A Reform UK proposal to prioritise places that vote for Green councils or MPs when it sets up detention centres for migrants facing deportation has been denounced as “abhorrent” from opponents across the political spectrum.
Reform says it would deport “all illegal migrants” and, to make this possible, it has announced plans for deportation centres holding up to 24,000 people.
In a post on social media, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, said that these would be located in Green-voting areas. He explained:
So here’s our promise:
A Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP.
Nor will we put them where Reform controls the council.
And of the remaining areas, we will prioritise Green controlled parliamentary constituencies and Green controlled councils to locate the detention centres.
Put simply, if you vote in a Reform council or Reform MP, we guarantee you won’t have a detention centre near you.
If you vote Green, there’s a good chance you will.
This is an important exercise in democratic consent, not just for our mass deportation policy, but for where the detention centres are placed.
Given @ZackPolanski openly advocates for open borders, I look forward to their warm embrace of this policy.
Yusuf also promoted the slogan “Vote Green, Get Illegals” on his post.
In an interview with Sky News, Yusuf said that Reform accepted that deportating migrants on the scale proposed by his party would be unprecedented for the UK, although he said it had been done in other countries. He said this policy was about ensuring there was “democratic consent” for the policy.
Responding to the announcement, Mothin Ali, the Green party’s co-deputy leader, said:
Reform keep making abhorrent announcements to distract voters from they fact they want to privatise the NHS. Greens are focused on building council housing, fixing our public services and bringing down the cost of living.
Anna Turley, the Labour chair, said:
This grotesque policy reveals Reform’s contempt for all voters – including their own. Threatening to punish places where people don’t vote your way is a betrayal of basic democratic principles. Nigel Farage has sunk to a new low: he is clearly more interested in stoking division and anger than in serving the whole country.
And, on social media, Kemi Badenoch reposted a tweet from Simon Clarke, the Tory former business secretary, saying:
We need to stop illegal immigration, but this is abhorrent from Reform.
Zia is proposing the siting of detention centres expressly as a form of political punishment for people and places that don’t vote Reform – not just Green, but presumably Conservative, Liberal and Labour too. (And what about Reform voters in those constituencies?)
It would almost certainly be deemed an abuse of ministerial power for political purposes, and as such would likely be stuck down in court before ever being implemented, wasting millions for the taxpayer without detaining anyone.
If it were to go ahead, it would still represent an appalling waste of public money as these sites might well not be in any way suitable for the proposed centres, or near the other infrastructure required. What’s worse is that he is doing all this to provoke outrage and draw attention to Reform a few days out from the local elections. Reform know what they are doing. But this goes beyond a pre-election stunt. It’s declared as a major policy commitment, and should be treated as such.
We need a proper plan to leave the ECHR and restore safe border controls, not gimmicks that wouldn’t survive first contact with reality.
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A Reform UK proposal to prioritise places that vote for Green councils or MPs when it sets up detention centres for migrants facing deportation has been denounced as “abhorrent” from opponents across the political spectrum. (See 10.48am.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Keir Starmer has said European countries are giving “a lot of attention” to proposals for a “reassurance presence” that could help to keep the strait of Hormuz open after the conflict between the US and Iran is over.
There have been several high-level meetings, involving mostly European countries, about the proposal, which is being pushed in particular by the UK and France. But little in public has been said about what kind of deployment this might entail.
Starmer said today it would be a “reassurance presence”.
Speaking to GB News, he said:
The situation is clearly evolving. It is really important that we get the strait of Hormuz open because that is directly impacting on our economy in the United Kingdom.
That’s why in recent months, we pulled together a group of countries to have a reassurance presence, including a military presence, as soon as it’s safe to get vessels through.
Now we’ve discussed that on a number of occasions with a coalition. We’re discussing that at the European political community summit here this afternoon. A lot of attention on this, because it’s having such an impact back in the United Kingdom.
The Conservatives have published figures which they claim justify their proposal to tighten the way the household benefit cap is applied.
At the weekend Kemi Badenoch announced proposals to restrict the exemptions that apply to the benefit cap, which sets a limit to how much people can receive in benefits, depending on the nature of the household and whether or not people live in Greater London.
The Tories said that, if they were in government, there would be no exemptions if someone in the household capable of working was not working, and benefits which are exempt, like Pip (personal independence payment – a disability payment) would no longer lead to all household benefits being exempt from the cap.
Neil O’Brien, the shadow minister for policy development, has published an analysis of benefit figures to justify this policy. He says the figures show that more than 600,000 households are getting “more in benefits than the average person takes home after tax”.
The Department for Work and Pensions has accused O’Brien of ignoring the fact that these claimants are generally people who severe disabilities who are particularly vulnerable.
In a post on his Substack blog explaining his figures, which made the Telegraph splash today, O’Brien said that new data meant more accurate information was now available about the number of households receiving large benefit payments in total. He said:
The average full time worker earns about £39,800 a year, which is £32,200 after tax.
There are many working age households getting more than this in benefits. There are now:
-819,000 households getting over £30,000 a year in benefits,
-626,000 getting over £32,200 (so more than the average take home)
-267,000 getting over £40,000,
-91,000 getting over £50,000,
-16,000 getting over £60,000.
The (revised) number getting over £30,000 in real terms is up by 7% since 2021/22 – and is up by a third compared to the figures before they were revised.
O’Brien also claimed:
The real-terms growth (and scale) of large claims strengthens the case for a return to welfare reform. We need reforms across all benefits, but particularly the household benefit cap, which people have learned to get round.
The Department of Work and Pensions told the Telegraph O’Brien’s figures did not take account the level of need. A spokesperson said:
The 2% of households receiving this level of support have the highest needs, and require extra support. The benefit cap exempts households where one or more residents have a severe disability requiring extra support and are among the most vulnerable in our society, and it is right that they receive it.
Speaking at the weekend, Badenoch said:
Welfare must always be there for those who need it most, but it should never discourage work or reward dependency.
The Conservatives believe in fairness, and that means those on welfare should have to make the same choices about their family as those who are not.
That is why we will reform the household benefit cap and stop those who abuse the system getting almost unlimited welfare payments.
Kemi Badenoch has described claims that the UK could end up paying up to £1bn a year to the EU for easier access to the single market as “the worst of all words”. Asked about the Times story (see 9.31am), she told broadcasters:
This is yet another example of Keir Starmer announcing something which was not in his manifesto.
The public voted to leave the European Union. What governments and politicians of all colours need to do is find a way for us to get our strategic competitive advantage while we’re out to the EU.
Paying £1bn is the worst of all worlds, because then we’re paying money to the EU, we’re taking their rules, but we have no say over them. That’s the wrong way round.
Starmer defended the principle of paying the EU where the benefits outweigh the costs when he was asked about this by broadcasters earlier. (See 2.14pm.) But he was giving an answer to a generalised question, and there was no follow-up, and so he was able to get off without commenting directly on the Times’ story. The government has not denied the report, but it has implied the £1bn a year figure is not accurate.
Hollywood star Alan Cumming has urged Scots to “reject the politics of Nigel Farage” in Thursday’s Holyrood election, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The award winning actor, who is also the host The Traitors US, stressed the need for voters to “stand up for the kind of country we want to be”, as he also spoke about the need to “call out the dangers of the far right”.
The Perthshire born star, who splits his time between New York and Scotland, went on to highlight the importance of the arts and culture.
His comments come ahead of an event in Edinburgh with Scottish first minister and SNP leader John Swinney.
The event is taking place ahead of Thursday’s Scottish parliament election, with polls having indicated Reform UK, led in Scotland by Malcolm Offord, could come in second place place.
Cumming, a prominent supporter of Scottish independence, said his event with the SNP leader would be “a great opportunity to discuss a whole range of topics important to the people of Scotland, find out more about our first minister, and collectively call out the dangers of the far right”.
Jeremy Corbyn, Your Party’s parliamentary leader, has joined those criticising the Reform UK plans to place migration detention centres in places that vote Green. (See 10.48am.) He says:
Reform want to round up migrants and detain them indefinitely in areas that don’t vote for them.
Yet for most of our media, it’s those marching for Palestine who are creating hatred & fear.
These disgusting plans are an affront to democracy — and must be fiercely opposed.
Donald Tusk, the Polish PM, says at the EPC meeting in Armenia today he and Keir Starmer agreed to sign a UK-Poland treaty strengthening defence cooperation on 27 May.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has refused to say if the prime minister should face a leadership challenge if Labour does badly in Thursday’s elections, the Press Association reports. PA says:
While polls suggest Labour could do badly in elections for the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales, and in local councils elections in England, the Scottish Labour leader insisted his “focus” was on “removing John Swinney from office” – and not what could happen in Westminster.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has already criticised the “squabbling” and “political infighting” in the UK government, likening prospective candidates vying to succeed Keir Starmer to “auditions for Labour party Celebrity Traitors”.
There has been speculation that health secretary Wes Streeting, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner could all be considering launching a leadership challenge against the PM.
But Sarwar, who has already called on the prime minister to step down, made clear his focus was on Thursday’s Holyrood ballot – and not on any political manoeuvreing at Westminster.
And despite a poll today showing Labour could drop to just 13 MSPs at Holyrood, Sarwar said: “I’m entirely convinced this election isn’t over.”
He added that Labour’s internal figures were better than they had been in last years Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection, which the party won – and were “going up”.
Sarwar went on to say that 38 of the 73 Holyrood constituencies seats were “on a knife-edge” and could “decide this election”.
But when pressed on why people should vote Labour when the party is in “chaos” at Westminster, he said: “Scotland is in chaos under an SNP government, we need a new government and only I can deliver that new government.
“I don’t care about what’s happening at Westminster or Westminster politicians, I’m only focused on Scotland.
“All I care about is Scotland’s schools, Scotland’s hospitals.”
PA is referring to More in Common’s final MRP poll for the Holyrood election. It suggests Scotland is on course for these results.
Commenting on the figures, More in Common said:
The SNP have flipped five seats since More in Common’s first projection in early April – at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives: Dumbarton and Edinburgh Southern from Labour, Edinburgh Central from Labour (where the Greens have also fallen back), Eastwood from the Conservatives, Galloway and West Dumfries from the Conservatives, and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch from the Liberal Democrats …
The SNP’s victory is fuelled less by surging support than by fragmentation in the unionist vote. In fact, this result would represent the SNP’s lowest vote share in nearly two decades: their lowest constituency vote share since 2007, and lowest regional vote share since 2003.
Fragmentation and first-past-the-post are fuelling the SNP: Their high seats share comes from the number of high number first-past-the-post constituency seats in Holyrood, and their comparatively more consolidated support in a fragmented party system.
Britain will have to make a contribution to join the EU’s €90bn (£78bn) loan for Ukraine scheme (see 8.40am) and it has been reported that this could be as much as £400m.
Speaking to broadcasters at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, Starmer said this was worth it.
Asked specifically about the Times report saying the UK may have to pay up to £1bn a year for better access to the single market (see 9.31am), Starmer replied:
It’s in our national interest to be closer to Europe, and whether that’s the EU loan scheme, which we are discussing with them, that’s of great benefit to Ukraine, but it’s also a great benefit to the United Kingdom as well, in terms of the jobs that it will create in the United Kingdom. So the benefit there outweighs the cost.
But more generally, it is important that we see our future as a closer relationship with the EU that’s in our national interest, and that’s what I’ve been discussing here and on previous occasions.
UPDATE: According to Sky News, Keir Starmer gave this quote in response to a reporter who asked about the Times report, asked if £1bn a year was a price worth paying, and asked what Starmer would say to people who said he was betraying Brexit bit by bit.
The Green MP Siân Berry has said that she does not know whether the force used by the police last week to arrest a suspect after two Jewish people were stabbed in Golders Green was excessive.
At the end of last week Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, apologised after reposting a message on social media implying the use of force was excessive. Polanski later said he remained concerned by what he had seen in video of the incident, but that he accepted posting on social media wasn’t the best way to raise this as an issue.
In an interview with Times Radio, Berry was asked if she thought the police arresting the suspect overreacted. She replied:
I don’t know the answer to that. I think that you have to discuss it with the people who know on the ground. You have to ask people to look at the body camera footage.
These are important parts of scrutiny and Greens in the London assembly, Greens scrutinising the police all around the country, are extremely good at this because we are good at balancing civil liberties and the need for action against crime. No one should be giving the police a blank slate.
In Wales the voting system has changed and the new Senedd will be elected using the closed proportional list system, which is a purer form of PR than the additional member system used previously. There is an explanation of how it works here.
There will be 16 constituencies each electing six MSs (members of the Senedd) using the D’Hondt method.
In its report on its latest MRP poll (see 10.02am), More in Common says this means that “seats allocated later in the process are more sensitive to small changes in the vote, especially the fifth and 6th seat in each constituency, many of which could be decided by less than 2.5 per cent of the vote”. It has produced this chart to illustrate how much uncertainty there is in the forecasts produced by its polling.
Here is the Green party’s official response to Reform UK’s plan to site immigration detention centres in places where people vote Green. (See 10.48am). A Green party spokesperson said:
Reform keep making abhorrent announcements in attempts to distract voters from the fact they want to privatise our NHS, roll back workers rights and hand out tax breaks to their billionaire backers. [Nigel] Farage, the establishment stooge, filled his pockets with a secret £5m donation and then puts forward this disgusting idea as if it is a serious policy.
Greens are focused on building council housing, fixing our public services and bringing down the cost of living.
The UK is going to open talks with the EU on joining its European Innovation Council Fund, a €4bn fund providing venture capital for deep tech innovation. Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, announced the move after a meeting at the summit in Armenia where they said they wanted to be “ambitious” in strengthening post-Brexit UK-EU links.
In a joint statement, they said:
Today we met to discuss our joint commitment to improving the relationship between the UK and EU to deliver for consumers, businesses and collective European security.
We also reflected on the UK’s plan to participate in the EU’s €90bn / £78bn loan for Ukraine, and agreed it would be a major step forward in the UK- EU defence industrial relationship [see 8.40am] …
We also agreed to commence negotiations on UK participation in the European Innovation Council Fund, including the Scaleup Europe Fund, which will provide support for promising high-growth tech businesses to scale up and support UK and EU ambitions to keep the most promising innovators in Europe.
We looked ahead to the UK-EU summit and agreed on the importance of being ambitious in what we could achieve together for the benefit of both sides.
Tree nurseries could be built at prisons and military ranges could be turned into heathland or peat bogs as part of an ambitious plan to make government land more nature-friendly, Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, has said. Peter Walker has the story.
Labour MPs are calling for a close to the “endless drama” of leadership speculation, Peter Walker reports.
However, as Peter also points out, even the Labour MPs who would like nothing more than for all talk of leadership contests to dry up recognise that Keir Starmer faces a perilous moment when the election results are announced on Friday. No one knows for sure how the Labour party will respond, but a challenge seems quite possible.
Today the Mail is highlighting a warning to Labour MPs that replacing Starmer could lead to an early election. In their story, Jason Groves and David Wilcock quote a “senior figure” saying:
People should be very careful what they wish for. There is no road to replacing the PM that does not lead to an early general election.
It is obvious that neither Wes [Streeting] nor Angela [Rayner] command the kind of overwhelming support you would need to produce a stable government.
In his London Playbook briefing for Politico, Sam Blewett has a round-up of some of today’s other Labour leadership stories.
In the Times, Oliver Wright and Aubrey Allegretti hear from allies of Ed Miliband that the energy secretary wants to be “kingmaker” in a [Andy] Burnham leadership bid, in return for being offered the post of chancellor. But this scheme would see the left-wing powerbroker join cabinet colleagues in backing Starmer after the locals to buy time for Burnham to find a route back to the Commons. So that’s sort of good news for the PM.
Then, in the Telegraph, Nick Gutteridge hears that Burnham’s camp have asked some of Starmer’s top staff to stay in No. 10 if the “King of the North” finds his way in. Stuart Ingham and Amy Richards are both named as potential holdovers, in what would seem to be quite a mischievous briefing.
Burnham’s allies in Mainstream are preparing an event in Westminster to champion the “political economy of Manchesterism” in mid-May, Playbook hears. The Manchester mayor is holding off on confirming himself as a speaker at the publication launch – but the preparations allow him a platform to swoop down to SW1 in the weeks after the electoral “bloodbath” if he chooses.
If you are trying to make sense of where this all leaves Labour, you should read Lucy Powell’s interview with Jessica Elgot in the Guardian.
Powell, the deputy Labour leader, told Jess:
There’s no magic bullet here for us. We are in a difficult world.
That, at least, is one claim no one is likely to dispute.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
