good morning such as Joe Coughlan And Rob Davis The report, Downing Street said last night Manchester United Co-owner Jim Ratcliffe must apologize for his comments about the UK being “colonized” by immigrants.
While Ratcliffe’s claim that the UK population has grown by 12m in the last five years is shockingly and absurdly inaccurate, it is still surprising that Downing Street is so quick and forthright to criticize Ratcliffe. In the past, when MPs made anti-immigration comments, the default government response was often to say they had a point and that these concerns were understandable. Whether Ratcliffe’s rebuttal is evidence of a new policy remains to be seen, but Morgan McSweeney, the PM’s chief of staff until Sunday, was nervous about being seen as pro-immigration in Downing Street, and there was speculation that Starmer would be emboldened to spell out his progress when he accompanied him out of the building.
What number 10 says is important because when the Prime Minister speaks, ministers feel confident behind them. Jake Richardsthe Law Minister, chose the message. He was doing a broadcast round this morning and he stepped up the attack on Ratcliffe. He told Times Radio:
[Ratcliffe}HecertainlyneedsnoapologyforhavinganopinionButpersonallyandIthinkthePrimeMinisterthinksthatlanguageisoffensivetoalotofpeople[Ratcliffe}hecertainlydoesn’thavetoapologiseforhavinganopinionButpersonallyandIthinktheprimeministerthinksthatthatlanguageisoffensivetosomanypeople
It is completely absurd to think that our country is being ‘colonized’, implying that it is some form of invasion or conquest. That is not correct at all.
Richards also suggested that Ratcliffe was a hypocrite.
I found it very clear that Jim Ratcliffe’s comments yesterday were both offensive in terms of the language used, that he got his facts wrong and that this man who moved to Monaco to save £4billion in tax is now lecturing us about immigration. There’s something about it that I find a little hypocritical.
It’s hard to imagine Richards tearing up like this if McSweeney was still in charge of Downing Street.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly performance figures.
Morning: Rachel Reeves, Chancellor, will speak to the media during a visit to a training center in southern England.
Morning: Wes Streeting, Health Secretary, visits Manchester Hospital.
11am: Angela Rayner, former deputy PM, speaks at a night-time economic conference in Liverpool. Mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Regions Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham are also speaking.
Morning: Deputy PM and Justice Secretary David Lammy visits a youth offending service in south London.
11.30 am; The Downing Street lobby holds a briefing.
1.30pm: The Manchester Evening News is running a Gorton and Denton by-election debate.
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