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Cleverly says Starmer has a 'disconnect from reality' over housing asylum seekers
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Newly-appointed shadow housing secretary James Cleverly has criticised the prime minister for a “disconnect from reality” when it comes to housing asylum seekers.
The Tory MP and former home secretary said asylum hotels are being reopened and that more asylum seekers are likely to be sent to an accommodation centre in his own constituency of Braintree.
“The government has lost control,” he told LBC.
“And to add insult to injury, we saw the prime minister at the Liaison Committee just this week blithely saying, oh, there are plenty of houses for asylum seekers, when there are people all over the country struggling to get on the housing ladder, and that complete disconnect from reality, I think, is driving a lot of frustrations.
“There is never an excuse for rioting, and I’ll make that absolutely clear, but the government really is making a difficult situation significantly worse.”
He said that people who live close to facilities housing asylum seekers are “typically well behaved” but that there are “agitators, both of the left and the right, imposing themselves on local communities to try and play out a political agenda, and local people are caught in the crossfire”.
The government should be seen to be “on the side of the people who play by the rules, rather than on the side of the people who abuse the system, jump the queue and try and exploit our hospitality,” he said.
In other news:
Angela Rayner urged the government to acknowledge people’s “real concerns” and flagged high levels of deprivation where the worst riots erupted last summer nearly a year on from the disorder. The deputy prime minister told Cabinet colleagues that immigration and increasing time spent online are having a “profound impact on society”.
Edward Argar has stepped down as shadow health secretary, which he said was on the advice of his doctors after a “health scare” earlier this summer. He will be replaced by Stuart Andrew, a former minister who has been shadow culture minister.
Kevin Hollinrake, who had been shadow housing and communities secretary, will become party chair. He takes over from Nigel Huddleston, who will be the new shadow culture secretary.
Conservative Senedd member Laura Anne Jones has joined Reform UK, becoming the party’s first Member of the Senedd (MS).
The UK government borrowed more than expected in June amid speculation the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will need to raise taxes at the autumn budget to repair the public finances. Figures from the Office for Statistics (ONS) showed public sector net borrowing rose to £20.7bn, up by £6.6bn from the same month a year earlier to reach the second-highest June borrowing figure since monthly records began in 1993.
Artificial intelligence technology will be trialled to assess disputed ages of asylum seekers who say they are children, the Home Office has said. Ministers hope to roll out facial age estimation for migrants arriving by small boats and lorries over 2026, subject to further testing of the technology to go ahead this year.
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Closing summary
Newly-appointed shadow housing secretary James Cleverly has criticised the prime minister for a “disconnect from reality” when it comes to housing asylum seekers. The Tory MP and former home secretary said asylum hotels are being reopened and that more asylum seekers are likely to be sent to an accommodation centre in his own constituency of Braintree.
Essex police have denied claims officers “bussed” counter-demonstrators to a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping last week. The claims have promoted a call from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for the force’s chief constable to resign. Clacton MP Farage earlier posted a video on X, saying: “This video proves EssexPoliceUK transported left-wing protesters to The Bell hotel in Epping. There is no way Chief Constable BJ Harrington can stay in position.”
A record number of police officers were sacked from forces in England and Wales in the past year, new figures show. Latest Home Office data reveals 426 officers were dismissed or had their contracts terminated in the 12 months to March. This is up 17% year on year from the previous record of 365 and more than double the number fired at the start of the decade, when 164 officers were dismissed in 2019/20.
Kemi Badenoch blamed Labour for the strains on social cohesion highlighted by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner. The Conservative leader said: “I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to actually understand what is going on.” Speaking in north-west London she said Hillingdon Council had a £17 million deficit because it has had asylum seekers “dumped on their doorstep”.
Charities have warned of the increasing danger to asylum seekers posed by far-right protesters after small boat arrivals were moved from their usual landing place in Dover to further along the coast to avoid clashes. The Guardian understands that Home Office officials received intelligence that some of those participating in what was billed the Great British Protest in Dover on Saturday afternoon could have been planning to target Kent Intake Unit, where small boat arrivals are initially processed after being escorted to shore in Dover by the Border Force.
Reform UK councillors have been accused of hypocrisy after voting to spend £150,000 on hiring political advisers at a county council despite pledging to cut waste and save money. The plans were put forward by Reform councillor George Finch, a 19-year-old who was narrowly elected as the leader of Warwickshire county council during a meeting on Tuesday, which was picketed by protesters.
Labour’s deep aid cuts will hit children’s education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according to the government’s own impact assessment. Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence.
A scheme backed by the Scottish and UK governments will offer advice and training to oil and gas workers looking to move into green energy. The pilot will help about 200 current or former workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire with support and funding for training courses, in a move energy minister Michael Shanks said would “help deliver a fair and prosperous transition”.
The UK competition watchdog has said that it intends to take action to open up Apple and Google’s mobile platforms to more competition to benefit consumers, businesses and app developers. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has designated the tech companies as having “strategic market status” – as they hold an effective duopoly for access on mobile devices – and now intends to force Google and Apple to make changes to their mobile platforms.
The defence secretary has signed an agreement paving the way for the export of Typhoon fighter jets to Turkey. John Healey and Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler signed a memorandum of understanding at the Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul.
The children’s writer Michael Rosen, one-time political strategist Alastair Campbell and former education secretaries Charles Clarke and Estelle Morris have urged the prime minister to honour his pre-election pledge to embed speaking skills in England’s schools. They are among 60 signatories to an open letter to Keir Starmer, calling on him to establish oracy as a core part of Labour’s revised national curriculum and make it the fourth ‘R’ in education, alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is visiting London to sign a landmark free trade agreement between his country and the UK, a pact viewed as a political and economic prize amid global trade tensions unleashed by the US president, Donald Trump. For Britain, eager to score a post-Brexit win, the deal is its most economically significant trade agreement since leaving the EU. For India, it marks its first major free trade pact outside Asia. For both, analysts say, the agreement signals a long-term economic partnership.
Campaigners have called for Keir Starmer to tell parliament whether US nuclear weapons have returned to British soil after a distinctive US air force transport flight was spotted landing at RAF Lakenheath on Friday morning. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and several experts believe that it is highly likely that a number of US B61-12 gravity bombs were delivered to a US air force squadron last week, the first US nuclear deployment in the UK since 2008.
One of television’s most prominent directors has accused the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, of attempting to “bully the BBC” over its coverage of Gaza, following her repeated attacks on its director general, Tim Davie. Peter Kosminsky, the writer and director of the BBC drama Wolf Hall, claimed the government was acting like a “tinpot dictatorship” in heaping political pressure on Davie.
Len McCluskey, the former head of Unite, accepted private jet flights and football tickets arranged by the company building a multimillion pound hotel for the union, according to an internal dossier. The Flanagan Group, which is run by friends of McCluskey, overcharged Unite by at least £30m for the Birmingham hotel and conference centre project, the interim report said.
Essex Police have made 10 arrests following a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping last week.
Giving an update to the media in Chelmsford, chief constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: “I want to thank the people of Epping, I want to thank the people of Essex.
“I also want to thank all those who have turned up to protest and express their views peacefully and lawfully, because there have been many of those.
“What has been unacceptable has been the people who have come to Epping and committed violence, who have attacked people who work at the hotel, who have attacked officers, who have damaged property and who have caused fear and disruption to the people of Epping.
“That is not tolerable, it will not be tolerated, and to that end, we have made 10 arrests.”
Keir Starmer spoke to Turkish president Recep Tayipp Erdogan on Tuesday evening and the two leaders looked ahead to the multibillion-pound export deal being signed.
The Prime Minister said the deal would “keep us safer during uncertain times” once fully finalised, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
More than a third of each aircraft will be manufactured in the UK, with final assembly taking place at the BAE Systems site in Lancashire.
The Typhoon jet programme is a partnership with Germany, Spain and Italy.
A scheme backed by the Scottish and UK governments will offer advice and training to oil and gas workers looking to move into green energy.
The pilot will help about 200 current or former workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire with support and funding for training courses, in a move energy minister Michael Shanks said would “help deliver a fair and prosperous transition”.
Both governments have pinpointed the north east as being crucial to the planned transition away from fossil fuels, with £900,000 made available for the first raft of applicants.
But the Scottish Tories criticised the plans as “frankly embarrassing”, claiming the funding was not enough.
“Aberdeen has been the energy capital of Britain for decades and while oil and gas will be with us for decades to come, we are determined to make sure that workers are supported to access the thousands of jobs in industries such as offshore wind and carbon capture,” the energy minister said.
“This funding will help deliver a fair and prosperous transition in the North Sea, unlocking the full potential of renewable energy and reaping the economic benefits from the skills and experiences of Aberdeen’s workforce.”
Essex police have denied claims officers “bussed” counter-demonstrators to a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping last week.
The claims have promoted a call from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for the force’s chief constable to resign.
Clacton MP Farage earlier posted a video on X, saying: “This video proves EssexPoliceUK transported left-wing protesters to The Bell hotel in Epping. There is no way Chief Constable BJ Harrington can stay in position.”
But Essex police then issued a statement saying: “There are claims on social media that Essex police officers ‘bussed’ protesters to the protest outside the Bell Hotel on Thursday 17 July.
“This is categorically wrong.
“Officers did provide a foot cordon around protesters on their way to the protest, where they and others were allowed to exercise their right to protest.
“Later some people who were clearly at risk of being hurt were also escorted by vehicle away from the area for their safety.
“To reiterate, we categorically did not drive any counter protesters to the site on any occasion.”
Heather Stewart
Labour’s deep aid cuts will hit children’s education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according to the government’s own impact assessment.
Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published its “equality impact assessment” of the policy on Tuesday, as MPs prepared to leave Westminster for the summer recess.
Based on spending allocations for the current year, 2025-26, in which the first stage of the cuts has started to be implemented, the analysis paints a stark picture of the potential effects.
The government has prioritised spending through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank’s development arm, the Development Association (IDA), and the global vaccines initiative, Gavi. It has also continued to fund humanitarian support.
The impact assessment said these and other key decisions had “protected against disproportionate impacts on equalities”. However, it highlighted the fact that bilateral projects in a string of countries face cuts, including on education and health.
“In Africa, spending is reduced in women’s health, health systems strengthening, and health emergency response, eg in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia,” the impact assessment said.
A record number of police officers were sacked from forces in England and Wales in the past year, new figures show.
Latest Home Office data reveals 426 officers were dismissed or had their contracts terminated in the 12 months to March.
This is up 17% year on year from the previous record of 365 and more than double the number fired at the start of the decade, when 164 officers were dismissed in 2019/20.
The latest 12-month period also saw 4,806 officers voluntarily leaving policing: the second-highest number since records began in 2006 and down slightly from the peak of 5,151 in 2023/24.
The figures come as ministers have sought to tighten rules on standards to improve confidence in policing, while they have also faced warnings from forces that funding falls short to keep its existing workforce.
A total of 146,442 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers were in post at the end of March 2025, down almost 1% from 147,745 at the same point last year, which was the highest in modern times.
Last month, plans for an average 2.3% rise in police spending per year faced backlash from police leaders, who warned a projected £1.2 billion shortfall will continue to grow and leave forces facing further cuts.
Acting national chair of the Police Federation, Tiff Lynch, had said:
We will lose 10,000 experienced officers a year to resignation by the end of this spending review period, driven out by poor pay and unacceptable working conditions.
Mark Sweney
The UK competition watchdog has said that it intends to take action to open up Apple and Google’s mobile platforms to more competition to benefit consumers, businesses and app developers.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has designated the tech companies as having “strategic market status” – as they hold an effective duopoly for access on mobile devices – and now intends to force Google and Apple to make changes to their mobile platforms.
The regulator said that it has published “roadmaps” for each of the tech firms and that it will take a “proportionate, pro-innovation” approach to “promote competition in digital markets while protecting UK consumers and businesses from unfair or harmful practices”.
The CMA said that it will, in the first instance, focus on areas such as the tech companies’ app stores – which have been criticised by developers – to ensure a “fair and transparent” app review process, as well as making sure that smartphone users can “steer” away from app stores to make purchases.
Other areas of focus include addressing restrictions Apple imposes on digital wallets to ensure that competing financial technology companies can compete.
The UK competition watchdog announced its investigations into Apple and Google’s mobile platforms in January. The CMA investigation was launched days after the appointment of Doug Gurr, the former country manager of Amazon UK, as its new chair.
The government, which has pushed for a shake-up of regulation to help kickstart UK growth, was forced to deny it was “in the pocket of big tech” after the appointment.
The defence secretary has signed an agreement paving the way for the export of Typhoon fighter jets to Turkey.
John Healey and Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler signed a memorandum of understanding at the Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul.
It comes after the German government reportedly cleared the path for the delivery of 40 Typhoon Eurofighter jets to Turkey.
“Today’s agreement is a big step towards Turkiye buying UK Typhoon fighter jets,” Mr Healey said.
“It shows this government’s determination to secure new defence deals, building on our relationships abroad to deliver for British working people.
“Equipping Turkiye with Typhoons would strengthen Nato’s collective defence, and boost both our countries’ industrial bases by securing thousands of skilled jobs across the UK for years to come.”
More than a third of each aircraft will be manufactured in the UK, with final assembly taking place at the BAE Systems site in Lancashire.
Sally Weale
The children’s writer Michael Rosen, one-time political strategist Alastair Campbell and former education secretaries Charles Clarke and Estelle Morris have urged the prime minister to honour his pre-election pledge to embed speaking skills in England’s schools.
They are among 60 signatories to an open letter to Keir Starmer, calling on him to establish oracy as a core part of Labour’s revised national curriculum and make it the fourth ‘R’ in education, alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.
Supporters were delighted when Labour announced in 2023 that teaching oracy – often defined as developing skill in using spoken language – would be a central part of Labour’s educational priorities if it won the next election.
However, campaigners say it was not mentioned in the interim report of the government’s curriculum and assessment review earlier this year, leading to fears oracy may have slipped down the educational agenda. The full report is due later this year.
The letter, organised by Voice 21, the UK’s leading oracy education charity, said: “Two years ago you pledged that under your Labour government, every child would be supported to develop essential oracy skills – as part of the mission to ensure all young people are prepared for work and ready for life.
“We urge you to turn that promise into lasting change. In a world shaped by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, deepening social divides and persistent inequality, the skills of speaking, listening and communication have never been more urgently needed.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch played down the potential impact of the government’s efforts to crack down on migrants working illegally as delivery riders.
She said: “I think it’s barely scratching the surface of the problem. The real problem is that Keir Starmer has failed to stop the boats.
“He said he was going to smash the gangs. Nothing like that has happened. The problem is getting worse.
“Crossings are up well over 40% since Labour came into into government. He needs to deal with that.
“He had a third-country deterrent, which was the Rwanda plan. He decided to scrap it just as it was getting going. He needs to bring that plan back, right now he doesn’t have one.”
Reform councillors criticised after voting to spend £150,000 on political advisers
Ben Quinn
Reform UK councillors have been accused of hypocrisy after voting to spend £150,000 on hiring political advisers at a county council despite pledging to cut waste and save money.
The plans were put forward by Reform councillor George Finch, a 19-year-old who was narrowly elected as the leader of Warwickshire county council during a meeting on Tuesday, which was picketed by protesters.
The protest came after a row over an attempt by Finch, as interim leader, to have a Pride flag removed from council headquarters before the end of Pride month. The chief executive refused the request, telling him she was responsible for such decisions.
However, there was fresh controversy during a meeting of the council, one of several where Reform became the largest party in the recent local elections, as it narrowly pushed through plans to hire political advisers but lost a separate vote relating to the climate crisis.
Opposition councillors accused Reform of reneging on promises to voters over the political advisers, who would be publicly funded for it and the other two largest parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
Kemi Badenoch blamed Labour for the strains on social cohesion highlighted by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.
The Conservative leader said: “I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to actually understand what is going on.” Speaking in north-west London she said Hillingdon Council had a £17 million deficit because it has had asylum seekers “dumped on their doorstep”.
“Yvette Cooper is waving things through. Rachel Reeves is not providing the money. I’m not surprised. Angela Rayner is saying the social fabric is fraying, but she needs to do something about it.”
She said she was not worried about further riots on the streets this summer but “we need to be very, very vigilant”.
At Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting Rayner urged colleagues to acknowledge people’s “real concerns”, pointing out that immigration and increasing time spent online are having a “profound impact on society”.
She also cited economic insecurity, the rapid pace of deindustrialisation and declining trust in institutions as she gave an update on her work on social cohesion and a coming plan for neighbourhoods.
Kemi Badenoch has insisted she and her new shadow housing secretary James Cleverly are on the same page when it comes to net zero and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Conservative leader was asked by broadcasters whether Cleverly was signed up to her position on both.
Badenoch replied: “James and I have always had the same position on the ECHR, and that is that if we need to leave, then we should leave, but it’s not a silver bullet.
“That is why we have a commission on this very issue, which will be reporting at party conference.
“So I wouldn’t bring someone into the shadow cabinet if they didn’t agree with me.”
