UK politics live: Tories accuse Burnham of being ‘dangerous and divisive’ after he confirms Russian interference in Brexit campaign | Politics
Key events
One consequence of Reform UK being awash with cash from donors is that they can afford to pay for the sort of stunts that other parties would find too expensive. We have seen an example this morning. At his press conference (where he has just finished giving his opening speech), Nigel Farage is standing in front of a replica of the boat that brought a record 230 asylum seekers to the UK in August.
Burnham says Farage ‘very significantly responsible’ for UK failing to move forward in past decade
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is starting his press conference now. There is a live stream here. He is talking about illegal immigration, and claiming that he just wants the UK to get back to being a “normal country” in the sense of being a state able to control its borders.
If any journalists are short of a question, they could ask about Andy Burnham saying Farage is “very significantly responsible” for Britain being deadlocked over the past decade.
Burnham told the Rest is Politics:
I don’t know whether Nigel Farage has got the appetite that he once had. We will see.
I certainly wouldn’t be one of those who would write him off. I think people have done that before at their peril …
I don’t think it’s a politics of the kind that Nigel provides [that the UK needs], because he’s given Britain a decade of division and drift. I would hold him very significantly responsible for our failure to move forward in the last decade.
Burnham says Badenoch’s attack on ethnonationalism in Tory conference speech ‘very brave’
Many commentators said the best moment in Kemi Badenoch’s party conference speech last week came when she attacked ethnonationalists, and people like Suella Braverman who suggest black people can’t be English.
Andy Burnham liked it. He told the Rest is Politics:
I thought Kemi Badenoch did a very brave thing at her conference this week. In some ways, she did something similar to what I did at Liverpool, where she spoke from real personal experience. And that gave her the power to make that point that she did about the racism that we see in politics these days. And that clear dividing line she drew with others on the right, I thought was a real moment in British politics.
Burnham says US plan to livestream execution by firing squad ‘quite abhorrent in many ways’
In his Rest is Politics interview, Andy Burnham said he found the US proposal to livestream the execution of a mass killer by firing squad “abhorrent”.
Asked if Britain would take a stand on this, he replied:
It’s something that I can’t say I ever want to see anywhere in the world. It’s something that I find quite abhorrent in many ways. But I only want to speak for what we will do, and why we will do it.
Burnham said the government did not have to provide a “constant running commentary on everybody else”. But it should be clear about “what we stand for, what we believe is right and wrong.” He went on:
Let Britain stand for something in a world that seems to change every day.
Burnham says governments in past have not done enough to tell public about extent of Russian interference in UK politics
Andy Burnham made his comment about Russian interference in the Brexit campaign (see 9.28am) in an interview with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart for their podcast, the Rest is Politics. The full interview is available today for podcast members, but the producers have released extracts to journalists.
Here is the full quote on Russia and Brexit. In it, Burnham specifically addressed the argument made by the Conservative party today – that he should not be raking up the past. Burnham said the government had not done enough to tell people about the extent to which Russia is interfering in western politics.
On Brexit, he said:
I asked the question coming to Downing Street, ‘Was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?’ And I’ve had the clear answer that, ‘Yes, there was.’
These things are important now to put clearly on the record, and I believe, help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia.
And, I think we’ve been too much on the back foot on that, actually. And we haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas.
Burnham also said he had discussed this issue with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, when they met in Berlin last week. Burnham said:
We have had a decade of drift and division that has caused more harm than good. In my view, we are a more fractious country than we were. We have a weaker sense of direction. And these are all the things I’m trying to fix as prime minister.
I want to draw a line on that decade … And one thing I did say to Chancellor Merz yesterday is, ‘We need to support you in taking on the threat that you face and particularly the type of politics that you’re facing.’ He was saying to me that the AfD is clearly linked to Russia, funded, I believe.
There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics, as I heard yesterday. And I’ve asked the question myself coming into this role, because I gave a speech to the UN recently on this very topic.
I don’t think we knew back then the extent to which there was state-sponsored interference in the British democratic process.
Farage says Reform UK would stop anyone being granted asylum for five years
Nigel Farage is set to announce a pledge to ban anyone from being granted asylum for five years if Reform were elected, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The Reform UK leader will announce a plan this morning to suspend the asylum system for a full parliamentary term and declare void any applications in progress.
All asylum tribunals, legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes will be scrapped.
A Reform government would not hear the around 90,000 outstanding asylum and humanitarian protection appeals and instead deport the claimants.
The party would immediately close resettlement schemes that home secretary Shabana Mahmood recently said would reopen, with around a quarter of those admitted to the UK expected to be Palestinians and women and girls from Afghanistan.
Reform says there is “no mandate” for such schemes and that anyone who has arrived under them would be deported.
Any refugees granted asylum in the last five years would have their cases reviewed by the Home Office under the plans.
Farage told The Telegraph: “The country is currently facing a national security emergency and the first duty of government is to protect its citizens. We cannot accept more asylum seekers while we still have no idea how many people are in the country illegally and the threat they pose. A Reform government will always put British people first and protect our borders.”
The party will also pledge to use tariffs to force countries to take back migrants.
Summing up his announcement on social media this morning, Farage said:
Today, I am announcing that a Reform UK Government will SHUT DOWN the asylum system.
This is a national security emergency and must be dealt with.
Ed Davey praises Burnham for confirming Russia tried to influence Brexit referendum result
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has praised Andy Burnham for confirming that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum. (See 9.28am.) In a statement, he said:
I’m not going to agree with Andy Burnham on everything, but this statement needed to be said by a prime minister. After the Conservatives suppressed the truth for years, this took courage.
We must do far more to protect our democracy from attack by the Kremlin and other hostile states, before it is too late.
Tories accuse Burnham of being ‘dangerous and divisive’ after he confirms Russian interference in Brexit campaign
Good morning. The last time Andy Burnham gave a statement to MPs after a recess, it went on for more than three hours. This prompted Kemi Badenoch to make a lewd joke later about the PM’s stamina (which she repeated at a party conference reception with an additional line about how she just had to “sit back and lie there”.) Today we are getting another post-recess, potentially wide-ranging statement from the PM, but the mood might not be so cordial.
Quite a lot has happened since MPs were last in the chamber almost a month ago, and they will want to ask the PM about issues like the cost of living, North Sea oil and gas, the Iran war and Ukraine. We have not been told yet exactly what Burnham’s statement will cover. But, as Aletha Adu reports, Burnham will talk about Brexit, restating what he told Labour’s conference about how he thinks it has done more harm than good and making the case for trying to find a better, closer relationship with the EU.
The statement will come after 3.30pm
Burnham has also given an interview to the Rest is Politics podcast and in it he confirmed that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum. This is one of those statements, quite common in politics, which are simultaneously unremarkable and newsworthy. Unremarkable – because it has been obvious to anyone reading the news for the past decade that the Russians were trying to help the leave campaign. And newsworthy – because it is not something that any previous PM has been keen to say.
For some years ministers have been using the line – set out in 2020 in the government’s response to the intelligence and security committee’s report on the threat posed by Russia – that “we have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum”. That implies there is evidence of unsuccessful interference. But in the past prime ministers have not said that explicity. Post-2016 Tory PMs, whether they voted leave or remain, did not want to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the leave vote, and Keir Starmer was also reluctant to poke his stick into that particular hornets’ nest.
Burnham is taking a different approach. In his interview, Burnham was not asked, and did not say, if he thought that Russian interference had an impact on the result. Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, has been giving interview this morning and he told Times Radio:
The result is the result, and I think the prime minister has been very clear that he’s talking about attempts to interfere. The security minister has spoken about this before. I’m confident that both the British people and the British state are able to respond to and defend against these types of threats, but we need to be very honest that those threats exist.
(“I think the PM has been very clear” is the sort of thing a minister says when what they mean is “Of course, the PM wasn’t clear at all, but I’m happy to give you the line now.” Doughty later told LBC the Russians “haven’t succeeded in their many, many attempts to undermine our [democratic] processes”.)
The Conservatives have criticised Burnham for even raising the topic. Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, told Times Radio this morning:
That Brexit referendum was a legitimate vote. People voted in this country in record numbers to leave the European Union. And I actually think it’s very dangerous and divisive of the prime minister to reopen this debate in such an explosive fashion.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Kanishka Narayan, the AI minister, gives a speech.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Zia Yusuf, its home affairs spokesperson, hold a press conference.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Afternoon: MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) will vote on a no confidence motion in Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin first minister, over her support for a protest against the proposed Orange Order march down the Garvachy Road.
After 3.30pm: Andy Burnham makes a statement to MP.
Late afternoon: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, makes a statement to the Commons on the safety of MPs.
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