Mayors 1) Street and Houchen turn to Johnson in mayoral election run-in
“Andy Street and Ben Houchen go into Thursday’s mayoral elections having run campaigns almost entirely separate from the Conservative party they represent. But this week the respective high-profile Tory mayors for the West Midlands and Tees Valley have associated themselves with one senior Conservative whose endorsement they appear to relish: the former prime minister Boris Johnson. Street has sent out a two-page letter to voters in the West Midlands in which Johnson lavishes him with praise and dismisses the Tories’ record in Westminster. Meanwhile, Lord Houchen’s supporters have promoted a video from the former prime minister appealing for voters in the Tees Valley to re-elect him. Both mayors are facing knife-edge votes. If they lose, Tory rebels are expected to mount another attempt to remove Rishi Sunak as prime minister.” – The Guardian
- Forget Westminster … back Tory mayors, says ex-prime minister – The Times
>Today:
- ToryDiary: The case for voting for your local Conservatives today remains as strong as ever
- John Oxley’s column: There is no empowering local government without accepting that postcode lotteries will result
>Yesterday:
- ToryDiary: Vox pub in West Bromwich: Street has good chances of victory tomorrow, but politicians as a whole are despised
- Michael Heseltine in Comment: The West Midlands is leader of the devolution pack – and Street is the man to thank for it
Mayors 2) Tories report Labour candidate for West Midlands to police over address claim
“Police are looking into claims that Labour’s candidate in a critical election race may have broken electoral law by wrongly claiming that he lived in the area. Richard Parker is attempting to unseat Andy Street, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, in a closely fought contest that could determine whether Rishi Sunak faces a challenge to his leadership. On the eve of the polls the Tories have claimed that Parker made a misleading statement on his nomination papers because he lives ten miles outside the area where he is standing for election. They said he had attempted to get round the rules by taking on a short-term rental property in Birmingham, which was listed as his address on his election papers. Parker has been reported to West Midlands police by the Conservative MP Gary Sambrook.” – The Times
- Mayoral elections mark milestone for English devolution – FT
>Today: Pauline Jorgensen in Local Government: Liberal Democrat councils are putting up parking charges and hitting small firms
Mayors 3) Poll shows Khan’s lead narrowing in the wake of lethal sword attack
“Sadiq Khan is coming under deepening pressure ahead of tomorrow’s London mayoral election as the capital is hammered by another fatal knife attack. The incumbent mayor saw his poll lead over the Tories cut to the smallest of the campaign in the wake of the sword carnage in Hainault that left a teenager dead and a police woman maimed. He is still 10 points ahead of Susan Hall with a day to go, but the lead in a poll by Savanta for the Evening Standard is a far cry from polls at the start of the race for City Hall which gave him a 25-point advantage. Mr Khan saw savaged by Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch today for mocking Ms Hall’s knife crime worries last week, just days before the latest bloodshed. Last week he told her to stop watching The Wire, the bleak cult US drama about police and drug crime in Baltimore.” – Daily Mail
- Mayor of London accused of ‘failing on knife crime’ by Cleverly – Daily Telegraph
- Khan calls Tories unpatriotic for ‘trying to do London down’ – The Guardian
- How Starmer and other left-wing lawyers have fought police over taser use – Daily Telegraph
- London is not ‘Baltimore in the Noughties’. But has crime surged? – The Times
- Streeting sparks furious backlash over Hall attack – Daily Express
More:
- Bankrupt Birmingham council spends £400K on diversity staff – Daily Telegraph
Editorial:
- Labour’s local government record is pitiful – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: Gary Ridley in Local Government: Labour’s campaigning on national issues in Coventry – after 14 years of local mismanagement they have nothing else to say
Shaun Bailey: Khan has failed to stop this epidemic of knife crime
“Whilst Sadiq Khan evidently could not have predicted the tragic events which would follow, the exchange highlights the Mayor’s dismissive and ultimately flawed attitude to crime and policing. Having previously suggested he would “do everything in [his] power to cut stop and search”, its use has dropped significantly during Sadiq Khan’s time as Mayor and by 44 per cent in the past two years alone. The result is an epidemic of knife crime, violence and robbery on London’s streets. New figures show that knife crime has reached a record high, increasing by 20 per cent in the last year alone. In Redbridge, the borough in which this horrific attack took place, the number of knife crimes is at its highest rate since 2018. The Met themselves now recognise the drop in the use of stop and search as a fundamental mistake…” – Daily Telegraph
- Labour councils go bankrupt because they have a reckless disregard for your cash – Richard Holden MP, Daily Express
>Yesterday: Matthew Scott in Comment: Labour’s policing pledge doesn’t add up – and it’s re-inventing Tory policies
Mordaunt in ‘detailed discussions’ with top Tories over succession
“Penny Mordaunt has been having “detailed discussions” with a number of senior right-wingers about succession if Rishi Sunak is toppled, it has been claimed. The Commons Leader, widely tipped as a key contender in any future leadership race, has been talking to MPs about their demands in return for support. Toughening up her approach to transgender rights is one of the key discussions after concerns in the past over her comments that transgender women – biological men – are women. Ms Mordaunt, who has a higher public profile than many of her colleagues after the key role she played in the King’s coronation, is said to be at risk of losing her Portsmouth North seat at the general election. A source said that means she is open to replacing the Prime Minister if he faces a challenge after the local elections…” – Daily Express
- Sunak not ‘under threat’ from Tory mutineers, says Badenoch – The Sun
- Prime Ministerk’s political fate hangs on results of local elections – FT
- Sunak eyes ‘greatest comeback in political history’ – The Times
More:
- High tax Britain to be slowest-growing country in G7, warns OECD – Daily Telegraph
- Menzies apologises to constituents for ‘mistakes’ – The Times
Comment:
- Rebels serve Sunak with a prisons dilemma – Katy Balls, The Spectator
>Today: Chris Hopkins in Comment: Sunak’s premiership may well ride on how successfully Street disavows him
Rwanda 1) First migrants detained in Home Office raids
“Women were among the first migrants detained for deportation to Rwanda in a series of raids in the four nations of the UK. More than 800 immigration enforcement officers were involved but officials refused to disclose how many migrants had been detained because of fears doing so would undermine operations. Senior officials overseeing the raids, code-named Operation Vector, said those detained since they began on Monday lunchtime posed little resistance. They have pursued the most compliant among a group of 5,700 migrants eligible for removal to Rwanda and officials expect to face more resistance as the operation continues. Protesters attempted to obstruct officers by lying in front of their vans in locations including Swansea, Salford and Croydon, south London.” – The Times
- Cleverly: we will not relent in bid to stop boats – The Sun
- More raids are coming, promise Home Office – Daily Mail
- ‘Migrants are volunteering to go to Rwanda,’ Badenoch says – The Sun
- Home Office sending asylum claim rejection letters to wrong addresses – The Times
Editorial:
- Scheme’s critics should prepare to be proved wrong – The Sun
Rwanda 2) Civil Service union tries to stop flights with judicial review
“Civil servants are threatening to scupper Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan by mounting the first legal challenge to the landmark legislation. The FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, has submitted an application for a judicial review over concerns that Home Office staff could be in breach of international law if they implement the Prime Minister’s Safety of Rwanda Act. They say civil servants could be in violation of the Civil Service code – and open to possible prosecution – if they followed a minister’s demands to ignore an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights banning a deportation. The Act gives ministers the power to decide whether to comply with a Rule 39 order made by the Strasbourg court, one of which grounded the first flight to Rwanda in June 2022.” – Daily Telegraph
Rwanda 3) Sunak reneges on deportation deal with Dublin
“Britain will not abide by an agreement with Ireland to take back asylum seekers who cross the border to escape deportation to Rwanda, Downing Street has warned. In a further escalation of No 10’s row with Dublin, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman acknowledged that the two countries had a longstanding deal to co-operate in taking back each other’s asylum seekers. But he said the deal was not legally binding and the government would not comply with it. Sunak also urged the Irish government not to send Garda to the border. He said that Dublin “must uphold its promises” to avoid a hard border and avoid setting up checkpoints to prevent asylum seekers from entering the country. His comments come after the Irish justice minister claimed there had been an upsurge in asylum seekers crossing the border since the passing of the UK’s Safety of Rwanda Act.” – The Times
- Ireland to send police to the border as migrant row with UK grows – Daily Telegraph
- Ireland breaks up asylum seeker ‘shantytown’ amid dispute with UK – FT
More:
- Ministers fear EU fingerprinting plans will cause chaos at borders – Daily Telegraph
Rwanda 4) Labour would give 50,000 in limbo asylum seekers chance to stay in UK
“Labour would allow more than 50,000 asylum-seekers currently in limbo to make claims to stay in the UK if it wins the general election, it has emerged. Under a law passed by the Tories last year, migrants who arrive in the UK illegally are blocked from submitting asylum claims, but Labour has indicated that would change if it wins office. There was confusion on Wednesday as Labour officials and frontbenchers tried to clarify their position on Rwanda deportation flights as the Home Office began detentions. The Labour Party has made clear that it would scrap Rishi Sunak’s plan of flying asylum-seekers who arrived in the UK illegally to Rwanda, calling the policy a “gimmick”. However, how exactly it would wrap up the scheme and what would be done with those people who have already arrived via small boats crossing the English Channel remains unclear.” – Daily Telegraph
- The Left is terrified the Rwanda scheme is working – Ross Clark, The Sun
>Yesterday: Miriam Cates’ column: Conservatives have failed to overturn Blair’s disastrous legal legacy
Badenoch claims girls developed UTIs due to lack of single-sex toilets at school
“Kemi Badenoch has claimed that girls at a school who did not have access to single-sex toilets developed urinary tract infections (UTI) because they did not want to use gender-neutral toilets. The equalities minister has launched a call for input, asking people to report public bodies that fail to provide single-sex spaces or have policies not in accordance with the Equality Act. She did not name the school or further substantiate the claim. Citing an example of where organisations have allegedly failed to look at equality law, Badenoch told LBC on Wednesday: “If I were to give an example of a school that had gender-neutral toilets and young girls there didn’t want to use the same toilets as boys so they weren’t going to the toilet at school and got urinary tract infections.” – The Guardian
Donation to Welsh first minister should be probed, says Sunak
“Rishi Sunak has called for an independent probe into a £200,000 donation to Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign from a recycling company within months of its subsidiary receiving a £400,000 loan from a state-owned bank. The UK Conservative prime minister made his comments before Gething, leader of the Welsh Labour party, narrowly won two votes in the Cardiff Senedd about motions by the Tories and Plaid Cymru that criticised his handling of the donation. At prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sunak said the allegations around Gething were “an incredibly important issue” needing further disclosure… Gething has repeatedly said he has never taken any decisions related to Dauson.” – FT
Union warns Labour not to water down pledge on workers’ rights
“Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by Labour’s biggest union backer that he will be crossing a “red line” if he waters down the party’s workers’ rights package. Labour is due to “clarify” its proposals in the coming weeks to address the concerns of business over some of the measures, including a ban on zero-hours contracts and giving workers employment rights from day one. The party will also confirm that in its first 100 days in office it will publish only draft legislation on its plans and that it will delay implementation until some of the measures have been subject to formal consultation. However, senior party figures insisted that its core proposals had “not changed”, while Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, told its ruling national executive she would “not water down” the policy.” – The Times
- Promise of hostile reaction to any dilution as party prepares to water down proposed reforms – FT
- Labour’s ‘new deal for workers’ will not fully ban zero-hours contracts – The Guardian
- Is Keir Starmer set to u-turn and water down workers’ rights proposals? – Daily Mail
More:
- Labour says it will not slash Civil Service if elected – FT
- Corbyn urged to stand as independent at next election – Daily Telegraph
SNP defeats Labour confidence motion and sets out plan for choosing new leader
“The SNP government has headed off Labour’s attempt to force an early Holyrood election, as the frontrunners to succeed Humza Yousaf met for informal talks in an attempt to avoid another divisive leadership contest. Anas Sarwar’s motion of no confidence in Yousaf’s administration… was defeated by 70 votes to 58 on Wednesday afternoon after the Greens voted with the SNP. Last week the Scottish Greens said they would support another confidence motion in Yousaf himself, proposed by the Scottish Conservatives, in a backlash to Yousaf’s decision to unilaterally axe their governing partnership. With the SNP two short of a Holyrood majority, this left Yousaf unable to secure enough votes to win and on Monday he announced his intention to step down as first minister once a new party leader had been elected.” – The Guardian
- Seventy MSPs vote against Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s motion, with 58 voting in favour – FT
More:
- Flynn reckons Swinney has rivals ‘quaking in their boots’ – The Sun
Comment:
- Return of Swinney would signal SNP’s decay – Iain Martin, The Times
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Flynn goes where Starmer fears to tread
News in Brief:
- Khan is holding London back – Harry Phibbs, CapX
- Ireland miraculously discovers its hard border – Henry Hill, UnHerd
- Unite embodies Labour’s identity crisis – Sebastian Milbank, The Critic
- What is Starmerism? – George Eaton, New Statesman
- The war on Kate Forbes – Iain Macwhirter, The Spectator
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