of a grenade but not being prepared to throw it. “Setting this scheme in train without knowing what you would do when this happens – it’s entirely foreseeable, let’s find a way through this challenge.” More

Rishi Sunak’s weakness was “exploited” by Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions this week, The Independent’s Political Editor Kate Devlin has said.Mr Sunak was grilled by the Labour leader in the House of Commons on Wednesday 17 January, ahead of a crunch vote on his flagship Rwanda plan.Speaking to the BBC’s Naga Munchetty, Ms Devlin said that while Sir Keir didn’t have a “resounding victory” in PMQs, he spotted Mr Sunak’s “weakness” over the Rwanda policy and “exploited it”.“He spotted the weakness, went for it and exploited it, and it was going to be difficult for Rishi to win today,” she said. More