Category Archives: Robert Jenrick

Robert Jenrick Called Out For False ‘Asylum Shoppers’ Claim

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Robert Jenrick has been called out by Krishnan Guru-Murthy for falsely claiming the United Nations refugee convention dictates that migrants have to seek sanctuary in the first ‘safe’ country they arrive in.

The immigration minister quickly backpedaled and said it was a “key principle” the government supported as the journalist refused to let the politician off the hook.

It came as Jenrick was grilled over the Archbishop of Canterbury’s stinging criticism of the government’s crackdown on asylum seekers under the illegal migration bill.

Jenrick was pulled up on Channel 4 News as he said that those crossing the Channel from France were “essentially asylum shoppers”.

Here’s the exchange (plus clip below):

Robert Jenrick: “If somebody originated from a place of danger, like Afghanistan, the vast majority of those people coming across on small boats are coming from France, and they are choosing to come to the UK for whatever reason.”

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: “As is their right.”

RJ: “They are essentially asylum shoppers.”

KGM: “It is their right to apply for asylum anywhere, they are asylum seekers, not asylum shoppers.”

RJ: “The convention says people should seek asylum in the first safe country.”

KGM: “No, it doesn’t. Where does it say that?”

RJ: “We are prioritising people in a place of danger rather than people who are in a place of safety like France.”

KGM: “That is not true. That is not true. The refugee convention does not say that you must seek sanctuary in the first safe country.”

RJ: “The refugee convention does encourage people to do that.”

KGM: “It does not say you must seek sanctuary in the first safe country, which you just said. That is not true.”

RJ: “That’s a key principle that we support as a government.”

KGM: “OK, but it’s not in the refugee convention.”

RJ: “We don’t think it’s right that if you’re in a safe country like France, that you should be coming to the UK. That’s creating a fundamental unfairness.”

KGM: “That’s the government’s position, it’s not in the refugee convention.”

The claim has been repeatedly rejected.

Amnesty International has said: “There is no rule requiring refugees to claim in the first safe country in which they arrive.”

The Full Fact site has also said: “The UN refugee convention does not make this requirement of refugees, and UK case law supports this interpretation. Refugees can legitimately make a claim for asylum in the UK after passing through other ‘safe’ countries.”

And a House of Commons briefing paper from February this year states: “The UK government’s position is that refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. The UN Refugee Agency says this is not required by the refugee convention or international law.”

In 2021, Tory MP Jonathan Gullis was schooled by an immigration expert after asking why asylum seekers choose to come to the UK in a clip that has gone viral many times since.

The former minister quizzed Zoe Gardner over the number of refugees seeking to settle in Britain after fleeing their homeland.

But he was told the international asylum system would “crumble” if countries refused to accept immigrants and expected other countries to take them instead.

The pair clashed in 2021 as Gardner appeared before parliament’s nationality and borders bill committee.

In the clip, Gullis, the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, asks Gardner: “If these people out in Calais are legitimate refugees, why are they not claiming asylum in France, Italy, Spain or Greece? Why do they need to come to the United Kingdom?

Gardner replies: “As I’m sure you’ll be aware … the vast majority of people who seek asylum worldwide, firstly, 86% of refugees and displaced people worldwide, remain in the country neighbouring the one they have fled.

“So, 86% of people remain in developing countries.

“France received three times as many asylum applications as we did last year. People stop as soon as they feel safe.

″But the people who are making their way to England and who specifically wish to the UK, do so because they have ties to this country either because they have served with out military in the case of people from Afghanistan, or have family members, or speak the language because of our colonial history and have other ties of kinship and history here.

″So there are people who have legitimate ties to the UK and there is no good reason why they should particularly have their claims assessed in France if they do not wish to.

“It doesn’t really work for us to say to the French, ‘given that we’re geographically located slightly to the west of you, none of these refugees are our responsibility and they’re all on you’ because France can say the same thing and then Italy can say the same thing, and then the entire international refugee protection system will crumble.”

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The Public Laughs At The Government Again – This Time Over Voter ID

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A second government minister has faced public ridicule in as many days after a radio audience laughed at the suggestion the Conservatives do not want to see new voter ID laws deter people from voting.

Robert Jenrick’s comments on BBC Radio 4 came around 24 hours after Rachel Maclean suggested on the broadcaster’s Question Time that British people being poorer had “nothing to do” with Brexit.

The government has introduced new compulsory ID rules for those voting in person during England’s local elections next week. The move has sparked criticism that more marginalised communities will face fresh challenges to vote.

The government has said the move will prevent voter fraud and protect democracy. But opposition parties and campaigners claim the plan is based on a false premise that actually amounts to “voter suppression” – locking out millions of voters without ID out of the democratic process.

On Any Questions on Friday, Jenrick argued the move was about “protecting the integrity of our democracy”, and said asking to see ID was not a “very unusual thing to do”.

He added: “The truth is it was an anachronism that we didn’t have to show ID going to vote. We all show ID when we go and collect a parcel at the petrol station, we show verification for all manner of things in life.”

He continued that “it is obviously very important that we get this right because we don’t want to see anybody disenfranchised”, which prompted laughter from the audience.

Jenrick argued the pilot schemes showed 99% of “those people who sought to vote did so successfully”, adding: “I don’t think it will be a major issue. I think it is an important step in defending our democracy and I think we should take that seriously.”

At two trials of voter ID in the 2018 and 2019 local elections, more than 1,000 would-be voters were turned away from polling stations and did not return.

The UK has very low levels of proven electoral fraud – during last year’s local and mayoral elections, there was not a single proven case of in-person voter fraud.

Critics have also argued there is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise young people. Bus and travel passes for older and disabled people are being accepted as photo IDs – but the young people’s travel cards is not being permitted.

When this was put to Jenrick, he dismissed a “confected” issue as he argued: “The evidence is that of the set of ID we’ve created, you are more likely to have that ID if you’re a young person than if you’re an older person.”

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‘A Nurse Is For Life Not Just For Covid’: Kay Burley Blasts Minister Over NHS Pay

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Kay Burley clashed with a Tory minister as she urged the government to increase their pay offer to NHS workers.

The Sky News presenter told Robert Jenrick “a nurse if for life not just for Covid” as it was confirmed inflation his 10.5% last month – down from 10.7% in November.

Nurses are striking once again today and also announced earlier this week that they are to hold two more days of industrial action next month in their long-running dispute over pay.

Jenrick, the immigration minister, said “international factors are beginning to tentatively work in the right direction” to bring inflation down from its peak last autumn.

He added: “The worst thing that we could do domestically would be to significantly increase public sector pay and then entrench inflation in the British economy and get into a wage spiral.”

But Burley told him: “To that end you can take on the rail unions, you can take on the civil servants’ unions, but when it comes to taking on the nurses, you don’t have the support of the British people.

“I’ve seen the banners that say ‘a nurse is for life, not just for Covid’.”

Jenrick replied: “Well, we have great respect for nurses, of course we do.”

But Burley hit back: “Well give them more money then.”

The minister went on: “It’s not always as simple as that in life Kay, because what we have to judge is not only how we motivate and respect nurses – and there is a serious challenge with retention and recruitment within the NHS.

“We have to balance that, however, with general affordability to the tax payer, what can the NHS afford. Secondly, the point about inflation, which is so critical to everybody in this country, and thirdly how can we handle this in a sensible and appropriate manner.

“The way that’s done is through independent pay review bodies, and there was an independent pay review last year which concluded that curses should get the pay rise that they have.”

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Lee Anderson Has Said Putting Asylum Seekers In Hotels Leaves A Bitter Taste In His Throat

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A Tory MP has said that placing migrants in temporary hotel accommodation “leaves a bitter taste in my throat” and called for them to be deported instead.

Lee Anderson also said asylum seekers arriving in the UK should be “sent back the same day”.

The Ashfield MP spoke out as the government continues to come under pressure over the situation at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent.

At the peak of the crisis a week ago, around 4,000 people were held at the facility, which is designed to hold about 1,600.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons that the situation had since improved, with numbers “back below 1,600” after more than 2,000 people were placed in temporary accommodation.

But Anderson said: “When I hear words like sourcing housing and getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants, it leaves a bitter taste in my throat.

“And I’ll tell you what, I’ve got 5,000 people in Ashfield who want to secure council housing and they cannot get one. Yet, we’re here debating this nonsense once again. When are we going to stop blaming the French, the ECHR, the lefty lawyers?

“The blame lies in this place right now — when are we going to go back and do the right thing and send them straight back the same day?”

Jenrick responded by telling Anderson that while the UK should be “guided by our common desire for decency” it was “not right that migrants are put up in three or four-star hotels at exorbitant cost to the United Kingdom taxpayer”.

He said Rishi Sunak would meet with the French president Emmanuel Macron to reach an agreement on how to stem the flow of small boat crossings in the Channel.

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, criticised Anderson’s remarks.

“We all want to stop these dangerous Channel crossings and defeat the criminal gangs who profit from them, but the Conservatives’ approach isn’t working and they blame everyone but themselves,” Carmichael told HuffPost UK.

“For years, Conservative MPs from Lee Anderson to the home secretary – and even the prime minister – have contributed nothing but alienating rhetoric and simplistic proposals that do nothing to solve the problem. This sort of unhelpful, expensive and callous nonsense has only made the problem worse.

“If Conservative MPs really want to deal with the asylum backlog and save taxpayers’ money, the need to focus on fixing the asylum system they have broken and processing claims for asylum more quickly.”

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Dustbin Collectors And Prison Officers To Get Daily Covid Tests To Avoid Staff Shortages

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Yui Mok – PA Images via Getty Images

Dustbin collectors, prison officers and the armed forces will be able to use daily Covid tests to avoid isolation under a dramatic expansion in workplace testing sites.

All those who have been doubled jabbed in the critical services sectors will be exempted from rules requiring home quarantine following close contact with people with the virus.

Some 2,000 testing sites will be created across the country in total, building on the 800 sites lined up for the food industry, transport workers, Border Force staff, frontline police and fire services.

The decision to provide special test sites for refuse collectors followed pleas from council chiefs, and followed fears that household waste could pile up due to a shortage of staff.

In addition, people working in energy, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, chemicals, communications, water, space, fish, veterinary medicine and HM Revenue and Customs will also be prioritised for the extra 1,200 new daily contact testing sites.

Daily testing using rapid lateral flow tests will enable eligible workers who have received alerts from the NHS Covid 19 app or have been called by Test and Trace and told they are a contact and to isolate, to continue working if they test negative each day.

Key NHS staff are already allowed to exempt themselves from the isolation rules, as long as they are double jabbed and can show that their absence would affect clinical care.

The move follows the latest meeting of the “Covid-O” operations committee which oversees key policy responses to the pandemic.

Ministers acted after Oxford University research for the department of health and social care (DHSC) found that in schools, daily contact testing was just as effective at controlling transmission as the current 10-day self-isolation policy.

Organisations are being contacted by the DHSC so they can mobilise sites this week to ensure critical workers can continue their vital roles safely, although it is understood that less than 50 have so far been set up.

The workplace testing scheme is separate from another government programme to allow individuals to apply for exemptions in key industries.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said: “Whether it’s prison guards reporting for duty, waste collectors keeping our streets clean or workers in our energy sector keeping the lights on, critical workers have been there for us at every stage of this global pandemic.”

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Critical workers up and down the country have repeatedly stepped up to the challenge of making sure our key services are delivered and communities are supported.

“We all owe them a huge debt of gratitude and will continue to support them to do their jobs safely and securely. This expansion of the daily contact testing centres is vital and hugely welcome.”

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace added: “Our Armed Forces have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic, ensuring operations and training at home and abroad continue while at the same time providing round the clock support to the nation’s response to Covid.

“Expanding the daily contact testing scheme is hugely welcome, allowing our personnel to continue that vital work across the UK and abroad.”

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Why Boris Johnson’s Alleged Sleaze Matters Even If The Polls Don’t Move Yet

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Despite the fire and fury of this week’s prime minister’s questions, it seems the cash for cushions row has so far amounted to little but a pillow fight in the eyes of voters.

Several polls in the last 24 hours have shown Tory numbers barely moving, with Labour’s even slightly down despite the sleaze allegations engulfing Boris Johnson.

And in a much less scientific test, a red wall Tory MP tells me they have had just 10 emails on the row over the past week from concerned voters.

Normally, we might give it a few more days before delivering a judgment on the impact of the row.

But the impending local elections next Thursday have led to a painful debate about whether it has had so-called “cut through” with the public.

Patrick English of YouGov tells me there is no doubt that it has, with nearly a third (31%) of the public following the story fairly or very closely, and a further 27% following it, if not closely.

The depressing truth seems that voters’ trust in politicians generally, and Johnson particularly, is so low that a row like this is “baked in”, says English.

“It’s not that they don’t care, or that they don’t want them to do it, they just sort of shrug and say they expect it from politicians.”

This has inevitably led to questions about whether Starmer has got his strategy right ahead of his first key electoral test.

The red wall Tory tells me the sleaze row is coming up more on the doorstep since Starmer’s evisceration of Johnson at prime minister’s questions.

But they wonder if his visit to a John Lewis store on Thursday (Carrie Symonds reportedly described the No.11 flat as a “John Lewis furniture nightmare”) may have been a mis-step, as voters are bringing up the row but in a “jokey” way.

Meanwhile, Tory election expert Lord Hayward believes Labour have missed opportunities to speak out on issues “which actually do matter to people now”, with jobs under threat at Liberty Steel in a situation linked to the Greensill lobbying scandal, the Toyoda Gosei factory closure in Rotherham and Nestle closing a factory in Newcastle.

Hayward says: “What they’ve been so obsessed with is sleaze, which appears in the immediate not to matter, that even issues that are there and matter to people on a day-by-day basis have actually gone by the board.

“And that I find absolutely staggering.”

Hayward does, however, believe political events can take a week or so to begin affecting polls, so there is time yet for the Labour leader on sleaze.

Looking beyond the local elections too, Starmer will have positioned himself as a leader on the issue if the Electoral Commission or other watchdogs punish Johnson or the Tories over the flat.

And the underlying numbers are not great for the PM should things go badly, with a YouGov trust rating of –22 and less than half of Tory voters more inclined to believe Johnson over top aide Dominic Cummings, who is promising to damage the PM at his select committee appearance on May 26.

English tells Tories: “I definitely wouldn’t be jubilant.

“If it just gets worse or if it does not go away, the figures of who is following it is only going to go up, the figures that say ‘I’m aware of it but I don’t care’ are only going to go down.

“That does have the potential to be quite harmful, there’s a lot of potential for this to move quickly in the wrong direction for the Tories.”

Meanwhile senior Tories, speaking privately this week, fear the collateral damage caused by the sleaze rows. 

They worry about what happens to the party’s poll numbers when the twin effects of the vaccine bounce and the furlough life support scheme for jobs end, and if stories like this become more important to voters amid job losses.

Some even wonder whether Johnson can still carry out the big reshuffle many believe is coming soon, and will root out incompetence in government.

Can you sack Robert Jenrick following cronyism allegations when you yourself are facing them? Can you fire Gavin Williamson for incompetence when you can’t even file your register of interests on time? And if you can’t have a better Cabinet, do we see a repeat of the exams fiasco?

Starmer, as my colleague Paul Waugh suggested earlier this week, may be able to promote Johnson from “Major Sleaze” to the potentially far more damaging “General Shambles”.

Others also worry that a good performance in the local elections next week in the face of the sleaze row can only breed complacency in Downing Street about the need to improve standards in public office.

And that could lead to a very bad place, with faith in politics and politicians already so low.

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Whitehall Set To Run Liverpool Council As Corruption Probe Continues

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Andrew ParsonsPA

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick

Whitehall commissioners look set to take over running parts of Liverpool City Council as a corruption probe into the town hall continues.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick announced the proposal after a report by local government inspector Max Caller uncovered a “serious breakdown of governance” at the authority. 

The report, published on Wednesday, followed five arrests, including that of elected mayor Joe Anderson on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.

Jenrick told MPs the council was “failing to comply” with its commitment to taxpayers and inspectors had uncovered “a worrying lack of record-keeping” and the “awarding of dubious contracts”. 

The minister said the report was “not a verdict” on the authority’s staff, but that evidence of an “overall atmosphere of intimidation” had been found. 

Jenrick said he was writing to the council to outline an intervention package “centred on putting in place commissioners who I will appoint” to run aspects of the council for three years. 

He told the Commons: “I am also proposing that the council will, under the oversight of the commissioners, prepare and implement an improvement plan.”

Outlining a “deeply concerning picture of mismanagement, breakdown of scrutiny and accountability” at the council, he said: “As a whole, the report is unequivocal – that Liverpool City Council has failed in numerous respects to comply with its best value duty.

“It concludes that the council consistently failed to meet its statutory and managerial responsibilities and that the pervasive culture appeared to be rule avoidance.

“It further concludes that changes need to be radical, delivered at pace, and there was no confidence that the council itself would be able to implement these to any sensible timescale.

“There may also be further issues of which we are not yet aware, and the report is careful not to speak to matters that might compromise the ongoing police investigation.”

Peter ByrnePA

The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has been suspended from the Labour Party

The council’s director of regeneration, Nick Kavanagh, was also arrested as part of the police probe into building and development contracts in the city, and this week it was confirmed he had been dismissed from his role at the authority.

In a statement to the Liverpool Echo, he said he intended to clear his name at a tribunal.

Anderson, 63, has also denied any wrongdoing.

Merseyside Police said all suspects remain under investigation but bail has not been extended.

Jenrick said a programme of “cultural change” is expected to ensure members and officers “understand their roles”, adding he hopes Liverpool City Council will “take the lead in the path to improvement”.

He said: “Given the gravity of the inspection findings, I must consider what would happen if the council fails to deliver the necessary changes at the necessary speed.

“I’m consequently proposing to direct the transfer of all executive functions associated with regeneration, highways and property management at the authority to the commissioners. These are for use should the council not satisfy the commissioners in their improvement processes.

“I hope it won’t be necessary for the commissioners to use these powers, but they must be – in my view – empowered to do so to deliver the reforms that are required.”

Jenrick said he is proposing Liverpool City Council will move to “whole council” elections from 2023, along with a proposal for a reduced number of councillors elected on single member wards.

He said he expects to receive representations in response to the report by May 24 and the forthcoming elections will proceed as planned in May.

Responding to Jenrick, shadow communities secretary Steve Reed said it was wrong to characterise the move as a “Tory takeover” of Liverpool.

He told the Commons: “This report raises grave and serious concerns about decision-making in key functions of Liverpool City Council. All councils are under an obligation to meet their best-value duty to ensure value for money at all times. In these respects, Liverpool City Council has been found severely wanting. Labour, both here and our leadership at the city council, accept this report in full.

“The council will respond to (Jenrick’s) letter in detail but we support his intention to appoint commissioners, not at this stage to run the council, as he says, but to advise and support elected representatives in strengthening the council’s systems. This is a measured and appropriate approach.

“I want to reassure people in Liverpool that this does not mean Government ministers are coming in to run their city directly. This is not, as some would put it, a Tory takeover.

Liverpool has become a by­word for anti­-Tory sentiment – the city last had a Conservative MP 38 years ago and its last Conservative councillor lost his seat 23 years ago.

Derek Hatton, who was a member of Labour’s Militant faction and deputy mayor of the city council in the 1980s, said on Twitter: “Today could see the most outrageous and politically corrupt front to local democracy any of [us] have ever witnessed.

“Even in the ’80s Thatcher stopped short of imposing commissioners […] after she threw 47 of us out, local elections allowed 47 new Labour councillors to be then elected.”

Tom Crone, leader of the city’s Green Party group, said on Twitter: “If the government takes over Liverpool Council, that would be a disaster for the city. That we are even talking about it is a shocking indictment of this Labour administration.”

The focus of Caller’s investigation is on property management, regeneration, highways, contracts and planning at the council over the past five years.

Local elections, including a vote to elect Anderson’s successor, are due to take place in May.

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Robert Jenrick Gives Millions To Firms That Built Fire Risk Flats

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Government Issues Greater Manchester Leaders Deadline To Agree Tier 3 Restrictions

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The Government’s New Housing Rules Could Result In ‘Modern Slums’ Being Built

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