UK politics: government to appeal against ruling that blocks Rwanda deportations in Northern Ireland

Thanks for following today’s developments. We will be closing this blog shortly but you can read all our UK politics coverage here.

Puneet Gupta, a businessman whose firm has given £50,000 to the Conservatives, has described growth under Rishi Sunak as “stagnant” and pledged to support Labour instead, Aubrey Allegretti reports in the Times.

At the afternoon lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson echoed what Rishi Sunak himself said about the Belfast high court judgment about the Illegal Migration Act – that it won’t stop flights to Rwanda taking off in July. (See 4.24pm.)

But the spokesperson did not dispute that, if the judgment were allowed to stand, it might stop asylum seekers who travel from Britain to Northern Ireland being deported to Rwanda.

There was no Downing Street lobby briefing this morning, because Rishi Sunak was giving his speech at around the time it would have taken place. At the afternoon lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson went a little bit further than Sunak did himself this morning in disowning the report saying that David Cameron told Donald Trump backing military aid to Ukraine now would put him in a better position to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if it becomes president in January. (See 12.58pm.)

The report has generated controversy because it implied the UK government might be willing to join Trump in urging Ukraine to accept a compromise peace settlement in the event of Trump being elected president.

Asked if the Sunday Times report was accurate, the PM’s spokesperson repeatedly said he did not “recognise” what the paper reported. But he would not describe it as inaccurate, or wrong.

The spokesperson also insisted that the UK remained committed to ensuring that the Russian invasion of Ukraine fails. He said:

We have been unequivocal. Putin must fail. We will provide Ukraine with support for as long as is necessary.

And, now more than ever, it is vital that the international community continues to support Ukraine.

Keir Starmer said today there would be “no watering down” of the Labour party’s new deal for working people.

Speaking in Wolverhampton, where he chaired a meeting with Labour mayors (see 11.02am), Starmer said:

I’m absolutely committed to our new deal for working people … This will be the biggest levelling up of workers’ rights in a generation, so there will be no watering down.

There have been repeated reports claiming the plans are being watered down in response to concerns raised by business.

Tony Blair is an evangelist for new technology, which he believes has enormous potential to transform the way public services are delivered, and his thinktank has put out a statement supporting what Rishi Sunak said in his speech today (see 2.28pm) about the potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI). Benedict Macon-Cooney, chief policy strategist at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said:

The prime minister is right to recognise that science and tech should be our new national purpose. We are entering a transformational age with AI – one of just a few technologies in history powerful enough to accelerate the course of economic progress.

In health, in education and in climate it will offer new opportunities to solve the challenges we all face. But it should also give leaders a completely different outlook on governing that goes beyond the old debates on tax and spend.

In defence, in particular, we must be far bolder than simply increasing spending. New technologies and capabilities, including AI, are reshaping warfare. Technological superiority is critical to keeping us safe.

The opportunities now presented by AI technology might yet be the most exciting and expansive for government. Leaders who grasp that opportunity have every reason to be optimistic about our future

Rishi Sunak has said the judgment from the high court in Belfast this morning saying parts of the Illegal Migration Act cannot apply in Northern Ireland (see 1.39pm) will not affect his plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in July, ITV’s Carl Dinnen reports.

Sunak also said the government would appeal against the ruling. And he says the Good Friday agreement should not be used to obstruct Westminster policy on illegal migration.

The PM says the government will appeal against the ruling in the Belfast High Court disapplying parts of the Illegal Migration Act.

Sunak; “This judgment changes nothing about our operational plans to send illegal migrants to Rwanda this July or the lawfulness of our Safety of Rwanda Act.”

Sunak; “I have been consistently clear that the commitments in the Good Friday Agreement should be interpreted as they were always intended, and not expanded to cover issues like illegal migration.Updated at 11.24 EDT

The Department for Work and Pensions has said that it wants to increase fines for people who falsely claim benefits. The new penalty would apply to people not facing criminal action, the DWP said. The plan would also include the burden of proof being lowered.

The DWP set out the plan in an updated version of its plan to tackle fraud in the welfare system. Referring to the proposal for a new civil penalty aimed at fraudsters, it said:

This will ensure that where fraud has taken place, there is always an appropriate consequence so that offenders cannot gain from the system. The penalty reforms include lowering the burden of proof and broadening the scope of cases the penalty can be applied to. It will ensure that this applies across all types of payments, with those exploiting access to vital grant payments for no good reason being punished in cases where criminal proceedings are not taken forward.

Parliament has published a review of the operation of the independent complaints and grievance scheme (ICGS), the scheme set up to deal with allegations about MPs engaging in bullying or sexual misconduct. Among several recommendations, it says MPs should have to complete mandatory training on parliament’s behaviour code within six months of election or re-election

Esther McVey, the Cabinet Office minister, said this morning that civil service diversity roles will be cut back as part of a “common sense fightback”.

As PA Media reports, McVey, who was dubbed “minister for common sense” by Tories when she was appointed last year, also said in a speech that there would be no more spending on external equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) contracts without an explicit sign-off from a minister, and no more EDI-focused Whitehall jobs outside human resources.

She said such roles presented a “distraction” from the core purpose of the civil service and an “inappropriate backdoor politicisation” of Whitehall.

Addressing the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank, McVey said:

At the heart of these changes are value for money for the taxpayer and better customer service for the public.

People want their public servants to be getting on with the job of making their lives better, not engaging in endless internal discussions about ideology, and I am not prepared to see pointless job creation schemes for the politically correct.

Any EDI roles would be moved into human resources and focused exclusively on statutory requirements, she said, adding there were the equivalent of around 400 full-time employees working on EDI across the civil service.

In addition to changes to EDI roles, McVey promised a crackdown on civil servants’ lanyards, saying they should not be a “random pick and mix” but “a standard design reflecting that we are all members of the government delivering for the citizens of the UK”. She said:

Working in the civil service is all about leaving your political views at the building entrance, and trying to introduce them by the back door via lanyards should not happen.

As the Times reports, asked what was wrong with civil servants wearing a rainbow lanyard to express solidarity with LGBT people, McVey replied:

You don’t need political activism in a visible way … you’re putting it on to make a statement, and what we’re saying is actually, your political beliefs remain at the front door and when you come in, you’re part of a happy team.

Lucille Thirlby, assistant general secretary of the FDA, the union representing senior civil servants, said she was surprised McVey was making policy on lanyards. As HuffPost UK reports, Thirlby said:

At a time when the country is facing serious challenges, should the colour of a civil servant’s lanyard really be a ministerial priority?

Equality, diversity and inclusion is a serious topic worthy of serious consideration and debate. Unfortunately, we got nothing of the sort from Esther McVey, who instead rattled off of a tick list of culture-war talking points.

The Labour MP Chris Bryant is having immunotherapy after skin cancer was detected in his lung, he has said. The shadow creative industries minister said he had “every hope” of being successfully treated. Kevin Rawlinson has the story here

The DUP has said the government should legislate to ensure that immigration law in Northern Ireland is the same as in Britain.

In response to this morning’s Belfast high court judgment about the Illegal Migration Act (see 1.39pm), the DUP leader Gavin Robinson issued a statement saying that without action to close the loophole exposed by the court judgment, Northern Ireland will be a “magnet for asylum seekers”.

He said:

The DUP has repeatedly warned that the government’s efforts on immigration would not apply in Northern Ireland. The government repeatedly closed its mind to the incompatibility of their legislation with the Northern Ireland protocol, yet our concerns have been accepted by the high court in Belfast this morning.

Whilst today’s judgement does not come as a surprise, it does blow the government’s irrational claims that the Rwanda scheme could extend equally to Northern Ireland completely out of the water. We presented the government with an opportunity during the passage of the safety of Rwanda bill in the House of Commons and the Lords to accept an amendment which would have put beyond doubt what it claims to be the case around the operation of the scheme. It is telling that it chose not to do so …

It is imperative that immigration policy applies equally across every part of the United Kingdom. As unionists, we are clear that our national parliament should have the ability to make decisions on immigration that are applicable on a national basis. If that were not the case, it would not only be a constitutional affront but would make Northern Ireland a magnet for asylum seekers seeking to escape enforcement.

Rishi Sunak started his speech by saying that the next election would be a choice between “the future and the past”, but it felt as if he could not decide whether the future was something to dread, or to look forward to. At one point he was suggesting the future might bring nuclear war; at another, he came close to promising a cure for cancer. Overall, as Sam Freedman argues (see 12.11pm), it was weak on message coherence.

But the speech was not really about the future. It was about Labour, and the most effective passage – the one where Sunak seemed most confident of his argument, and most emotionally engaged – came when he accused Keir Starmer of being unprincipled in embracing Natalie Elphicke. (See 11.44am.) You can expect to hear this point ad nauseam between now and the election.

Sunak linked this to a broader argument about security, and claimed there is now a dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour on defence spending. This was a weaker line because, although Labour has not yet committed to matching the Tory promise to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, Sunak is only committing to doing this by 2030, which is not just after the forthcoming election, but beyond the one after that.

Here are the main points from the speech and Q&A.

• Sunak said that Keir Starmer’s decision to let Natalie Elphicke, the very rightwing Tory, join Labour showed that he was “completely and utterly unprincipled”. In his speech he said:

Labour have almost nothing to say about [the future]. No plans for our border. No plans for our energy security, no plans for our economy either.

And no principles either. Keir Starmer has gone from embracing Jeremy Corbyn to Natalie Elphicke all in the cynical pursuit of power at any price.

And during the Q&A he went further. Asked about Elphicke’s defection, he said:

I think it shows less about her and it’s more about Keir Starmer. And it shows him to be completely and utterly unprincipled.

This is someone who went from embracing Jeremy Corbyn to embracing Natalie Elphicke. It just tells you that you can’t trust what the guy says. Right?

And if you’re trying to be everything to everyone, fundamentally you don’t stand for anything. I think that will be increasingly clear to people.

• Sunak said that Britain would be less safe under a Labour government. Asked by the BBC’s political editor, Chris Mason, if he was saying that Britain would be less safe under Starmer, and if his argument to the electorate was “better the devil you know”, Sunak replied:

In a word, yes.

And, in response to another question, Sunak said that he was committed to raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. He went on:

Keir Starmer can’t stand here and make that pledge and, actually, the Labour party and Keir Starmer not matching our investment on defence spending emboldens our adversaries.

What do you think Putin thinks when he sees that? That he thinks the West isn’t prepared to make the tough choices to invest in their security?

Because Russia’s economy has mobilised for war, he is continuing to be aggressive, we need to meet that aggression with strength.

• Sunak said that he was committed to giving Ukraine military aid to resist Russian aggression “for as long as is necessary”. He played down suggestions that the government is getting ready for a point where it might have to back a peace deal – although he did not deny a report saying David Cameron floated this scenario in his meeting with Donald Trump. (See 12.58pm.)

It’s because of that increase in defence spending [the pledge to raise it to 2.5% of GDP by 2030] that I can stand here and provide more support to Ukraine … And we can say that that support to Ukraine will be provided for as long as necessary to repel Russian aggression.

Keir Starmer can’t stand here and make that pledge and, actually, the Labour party and Keir Starmer not matching our investment on defence spending emboldens our adversaries.

• Sunak said that, while he accepted the Conservatives had made mistakes, they could not be blamed for everything that had gone wrong in the past 14 years. In his speech he said:

Now I’m not saying that the past doesn’t matter. I know people are feeling anxious and uncertain. That their sense of confidence and pride in this country has been knocked. I understand that. I accept it and I want to change it. But what I cannot accept is Labour’s idea that all the worries you have are because of 14 years of Conservative government. And that all you need to do is change the people in office and these problems will magically disappear. It’s just not true.

In the last 14 years, we’ve made progress in the most difficult conditions any governments has faced since the Second World War. A world leading economy, we’ve seen the 3rd highest growth rate in the G7, and created 4 million jobs, 800 a day. We took difficult decisions to restore our country’s financial security and control national debt, and that allowed us to support the country through Covid, deliver the fastest vaccine roll-out in the world, provide record funding to the NHS, and protect state pensions with the triple lock.

Labour have no ideas. What they did have they’ve U-turned on. They have just one thing. A calculation, that they can make you feel so bad about your country, that you won’t have the energy to ask what they might do with the incredible power that they seek to wield …

I refuse to accept the doomsterism and the cynical narrative of decline that my opponents hope will depress people into voting for them.

• He declined to give enthusiastic backing to the prospect of having Boris Johnson campaign for the party at the election. Asked if he would welcome this, given that his speech was all about the future, he just said he wanted “every Conservative’” to be part of the campaign.

The dangers that threaten our country are real. They are increasing in number. An axis of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China is working together to undermine us and our values. War has returned to Europe, with our NATO allies warning that if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, they might be next. War rages, too, in the Middle East as Israel defends itself not only against the terrorists of Hamas but a barrage of missiles fired – for the first time – directly from Iran. Right now in Africa, conflicts are being fought in 18 different countries. And Putin’s recklessness has taken us closer to a dangerous nuclear escalation than at any point since the Cuban missile crisis.

Technologies like AI will do for the 21st century what the steam engine and electricity did for the 19th. They’ll accelerate human progress by complementing what we do, by speeding up the discovery of new ideas, and by assisting almost every aspect of human life. Think of the investment they will bring, the jobs they’ll create, and the increase in all our living standards they’ll deliver. Credible estimates suggest AI alone could double our productivity in the next decade. And in doing so, help us create a world of less suffering, more freedom, choice, and opportunity.

Just imagine. Every child in school with their own personalised tutor, and every teacher free to spend more time personally developing each student. New frontiers in medical diagnostics where a single picture of your eyes can not only detect blindness but predict other diseases like heart attacks or Parkinson’s.

Yet even here, if we are bold enough, there can be cause for new hope. We already know we can prevent most lung cancer cases – the UK’s leading cause of cancer deaths – by stopping smoking. That’s why I took the important decision to create a smokefree generation. And with huge breakthroughs in early diagnosis and new treatments, like the MRNA vaccine for skin cancer, I believe we can be just as bold and ambitious in improving rates of cancer survival.

Because if we can bring together my vision of a country transformed, with our world class education system that trains the PhD oncologists and apprentice lab technicians, and our dynamic economy that attracts investors and incubates the billion-pound biotech businesses of the future, our post-Brexit regulatory freedoms to approve trials in a safe but faster way, and the scale of our NHS to help us research and trial those new drugs in a way no other country can, then just one example of the incredible achievements this country can make would be to make a generational breakthrough against this cruel disease and fundamentally change what it will mean for our children and grandchildren to hear the word cancer.

This was probably the most boosterish passage in the whole speech. Even Boris Johnson never tried to argue that Brexit would cure cancer.

It is very common now for party leaders to take questions at press conferences and after speeches from a list of journalists agreed by advisers in advance, instead of just from anyone who puts their hand up. As Robert Hutton from the Critic reveals, this morning Rishi Sunak did not just have a list of names; he even had pictures to help him identify the right reporter.