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The foreign secretary has landed in China for meetings with senior members of the government as Rishi Sunak comes under pressure at home over how to approach the country.

James Cleverly will hold talks with senior Chinese officials – including minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi and vice president Han Zheng – on issues ranging from climate change to international security in what is the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years.

Mr Cleverly’s trip comes on the same day as MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee call for an unclassified strategy on China that does not just deal with trade and security, but also concerns around diplomatic engagement, human rights and technological cooperation.

The 87-page report is in response to the “Tilt to the Indo-Pacific” announced in the integrated review of 2021, in which the government identified Russia as an “active threat” and China as a “systemic challenge”.

But the committee’s report said there was “confusion across Whitehall about the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific”, arising from a “failure to explain the policy”.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the committee, described the government’s China strategy as “confidential” and “elusive”, adding that it was “buried deep in Whitehall, kept hidden even from senior ministers across government”.

“How can those implementing policy – and making laws – do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?” she said.

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Ms Kearns said the UK needed to “shore up” its relationship with Indo-Pacific states to counter China’s threat.

She described Taiwan – which fears an invasion by China – as an “important ally and partner of the UK” and urged the government to “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the island and make clear that attempts to undermine its self-determination were “unacceptable”.

“It’s only by shoring up our networks in the Indo-Pacific that we can temper China’s economic and political expansionism, offering a viable, democratic alternative to Indo-Pacific states,” she said.

“Strengthening our diplomatic, defensive and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific is critical – if the West leaves a vacuum, China will eagerly fill it.

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“Resilience and deterrence must be at the core of our foreign policy. Concentrations of power can easily end up in the wrong hands. Diversifying our supply chains, particularly our supply of semiconductors, will protect us in the long term.”

In response to the committee calling for the full, unclassified China strategy to be published, senior government figures said that everything they were comfortable with sharing had already been put in the public domain.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Cleverly adopted a more collaborative approach to China, saying: “No significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China.

“China’s size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the government needed to” demonstrate that it can get a grip on the UK-China relationship by securing tangible diplomatic wins in Britain’s interests”.

He said the “first test” in determining the success of the visit would be whether or not Mr Cleverly could secure an end to the sanctions China has placed on British MPs, including former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and security minister Tom Tugendhat.

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Angela Rayner insists 1.5m housing target can be met as extra £350m pledged for affordable homes

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Angela Rayner insists 1.5m housing target can be met as extra £350m pledged for affordable homes

Angela Rayner has insisted the government can meet its target to build 1.5m homes over the next five years as ministers pledged an extra £350m for housebuilding.

An extra £300m has been injected to the affordable homes programme, a move ministers believe will allow 2,800 additional homes to be built.

More than half of these extra homes will be for social rent, the government has said, while more than 250 council homes are expected to be made available through a £50m boost to the local authority housing fund.

The scale of the challenge is stark, with more than 123,000 households in temporary accommodation – including nearly 160,000 children – while almost 6,000 families with children are in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Asked whether she was worried about whether the government could meet the 1.5m homes target, Ms Rayner said she was “determined” to meet the challenge.

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A construction worker uses a tape measure on the construction site of residential buildings in Worcester, Britain December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

“We will meet that target because we can’t afford not to,” she told broadcasters.

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“We have 1.3 million people waiting on housing waiting lists, there isn’t a person listening to this show that will not know somebody who is desperate to get on the housing ladder.

“So, therefore, we’re determined to turn that tide.”

And pressed on whether the expected 250 increase of council homes was a big enough increase to meet the need, Ms Rayner said: “We think the measures we’re taking will unlock thousands more council and social homes as part of that programme. We want to help councils who want to build those homes.

“We see 160,000 children in temporary accommodation, and the cost of that on local authorities is significant, as well as the impact on children’s life chances,” she said.

“So we need to build the homes, and we’re doing everything we can to turn the tide of decline and build the houses that people desperately need.”

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What are Labour’s housing plans?

The extra £350m promised comes on top of £500m that was earmarked for affordable housing in October’s budget.

According to housing charity Shelter, at least 90,000 social rent homes would need to be built each year for the next 10 years to clear most social housing waiting lists in England and to house every homeless household.

A report by MPs last month found that a record number of children are living in B&Bs beyond the legal limit as England’s homelessness crisis pushes councils to breaking point.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said there was a “dire need” for housing reform, with the lack of affordable homes forcing cash-strapped local authorities to haemorrhage their funds on temporary accommodation.

A recent Sky News investigation found that children in some parts of England were spending as long as five-and-a-half years on average in temporary accommodation.

The length of stay has increased significantly in many areas since 2021, with particularly long stays in London and the South East.

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Elsewhere, ministers are expected to set out plans to crack down on exploitative behaviour by rogue landlords who they say are costing the taxpayer by claiming uncapped housing benefit in return for providing homes that are unsuitable.

Last week the government announced that a law to force social landlords to investigate and fix hazards within a set timescale will be phased in from October.

The legislation is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

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Top candidate for borders watchdog says he would commute from Finland

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Top candidate for borders watchdog says he would commute from Finland

The government’s top candidate to become the chief of the borders and immigration watchdog has told MPs he lives in Finland and commutes to the UK when he needs to.

John Tuckett, who has worked as the immigration services commissioner for six years, was questioned by the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday ahead of the appointment of the next independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI).

Asked if he lives in commuting distance from the London office, he replied: “No I don’t, I have a family home in Finland and I come across to this country whenever I need to.”

When MPs put it to him that he would expect to inspect the UK’s borders without being a resident here, he added: “I work in UK and I would be in the UK, I’m resident in Finland.”

Mr Tuckett told the committee he pays for travel and accommodation himself and “always have done”.

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He also said he would be fine to work five days in the office if needed, adding: “I have done this kind of work before, and when I was asked this question at my interview, I said, I think that my judgment is you need time when you’re available for ministers, visits, all the things where you need to do face to face.

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“You also need time where you can think, sit back, write, because you don’t write a report, you know, in 10 spare minutes in between two major appointments. So I think there’s a 60-40, split between for the chief inspector this is.!

Mr Tuckett was announced as the preferred applicant for the chief inspector position by the Home Office in January, with previous experience as the chief executive of the Marine Management Organisation and working for the Archbishop of York.

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Announcing the recommendation of Mr Tuckett for the role, migration minister Seema Malhotra said: “His track record of delivering complex change programmes across government, combined with his current role as immigration services commissioner, makes him ideally suited to take on this crucial independent oversight role at an important time for our border security.”

If Mr Tuckett is confirmed as the next inspector, he will replace interim watchdog boss David Bolt – who has served since June last year.

Mr Bolt’s appointment came after the previous borders watchdog David Neal was sacked in February last year amid claims he breached the terms of his appointment.

He later voiced his frustrations of the time taken for his reports to be published, and said there were “very few” ways of speaking out about his concerns on security.

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Franklin Templeton registers Solana Trust in Delaware

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Franklin Templeton registers Solana Trust in Delaware

Franklin Templeton has registered a “Franklin Solana Trust” in Delaware, indicating it may soon file for a spot Solana ETF alongside a host of other bidding issuers.

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