UK Politics

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 for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailOn 2 May Londoners will head to the polls to elect a mayor and 25 London Assembly members. Around six million registered voters will choose who will be in charge of the capital for the next four years. This year there will be a new voting system first past the post (FPTP), similar to what is used in general elections. In previous mayoral elections voters could make a first and second choice for mayor, however this time they will only get one vote.The London mayoral candidates have officially been announced on Thursday 28 March, with 13 candidates running for office. Here are all the candidates running for London mayor.Sadiq Khan – Labour PartySadiq Khan More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation plan is poised to become law after peers ended their protracted tussle over the policy.The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Bill) cleared Parliament shortly after midnight on Monday following a lengthy back and forth with the House of Lords in the last few months over amendments to the scheme.The unelected chamber ended the deadlock after MPs rejected a requirement that Rwanda could not be treated as safe until the secretary of state, having consulted an independent monitoring body, made a statement to Parliament to that effect.Preparations for the first flights to Rwanda are expected to begin within days, with asylum seekers who could be relocated being identified and potentially detained.Charter planes are expected to leave for Rwanda in 10-12 weeks, with Mr Sunak promising “multiple flights a month”, although ministers conceded numbers being sent to Kigali will be small at first.The Independent has revealed everything we know so far about the cost of the government’s flagship immigration planPrime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to get flights off the ground this summer More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBoris Johnson said he “wished he was black” on the night Barack Obama was elected as US president, a journalist has claimed.Afua Hirsch, of British-Ghanian heritage, claimed Mr Johnson demanded to know where she was from at a drinks party on the night of Obama’s victory in 2008.In an interview with Mr Johnson’s ex-wife Marina Wheeler, the journalist wrote: “She was still married to Johnson, who was there with her, and who – true to form – made some problematic remarks about my own racial heritage.“After demanding to know ‘where I was from’, he commented that he ‘wished he was Black’,” Ms Hirsch wrote in Vogue magazine.Ms Hirsch said his ex-wife couldn’t remember the interaction, but “groaned” when told about it.Ms Wheeler, 59, said her divorce from Mr Johnson, which was finalised in 2020 after separating in 2018, did “free” her. “I suppose I do feel that, as you become more senior as a woman, and, I guess, post-divorce, if I’m honest, it does free you up,” she said. “You can look at the world again and do things that can make a difference.”Afua Hirsch, of British-Ghanian heritage, claimed Mr Johnson made the comments at a drinks party in 2008 More