Three crucial questions for Rishi Sunak today
Welcome to Wednesday’s Early Edition from i.
Of all the days of the week, Wednesday is perhaps the most fraught for a Prime Minister The tradition of PMQs means the serving leader is more likely to feel the heat from MPs armed with difficult questions, than spending it bathing in glory. Rishi Sunak does have some ammunition under his belt before the session kicks off today, with Monday’s defeat of the amendments on his Rwanda bill. It’s possible that inflation figures out this morning may give him a boost too. But his biggest test today may come later in the day, first when he addresses his own MPs, and later when his Rwanda Bill goes back to the House of Lords. We’ll look at the big questions he faces today, after the headlines.
Today’s news, and why it matters
Asylum seekers say delays to the Rwanda deportation plan have “destroyed” them mentally as a showdown looms between the Lords and the government over its flagship migration policy. Migrants waiting months for asylum claims to be decided say they’re left in limbo while legal and political battles rage over the controversial scheme.
Anti-pollution campaigners have accused Scotland’s environmental regulator of failing to act on complaints – including one river which they say has seen “frightening” sewage spills. Anger over the wet wipes and toilet waste clogging up sites along the River Almond in West Lothian comes as new figures shared with i reveal the scale of public alarm about sewage.
New Labour did not do enough to help normal workers or control businesses, Rachel Reeves suggested as she set out her vision for Britain’s economy. The shadow Chancellor also claimed that a failure to boost growth in the UK would help the far right and left if “mainstream politics cannot offer the answers to our predicament”.
How Ted Baker fell apart, leaving hundreds facing redundancy. Owners call in insolvency experts after warning fashion firm’s debts ‘too much to overcome’ as latest UK chain collapses.
An investigation has reportedly been launched at The London Clinic over claims staff tried to access the Princess of Wales’s private medical records. At least one member of staff tried to access Kate’s notes while she was a patient at the private hospital in central London in January, The Mirror reported.
Three Damien Hirst sculptures that were made by preserving animals in formaldehyde were dated by his company to the 1990s even though they were made in 2017, an investigation by the Guardian has found.
Three tests the PM faces today:
- The latest showdown on Rwanda: While Monday’s vote in the Commons looked like an early victory for Mr Sunak over his policy, it is only just the beginning of the ‘ping pong’ between the two houses of parliament. Later today, a crunch vote on the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which declares the nation a safe country, will take place in the House of Lords. Labour has already vowed to change it, and now i understands that Bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, are set to join Labour and other crossbenchers in continuing their confrontation with the Government. Meanwhile the Government has taken the rare step of putting Conservative Lords on a three-line whip, and is expected to call in peers who rarely attend debates in an attempt to override opposition. The Government has suggested that if it loses in the Lords again on Wednesday night, it will have to delay the bill beyond the Easter parliamentary recess, which could hold up deportation flights until June. Read the full story here.
- Face-to-face meeting with possible mutineers: The PM is expected to appear before the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, as is tradition before the end of the parliamentary term. This afternoon, Tory MPs will crowd into a committee room to listen to the PM in a behind-closed-doors appearance. The meeting may be an awkward one for Mr Sunak, at a time when reports about rebels plotting to oust him have intensified. Earlier in the week it was Penny Mordaunt who was being touted as a possible moderate replacement, but the latest rumour, in the Telegraph, is that security minister Tom Tugendhat could be a “unity candidate”. The paper cited one Tory who said discussions had taken place in the last few days: “At a meeting of about a dozen Tory MPs, they spoke openly about how to remove Rishi. Penny remains the most likely unity candidate, but Tom Tugendhat is also openly being talked about.” The paper also has a fresh poll showing that Tory voters narrowly think Mr Sunak should lead the party into the general election, with 45% supporting him and 37% wanting a change.
- The Tory donor row: Last week’s PMQs was dominated by anger over allegations that the Tory party’s top donor, businessman Frank Hester, had said Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. Mr Sunak resisted calls to hand back the £10m, saying: “The alleged comments were wrong, they were racist, he has rightly apologised for them and that remorse should be accepted.” Since then it has emerged that the party are reportedly “sitting on” an additional £5m donation, which would take the total to £15m. Yesterday, it was revealed that prominent campaigners had written a letter to the PM demanding action on racism. According to the Independent, a letter signed by Lord Simon Woolley, Operation Black Vote, the Runnymede Trust, the Black Equity Organisation, the Muslim Council Of Britain and Black church groups, urged the PM to take “immediate and tangible steps” to address pervasive racism within government and around the country, including the issuing of a clear statement that the Conservative Party is committed to taking a stand against racism. Will the issue crop up again today? And will Diane Abbott be allowed to speak this time?
Around the world
After decades of gang violence and instability – how the world can help Haiti. It should be a prime tourist destination, yet it is among the world’s poorest countries and frequently experiences seismic upheavals, writes Professor Rosa Freedman.
Donald Trump has reiterated that the US would only help protect Nato members from a future attack by Russia under his leadership if they meet the alliance’s spending requirements. The Republican presidential candidate said “the US was paying 90 per cent of Nato” and claimed that other members of the coalition were taking advantage financially, during an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News.
Australia’s government has backed its ambassador to Washington, the former prime minister Kevin Rudd, after Donald Trump called the diplomat “a little bit nasty”. Nigel Farage told Trump that the former PM had “said the most horrible things” about him, including calling him a “destructive president”. Trump responded: “He won’t be there long if that’s the case.
Scientists say they have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells, using Nobel Prize-winning gene-editing technology. The hope is to ultimately be able to rid the body entirely of the virus, although much more work is needed to check it would be safe and effective.
A small stone vial discovered in southeastern Iran contained a red cosmetic that may have been used as lip colouring nearly 4,000 years ago, according to archaeologists. It is “probably the earliest” example of lipstick to be scientifically documented, the researchers said.
Watch out for…
inflation, which is expected to fall to a fresh low of nearly two and a half years
Thoughts for the day
Lloyds Bank’s ‘inclusive language’ guide veers to wilder extremes of woke. Staff have been told the term ‘widow’ should be avoided,
writes Simon Kelner.
The real problem with private members’ clubs. I applied for one but they didn’t want me. Good, reveals Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
Kate is another royal woman imprisoned in our gaze. No princess in British history has been safe from aggressive questioning about her body, says Kate Maltby.
Culture Break
Palm Royale review: Even Kristen Wiig and Laura Dern can’t save Apple TV+’s comedy. Apple TV+’s latest comedy takes aim at the liberal elite, but fails to practice what it preaches, writes Rachael Sigee.
The Big Read
The efforts to convict Donald Trump before the US election are going very wrong. A series of blows to prosecutors and Joe Biden’s Justice Department suggest the race to try Trump before election day is going pear-shaped, reports Michael Day.
Sport
Forest’s four-point penalty must serve as a wake-up call for the club’s owners. For all Forest’s transfer activity, how much better has it really made them, asks Daniel Storey.
Something to brighten your day
I learned 9 ways to feel more joy from a professor of happiness – they worked. As we grow up we can lose our childhood glee. Professor Bruce Hood, who has created a Science of Happiness course, shows Kasia Delgado some simple ways we can get it back.
