The government has vowed to stop businesses recruiting foreign workers instead of training people already in the UK.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the current “relaxed free market approach”, which she says has led net migration to quadruple over the past four years.

“A big driver… has been that overseas recruitment has shot up in a series of areas where training has fallen,” she said.

“This has led to a relaxed free market approach for businesses to just be able to recruit from overseas instead of training in the UK.”

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She said there “has to be more requirements” that force firms to show they are making recruitment efforts domestically.

Ms Cooper said the government is “drawing up further measures” that will particularly target industries such as IT, construction, and engineering where “for far too long we have been recruiting from abroad”.

The new Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill – revealed last week – will link the immigration system to bodies like Skills England and others that are involved in workforce planning, Ms Cooper said.

She said the government will keep the skilled migrant worker salary threshold at £38,700 and it has removed the 20% wage discount for non-EU foreign workers brought in by the Conservatives in 2019.

There will also be continued restrictions on both foreign graduate students and social care workers bringing family members, she added.

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The home secretary’s comments come after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published predictions that the UK population will grow by five million people in 10 years – driven mainly by migration.

Speaking to Sir Trevor afterwards, shadow trade and business secretary Andrew Griffiths said: “Well, we’ve been very clear. The Conservative Party is under new management. Immigration was too high. There were many, many, many, many failings in that immigration system in that period of time.”

No to universal digital ID cards

In the Sunday Telegraph, shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of repealing parts of their Illegal Migration Act 2023 that make it almost impossible for people who arrive in small boats to apply for citizenship.

He also suggested the government is repealing the Conservatives’ measure of treating those who refuse to undergo scientific age checking as adults.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Illegal Migration Act has largely not been commenced (including this measure on age assessments); nor will it be under this government’s policy.

“We have robust processes in place to verify and assess an individual’s age where there is doubt, including the National Age Assessment Board, and have maintained the provisions on scientific assessments from the Nationality & Borders Act 2022.”

Asked about former prime minister Sir Tony Blair’s claims that digital ID cards would help ease pressures on immigration, Ms Cooper did not endorse them.

Instead, she said: “Non-UK citizens already have to have biometric resident permits, but they’re hardly ever checked.”

On trade, Ms Cooper reiterated Labour’s stance that the UK will not re-enter the Customs Union, European Single Market, or restore freedom of movement.

“We’ll look at ways to reduce friction, but we’re not returning to a Customs Union. You do it within a framework that we’re outside the EU and we’re not returning. We need to move on.”

As we enter the second month of 2025, Honda is inching closer to commencing BEV production at its long-standing US plant in Marysville, Ohio, later this year. That $1 billion transition will begin with the assembly of the recently confirmed Acura RSX EV, followed by the first two models in Honda’s 0 Series lineup. Before that happened, however, Honda gave an exclusive tour of its new EV Hub in Ohio, which included an innovative new approach to modular vehicle assembly, massive mega press machines, and an insightful look into the positive impact Honda has established amongst the residents of The Buckeye State. You can view my whole tour expeirience in the video below.

While Honda is a global name synonymous with engines and mobility, it is still carving out its own legacy in the BEV segment. That process began with two initial all-electric models – the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, both of which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive and share my impressions.

While those two models put some of Honda’s skin in the game, they are arguably only a fraction of Honda’s true design DNA, which it has since taken into its own hands looking forward. That future includes the Honda 0 Series, which was initially announced at CES 2024 as a “back to zero” mentality for the Japanese automaker.

The 0 Series began with two BEV concepts called the “Saloon” and “Space Hub,” which have since evolved in the Honda 0 Saloon and SUV prototypes, which debuted at CES a year later and were on display at Honda’s EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio this past week.

Marysville, home to Honda’s first and longest-running US production facility, will soon house BEV production of the two models mentioned above. First, however, Honda will begin assembling an all-electric Acura SUV developed from the Performance EV Concept, which we recently learned will be called the RSX.

Honda is still putting the finishing touches on a $1 billion overhaul of its new EV Hub in Ohio but invited a group of media out to tour multiple facilities and see where the first true Honda and Acura-built BEVs will be assembled, beginning later this year.

I documented my visit in a video below, but will break it down in words for you as well.

Honda is taking a failsafe approach to production

As you may or may not know, the Honda EV Hub is part of a $1 billion+ investment from the Japanese automaker to retool its existing facilities in Ohio to produce electric vehicles. That includes reimagining three existing plants: the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), and the Anna Engine Plant (AEP).

During my EV Hub visit, we started at the Marysville Auto Plant, which originally opened in 1979 and has been building Honda cars since 1982, to see the progress the company has made in revamping a 40+ year old facility for the all-electric age while continuing to build ICE and plug-in vehicles.

What we saw was a unique approach to modern-day vehicle assembly, in which Honda will soon be able to build ICE, hybrid-electric, and BEVs on the same production line. Furthermore, the automaker can ramp up or down any specific vehicle configuration depending on customer demand. Senior vice president, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC, Bob Schwyn spoke to the media before joining us on the tour of Marysville:

The Honda EV Hub provides Honda with the flexibility to produce ICE, hybrid-electric and EV models on the same production lines so we can quickly respond to shifting customer needs and market conditions. Beyond adding the capability to produce EVs, we completely reimagined our approach to manufacturing, transforming the Honda production environment with more human-friendly processes and sustainable manufacturing practices.

As you’ll see in my video coverage, Honda was in the process of building a slew of Accords, which was interesting in its own right, but what was more exciting was the empty space at the Marysville section of the EV Hub, where Honda will soon begin assembling its battery platforms before integrating them into vehicles on those very same assembly lines, beginning with the Acura RSX.

As you can see in the image below, Honda has cleared out a massive amount of space for dedicated BEV component assembly, which required it to remove an entire existing build line and get creative about where to re-implement other manufacturing components in different parts of the plant – all while continuing to build non-BEV models.

Per the Honda team, the EV Hub will hire 300 new employees to specifically handle battery pack assembly at Marysville. The battery cases for those packs are built at Honda’s Anna Engine Plant, which I also got to visit and have detailed below. Those manufactured cases are then transported to Marysville, where trained Honda “Associates” will work alongside electric guided vehicles (EGVs) and robots to assemble Honda’s first-ever propriety EV platform.

Honda calls the process “Parallel module manufacturing,” which consists of a network of assembly cells performing assembly tasks in a multi-lateral manner in which if one cell is slow or completely down for some reason, production can continue.

Per Honda, the first batch of battery pack assembly cells have been installed at Marysville with a second batch to follow in three months. That will put Honda at its targeted launch volume of which it can scale from there depending on demand.

For me personally, it was awesome to visit AEP and see the megacasting in action because I got to see the same machine at Honda’s R&D center in Tochigi, Japan, this past fall. There, I was told that six more of those megacasting machines would be installed at the EV hub in Ohio.

Just months later, Honda is nearly complete with the installation process, and the three pairs will begin pressing the front and rear battery casings. While I did see the megacast machine in action in Japan, it was at a distance. During my visit to the EV Hub, however, Honda took us onto one of the machines where we could watch an EV battery case cast and trimmed up close. I documented it in my video below for you!

Another assembly technique I learned about in Tochigi but got to see in person at the Anna Engine Plant was Honda’s friction stir welding process. This innovative method produced high-strength welds to combine the two halves of the battery case and the water jacket (seen below) while reducing the amount of energy used and heat impact on the aluminum material.

This technique and Honda’s overall EV Hub renovation are part of a larger three-pronged strategy called “Triple Action to Zero.” Its goal is to achieve zero environmental impact by 2050 through carbon neutrality, clean energy, and resource circulation. That entails all zero-emission sales by 2040.

Honda is building EVs in the US the right way

After my visit to Marysville and Anna, walking the assembly lines and chatting with Honda Associates from all levels of the company, I realized that a vestige of the American dream is still present in Ohio. Marysville and Anna are blue-collar areas, and those cities have continued to evolve thanks to Honda’s decision to plant roots on US soil over 40 years ago.

Many of the people I encountered during my trip have been with the company for longer than I have been on this Earth, some second generation, who grew up watching their parent grow alongside the company and its Ohio footprint.

While much of Honda’s US production history is a bit oily and dusty due to engines and combustion, the EV Hub provides a new era on par with Honda’s overall “back to zero” startup mentality. I was genuinely impressed by Honda’s ability to pivot, rethink, and repurpose its existing facilities to support the addition of BEV production.

Furthermore, the decision to implement those assemblies on the same line as Honda’s ICE and plug-in vehicles sounds like a pipe dream on paper, but in person, the company appears to have pulled it off. But it took everyone in Marysville, East Liberty, and Anna to get there. Honda will continue to rely on those Associates as it approaches the day when its first bespoke BEV on its very own platform rolls off that Marysville assembly line.

With the current political climate and EV education and understanding remaining huge hurdles for Americans and plenty of the public servants who help govern them, the future of BEV production is murky. That’s scary, given our tremendous progress in the past decade.

However, whether people are buying ICE cars, hybrids, PHEVs, or BEVs years from now, Honda has teed itself up to adapt and rise to the challenge (something the company prides itself on) with its EV Hub.

I’ve now learned the where, the when, and the how of BEV production at the Honda EV Hub, but now I’m ready for the what. From what I’ve been told, the 0 Series Saloon and SUV prototypes are “very close” to the final production design, but the Acura RSX remains a bit of a mystery aside from one camouflaged image.

I expect to learn more soon as that SUV will kick off Honda’s EV Hub production in late 2025. Perhaps I can take another trip to Ohio and see it built before driving one myself. While we await that milestone, you can check out my video touring the Marysville and Anna facilities at Honda’s EV Hub below:

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has shrugged off being called a “snivelling cretin” by Elon Musk – and has vowed to continue “calling him out”.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Sir Ed said he has been “in politics long enough to know that there are insults made”, adding that he is “sometimes not always complimentary about people like Elon Musk”.

Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, has made several comments about UK politics since the election of the Labour government last July and widespread rioting triggered by misinformation around the killing of three young girls in Southport soon after.

Last month, Sir Ed posted on X: “People have had enough of Elon Musk interfering with our country’s democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain.

“It’s time to summon the US ambassador to ask why an incoming US official is suggesting the UK government should be overthrown.”

Mr Musk replied: “What exactly do I fail to understand about your failure to stop the mass rape of little girls in Britain, you sniveling cretin?”

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The X owner was referring to grooming gangs in the UK. His comments led members of the Conservative Party to call for a fresh inquiry into the issue.

Speaking to Sir Trevor on Sky News, Sir Ed said the “real issue of substance is Elon Musk said that the British government elected by the British people just a few months ago should be overthrown”.

He said that while he does not agree with many of President Donald Trump’s views, the UK should still try to work with the US.

On Mr Musk, he added: “It’s a real matter of concern. We need to call him out.”

Sir Ed described him as an “overpowerful billionaire tech magnate”, “best friend of the president of the United States”, and “camped out in Trump’s Oval Office”.

Mr Musk has been appointed as head of Mr Trump’s newly-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

While not a government body – it has been instructed to cut bureaucracy and budgets across the federal government.