Rwanda bill - live: Sunak doubles down on refusal to help Afghan heroes as no guarantee of fights by spring
Commons leader confirms Rwanda bill will return to the House of Commons on Monday
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Rishi Sunak has doubled down on his refusal to exempt Afghan heroes who served with British forces from being deported to Rwanda.
A No 10 spokesman said on Wednesday that the government would not be making any concessions on the Rwanda bill after the House of Lords last night voted in favour of the move.
The defiant upper chamber refused to cave to ministers’ demands and sent the flagship Rwanda plan back to the Commons.
Peers are also demanding the set up of a monitoring committee to assess whether Rwanda is safe before the government sends asylum seekers there.
Downing Street also on Thursday was unable to recommit to the prime minister’s pledge to get flights to Rwanda off the ground by the spring.
The spokesman said: “I’m not going to get ahead of the bill passing, which obviously we’ve seen again last night has continued to be held up.
“We’re working at pace to ensure these flights leave as soon as possible. It’s now incumbent on the Lords to pass this Bill such that we can trigger the final planning phases and ultimately stop the boats.”
Watch: Sunak takes aim at Rayner’s ‘tax affairs’ during fiery exchange over Liz Truss’s book at PMQs
Sunak takes aim at Rayner’s ‘tax affairs’ in PMQs exchange over new Liz Truss book
Rishi Sunak took a jibe at Angela Rayner’s tax affairs during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 17 April. Sir Keir Starmer opened the session by joking that he was “privileged to be the proud owner” of Liz Truss’s new book and took issue with her claim that 2022’s disastrous Budget was “the happiest moment of her premiership”. “Has the prime minister met anyone with a mortgage who agrees?” he asked, drawing laughter from the Commons. “All I’d say is, he’d ought to spend a bit less time reading that book and a bit more time reading the deputy leader’s tax advice,” Mr Sunak said, hitting back. He was referencing the row over Ms Rayer’s previous living arrangements.
Sunak defends Truss’s record as foreign secretary
Rishi Sunak defended his predecessor Liz Truss’s legacy as foreign secretary and its impact on “Brexit Britain”.
Labour MP Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) asked: “In the exchanges earlier we didn’t hear much of a defence from the prime minister of his predecessor, so perhaps he could tell the house what does he consider to be her greatest achievement?”
The PM replied: “While the party opposite were busy trying to take us back into the EU and reverse the referendum result, my predecessor was signing trade deals around the world, which have now meant that Brexit Britain has overtaken the Netherlands, France and Japan to become the fourth largest exporter in the world.”
Government ‘actively looking’ at reducing costs for victims accessing court transcripts
The government is “actively looking” at options to reduce the costs victims face when trying to access court transcripts, Rishi Sunak said.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) told the Commons: “Four years ago my constituent Juliana was drugged and raped by her then boyfriend. After his conviction Juliana was advised that reading a transcript of his trial would help her to come to terms with her experience, but when she requested that transcript she was told that she would have to pay more than £7,000.”
She claimed other victims had been quoted up to £22,000 to read transcripts, adding: “Justice should not have a price tag.”
Ms Olney said the Lib Dems would bring an amendment to the Victims and Prisoners Bill intended to make access to transcripts free of charge, and asked: “Juliana is here in the gallery today and she asks if the Prime Minister will support that amendment. Will he look her in the eye and say yes?”
The PM replied: “We are committed to improving victims’ access to court transcripts to help them move on and rebuild their lives. We already offer a free service to families of homicide victims for example, and that is why we have already committed to a one-year pilot to help identify the current demand, inform our next steps.
“Alongside this we are actively looking at other options to immediately reduce the costs.”
Sunak tells Israeli’s Netanyahu escalation is not in ‘anyone’s interest’
Sunak said he spoke to Israel’s Netanyahu and discussed how Iran is “isolated on world stage” and told him “escalation is not in anyones interest”, Zoe Grunewald reports.
"I also reiterated our concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza where I welcome the statements and commitments that the Israeli government have made about significantly increasing aid into Gaza, and now we need to see those commitments delivered,” the PM said.
Sunak: SNP should stop ‘obsessing’ about independence
The SNP should stop “obsessing” about independence and trying to lock up JK Rowling, and instead focus on what matters to people in Scotland, the prime minister told the Commons.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn highlighted comments made by Scottish Trades Union Congress general secretary Roz Foyer on independence remaining an unresolved issue, he added: “She said ‘that can be a very dangerous place to end up in, when you are not allowing people to express their wishes in a democratic manner’.
“So may I ask the prime minister, does he welcome the fulsome, wholehearted, and warm support of the Labour Party in denying the people of Scotland that opportunity to have a say over their own future.”
Rishi Sunak replied: “We did have a democratic vote on that topic.
“But what I would suggest to the SNP is that rather than obsessing about independence and indeed wasting time cracking down on free speech and trying to lock up JK Rowling, he should focus on what the people in Scotland actually care about – schools, hospitals, jobs, and our new tax cuts.”
Starmer asks Sunak to set out how he will pay for plan to abolish NI contributions
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated calls for prime minister Rishi Sunak to cost a £46 billion plan to end national insurance.
Sir Keir told the Commons: “(He) is not denying the £46 billion promise to scrap national insurance.
“ He is refusing to say where the money will come from and we’ve been trying for months to get to the bottom of this. So, now’s his chance. No more spin, no more waffle, no more diversion, I know that will be difficult.
“He can either – this is the choice – he can either cut state pension or the NHS that national insurance funds, that’s route one. Or he can put up income tax, which one is it?”
Sunak responded: “We’ve just cut taxes by £900 for a typical worker, we’ve delivered the biggest tax cut for businesses since the 1980s, but while we’re cutting taxes Labour is already putting them up.
“In Wales putting up taxes right now for small businesses, in Birmingham putting up council tax by 21 per cent, in London his mayor has put up taxes by 70 per cent and this is just a glimpse of what they’d do if they got in power, a few weeks ago he finally admitted it to The Sun, what did he say he would do? I quote, he said ‘we would put up taxes’.
“It’s always the same, higher taxes and working people paying the price.”
Starmer: Tories obsessed with ‘wild, unfunded tax cuts'
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the Conservatives’ “obsession with wild, unfunded tax cuts” crashed the economy.
He said during PMQs: “I appreciate the prime minister having the stomach to say it out loud, but everyone knows it’s the Tory Party’s obsession with wild, unfunded tax cuts that crashed the economy. We know it, he knows it, they know it and the whole country is living it.
“So, when is he finally going to learn the lesson from his predecessors’ mistakes and explain where the money is coming from for his own completely unfunded £46 billion promise to scrap national insurance?”
Prime minister Rishi Sunak replied: “When my predecessor was running for leader, to use his words, I did have the stomach to argue out loud about her economic policies and the conviction to say that they were wrong not once, but twice.
“He tried to make his predecessor prime minister, despite him opposing Nato and Trident, ignoring antisemitism and siding with our enemies. It’s clear what he did, he put his own interest ahead of Britain’s.”
Sunak: I ‘repeatedly warned’ Truss what economic policies would lead to
Rishi Sunak said he “repeatedly warned” about what Liz Truss’s “economic policies would lead to”, Zoe Grunewald reports.
The prime minister has said he "wasn’t afraid to repeatedly" about what the mini budget of his predecessor Liz Truss would "lead to" even "if it wasn’t what people wanted to hear at the time".
Mr Sunak was responding to questions from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about Ms Truss’ new book. The prime minister added: "I was right then. But I’m also right now when I say that his economic policies would be a disaster for Britain."
Rishi Sunak refuses to rule out NHS and state pension cuts to fund tax bung
Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out cuts to the NHS and state pensions to fund a £46bn national insurance giveaway, Archie Mitchell reports.
The prime minister has promised to abolish national insurance contributions in the long run, describing it as a “double tax” on work.
But Labour has repeatedly warned the cut would need to be funded by cuts to state pensions or the NHS, which the levy funds.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer twice asked Mr Sunak to rule out cuts to the NHS or state pensions to pay for what he called the “unfunded tax cut”.
“This is genuinely extraordinary, two chances to rule out cuts to state pensions and cuts to the NHS to fund his promise,” Sir Keir said.
He added: “This matters to millions of people who want to know what is going to happen to the NHS and their pensions.”
Starmer pokes fun at Liz Truss book
Starmer uses his first question to poke fun at former PM Liz Truss, who has been promoting her book this week.
He points out that Truss described her premiership as the happiest period in her life.
He asks Sunak if he has met anyone with a mortgage who agrees with that.
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