Security minister Dan Jarvis failed to specify any alternative type of accommodation for asylum seekers after last night’s injunction. In a torturous sequence of questions and non-answers with Emma Barnett on the Today Programme Jarvis could only say a “range of options” were being looked at and that it would be “difficult.” Not too promising…
“The reality is there will be a range of different arrangements… no one thinks hotels are the appropriate setting… the appropriate setting will be a range of different arrangements.”
Jarvis could not specify what they would look like or name any, despite the government’s pledge to end asylum seeker hotel use by 2029. Barnett was having none of his attempts to say that the problem would be dealt with “upstream”…
Government sources say details would create a risk of violent protest from the far right – won’t wash. Councils are already eyeing up legal challenges à la Epping Forest. This is turning into a political impossibility…
Starmer insisted his chances of leading the country are not diminishing. He told reporters during his visit to McLaren:
“No, no, no. I’m very happy to be out and about this morning, not talking about the internal politics of the Labour party, but talking about young people.”