Rishi Sunak news – live: Suella Braverman has learnt from her mistakes, PM insists

New prime minister claims Braverman has ‘taken accountability’

'You need to try harder': Rishi Sunak told off by hospital patient over NHS's pay

Rishi Sunak has said he has no regrets over putting Suella Braverman back in charge of the Home Office just six days after she resigned over a security breach, insisting the home secretary has learnt from her mistakes.

The comments came in his first public visit as prime minister, to a Croydon hospital where he was confronted by an NHS patient who urged him to “try harder” on nurses’ pay. “It’s a pity you don’t pay them more,” Catherine Poole, a 77-year-old recovering from surgery, told the PM.

Mr Sunak also ditched a Tory leadership campaign pledge to fine patients who miss GP and hospital appointments, backtracking on plans health leaders had warned would “make matters worse”.

He pledged to put “fairness at the heart” of the “difficult decisions” he will take to “fix” the economic “mistakes” made by his party, and insisted it was “right” for him to focus on “depressing” domestic challenges, denying accusations of a “massive failure of climate leadership” by opting not to attend the Cop27 summit.

Key points

• Rishi Sunak confronted over nurses’ pay during NHS hospital visit
• Prime minister U-turns on plan to fine patients who miss appointments
• No 10 contradicts Therese Coffey over King Charles Cop27 attendance
• Sunak’s climate summit snub is ‘standard practice’, suggests Coffey
• PM and Jeremy Hunt ‘considering windfall tax on renewable energy firms’
• No 10 aides ‘feared Liz Truss could be probed over lying to Commons'

[27 October 2022 20:40 · Emily Atkinson]

Suella Braverman known as ‘Leaky Sue’, says Labour MP

A senior Labour MP has argued that home secretary Suella Braverman is “not able to get on with with a proper job” on account of the behaviours which earned her the nickname “Leaky Sue.”

Asked on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC whether the home secretary was a “blabbermouth” Chris Bryant said: “I think that her widely known nickname is Leaky Sue, isn’t it? And you just can’t have that in a Home Secretary. It’s fundamental.

“And it seems extraordinary to me that people let her off the hook earlier on in the year, let alone what happened more recently. So, when she was attorney general, and I, you know, as I’ve already said, it shows a weakness in Sunak.

“But the real trouble is, she’s not able to get on with a proper job.”

[27 October 2022 20:20 · Emily Atkinson]

Rishi Sunak’s decision to skip Cop27 ‘a massive failure of climate leadership’

Rishi Sunak has been warned his decision to not attend the crucial Cop27 climate summit in Egypt in little over a week undermines the UK’s climate leadership as the world slips behind targets to limit global warming.

Ed Miliband, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change, said the decision was an “embarrassing reflection” of Mr Suank’s government’s failure to deliver on its Cop26 commitments, saying the UK was “way off track” to meet its climate targets and has a net zero plan that the courts have ruled unlawful and inadequate.

“This is a massive failure of climate leadership,” he said.

Our climate correspondent Saphora Smith reports:

[27 October 2022 20:00 · Emily Atkinson]

Braverman ‘a threat to national security’, Tory ministers tell senior Labour MP

Suella Braverman has “got to go because she’s a threat to national security”, Tory ministers have reportedly told Chris Bryant.

Mr Bryant, the Labour Chair of the Standards and Privileges Committee, told Andrew Marr that both former and current Tory ministers are “stirring up anger” over Ms Braverman’s reappointment to the home office just days after she was forced out by Liz Truss.

Asked by LBC why the public should be concerned about the home secretary, Mr Bryant replied: “Because the number one role for the home secretary is looking after secure information on behalf of others, so as to maintain national security.

“And you’ve got ex ministers, very senior ex ministers going around stirring up anger about this. Conservative ministers have said to me today, she’s got to go because they believe that she’s a threat to national security, and you can’t be free and easy with secret government information.

He went on to tell Mr Marr that Rishi Sunak had been given “clear advice” not to appoint Ms Braverman to the home office by Simon Case:

“The truth of the matter is here that I think she was appointed, not in a moment of strength, but in a moment of weakness by Sunak. And it will, it’ll all fall apart,” he said.

[27 October 2022 19:40 · Emily Atkinson]

Election Now: The Independent’s petition calling for general election surpasses 450,000 signatures

The Independent’s petition calling for a general election in Britain following the resignation of Liz Truss has hit 450,000 signatures.

Ms Truss survived less than two months in No 10, consigning herself to the history books as the country’s shortest-serving prime minister.

Her resignation triggered the second Tory Party leadership contest in six weeks, with Rishi Sunak named as the new prime minister on Monday 24 October after receiving the backing of 202 Tory MPs.

To find our more about our petition, click the link below:

[27 October 2022 19:30 · Andrew Woodcock]

Tories six points up in polls after historic low

A new poll conducted on Rishi Sunak’s first full day as prime minister has suggested his arrival failed to produce a significant immediate improvement in Conservative fortunes.

The People Polling survey for GB News put the Tories up six points, compared to last week’s historic low of 14 per cent in the same poll.

And it found that more voters (19 per cent) said they backed Sunak to guide the UK through the economic crisis than Truss, on just 5 per cent.

But it still gave Keir Starmer’s Labour a dominant 31-point lead, on 51 per cent to 20 per cent for Tories and 9 per cent for the Liberal Democrats.

And Sir Keir remained the leader most trusted to take the UK through the economic storm, with 32 per cent picking him.

Meanwhile, Labour was chosen by 29 per cent as best party to handle immigration –against 18 per cent who named the Conservatives.

Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics at the University of Kent, said: “Rishi Sunak faces the political equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. Our results suggest that he has walked a few steps toward base camp but still has a very, very long way to climb.

“Make no mistake, while this suggests some improvement this is still wipe-out territory for the Tories.”

People Polling surveyed 1,185 adults in the UK on Wednesday 26 October.

[27 October 2022 19:10 · Emily Atkinson]

Why windfall taxes are an easy political choice

The real economics of the energy market are complex but taxing profit-making firms is easier to understand, as Sean O’Grady explains

[27 October 2022 18:50 · Emily Atkinson]

West Midlands mayor backs short term tax hike

The Conservative West Midlands mayor suggested he would be in favour of increasing taxes in the short term if it meant protecting core public services.

Andy Street told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: “In terms of the short-term decisions, I’m very clear actually, those public services, whether it be health, police - they are the things that people in communities across the West Midlands actually say, they are the indications about whether the government is supporting these communities, so we can’t compromise on them.

“And if that means in the short term we’ve got to pay a little bit more extra tax to protect them, that’s where I am.”

Mr Street also said he would suggest PM Rishi Sunak “press ahead” with the new investment zones proposed by his predecessor Liz Truss.

[27 October 2022 18:30 · Emily Atkinson]

Exclusive: MPs to investigate if Rishi Sunak overruled Cabinet Secretary by reappointing Suella Braverman

A powerful Commons committee will investigate claims Rishi Sunak overruled the security fears of the Cabinet Secretary when he reappointed Suella Braverman, The Independent has learned.

The public administration and constitutional affairs committee is poised to write to the Cabinet Office to establish if a warning was spurned before the home secretary was given her job back – despite her breach of the ministerial code.

It could even launch a full inquiry, it is understood, raising the prospect of public hearings to get to the truth behind the controversy that has rocked Mr Sunak’s first days in power.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has this exclusive report:

[27 October 2022 18:10 · Emily Atkinson]

Qatar 2022: David Lammy says James Cleverly LGBT fan advice was ‘entirely inappropriate’ - watch

[27 October 2022 17:49 · Emily Atkinson]

Sunak accused of ‘massive failure of climate leadership’

Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of a “massive failure of climate leadership” after he decided not to attend the Cop27 summit in Egypt.

Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “This is a massive failure of climate leadership. We were the Cop26 hosts and now the UK Prime Minister isn’t even bothering to turn up to Cop27.

“What Rishi Sunak obviously fails to understand is that tackling the climate crisis isn’t just about our reputation and standing abroad, but the opportunities for lower bills, jobs, and energy security it can deliver at home.

“A Labour government would put climate at the heart of its agenda for a fairer, greener future here in Britain and around the world, with lower bills and energy security for the UK through our plans for clean power by 2030 and GB Energy to make us a clean energy superpower.”