All posts tagged: Sunaks

New statistics call into question Sunak’s claim of clearing asylum backlog | Immigration and asylum

New statistics call into question Sunak’s claim of clearing asylum backlog | Immigration and asylum

Published by skeptic

Rishi Sunak’s claims to have cleared the asylum backlog by the end of 2023 have been called into question, as data shows appeals against Home Office refusals of asylum claims have increased by more than 300% in the first three months of this year. In the latest quarterly statistics for tribunals for the period January to March, published by the Ministry of Justice, the number of asylum and protection appeals lodged was 10,000 – an increase of 330%. If a backlog has been cleared, asylum claims should not still be in the system. But thousands of the cases refused in the backlog clearing exercise have now surfaced in the appeals process, at what is known as the first-tier tribunal immigration and asylum chamber (FTTIAC). Resources at the tribunal are already stretched and these cases, which the government said had been cleared, will now create extra work. When the Ministry of Justice published the latest figures, government officials made it clear that the 330% increase in asylum appeals was due to moves to clear the backlog. …

After Rishi Sunak’s D-day disaster Labour need not worry about Tory tax claims | Larry Elliott

After Rishi Sunak’s D-day disaster Labour need not worry about Tory tax claims | Larry Elliott

Published by skeptic

Any lingering doubts about the result of next month’s election have been dispelled by Rishi Sunak’s inexplicable decision to leave last week’s D-day commemorations early. Only the scale of the Tory defeat remains in question. Last week was supposed to be the start of the Conservative party’s fightback. The idea was to go hard on Labour’s tax and spending plans in the hope that it would make voters forget that they are poorer now than they were at the start of this parliament. The strategy got off to a decent start, mainly because it clearly rattled a Labour party still haunted by its traumatic defeat at the 1992 election. Want to know why Rachel Reeves is so obsessed with getting the national debt on a downward trend? Look no further than Neil Kinnock snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in one of the biggest poll shocks of modern times. Finding it hard to understand why Labour was so desperate to rubbish the claim that taxes would need to rise by £2,000 a household if …

Sunak’s D-day failure is a campaign disaster – and a sign he’s forgotten the very recent past | Jonathan Freedland

Sunak’s D-day failure is a campaign disaster – and a sign he’s forgotten the very recent past | Jonathan Freedland

Published by skeptic

But is it art? Could that explain Rishi Sunak’s campaign – that it is, in fact, a piece of daring, innovative performance art in which the prime minister deliberately conducts himself so haplessly and with such a tin ear that it prompts us to reflect on the state of the nation? Is his future not, as most predict, wearing a zip-up fleece and making squillions in Silicon Valley, but rather as a groundbreaking conceptual artist, one who invites his audience to see 4 July less as an election day and more as the unveiling of his boldest ever installation? It’s as good an explanation as any. Otherwise it’s near-impossible to comprehend his decision to make an early exit from the memorial ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-day, subbing in his foreign secretary to stand alongside the leaders of France, the US and Germany as they remembered those who died to free Europe from fascism. We shall fight them on the beaches, said Churchill. We shall leave them on the beaches, said Sunak. It turns …

‘D-day was the final straw’: Sunak’s blunders ignite Tory party fury | General election 2024

‘D-day was the final straw’: Sunak’s blunders ignite Tory party fury | General election 2024

Published by skeptic

Conservative candidates and aides have looked on aghast at the missteps of Rishi Sunak’s campaign over the last fortnight. Anger has been building over Sunak allies being parachuted into safe seats, including the party chair, Richard Holden, the lack of preparation for the snap campaign within Conservative party headquarters (CCHQ) and the avoidable row over Frank Hester’s donations. But nothing has come close to the fury within the party over the prime minister’s decision to skip part of the D-day ceremony in France, leaving the stage clear for Keir Starmer to show leadership and patriotism, as well as for Nigel Farage. Ultimately, the choice was the prime minister’s: to come home for an ITV interview or stay to honour veterans and the fallen. However, many candidates are apoplectic with rage at the strategists who allowed such a misstep to take place, questioning the quality at the heart of the Conservative party campaign. “The spads and clown advisers who are making these decisions will never work on so much as a Tory councillor’s campaign again in …

Rishi Sunaks Nightmare Reform UK Surges In Polls

Rishi Sunaks Nightmare Reform UK Surges In Polls

Published by Sam

Support for Reform UK has surged since Nigel Farage became the party’s leader and announced he is running to be an MP. In a nightmare scenario for Rishi Sunak, five new opinion polls tonight showed the right-wing party is squeezing Tory support across the country. That means the Conservatives are at risk of losing even more seats than would otherwise have been the case – putting Labour well on course for a thumping Commons majority. A Redfield and Winton Strategies poll put Reform on 17%, just two points behind the Tories, who are down 1 point on 19%. Survation showed support for Reform had soared by 7 points since last week, putting them on 15%. The Tories were on 23%, again down 1 point. Pollsters Focaldata also showed Reform support growing, this time by 2 points to 14%, with the Tories down 1 point on 25%. BMG Research have Reform up 5 points on 16%, with the Conservatives dropping by 4 points to 23%. Another poll published on Friday morning by Techne showed Reform up …

Both parties are in fantasy land – but Sunak’s tax attack on Labour is rich given what his government has cost voters | Politics News

Both parties are in fantasy land – but Sunak’s tax attack on Labour is rich given what his government has cost voters | Politics News

Published by Sam

Before we get on to any of the numbers – from Rishi Sunak’s claim about Labour raising taxes by £2,000 to the more outlandish numbers going around today – here’s the most important thing you have to know right now. The parties fighting this election have yet to publish their manifestos. They might come as soon as next week, but until those documents, with their shopping lists of confirmed policies, actually land, we are in a kind of policy no man’s land where each side is guessing (and sometimes plain making up stuff) about what the other side actually wants to implement if they win the election. Election latest:Starmer wins another TV debate poll And since all parties like to talk a lot about exciting new things they’d spend money on and not half as much about the taxes they’d raise to pay for all that stuff, it doesn’t take a mathematical whizz to realise that if you take them all quite literally then you can impute some pretty big “black holes” in their plans. …

Why is Sunak’s election campaign so chaotic? – podcast | News

Why is Sunak’s election campaign so chaotic? – podcast | News

Published by skeptic

It started with more a whimper than a bang. Rishi Sunak’s surprise election announcement was marred by pouring rain and a protester blasting out the Labour 1997 campaign classic Things Can Only Get Better. But since then things have not exactly got any better for Sunak. From Steve Baker going on holiday to Lucy Allan endorsing a Reform candidate, his MPs have not all fallen into line, while Michael Gove surprised many by joining the large number of Tory MPs saying they will not stand. The Guardian’s senior political correspondent Peter Walker says that while not disastrous, it is certainly far from the smooth, slick start Sunak would have wanted to his campaign. Hannah Moore finds out how the Conservatives’ two recent policy announcements – bringing in national service and offering a tax break to pensioners – have been received. And she asks: after a rocky first week, can Sunak steady his ship? Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA Support The Guardian The Guardian is editorially independent. And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to …

Tories Heading For A Pasting Despite Rishi Sunaks Claims

Tories Heading For A Pasting Despite Rishi Sunaks Claims

Published by skeptic

In politics, just as in comedy, timing is everything. On Monday, Rishi Sunak revealed to the nation what his big takeaway was from the local elections, in which the Tories lost 500 councillors and all but one of the 11 mayoral contests. “These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament,” the prime minister told The Times. Just three days later, the same newspaper revealed that the latest YouGov poll had put the Conservatives 30 points behind Keir Starmer’s party. According to the Electoral Calculus website, if those results were mirrored at the general election later this year, the Tories would be left with 13 MPs and the Labour would have a majority of 452. While no one seriously expects things to be as bad as that for the Conservatives, very few share the PM’s view that the result remains in the balance. To be fair to Sunak, there was some psephological evidence to back up his seemingly far-fetched claim. In their analysis of the local elections, polling gurus Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher …