Sunak & Braverman. Body Language
Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said Suella Braverman was “seeking to exploit the sensitivities of this moment, and an ignorance of Northern Ireland’s history, to inflame community tensions for her own leadership campaign”.
He was referring to the Home Secretary’s reference to the proposed peaceful protest during the Remembrance Day events in 2023, when she called them “hate marches.” It was disingenuous to equate the Northen Ireland troubles with a peace march.
Braverman had ordered the Metroplitan Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, to ban the march as it would disrupt the service at the Cenotaph. In reality, the protest organisers had agreed the route of the march, which was NOWHERE NEAR the Cenotaph, with the Met police. And, it was being held on the Sunday and NOT during the Remembrance service.
In the UK, the police are independent of Politics.
They do not take orders from politicians. The centuries-old procedure is for the police to request a ban on marches, from the Home Secretary, if they deem it necessary. She can approve or disapprove. It is not for her to determine police operation details.
Despite Mark Rowley approaching the Prime Minister directly, Braverman ignored his directive to tone down her comments and she published them anyway. The photo, at the head of this piece, clearly shows Sunak’s disapproval. Neither Sunak nor Braverman look at each other. You can sense the frostiness of the occasion.
The question now is, will her sack her now or later, after the Remembrance events are over.
Stop providing tents for the homeless
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said: “Living on the streets is not a lifestyle choice.”
She added: “Homelessness happens when housing policy fails and boils down to people not being able to afford to live anywhere.
“Private rents are at an all-time high, evictions are rising and the cost-of-living crisis continues.”
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner added that the government should take responsibility for the housing crisis, rather than blame homeless people.
“A toxic mix of rising rents and a failure to end no-fault evictions are hitting vulnerable people, yet after years of delay the Tories still haven’t kept their promises to act,” she said.
The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, Alistair Carmichael, said it was “grim politics” to “criminalise homeless charities for simply trying to keep vulnerable people warm and dry in winter”.
He added: “This policy will do nothing to stop rough sleeping and will leave vulnerable people to face the harsh weather conditions without any shelter whatsoever.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan described the proposal as “deeply depressing”.
“The government should be investing more in social housing, uplifting housing benefit rates and banning no-fault evictions,” he wrote on X.
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