Yvette Cooper criticises Braverman for scapegoating LGBT people in ‘deeply divisive’ speech Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has issued a statement about Suella Braverman’s speech on X (Twitter) which is stronger than the statement about it she issued overnight, before we had seen the text. (See 10.13am.) She says it was “deeply divisive” and unworthy of Braverman’s office. Suella Braverman has so lost grip of Tory asylum chaos, she is targeting & scapegoating LGBT people. Deeply divisive, damaging political game playing – unworthy of her office. Instead of blaming people persecuted in places like Uganda for who they love, she shd sort chaos at home Closing summary Suella Braverman has been rebuked by the United Nations refugee agency after claiming that world leaders have failed to make wholesale reform of human rights laws because of fears of being branded “racist or illiberal”. The UNHCR on Tuesday issued a highly unusual statement defending the 1951 refugee convention and highlighting the UK’s record asylum claim backlog. It came after the home secretary refused to rule out leaving the convention and said that the international community had “collectively failed” to modernise international laws. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has issued a statement about Suella Braverman’s speech on X (Twitter) which is stronger than the statement about it she issued overnight, before we had seen the text. (See 10.13am.) She says it was “deeply divisive” and unworthy of Braverman’s office, adding: “Suella Braverman has so lost grip of Tory asylum chaos, she is targeting & scapegoating LGBT people. Deeply divisive, damaging political game playing – unworthy of her office. Instead of blaming people persecuted in places like Uganda for who they love, she shd sort chaos at home”. Suella Braverman’s speech would not be “out of place on a far-right conspiracy website”, the Green party has said. Commenting on the home secretary’s speech, the Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “This is a horrifying speech from a British home secretary that would not be out of place on a far-right conspiracy website. It is language straight out of the gutter that should have no place in a fair and compassionate society.” The UN’s refugee agency has hit back at Suella Braverman’s speech in Washington, in which she called for changes to the international refugee convention. In a statement published after Suella Braverman’s speech, the UNHCR said reform was not needed. The chair of an influential group of Conservative MPs including many from northern constituencies has signalled they may be open to a compromise that would mean the second phase of HS2 being delayed for several years. Amid continuing lobbying of Downing Street by opponents of the multimillion scheme and supporters fighting to preserve it, the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs appear willing to back a lengthy delay to the Birmingham-Manchester leg if a co-called “Charles line” connecting northern cities is preserved. Johnny Mercer received almost £8,000 in taxpayers’ cash after he was sacked by Liz Truss, it has emerged. The veterans minister was dismissed from his ministerial role as soon as Truss obtained the keys to No 10 last September. He appeared angry about Truss’s move saying he was “disappointed” but accepted that the prime minister was “entitled to reward her supporters”. Ed Davey has closed the Liberal Democrats’ conference with a pledge to guarantee in law that anyone referred for cancer treatment will be seen in two months, reinforcing his party’s focus on the NHS before the general election. In what was arguably the sole big policy announcement of the gathering in Bournemouth, Davey called for cross-party consensus over a proposed five-year plan to improve cancer survival rates. Debates sought by local Labour parties on issues like Brexit and electoral reform at the annual conference starting this weekend could be quashed by the leadership, after a series of rule changes passed on Tuesday. The national executive committee, Labour’s governing body, voted on Tuesday to approve a series of rule changes, including one that requires motions for debate at the conference in Liverpool to be deemed “contemporary”, it is understood. Prison officers in England and Wales could be allowed to use pepper spray to incapacitate children under plans to curb a sharp increase in violence at young offender institutions, the Guardian has learned. Dogs and stun grenades are used in some YOIs to defuse conflict among 15- to 18-year-olds, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said. Two teenagers were burned in May by a grenade, a device designed to temporarily disorient not but physically harm. Thanks for following along. The UK politics live blog will be back in the morning. Goodnight. Debates sought by local Labour parties on issues such as Brexit and electoral reform at the annual conference starting this weekend could be quashed by the leadership, after a series of rule changes passed on Tuesday. The national executive committee, Labour’s governing body, voted on Tuesday to approve a series of rule changes, including one that requires motions for debate at the conference in Liverpool to be deemed “contemporary”, it is understood. While it is not completely clear what this means in practice, some Labour MPs and internal party groups fear it could be used to prevent debate on areas beyond the bounds of the national policy forum document, the basis for the manifesto agreed upon earlier this month. The chair of an influential group of Conservative MPs including many from northern constituencies has signalled they may be open to a compromise that would result in the second phase of HS2 being delayed for several years. Amid continuing lobbying of Downing Street by opponents of the multimillion scheme and supporters fighting to preserve it, the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs appears willing to back a lengthy delay to the Birmingham-Manchester leg if a co-called “Charles line” connecting northern cities is preserved. “At the end of the day, we think HS2 is important for the country,” said John Stevenson, chair of the NRG – founded by Tory MPs for constituencies in northern England, Wales and the Scottish borders after the 2019 general election. “But our east-west connectivity, I think, would be a higher priority.” Government sources briefed the Times on Monday that the prime minister may offer to fund a new underground rail station in Manchester as part of a package of transport investment in the north aimed at winning the support of Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of greater Manchester. The UN refugee convention is “as important and necessary as ever”, the chief executive of the British Red Cross has said. Responding to the speech by Suella Braverman, Mike Adamson said: The UK has a proud history of providing protection for refugees. In our increasingly unstable world, the 1951 UN refugee convention remains one of the bedrocks of the international rules-based order. The majority of people seeking sanctuary do so close to their home country. This convention has brought safety to thousands of men, women and children who have fled their homes in fear for their lives. We cannot undo decades of good work and jeopardise the safety of people in desperate need of protection. It is vital that all countries take their share of responsibility for the world’s refugees and people seeking asylum, and in this context the refugee cnvention is as important and necessary as ever. Suella Braverman’s speech would not be “out of place on a far-right conspiracy website”, the Green party has said. Commenting on the home secretary’s speech, the Green party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: This is a horrifying speech from a British home secretary that would not be out of place on a far-right conspiracy website. It is language straight out of the gutter that should have no place in a fair and compassionate society. The prime minister should have the decency and moral courage to sack the home secretary now. Ramsay added: The international refugee convention has proved a cornerstone of protection for people around the world and serves as a reminder to every country of our shared obligations. We need a government that recognises its international responsibilities and sits down with its neighbours to work out how to create the safe, legal routes that enable people to seek asylum without risking their lives. As she left the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC following her speech, the home secretary ignored a question from a reporter about whether she was proposing reforms to improve her chances as Tory leader. An American passerby shouted towards the vehicle Suella Braverman was in before she left, swearing and calling her a “disgrace”, PA Media reported. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, was accused of “a display of cynicism and xenophobia” with her speech on migration in the US. Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said: The refugee convention is a cornerstone of the international legal system and we need to call out this assault on the convention for what it is: a display of cynicism and xenophobia. The refugee convention is just as relevant today as it was when it was created and verbal assaults from the home secretary don’t alter the harsh realities that cause people from countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran to flee from conflict and persecution. What urgently needs to be addressed on the world stage is the glaring inequality of countries sharing responsibility for refugees a matter in which the UK is severely lagging. Instead of making inflammatory speeches decrying the rights of people fleeing persecution and tyranny, Suella Braverman should focus on creating a functioning UK asylum system that tackles the massive backlog her policies have created, so as to be able to meet the limited refugee responsibilities that fall to the UK. The UN’s refugee agency has hit back at Suella Braverman’s speech in Washington, in which she called for changes to the international refugee convention. In a statement published after Suella Braverman’s speech, the UNHCR said reform was not needed. It said: UNHCR recognises the complex challenges presented by the irregular movement of refugees across and beyond their regions of origin, often together with migrants moving for other reasons. The refugee convention remains as relevant today as when it was adopted in providing an indispensable framework for addressing those challenges, based on international cooperation. Where individuals are at risk of persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, it is crucial that they are able to seek safety and protection. The refugee convention has been widely recognised as capable of providing protection to these groups, amongst others. The need is not for reform, or more restrictive interpretation, but for stronger and more consistent application of the convention and its underlying principle of responsibility-sharing. Stonewall, which campaigns on behalf of LGBTQ+ people, has described Suella Braverman’s speech as “incredibly concerning”. It is incredibly concerning to hear the Home Secretary @SuellaBraverman stand against United Nations conventions that the vast majority of the world’s nations have signed or ratified. Under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol it has been well settled for decades that women and LGBTQ+ people who are persecuted and need to flee their home countries are to be protected by the international community. The indisputable fact is that LGBTQ+ people continue to face persecution across the world. There are still over 60 countries around the world where same-sex relations are criminalised, including 12 with a death penalty, simply for being who they are and loving who they love. That is all from me for today. Tom Ambrose is now taking over. A reader asks: Braverman quote from today’s liveblog: “President Macron claimed that illegal migrants or those waiting for a residence permit accounted for more than half of crime in Paris.” Is this actually true, or is it a(nother) baseless claim from Braverman? It seems to be true. This story from Le Monde quotes Emmanuel Macron as saying in a TV interview last year: If we look at crime in Paris today, we cannot fail to see that at least half of the crime comes from people who are foreigners, either illegal immigrants or waiting for a residence permit. In any case, they’re in a very delicate situation, often coming in through these [illegal immigration] channels. In Scotland last-minute talks over the weekend failed to halt the first day of strikes affecting schools today, with busy picket lines made up of support staff including janitors, canteen workers, classroom assistants and cleaners who said the dispute was about years of under-funding and job cuts. But the picture is further confused after a renewed offer from the umbrella body for Scotland’s councils, Cosla, was rejected by Unison, which has the largest representation in most areas, while Unite and GMB have suspended strike plans in order to consult with members. This means the impact of the strikes has been felt unevenly across the country, with some parents waiting to hear from their local authority this morning whether they would have enough staff to re-open schools for the next two days. Unison said it was still unclear what the in-year value of the new offer was and wanted more assurance that the extra money for the new offer wouldn’t result in cuts to jobs and services elsewhere. And here is some comment on the speech from journalists. From Jon Sopel from the News Agents podcast From Alan Travis, the Guadian’s former home affairs editor From the Independent’s John Rentoul From LBC’s James O’Brien And David Lammy, the shadow home secretary, has described Suella Braverman’s speech as a “shameful new low”. Suella Braverman targeting LGBT+ people persecuted for being who they are is a shameful new low. International conventions aren’t to blame for Tory incompetence. We need to boot this rotten government out of office. Yvette Cooper criticises Braverman for scapegoating LGBT people in ‘deeply divisive’ speech Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, has issued a statement about Suella Braverman’s speech on X (Twitter) which is stronger than the statement about it she issued overnight, before we had seen the text. (See 10.13am.) She says it was “deeply divisive” and unworthy of Braverman’s office. Suella Braverman has so lost grip of Tory asylum chaos, she is targeting & scapegoating LGBT people. Deeply divisive, damaging political game playing – unworthy of her office. Instead of blaming people persecuted in places like Uganda for who they love, she shd sort chaos at home Amnesty International says Braverman"s attack on UN refugee convention motivated by "cynicism and xenophobia" Charities that work with migrants have strongly condemned Suella Braverman for her speech calling for an overhaul of the UN refugee convention. Amnesty International UK said the speech was xenophobic. This is from Sacha Deshmukh, the charity’s chief executive. The refugee convention is a cornerstone of the international legal system and we need to call out this assault on the convention for what it is: a display of cynicism and xenophobia. The refugee convention is just as relevant today as it was when it was created, and verbal assaults from the home secretary don’t alter the harsh realities that cause people from countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran to flee from conflict and persecution. What urgently needs to be addressed on the world stage is the glaring inequality of countries sharing responsibility for refugees, a matter in which the UK is severely lagging. Halima Begum, CEO of ActionAid, criticised Braverman’s suggestion that she wanted to limit opportunities for women to claim asylum. (See 4.03pm.) She said: We know from our work across the world that for many women and girls, seeking asylum is the only lifeline left when fleeing persecution. Denying this fundamental right is not just a policy choice; it’s a direct affront to gender equality and human rights. Upholding the humanitarian duty to provide refuge and safety to women in need is not just an option; it’s an imperative. And Josie Naughton, CEO of Choose Love, which funds refugee charities, said Braverman was the person out of touch. It is the home secretary, not the global refugee convention, that is out of touch with the modern age. In a world marred by conflicts and displacement, more and more people are fleeing war zones and persecution in search of safety. On top of natural disasters, and rising climate concern, we all know that the number of people being displaced will only increase globally.