Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has sparked a furious backlash from her ministerial colleagues after refusing to share information about the impact of her migration changes.
Ms Mahmood is expected to send Home Office ministers to meet with their counterparts from other departments to thrash out a compromise.
“Shabana has been asked on multiple occasions what the Home Office assessment was of the impact her changes would have on homelessness and community cohesion, but she point-blank refused to engage with it,” an insider told The Guardian.
However, the Home Secretary’s allies claim they cannot quantify the impact of the proposals at this moment in time.
Ms Mahmood is also facing fury from her Cabinet colleagues over her push to extend the time period needed for indefinite leave to remain.
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh have both spoken out against the plan.
The Prime Minister, who is involved in his own Home Office spat over Brexit’s impact on the small boats crisis, hinted Ms Mahmood could water down her plan.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This policy went through the normal cross-government process, with information shared through the formal collective agreement process.
“Ending asylum hotels will not leave people homeless. We are moving people into more suitable accommodation while delivering reforms that have already saved taxpayers more than £1billion since the election.”
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Restore hands Labour victory over Reform by TWO VOTES as Rupert Lowe accused of doing Tory deal
A knife-edge victory for Labour in Dudley is fuelling fresh fears about a split on the right.
Rupert Lowe remains defiant, but Reform UK figures have suggested a grubby deal with the Tories is being done behind the scenes.
Government departments ‘quaking in their shoes’ over spending cuts, Labour veteran says
Government departments will be “quaking in their shoes” over John Healey’s spending cuts, a Labour veteran has warned.
After unveiling his budget on Wednesday, the Chancellor has insisted three per cent of GDP will be spent on defence by the end of the decade.
But speaking to Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, former deputy leader Harriet Harman said: “That makes other departments slightly… quake in their shoes.
“Everybody’s got to be hoping that growth is better than forecast because then that takes the pressure off.”
Ms Harman’s comments come after the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned Government departments are likely to face “pretty brutal” cuts in its analysis of Mr Healy’s package of policy measures.
Zia Yusuf tears into ‘war criminal’ Alastair Campbell in brutal BBC Question Time dressing down
Zia Yusuf has labelled Alastair Campbell a “war criminal” in a brutal dressing-down on BBC Question Time.
In a statement after the show, Mr Campbell hit back, claiming the Reform UK home affairs spokesman had more chance of “captaining the Sri Lankan cricket team” than becoming Home Secretary.
The BBC’s flagship panel show also featured Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds, answering questions from an audience in Warwick.
The exchange began during a discussion of the economy, when Ms Cooper suggested the UK should bolster its economy by joining the European Union Customs Union and the Single Market.
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Andy Burnham’s devolution summit an opportunity to ‘turn words into action’, John Swinney says
Andy Burnham appearance at a devolution summit in Scotland is an opportunity to “turn words into action”, John Swinney has said.
The SNP leader is set to meet Prime Minister on Friday alongside deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth at a meeting of the Government’s National Economic Council.
Mr Burnham is expected to ask the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales to “put politics aside and work in partnership with the UK Government”.
Mr Swinney said: “The National Economic Council provides an opportunity for the Prime Minister to turn words into action by engaging constructively with Scottish Government proposals to help grow our economy.
“The Prime Minister has made devolution a central focus for his Government, however, the UK Government must ensure that any devolution proposals respect devolution in Scotland. That means working with the Scottish Government.”
‘The time to act is now!’ Rachel Reeves urges EU to seize Russian assets to fund Ukraine
Rachel Reeves has urged the EU to seize £175billion in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine ahead of a “a desperate winter” of fighting.
The former Chancellor has told Brussels “the time to act is now” as Kyiv looks to help plug its funding blackhole and Donald Trump calling for Volodymyr Zelensky to “cut a deal with Moscow”.
She warned without the funding Ukraine’s “capacity to sustain its defence will be gravely impaired”, which could “undermine Europe’s security”.
She wrote in The Times: “We are coming together to say we need to stand by Ukraine in its time of need.
“A critical next step should be for the EU to take custody of the €210billion of sovereign Russian assets it immobilised in 2022 so it can use them to help Kyiv in its defence.”
British baked beans under threat as Andy Burnham drops tariffs on over 100 food products
British baked beans are under threat from Andy Burnham’s decision to cut tariffs, producers have warned.
After John Healey’s first Budget, tariffs on more than 100 food products were suspended.
But British food manufacturers have warned cheap exports could undermine the valuable bean-processing industry.
The Princes Group, which makes Branston baked beans, is owned by Italian food conglomerate Newlat and is one of the UK’s biggest food manufacturers with around 2,000 employees.
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Andy Burnham to hold talks with Scottish and Welsh leaders in devolution summit
Andy Burnham is set to hold talks with Scottish and Welsh leaders in a summit today as part of his push for greater devolution across the country.
At a first meeting of the National Economic Council in Glasgow, Mr Burnham is expected to outline his desire to do more to hand greater decision-making powers to the devolved parliaments.
Ahead of the summit, the Prime Minister said: “Through No 10 North, we are rewiring the state. I want to make sure every city and region in the United Kingdom is part of that.
“Today I’ll be making an offer to the governments of each nation.
“Put politics aside and work in partnership with the UK Government to develop models of regional empowerment that ensure communities can use their own strengths to unlock their potential.
“This is the next stage of devolution. Together, there is no limit to what we can achieve.”
Meeting defence spending target likely to require cuts in other areas, Wes Streeting warns
Increasing defence spending to three per cent of GDP by 2030 is likely to require cuts in other areas, Wes Streeting has warned.
The Defence Secretary was asked whether the Government was leaving it too late to increase Britain’s defence commitment.
He told Sky News: “That does need to be set out at spending review because, as the Budget showed yesterday, there are choices and trade-offs.
“I recognise that other Government departments, as well as taxpayers, are doing some heavy lifting to make sure we prioritise defence. That’s the right thing to do.
“To get to three per cent by 2030, we’re going to have to look at spending in the round, and so it’s right to do that at (the) spending review.
“But I think what the Chancellor did at the Budget this week was to give industry, our allies, the same confidence that frankly I’ve had since day one and the assumption I’ve been planning towards, which is that we’ll be spending three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030, on the way to hitting our Nato target.”
Andy Burnham vows to cut Britain’s ballooning benefits bill ‘as soon as we possibly can’
Andy Burnham has declared he wants to slash Britain’s ballooning benefits “as soon as we possibly can” amid forecasts welfare spending could hit £431billion in 2031/32.
However, the Prime Minister was unable to commit to making sweeping cuts before the next general election.
He told reporters yesterday: “We want to get the welfare bill down as quickly as possible, and we’re working flat out to that end.”
Mr Burnham warned against making “crude cuts” and insisted he wants to get more people into “sustainable employment” before making any radical changes.
The Conservatives, meanwhile, accused Labour of being “addicted to welfare”.
Labour MP warns Andy Burnham ‘not to rip whole country apart’ in Brexit war
Andy Burnham has been warned by a senior Labour backbencher “not to rip apart the whole country again” by trying to reverse a key element of the Brexit deal.
Labour MP Melanie Onn, MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, also said that it was a “big trust issue” for the PM to go back on the Brexit commitment not to sign up to EU freedom of movement in the party’s 2024 general election.
Ms Onn – an elected member of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee – was the first Labour backbencher to break cover this week to express concern about the party advocating ripping up part of the UK’s Brexit deal with Brussels.
Mr Burnham raised the prospect of the UK signing up again to EU freedom of movement in a weekend newspaper interview as part of a deal to get closed to the trading bloc.
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