News

Footage shows the inside of the Bibby Stockholm barge which is set to house 500 asylum seekers at Portland Port in Dorset.The barge’s capacity has been upped from 222 to 506 people.But The Independent understands that migrants will have less living space than an average parking bay.An official brochure released by owner Bibby Marine shows there are only 222 “single en-suite bedrooms” on board, meaning that at least two people may have to be crammed into every cabin for the government to achieve its aim. More

Conservative losses in Thursday’s (20 July) by elections were because Tory voters stayed at home, Greg Hands has said.The Tory party chairman spoke to TalkTV after his party lost two safe seats as Labour gained Selby and Ainsty and the Liberal Democrats won in Somerton and Frome.A 24 per cent swing towards Labour was “largely driven by Conservative voters staying at home,” Mr Hands said.“The result in Uxbridge reflects something wider.”The Tories managed to narrowly cling on to Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat. More

New Labour MP Keir Mather will become the youngest MP in the Commons after overturning a 20,137 majority in the North Yorkshire constituency of Selby & Ainsty.In a speech after he was declared the winner of the by-election, Mr Mather said he “understood the enormity of what has just happened”.“We have rewritten the rules on where Labour can win. People have opened their doors to us and embraced our positive vision for the future,” he said.“The people of Selby & Ainsty have sent a clear message. For too long, Conservatives up here and in Westminster have failed us, and today that changes.” More

Veterans minsiter Johnny Mercer has made a jibe at Labour’s newest and youngest MP Keir Mather following his historic by-election win.Keir, 25, won the previous Conservative stronghold of Selby and Ainsty for Labour by overturning a majority of 20,000. He will now become the ‘Baby of the House’ – the youngest member of the House of Commons.Asked by Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates whether he welcomed “an injection of youth into parliament”, Mr Mercer said: “I think it’s always good to get new people in politics, but I think we mustn’t become a repeat of The Inbetweeners”. More

James Cleverly has warned Rishi Sunak that he wants to remain as foreign secretary, amid speculation over an imminent cabinet reshuffle.The senior cabinet minister, who has been tipped in some reports as a contender to replace Ben Wallace at the Ministry of Defence, made clear his desire to remain at the Foreign Office during a relaxed interview at the Aspen Security Forum in the US.Mr Cleverly made it clear that he wants to “stay put” in the job, as he joked that he was speaking directly to the prime minister from across the Atlantic. More

Jacob Rees-Mogg raised Nigel Farage’s issue with Coutts bank during PMQs on Wednesday (19 July), saying that “members of the opposition deserve a bank account”.The former UKIP leader has claimed he has evidence that shows he was targeted “on personal and political grounds” and that the bank decided to close his account because his views “do not align” with their values.“Does my right honourable friend agree with me that however much we may find them tiresome, members of the opposition deserve a bank account,” Mr Rees-Mogg said, asking Rishi Sunak to address the situation. More

Shaun Bailey has taken a House of Lords seat despite a new Partygate police investigation.The 52-year-old accepted the coveted spot despite demands he should wait until police complete a probe into a lockdown “Jingle and Mingle” event held by his campaign team, which he attended.Escorted by Black Rod Sarah Clarke, Independent peer Baroness Clare Fox and Conservative peer Lord Stuart Polak, he was formally introduced as Baron Bailey of Paddington and swore the oathe of allegiance with his left hand across his breast. He then bowed to and shook hands with Lord Speaker Lord McFall. More

The single best way to get out of poverty is by getting a job, Oliver Dowden told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, 12 July.The deputy prime minister filled in for Rishi Sunak this afternoon while the prime minister attended a Nato summit in Lithuania.Mr Dowden told the House of Commons: “The single best route out of poverty is a job and record numbers of people… under this government have got a job.”It comes after the Office for National Statistics released figures showing that the unemployment rate for March to May 2023 increased by 0.2 percentage points on the quarter to 4 per cent. More