Key events
BETA Filters
Key Events (3) Suella Braverman (5)
Braverman says it’s a reality that we can’t accept everyone who wants to come here.
“I don’t think any of us argue about that,” says Hamui.
Braverman says 100 million people are displaced worldwide. It is not possible for the UK to welcome everyone who wants to come here, she says. It’s “a shame,” she says. But there needs to be a limit.
Hamwee begins by asking about a refugee desperate to join relatives in the UK who is not eligible for any of the existing schemes. What’s someone like that to do?
Braverman says there are two routes from someone like this: the asylum family reunification route and the family immigration route.
Both schemes are under review. And the government also takes court decisions into account, she says.
There are different routes that are open to different types of family members.
Q: As a child refugee, this man struggled to get here. And as a refugee child, he could not sponsor his siblings.
Braverman says spouses and children under 18 can enter through the family route for asylum.
Updated at 10.15 GMT
The hearing begins. Suella Braverman gives evidence with Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office.
Lady Hamui, the Chair, began by saying that she expected the session to last until 12:00. Braverman says he has to go at 11.30am.
Suella Braverman gives evidence to the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee
The House of Commons has adjourned for the Christmas recess, but the House of Lords is still in session and its Justice and Home Affairs Committee is about to take evidence from Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary.
There is a live feed at the top of the page.
According to a news release from the commission, here are some of the questions that are likely to arise.
To clear the backlog of asylum applications, the Home Secretary recently announced that the Home Office will “streamline, digitize and simplify” application processing. What will this involve?
What progress has been made in building new reception facilities for asylum seekers?
How does the Home Secretary intend to prevent abuses of the Modern Slavery Act without reducing the protections the Act offers victims?
Many elderly parents of British citizens are not allowed to join their children in the UK due to immigration rules. How should visas for elderly dependent relatives be reformed to address this issue?
What ensures that the best interests of the child are fully and consistently considered as a “primary consideration” in all immigration matters affecting them?
What does the Home Secretary think about concerns that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and Bill of Rights could threaten UK-EU security cooperation?
Updated at 10.05 GMT
Scotland prepares to pass law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to change gender on birth certificate
Transgender 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland may soon be able to apply to change the gender on their birth certificate for the first time, as MSPs debate long into the night the Scottish Government’s controversial plans to change gender recognition laws, my report colleague Libby Brooks.
As my colleague Kevin Rawlinson reports in his blog on ambulance strikes, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has defended the provocative language he used in his Telegraph article this morning. (See 9.19am) When told his comments would damage relations, he told BBC Breakfast:
No, it reflects the very different action we’ve seen from these unions – GMB, Unite and Unison – compared to what we’ve seen from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) where we’ve agreed national exemptions to what would were covered by the RCN, while the three unions on strike today have refused to work with us nationally.
But Rachel Harrison, national officer of the GMB, said Barclay’s language was offensive. She told the BBC:
It’s really insulting that the Secretary of State said that. They have not taken the decision to take strike action lightly. They feel they have been forced into this position because year after year the government has failed to listen to them.
Steve Barclay claims health unions have made a ‘conscious choice to harm patients’ with strikes
Good morning. With ambulance staff on strike in England and Wales today, we have reached possibly the most dangerous day of the month of shutdown so far, due to the risk to patients if emergency care is not available. Strikes always give rise to a furious blame game, and overnight it intensified due to an article Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wrote for the Daily Telegraph.
Barclay accused health unions of making contingency planning for the strike “almost impossible” and putting people’s lives at risk as a result. He says:
On Tuesday I met with representatives of the three unions. They promised that any ambulance trust whose members were on strike would have enough cover to meet the most serious emergencies. Yet even on the eve of release, the covers were changing and the national picture was not clear. This has made emergency planning, including the deployment of military personnel to be behind the wheels of ambulances on our streets, almost impossible.
We now know that NHS emergency plans will not cover all 999 calls. Ambulance unions have made a conscious choice to harm patients.
Christina Makanea, general secretary of Unison, which represents some of the striking ambulance staff, said this morning she was “absolutely shocked” by Barclay’s claims. She says Barclay himself admitted yesterday that NHS officials had agreed detailed, appropriate plans for their areas.
I am completely shocked by the SoS comments in the media.
He never specifically asked UNISON for a national emergency agreement.
At our meeting yesterday he admitted that NHS staff – our local unions – have agreed detailed, appropriate plans for their areas.
— Christina McAnea (@cmcanea) December 21, 2022
These accusations by the SoS are a distraction from the government’s own failings and their refusal to constructively resolve this dispute.
— Christina McAnea (@cmcanea) December 21, 2022
Here yesterday, SoS’s own confirmation that contingency plans are in place.
Ambulance staff on strike today are working to negotiate those plans, which have been signed with their employers. https://t.co/U5skdsAYp6
— Christina McAnea (@cmcanea) December 21, 2022
My colleague Kevin Rawlinston is covering the ambulance strike in a separate live blog.
I’ll cover some of the political aspects of it here, but I’ll also focus on other political news (of which there won’t be much because the Commons is in recess). Here is the program for the day.
10am: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Lords justice and home affairs committee.
1.15pm: MSPs resume their debate on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
I will try to follow the comments below the line (BTL), but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere in it and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they’re of general interest I’ll post the question and answer above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise I’ll do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, you’re probably better off using Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
Updated at 09.34 GMT
Add Comment