By Jennifer Scott, Political Reporter
The days of Brexit as opposed to Remain are long gone. But the Conservative Party and its factions are still able to draw war lines between themselves when MPs face a very important vote.
This week, the focus is on Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill – his attempt to revive the bill, deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, which would see asylum seekers arriving in small boats deported to the African country.
The bill passed its second reading in a crunch Commons vote – but different factions within the Tory party will continue to cause problems for the prime minister on this key piece of legislation as it continues its legislative journey.
Here, we take a look at the existing factions of the and what they want.
With the holidays fast approaching, MPs will return to their constituents during the Christmas season.
The latest opinion polls will be cause for festive cheer for Labour, although Conservative MPs will feel a glaring lack of goodwill.
The Sky News live poll tracker – collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team – aggregates various surveys to give an indication of how voters feel about different political parties.
Labor averaged 42. 8% to the Conservatives’ 25. 2%, an 18-point lead.
In third are the Lib Dems on 11.2%, followed by Reform on around 9.2% and the Greens on 6.4% – with the SNP on 2.6%.
Check out the most recent update below and you can learn more about the tracker method here.
Rishi Sunak is facing another by-election after House of Commons criteria committee MP Scott Benton was suspended from the House for 35 days.
Mr Benton was suspended from the parliamentary Tory party in April after being caught by The Times suggesting he would be willing to break lobbying rules for money.
In its ruling handed down on Thursday, the committee said “by repeatedly indicating his willingness to disregard the House’s rules, and by giving the impression that many Members of the House had in the past and will in the future engage in such misconduct, Mr Benton committed a very serious breach” of the rules.
A suspension of more than 10 days – if passed by a vote in the Commons – means that a recall petition is triggered.
This means that Mr Benton’s electorate can do so if they need to hold by-elections.
He was elected Conservative MP for Blackpool South in 2019 and holds a majority of just 3,690 votes. It had been a Labour seat since 1997, but before that it was a Conservative.
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Software programmers, IT specialists and chefs could be in shorter supply when an increased minimum salary for skilled worker visas kicks in next year, according to analysis conducted for Sky News.
Currently, corporations sponsoring a foreign professional employee to obtain a visa will have to pay a minimum wage of £26,200, although this will increase to £38,700 from April, which is above the “current price” for most eligible professions and trades.
Analysis by immigration specialists Eversheds Sutherland found that among jobs with an official rate below the new threshold, peak programs were for IT and software professionals, as well as chefs, in the first part of this year.
Audrey Elliott, wife and head of immigration at Eversheds Sutherland, said adjustments and a lack of detail by the Home Office since Home Secretary James Cleverley made the main announcement last week were creating uncertainty.
“The replacement proposal regarding the salary threshold is significant and this expansion has many ramifications that will need to be explored as main points available,” he said.
“Meanwhile, we are going through an era of uncertainty for employers, workers and candidates. Employers in the UK have faced many challenging situations in recent years when it comes to equipping their businesses with skills and expertise. “
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After a day of wrangling with his MPs, Rishi Sunak emerged victorious on Tuesday from a vote on his controversial law aimed at saving the Rwandan project.
No Conservative MPs voted against, many abstained, meaning a confrontation still looms in the new year as the various factions seek to find some not unusual ground.
But for now, the bill is going through the parliamentary process, and you can find out how your parliamentarian voted with our tool below:
By Jennifer Scott, Political Reporter
Rishi Sunak’s Rwandan law survived its first introduction in the House of Commons, as MPs subsidised the bill at the time of its reading.
The minister is fighting to save his asylum mission in Rwanda and fulfill his promise to “stop the boats. “
The aim is for those who do not enter the UK by legal means to be sent with a one-way ticket to the East African country.
But last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the policy was illegal and simply could not be prosecuted, concluding that there is a genuine threat that genuine refugees sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries, where they would face “ill-treatment. “.
In a bid to address the concerns, Home Secretary James Cleverly travelled to the country’s capital Kigali to sign a fresh deportation treaty before setting out the details of a proposed bill, which will return to the Commons in the new year.
Sky News takes a look at the minister’s plan for Rwanda, why it proved moot, and what happens next:
Scott Benton was suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party in April after the Times suggested he would be willing to violate regulations on lobbying for money.
In a ruling on Thursday, the criteria committee accused Mr Benton of a “very serious violation” of the rules.
Now the Blackpool South MP says he will appeal his suspension and make a formal report on how his case has been handled.
“This procedure is designed to be open, fair and fair and so that the public and parliamentarians can have confidence in the procedure,” said Mr Sanchez Benton.
“This agreement was violated by the members of the Comité. No I can take for granted a normative procedure that does not respect its own ethics, criteria and principles.
“Time and time again, this process has demonstrated itself to me to be anything but fair and transparent.
“This resolution was heavily influenced by the memorandum submitted through the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which comprises a number of statements that are absolutely inaccurate as to the facts.
“If those judging parliamentarians do not show open-mindedness, fairness and proportionality in the way they examine evidence or cross-examine witnesses, our democracy is under threat.
“I will gladly undergo a procedure that takes into account the actual facts of my case and is based on incontrovertible evidence.
“Respect for the principles of fairness and due process is paramount, and I hope that an evaluation will take into account the facts and lead to a fairer decision. “
If you missed last night’s edition of Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, no, because you can catch up right here on Politics Hub.
Sophy spoke to Denise Fergus, James Bulger’s mother. This happened after the parole board rejected the request of one of her son’s killers, Jon Venables.
He heard from former Conservative minister Lord Vaizey and Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell.
Watch the full visualization here:
Just Stop Oil demonstrated last night at Sir Keir Starmer’s home to call for him to dedicate himself to removing new oil and fuel licenses issued by the government.
The activists turned up at the Labour leader’s North London family home to sing Christmas carols with a climate change twist.
They had symptoms that read “Revoke Rosebank,” a reference to the government’s approval of drilling in Rosebank’s oil box in the North Sea, and “No new oil and gas,” while singing Christmas carols with lyrics expressing political and environmental concerns.
They were moved away by police to a nearby Tube station, at which point one protester read out a letter to Sir Keir, saying he appears to have “wavered in your commitment to show real leadership” on “ending new oil and gas projects in the UK”.
No arrests have been made, the Metropolitan Police confirmed, officials were present.
Historically, the homes of politicians’ relatives are considered to be off-limits to protests, but in the past the organisation has attacked Rishi Sunak’s home in London, while Greenpeace has attacked his home in North Yorkshire.
Asked why Sir Keir’s family home had been targeted, a JSO spokeswoman told the PA news agency: “All of our homes should be places where we feel safe, and know that our families are secure.
“As any chance of [the world] staying below 1.5C of heating died this year, no one is now secure – in Parliament, in an office or at home.”
The spokeswoman said politicians are planning to make this worse”, adding: “We refuse to let them go home and forget about the day job.”
By James Sillars, Economic Journalist
NatWest says an external review found no evidence of political discrimination or in the closure of visitor accounts at its Coutts division, amid the dispute over Nigel Farage’s bank withdrawal.
The bank, which commissioned law firm Travers Smith to investigate the case, said it had reviewed 84 visitor account closures, all applicable PEP (politically exposed persons) cases over a two-year period starting in July.
They represented, the taxpayer-backed lender said, a total sample of around 10% of relevant account closures in the period.
“The report confirms that decision-making was consistent with relevant standards and otherwise appropriate and that there was no evidence of discrimination due to political views or affiliations, or any other protected characteristic,” the bank stated.
He added that there were several spaces where Coutts’ policies and procedures related to consumers’ “exit decisions” had become known and that he would put all recommendations into effect.
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