Home secretary: ‘Illegal migration is tearing our country apart’<\/p>\n
Mahmood says she is the \u201cchild of migrants\u201d and rejects that dealing with illegal migration is engaging with far-right talking points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a moral mission for me because I can see that illegal migration is tearing our country apart,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is dividing communities, people can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not willing to stand by a pretend there isn\u2019t a problem, when I know there is one, and then suggest that any solution to that cannot work because I believe they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says she knows she has to persuade people across the country, and in parliament, that the government\u2019s reforms can work in this area.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.47 EST<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Streeting accused of \u2018chaotic and incoherent approach\u2019 to NHS reform<\/p>\n Kiran Stacey<\/p>\n Wes Streeting has been accused of taking a \u201cchaotic and incoherent approach\u201d to reforming the NHS, which makes it unlikely the government will hit its own targets, according to a damning report by the Institute for Government (IfG).<\/p>\n The report praises elements of how the health secretary has managed the health service in his first year in office, including improving performance and staff retention in hospitals. Thepay settlement he reached with resident doctors<\/a> last year avoided a winter plagued by NHS strikes<\/p>\n But it also criticises significant aspects of his performance, including the way he handled the abolition of NHS England<\/a> and his lack of action to stem the exodus of senior GPs.<\/p>\n The findings threaten to puncture Streeting\u2019s reputation after a turbulent week during which he was forced to deny accusations<\/a> from allies of Keir Starmer that he was lining up a leadership challenge against the prime minister.<\/p>\n Stuart Hoddinott, the IfG\u2019s associate director and the author of the report, said: \u201cThere have been some positive steps: performance is trending slowly upwards in hospitals, there\u2019s been a genuinely large increase in GPs and the rate at which hospital staff are leaving their jobs is the lowest on record outside the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that has been undermined by a chaotic and incoherent approach to reforming the service. The announcement of NHS<\/a> England\u2019s abolition was abysmally handled and management cuts in integrated care boards have been a needless distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s first 500 days in office have been \u201c500 days of failure\u201d, the SNP said.<\/p>\n The SNP highlighted issues such as pensioner winter fuel payments, the two-child benefit cap and the proposed \u201cBrit cards\u201d.<\/p>\n SNP Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart said: \u201cFive hundred days of Starmer has been 500 days of failure.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cFrom robbing pensioners of their winter fuel payments or the pledge to cut energy bills by \u00a3300, just about every promise the Labour party made has been broken.<\/p>\n \u201cVicious infighting has plagued Starmer\u2019s first 500 days and caused utter chaos while the public face an economy in decline and a cost-of-living crisis made worse by the Labour party – it\u2019s no wonder they\u2019re languishing in fourth in the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n Wishart continued: \u201cI doubt bookies will give you odds on Starmer surviving another 500 days, but when he goes it\u2019ll just be another instalment in the depressing tale of broken Brexit Britain.<\/p>\n \u201cIn May, Scots will have the chance to get rid of Starmer, be free of (Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage and have the chance to build a fresh start with independence – that is the prize and after that first 500 days, it\u2019s no wonder more and more Scots are concluding that\u2019s the way to create a wealthier and happier Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has refused to rule out a return to frontline politics and called for party unity, condemning recent Labour infighting as \u201carrogant tittle tattle\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to the Daily Mirror during a constituency visit to a care centre, Rayner said recent reports of anonymous briefings and speculation over possible leadership manoeuvring was detached from the issues affecting everyday people.<\/p>\n When quizzed if a return to frontline politics may be on the cards, the former deputy Labour leader told the newspaper she had not \u201cgone away\u201d.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI\u2019m really humbled and I always have been, the people of Ashton-under-Lyne have always supported me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 10 years that I\u2019ve been in government I\u2019ve had quite a number of front bench positions, and I\u2019ve always brought it back to the people that I was there to represent and having this opportunity now, to be more in the constituency and to champion those views is something that I\u2019m humbled to do and I\u2019m looking forward to the challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of interests like child poverty, the fair pay agreement, and making sure the Employment Rights Bill is carried out in full.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Labour ‘fighting like rats in a sack’, Chris Philp says<\/p>\n Just turning back to Philp\u2019s earlier interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News, he accused Labour of \u201cfighting like rats in a sack\u201d.<\/p>\n He claimed the Tories have moved on from party divisions, adding: \u201cThe Labour party are unable to do that. They are fighting like rats in a sack.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got Keir Starmer briefing against Wes Streeting. You\u2019ve got Angela Rayner sharpening the knives in the background.<\/p>\n \u201cGoodness knows what Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell are both up to.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of serving the national interest, the Labour government are fighting each other just weeks away from a budget that will unleash enormous tax rises on this country that will drive up unemployment even further.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.11 EST<\/p>\n Questioned on the row between Trump and the BBC, Philp says Trump is the \u201cwronged party\u201d and that the BBC should have apologised a lot faster.<\/p>\n However, he adds he does not think licence fee payers\u2019 money should go towards compensation for the US president.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all work hard and pay our licence fee, I don\u2019t think sending some of it over to Mar-a-Lago would be a smart thing to do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n And that concludes the interview.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.50 EST<\/p>\n Philp: 10,000 people have crossed channel illegally since Mahmood became home secretary<\/p>\n Philp says 10,000 people have crossed the channel illegally in the 75 days since Shabana Mahmood<\/a> became home secretary.<\/p>\n He says Labour made a \u201chuge mistake\u201d in cancelling the Rwanda scheme with no alternative and says the UK must leave the ECHR.<\/p>\n BBC handout photo of shadow home secretary Chris Philp, appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Photograph: Jeff Overs\/BBC\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.50 EST<\/p>\n Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has made it across Millbank and is now in the chair with Laura Kuenssberg.<\/p>\n He immediately launches into why the Tories would be \u201cmuch tougher\u201d on illegal immigration than Labour and repeats that people should be deported within a week of arrival.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone\u2019s come here legally and gets asylum, they could of course apply for a work visa,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think providing people with temporary protection should be a permanent right to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n The only thing that will stop people getting on small boats is the knowledge they will be deported within a week, he says.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Asked about the chaos this week surrounding briefings against cabinet ministers and talk of replacing Keir Starmer as prime minister, the home secretary calls it \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the difficulties of these sorts of briefings is that is is very difficult to find out exactly who was responsible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I hope that the individuals who were responsible \u2013 who are now feeling the abject humiliation of what has happened \u2013 that the humiliation will serve as a reminder that they should not indulge in a repeat performance.\u201d<\/p>\n She says Starmer has made it clear that is was not acceptable.<\/p>\n Mahmood says she will not engage in hypothetical questions about a future run as Labour leader and also refuses to suggest what Starmer should say to US president Donald Trump over the BBC.<\/p>\n \u201cThe BBC needs to get its own house in order but its an institution that we absolutely support,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Home secretary: ‘Illegal migration is tearing our country apart’<\/p>\n Mahmood says she is the \u201cchild of migrants\u201d and rejects that dealing with illegal migration is engaging with far-right talking points.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a moral mission for me because I can see that illegal migration is tearing our country apart,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is dividing communities, people can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away with it.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not willing to stand by a pretend there isn\u2019t a problem, when I know there is one, and then suggest that any solution to that cannot work because I believe they can.\u201d<\/p>\n She says she knows she has to persuade people across the country, and in parliament, that the government\u2019s reforms can work in this area.<\/p>\n