Rishi Sunak says immigration must fall but declines to say which new measures he backs – UK politics live | Politics

In his interview on the Today programme this morning Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, said he accepted James Cleverly’s claim that he did not refer to Stockton as a “shit-hole” in the Commons at PMQs on Wednesday, but that he did insult the town’s Labour MP.

Asked about Cleverly’s version of what was said, which is not believed by the Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham, Stride said:

[Cleverly] has made the point that he says that it was not aimed at a particular place. Knowing James well, he’s not the sort of person, in my opinion, who would have made that kind of remark in that kind of context.

But he has accepted that this was certainly unparliamentary language and he has rightly apologised.

In fact, Cleverly has not apologised in person. Yesterday “a source” close to him told PA Media that Cleverly apologises, which is not quite the same thing.

Coming back to the Times YouGov polling (see 10.06am), the responses to questions about the autumn statement are more significant than the latest voting intention findings.

The poll suggests many of the main announcements have strong public support (but not freezing alcohol duties – which may come as a surprise to politicians who assume that’s always a dead-cert vote winner).

But, as Oliver Wright reports reports in his story, while voters may have welcomed what Jeremy Hunt was doing, the chancellor did not make them feel more positive about their economic prospects. Wright says:

Only 7% said the economy was in a good state, compared with 6% in March, and the number saying it was in a bad state had dropped from 73% to 69%.

There was very little optimism about the future. Only 14% thought that the financial situation of their household would get better over the next 12 months compared with 12% in March. The proportion saying it would get worse had dropped, however, from 51% to 41%.

When asked about Britain’s economic situation overall 18% thought things would get better over the next year — unchanged since March while 48% thought they would get worse.

Asked whether Hunt’s budget measures would make them and their family better off 18% said they would, compared with 15% who said they would be worse off and 55% who said the changes would not make much difference to their circumstances.

In an interview at the Nissan plant, Rishi Sunak refused to apologise for the government failing to honour the 2019 Tory manifesto promise to reduce immigration. But he said he did think immigration levels were too high.

He said:

I’m very clear that the levels of migration are too high, and they’ve got to come down to more sustainable levels. I’ve been clear about that.

It’s good to see that the ONS yesterday did say that the levels of migration are now slowing, in their words, which is a welcome step. But we’ve got more to go.

That’s why I announced a policy earlier [in May] to clamp down on the number of dependents that students can bring when they’re coming here … That action I took represents the single toughest measure that anyone has taken to bring down the levels of legal migration in a very long time. So that should give people a sense of my commitment to bringing migration down. And if we see further abuse of the system, of course, we’re prepared to act to do more.

But when asked if he supported the measures that Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, is reportedly proposing, such as a higher minimum salary threshold for people getting work visas, and a cap on the number of people getting NHS work visas, Sunak refused to answer, and largely just repeated what he had said already (quoted above).

Rishi Sunak has described the £2bn investment in the Nissan plant in Sunderland as evidence of the confidence that investors have in the government’s economic strategy.

Speaking to the media as he visited the factory with Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, Sunak said:

We’ve just had a track record now of company after company committing to the UK … BMW, Stellantis, Tata with their largest investment outside of India that we announced earlier this year, and now here Nissan in Sunderland, our largest car manufacturer. All of them committing money to the UK, building the next generation of electric vehicles here in the UK, creating and safeguarding thousands of jobs across the UK.

All of those companies think we’re doing the right thing, they actually welcome the changes that we made in the autumn statement recently to make sure that we cut taxes for businesses like this that are investing. They think we’ve got our strategy right as we approach net zero, and they think this is a fantastic place to be.

They’re all voting with their feet. They’re putting money into the country, they’re creating jobs in the country. That’s a huge vote of confidence in this government’s economic strategy.

David Cameron, the foreign secretary, will meet with Palestinian leaders and commit a further £30m in aid for people in Gaza following the announcement of a four-day ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East, PA Media reports. PA says:

The former prime minister is urging “all parties to continue to work towards the release of every hostage” after holding talks with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and president, Isaac Herzog, during a visit to Israel yesterday.

Today he will be in the occupied Palestinian territories, meeting Palestinian leaders and agencies delivering aid in Gaza, advocating adherence to the new agreement on all sides.

The ceasefire was due to begin this morning, with aid “going in as soon as possible”, according to Qatari officials.

The first set of civilians held captive by Hamas are expected to be freed at about 4pm on Friday local time, including 13 women and children.

Cameron said: “We are hopeful that today will see the release of hostages, and I am urging all parties to continue to work towards the release of every hostage. A pause will also allow access for life-saving aid to the people of Gaza.

“I am proud that a fourth UK flight carrying critical supplies landed in Egypt today, and I can announce new £30m of funding which will be spent on vital aid such as shelter and medical provisions.

“It is vital to protect civilians from harm, and we are urgently looking at all avenues to get aid into Gaza, including land, maritime and air routes.”

Good morning. We are expecting to hear from Rishi Sunak this morning. He and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, are in the north-east of England on a visit linked to the announcement that Nissan is investing £2bn in its plant in Sunderland where three new electric car models will be made. Jasper Jolly has the story.

In a statement about this issued this morning, Sunak said:

Nissan’s investment is a massive vote of confidence in the UK’s automotive industry, which already contributes a massive £71bn a year to our economy. This venture will no doubt secure Sunderland’s future as the UK’s Silicon Valley for electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing.

Making the UK the best place to do business is at the heart of our economic plan. We will continue to back businesses like Nissan to expand and grow their roots in the UK every step of the way as we make the right long term decisions for a brighter future.

But it is never easy to get the media to focus primarily on good news, and Sunak is instead likely to face questions about two of the much more tricky questions in his in-try.

First, if No 10 says net migration is “far too high”, what is he going to do about it? As Jamie Grierson reports, following the publication of figures yesterday saying net migration peaked at 745,000 in the year ending December 2022, Conservative MPs are furious and demanding an immediate response. Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, has drawn up plans for further restrictions, including lifting the annual salary required for people getting a work visa to £35,000. The BBC’s Chris Mason has the details.

Secondly, the debate about the merits of the autumn statement continues, particularly after the experts yesterday made it very clear that Hunt’s tax cuts are in effect funded by projected spending cuts that may be impossibly tight. As Richard Partington, Kiran Stacey and Phillip Inman report, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says these cuts would be worse than George Osborne’s austerity programme.

The government’s response has been to claim that it can cut spending on public services without making them worse by making them more efficient. In interviews this morning, Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, rejected claims that the autumn statement meant another round of austerity was coming. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

I really don’t see us going into any era of austerity, as you put it.

I think there are two important points here. One is that in the autumn statement, the chancellor came forward with the kind of long-term thinking and actions now that will lead to greater business investment and growth in the economy going forward.

For example, the 100% full expensing for investments makes us the most competitive destination for businesses out of the G7 and across the OECD.

But secondly, we have to look at productivity. Public services aren’t all about just constantly spending ever more money. It is about the outputs.

So John Glen [Cabinet Office minister], one of my very capable colleagues, and others across government, are absolutely engaged in a mission to improve productivity across the public sector. I believe it is the case that if we were to increase productivity by 0.5% for example, there wouldn’t be any further pressure on increases in taxes.

So I think there is a huge amount we can do through productivity and investing in the long-term to get that growth going.

We are expecting to hear from Sunak this morning. Otherwise, it looks quiet. The Commons is not sitting, and the diary is pretty empty. But David Cameron, the new foreign secretary, is still in the Middle East where today he will be in the occupied Palestinian territories, meeting Palestinian leaders and agencies delivering aid to Gaza.

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