Labour refuses to rule out sending prisoners to Estonia as jail population hits record high - UK politics live

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Sir Keir Starmer is coming under mounting pressure as Labour MPs furious about cuts to winter fuel payments could vote against the government next week.

Commons Leader Lucy Powell said a motion to approve the changes will be debated on September 10, with the prime minister facing a Labour backbench rebellion.

One MP told the i: “Six days is a long time. There are people who are determined to vote against this even though they know they will probably lose the whip as a result.”

Opposition MPs voiced concerns over the cuts on Thursday, with Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse saying many pensioners in her Bath constituency are “worried sick that they will not be able to heat their homes this winter“.

Shadow Commons leader Chris Philp welcomed the vote and said he has been contacted by Croydon South constituents “desperate with worry” at the proposed changes.

A Labour MP has warned that planned cuts to winter fuel payments could lead to pensioners dying.

Rachel Maskell said that statistics showed that almost a quarter of excess winter deaths are due to cold homes and said lower temperatures also put pensioners at risk of severe health issues such as heart attacks.

Writing in the The Telegraph, she said: “The concern that I and many colleagues have is that people will fall through the safety net. Last winter, 4,950 people died because their homes were cold, according to research by UCL and the Institute of Health Equity based on data from the Office for National Statistics, where 21.5 per cent of excess winter deaths are attributed to cold homes.

“The fear is that, if we withdraw winter fuel payments for those in fuel poverty, it will lead to excess deaths.”

Prisoners in the UK could serve their sentences in Estonia as the Labour government explores ways to offset chronic overcrowding, according to reports.

The Ministry of Justice and its Estonian counterpart are exploring “potential partnerships” after Tallinn offered to rent out spare prison capacity to other countries.

Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood and her Estonian opposite number, Liisa Pakosta, were expected to discuss the options on the sidelines of a Council of Europe event in Vilnius, Lithuania on Thursday.

Tom Watling reports

Yvette Cooper will chair a summit aimed at destroying the criminal gangs involved in smuggling people over the English Channel in small boats.

The home secretary will lead the meeting of senior ministers and figures from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and intelligence services today.

It follows the deaths of at least 12 people who attempted to cross the channel on Tuesday, in what has been described as the deadliest crossing tragedy of the year so far.

Their boat was “ripped apart” and sank off the northern French coast of Cap Gris-Nez, and crossings have continued in the following days.

Ahead of the meeting, Ms Cooper said: “Exploiting vulnerable people is at the heart of the business model of these despicable criminal smuggling gangs.

“Women and children were packed into an unsafe boat which literally collapsed in the water this week.

“At least 12 people were killed as part of this evil trade. We will not rest until these networks have been dismantled and brought to justice.”

The home secretary will be joined at NCA headquarters in London by foreign secretary David Lammy, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood and attorney general Lord Hermer.

Representatives from the intelligence community will also be present, who have been helping the NCA penetrate and dismantle the smuggling gangs.

The Government has “surrendered to the smuggling gangs”, former immigration minister and Tory leadership frontrunner Robert Jenrick has said.

Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “We have seen thousands of people crossing the Channel illegally since Labour came to power.

“They got rid of the one credible deterrent, which was the Rwanda policy.

“Yvette Cooper will meet the National Crime Agency and police chiefs today, and they’ll tell her what they told me when I was the minister, which is that although it’s important that we do that work, it is not sufficient. You have to have a deterrent.”

Saying the decision to scrap the Rwanda policy meant it was “open season” for people smugglers, he added: “Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have surrendered to the smuggling gangs.”

Germany could use asylum facilities in Rwanda originally intended for the UK’s aborted migration scheme, reports from Berlin have suggested.

The country’s migration commissioner, Joachim Stamp, has suggested the EU could utilise existing asylum accommodation in the east African country, originally destined for migrants deported from Britain under the now-scrapped scheme.

Downing Street said it would not comment on the discussions between two foreign governments.

Dame Angela Eagle has called the Tory government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda a “gimmick” and “not workable”.

She told Sky News: “The last government spent £700million to get four people to voluntarily go to Rwanda and they were gearing up to spend literally billions more. I think if that plan was going to work it would have worked. We had to abandon it, it simply wasn’t working.”

A Labour minister has not denied reports there are plans for prisoners in the UK to serve their sentences at prisons in Estonia.

Dame Angela Eagle, a minister in the Home Office, said the Ministry of Justice is “considering anything” to alleviate prison overcrowding.

She did not comment directly when asked on Sky News whether the government was considering renting cells for British prisoners in Estonia as it was “not directly my ministerial responsibility”.

Dame Angela said: “The last government closed loads of prison places and didn’t replace any of them, so I think that colleagues in the MoJ will be considering anything that they can to alleviate the problem.

“What we cannot have is people who are convicted of perhaps violent or serious crimes not being able to be in jail.”

She added: “I’m sure that colleagues are considering all sorts of actions to deal with the crisis that we’ve been left by the previous government in prison places and the prison service, and the criminal justice system generally.”

The government is not considering expanding safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to come to the UK, the border security minister has said.

Dame Angela Eagle told Times Radio: “There are safe, legal routes. They are very small at the moment and we have had other safe routes in for particular people such as Ukrainians and some Afghans.

“I think the important thing is, whether there would be safe, legal routes or not in any future development, we cannot allow people-smuggling gangs to decide who comes into this country.”

Asked whether the Government would expand safe, legal routes to the UK, Dame Angela said: “That’s not under consideration. We have to get control of our borders.

“We cannot look the other way while people-smuggling gangs are trading in human misery, putting people’s lives at risk, all to make colossal profits.”