Johnson ‘unlikely’ to bring up Rwanda asylum policy with Charles, says No 10
Boris Johnson is “unlikely” to bring up the Rwanda asylum policy with Prince Charles when they meet tomorrow morning, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said the issue will not be “at the forefront of his mind”, reports PA.
He said:
I’m not going to be over-prescriptive over what the PM will say in any meeting, that includes this one. The prime minister’s focus remains on some of the important challenges on the future of Commonwealth, on climate change, on girls’ education.
He added:
It’s unlikely and I’m only not being categorical because it’s simply as a matter of course I do not rule in or out any topic when two individuals meet.
Downing Street also said that Johnson did not raise human rights issues with Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president.
The spokesperson said:
I don’t believe they discussed that in their meeting, there were quite a number of issues they talked through.
You’ll know that some of the concerns with regards to rights have been raised on a number of occasions including at ministerial level very recently, so it is something we do raise with Rwanda.
We encourage them to uphold and champion the Commonwealth values.
Covid outbreaks in care homes rise for third week in a row
Covid outbreaks in care homes have risen for a third consecutive week and hospital numbers are continuing to rise, according to the latest government figures.
The data, from the UK health security agency (UKHSA), come as health experts warn that nearly one in six people aged 75-plus have not had a vaccine dose in the last six months.
The number of suspected Covid outbreaks last week in all settings in the UK was 331, up from 222 the previous week and the highest since the end of April. There were 245 outbreaks detected in care homes.
The UKHSA also found the rate of hospital admissions of people with virus among over 85s was 69.3 per 100,000 last week – up from 52.1.
Dr Mary Ramsay, UKHSA director of clinical programmes, said:
We continue to see increases in Covid-19 outbreaks within care homes and hospitalisations among those aged 75 years and over.
Our data also shows that 17.5 per cent of people aged 75 years and over have not had a vaccine within the past six months, putting them more at risk of severe disease.
We urge everyone in this age group, as well as those living in a care home or who are clinically vulnerable, to ensure they get their spring booster for protection against serious illness.
Johnson ‘unlikely’ to bring up Rwanda asylum policy with Charles, says No 10
Boris Johnson is “unlikely” to bring up the Rwanda asylum policy with Prince Charles when they meet tomorrow morning, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said the issue will not be “at the forefront of his mind”, reports PA.
He said:
I’m not going to be over-prescriptive over what the PM will say in any meeting, that includes this one. The prime minister’s focus remains on some of the important challenges on the future of Commonwealth, on climate change, on girls’ education.
He added:
It’s unlikely and I’m only not being categorical because it’s simply as a matter of course I do not rule in or out any topic when two individuals meet.
Downing Street also said that Johnson did not raise human rights issues with Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president.
The spokesperson said:
I don’t believe they discussed that in their meeting, there were quite a number of issues they talked through.
You’ll know that some of the concerns with regards to rights have been raised on a number of occasions including at ministerial level very recently, so it is something we do raise with Rwanda.
We encourage them to uphold and champion the Commonwealth values.
Here’s an image, shared on Twitter by Boris Johnson, of the prime minister’s Kigali genocide memorial message:
We must do everything we can to ensure that human hearts never again are allowed to breed such hatred.
It was an honour to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial. pic.twitter.com/eaJAml5QrG
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 23, 2022
Meanwhile, Prince Charles’s office has refused to be drawn on the royal’s reported criticisms of the government’s Rwanda asylum scheme.
A spokesperson for Clarence House told PA Media that the future king, who is in Rwanda to open a summit of Commonwealth leaders, was politically neutral.
His statement came after Boris Johnson appeared to take a veiled swipe at the prince and those who have attacked plans to forcibly remove asylum seekers to the east African nation. The spokesperson added that “policy is a matter for government”.
And here is the full report by Julia Kollewe about Heathrow strikes this summer:
Heathrow airport faces disruption from strikes this summer, as hundreds of check-in and ground staff voted in favour of walkouts during the peak holiday period in a dispute with British Airways over pay.
As a second day of national rail strikes is under way, 700 workers employed by BA were balloted on industrial action by unions including GMB and Unite. Some 95% of those who voted (about half the total 700 workers) said they were prepared to strike, on a turnout of more than 80%. Strike dates will be confirmed in the coming days but are likely to be during the school holidays. The Unite ballot closes on Monday.
The dispute stems from BA using “fire and rehire” practices to cut workers’ pay during the pandemic when they could not fight back, the GMB union said.
British Airways workers based at Heathrow vote to strike
British Airways workers based at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.
PA Media reports members of the GMB and Unite backed industrial action. The unions said holidaymakers face disruption, warning of a summer of strikes.
Workers, including check-in staff, will now decide on strike dates, which the union said were likely to be held during the peak summer holiday period.
Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: “With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways.
“BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn’t cut the mustard. Our members need to be reinstated the 10% they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10% bonus which other colleagues have been paid.”
The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope has tweeted that pro-Brexit MPs expect the government to force the Lords to accept three bills that have caused controversy.
Brexiteers fully expect the Government to use the Parliament Act to force the Lords to accept the three Brexit Bills – Northern Ireland Protocol, Bill of Rights and Brexit Freedoms, for the first time in nearly 20 years.
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) June 23, 2022
The Bills need to have their second readings in the Commons 18 months before the end of the parliamentary session so they are in law by early 2024
Sir Bill Cash says: “It is going to be the battle for Brexit. We have got a majority and the House of Lords cannot stand in the way.”— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) June 23, 2022
Borish Johnson visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial where the remains of about 250,000 people killed in the Rwandan genocide are buried.
PA Media reports the prime minister said he found it “utterly shocking” to witness the images and physical memorials of the genocide as he was led around a museum by survivors.
Johnson bowed his head during a wreath-laying ceremony and wrote a message in the visitors’ book.
He also paused at the flame of remembrance marking 28 years since the 100 days that saw Hutu extremists claim the lives of around 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.
“It has been utterly shocking to see these images, and so many physical memorials, of the appalling and inexplicable genocide against the Tutsis,” Johnson’s message read. “We must do everything we can to ensure that human hearts never again are allowed to breed such hatred.”
Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee, said a teachers’ strike (see also 13:08) would put children into a “defacto lockdown”, causing problems and misery for them and their families.
“Our children have been damaged massively over the past few years because of Covid, because most children were not in school,” he told the BBC’s World At One programme.
He added:
We know the damage that’s done to their educational attainment, their mental health, their life chances, their safeguarding, and to put children into de facto lockdown by having a strike wouldn’t just cause misery to the children but also would cause huge problems for parents because of course, many of them have to be in work whilst their children are at school. So this is not the way to solve these problems.
But he said he would be in favour of more help for staff on lower wages, such as teaching assistants and support staff.
If there could be a focus on the lower-paid professionals in school, I think that would help.
A claim in Boris Johnson’s speech – that it was hotter in London than Kigali (see 12:18) – has been called into question.
Jim Pickard, the Financial Times’ chief political correspondent, pointed out that there was actually a six degree temperature difference between the cities:
Here’s Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent, on Lord Frost’s comments earlier:
Boris Johnson has just tweeted about his meeting with the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame:
Good to meet President @PaulKagame in the beautiful city of Kigali this morning.
As we hand over the Commonwealth Chair-in-Office to Rwanda, our countries will be working together closely to address the most pressing global challenges.
🇬🇧🇷🇼 pic.twitter.com/Qd2LmMXNzU
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) June 23, 2022
A Clarence House spokesperson told PA:
As we have said previously we will not be commenting on supposed remarks made in private except to say that the prince is politically neutral. Policy is a matter for government.