Nigel Farage claims Trump team ‘appalled’ by Chagos Islands deal – as it happened

Farage claims Trump team ‘appalled’ by Chagos Islands deal and that it would collapse like deal with China over Hong Kong did

Back in the Commons, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader and Donald Trump ally, has renewed his claim that the Trump team are strongly opposed to the UK’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Speaking during the Commons urgent question on the topic, he said:

I have been contacted by very senior officials and advisers from the incoming Republican administration, and every single one of them is appalled at this deal. They know the leasehold agreement [under which the UK would retain effective control of Diego Garcia, the main island on the Chagos Islands, housing the UK-US airbase, for at least 99 years] will not survive, just as the deal with China over Hong Kong did not survive.

Hasn’t the time come the government to admit this is a rotten deal for the UK, a rotten deal for America and an even worse deal for the Chagossians.

And if you care so much about the sovereignty of the Falklands being in the hands of the Falkland Islanders, why not have a referendum of the Chagossians and ask them to settle who should have sovereignty over those islands?

In response, Luke Pollard, the defence minister, accused Farage of “whipping up uncertainty” about the future of the Falkland Islands. And he said that when Americans examined the detal of the deal, they would see it secured the future of the Diego Garcia base.

Updated at 17.26 CET

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Early evening summary

Keir Starmer has said he wants to see “the complete rewiring of the British state to deliver bold and ambitious long-term reform” – while announcing that Sir Chris Wormald, seen as one of the more conventional shortlisted candidates, will be the next cabinet secretary.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has published new details of why the last government’s Rwanda deportation policy cost £715m – even though only four people ever ended up going there, as volunteers. (See 5.35pm.)

Downing Street has played down claims that Keir Starmer’s ambitious targets to cut waiting lists for routine operations, due to be announced in a major ‘plan for change’ speech on Thursday, could lead to other parts of the NHS losing out. (See 1.06pm.)

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has repeated his claim that Donald Trump’s team are “appalled” by the British government’s deal transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. He also claimed that over time the deal would fall apart, just as the Sino-British Joint Declaration supposedly guaranteeing Hong Kong certain rights for 50 years after the 1997 handover has been abandoned. (See 4.23pm.)

Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria Starmer at the official lighting of the Christmas tree outside No 10 this evening. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Kemi Badenoch won’t commit to reviving Rwanda policy because she knows it was ‘con’, says Cooper

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, urged Yvette Cooper to revive the Rwanda policy.

Responding to her Commons statement, he said:

Behind all the bluster and all the chat about previous governments, we see her record and her government’s record. A 64% increase in small boat crossings since the same period before the election, 6,000 extra people in hotels, the asylum backlog up by 11,000, all since the 4th of July.

We see the Rwanda deterrent, which the National Crime Agency and even Ursula von der Leyen says is necessary, cancelled by this government before it even started, so I call on her to think again on those issues.

But Cooper, the home secretary, said that Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, won’t commit to bringing back the policy because she knows it’s flawed. Cooper said:

So much do they know that this was a total failure, that their leader, their newly elected leader, won’t even promise to reinstate it. Because she knows the whole thing was a con.

Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK condemn appoinment of Wormald as cabinet secretary

The Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, which represents the relatives of people who died during the pandemic, has condemned the appointment of Chris Wormald as the new cabinet secretary. In its statement it said:

It is unbelievably frustrating and worrisome to see the government appoint Sir Christopher Wormald to the most senior civil service position in the UK, given his role at the head of the Department for Health and Social Care at a time when the NHS became completely overwhelmed, healthcare workers were sent to work without adequate PPE and lied to about it, and the UK suffered the 2nd highest death toll in Western Europe.

Time and again Christopher Wormald has refused in the UK Covid inquiry to accept failures on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, backed up by the experiences of everyone in the UK during the pandemic.

Christopher Wormald failed to prepare the Department for Health and Social Care for the pandemic, despite a pandemic being entirely foreseeable. Now he has been given responsibility for the crisis preparedness across the government. Either those in charge don’t take the failures during the pandemic seriously enough, or they fail to see the importance of preparedness and resilience ahead of the next crisis.

At the Covid inquiry last week counsel for the group, Allison Munroe KC, said Wormald’s evidence to the inquiry was “an object lesson in obfuscation”. (See 2.37pm.)

Cooper publishes full details of Tory Rwanda policy costs, including payments up to £170,000 per individual

In her statement to MPs Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said she is today publishing details of the £700m spent by the last government on the Rwanda deportation scheme. She said:

In the two years the partnership was in place, just four volunteers were sent to Rwanda at a cost of £700m pounds.

The Home Office has now published the costings document, which gives new details of some of the costs incurred with the scheme. Here is a table setting out why the scheme cost £700m. It covers costs relating to the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP), the deal with Rwanda, and and costs relating to the Illegal Migration Act (IMA), the legislation that would have allowed the UK to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda without considering their claims.

Breakdown of costs of Rwanda policy Photograph: Home Office

The document also said that, under the deal with Rwanda, the UK would have paid the Rwandan £150,000 over five years for every single asylum seeker they accepted. This money would have covered living costs and asylum processing costs. Payments would have stopped if an asylum seeker left Rwanda early, but even then there would have been a one-off payment of £10,000. The document explains:

Payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda. The Home Office agreed to pay a five-year integration package for each relocated person, which covers accommodation, essential items such as food, medical services, education and other integration programmes. These payments can potentially last for five years and total £150,874 per individual, with the total annual payment decreasing over the five-year period:

-Year 1: £45,262 (this includes £11,000 for the asylum assessment)

-Year 2: £37,718

-Year 3: £30,175

-Year 4: £22,632

-Year 5: £15,087

Under the agreement, if a relocated individual decided to leave Rwanda, the UK would stop payments for that individual but would pay the Government of Rwanda a one-off £10,000 per individual to help facilitate their voluntary departure.

These payments would have been in addition to other lump sum payments made under the scheme. The UK has already paid £290m to Rwanda under this hearing, but future payments have been stopped. The document explains:

Payments to the Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF), which were designed to support economic growth in Rwanda. These are fixed cash payments and were due while the agreement was in force. A further £100 million of ETIF payments would have been due under the Treaty, £50 million in each of the next two financial years 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027. In addition, the Home Office was liable to pay ‘volume trigger’ ETIF payment of £120 million upon the transfer of 300 people to Rwanda. A per person ETIF payment would also have been made at £20,000 per person.

The reference to a per person ETIF pyament in that final sentence means Rwanda would have been getting £170,000 per individual over five years, in addition to the big lump sum payments.

Cooper says Labour was left ‘shameful’ legacy on immigration by Tories

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, started her statment to MPs with a summary of the legacy she inherited. It was “shameful”, she said.

Over the last five years, controls in the immigration and asylum systems crumbled, legal and illegal migration both substantially increased, the backlog from the asylum system soared and enforcement of basic rules fell apart.

Net migration quardrupled in just four years to a record high of nearly a million people, and it is still more than three times higher than in 2019.

Dangerous small boat crossings rose from 300 people in 2018 to an average of total 36,000 a year in the last three years, a 120-fold increase. And in just a few short years, an entire criminal smuggling industry built around boat crossings has been allowed to take hold along the UK border.

The cost of the asylum system has also quardruped to £4bn. In 2019 there were no asylum hotels. Five years on, there are more than 200.

Returns of those with no right to be here are 30% below [the figures in] 2010. Asylum-related returns are down by 20% compared to 14 years ago. That is the legacy that we inherited from the previous government, one that former ministers have themselves admitted to be shameful.

In the Commons Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is making a statement about immigration. It follows the publication of new net migration figures last week, and the announcement of a deal with Iraq designed to reduce irregular migration from that country.

Tim Leunig, an economist and an adviser to the last government in various roles, has posted this on Bluesky about the new cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald.

Delighted that Chris Wormald has been appointed as Cabinet Secretary. Clever, committed, strategic, principled and with a good understanding of politicians.

Farage claims Trump team ‘appalled’ by Chagos Islands deal and that it would collapse like deal with China over Hong Kong did

I have been contacted by very senior officials and advisers from the incoming Republican administration, and every single one of them is appalled at this deal. They know the leasehold agreement [under which the UK would retain effective control of Diego Garcia, the main island on the Chagos Islands, housing the UK-US airbase, for at least 99 years] will not survive, just as the deal with China over Hong Kong did not survive.

Hasn’t the time come the government to admit this is a rotten deal for the UK, a rotten deal for America and an even worse deal for the Chagossians.

And if you care so much about the sovereignty of the Falklands being in the hands of the Falkland Islanders, why not have a referendum of the Chagossians and ask them to settle who should have sovereignty over those islands?

Updated at 17.26 CET

Chris Wormald was permanent secretary at the Deparment for Education before he moved to the Department of Health and Social Care. Luke Tryl, the More in Common UK director, worked with him at the DfE and he thinks Wormald will be a good cabinet secretary.

FWIW i think Chris Wormald is a good Cabinet Secretary to do this, having worked with him in DfE, he’s someone who has the experience/safe pair of hands, but can also do big reform (as DfE showed) – mistake is to think it’s one or the other.

— Luke Tryl (@LukeTryl) December 2, 2024

Sam Freedman, the Prospect columnist and Comment is Freed Substack commentator, also worked as an official at the DfE when Wormald was there. He has posted his take on the new cabinet secretary on Bluesky.

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Tories claims rushing through Chagos Islands deal ahead of Trump becoming president ‘hugely disrespectful’

Cartlidge is responding to the opening statement.

He says the government is trying to finalise the deal before President Trump is in post.

But Marco Rubio, who Trump wants to appoint as secretary of state, has said the deal poses a threat to US security, he says.

Cartlidge says the new government in Mauritius also wants a review of the deal.

He says trying to rush this deal through is “hugely disrespectful” to the incoming Trump administration.

Pollard repeats the point about all parts of the US governmment backing the deal.

It would not have been possible to secure a deal and the support of the United States if all parts of the US security apparatus were not in support of this deal.

All US government departments and agencies back UK’s deal over future of Chagos Islands, MPs told

In the Commons James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, asks an urgent question about the impact of the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on UK-US defence relations.

Luke Pollard, a defence minister, is responding. He says the deal is “strongly supported” by the US, including all relevant departments and agencies.

Sarah Sackman promoted to justice minister, and Lucy Rigby appointed solicitor general

Downing Street has announced a mini-reshuffle to fill a gap created by the promotion of Heidi Alexander to transport secretary on Friday.

Alexander was a justice minister before being appointed to replace Louise Haigh in cabinet following Haigh’s resignation.

Today Downing Street has announced that Sarah Sackman will replace Alexander as a minister of state in the Minstry of Justice, responsible for courts and legal services. Sackman was solicitor general.

And the Labour MP Lucy Rigby joins the government as solicitor general.

No 10 has also announced that Ellie Reeves, the Cabinet Office minister and Labour party chair, will start attending cabinet.

Rayner dismisses claim government plan to build 1.5m homes over five years unrealistic

Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has dismissed claims that the government’s plan to build 1.5m new homes over five years is unrealistic.

She spoke during housing questions in the Commons after Paul Holmes, a shadow housing minister, asked her about a BBC report saying many councils have told the government they do not think its target can be achieved.

Holmes said:

In just five months we can see that this government’s target of 1.5m new homes lies in tatters. The NHF (National Housing Federation) say the government will miss their target by 475,000 without more grant.

The housing minister [Matthew Pennycook] last week said the same and now Labour-run South Tyneside council say the plans are ‘wholly unrealistic’ with other Labour councils agreeing.

Isn’t it time that the government admitted defeat, come back with a deliverable plan, and provide the sector with the certainty it needs to deliver more social homes across this country?

And Rayner replied:

[Holmes] has forgotten – his government failed to meet their housing targets every single time. This government is committed to building the 1.5m homes over this parliament.

Under the Tories, housebuilding plummeted as they bowed to pressure from their backbenchers to scrap local housing targets. We’re bringing back mandatory housing targets. The chancellor [Rachel Reeves] has put more money into the affordable homes programme and we will build those homes.

He doesn’t know my history and how I work.

As Peter Walker writes in his story about the appointment of Chris Wormald as the new cabinet secretary, Wormald was “arguably the most traditional and low-key” of the four candidates on the shortlist of the job.

Olly Robbins, who oversaw Brexit negotiations under Theresa May before leaving the civil service, was seen as a possible favourite. Also in the frame were Antonia Romeo, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, and Tamara Finkelstein, who holds the same role in the environment department.

Peter also says Wormald’s record on pandemic planning may not have helped his chances.

Some evidence from the official inquiry into Covid has linked Wormald, who gave evidence to the inquiry in November last year, to what was seen as a wider prevailing complacency that the UK was well prepared for any pandemic.

Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, says some people think Wormald is not the obvious choice for a PM wanting to rewire the British state. (See 1.37pm.)

Some eyebrows raised over Starmer’s appointment of Wormald, who has been a civil servant since 1991, to deliver the “complete rewiring of the British state” he says is needed to deliver ambitious long-term reform.

(One counter-view is that a classic civil servant is better placed to do this, and take Whitehall with him, than an explosive character like Dominic Cummings.)

Lord Bethell, who worked with Chris Wormald at the Department of Health and Social Care when he was a minister there in the last government, has posted this on social media praising the new cabinet secretary.