Downing Street insists Braverman has ‘strong relationships’ with security servicesDowning Street says the home secretary Suella Braverman maintains “strong relationships” with security services, amid reports of a breakdown in trust after an allegation of Braverman having been investigated by government officials after the leaking of a story involving MI5 emerged.
Asked whether Rishi Sunak believes MI5 is confident in Braverman, his official spokesperson said:
Yes, the home secretary continues to have strong relationships with all the operational bodies that report into the Home Office and are focused very much on keeping the country safe.
Asked if the prime minister is concerned security analysts might be reluctant to share information with the Home Office, the spokesperson replied:
No, and any suggestion of that would be entirely false.
They refused to comment on the accuracy of Sunak’s statement in the Commons that Braverman reported her own mistake of sending an official document from her personal email.
Key events
Tory MP says ‘big questions’ hanging over Braverman appointmentTory MP Caroline Nokes has questioned the re-appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, just days after she was forced to resign for a security breach.
Speaking to the BBC, she said there were “big questions” hanging over the issue and called for a full inquiry. She said:
I think what is apparent is that there are big questions hanging over this whole issue.
And to be frank I would like to see them cleared up so that the home secretary can get on with her job.
Downing Street refuses to commit to triple lockDowning Street has said Rishi Sunak will not commit to raising the state pension in line with inflation ahead of the government’s autumn statement on 17 November.
The PM’s official spokesperson acknowledged that uncertainty over whether the government will maintain the triple lock for state pensions is causing difficulty for pensioners.
They said:
As the prime minister said, decisions will be guided by the values of the government and will be done with compassion.
We do recognise that uncertainty is difficult for pensioners and other groups of people. That’s why the prime minister and the chancellor believe it is right to take the time to work carefully and diligently to come up with proposals that will provide that certainty in the long term.
Given the very challenging economic circumstances the country, and indeed the world, faces, it is right that we take that time so that we put in place measures that can last.
Downing Street insists Braverman has ‘strong relationships’ with security servicesDowning Street says the home secretary Suella Braverman maintains “strong relationships” with security services, amid reports of a breakdown in trust after an allegation of Braverman having been investigated by government officials after the leaking of a story involving MI5 emerged.
Asked whether Rishi Sunak believes MI5 is confident in Braverman, his official spokesperson said:
Yes, the home secretary continues to have strong relationships with all the operational bodies that report into the Home Office and are focused very much on keeping the country safe.
Asked if the prime minister is concerned security analysts might be reluctant to share information with the Home Office, the spokesperson replied:
No, and any suggestion of that would be entirely false.
They refused to comment on the accuracy of Sunak’s statement in the Commons that Braverman reported her own mistake of sending an official document from her personal email.
Downing Street has announced a couple of new appointments to Rishi Sunak’s government.
Victoria Atkins has been made financial secretary to the Treasury, while Andrew Griffith becomes economic secretary to the Treasury.
The Democratic Unionist party leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said that in the absence of a Stormont assembly, unionists will not accept a joint authority arrangement between London and Dublin, instead of direct rule from London. He said:
I think the Irish government needs to hear this loud and clear: unionists will never accept joint authority. If joint authority is imposed upon us, the Good Friday agreement is dishonoured completely and is not therefore a basis for us moving forward.
If the Irish government thinks that by threatening me or my party with joint authority that that will help us get to a solution quickly, that it will move us forward on the basis of mutual respect and understanding then I’m afraid the Irish government is deluded.
Unionists will not accept joint authority. Joint authority would be an abandonment of the Good Friday agreement and if that’s what the Irish government want to do, then let them be honest and say.
Northern Ireland faces another Stormont assembly election just seven months after the previous one, after the Democratic Unionist party confirmed it will continue to block the formation of a new executive.
The DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said “sufficient progress” towards alleviating concerns about the Northern Ireland protocol had not been made and “we will not be supporting the nomination of ministers”.
He said:
We were given a clear mandate in the assembly elections that we would not nominate ministers to an executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol to remove the barriers to trade within our own country and to restore our place within the United Kingdom internal market. That remains our position.
He added:
I will not rest until this matter is resolved and the sooner that happens the better.
The Liberal Democrats have joined renewed calls to expand the windfall tax on energy firms after Shell doubled its profits.
The Lib Dem leader, Sir Ed Davey, said the Tories’ refusal to properly tax “eye-watering” profits of oil and gas companies is an “insult” to people struggling to pay their bills.
The Conservatives’ refusal to properly tax the eye-watering profits of oil and gas companies is an insult to all those struggling with their bills.
Even Shell’s CEO has admitted they should be taxed more. People should not have to pick up the bill for this Tory economic chaos.
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) October 27, 2022 Aletha Adu
Rishi Sunak has rehired five ministers who are entitled to redundancy payouts after resigning from government only seven weeks ago.
The new prime minister filled his cabinet with allies including Dominic Raab and Grant Shapps who were once loyal to Boris Johnson but switched to back Sunak as leader.
Ministers sacked and reappointed are able to claim thousands of pounds in redundancy pay as long as they have been out of a ministerial post for at least three weeks. Raab, Michael Gove, Steve Barclay, Shapps and Johnny Mercer, who have all got their old jobs back after leaving Johnson’s government, are entitled to receive £16,876 each.
Shapps is understood to be donating half of the sum to charity, while Gove and Raab say they hope to pay back half of the sum on a pro-rata basis. Barclay and Mercer did not respond to calls for comment.
A Liberal Democrat source said:
It is absurd that Conservative ministers are effectively being treated to a taxpayer-funded mini-break. Conservative MPs are living it up on the back of government instability, while the country suffers.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the ministers should have rejected the payments “if they had a shred of decency”.
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Aletha Adu
The Commons has been suspended until at least 12pm because the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, was not present to announce next week’s agenda at business questions.
Rishi Sunak has not yet hired a deputy Commons leader to fill in for Mordaunt.
The House of Commons has been suspended because the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, is not able to take business questions until midday.
The House has suspended for a short time before Business Questions. Business will resume at 12:00.
— UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) October 27, 2022 As the New Statesman’s Rachel Wearmouth points out, no one has been appointed as deputy Commons leader yet.
House suspended because Commons leader Penny Mordaunt can’t take business Qs until about 12pm … & there is no deputy Commons leader yet
— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) October 27, 2022 Labour has been granted an urgent question in the Commons on the situation at the Manston facility for cross-Channel migrants.
Channel 4 News’s Serena Barker-Singh reports that the home secretary, Suella Braverman, has not appeared to answer the question. The immigration minister Robert Jenrick is answering questions instead.
Labour’s UQ on Manston migrant centre has begun – Suella Braverman a no show, Robert Jenrick instead arrives in her place
— Serena Barker-Singh (@serenabarksing) October 27, 2022 Jenrick said that “as of eight o’clock this morning, there are 2,636 arrivals at Manston” with “over 170 people” leaving the site for onward accommodation on Wednesday alone.
He described the Manston processing centre as a “secure environment” that is “resourced and equipped to process migrants securely whilst efforts are made to provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible”.
Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson, who chairs the home affairs committee, said she does not recognise Jenrick’s description of the facility. She told the Commons:
The situation at the Manston facility for cross-Channel migrants constitutes a major incident that is escalating in severity.
She said the number of individuals currently being detained at Manston is “larger than any prison in this country”. She said:
The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration just yesterday described it at the home affairs select committee and I quote: ‘A really dangerous situation and it had left him speechless’.
The committee “heard that people are being held for well over 24 hours, some as long as a month”, she added.
Jenrick said he hoped to visit Manston next week, and that he was “concerned” to read evidence by the independent chief inspector, David Neal.