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Rishi Sunak has accused Sir Keir Starmer of being “another leftie lawyer” trying to stop action against small boat crossings in their latest Prime Minister’s Questions clash.

Less than 24 hours after the government revealed its new Illegal Migration Bill, the prime minister insisted Labour fails to acknowledge there is a global migration problem and the new plans have been introduced “to ensure that this remains a compassionate and generous country”.

The bill ensures small boat crossings will be halted, Mr Sunak said, and insisted it will be done “fairly and legally” – despite accusations it will break international asylum laws.

When Sir Keir, the former chief prosecutor, accused the Tory government of causing the number of migrants arriving in small boats to increase, Mr Sunak replied: “He’s just another leftie lawyer standing in our way.”

The quip was a repetition of an email sent to Conservative supporters from Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday, which has also prompted a call for an official apology from the head of the civil servants union.

In the letter, it said the government had to bring in a law to stop small boat crossings after “an activist blob of left-wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party blocked us”.

Sir Keir dismissed the accusation as “nonsense” as he accused the new bill of failing to tackle the issue of thousands of asylum seekers being housed in hotels – costing the taxpayer millions.

“Because of his mess, there are thousands of people who can’t claim asylum and can’t be processed,” the Labour leader said.

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What is in the Illegal Migration Bill?

“After 13 years, small boat crossings, higher than ever claims unprocessed.

“The taxpayer paying for hotel rooms, criminals running all the way laughing to the bank, and an asylum system utterly broken on his watch.

“This is their fifth prime minister, the sixth immigration plan, the seventh home secretary.

“And after all this time, all they offer is the same old gimmicks and empty promises.”

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Is the Illegal Migration Bill legal?

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‘How many have been processed?’

The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn accused the new bill of failing to protect women who have been sex trafficked to the UK.

But Mr Sunak insisted the bill will mean the government can “target our resources and our compassion on the world’s most vulnerable people”.

Moving away from the Illegal Migration Bill, Mr Sunak said he has asked the Department for Education to “ensure that schools are not teaching inappropriate or contested content in RHSE” after being asked about sexualised child sex education.

He said the department will be bringing forward a review on relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance, with a consultation starting “as soon as possible”.

The PM was asked about the issue by Tory MP Miriam Cates who said: “Graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely and 72 genders.

“This is what passes for relationships and sex education in British schools.

“Across the country, children are being subjected to lessons that are age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate, often using resources from unregulated organisations that are actively campaigning to undermine parents.

“This is not a victory for equality. It is a catastrophe for childhood.”

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Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages

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Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages

Israel will resume negotiations with Hamas for the release of all hostages captured during the October 7 attack, Benjamin Netanyahu has said – but its military will continue its Gaza City offensive despite international outcry.

The remarks from Israel’s prime minister are the first since Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire proposal.

Talks will also be with a view to ending the war, but Mr Netanyahu said it must be on “terms acceptable to Israel”.

In the meantime, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have begun calling medics and international organisations in northern Gaza to encourage them to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation in Gaza City.

Many of Israel’s closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Some Israelis fear it could doom the remaining 20 or so living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the war.

Israel plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters

Speaking to soldiers near Israel’s border with Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said he was still set on approving plans for defeating Hamas and capturing Gaza City.

“At the same time I have issued instructions to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel,” he said.

“These two things – defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages – go hand in hand,” he added.

The latest ceasefire proposal drawn up by Egypt and Qatar is almost identical to an earlier one that Israel accepted before the talks stalled last month.

The proposal would include the release of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a pullback of Israeli forces and negotiations over a lasting ceasefire.

An Israeli strike on a tent camp in Deir Al-Balah. Pic: Reuters
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An Israeli strike on a tent camp in Deir Al-Balah. Pic: Reuters

‘Don’t tell us where to build’

Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, including at a tent camp in Deir al-Balah.

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office in response to a controversial West Bank settlement plan which has been given final approval.

The project, known as the E1 settlement, would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two.

The UK and 21 international partners have released a statement to condemn the decision “in the strongest terms” calling it “a flagrant breach of international law” and “critically undermining a two-state solution”.

Ms Hotovely gave Sky News her response to the meeting: “I said we wouldn’t tell the British where to build in London. Don’t tell us where to build in Jerusalem, our capital. We see E1 as part of Greater Jerusalem.”

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What would a two-state solution look like?

UK warns of ‘horrifying starvation’

The UK has also responded to comments from the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA that famine in Gaza is “deliberate” and being used as an “instrument of war”.

Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has called for a “comprehensive [peace] plan to end this misery and get to a long-term settlement”.

“Israel must immediately and permanently lift all barriers preventing aid reaching the people of Gaza to prevent the horrifying starvation in the Strip continuing,” he added.

Read more from Sky News:
Is Netanyahu is ready to negotiate?
Palestinians flee Israeli advance

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
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Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters

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Demand for Gaza media access

The Media Freedom Coalition, which includes the UK and 50 other countries, has called on Israel to allow foreign media access into Gaza.

In a joint statement, the coalition, which is a partnership of countries working to defend media freedom, urged Israel to “allow immediate independent foreign media access” and “afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza”.

They said this was in light of the “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

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Israel maintains pressure on Gaza City as ‘first stages of attack begin’

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Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages

Gaza City residents say Israel carried out intense overnight bombardments as it prepares a controversial offensive to take control of the area.

Sixty-thousand reservists are being called up after Benjamin Netanyahu‘s security cabinet approved the plan earlier this month.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned of more “death and destruction” if Israel tries to seize the city, while France’s Emmanuel Macron said it would be a “disaster” that would lead to “permanent war”.

Live – UN warns of ‘forcible transfer’ as forces advance on Gaza City

Hundreds of thousands of people could end up being forcibly displaced – a potential war crime, according to the UN’s human rights office.

Gaza’s health ministry said at least 70 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, including eight people in a house in the Sabra suburb of Gaza City.

Israel currently controls about 75% of the Gaza Strip, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel must take Gaza City to “finish the job” and defeat Hamas.

More on Gaza

Mr Netanyahu and his ministers are due to meet on Thursday to discuss the plans, according to Israeli media.

Military spokesperson Effie Defrin said earlier that “preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack” had begun – with troops operating on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Israel has said it will order evacuation notices before troops move in but satellite images show thousands of people have already left.

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Aftermath of fresh Israeli strikes on Gaza

Residents said shelling has intensified in the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods and that those fleeing have gone to coastal shelters or to central and southern parts of the Strip.

The decision to stay or leave is an agonising choice for many.

“We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain,” said father of seven Rabah Abu Elias.

“In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn’t an easy decision to make,”

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Sky’s Adam Parsons explains what is in the new Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

Most of the Israeli reservists being summoned are not expected to be in a frontline combat role and the call-up is set to take a while.

The window could give mediators more time to convince Israel to accept a temporary ceasefire.

Hamas has already agreed to the proposal – envisaging 10 living hostages and 18 bodies being released in return for a 60-day truce and the freedom of about 200 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel hasn’t officially responded, but insists it wants all 50 remaining hostages released at once. Only 20 of them are still believed to be alive.

The war started nearly two years ago when a Hamas terror attack killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250.

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Tents abandoned as Palestinians flee Israeli advance

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What would a two-state solution look like?

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More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The figure doesn’t break down how many were Hamas members, but it says women and children make up more than half.

Two more people also died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Thursday, taking the total to 271, including 112 children.

COGAT, the body controlling aid into Gaza, said 250 aid trucks entered on Wednesday, with 154 pallets air-dropped.

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Police in Kenya begin exhuming shallow graves of suspected cult victims

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Police in Kenya begin exhuming shallow graves of suspected cult victims

Police, pathologists and grave diggers have started the exhumation of 27 shallow graves in Kenya’s Kilifi County.

The remains are believed to be of followers of a deadly cult in Chakama Ranch, a part of the Shakahola Forest.

In 2023, more than 400 mass graves were discovered in the same forest, all members of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie’s church. They were encouraged to starve themselves to death to get into heaven.

It remains one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies. Mackenzie is still in jail and faces numerous charges of terrorism, child torture and murder.

Six bodies were exhumed in Chakama Ranch, a part of the Shakahola Forest, today
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Six bodies were exhumed in Chakama Ranch, a part of the Shakahola Forest, today

The remote forest has again been turned into a crime scene.

Morticians were seen carrying out body bag after body bag, some containing the remains of children believed to have been starved to death.

State pathologist Dr Richard Njoroge said this is just the beginning, as investigators expect to find many more bodies: “Today we managed to exhume six.

“Of the six graves, we found five bodies and then also around that area we found ten different scattered body parts, scattered in different places on the surface.”

Eleven suspects have already been arrested in connection with these deaths and will appear in court on Friday.

Police are investigating links to Mackenzie and members of his Good News International Church.

At the exhumation today, pathologists said they were still working to identify the bodies of those exhumed from Mackenzie’s cult.

“We had 453 at the closure of that exercise, I think, we released around 33 or 34 last time. So, from there are 419 remaining,” Dr Njoroge explained.

Read more from Sky News:
Captured ISIS fighters speaks from death row
Israel begins first stages of takeover operation

Police have encouraged families in the area with missing loved ones to come forward and provide their DNA samples, as efforts to identify the dead continue.

Kenya is grappling with a rise in religious extremism and many churches operating informally.

Parliament passed several preliminary bills aimed at regulating religious organisations last year, but implementation has stalled after resistance from church leaders.

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