The foreign secretary is answering questions on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips. You can watch live in the stream below until 10am.
Sunday 12 May 2024 08:58, UK
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Trevor now asks Lord Cameron about the local elections, at which the Conservatives lost hundreds of council seats and key mayoral races.
The foreign secretary says Rishi Sunak “is a good man, doing a great job at a difficult time”.
He adds: “We saw [this] week that his economic plans are coming right. You know, with the 0.6% growth, much more than people expected, more than the IMF expected.
“And you’ve got the situation now where you can see inflation coming down. I think interest rates are going to come down.
“Taxes are coming down, the economy’s growing. And I think you’ve got a very clear choice opening up. And that’s what happens as you get to the end of a parliament.
“It stops being a referendum on the government every day, and it starts being a choice between two teams.”
Asked about the timing of the election, Lord Cameron says: “He said second half of the year. And I think that’s absolutely right.
“Because… you can see the economic plan is working.”
Lord Cameron is asked about Ukraine – after reports that Russia has made significant advances in the years-long war overnight.
The foreign secretary says this is an “extremely dangerous” moment.
“This only underlines that this is an unjustified, illegal invasion by Putin into an independent, sovereign country,” he says.
“And he’s now, as it were, invaded it again from the north of Kharkiv. We must do everything we can to help the Ukrainians.
“That’s why it’s so essential we’ve given our £3bn a year package, and we’ve said that that’s going to go on year after year. We’re encouraging others to do the same.
“And, crucially, the work we’ve done to encourage the Americans to come forward with their package. I mean, it’s sad that it’s taken long to come, but it will make a difference.”
So has the American input – a $61bn package – come too late?
“It would have been better if it came earlier, because there’s no doubt that Ukraine was suffering in the land war, as it were,” he says.
“We all need to do more, that is what the UK is doing, we’re leading once again. First to do tanks, first to do anti-tank weapons, first to do long-range artillery.
“Now the first to say here is a package that isn’t just this year, it’s next year and the year after. But the American money will make a difference – so we’ve got to get in there, give the Ukrainians the support they need.
“They have no problems – I was there the other day – their morale is still strong, they are still inflicting appalling casualty rates on the Russians.
“If only the Russians could see how many people they are losing.
“If other countries did all the things the UK is doing in terms of long-range weapons, in terms of the training and support. We’ve just basically got to make our strength count.”
On the matter of arms supply to Israel, Lord Cameron is asked why the UK hasn’t followed the US lead on an arms sales embargo.
He reiterates that the UK has a “very thorough, very detailed” process to consider whether there is a “clear risk that something that could be exported could lead to a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
Lord Cameron says: “I think America and the UK are in a totally different situations.
“The United States is a massive bulk state supplier of weapons to Israel, including 1,000lb bombs and all the rest of it.
“The UK provides less than 1% of Israel’s weapons and is not a state supplier. We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it’s judged there’s a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.”
Pressed, Lord Cameron says he was urged to declare an immediate arms embargo a few months ago, and a few days later, a “massive Iranian attack” was launch at Israel.
“I don’t think it would have been a wise path, and I still don’t think it would be a wise path,” he says.
“I mean, if I announced that today, it might help me get through this television interview, but actually it would strengthen Hamas.
“It would weaken Israel. I think it probably makes a hostage deal less likely.
“So I don’t think some sort of political declaration is the right answer.
“We should stick with our rigorous process of making sure we act within the law.”
The conversation with Lord Cameron turns to the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and fears of an Israeli offensive at the Rafah border crossing.
This is the only land border between Gaza and Egypt, and has been crucial for the delivery of aid to Palestinians caught up in the conflict.
The foreign secretary reiterates that a hostage deal is the “right answer” to “try and stop the fighting”, which began in October last year.
He tells Sky News: “My view is that the right answer is to try and stop the fighting by having a hostage deal, achieving a pause in the fighting and then using that to build a sustainable ceasefire without going back to further conflict.
“That’s what I think is the right answer, and that’s why I’m always pushing on the Israelis and on everyone else.
“But the problem is it goes back to Hamas.
“Hamas have been offered a deal which would release hundreds of prisoners from Israeli jails, that would provide a pause in the fighting… and they’re not taking that deal.”
He says, with this in mind, that the question of a ceasefire is “really for Hamas”.
“Why are you allowing this suffering to go on when you could stop it now?
“The real pressure should be on Hamas to agree that hostage deal. The fighting could stop tomorrow.”
However, he adds it would be wrong for the Israelis to begin an offensive in Rafah “without a plan to protect people”.
“In Rafah you’ve got hundreds of thousands of people who have moved from other parts of Gaza, so it would be extremely dangerous to attempt a major offensive in that way.”
First up on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips is Lord Cameron, and they begin their conversation on the defection of Natalie Elphicke to the Labour Party.
The foreign secretary is asked about claims Ms Elphicke lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s sex offences trial.
Her spokesperson has dismissed this as “nonsense”.
Lord Cameron says: “I have absolutely no idea, so I’ve got really nothing to add.
“I’m not a fan of defectors, I took over from one in Witney and I think it always leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal and everything else.
“I thought this was just naked opportunism, by Labour as much as anything. This is quite a right-wing Conservative MP suddenly welcomed into the Labour fold having never supported any of their policies, people or approaches.
“The revealing thing is it was a moment where you look at the Labour Party and think – if you don’t stand for anything, then you’ll fall for stuff like this.”
Our flagship Sunday morning show, hosted by Trevor Phillips, is live on Sky News now until 10am, and we have a packed line-up for you this morning.
Here’s who Trevor will be chatting to:
On Trevor’s expert panel this morning are:
Watch live on Sky News and in the stream at the top of this page – and follow updates here in the Politics Hub.
Watch Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on the Sky News website and app or on YouTube.
By Jennifer Scott, political reporter
In a dramatic move just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions got under way this week, Natalie Elphicke joined Labour as her surprised Conservative colleagues looked on.
What exactly happens when an MP defects to another party?
Ms Elphicke is far from the first MP to change sides between elections, but it was incredibly rare – until recently – for a member of the governing party to switch to the opposition.
She is the third Tory to do so in just over two years, following Christian Wakeford in 2022 over the partygate scandal and Dan Poulter just two weeks ago over the Tories’ handling of the NHS.
Before that, it hadn’t happened since 1995, when Alan Howarth became the first ever Conservative to cross to Labour on the eve of his party conference, citing the “divisiveness” of policies under John Major’s leadership.
Only three MPs in the past 25 years have gone the other way – from main opposition to government – all leaving the Conservatives to join Labour.
Defecting to smaller parties happens more often, such as moves from both Conservative and Labour to Change UK during the Brexit years, or Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless heading over to UKIP ahead of the referendum.
Our flagship Sunday morning show, hosted by Trevor Phillips, is live on Sky News from 8.30am until 10am, and we have a packed line-up for you this morning.
Here’s who Trevor will be chatting to:
On Trevor’s expert panel this morning are:
Watch live on Sky News and in the stream at the top of this page – and follow updates here in the Politics Hub.
Watch Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on the Sky News website and app or on YouTube.
In January 2023, Rishi Sunak made five promises.
Since then, he and his ministers have rarely missed an opportunity to list them. In case you haven’t heard, he promised to:
• Halve inflation
• Grow the economy
• Reduce debt
• Cut NHS waiting lists and times
• Stop the boats
See below how he is doing on these goals:
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