EXCL: As Rhondda goes into lockdown, Welsh First Minister @fmwales speaks exclusively to us on #ITVActingPM podcast.
He talks candidly about difficulty of getting PM to talk to him & how some in Westminster see devolution as a “terrible mistake”. itv.com/news/2020-09-1…
Also fascinating on how:
- Covid has been a crash course in devolution for many
- Decision-making in Cardiff Bay may accidentally be feeding appetite for Welsh independence
- A referendum would only be offered if Plaid Cymru win an election
- Coalition possibilities come May
This week I even managed to get a bit of Welsh on the podcast #lifegoals 🏴
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The Business Committee is hearing this morning from subpostmasters, their solicitors and key figures from govt/Post Office Limited and Fujitsu which designed Horizon.
The Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake is sitting listening to all of the evidence - he's up at 12.
Solicitor for many of the affected subpostmasters Neil Hudgell says just three people have so far been fully compensated for the scandal.
The committee are now hearing from former sub-postmasters Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton.
Bates says people are dying waiting for compensation. Hamilton says "a factory of bureaucracy" around applying for the money "makes you feel like a criminal all over again".
BREAKING: Rwanda government threatens to pull out of the deal if it does not adhere to international law.
Hugely problematic - and potentially humiliating - for govt if its partner country decides the deal is too toxic.
Statement below 👇
Part of the issue with the deal for judges in the Supreme Court is that Rwanda has been accused of breaking international agreements in the way it treats asylum seekers. Now Rwanda says the UK government's potential attitude to international law is a step too far.
Labour source:
“Open warfare over a failing scheme that is costing millions and won’t solve the problem anyway. All this money and time for a plan that can only remove around 100 people. Desperate stuff in the dying days of Rishi Sunak’s feeble government.”
BREAKING: The Supreme Court rules that the government’s policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is UNLAWFUL.
Supreme Court unanimously decides that Rwanda might return asylum seekers to their country of origin before having their cases properly considered (breaking the principle of non-refoulement).
The Supreme Court was convinced by evidence from UNHCR that Rwanda had ‘refouled’ asylum seekers in the past.
For example, a similar agreement with Israel saw Rwanda secretly move asylum seekers to a neighbouring country where they could be sent back to their country of origin.
On 3rd March 2020 Dominic Cummings sent this message to others in No10 saying Boris Johnson "doesn't think it's a big deal" and that Covid will "be like swine flu".
"He thinks his main danger is talking economy into a slump." #CovidInquiry
We are hearing from Lee Cain, Director of Communications in No10 during the initial months of the pandemic.
He is asked about his statement in his written evidence that "the government had no plan" for a pandemic.
As pandemic takes hold, Dominic Cummings texts to say "CABOFF [cabinet office] is terrifyingly shit". 😳