27,100 Ukrainians have arrived in UK underneath visa schemes, says Dwelling Workplace
Some 27,100 folks have arrived within the UK underneath Ukraine visa schemes, PA Media studies. PA says:
This contains 16,000 folks underneath the household scheme, and 11,100 folks underneath the Properties for Ukraine sponsorship scheme as of Monday, in keeping with Home Office figures released this morning.
The figures additionally present that, as of Wednesday, round 117,600 purposes have been made for visas, and 86,100 visas have been issued.
These embody 42,900 purposes underneath the household scheme, of which 34,900 visas have been granted, and 74,700 purposes underneath the sponsorship scheme, of which 51,300 visas have been granted.
There will likely be an pressing query within the Commons at 10.30am on the operation of visa software centres for Ukrainians, the Commons authorities have introduced. The Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain has tabled the UQ. A Dwelling Workplace minister will reply.
Minister says ‘poisonous combine’ of things at Westminster has created sexist tradition which wants to vary
Good morning. Yesterday’s revelation {that a} Conservative MP has been seen by feminine colleagues watching pornography on his telephone within the Commons chamber, which emerged at a gathering the place a gaggle of feminine Tories complained to the whips about misogyny within the occasion, and which coincided with an ongoing debate about how ladies are handled at Westminster prompted by an article within the Mail on Sunday extensively condemned as sexist, has created what seems like one other MeToo second. Whether or not it’ll result in lasting change, although, stays to be seen.
Right here is our in a single day story.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, was on the morning broadcast spherical earlier and he stated there was an issue with the “general tradition” at Westminster, due to a “poisonous combine” of things. He informed Sky Information:
This can be a downside, I feel, in regards to the general tradition of the Home of Commons. It’s late sitting, lengthy nights with bars, and that fairly often leads, and it has finished for many years, to behavioural challenges.
In one other interview Wallace described the lengthy hours, the consuming and the stress MPs face as “a poisonous combine that results in all kinds of issues”.
Wallace stated that he hoped the state of affairs would enhance. “I feel it’s actually necessary that we take into consideration methods to vary the tradition within the House of Commons,” he stated.
However the issue of attaining any important tradition shift turned evident when Wallace was requested in regards to the MP accused of watching porn within the chamber – who has not been named publicly, and whose identification shouldn’t be widespread data at Westminster. The Tory whips usually are not taking disciplinary motion unilaterally; they’re simply saying that the matter needs to be handled by parliament’s unbiased complaints and grievance service (set as much as take care of complaints about sexual misconduct by MPs), however that requires the feminine MPs who witnessed the porn watching to complain. It’s not clear at this level that they may accomplish that. Wallace informed the Right this moment programme that he would encourage them to submit a grievance.
Requested if he thought the offender needs to be expelled from the Conservative occasion, Wallace wouldn’t go that far, however he stated the particular person ought to “definitely lose the whip”.
MeToo led to ladies talking about about misconduct that had beforehand been tolerated, and the BBC is reporting the feedback of an unnamed feminine Welsh MP who says a member of the shadow cupboard informed her that she was a secret weapon for her occasion as a result of ladies voters wished to be her good friend, whereas males wished to sleep together with her. One BBC report stated they had been utilizing “sleep with” as a euphemism as a result of the precise language was cruder. Labour says it’ll take any grievance significantly, however in keeping with the BBC report, the girl has not but determined to make a proper grievance.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The Dwelling Workplace publishes its weekly figures on visas issued to Ukrainian refugees.
9.30am: The ONS publishes quarterly crime figures for England and Wales.
10.45am: James Cleverly, the Europe minister, provides proof to the Commons European scrutiny committee.
11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.
Late morning/early afternoon: Parliament is because of prorogue, that means this session of parliament will formally finish and MPs and friends will likely be in recess till the Queen’s speech, on Tuesday 10 Might.
In some unspecified time in the future immediately Steve Barclay, the PM’s chief of employees, can also be attributable to meet Passport Workplace managers to debate what it’s doing to chop the delays prospects are experiencing.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Brexit minister, is on a go to the place he attributable to announce a fourth delay to physical checks on fresh food imported from the EU.
I attempt to monitor the feedback beneath the road (BTL) however it’s inconceivable to learn all of them. In case you have a direct query, do embody “Andrew” in it someplace and I’m extra more likely to discover it. I do attempt to reply questions, and if they’re of basic curiosity, I’ll put up the query and reply above the road (ATL), though I can’t promise to do that for everybody.
If you wish to entice my consideration shortly, it’s in all probability higher to make use of Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you possibly can electronic mail me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
