Politics latest: Tories hit historic low in new poll - but there's bad news for Sir Keir Starmer as well (2024)

University chiefs will be invited to a COBRA briefing with the security services to combat the threat from hostile states.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, told an audience at Chatham House that a government review had found universities were "vulnerable" and had been "targeted".

He said: "As a first step, I will be calling in vice-chancellors to receive a COBRA briefing with our security services to understand the extent of the problems.

"I think it is likely we are going to need to consult on proposals to address, first of all, the security of researchers given access to frontier research in sensitive sectors."

Mr Dowden added: "Secondly, this issue of universities being dependent on foreign funding which could lead to the transfer of IP (intellectual property) or exploitation or coercion, that in turn sits alongside work we will do to look at our existing controls."

People voting in local elections in England on 2 May will need to provide photo ID.

It is the second year the requirement has been in place - but in 2023,14,000 people couldn't cast their ballot because they didn't take ID to the polling booth.

There are 22 different types of ID you can use - and if you don't have any of them, you can register for a Voter Authority Certificate.

Here's everything you need to know to avoid being caught out:

Sir Keir Starmer also echoed calls for the police to be involved in the case of Mark Menzies, who lost the Tory whip amid allegations he misused campaign funds.

On a visit to a port in Teesside, he said there are "obviously a lot of unanswered questions in relation to these allegations".

Sir Keir added: "Not least why it seems the Conservative Party took so long to act and whether they've reported this to the police, who it seems to me should be involved in this.

"I'll be honest, there's a degree of frustration as well.

"We're two weeks away from really important political and mayoral elections, where there's a lot of positive arguments that we want to make about the change we will bring about in these elections.

"And yet again we're talking about misbehaviour by Tory MPs and if ever you needed evidence of why we need to turn the page on this... and have a fresh start with Labour, I think it's in these allegations coming out today."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the Rwanda scheme would not work regardless of how asylum seekers travelled to the country.

He was asked about reports that RAF Voyagers could be used to transport migrants, and whether he thinks this is acceptable.

Sir Keir said: "I think the government should be concentrating on how they are going to stop small boats from arriving in the first place rather than wasting time and money, taxpayers' money, on a gimmick, however they travel to Rwanda.

"There are tens of thousands of people waiting to have their claims processed and the government is talking about removing a few hundred.

"More people came in one day last week than this entire scheme will remove under its current provisions.

"It is a gimmick, it won't work, it's a waste of taxpayers' money.

"Let's do what matters, smash the gangs that are running this trade in the first place."

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner is on the campaign trail with mayor of London Sadiq Khan today, who is making his bid for another term.

The mayoral election will take place on 2 May, alongside local elections throughout the country.

Number 10 has confirmed again that it will not be making concessions on changes to the Rwanda bill requested by the House of Lords.

Peers on Wednesday again supported an exemption from removal for those who worked with the UK military or government overseas, such as Afghan interpreters.

The legislation will return to the Commons on Monday.

Asked whether ministers could move on that, the prime minister's spokesman said: "The amendment is unnecessary.

"We already have safe and legal routes for people in this category. It's one of the most generous safe and legal routes that we have in fact.

"We are proud that we have relocated over 16,000 people to safety through the scheme so far."

He said the amendment would "create an unnecessary and dangerous incentive for these people to travel here illegally, which is precisely what this bill is trying to avoid."

The government has declined to recommit to Rishi Sunak's spring deadline to get deportation flights off the ground to Rwanda.

His spokesman said: "Our intention is to get this passed on Monday such that we can then set out the timetable for getting flights off as soon as possible."

He said the timetable was initially set out in November "but obviously the bill has continued to be delayed".

"I'm not going to get ahead of the bill passing, which obviously we've seen again last night has continued to be held up.

"We're working at pace to ensure these flights leave as soon as possible.

"It's now incumbent on the Lords to pass this bill such that we can trigger the final planning phases and ultimately stop the boats."

As a reminder, meteorological spring ends on 31 May.

In a point of order in the Commons, Penny Mordaunt has confirmed that three police forces are looking into the social media scandal around William Wragg.

Wragg is at the centre of controversy after he admitted sharing colleagues' personal phone numbers with someone he met on a dating app.

Ms Mordaunt said today: "The honourable lady was asking about a raft of allegations, including the allegations starting with the honourable member for Hazel Grove.

"And my understanding is that that particular issue is under a number....there's, I think, three police forces that are looking into it. I'm not aware of any other police investigations."

We know of two of these forces - the Metropolitan Police and Leicestershire Police.

You can read more about the situation below:

Back in the Commons, and Penny Mordaunt has defended the government's rejection of calls for Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to be scrutinised in the Commons.

The Procedure Committee had recommended that he should take questions from MPs at the "bar" of the House, the white line on the Commons floor from behind which visitors must not pass while Parliament is sitting.

The committee said Lord Cameron should appear for Foreign Office Questions, for statements and urgent questions first in the Commons rather than the Lords, amid concerns about a lack of scrutiny of such a high-profile figure during a time of global turmoil.

But Commons leader Ms Mordaunt said: "Since the Foreign Secretary was appointed we have had eight FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) oral statements, three ministerial statements on foreign affairs, a general debate in Government time on the situation in the Red Sea and 17 Westminster Hall debates responded by FCDO ministers and oral questions in both Houses.

"We are sticking with the usual precedents of both Houses."

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local election campaign well under way, Labour is still sitting comfortably on a roughly 20-point lead, averaging at 43.5% in the polls, with the Tories on 23.4%.

In third is Reform UK on 12.3%, followed by the Lib Dems on 9.3%.

The Green Party stands at 6.3%, and the SNP on 3.1%.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the trackerhere.