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Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMPs have been shown a Scottish-made “unicorn” satellite as they heard from companies in the country’s space sector.Tom Walkinshaw, CEO of the Glasgow-based satellite manufacturer Alba Orbital, brought one of his company’s Unicorn-2 products to the House of Commons to show members of the Scottish Affairs Committee.The company specialises in making “picosatellites” which weigh less than one kilogram.It has launched 41 of them so far, including 15 Unicorns built in Glasgow, with the rest being from partners around the world.The company was started by Mr Walkinshaw from his bedroom and has grown rapidly, recently raising money through the Y Combinator venture capital process which has linked some of the US’s largest technology companies with investors.Along with Steve Greenland of Craft Prospect Ltd, Mr Walkinshaw gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee on Monday as part of its inquiry into the Scottish space sector.Showing the Unicorn-2 to the committee at the start of the hearing, Mr Walkinshaw said it had been “fun” taking it past the Commons’ security.Committee convener Pete Wishart said: “It’s probably the first time a satellite has ever been produced at a Westminster select committee.“So congratulations, a trailblazer in that regard.”The Unicorn-2 is named after Scotland’s national animal and can feature a camera for Earth observation missions and pop-out solar panels, with the Alba Orbital founder saying “it’s a fully functional little satellite that does everything a bigger satellite can do, but in a smaller form factor”.However, larger satellite are able to use cameras with higher definition, he said.Discussing how the Scottish space sector received support from governments, Mr Walkinshaw said the burden of audit requirements from the European Space Agency was one of the reasons they were forced to go to the US for venture capital funding.Alba Orbital carries out its satellite licencing process in Germany, he said, describing the UK’s regulatory system for satellites as “out of date”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBarack Obama has visited Downing Street for a surprise meeting at No 10 with Rishi Sunak. The former US president – who served in the White House between 2009 and 2017 – waved at reporters outside before he entered the prime minister’s residence for a previously undisclosed private meeting at 3pm. A Downing Street spokesperson insisted the visit was an “informal courtesy drop in” as part of the former president’s visit to London.They added: “President Obama’s team made contact and obviously the prime minister was very happy to to meet with him and discuss the work of the Obama Foundation.”Mr Obama left No 10 after around an hour following a meeting with Mr Sunak.The former US president said “I’m tempted” when asked questions by the media as he re-emerged and got into a Range Rover car with Jane D Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK, just after 4pm.Former US president Barack Obama leaves following a meeting at 10 Downing Street, LondonThe Barack Obama Foundation is a nonprofit organisation focused on social mobility that was founded by the former president back in 2014.The last time Mr Obama visited Downing Street was eight years ago in 2016.The former president met with then prime minister David Cameron at Number 10 for talks ahead of the Brexit vote.He warned the UK would be at the “back of the queue” for US trade deals if it left the European Union.The two leaders also held a joint news conference at the Foreign Office. Mr Obama said the US “wants Britain’s influence to grow – including within Europe”.The talks come as Mr Sunak said he has “confidence for the future: as he battles to shore up his position as prime minister following rumours that his party is looking to replace him ahead of a general election.Mr Sunak’s failure to turn around the Tories’ opinion poll deficit has fuelled speculation about Conservative MPs considering replacing him with Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt in an attempt to avoid a general election disaster.Business secretary Kemi Badenoch told plotters seeking to oust the prime minister to “stop messing around” and end the “Westminster psychodrama”.Ms Badenoch suggested “one or two MPs” are behind the Westminster rumours and they should not be allowed to “dominate the news narrative”.She told BBC Breakfast: “I’m sure if Penny was here, she would be distancing herself from those comments.”Ms Mordaunt has not publicly commented on reports about a bid to elevate her to the Tory leadership, but a source close to her rejected them as “nonsense”. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak set out the Conservatives’ pledge to create up to 20,000 more apprenticeships in a speech on Monday, 18 March.The prime minister detailed plans the government says will fully fund training for young people and cut red tape for small businesses.Mr Sunak’s reforms “will unlock a tidal wave of opportunity”, he said.The announcement was made at a conference for small firms in Warwickshire.Under the plans, the government will pay the full cost of apprenticeships for under-21-year-olds in small businesses from 1 April in a move aimed at reducing burdens for employers and providing more professional training places for young people.It comes as Mr Sunak’s premiership faces a threat from a chaotic plot of backbench Tory MPs who want to replace him with Penny Mordaunt before the general election.Politicians from across the party are said to have met and held talks about “coronating” the leader of the House of Commons as prime minister in what would be the Tories’ sixth PM since the 2010 general election. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailKemi Badenoch has dismissed the row over Tory donor Frank Hester’s alleged comments about Diane Abbott as “trivia” and insisted the Conservative Party should not return the businessman’s £10m donation. The business secretary, who last week described Mr Hester’s reported remarks as racist, said the country needed to “move away” from the row, claiming it did not matter to the general public and that it was “pure media bubble speculation”.It was reported last week that Mr Hester said Ms Abbott – the longest-serving Black MP – made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.Downing Street originally refused to condem the comments as racist but Ms Badenoch defied the official line and did so. Rishi Sunak later said the remarks were “racist and wrong”.Speaking to LBC, she said “we need to get to a place where we stop chasing people around and looking everywhere for the racism”. Business secretary Kemi Badenoch will host a conference for small businesses “Everybody is accusing, and counter-accusing around racism,” she continued. “We need to move away from these things and actually focus on what matters to people.”She added: “Now, this is trivia. I’m sorry, but I really do believe it is.“I am afraid is not really in the high priorities of how we deal with racism in this country.”On BBC Breakfast, she added: “You are interested in the story from last week, which has been apologised for and everyone has moved on… This is something that is pure media bubble speculation. It is not what the country cares about.”The minister said she had condemned the alleged comments “in a personal capacity as the only black woman in the cabinet” as she defended the prime minister’s response. She said: “I don’t want a prime minister who is just going to be lurching out, making comments every five minutes in response to the media.“What he is not doing is following the media’s lead, and I’m very pleased that he agreed with me, but I was making my comments in a personal capacity as the only black woman in the Cabinet.”Tory donor Frank Hester gave the Conservative party £10m in 2023 Ms Badenoch also said the Conservatives should not have to return the money and that the comments made by Mr Hester weren’t “even really about” Ms Abbott.Asked about returning the donation, she said: “I’m actually quite surprised that people suggest this. This was something that happened five years ago. He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott. It wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott. He used her in a reference that was completely unacceptable. He’s apologised for it.“I think that it is far more important that we accept the apology and not moving on is taking too much attention away from what is actually meaningful to the people around the country.”Asked whether she was suggesting the Tories were happy to take money from people who make racist remarks, Ms Badenoch replied: “The point I’m making is that when people apologise, they should be forgiven.“And these comments were in no way reflective of the work that he has been doing while we have taken his money.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailFormer defence secretary Ben Wallace has warned that there is “no other alternative” to Rishi Sunak amidst reports of a plot amongst backbench Conservative MPs to depose the prime minister.Mr Wallace – who has announced his intention to step down as an MP at the next election – called on his colleagues to “march towards the sound of the guns” and put an end to the speculation that they might force a leadership contest.Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “There comes a moment in time in the electoral cycle where you effectively put on your best suit, you stand up and you march towards the sound of the guns and you get on with it.“There is no other alternative. And that’s just the reality of it. And some of those people missed the boat. Maybe it’s what they wanted, something different. But ultimately the only victor of this type of shenanigans is the Labour Party. But actually, look we are 14 years into a government, time to put our best case forward, whenever that may be.”Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged colleagues to ‘stick to the plan’ Mr Wallace’s warning comes after a challenging week for Mr Sunak which saw the defection of former Conservative MP Lee Anderson to the Reform UK party, a public row over alleged “racist” comments made by a major Tory donor and disastrous polling results.The prime minister has had to ward off challenges to his leadership on a number of occasions, but grumblings amongst colleagues last week have fuelled more speculation than ever about his fate. Business secretary Kemi Badenoch dismissed suggestions of a brewing coup and insisted that the party “works very well together”.Ms Badenoch said that infighting was “just part and parcel of politics” and that we “need to move away from disagreements being portrayed as plots or rows”.“The facts are that the party works very well together,” she told LBC. “Yes of course, there will be some people who are unhappy, I’m not going to deny that.”Mr Wallace also acknowledged unhappiness against Conservative colleagues but called on them to acknowledge Mr Sunak’s successes:“Rishi Sunak is the prime minister. He set out his plan. He set out his idea and vision, which I think is to effectively, quite rightly, fix the economy, get inflation down. If we get inflation down, we can see interest rates drop. “Whether colleagues are happy with him or not, it’s too late, right? Get on with it. Stand up. And, you know, at some stage this year, commit to engage in the general election and put our best case forward.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe first piloted flying taxi could take to the UK skies in two years under Government plans which could also see regular drone deliveries by 2027.The Department of Transport (DoT) has released its Future of Flight Action Plan which also proposes flying taxis without pilots on board by 2030.It also foresees regular use of crime-fighting drones and critical 999 care deliveries by the end of the decade.The “roadmap” – or more precisely flight plan – would mean the adoption of technology “once confined to the realm of sci-fi”, according to the DoT, with drone technology boosting the country’s economy by £45 billion by 2030.Aviation and technology minister Anthony Browne said: “Cutting-edge battery technology will revolutionise transport as we know it – this plan will make sure we have the infrastructure and regulation in place to make it a reality.Aviation stands on the cusp of its next, potentially biggest, revolution since the invention of the jet engineSophie O’Sullivan, Civil Aviation Authority“From flying taxis to emergency service drones, we’re making sure the UK is at the forefront of this dramatic shift in transportation, improving people’s lives and boosting the economy.”The proposals would also allow drones to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) so the sector can grow without limiting the skies for other aircraft.They also aim to reinvigorate smaller aerodromes by setting out how they can operate as vertiports for electric aircraft that take off vertically (known as electric vertical take-off and landing or eVTOL aircraft).The plans develop standards to improve security for drones to boost public safety and look at ways of involving communities and local authorities so they can benefit from the potential economic and social benefits.The action plan was announced as Mr Browne was set to visit Vertical Aerospace in Bristol – one of the UK companies making flying taxis which are currently undergoing the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) authorisation process.Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder and chief executive of Vertical Aerospace, said: “With Government and business working together, we can unleash the huge economic, environmental and social benefits of zero emissions flight globally.”Sophie O’Sullivan, CAA head of future safety and innovation, said: “Aviation stands on the cusp of its next, potentially biggest, revolution since the invention of the jet engine.“Drones, eVTOL, and other different vehicles have the potential to change transportation options forever.“Our role in this bright future of aviation will be enabling technological advances and providing regulatory support, while ensuring that all forms of new aviation technology enjoy the same high safety standards as traditional aviation.”The plans aim to build on current uses of drone technology, such as the use by West Midlands Police to tackle violent crime and anti-social behaviour.In July 2023, a drone team successfully identified two offenders and another suspect at a speed and distance that would have taken ground officers hours to track down.In the NHS, drone service provider Skyfarer has partnered with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and Medical Logistics UK to test drones to deliver surgical implants and pathology samples between sites, cutting delivery times by up to 70%. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak is bracing for a rebellion over plans to exempt Afghan heroes who have supported UK troops from being deported to Rwanda.The House of Lords backed an amendment to the prime minister’s flagship small boats bill which would prevent deportation of anyone who supported British armed forces in an “exposed or meaningful manner” to the east African country.It comes after extensive reporting by The Independent on the plight of Afghan heroes who helped the British but were left behind after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his key pledges to voters And, as the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill this week returns to the House of Commons, MPs are set to vote on whether to strip out amendments made by peers. Labour is poised to back the 10 amendments sent back by peers, including on Afghans, meaning a Tory rebellion could force the PM’s hand. The amendment was backed by two former chiefs of the defence staff, a former defence secretary and a former British ambassador to the US.It was one of several defeats for Mr Sunak over the Rwanda bill in the House of Lords this month.The Independent has documented several cases of asylum seekers who supported the UK armed forces efforts in Afghanistan and who have since been threatened with removal to Rwanda after arriving in the UK via small boat.The bill will now go through an extended tussle between the Commons and Lords during “ping-pong”, where legislation is batted between the two Houses until agreement is reached.The prime minister had previously warned the Lords against frustrating “the will of the people” by hampering the passage of the bill, which has already been approved by MPs.Mr Sunak’s government is using the bill to try and prevent any legal challenges by asylum seekers to their deportation.It also currently gives ministers the power to ignore emergency injunctions from the European Court of Human Rights, aiming at clearing the way to send asylum seekers on flights to Rwanda by spring.The Home Office is considering widening an existing voluntary scheme for migrants to RwandaOther amendments which the PM will seek to strip out of the bill include one that would overturn the government’s plan to oust the domestic courts from the process of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.Peers also voted to enable UK courts to consider appeals against age assessment decisions before a person claiming to be an unaccompanied child is removed to Rwanda.The Afghan amendment was brought forward by former Labour defence secretary Lord Browne of Ladyton, who highlighted his concerns with the proposed law by citing four examples of cases uncovered by The Independent.They include former members of the Afghan special forces units, known as The Triples, who fought alongside and were paid and trained by the UK special forces. One former senior British diplomat said it “beggared belief” that these soldiers, who were forced to flee the Taliban, could face being deported to the east African country after all they had been through.Under the terms of the Illegal Migration Act, the government is required to remove illegal migrants who entered the country after 20 July 2023, when the act received royal assent. The act also bans ministers from granting asylum to anyone who entered the UK illegally on or after 7 March 2023, when it had its first reading.The new clause, which is also being proposed by crossbench peers Lord Houghton of Richmond, Lord Stirrup, and Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, would mean that people of any nationality who supported the armed forces overseas in an “exposed or meaningful manner” or who were “employed by or indirectly contracted to provide services to the UK government in an exposed or meaningful manner” would be ineligible for Rwanda deportation. It would also exempt their family members from deportation.Tory MP Julian Lewis indicated he was “sympathetic” with Afghans at risk due to their work helping British and Nato forces fight the Taliban.But Mr Lewis said it should not be necessary for them to come to Britain in small boats, which would mean they should not have to risk deportation to Rwanda.Stephen Kinnock MP, Shadow Immigration Minister, said: “We owe many Afghans a debt of gratitude for supporting British aims in Afghanistan, yet the government’s Operation Warm Welcome has fast become Operation Cold Shoulder.“It beggar’s belief that, instead of processing their claims, the Tories are leaving them in indefinite limbo, unable to get on with their lives, and threatening to send them to Rwanda. It’s time for the government to rethink.”A Downing Street source said there were no “particular concerns” about a potential rebellion this week. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Vaughan Gething’s election as the next leader of Wales marks a milestone: For the first time, none of the U.K.’s four main governments is led by a white man.It’s a striking moment in a country still grappling with racism and the legacy of empire. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has Indian heritage and is Britain’s first Hindu leader. Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf – who, like Gething, heads a semi-autonomous government — comes from a Pakistani Muslim family. Northern Ireland’s regional administration is jointly led by two women, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly.Gething, son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, said his election on Saturday as the first Black leader of the governing Welsh Labour Party marked a moment when “we turn the page in the book of our nation’s history, a history that we write together.” DIVERSITY AT THE TOP There’s no denying British politics has changed, and quickly. Before 2002, the country had never had a non-white Cabinet minister. Sunak likes to point out that his Cabinet is one of the most diverse in British history. It includes Home Secretary James Cleverly and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who are Black, and Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, whose parents immigrated from India.Sunak told last year’s Conservative Party conference that he is “proud to be the first British Asian prime minister,” but “even prouder that it’s just not a big deal.”The government’s diversity reflects years of work by the center-right party to shake its “pale, male and stale” image and encourage people of color to run for Parliament.Sunder Katwala, who heads equality think-tank British Future, wrote in The Guardian that “ethnic diversity right at the top has become the ’new normal.’”But critics say an increase in diversity in high office hasn’t been accompanied by government policies to reduce wider social inequalities.Some also accuse Sunak’s administration of deliberately politicizing race as a wedge issue during an election year in which the Conservatives trail far behind Labour in opinion polls.They point to politicians like former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who claims multiculturalism has failed and says Britain faces an “invasion” of asylum-seekers. Braverman, whose Indian parents moved to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius, was fired by Sunak in November but remains a powerful and ambitious Conservative lawmaker.“Some of our most divisive politicians are people like Suella Braverman,” former government adviser Samuel Kasumu told the BBC on Sunday.“It is not the color of your skin that matters when it comes to tackling racism, discrimination and bringing communities — it has to be the content of your character and your willingness to lead. And that is not happening now.” CONSERVATIVE RACISM CLAIMS Claims of racism within the Conservative Party have made headlines in recent weeks.Last month, Sunak suspended a senior Conservative lawmaker for saying London’s Muslim mayor is controlled by Islamists. Lee Anderson, who has since defected to the right-wing party Reform U.K., said Islamists had “got control” of Mayor Sadiq Khan, who had “given our capital city away to his mates.”Sunak said the comments “weren’t acceptable,” though he denied they showed the Conservatives have an Islamophobia problem.Sunak also has denounced comments by a party donor about a Black female politician. Software entrepreneur Frank Hester, who has given the Conservatives at least 10 million pounds ($12.8 million) in the past year, said Labour lawmaker Diane Abbott made him “want to hate all Black women” and that she “should be shot.”Sunak called the comments racist, but has ignored calls to return Hester’s money.Sayeeda Warsi, a former chairwoman of the Conservative Party, said she felt there was more overt racism now than in 2010, when she was the only person of color in the then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s Cabinet.Warsi told Times Radio that while she had celebrated Sunak’s appointment as prime minister, “I think, tragically, his tenure will be remembered as him presiding over a terribly racist period within the party.”Opponents also accuse the Conservatives of deliberately raising tensions over pro-Palestinian protests that have drawn hundreds of thousands of demonstrators since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.Sunak claimed last month there has been “a shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality.” In response, his government has drawn up a new definition of extremism. Critics say it could disproportionately target Muslims and limit free speech. A CONTESTED HISTORY Britain’s diversity, and its divisions, are rooted in the country’s imperial past. About 18% of the population is non-white, and many people have roots in countries the British Empire once ruled, including India, Pakistan and Caribbean nations such as Jamaica.How to remember and reconcile with that legacy is a hotly contested issue. It erupted into headlines in 2020, when Black Lives Matter protesters toppled a statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston in the city of Bristol.Since then, several major institutions have begun to address their ties to slavery. The Church of England aims to raise 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion) to address its historic complicity in the trans-Atlantic slave trade by investing in disadvantaged Black communities.Not everyone thinks that is the right approach. Sunak opposes removing contentious statues, and has said that “trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward.”Black academic Tony Sewell, who produced a contentious 2021 report on racism in the U.K., said church leaders were “using the race element as a mechanism to solve their own uncertainty in the world.”Sewell led the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, set up by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson after the 2020 protests. It concluded that there is racism in Britain, but it’s not a systematically racist country that is “deliberately rigged” against non-white people.Critics said the report downplayed racism, noting that Black and other ethnic-minority Britons still have more poverty and worse health than their white compatriots, a gap bleakly exposed by higher death rates in the COVID-19 pandemic.But Sewell told the Times of London that race is no longer the defining factor in whether people succeed or fail in Britain.“Class, geography, family structure, how you speak, is more defining here,” he said. More