Labour MP says Starmer’s ‘island of strangers’ warning over immigration mimics scaremongering of far right – UK politics live

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Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said that 600 people arrived on England today on small boats, adding “perhaps the odd Iranian terrorist among them”. This prompted protests from MPs to who challenged Farage to provide evidence. Farage went on, saying Cooper should accept that the plan to smash the smuggling gangs had been a “complete and total failure”.

Cooper said Farage’s Reform UK party voted against the government’s plans to give the authorities new powers to smash these gangs.

John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor who is currently suspended from the parliamentary party over a policy rebellion, criticised Keir Starmer for using “the language of Enoch Powell” today. (See 3.58pm.) He said this was “shockingly divisive”.

Cooper said Starmer was making a point about integration, and the need for migrants to be able to speak English.

Later the Labour MP Cat Smith said some of her constituents had been upset by Starmer’s “island of strangers'” comment.

Andrew Murrison (Con) asks about the fair pay agreement for carers promised by the government. Ministers says this will help make care a more attractive option for British workers. He asks if councils will have to get the money to pay carers more from council tax payers, or whether central government will help.

Cooper says the 32% increase in the immigration skills charge will help fund skills and training in the UK.

James Cleverly says when he was home secretary, he announced changes that would cut immigration by 300,000. Labour’s will only cut immigration by 100,000, he says. (See 10.09am.) So he asks Yvette Cooper to admit that her policies are only a third as effective as his.

“Nice try,” Cooper says in response. She says Cleverly was in the cabinet that allowed immigration to soar in the first place.

Cooper declines to say if doubling of earned settlement qualification time will apply to migrants in UK, or just new arrivals

The Labour MP Florence Eshalomi, who represents Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, said she was proud to live in a diverse and vibrant community.

But she said migrants living in her constituency have been in touch today to asks if the decision to extend the amount if time people have to wait until they can get earned settlement and citizenship (see 3.15pm) would cover people already in the UK, or just new arrivals.

Cooper would not say. She just said further details of this plan would be set out later this year, and she said “there will be plenty of opportunity for people to comment on and consider the detail”.

Philp ended his speech by urging the government to back Tory proposals to have an annual cap in immigration, and to exclude immigration cases from the Human Rights Act.

In response, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said she missed the bit in Philp’s speech where he apologised for the Tories’s record.

(Of course, there was no apology in Philp’s speech.)

Philp claims the immigration white paper is not honest.

He says it starts with Keir Starmer in the foreword saying visa applications are down 40% since the election. But Starmer does not acknowledge that this is a result of Tory policies, he says.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, is responding to Cooper.

He starts by saying he does not think Keir Starmer is genuinely committed to reducing immigration.

And he references some of the Starmer proposals in this letter (from 2020), that the Tory MP Nick Timothy reposted earlier today.

Cooper is wrapping up now.

She says Britain has been strengthened by immigration.

But he says it needs to be controlled.

On article 8 (see 4.55pm), Cooper says the government will set out new guidelines “to prevent conclusion or perverse conclusions”.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is delivering her statement on the immigration white paper.

She starts by repeating the claim that the last government was running “a free market experiment on immigration”.

And she is now summing up some of the measures in the white paper. (See 10.24am.)

Ministers reprimanded by Speaker for announcing details of immigration white paper before they were announced to MPs

Caroline Nokes, the Commons deputy speaker, reprimanded the government before the start of the immigration white paper statement for releasing details of it to the media before announcing it in parliament.

She said the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, could not understand why the government kept ignoring rules saying announcements must be made to MPs first. Those rules are no longer being respected, she said. She said Hoyle could be considering what could be done to “regularise the situation”.

Labour MP Clive Lews says watering down article 8 weakens protections 'for all of us'

The immigration white paper says the government will legislate to clarify the circumstances in which people can use article 8 of the European convention on human rights (the right to a family life) to secure the right to stay in the UK when otherwise they would have to leave. The document does not explain in detail how the legislation would work, but it says it would “clarify article 8 rules and set out how they should apply in different immigration routes so that fewer cases are treated as ‘exceptional’, and set out when and how a person can genuinely make a claim on the basis of exceptional circumstances”.

The Labour MP Clive Lewis says that could weaken protections for everyone. He has posted these on social media.

Article 8 is a check on state power. A check on authoritarianism.

It’s a right the state can only override if it acts lawfully, necessarily, and proportionately.

Weakening it for migration cases is a Trojan horse - weakening protections for all of us. 1/2

Article 8 is the right UK citizens use to:

– Challenge the state when their children are taken into care

– Stop intrusive surveillance/unlawful data grabs

– Protect their homes from arbitrary searches

– Keep contact with loved ones in prison

– Defend the right to a private and family life

Water it down for “them” today, and it won’t be there for you tomorrow.