“Downing Street has said the Prime Minister had no plans to celebrate five years since Britain officially left the European Union, at 11pm on Jan 31 2020. It comes as the Conservatives accused Labour of trying to “dismantle Brexit and drag us back into the EU’s grasp”. Sir Keir championed a second Brexit referendum while serving as Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow minister for exiting the European Union. The promise featured in the Labour manifesto…The Prime Minister will head to Brussels on Monday to join EU leaders to discuss European security matters, a further signal of Labour’s desire to “reset” relations with the bloc. In August he insisted that his plans were not “reversing Brexit” but a “closer relationship on a number of fronts” including on defence and the economy.” – The Daily Telegraph
“Rachel Reeves has denied a rift with Ed Miliband over her decision to support the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport. Mr Miliband, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, threatened to resign over expansion of the airport in 2009 and did not attend the Chancellor’s speech at which she announced the decision on Wednesday morning. But Ms Reeves insisted on Thursday that the Cabinet was “united” in its backing for the project. It came as she claimed the third runway could be finished and operational by 2035, despite critics warning that it could take decades to complete. Ms Reeves is facing a Labour backlash over the expansion plan, with Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, among those publicly against the proposal.” – The Daily Telegraph
“The attorney-general is facing a backlash from cabinet ministers over claims that his changes to legal advice have led to an effective “freeze on government”. Ministers have told The Times that the move by Lord Hermer KC to significantly increase the power of government lawyers has resulted in delays to policies even if there is a relatively marginal risk. Late last year Hermer strengthened the guidance on legal risk, changing it to say government lawyers must advise ministers that policies are unlawful if they believe an argument could not be properly put forward in court. This was not previously the case. The new guidance states that they should only as a last resort put forward legal arguments that are legitimate but which have a high risk of failing.” – The Times
“The UK government’s border security bill will lead to about 100 more people being sent to prison each year, according to internal government estimates, while criminalising asylum seekers who seek to prevent rescue operations at sea. Experts have questioned whether the measures will lead to a reduction in overall arrivals of migrants by small boats. In moves aimed at targeting smuggling gangs the new border security, asylum and immigration bill will give the government counterterrorism-style powers, such as seizing electronic equipment — including mobile phones — belonging to migrants when they cross the Channel into the UK. It will create an offence of ‘endangering life at sea’, aimed at criminalising people who prevent offers of rescue while at sea…” – The Financial Times
“Wes Streeting has abandoned pledges on women’s health and dementia as he halved the number of NHS targets in a drive to end a “culture of overspending”. NHS bosses said they would have to make cuts and “stop spending on some services” after the health secretary told them to prioritise cutting waiting lists. Streeting argued that “if everything is a priority, then nothing is”, and that hospitals should focus their budgets on cutting A&E waiting times, reducing waiting lists of 7.5 million and improving access to GPs. However, charities said that women were “not a special interest group” and were being de-prioritised after a 6,000-word document setting out annual NHS targets failed to mention the word “women” once.” – The Times
“More than 10 per cent of farmland in England is set to be diverted towards helping to achieve net zero and protecting wildlife by 2050, the Environment Secretary will reveal on Friday. Swathes of the countryside are on course to be switched to solar farms, tree planting and improving habitats for birds, insects and fish. The move is part of a consultation being launched by Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, on how the competing priorities of food production, net zero and nature should be reconciled in England. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimates that 9 per cent of farmland would need to be removed from food production by 2050 to meet green targets, The Telegraph understands.” – The Daily Telegraph
>Today:
“Lord Mandelson met a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official who oversaw alleged attacks on dissidents around the world, The Times can reveal. In June 2023 he met the CCP official Liu Jianchao, who formerly led a Chinese campaign to repatriate individuals seen by Beijing as corrupt. The programme has been described by human rights groups as “transnational repression”. According to a press release on the website for the CCP’s international department, Mandelson and Liu met to discuss “strategic communication with major political parties in the UK”… It is not known in what capacity Mandelson made the visit to China. When asked about the meeting, he called the questions “ridiculous nonsense”. At the time he was chairman of the consultancy firm…Global Counsel…” – The Times
“Priti Patel has been rebuked by her party leader after she defended sky-high immigration during the Conservative Party’s last years in office. The shadow foreign secretary – who was home secretary at a time of rising immigration – declined to apologise for the increase during an interview with The Sun. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said it proved that the Conservatives were “proud of mass migration”. Dame Priti’s comments were in stark contrast to those of Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, who made a speech in NOvember to admit that the party had “got it wrong” on immigration… Appearing on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots YouTube show, Dame Priti was challenged over the fact that 1.2 million people entered the UK last year.” – The Daily Telegraph
>Today:
“Being Home Secretary was Patel’s first (and last) big job in politics. Unsurprisingly, she is defensive about her record. But she had one job, and she screwed it up. People voted to leave the European Union for a variety of reasons, but no one doubts that central to it was a desire to control and reduce migration. That is exactly what Boris Johnson’s landslide-winning 2019 manifesto promised to do. Instead, Patel introduced Britain’s most liberal immigration system ever. In 2019, the year she became Home Secretary, net migration ran at 184,000 – higher than anything Britain had experienced before Tony Blair became Prime Minister. Yet in 2022, Patel’s last year, it had more than quadrupled to 764,000. A year later it hit 906,000 – about the population of Cyprus…” – The Daily Telegraph