Government has no timetable for returning people to the Bibby Stockholm, but says "soon as possible"" Downing Street declined to say when asylum seekers might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, after traces of legionella bacteria were found. PA Media reports the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back onto the boat as soon as possible. The Home Office is awaiting the results of further tests. Once those have been completed, obviously the intention is to return people. The spokesperson said the Home Office was still “clarifying” when officials were made aware of issues on the barge. “Ministers were made aware on Thursday evening about the results of the test,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said. Asked who made the decision to put people on the boat before the test results for Legionella bacteria came back, he said it was a “decision taken by the Home Office in conjunction, having all the relevant tests being done and making sure that the checks are in place”. The spokesperson added: “These are routine precautionary tests for legionella, which is why people were able to embark.” Summary of the day Downing Street declined to say when asylum seekers might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, after traces of legionella bacteria were found. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back on to the boat as soon as possible.” Asked if the prime minister still had confidence in the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and the work of the Home Office after the Bibby Stockholm evacuation, No 10 said yes. The health secretary, Steve Barclay, claimed that ministers at the Home Office were only informed of the situation on Thursday night, and acted swiftly. Thirty nine people were removed from the vessel on Friday. He backed people being returned to the vessel. Former home secretary Priti Patel has accused the government of being “secretive” and “evasive” about plans to house asylum seekers on a disused RAF base. Rishi Sunak’s government has attempted to define this week’s media activity as being about the NHS, and immediately sparked a row with devolved administrations over a call by the UK health secretary that waiting patients in Scotland and Wales would be welcomed to get treatment faster in England, where a record 7.6 million people are on NHS waiting lists. The Welsh health minister, Eluned Morgan, described Barclay’s comments as a “naked political hit” and said “the fact is we measure very, very differently. We count in our statistics diagnostics and therapies. None of those are counted in the English figures. He should concentrate on his job and I will concentrate on mine.” The Scottish health secretary, Michael Matheson, said: “The NHS in England is about to experience its fifth round of strikes by junior doctors. Rather than attempting to involve themselves in devolved areas, the UK government would be well served focusing on tackling the many issues in the health service south of the border.” Barclay would not be drawn on claims that two-thirds of cancer targets in NHS England will be scrapped. Asked about the newspaper reports he said: “There is a consultation at the moment, the story relates to a leak, and ministers don’t comment on leaks.” The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” on cancer targets in England. During a visit to Edinburgh he said “under the last Labour government, we had targets, we hit those targets. We didn’t walk away when the going got tough. With this government, it’s targets that they’ve repeatedly failed to hit. And now what they’re doing is moving the goalposts and even where they’re keeping targets after this streamlining, there’s targets they’re still not hitting.” Sinn Féin’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly, has described as “sinister” the posting of documents, purporting to be part of a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak, on a wall facing its offices on the Falls Road in Belfast. Kelly said the document, with the names of officers removed, was posted on the wall overnight alongside his photo and a threatening message. PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said: “We are aware that some redacted information from the Tuesday 8 August data breach has allegedly been posted on a wall in west Belfast today. We have commenced an investigation into this matter.” Starmer has played down any assertions of a split between Scottish and UK Labour. “Anas and I have got a very, very strong working relationship,” he said, referring to the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar. Starmer also responded to comments from Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, that a minority Labour government would be “the best outcome for Scotland”. The Labour leader said: “I want a majority Labour government so that we can fix and rebuild our country and take our country forward, so that’s what I’m aiming for. I’m not going to do a deal with the SNP, and among the reasons for that is the appalling record they’ve got in government.” I will be closing the live blog shortly. Thank you for all your comments, and I will see you here again tomorrow. I notice in the comments a few of you have questioned the John Redwood quote in the opinion piece I linked to earlier, notably the bit about “loose language by some on both sides of the migration debate”: The recent use of swear words and loose language by some on both sides of the migration debate creates much heat but little light on a sensitive subject. Left and right agree that the people smugglers are evil, exploiting some vulnerable asylum seekers and some economic migrants who are persuaded to try to cheat the system. All agree we need to stop the dangerous small boats. None of us want to see people drowning. I’m going to assume that he was referring to Diane Abbott’s deleted tweet, her response to Lee Anderson’s comments that disgruntled asylum seekers should​ “fuck off back to France​”, that “these migrants have indeed fucked off. To the bottom of the sea” following the deaths of 41 migrants in a shipwreck off Italy. There did appear to be a concerted effort on social media to whip up some outrage about Abbott’s use of language, which Redwood presumably saw, despite the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, having defended Anderson’s choice of words. A reminder you can read that panel in full here: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on ‘woke’, migrants and the environment save the Tories? The SNP has decided that two can play at that game, if the UK government is going to insist on spending the day talking about health service statistics. The Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled jets on Monday to intercept two Russian bombers that were travelling north of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. PA Media reports armed forces minister James Heappey said: “RAF crews at Lossiemouth maintain a constant watch over UK airspace and are always ready to take action at a moment’s notice to keep our country safe. “Pilots launched in their Typhoon jets to intercept two Russian long-range bombers this morning, monitoring them as they passed north of the Shetland Islands, ready to counter any potential threat to UK territory.” Our opinion desk today has assembled a panel being asked the question: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on “woke”, migrants and the environment save the Tories? It features North Yorkshire Conservative councillor Tom Jones, Labour party parliamentary candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green Faiza Shaheen, president of the Liberal Democrats Mark Pack, former leader of the Green party Natalie Bennett and Conservative MP for Wokingham John Redwood, who has surely never knowingly put the “woke” in Wokingham. As a sample, here is Tom Jones: The fact is, after delivering an 80-seat majority, those who lent their vote in 2019 have a right to ask for higher interest than ministers waging a culture war. That’s the crux of the credibility issue: after 13 years in power, voters expect action, not politically toothless gestures against cultural left-liberalism. Credibility can only be earned by doing what Conservative governments are elected to do; that is to govern conservatively, rather than complain about their inability to do so. And here is Natalie Bennett: Samuel Johnson’s maxim clearly has to be updated. The “last refuge of a political scoundrel” is now culture war. Our prime minister is following the Trumpian lead of attacking the principled, the innovative and the honest in the hope of energising voters who value noise over substance, aggression over compassion. Sunak is no William Pitt the Elder, for this is clearly the desperate last stand of a discredited government out of ideas. It is clearly detached from the reality of the world now in the climate crisis … [and] Sunak won’t acknowledge that treating refugees decently is absolutely a British value. You can read more here: Can Sunak’s rightwing war on ‘woke’, migrants and the environment save the Tories? The Sky News political correspondent Amanda Akass has said “we are still suffering from quite a lack of clarity over exactly who in government knew what and why the decision to remove those migrants [from the Bibby Stockholm] was only made on the Friday”. Here is a reminder of the timeline: On Sunday 6 August it emerged an internal health document had warned that many could be infected if there was an outbreak of a disease such as diphtheria onboard. On Monday 7 August the first asylum seekers were moved on to the barge. Dorset council said it got results indicating there was legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm also on Monday 7 August, and told the Home Office contractor that operates the barge. On Tuesday 8 August, Dorset council also said Home Office officials were present at a meeting on Tuesday and were told about the findings then. Steve Barclay, the health secretary, and the prime minister’s official spokesperson have both asserted to the media today that Home Office ministers only found out about this on the evening of Thursday 10 August, and acted swiftly. Thirty-nine people were removed from the vessel on Friday 11 August. Akass suggested the government today attempting to stress when ministers were informed “does rather seem to be a bit of an effort to shift attention on to the junior officials who were at that meeting, rather than exactly what decisions were made by government ministers”. The number of black and minority ethnic (BME) workers in insecure work has more than doubled, from 360,200 to 836,340, between 2011 to 2022, data reveals. The research, published by the Trades Union Congress on Monday, showed the proportion of BME workers in low-paid and insecure work increased from 12.2% to 17.8% in the last decade. In comparison, the proportion of white workers in insecure work only rose marginally from 10.5% to 10.8%. Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, described the the findings as “structural racism in action”, adding: “No matter your background, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect at work. But too many black and ethnic minority workers are trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs with limited rights and protections, and treated like disposable labour. “The massive and disproportionate concentration of BME workers in insecure work – like in the gig economy – is structural racism in action.” The term “insecure work” covers people on low pay, on variable hours, such as zero-hours contracts, or doing seasonal or agency work. Read more here: Data on insecure work in UK shows ‘structural racism in action’, TUC says The Welsh health minister has hit back at the UK health secretary, Steve Barclay, accusing him of a “naked political hit” after the Tory minister’s criticism of the nation’s waiting lists. Eluned Morgan rejected Barclay’s comments, after he said he would be “open to requests” for patients from Wales and Scotland to be treated on the NHS in England. The government has decided to make the NHS the theme of its communications this week, as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, seeks to meet his pledge of cutting waiting lists. According to the most recent NHS England data, a record 7.6 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of June. Barclay told the BBC on Monday: “In England we have virtually eliminated waits of over 18 months, whereas in Wales for example there are over 70,000 patients waiting more than 18 months.” The Conservatives have been using the attack line on social media. But the Welsh minister for health said progress had been made in recent months to improve the NHS in Wales, adding that Cardiff was “far more honest with the public” over health service data than London. Morgan told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “I think it’s just summer political fever time. They’re taking this opportunity to try to distract attention from the fact that they have 7.5 million people waiting on their waiting list. And the fact is we measure very, very differently. “We count in our statistics diagnostics and therapies. None of those are counted in the English figures. Of course we are still challenged, we’re all still getting over the pandemic. We do have waiting lists that are too long in Wales, but it’s a situation that is not considerably better in England.” PA Media reports the Labour politician was also sceptical of Barclay’s offer for Welsh patients to be treated in England. “Where on earth would he find the capacity from in England, when he has got 7.5 million people waiting for treatment there? It’s a naked political hit in the middle of the silly season … He should concentrate on his job and I will concentrate on mine.” There are some images from PA now of Sinn Féin police spokesperson Gerry Kelly addressing the media in Belfast where documents purporting to be from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak were pasted up. [See 12.54 BST] Priti Patel criticises "secretive and evasive’ plan to house asylum seekers at Essex RAF base The former home secretary Priti Patel has accused the government of being “secretive” and “evasive” about plans to house asylum seekers on a disused RAF base that has become the target of protests and legal challenges, Ben Quinn reports. Sinn Féin’s policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly has given a little more information to the media about the incident in Belfast this morning which appears to show that dissident Republicans do have hold of the data leaked from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). PA Media reports he said: One of the staff in the office got in touch with me this morning when he came into work. He noticed that on the side of the library there was a number of documents pasted up. There was a photograph of myself and then there was a statement saying in large writing ‘Gerry, we know who your mates are’. Under that there was what appeared to be, and what turned out to be, a section of the leaked documents that were put out. It did not have the names of the police officers involved, but it had everything else. It wasn’t the whole 10,000 [names], but it was a substantial number. He added: I look upon this as a threat by dissidents to me and I will not be intimidated. More serious is that this is the dissidents, or whoever is involved, putting out that their claim that they have access to the leaked documents, they are putting out a verification on that. I think that is their main intention. PSNI data leak document and "sinister" threat posted on wall opposite Sinn Féin office in Belfast Sinn Féin policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly has described as “sinister” the posting of a document, purporting to be part of a major Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data leak, on a wall facing its offices on the Falls Road in Belfast. Kelly said the document, with the names of officers removed, was posted on the wall overnight alongside his photo and a threatening message. PA Media reports he said in a statement: “This is a very obvious attempt by dissident republicans to intimidate me. “Even more sinister, this is a very public indication that the dissidents do have access to the sensitive information in the data leak document. It therefore represents a very real threat to the officers, and the civilian staff involved. “I have of course reported this incident to the PSNI and I would appeal to anyone with information to bring that information forward. “Sinn Féin represents the vast majority of people in the nationalist community and we will certainly not be intimidated by dissident groups who have virtually no support and who offer nothing but disruption and threats in an attempt to make themselves relevant. They should disband and end their anti-community activities.” PSNI assistant chief constable Chris Todd said: “We are aware that some redacted information from the Tuesday 8 August data breach has allegedly been posted on a wall in west Belfast today. We have commenced an investigation into this matter. “From the outset we have been planning for this potential development and that plan is now being put into place. “We recognise the impact this may have on our officers, staff and their families and additional security and reassurance patrols have already been implemented across Northern Ireland as part of our organisational response. “The safety and welfare of our officers and staff remains our priority and we have reminded them of their personal safety and security both on and off duty.” At the weekend it emerged that about 200 police officers and staff were not informed by the PSNI about the theft of devices and documents with data potentially affecting them for almost a month. The data leak happened after a spreadsheet was mistakenly published online detailing the surname, initial, rank or grade, location and the departments of all current PSNI officers and civilian staff members. Incidentally, PA Media reports that asked if the prime minister still had confidence in the home secretary and the work of the Home Office after the Bibby Stockholm evacuation over safety, No 10 said yes. But his official spokesperson said: “I think we will be communicating with all relevant groups to see if there are any lessons that can be learned, as you would expect in any public health situation. We remain confident that we have acted quickly once informed.” Government has no timetable for returning people to the Bibby Stockholm, but says "soon as possible"" Downing Street declined to say when asylum seekers might be returned to the Bibby Stockholm barge, after traces of legionella bacteria were found. PA Media reports the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: We’re not putting a timeline on that. We do expect them to be back onto the boat as soon as possible. The Home Office is awaiting the results of further tests. Once those have been completed, obviously the intention is to return people. The spokesperson said the Home Office was still “clarifying” when officials were made aware of issues on the barge. “Ministers were made aware on Thursday evening about the results of the test,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said. Asked who made the decision to put people on the boat before the test results for Legionella bacteria came back, he said it was a “decision taken by the Home Office in conjunction, having all the relevant tests being done and making sure that the checks are in place”. The spokesperson added: “These are routine precautionary tests for legionella, which is why people were able to embark.” Today my colleague Aamna Mohdin has an interview with Dawn Butler, the third Black woman to be elected an MP. In it she talks about the consequences of calling Boris Johnson a liar in parliament: “There’s a certain group of white men who constantly try to put me in my place, who constantly try to push me back and say: ‘No, you’re not getting any further.’ They don’t want the system to change, because the system works for them the way it should,” Butler says. “I had this internal battle that was raging for quite a while. I tried to use all of the parliamentary levers to hold the prime minister to account and nothing was working. In the end, I got so frustrated that I had to do something about it and so that’s why I called him a liar,” she says. She did so on 22 July 2021. There was a handful of MPs present, wearing masks and social distancing. The deputy speaker asked her to withdraw her words, as under Commons rules it is forbidden for an MP to accuse another of lying. But Butler refused. “I knew it was breaking parliamentary protocol, but this is a system that isn’t working. How can we allow someone to come to parliament and lie in parliament consistently and not call it out?” She was duly ejected. While Keir Starmer said, three days later, that Butler was right, she says she faced criticism from other MPs – including from within her own party. One Labour colleague texted to ask if she had done it to embarrass the deputy speaker, while others quietly unfollowed her on social media. “I knew I was doing this as a lone MP,” Butler says now. But “I wasn’t expecting quite the shame that other people felt. It was really obvious why I did it, because the prime minister kept lying. Had you not heard him?” In June 2023, the privileges committee concluded not only had Johnson deliberately misled parliament, he was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him. In short, Butler was right. You can read more here: Dawn Butler – ‘It is shocking, the disrespect for Black women in the Commons’