Ministers cautiously optimistic Stormont will return after DUP agrees deal
The Government is cautiously optimistic that power-sharing at Stormont will now be restored after the DUP agreed to a deal late last night.
The deal relates to the removal of post-Brexit trade checks in the Irish Sea and is subject to new legislation being passed in parliament and an agreement on its timetable.
Lee Rowley, the housing minister, said the deal was “tentatively good news”. Asked if he was “cautiously optimistic”, he told Sky News: “Hopefully, yes. We believe in devolution. We want devolution to work whether it is in Northern Ireland or elsewhere.
“We want the assembly back, we want the executive back, we hope it will be successful but there are still a few more steps to go.”
Small boat crossings should be labelled ‘national security crisis’, says Farage
Rishi Sunak should designate the small boats situation in the English Channel a “national security crisis”, Nigel Farage has argued.
The former leader of the Brexit Party said the approach to the crossings should be reevaluated because people are entering the UK “often from war torn areas” and without documentation.
He told GB News: “I personally believe we need to rethink the English Channel crisis. I think we need to absolutely rebrand it as a national security crisis.
“Tens of thousands of young men coming into our country, often from places that are not even friends of ours, often from war torn areas, without documentation.
“We have no idea whether some of them were even fighting for ISIS in Syria. I think this is a question of national security and that is the right approach going forwards.”
Archbishop of Canterbury wrong over small boats crisis, suggests Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage has criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over comments he made about small boat crossings and the Government’s Rwanda Bill.
The Most Rev Welby said yesterday that “we can as a nation do better” than the Bill as he said the legislation paving the way for migrant deportation flights to take off is “damaging for our nation’s unity”.
But Mr Farage said the Most Rev Welby had not offered any alternative “whatsoever”.
The former leader of the Brexit Party told GB News: “He talks about unity. I tell you what, Archbishop, if there was a referendum on this, there would be real unity because a very large majority would say that those that cross illegally shouldn’t be allowed to stay. They shouldn’t be coming via this route.
“But he says we can do better and yet I don’t hear him offer any alternative, whatsoever.”