6:52 am, November 15, 2023
Sunak faces PMQs grilling amid fallout from Braverman letter
Rishi Sunak faces his first Prime Minister’s Questions since a dramatic Cabinet reshuffle that saw his sacked former home secretary launch a scathing attack on his leadership.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been given plenty of ammunition as he goes head to head with the PM on Wednesday less than 24 hours after Suella Braverman accused him of being ‘uncertain’ and ‘weak’ in a parting broadside.
PMQs is also set to closely follow a Supreme Court ruling on the lawfulness of the government’s plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda, which is expected in the morning.
Labour seeks vote on Middle East stance while SNP urges MPs to back ceasefire
Labour is to put forward an amendment to the King’s Speech to ‘reaffirm’ its position on the conflict in the Middle East while the SNP has urged MPs to demand a ceasefire.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said Parliament must ‘show moral leadership’ and vote in favour of backing an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Labour said it is ‘not going to be engaging’ with the amendment put forward by the SNP to the King’s Speech, but is to seek its own motion addressing concerns on both sides of Middle East conflict. A party spokesman suggested the amendment would include reference to the lack of action by Hamas to release about 240 hostages and the ‘scale of civilian casualties in Gaza’.
Supreme Court to rule on Rwanda asylum policy
The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment on whether Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy is lawful after Suella Braverman warned he has no credible back-up to ‘stop the boats’.
Justices at the UK’s highest court will on Wednesday hand down their verdict on the prime minister’s legislation to remove asylum seekers to Kigali if they arrive by unauthorised means.
Defeat for the government will further frustrate what Downing Street admits is a ‘crucial’ part of his plans to halt Channel crossings and will inflame the row with the sacked home secretary. In an excoriating letter to the PM, Braverman warned he has no ‘credible Plan B’ if the High Court ruling that the policy is unlawful is upheld.
Israel says it has launched an operation inside Gaza hospital
Israel says their forces have entered Gaza’s Shifa hospital, the site of a lengthy stand-off.
The Israeli army had surrounded the facility as part of its ground offensive against Hamas, claiming the militant group conceals military operations in the hospital complex. But with hundreds of patients and medical personnel inside, it had refrained from entering.
It said on Wednesday that their forces were conducting a ‘precise’ operation against Hamas in a specific area of the complex while taking steps to avoid harm to civilians.
UK inflation set to fall ‘dramatically’ as energy prices ease
Price rises in the UK are set to have fallen sharply last month in an encouraging sign for the prime minister and his pledge to halve inflation by the end of the year.
A slowdown in gas and electricity inflation is expected to drive a drop in Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation in October, providing some relief for households being squeezed by the rising cost of living.
Official figures are predicted to show CPI inflation at 4.7% in October, down from 6.7% in September. It would mark the lowest inflation rate for two years.
Government’s lack of long-term planning risks jeopardising net zero, MPs warn
A lack of long-term planning from the government risks jeopardising the UK’s legally-mandated 2050 net zero target, MPs have warned.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government did not consider what levels of long-term investment might be required up to 2050 to support net zero technologies when it set out timescales for their development in 2021.
In a report published on Wednesday, the committee said that too often the plans for supporting the progression of these technologies have been short-term, putting at risk the large amounts of private investment needed to achieve net zero by 2050. It added that overall there has also been a lack of clarity for businesses and a lack of support for consumers.
Tuesday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- London’s Ulez is still causing headaches for some used car dealers
- Customers accuse flooded Jaguar Land Rover dealership of using bouncers to ‘hide’ ruined cars
- Consumer finance market struggled in September despite new plate day
- Polestar rules out budget EV as boss tells Car Dealer that cheaper models are ‘not our business’
- Warrington used car dealer slapped with enforcement order after breaching council demands
Cervical cancer ‘to be eliminated in England by 2040’
Cervical cancer will be wiped out in England by 2040, the head of the NHS has pledged.
Amanda Pritchard will tell the NHS Providers’ conference in Liverpool that the combination of giving a vaccine in schools and cervical screening means the disease is on track to be eradicated.
She will say England is one of the first countries in the world to set such an elimination pledge within the next two decades. In England, the NHS will now ramp up its efforts to get more people vaccinated – including in libraries and sports centres – as well as driving up the number of women attending screening.
Paris mayor to ask voters to decide on ‘significant’ parking fee hike for SUVs
Does Paris have too many SUVs? The French capital’s mayor is putting that question to voters in the run-up to next year’s Olympic Games.
It is the latest salvo in Anne Hidalgo’s long-running campaign to make the city more friendly to pedestrians and the planet, and less friendly to cars.
Voters will be asked on February 4 whether to impose a ‘very significant’ hike in parking fees for SUVs visiting the city, Ms Hidalgo said in a video posted online. She hopes the vote will send a message to carmakers to stop ‘pushing to buy ever-bigger, more expensive, more resource-guzzling, more polluting’ vehicles.
Updated Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 now on sale
Volkswagen’s refreshed ID.4 and ID.5 electric SUVs have now gone on sale, priced from £46,035.
As part of this 2024 update, both cars now use a larger 12.9-inch touchscreen running on a new generation of infotainment. Changes include new menus, while the touch sliders used to change the temperature are now illuminated. Changes have also been made to the augmented reality head-up display, while the drive mode selector has been moved to the steering column.
Changes have also been made under the surface, with a new drive unit helping to boost the performance of the standard models quite significantly, now producing 282bhp as standard, while torque has been boosted from 310Nm to 545Nm. The GTX model gets a 41bhp boost to 335bhp.
Weather
Light and patchy rain for northern England and southern Scotland, reports BBC Weather. Elsewhere it’ll be dry with some spells of sunshine. A breezy day in the south. Temperatures around 12 degrees.
A clear, chilly night, but southern areas will begin to cloud over towards dawn with rain expected to fall.
