Politics latest: Lords set to try and pass further changes to Rwanda bill; Tory MP who made Angela Rayner police complaint faces awkward questions (2024)

BySarah Taaffe-Maguire, business reporter and Ed Conway, economics and data editor

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that "better times are ahead" but that the fundamentals of the UK economy are "very strong".

Speaking to Sky News in Washington, Mr Hunt pointed to price rise data from today showing adrop in the rate of inflationas well as the latest jobs figures andIMF economic growth predictions.

Mr Hunt said: "I think the economy, we are seeing, has turned the corner, people are beginning to feel that."

"That will continue during the course of this year. But the fundamentals for the UK economy, yes, are very strong indeed," he added.

You can read more from the chancellor's interview here:

I thought we were going to start the show tonight with a different headline.

I thought that FINALLY - two full years after the policy was first announced - I would be sitting here saying the PM’s flagship plan to send migrants who arrive in the UK on small boats to Rwanda had at last cleared its final parliamentary hurdle.

But guess what?

It hasn't.

Instead, the Lords have reinserted two amendments.

There had been talk MPs might have to stay late tonight to force it through - the latest we're hearing is it looks like they won't vote until Monday - and the parliamentary ping-pong continues until next week.

And yes, I feel like I’m slightly losing my mind here, I don't know about you.

We've been talking about sending migrants to Rwanda for TWO YEARS. No planes have taken off. A grand total of zero people have been sent to Rwanda under this plan.

And MPs, peers, and all the rest of us, are stuck in this endless loop.

When will we break out of it? Tonight? Monday? Never? At this stage, who the hell knows?!

No wonder the public is increasingly sceptical the Rwanda plan is going to happen at all.

Our weeknight politics showPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgeis live now on Sky News.

The fast-paced, extended edition of the show dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis - bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.

Tonight, Sophy is joined byLord Stuart Rose, Tory peer and chairman of Asda supermarkets, to discuss inflation, the state of the Conservative Party, and Labour's proposals for government.

On Sophy's panel tonight are:

• Josh Simons, director of the Labour Together think tank;
• Rehman Chishti,Tory MP and former party deputy chair.

Watch live in the stream at the top of this page, and follow all the latest updates and key moments right here in the Politics Hub.

WatchPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgefrom Monday to Thursday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on theSky News websiteandappor onYouTube.

Kemi Badenoch is due to deliver a speech tomorrow, in which she will say people have "forgotten" that Conservatives have "an underpinning philosophy" in recent years.

In a wide-ranging speech to TheCityUK - a financial services industry body - the business secretary is expected to say that Conservative have not had "as much of an opportunity as we would like to articulate our values".

The broad speech comes a day after the former Tory leadership contender publicly opposed Rishi Sunak's flagship bill to ban young people from ever smoking, which passed despite her opposition.

Ms Badenoch is expected to say that since the financial crash of 2008, the "ever-rising tide of micromanagement" has been part of a "slow and steady shift in Western societies and economies toward a new, controlled and regulated vision".

She will say: "People have forgotten that Conservatives are always motivated by an underpinning philosophy because we have not had as much of an opportunity as we would like to articulate our values."

The senior Tory will also hit out at Labour, warning that the "tide of ever more intervention will accelerate and become even stronger".

"The idea that we all need to be micromanaged, whether in social or economic terms, comes very easily to the Labour Party," she will say.

She will warn against "ever greater regulatory capture, stifling of the free market, and the weakening of the wealth generation we need".

The business secretary will also criticise shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves's employment rights plans, such as no probationary periods for new staff, a ban on contacting employees outside of work hours, and reporting "burdens", such as "mandatory ethnicity pay reporting".

Sky News understands that No10 has seen and approved the text of the speech, due to be delivered tomorrow morning.

We will have coverage here in the Politics Hub from 10.45am, so do join us.

Tory peer and chairman of Asda supermarkets has launched a stinging attack on the government, and called for a general election as soon as possible.

Speaking to Sky's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, Lord Stuart Rose said: "If this was a government judged like a chief executive of a corporation might have been judged, he or she wouldn't have lasted 14 years.

"The shareholders would have said, 'on your bike'."

The Tory peer also has criticism of Labour, telling Sophy of the party's planned employment rights bill: "I would say be very, very careful.

"We have one huge benefit in this country in fairly flexible labour laws. They give a significant protection to employees, but they give flexibility to employers.

"And we must make sure that what we do isn't retrograde because business needs help."

Watch the full interview on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge on Sky News from 7pm.

BySarah Taaffe-Maguire, business reporter and Ed Conway, economics and data editor

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that "better times are ahead" but that the fundamentals of the UK economy are "very strong".

Speaking to Sky News in Washington, Mr Hunt pointed to price rise data from today showing adrop in the rate of inflationas well as the latest jobs figures andIMF economic growth predictions.

Mr Hunt said: "I think the economy, we are seeing, has turned the corner, people are beginning to feel that."

"That will continue during the course of this year. But the fundamentals for the UK economy, yes, are very strong indeed," he added.

You can read more from the chancellor's interview here:

By Deborah Haynes, defence and security editor

The UK will not increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income until after the next election, a Treasury minister has indicated.

The comments, by Laura Trott, come despite serving and recently ex-serving ministers urging Rishi Sunak's government to ramp up investment now in response to growing threats.

The prime minister has pledged to lift the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP from just over 2% as soon as economic conditions allow - but has not specified a timeframe even though Grant Shapps his defence secretary, has warned the UK has moved to a pre-war world.

Seemingly trying to obtain clarity on this commitment, James Heappey, who stepped down as armed forces minister last month, asked the Treasury in a parliamentary question "what (a) fiscal and (b) economic conditions have to be met for defence spending to be raised to 2.5% of gross domestic product".

Ms Trott, chief secretary to the Treasury, responded in a written reply on Wednesday.

"The government's aspiration is to invest 2.5% of GDP on defence when the fiscal and economic circ*mstances allow," she wrote.

"The prime minister has been clear that the target and path towards 2.5% will be set out at the next spending review."

This event is not set to happen until after the general election.

Mr Heappey pointed to comments made in Washington this week by Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, who urged European nations to increase defence spending.

"The chancellor is absolutely right, more money does need to be spent on defence in the UK and across Europe," the former armed forces minister said.

"That means we should move to 2.5% of GDP now especially given today’s positive economic news."

He was referring to a drop in inflation.

Mr Heappey continued: "But the chancellor's welcome position this morning is at odds with his deputy's more cautious response to my question.

"This can't wait until after the general election.

"Making the commitment now would be a huge statement to all NATO allies and our adversaries ahead of the Washington Summit this summer."

Our flagship weeknight politics showPolitics Hub With Sophy Ridgewill be live on Sky News from 7pm.

The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis - bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.

Sophy will be joined byLord Stuart Rose, chairman of Asda supermarkets, to discuss inflation.

On Sophy's panel tonight are:

• Josh Simons, director of the Labour Together think tank;
• Rehman Chishti,Tory MP and former party deputy chair.

Watch live on Sky News, in the stream at the top of this page, and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

As we reported earlier, Labour peers in the House of Lords will join with crossbenchers and bishops to try and amend the Rwanda bill once again.

It comes after MPs rejected four Lords amendments last night.

The government had expected peers to pass the bill unamended tonight, and for it to receive Royal Assent and become law possibly as early as tomorrow.

But now, it appears that it won't happen until next week, with the government not planning on making MPs vote on the expected two new amendments tonight or tomorrow.

A government figure has hit out at Labour for moving to amend the bill once again and delaying its passage into law.

They told our political editor Beth Rigby: "We wanted to get it done today, but it shows Labour for their true colours."

By Jennifer Scott, political reporter

Almost one million private renters in England have been handed no-fault evictions since the Conservative government promised to abolish them, new data has shown.

Research carried out by YouGov on behalf of homelessness charity Shelter - and shared exclusively with Sky News - showed that since April 2019 a total of 943,000 people had been given Section 21 notices, which is the equivalent of more than 500 renters every day.

The figures also showed unwanted moves were costing private renters in England £550m a year, with 830,000 people having to move in the last 12 months alone due to either their fixed tenancies coming to an end, being priced out by rent increases or being served with a Section 21.

Add in the soaring upfront costs for rents and deposits and unwanted moves are costing more than £1bn a year - or an average of £1,245 per person.

Polly Neate, Shelter's chief executive, said tenants were "bearing the cost of the government's inaction" and warned any further delays to banning no-fault evictions would see more people "tipped into homelessness".

But Levelling Up minister Jacob Young defended the government. He said abolishing Section 21s was "the biggest change to the private rented sector in more than 30 years" so it "takes time to make sure we get it right".

Read the full story here: