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‘Open season’ for small boats after Rwanda killed, warns former immigration chief
![Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, walks up the staircase of 10 Downing Street](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2024/07/06/TELEMMGLPICT000384642094_17202751985510_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to scrap the Rwanda plan will lead to “open season” for small boats crossings, a former Border Force chief has said.
Kevin Saunders, who was Chief Immigration Officer covering Calais and Dunkirk, told Times Radio: “The trouble is he [Sir Keir Starmer] is being very negative about Rwanda. Well, that’s fine. He’s bound to be.
“But we don’t have anything from him about how they’re going to stop the boats. It’s going to be open season.”
Mr Saunders also claimed that migrants in camps in northern France were worried about Rwanda scheme and believed that a Labour government would be better for their immigration chances.
“There’s been a lot of unease in the camps in northern France about the Rwanda scheme. They were very, very worried,” Mr Saunders said.
“Now, of course, we’re seeing that the Kurds over in northern France have come up with a name for Kier, which I think means ‘the friendly one’, because they all believe that he’s going to be very good for illegal migration,” he added.
Mr Saunders estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 people could make a small boats crossing this year.
According to Home Office data, the highest annual small boats crossings to date was 45,774 in 2022.
Nigel Farage on Saturday criticised Labour plans to tackle illegal migration.
“What Keir Starmer is proposing, which is, tackle the gangs, well, frankly, you know, the last Government were doing that for the last few years, it’s not going to work,” the Reform UK leader said.
In his first press conference as Prime Minister on Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer said the Rwanda plan was “dead and buried”.
Labour has said it will prioritise strong border security, promising to tackle the problem at root by “smashing” organised trafficking gangs.
The party has pledged to launch a new Border Security Command with counter-terror powers and hundreds of specialist investigators.
It also said it would set up a 1,000 strong Returns and Enforcement Unit to ensure the removal of failed asylum seekers.
Today’s live coverage has ended.
Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the day’s events:
- Sir Keir Starmer said the Government needed to be “bold” in pushing power out of Westminster as he announced meetings with regional metro mayors.
- Nigel Farage said he would provide the “real” opposition in the country.
- Sir Keir Starmer said that the Rwanda plan was “dead and buried”.
- The Labour leader gave his first press conference as Prime Minister.
- The new Cabinet held its first meeting.
Lib Dems win final general election seat
The Liberal Democrats have won the final seat in the general election, taking Inverness Skye and West Ross-shire from the SNP.
The outcome had been expected early on Friday morning before candidates were told votes would need to be counted again on Saturday.
A discrepancy between the verified votes total and the provisional number of counted votes was the cause of the delay, Derek Brown, the returning officer, said.
Stuart Andrew announced as interim Tory chief whip
Stuart Andrew, the former sports minister, has been appointed as the interim Tory chief whip.
The Conservatives said the move would allow them to hold the Labour Government to account immediately.
Mr Andrew said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as Opposition chief whip.
“I know there will be much frustration within the party about the disappointing election results we saw this week. Our focus now more than ever must be to come together as a united party.
“We will be ready and willing to provide the strong and effective Opposition to the Government that the British public deserves.”
David Lammy heads to Germany on first official visit
David Lammy is heading to Germany on his first official visit as foreign secretary, a day after being appointed by Sir Keir Starmer.
According to the BBC, Mr Lammy will meet his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Berlin on Saturday evening before travelling to Poland and Sweden on Sunday.
It is understood that the Foreign Secretary will discuss Nato cooperation and the war in Ukraine.
Wes Streeting vows to ‘work constructively’ with devolved administrations
Wes Streeting, the new Health Secretary, has said he will work closely with the devolved administrations.
In a post on X, Mr Streeting said: “Following this morning’s Cabinet meeting, I held calls with Health Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and @jackiebmsp [Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie].
“A Labour government in Westminster will be a rising tide that lifts all ships and we’ll work constructively with devolved administrations.”
Starmer to be ‘bold’ in giving Whitehall powers to Labour-dominated metro mayors
At his first press conference as Prime Minister earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said the Government needed to be “bold” about giving Whitehall powers to metro mayors.
Sir Keir said: “The principle I operate to is those with skin in the game know what’s best for their communities.
“And that does require us to be bold about pushing power and resource out of Whitehall.
“And therefore when I return from the four nations, I will hold a meeting of the metro mayors to discuss with them their part in delivering the growth that we need across the United Kingdom.”
He said this would include non-Labour mayors because “regardless of the colour of their rosette, my door is open and my Government will work with them”.
Only one of the UK’s metro mayors is not a Labour politician: Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor.
Farage: I will provide real opposition in the country
Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has said that he will provide “real” opposition to the Labour Government, both in and outside of Parliament.
Mr Farage said that Reform would “do what we can with five [MPs] in Parliament”, but added that “what I will do for certain is provide real opposition in the country”.
The MP for Clacton also hit out at Britain’s ‘first past the post’ voting system.
“Well, the fact that for every Reform MP there are 800,000 voters, and for every Labour MP there are 30,000 voters suggests something is very badly, fundamentally wrong,” he said.
He added: “We have five MPs, PR would have given us 97 MPs, but we are where we are.”
Pictured: Gillian Keegan begins fitness drive after losing seat
Gillian Keegan, the former education secretary, posted an image on social media of herself in sports gear. The caption read: “The fight back to fitness begins.”
Ms Keegan lost her seat in Chichester on July 4 to the Liberal Democrats’ Jess Brown-Fuller.
Ms Brown-Fuller won with 25,540 votes compared to Ms Keegan’s 13,368.
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Keir Starmer ‘does not have a plan’ to stop Channel migrants, says Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage has said that Sir Keir Starmer does not have a plan to deal with migrants crossing the English Channel.
Speaking from Wyldecrest Sports Country Club in Essex, Mr Farage said: “At the minute it’s wild and windy, but we do have some pretty strong first hand accounts that as soon as we get a calm spell, they’ll be crossing the English Channel in their thousands, and let’s face it, Keir Starmer does not have a plan to deal with it.”
Asked for his thoughts on the Prime Minister’s new Cabinet, the Reform UK leader said: “With a couple of exceptions, they are I think the most inexperienced people ever to have got into a British cabinet.”
I aim to build a mass movement for real change, says Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage has said he aims to “build a mass movement for real change leading up to the next sets of elections”.
The Reform UK leader said: “We will do what we can with five in Parliament, what I will do for certain is provide real opposition in the country.
“And my aim and ambition is to build a mass movement for real change, leading up to the next sets of elections.”
Asked if he had a preference for Conservative Party leader, Mr Farage said: “Honestly, I don’t think it matters who they pick as leader.
“This party is split down the middle, they call it a broad church, well, it’s a broad church with no common shared religion.”
Pictured: Nigel Farage goes for a pint with Reform’s latest MP
Nigel met James McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and Thurrock, at the Wyldecrest Sports Country Club in Essex.
Mr McMurdock was confirmed as Reform’s fifth MP on Friday evening following a recount in the constituency.
![Nigel Farage meets James McMurdock at the Wyldecrest Sports Country Club](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2024/07/06/TELEMMGLPICT000384630909_17202723151350_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Starmer refuses to make commitment to two child benefit cap
Sir Keir Starmer has said that he cannot make a commitment on the two child benefit cap.
He said: “I said some tough things in the campaign because I meant them. And I wasn’t going to do what others had done, which is to say sweet things on the way in only to do a press conference like this and say we can’t do any of that.”
Starmer declines to say he is happy with NHS chief
Asked whether he was happy with Amanda Pritchard, the NHS chief executive, the Prime Minister said: “This is not aimed at the chief executive of the NHS. It is a reflection on the failure of leadership of the last government.
“But it is a raw honesty about the state of the NHS because we will not fix it if we are not honest.
He says it will be tough to hear if you work in the NHS, because they have put a “huge amount in, in difficult circumstances”.
“Our job now is not just to say who broke it - the last government - but to get on and start to fix it.”
Starmer: Prisons are ‘broken’
More from the Prime Minister on prisons:
Sir Keir said: “We’ve got too many prisoners, not enough prisons.
“That’s a monumental failure of the last government on any basic view of government to get to a situation where you haven’t got enough prison places for prisoners, doesn’t matter what your political stripe, that is a failure of government.
“It’s a failure of government to instruct the police not to arrest. This has not had enough attention, in my view, but it’s what happened.
“We will fix that, but we can’t fix it overnight and therefore it is impossible to simply say we will stop the early release of prisoners and you wouldn’t believe me if I did say it.”
The Prime Minister said earlier in the press briefing that prisons were “broken”.
Starmer declines to say if he agrees that ‘only a third of inmates should actually be in jail’
The Prime Minister was asked if he agreed with the James Timpson, the Prisons Minister, who has said that “only a third of inmates should actually be in jail”.
He replied: “The Prisons Minister has huge experience here and has invested a huge amount over many years in relation to prisons.
“We need to get away from the fact that for so many people who come out of prison they’re back in prison relatively quickly afterwords. That is a massive problem that we have in this country.”
Starmer says he has not yet moved into No 10
Sir Keir Starmer has said that he and his family have not yet moved into Number 10 Downing Street, saying they will “soon”.
The Prime Minister was asked during his first press conference if he had yet unpacked his things at the official residence.
“We’re not unpacked quite yet,” the prime minister said. “But we will be soon and we’ll be moving in soon.”
Sir Keir said there was a “bit of work to do before then” citing his trip to Washington for the NATO summit on Tuesday.
We will commit to compensating infected blood scandal victims, says Starmer
More answers from Starmer now in response to reporters’ questions:
The Government will commit to compensating the victims of the infected blood scandal, Sir Keir said.
The Prime Minister however declined to set a concrete date for achieving the 2.5% defence spending target.
Starmer takes questions from reporters
The Prime Minister is now taking questions from reporters.
When asked to name one concrete change that would happen within the first 100 days of his government, Sir Keir Starmer said that the Labour Party will govern according to the principle of “country first, party second”.
“This is a change that has already happened,” he added.
“We’re a government of service for people that voted for us or not.”
Starmer begins first press conference as PM
Sir Keir Starmer has begun his first press conference as Prime Minister.
“We’re a changed Labour Party, and yesterday we started the work of changing the country,” he began.
“It’s a mandate not just to govern, although it is certainly that, but it is a mandate that has put trust in us,” he added.
Tackling sewage and nature crises will take years, says new Environment Secretary
Steve Reed, the new Secretary of State For Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has said tackling sewage and nature crises “will take years”.
“There is no sugar-coating it: we face a crisis point,” Mr Reed said.
“Record levels of sewage in our rivers, lakes and seas. Nature is dying. Confidence amongst farmers at the lowest on record,” he added.
The eight seats that show how divided Britain is
Ben Butcher, our Data Editor, has crunched the numbers and identified the electoral fault lines that the new Labour Government will have to reckon with.
These are the seats that tell the story of Labour’s successes, the potential legitimacy crisis facing the party and how the Tories just held off total humiliation.
You can read the full story here.
Pictured: Ministers arrive at Downing Street for the first Cabinet meeting
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‘Now we get on with our work’, says Starmer
Speaking to his ministers around the Cabinet table, Sir Keir Starmer said: “Look colleagues, it is absolutely fantastic to welcome you to the Cabinet, our first meeting.
“And it was the honour and privilege of my life to be invited by the King, His Majesty the King yesterday to form a government and to form the Labour Government of 2024.
“And now we hold our first Cabinet meeting. So I welcome you to it.
“We have a huge amount of work to do, so now we get on with our work.”
His introduction was met with applause.
Watch: Suella Braverman says ‘no announcements’ on Tory leadership race
Suella Braverman is expected to run for leadership of the Conservative Party and was asked about a potential bid by reporters outside her home on Saturday.
Rishi Sunak has said he would quit as Tory leader once formal arrangements were in place to select his successor.
Jeremy Hunt rules out Tory leadership bid
Jeremy Hunt is understood to have ruled himself out of a run for leadership of the Conservative Party.
The former chancellor has twice run for Tory leadership, firstly in 2019 and then again in 2022.
It comes as speculation begins as to who will take over from Rishi Sunak, who has said he would step down as soon as formal arrangements to select his successor were in place.
Earlier, Suella Braverman — who is expected to throw her hat in the ring — said there were “no announcements” to be made.
Braverman: ‘No announcements’ on Tory leadership race
The former home secretary is expected to throw her hat into the ring in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak, who said he would quit as leader once formal arrangements were in place to select his successor.
Asked whether she would be the next Tory leader, Ms Braverman told broadcasters outside her home on Saturday: “No announcements. We’ve just got to take our time, we’ve got to figure out what the situation is.”
She continued: “It’s been a really bad result. There’s no two ways about it. Hundreds of excellent Tory MPs have been kicked out of office.”
She went on to criticise Sir Keir Starmer for planning to axe the Rwanda deportation scheme, saying: “Years of hard work, acts of Parliament, millions of pounds been spent on a scheme which had it been delivered properly would have worked.
“But there are big problems on the horizon which will be I’m afraid caused by Keir Starmer.”
Pictured: Steve Reed arrives
Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, arrives at Downing Street ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet meeting — and is greeted by GB News’ Christopher Hope.
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Miriam Cates: We lost votes to Reform, not Labour
Miriam Cates, the former Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, has said the Conservatives lost votes to Reform UK, not the Labour Party.
She went on to say that the most obvious Conservative failure was immigration, and that that was the topic that voters mentioned most often when she was canvassing.
“Our vote didn’t go to Labour. In fact, the vote for Labour went down since last time. There’s no great enthusiasm for Labour. But our voters were lost to Reform and then lots of Conservative voters staying at home,” Ms Cates said.
“Despite there being a Conservative government for the last 14 years, there has still been this long march of progressive ideology through our institutions that people are just not happy with,” she added.
Miriam Cates was seen as being on the Right of the Tory party and lost her seat, which she had held since 2019, to Labour’s Marie Tidball at the general election on July 4.
Next Tory leader should be ‘centre-Right’, Sir Malcom Rifkind says
Sir Malcolm Rifkind has said the Conservative Party’s next leader should be “centre-Right”.
Speaking to Sky News, the former foreign secretary said the party needs to remember its heritage on the centre-Right and choose a leader who would lead from the “centre-Right” and not from either the Right or the centre.
He went on to say that party members should have less power in choosing the leader.
Sir Malcolm said giving members more power causes issues, as MPs often then do not support the person in charge.
Sir Keir Starmer will ‘steal all our money and spend it stupidly’, says Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson has hit out at the new Labour government in his column for The Sun newspaper.
On Sir Keir Starmer, the former Top Gear presenter wrote: “Yes, he will ruin this little rock in the North Atlantic and he will steal all our money and spend it stupidly.
“And he’ll do nothing to try to stop the boats and he will allow such rampant wokery in the workplace that every employer will up sticks and move to somewhere more sensible. Like North Korea. Or Rockall.
“But hey. It’s not like he’s going to be around for long. Five years? Maybe less. Which in geological time isn’t even measurable. Then we can put everything back together again and pretend he never happened.”
Pictured: Moving day at No 10
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Lib Dems: We benefited from dissatisfaction with Tories
The Liberal Democrats have admitted that they benefitted from the public’s dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party at the general election.
Munira Wilson, the MP for Twickenham, said: “We were very clear that after the previous Conservative government, which was frankly full of chaos and incompetence and had broken the trust of the British people ... we made it very clear to voters that if they wanted to turf out the Tories they had to vote Liberal Democrat and they did.
“So obviously in every election it’s a combination of the two, but I am also confident that our messages around cost-of-living, sewage, health and care did really resonate with voters.”
The party won 71 seats at the election and hopes to increase this to 72 after the recount in the final constituency to declare - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire.
Starmer to hold first press conference
Sir Keir Starmer will hold his first press conference as Prime Minister later today.
As reported by the BBC, Sir Keir will take questions from the nation’s media on his first full day in Downing Street.
It comes as part of an attempt to signify a change of style and place an emphasis on accountability in the first part of his tenure.
A new dawn breaks
Sir Keir Starmer is about to hold the first meeting of his Cabinet this morning.
The Prime Minister appointed his top team last night, with Angela Rayner becoming Deputy Prime Minister, Rachel Reeves the first female Chancellor, and David Lammy made Foreign Secretary.
Sir Keir spoke regularly about the importance of “delivery” during the election campaign and told the nation on Friday his “urgent” work to change Britain would start immediately.
Starmer expected to hold cabinet meeting
Keir Starmer is expected to hold the first meeting of his new Cabinet as he looks to start working on Labour’s manifesto pledges and preparing for a Nato summit next week today.
On Friday, the Prime Minister confirmed Rachel Reeves as Britain’s first woman chancellor, Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary and David Lammy as Foreign Secretary.
Angela Rayner officially became his Deputy Prime Minister and retained the levelling up, housing and communities brief.