With net migration set to hit a record high – the government faces questions over whether their rhetoric matches their actions

Published

1 year ago

May 25, 2023

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The government is trying to distance itself from thursday’s net migration figures.

There won’t be a minister on this morning’s media round, the home secretary and immigration minister will be firmly out of sight.

The reason – net migration for 2022 is expected to be more than 700,000, the highest level on record, and could well be more than double what it was pre-Brexit.

As the Labour leader put it in PMQs: “If people want to see what uncontrolled immigration looks like all they have got to do is wake up tomorrow morning and look at the headlines”.

There are many reasons behind soaring migration, including schemes helping those coming from Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Ukraine; but the problem the prime minister, and home secretary, face is that they have chosen to put migration at the centre of their pitch to the country.

Suella Braverman’s views on immigration are well documented.

Last week in a speech seen by some as a future pitch for the leadership, she attacked the “unexamined drive towards multiculturalism” and said migration levels are “unsustainable”.

The “Stop the Boats” pledge, one of Rishi Sunak’s top five priorities, has become a defining slogan of this government.

Former Downing Street pollster James Johnson says voters have a tendency to view illegal and legal migration together, and there is a “tension” between where the public, and the prime minister, stand on the issue.

He believes, unlike with illegal migration, the government are moving towards a position where “control of legal migration is more important than the reduction of migration”.

Number 10 insist they are committed to bringing down net migration.

The party have certainly been on a journey in the last decade, from David Cameron’s pledge to see migration in the tens of thousands, to Rishi Sunak last week appearing to back away from his predecessor Boris Johnson’s commitment that net migration would fall below 250,000.

The other issue is cabinet politics. The chancellor has already suggested the government is open to immigration in key sectors to help with a labour shortage, a view not shared by the home secretary.

Behind the scenes it has been suggested to me that public backlash to high immigration figures would help Suella Braverman make her case for tougher action on legal migration in cabinet.

Mrs Braverman has toughened the rules on students bringing families to the UK this week, but for some on the right of the party that’s not enough.

Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative MP for South Thanet, says the government “has not got a grip of migration”.

He narrowly beat Nigel Farage in the constituency in 2015, and believes the issue will dominate in his area at the next election. He fears constituents will vote against the Tories because “Britain does not feel like it’s working”.

Rishi Sunak may have avoided a fight with the right after saving Suella Braverman, deciding there is no case to investigate her over the speeding fine row, but tomorrow’s figures will ignite a fresh debate about immigration, and questions about whether the government’s rhetoric matches their action.

IMMIGRATION: ASK THE EXPERTS

Join Kamali Melbourne and a panel of guests for a live Sky News Q&A on immigration on Thursday, 24 May at 7pm

Submit your question here or call 020 8167 2200 to leave one via voicemail.

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Pope Francis used derogatory term for gay men, reports claim

Published

2 hours ago

May 28, 2024

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Pope Francis used derogatory term for gay men, reports claim

The Pope used a highly offensive word towards gay men as he reaffirmed his stance that they should not be priests, Italian media has reported.

Pope Francis is believed to have made the remark in a closed-door meeting with bishops, according to the country’s largest daily newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.

Both quoted the Pope as describing priesthood colleges as already too full of “frociaggine” – a highly offensive Italian slur.

The Vatican has not commented on the reports.

The incident is said to have happened on 20 May, as first reported by political gossip website Dagospia, when the Italian Bishops Conference held a private meeting with the Pope.

La Repubblica based its story on several unspecified sources, while Corriere cited unnamed bishops, who suggested the Pope, an Argentinian, might have not realised the Italian term is offensive.

“It’s all the fault of some bishop who broke his mandate of silence to report the gaffe that occurred last week,” reported Il Messaggero, a national paper based in Rome.

According to the paper, the Pope’s comments came during an informal Q&A session at the annual bishops’ meeting which was attended by over 200 members of the clergy.

The Pope, 87, has been credited with leading the Roman Catholic Church into taking a more welcoming approach towards the LGBT+ community.

Fears Pope’s good work undone

When he became Pope, back in 2013, Francis signalled a more tolerant, welcoming attitude to the LGBT+ community, saying: “If a person is gay and seeks God, and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”

He sparked a furious response among some conservative followers by allowing priests to bless same-sex couples last year.

There were whispers that he might be thinking of allowing gay men to become priests, as long as they remained celibate.

Now, that idea has been dismissed, and the Pope’s crude language has reverberated.

Make no mistake – the term allegedly used by Pope Francis is extremely – and obviously – offensive. It seems hard to believe he could have used it by accident.

We are told there is now embarrassment within the Vatican and fear that good work has been undone.

But, a week after he was reported to have used this crude term, the Pope has not issued a statement, much less an apology.

At the start of his papacy in 2013, he said: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

Last year, he allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, triggering significant conservative backlash.

But in 2018, he told Italian bishops to carefully vet priesthood applicants and reject anyone suspected of being gay.

In a 2005 document, during Benedict XVI’s papacy, the Vatican said the church could admit into the priesthood those who had overcome gay tendencies for at least three years.

The document said those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies and those who “support the so-called gay culture” should be barred.

World

Arizona teenager saved by brother after black bear attack

Published

2 hours ago

May 28, 2024

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Arizona teenager saved by brother after black bear attack

A teenage boy was saved by his brother after a black bear barged into his cabin and left him with scratches across his face and arm – with the animal having a sit down on a sofa on the family’s porch after the attack.

Brigham Hawkins, 15, was “just chilling” in one of two cabins on his family’s property in Alpine, Arizona, when the bear “walked in through the front door and swiped him across the head” on Thursday evening, his mother Carol said.

Ms Hawkins told Sky News’ US partner NBC News that Brigham has a “neurological disorder” and she believes he would have been killed if her other son Parker, 18, had not intervened.

The mother said: “The front door was open to let the cool night air in.

“Brigham was watching YouTube and didn’t realise what was happening.”

Ms Hawkin said her son “started screaming” during the attack, adding: “[The bear] got him on the nose and the cheek and then went ahead and got his forehead and the top of his head.”

Parker ran over from the other cabin in the family’s garden after hearing the screams, Ms Hawkins said.

She continued: “Parker at first thought it was a big dog of some kind.

“Then the bear saw Parker and began to chase him. That gave Brigham time to slam the door shut in his cabin.”

Ms Hawkins added that Parker then managed to make it back to the other cabin as the bear followed him.

She continued: “[The bear] was just pacing there for a while as we watched him through the window.

“Then he sat down on a couch on the porch and just looked around. It was insane.”

Ms Hawkins said that while she dialled 911 and called a neighbour for help, her husband Shane waited for the bear to look away before darting to the cabin where Brigham was holed-up.

“He slammed the door in the bear’s face,” she said.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), whose agents arrived at the scene, said at one stage during the family’s ordeal the bear entered Brigham’s cabin a second time before “swiping at the victim’s arm”.

However, the bear was no longer besieging the cabins by the time the AZGFD agents arrived.

“After arriving on scene, AZGFD wildlife officers were able to quickly locate and dispatch the bear,” the agency said in a statement.

The bear was a male estimated to be three years old and his carcass will be tested for diseases, the AZGFD said.

Ms Hawkins said her son is “doing better” and has already received a round of rabies shots as a precaution.

Reflecting on why the bear may have attacked, she said: “He may have just been hungry… but that’s just not a normal way for a bear to behave.”

Ms Hawkins continued: “[Brigham] has a neurological disorder and would not have been able to get away from the bear.

“It took a few miracles happening at the same time to save him.”

She added: “This really could have been a lot worse.

“We’re still in disbelief that this happened, but we’re also feeling very blessed.”

There have been 16 bear attacks on people in Arizona since 1990 – with two of them having been fatal, according to the AZGFD.

The most recent fatality occurred when a 66-year-old man was killed while drinking a cup of coffee in the woods in Prescott last year.

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Boxing legend Mike Tyson falls ill on American Airlines flight to Los Angeles

Published

2 hours ago

May 28, 2024

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Boxing legend Mike Tyson falls ill on American Airlines flight to Los Angeles

Mike Tyson has been recovering after falling ill during a flight, his representatives have said.

The 58-year-old former heavyweight champion “became nauseous and dizzy due to an ulcer flare up 30 minutes before landing” on Sunday, his publicist’s office said in a statement.

“Thankfully Mr Tyson is doing great,” the statement said.

“He is appreciative to the medical staff that were there to help him.”

First responders were sent to American Airlines flight 1815 from Miami as it landed at LA International Airport “due to the medical needs of a customer”, an airline statement said.

Tyson is due to fight 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on 20 July at the 80,000-seat home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Netflix will show the fight live, a first for the streaming platform.

Tyson was undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990.

He retired in 2005, but most recently fought in an exhibition in 2020 against Roy Jones in California.

In August 2022, photos showed the boxing legend in a wheelchair while holding a walking stick at an airport terminal, with Tyson later revealing he suffered with sciatica.