As the Treasury begins the process of deciding departmental budgets, cabinet ministers are being told that if spending does not contribute to a government priority, it must be scrapped.
Tuesday 10 December 2024 07:45, UK
Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes.
Rachel Reeves gets Westminster in the Christmas spirit as she launches her spending review – will the chancellor do an “Elon Musk” on government departments?
And Keir Starmer heads to Cyprus as the government makes a decision on Syrian refugees.
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Germany will make it a specific criminal offence to facilitate migrant smuggling towards the UK as part of a new co-operation deal.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, signed the deal with her German counterpart, Nancy Faeser, on Monday evening.
Under the plan, Germany will clarify its domestic law to make it a criminal offence to facilitate smuggling migrants to the UK – a move the government says will allow German prosecutors to tackle the supply and storage of dangerous small boats equipment.
It will also see the two countries commit to exchanging expertise on how to remove
Today, the UK will host the next Calais Group meeting along with Germany, bringing together leaders from Belgium, France, The Netherlands, the European Commission and its agencies, Europol and Frontex, to discuss how to tackle the people smuggling trade.
Ms Cooper said: “For too long organised criminal gangs have been exploiting vulnerable people, undermining border security in the UK and across Europe while putting thousands of lives at risk. We are clear that this cannot go on.
“Germany is already a key partner in our efforts to crack down on migrant smuggling, but there is always more we can do together. Our new joint action plan will deliver a strengthened partnership with Germany.”
The prime minister continues his latest trip abroad with a stop in Cyprus for a bilateral meeting with Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides.
Sir Keir Starmer said it has been “far too long” since a British PM had made a bilateral visit to Cyprus – 53 years, in fact. The two men described it as “historic”.
The PM said: “Please take it as a statement of my intent that our already strong relationship, the partnership between our countries – strong historically, strong because of the ties that we’ve had people-to-people for many, many years and common interests – can be taken to an even stronger level between us.”
Mr Christodoulides said the meeting was “testament to our strong political will to work together to enhance our bilateral relationship” on matters including defence, security and trade.
Cuts are on the agenda as the chancellor launches the government’s spending review, with departments told they “will be expected to find savings and efficiencies in their budgets”.
Spending that does not contribute to a government priority will be scrapped, the Treasury says, as Rachel Reeves is vowing “an iron fist against waste”.
Budgets will be “scrutinised by challenge panels of external experts including former senior management of Lloyd’s Banking Group, Barclays Bank and the Co-operative Group”, the government says, as ministers continue to tackle the “£22bn black hole” in the public finances.
The chancellor said in a statement: “By totally rewiring how the government spends money, we will be able to deliver our Plan for Change and focus on what matters for working people.”
She accused the previous government of having wasted millions of pounds on “poor value for money projects”, saying: “We will not tolerate it; I said I would have an iron grip on the public finances, and that means taking an iron fist against waste.”
We expect to hear from the chancellor later this morning, so do stay tuned here in the Politics Hub for the latest.
Good morning!
Welcome back to the Politics Hub on this Tuesday, 10 December.
The government is launching its spending review today, which will determine budgets for all departments in the coming years.
The Treasury has told the cabinet that if spending in their department does not contribute to a government priority, it must be scrapped.
The chancellor is vowing “an iron fist against waste” – and we expect to hear more from her later this morning.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, will host the next Calais Group meeting along with Germany, bringing together leaders from Belgium, France, The Netherlands, the European Commission and its agencies, Europol and Frontex, to discuss how to tackle the people smuggling trade.
It comes after Germany said it would make it a specific criminal offence to facilitate migrant smuggling towards the UK as part of a new co-operation deal.
Over in parliament…
The justice secretary and her ministers will face questions from MPs in the Commons from 11.30am – after which the finance bill will be debated by the House.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will face scrutiny from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in parliament, from 1pm.
The Foreign Affairs Committee is continuing its work examining the UK’s response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and will hear from the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, as well as the daughter of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. This will take place from 2pm.
From 2.30pm, minister Douglas Alexander will face questions from the Business and Trade Committee on arms exports to Israel.
And Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden will take questions from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs from 3pm.
We’ll be discussing all of that and more with:
Follow along for the very latest political news.
We are bringing the Politics Hub to a close for the day – thank you for joining us, and we’ll be back in the morning.
It’s been a day dominated by the UK government’s response to the continuing fallout from the ousting of the Assad dictatorship in Syria.
The Home Office has paused decisions on asylum claims from the country, while ministers also face up to the prospect of the new regime being fronted by rebels who are proscribed as a terror group.
For a full catch-up, tap through the key points above – and you can watch tonight’s instalment of Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge below.
The UK has issued a joint statement with France and Germany warning Iran not to pursue an expansion of its nuclear programme.
The three governments said they were “extremely concerned” by indications from Tehran it wanted to “significantly increase” uranium production enriched up to 60%, with an increase in the number of centrifuges being used to bolster capacity.
They added: “We strongly urge Iran to reverse these steps, and to immediately halt its nuclear escalation.”
It comes a week after the head of Britain’s armed forces warned the world was entering a new nuclear age, led not just by Iran, but Russia, North Korea and China.
“The outlook is more contested, more ambiguous and more dangerous than we have known in our careers,” he said in an annual lecture at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in the nuclear domain.”
Sir Keir Starmer has held talks with Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
The PM and Saudi crown prince – who often goes by MBS – spoke after the UK announced closer defence cooperation with the Middle East power, as the region grapples with increasing insecurity.
Downing Street said the pair also discussed how the kingdom’s British investments were aiding Sir Keir’s push for economic growth, “especially through the green energy sector”.
Bin Salman has been criticised overseas for his regime’s human rights record, though the two leaders are said to have discussed his push to improve things in this regard.
They also discussed the situation in Israel and Gaza.
A spokesperson added: “The prime minister invited the crown prince to the UK, and said he hoped the leaders would be able to watch a game of football in between meetings if he took up the offer.”
Sir Keir’s predecessor Rishi Sunak faced criticism for doing the same thing back in 2023.
MBS had been something of an outcast on the world stage after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Istanbul, with Western intel pointing towards the crown prince being behind it.
Mr Khashoggi was a vocal critic of his regime.
Dr Turkmani speaks to Sophy Ridge about her own personal experience of the brutal Assad Regime.
She says her cousin, Abdullah, was detained when he was 18 for supporting the revolution in 2011.
She said the government forces took his mother as well in order to “put pressure on him” and “break him down” so he would confess.
“A few weeks later the mother was released, but we didn’t hear anything about him since except that he was in Sednaya prison,” she says, referring to the notorious prison where dissidents were detained and tortured by the regime.
She says Abdullah’s mother has been texting and waiting for news of her son after seeing the extraordinary images of people being freed from the prison.
She says his mother has been waiting alone in Homs, a city in Syria, “on her own for years now”.
When urged by others to leave Syria, the mother said she had to be home waiting for him in case he was ever released.
Asked what Abdullah was like, Dr Turkmani says he was “like any other 18-year-old – a bit naughty but a lovely boy”.
Dr Rim Takmani, who was born in Syria and now has British citizenship, but still has family back home, tells Sophy Ridge there’s “absolute joy” at seeing the back of the Assad regime.
But she says the sense of vulnerability, not knowing what may happen next with the rebels who overthrew the dictatorship, “breaks her heart”.
She “absolutely does not” trust the group who led the rebellion, tipped to now take control of the country.
Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) is currently proscribed by Britain as a terror group, and Dr Takmani says they “have so much blood on their hands” and “do not represent the majority of the Syrian people”.
If they take power, she has “no hope at all” for the prospects of women and hopes the international community “insists” that any government that forms now should not be led by HTS.
She says a “broad coalition” is needed instead.
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