No 10 declines to say when Sunak hopes to meet small boats target but says it will not require UK to leave ECHR – UK politics live

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No 10 says Sunak's small boats policy will not require UK to leave European convention on human rights

In a column in the Daily Telegraph, Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s co-chief of staff for her first year in Downing Street, welcomes what Rishi Sunak is planning in relation to asylum laws, but questions whether it will be enough to stop the small boat crossings. He says:

Ministers know there is no prospect in this parliament of leaving the European convention of human rights and with it the Strasbourg court that does much to render immigration law unenforceable. So their plan is to do everything they can – pushing international law obligations to the limits – to remove the migrants who come here illegally.

It seems likely almost all claims will be made “non-suspensive”, so unless migrants can show they will face a real risk of serious and irreversible harm their claim will be heard in Rwanda, and not used to hold up deportation. It is also likely that claims must be made in one go and straight away to prevent cases dragging on for many months. If measures such as these work, rapid deportation will allow ministers to bar those who enter the country illegally from claiming asylum at all – and cap the number of people claiming asylum here.

Timothy says, if these plans are not compatible with the ECHR, the UK should leave.

Ministers have worked hard to design a scheme that is robust enough and able to withstand legal challenge. We must hope they have squared that circle, but if the Convention foils them, Britain will be able to avoid the question no longer. Then, the case for withdrawal from the court will become unanswerable.

Simon Clarke, who was levelling up secretary when Liz Truss was PM, says he agrees.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing, when asked if Rishi Sunak was ruling out leaving the ECHR as part of his small boats initiative, the PM’s spokesperson replied:

We have said previously – and it still remains the case – that we believe we can bring in tough new legislation that remains within ECHR.

With any other prime minister, it would not count as news to say that not every member of their family is going to end up getting an honour. But Boris Johnson is a special case, and my colleague Peter Walker reports that Carrie, his wife, and Rachel, his sister, won’t be on the resignation honours list.

Last month a report in the Mandrake column in the New European claimed that Carrie was on the list. It said:

Why have Boris Johnson’s resignation honours still to be announced? Mandrake hears it’s turned into a long-winded war of attrition involving returns of fire from the House of Lords appointments commission, the Cabinet Office honours committee and Rishi Sunak’s office, among others.

“There is always the odd preposterous name on a resignation honours list, but the problem with Johnson’s is that they are all preposterous, with even his wife and his dad on it,” whispers my informant.

There is precedent for the spouses of ex-prime ministers getting an honour. Denis Thatcher was given a baronetcy a hereditary knighthood after his wife left No 10 (but not in her resignation honours list). That was controversial, because it is the only barontecy awarded in recent years, and it meant Thatcher’s son Mark inherited the title.

Going back further, Disraeli persuaded Queen Victoria to make his wife a vicountess.

And on the subject of strikes, the Fire Bridgades Union will announce at 2pm whether its members have voted to accept a 7% pay rise, backdated to July last year, plus a further 5% from July this year. The FBU’s executive has recommended acceptance.

On the Today programme Matt Wrack, the union’s general secretary, said members were expected to vote in favour. He went on:

It’s a step forward but it would not be the end of our campaigning on pay.

We think there is significant under-investment in the fire service and that needs to be addressed.

BMA says it will ballot hospital consultants in England on strike action over pay

Hospital consultants in England will be balloted on strike action over pay, the British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, has announced.

The BMA will ballot consultants on a potential strike on 17 April, PA Media reports. PA says:

It comes after the BMA conducted a poll to assess whether the most senior medics in the NHS would be prepared to take action over pay and ongoing pension issues.

The consultative ballot was sent to almost 35,000 consultants and the BMA received 21,000 responses – some 86% of those who responded said they would be prepared to take part in strike action.

The BMA said that while a consultative ballot does not provide a legal mandate for strike action, the poll represents “the strength of anger among England’s senior doctors” and it will move to a statutory ballot in April.

If consultants vote in favour then strike action could take place in the spring, the BMA said.

Strike action by consultants will mean consultants will run a “bank holiday” service on weekdays ensuring that emergency or urgent care remains in place, the union added.

Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA consultants committee, said:

In my 25 years in the NHS, I have never seen consultants more demoralised, frustrated and in despair over this government’s refusal to support the NHS workforce and the patients they serve.

The government is refusing to listen to consultants’ concerns, driving many out of the NHS entirely.

If the government truly wants to get the NHS back on track and tackle the record waiting lists, it must support the consultant workforce.

Our position is clear – we will not allow the government to continue to degrade consultants’ pay and pensions.

This is having a hugely detrimental impact on patient care as staffing numbers plummet and things will only worsen unless we take a stand.

Boris Johnson's entire resignation honours list should be scrapped, SNP says

The SNP says reports that Boris Johnson wants to give his father, Stanley, a knighthood in his resignation honours list shows why the honours system is “unfit for purpose”.

In a statement issued by the party, the SNP MP Tommy Sheppard also said Johnson’s entire resignation honours list should be scrapped. Sheppard said:

Boris Johnson is making a mockery of the honours system, just like he a made a mockery of British politics.

The idea that he could nominate his own father for a knighthood and think he could get away with it sums up the arrogance of the man.

His entire honours list should be scrapped without delay.

This corrupt, crony-ridden Westminster system – including the honours system – is completely outdated and unfit for purpose.

Only with the full powers of independence can we rid ourselves of these charlatans for good, and build a fairer, more prosperous society.

In a separate interview this morning, Michelle Donelan, the science, innovation and technology secretary, professed to be unconcerned about the report in the Times saying Boris Johnson plans to give his father Stanley a knighthood in his resignation honours list. Asked about the story, she said:

I think at this stage it is just speculation. Obviously it’s the ex-prime minister’s prerogative to be able to make those types of appointments, but we’ll see if this story is true or not.

Asked if she would have an objection to Stanley getting a knighthood, Donelan replied: “I think there are bigger fish to fry, to be honest.”

Most prime ministers use a resignation honours list to reward allies, friends and cronies, but for months there has been speculation that the Johnson list will push the abuse of prime ministerial patronage further than it as gone before, at least since Harold Wilson’s “lavender list”. In her Times story, Lara Spirit says Johnson’s list is thought to have as many as 100 names on it. David Cameron, who was prime minister for twice as long as Johnson, had 62 names on his.

Michelle Donelan, the science, innovation and technology secretary, was doing a media round this morning. She told Sky News that she did not accept the argument made by Boris Johnson’s supporters that Sue Gray was biased when she conducted her Partygate inquiry. She said:

[Gray] was a leading civil servant who obviously swore and accepted the civil service code in which one of those key requirements is impartiality. I think she was impartial, I have no reason to believe she wasn’t.

Boris Johnson’s allies are trying to get an urgent question granted on Sue Gray, my colleague Pippa Crerar reports.

If there is a UQ, we may hear more about the theory that she wrote her Partygate report as part of a plot to bring down Johnson. As Toby Helm reported in the Observer yesterday, some of the more mainstream figures in the Conservative party think the Johnsonites are going “full Trump”.

Summary of Starmer's LBC phone-in

Here are the main lines from Keir Starmer’s LBC phone-in.

• Starmer dismissed Rishi Sunak’s plan to end small boat crossings as “unworkable” and suggested it was an election gimmick. Pointing out that what was being proposed sounded very similar to the Nationality and Borders Act passed last year, Starmer said:

We had a plan last year which was put up in lights, ‘it’s going to be an election winner’. These bits of legislation always seem to come when we’ve got a local election coming up.

It was going to break the gangs – it didn’t. Now we’ve got the next bit of legislation with almost the same billing, I don’t think that putting forward unworkable proposals is going to get us very far.

• He refused to say exactly when he first contacted Sue Gray about her becoming his chief of staff – but said that the approach was “recent”, and after his previous chief of staff left last October. (See 9.18am and 9.47am.) He also dismissed the idea that her Partygate report was part of a Labour plot (an idea promoted by Boris Johnson’s allies) as “nonsense”. He said:

I had absolutely no contact with Sue Gray during the preparation of her report when she was writing or anything like that, so the whole suggestion is a complete and utter nonsense.

• He said the Telegraph revelations from Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages during Covid showed the “chaotic way” the country was being run. Starmer said he had read a lot of the coverage. Asked what he had taken from the stories, he replied:

The chaotic way in which they’re running the government. You’d expect some of these decisions to be in proper meetings, thrashed out, proper decisions recorded, and there’s stuff pinging around on WhatsApp.

The sort of self aggrandisement of Matt Hancock – it’s all about him.

And some of the decisions that were taken appeared to be taken on the basis of quite minor political issues rather than the major issues of the day.

I think most people would look at this and think this was a pretty chaotic way to run the country.

• He defended Labour’s decision to restore the whip to Rupa Huq, who had it removed last year for racism. She described Kwasi Kwarteng as “superficially black”. Starmer said that what she said was “completely wrong”, but he said she had apologised, and that he was “confident” that she had learned from this. Removing the whip for good would not be “proportionate”, he suggested. Asked about Neil Coyle, Starmer said Coyle had “some way to go” before he could get the whip back. That was a matter for the chief whip, he said. But Starmer confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn would not have the whip restored before the general election. He said:

I took the decision after his response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission that his failure to even really properly acknowledge the findings [of its inquiry into antisemitism in the party when he was leader] and what he said in the response afterwards was totally incompatible with the change that I was bringing about in the Labour party.

Momentum, the Labour group set up to support Corbyn’s agenda when he was party leader, has accused Starmer of double standards.

• Starmer said people would find it “absolutely outrageous” that Boris Johnson was nominating his father Stanley for a knighthood. (See 9.42am.)

Keir Starmer doing his LBC phone-in. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Boris Johnson has been accused of having “discredited the honours system” after it was reported that his long-delayed resignation list includes a knighthood nomination for his father, Stanley Johnson, my colleague Peter Walker reports.

Starmer says approach to Sue Gray about her working as his chief of staff was 'recent'

Nick Ferrari ended by having one last go at the question about when Keir Starmer first approached Sue Gray about taking a job with him. Was it this year or last year?

Starmer says it was “recent”. It was after his last chief of staff left, in October last year. And it was after he had a period “working through in my own mind what I wanted from a chief of staff”.