On curbing immigration
Corbyn laying a ‘toxic trap’ warns Boris
limited to 600. “What we want is one final push and that final push is to get a cap on the numbers,” he said.
“I would be disappointed if we weren’t able to make some process in the next two or three years.”
Nearly 100 members of the landedgentry are exempt from having their numbers cut as hereditary peers unless there is a change in law.
Some 26 bishops are also protected but they “would be perfectly content” to have a small reduction, according to Lord Fowler. Although Theresa May has shown restraint in her appointments “any Prime Minister could come in and create as many peers as they want,” he admitted.
He called for party whips to tackle lazy peers who turn up to register their presence so they can collect a daily £305 tax-free allowance before immediately disappearing.
“The parties themselves know who is making a contribution, who is turning up, who can always be relied upon and those who can’t,” he said.
Lord Fowler said he was looking A EUROSCEPTIC backlash was mounting last night against the Government leaning towards a soft Brexit with Jeremy Corbyn’s support.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson led a chorus of warnings from top Tories after Theresa May offered fresh talks with the Labour leader.
They blasted Labour’s plans for a customs union with the EU as a “dangerous delusion” and suggested Mr Corbyn was plotting a “toxic” trap.
Mr Johnson said: “I don’t think that there is any mileage for the Prime Minister or the Government in trying to do a deal with Labour because they will just try to trap Theresa May.
“They will just try to do a deal that is toxic.”
His comments were echoed by former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps who tweeted: “No point winning Labour MPs, by losing Tories!” and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Labour’s proposals were “not workable”.
Downing Street, meanwhile, said Mrs May will make a Commons statement on the latest developments in the Brexit negotiations tomorrow – a day earlier than expected.
Mr Fox, in Bern for the signing of a trade agreement with Switzerland, said of the customs union plan: “It is very clear from the European Union that non-EU members do not have a say in EU trade policy, so to pretend that you could do so is a dangerous delusion.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, said: “As the 2017 Conservative manifesto promised to leave the customs union, it would be more consistent for the Prime Minister simply to rule one out.” into other ways of allowing prime ministers to reward people for their achievements or public service, which included a system of nonparliamentary peers.
They would be given the title but without the right to vote or attend debates.
Lord Fowler said: “As far as I can see, there may be some controversy about this, we don’t require legislation to do that. But we are right at the beginning of that process.”
No 10 last month announced that Nicola Blackwood, a Tory MP who was kicked out by voters in Oxford West and Abingdon in 2017, was being given a peerage and a ministerial role. But Lord Fowler dismissed criticism about the so-called revolving door between the Commons and Lords.
“I don’t think the fact that she has lost her seat as a member of the Commons matters,” he said.
“We are full of people who’ve lost their seats in the House of Commons. It tends to be what happens in politics.” BRITAIN will buy and adapt cargo ships or ferries and convert them into warships ready to quickly respond to a crisis and carry out a range of operations, the Defence Secretary has announced.
In his speech in London, Gavin Williamson has also revealed plans to buy off-the-shelf drones that will be adapted and used in swarms to overwhelm enemy radars.
The drones are expected to be deployed by the end of this year at an expected cost of £7million.
Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, Mr Williamson revealed the new “Littoral Strike Ship concept”.
Range
He said: “These globally deployable, multi-role vessels would be able to conduct a wide range of operations from crisis support to war fighting.
“They will be able to respond at a moment’s notice.”
The two ships – one of the first investments from the Transformation Fund – could be based to the east of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and to the west of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic.
They could be used in hostage-rescue situations, humanitarian disasters, intelligence surveillance and could intervene in situations in an agile way.
The cost is believed to be into the tens of millions of pounds.
Mr Williamson said the vision is for the two ships to form part of two Littoral Strike Groups, which would be complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters.
Mr Wiliamson said he is determined to “create the Armed Forces of the future”.