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Sunak claims Starmer could put Brexit in peril

London, Oct 25 (ANI): British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak waves as he arrives to deliver a press statement at 10 Downing Street, in London on Tuesday. He was appointed as new UK's PM by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. (ANI Photo)

Home Secretary Cleverly has claimed Labour will “open the door to 100,000 illegal migrants” which a Labour spokesperson has labelled as desperate lies…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak has made a series of claims about rival Keir Starmer and his intentions if Labour get into government – claiming he “would recommit us to free movement of EU citizens, taking thousands more illegal migrants and binding our businesses again in Brussels red tape”.

“Keir Starmer has never believed we can succeed as a sovereign country and has tried to overturn the result time and time again,” he said. “Now he has committed to years more wrangling the EU and abandoning all our hard-won freedoms like the ability to strike more trade deals and cut more red tape.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has claimed Starmer and Labour “have never believed in Britain’s ability to forge its own path”.

“Instead of using the opportunities, Starmer wants to renegotiate the Brexit deal, taking us back to square one of being a rule-taker from Brussels,” she added.

“Only the Conservatives will continue to take the bold action required to build a secure, independent future for our country.”

Starmer last month told he plans to seek “a better [Brexit] deal than the one that we’ve got” if elected in next month’s general election. “I don’t think many people look at that deal and think it’s working very well,” he said of the current trade arrangements. “We were promised an oven-ready deal and we got something that was, frankly, half-baked.”

The Labour manifesto makes one mention of Brexit. It reads: “With Labour, Britain will stay outside of the EU. But to seize the opportunities ahead, we must make Brexit work. We will reset the relationship and seek to deepen ties with our European friends, neighbours and allies,” it continues. “That does not mean reopening the divisions of the past. There will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement. Instead, Labour will work to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU, by tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade.”

Meanwhile, Home Secretary James Cleverly has claimed Labour will “open the door to 100,000 illegal migrants” in a piece for the Sunday Telegraph – which a Labour spokesperson has already labelled “desperate lies from a party that has totally failed to control our borders or manage the asylum system”.

And in The Times, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has said in a new interview: “I think one of the biggest question marks over Labour is what they would do in terms of relations with the EU because it is on the record that Starmer did everything he could to frustrate a Brexit deal and to secure a second referendum.

“I was in the room with him when we were trying to negotiate an agreement between Labour and the Conservatives under Theresa [May] to secure a Brexit deal.”

Meanwhile, as polls continue to predict Labour are heading for a comfortable majority, their national campaign co-ordinator has reminded the public: “Change will only happen if you vote for it.”

Labour’s national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden wrote in the Observer: “There is a danger that the debate in this election becomes consumed by polls and specifically by the idea that the outcome is somehow pre-determined… No way is this election a done deal.

“The headlines about the clutch of MRP polls disguise a huge level of uncertainty.”

Sunak predicted to lose seat

Meanwhile, two polls have found the Labour party was set to win a record-breaking number of seats and the incumbent Conservatives due for a historic drubbing in July’s general election.

With voters heading to the polls in just over two weeks time, the latest pair of nationwide surveys by YouGov and Savanta/Electoral Calculus, showed Labour set to win either 425 or 516 out of 650 seats.

Either of the results would be the current opposition party’s best-ever return of MPs in a general election.

Meanwhile, the twin polls showed support for the Tories, in power since 2010, plummeting to unprecedented lows, with one estimating they would win just 53 seats.

The Savanta and Electoral Calculus survey for the Daily Telegraph newspaper predicted Rishi Sunak would become the first sitting U.K. prime minister ever to lose their seat at a general election.

The poll, which forecasts three-quarters of Sunak’s cabinet also losing their seats, would hand Labour a majority of 382, more than double the advantage enjoyed by ex-prime minister Tony Blair in 1997.

It also showed the centrist Liberal Democrats just three seats behind the Conservatives on 50, and the Scottish National Party losing dozens of seats north of the English border.

That was a drop of 32 on its prediction from two weeks ago, reflecting how badly the Conservatives’ election campaign is perceived to have gone.

The 108 seats the Tories are predicted to win in the poll would still be their lowest number in the party’s near 200-year history of contesting U.K. elections.

Sunak is widely seen as having run a lacklustre and error-strewn campaign, including facing near-universal criticism earlier this month for leaving early from D-Day commemoration events in France.

ALSO READ-Sunak to push for ‘decisive’ support for Ukraine at G7  

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Blow to Sunak as Brexit champ Farage announces candidacy

Farage said he had had a change of heart as “I can’t let down those millions of people” who had supported him throughout previous elections and referendums…reports Asian Lite News

Nigel Farage on Monday said he would stand as a candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK party in Britain’s general election next month, after initially ruling out running.

“I have changed my mind… I am going to stand,” Farage, 60, told a news conference. He will seek election on July 4 in the fiercely pro-Brexit seat of Clacton, southeast England.

Farage said he had had a change of heart as “I can’t let down those millions of people” who had supported him throughout previous elections and referendums.

The move piles more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose languishing Conservatives can ill afford to lose votes on its right.

Reform is currently polling at around 11 percent, which if replicated at the ballot box could split the right-wing vote, potentially depriving the Conservatives of key seats needed to win re-election.

“I genuinely believe we can get more votes than the Conservative party. They are on the brink of total collapse,” said the arch-eurosceptic.

But Farage promised that Reform, which he founded and has now become leader, will also take votes from the main opposition Labour party, although conceded that they will win the election.

“What I’m really calling for, and what I intend to lead is a political revolt. A turning of our backs on the political status quo,” he added.

“Nothing in this country works any more. We are in decline.”

Farage has failed in his seven previous attempts at becoming an MP in the UK parliament but was a member of the European Parliament in Brussels for UKIP and Reform UK’s forerunner the Brexit Party.

ALSO READ-Sunak pledges immigration visa caps

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Post-Brexit border arrangements to cost $6 bn  

The first phase of Britain’s so called new Border Target Operating Model, requiring additional certification, came into force on Jan. 31…reports Asian Lite News

The British government estimates it will spend at least 4.7 billion pounds ($6 billion) on implementing post Brexit border arrangements, after repeated delays in setting new rules, parliament’s spending watchdog said on Monday.

Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016 but, such was the scale of the task to untangle supply chains and erect customs borders, that it is only this year setting new rules.

The first phase of Britain’s so called new Border Target Operating Model, requiring additional certification, came into force on Jan. 31.

A second phase started on April 30, introducing physical checks at ports. A third phase, requiring safety and security declarations is slated for Oct. 31.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the 4.7 billion pounds figure is the amount the government forecasts it will spend on the 13 most significant programmes to manage the passage of goods across the border post Brexit and improve performance over the lifetime of the programmes.

The government delayed the implementation of full controls five times since the end of the EU exit transition period on Dec. 31 2020.

This caused uncertainty for businesses, extra costs for government and ports and increased the biosecurity risk to the UK, the NAO said.

“The repeated delays in introducing import controls, and difficulties forecasting requirements, have resulted in government expenditure on infrastructure and staff that were ultimately not needed,” it said.

“Late announcements about policy and uncertainty about the implementation of controls have also reduced the ability of businesses and ports to prepare for changes.” The NAO noted that while post EU exit border processes have operated “relatively smoothly”, businesses trading goods between the UK and the EU have faced additional costs and administrative burdens.

The watchdog was also critical of the government’s 2025 UK Border Strategy, which was published in 2020, saying it “lacks a clear timetable and an integrated cross-government delivery plan, with individual departments leading different aspects of implementation.”

The government also needed “a more realistic approach” to digital transformation, the NAO said.

ALSO READ-Farmers protest post-Brexit rules and trade deals

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Farmers protest post-Brexit rules and trade deals

Organisers of the protest have also slammed labelling that allows products to bear a Union flag when they have not been grown or reared in the country…reports Asian Lite News

Farmers in the UK protested against pro-Brexit rules and trade deals on Monday, claiming they are threatening their livelihoods and food security.

To the sound of car horns, Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers drove tractors in slow-motion through south London towards Parliament Square, where supporters awaited.

Displaying signs that read “no farmers, no food, no future”, the protesters called on the government to end trade deals they say allow imports of food produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK and undercut local farmers.

“They’re not telling the truth,” said the founder of Save British Farming Liz Webster when asked by a BBC News reporter what she would say to claims by the government it backs farmers. 

“They negotiated trade deals which literally see us slaughtered,” she continued. “They’re the worst trade deals in the world.”

“We have been totally and utterly let down by this government,” Webster added. “We are demanding change.”

The UK’s exit from the EU has significantly affected its agriculture. Taking the country outside the bloc’s free trade zone and web of rules has left farmers grappling with bureaucratic headaches, exporting difficulties and labour shortages.

Many British farmers supported Brexit, opposing the EU’s much-criticised Common Agricultural Policy.  Many now say post-Brexit trade deals between the UK and countries like Australia and New Zealand have opened the door to cheap imports they cannot compete with.

Organisers of the protest have also slammed labelling that allows products to bear a Union flag when they have not been grown or reared in the country. 

Mass farmers’ protests have gripped countries across the EU. Farmers in Poland, France and Germany have demonstrated against what claim is cumbersome bureaucracy, Brussels’ environmental policies and unfair foreign competition.  They claim they are being driven to bankruptcy, like the British.

Public opinion in the UK on Brexit has soured, according to several polls.  A recent poll by Opinium found a clear majority of the British public now believes withdrawing from the European Union in 2020 was bad for the country’s economy.

The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also revealed strikingly low numbers of people believe Brexit has benefited them or the country.

ALSO READ-UK begins post-Brexit trade talks with Turkey

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UK begins post-Brexit trade talks with Turkey

Kemi Badenoch, the UK trade secretary, said Turkey was an “important economic and strategic partner” and that a trade deal could help boost exports of British services…reports Asian Lite News

The UK and Turkey have started talks about a post-Brexit free trade agreement targeting the service sector of the economy.

The UK government said there were “huge opportunities” for British businesses in exporting to Turkey, as one of the fastest-growing economies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development group of nations, with trade between the two countries worth £26bn in 2022.

Ministers had announced in July last year their intention to hold trade talks with Turkey, and last November began months of consultation with businesses and trade groups over the UK’s priorities for an agreement.

The government said UK businesses including Deloitte, Diageo and Vodafone had helped to shape negotiation objectives through a public call for input, before the first round of detailed discussions scheduled for the summer.

The talks come at a delicate moment in ties between Turkey and western governments after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who holds warmer relations with Russia than other Nato member states, held up the progress of Sweden’s membership until his government granted its backing in January.

Kemi Badenoch, the UK trade secretary, said Turkey was an “important economic and strategic partner” and that a trade deal could help boost exports of British services.

Badenoch launched the talks in London on Thursday alongside her Turkish counterpart, Ömer Bolat.

A deal could also give British consumers improved choice and better access to imported Turkish goods such as nuts, bulgar wheat and tomatoes, the government said.

Britain already has a trade deal with Turkey, which was rolled over after Brexit in a continuity agreement to minimise disruption. Before leaving the EU, the UK benefited from trading with Turkey through an EU-Turkey customs union.

Turkey had launched membership talks with the EU in 2005, but the accession process and efforts to expand its customs deal have since stalled amid concerns in EU capitals over the gradual erosion of democracy under Erdoğan.

While Turkey’s economy has grown at a rapid pace over Erdoğan’s 20 years in power, it has also been rocked by successive crises, including bouts of galloping inflation and crashes in the Turkish lira triggered by the president’s unorthodox stance on economic policy.

The UK government said Turkey presented significant opportunities for British businesses, including in transport, engineering, financial services, manufacturing and tech, driven in part by the country’s decarbonisation efforts and significant investment in rail.

It said the deal would focus on the UK’s strengths in services, which make up 80% of GDP, while highlighting that in 2020 there were 57,000 UK jobs supported by exports to Turkey, of which 68% were in services.

“An upgraded deal will give the UK’s world-leading services sector a competitive edge in this growing market and has the potential to support jobs across the UK,” Badenoch said.

ALSO READ-UK govt to ban foreign states from owning newspapers

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Brexit Costs UK Economy £140 Billion

The average Briton was nearly 2,000 pounds worse off in 2023, while the average Londoner was nearly 3,400 pounds worse off last year as a result of Brexit, the report showed…reports Asian Lite News

The UK economy is nearly 140 billion British pounds ($178.7 billion), or six per cent, smaller than it would have been because of Brexit, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said.

The country’s departure from the EU has also cost London’s economy more than 30 billion pounds, Khan added on Thursday during a speech in the City of London, quoting a report by Cambridge Econometrics commissioned by City Hall.

“Brexit is simply not a peripheral concern that we can leave in the past — it’s a key contributor to the cost-of-living crisis right now and it’s resulting in lost opportunities, lost business and lost income at a time when people and companies can least afford it,” the London Mayor said, according to an official statement as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The average Briton was nearly 2,000 pounds worse off in 2023, while the average Londoner was nearly 3,400 pounds worse off last year as a result of Brexit, the report showed.

The economic damage is only going to get worse, it added, noting that more than 300 billion pounds is set to be wiped off the value of the UK economy by 2035 if no action is taken. (1 British pound = $1.28)

ALSO READ-UK, Switzerland ink post-Brexit deal

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UK, Switzerland ink post-Brexit deal

Hunt was in Bern, Switzerland, to sign the agreement with his Swiss counterpart, Karin Keller-Sutter, who said it would “boost the international competitiveness” of both markets over the long term…reports Asian Lite News

The UK and Switzerland on Thursday signed a post-Brexit financial services deal designed to bring two of Europe’s largest banking centers closer together.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said that the “first-of-its-kind” deal was a win for post-Brexit Britain that “wouldn’t have been possible to sign” inside the European Union.

He added that the mutual recognition accord, dubbed the Bern Financial Services Agreement, would provide a “blueprint” for future deals with other countries.

“This is a new type of trade agreement that we can use as a model for future agreements that we have with other markets as well,” Hunt said during a news conference announcing the deal.

Hunt was in Bern, Switzerland, to sign the agreement with his Swiss counterpart, Karin Keller-Sutter, who said it would “boost the international competitiveness” of both markets over the long term.

The deal, which follows more than two years of negotiations, aims to streamline business ties between financial firms and wealthy individuals in the two markets, and improve cross-border access to a range of financial services sold by banks, insurers and asset managers.

It follows a so-called deference model, which allows firms to operate in the partner country while following just one set of regulations and without necessarily having to open a local base. As such, financial services providers and insurers will be able to offer certain cross-border activities in both Switzerland and the U.K.

The terms will also allow Swiss firms to serve wealthy individuals within the U.K., either locally or cross-border, replicating privileges currently available to British firms in Switzerland. Meanwhile, U.K. advisors will be permitted to “temporarily serve” wealthy clients locally in Switzerland without registering in the country.

Hunt described the plans as a “light-touch, progressive, future-leaning way of opening access,” which would provide a significant boost for the City of London. Hunt added that the deal could potentially be extended to include retail and sustainable finance in the future.

The deal will need to be approved by parliaments in both countries before entering into force next year. However, some commentators were optimistic that it would mark an improvement on the equivalence framework Britain had with Switzerland while in the European Union.

David Henig, U.K. director at independent think tank the European Centre for International Political Economy, said the deal was “broadly good news” which would leverage Britain’s heft in financial services.

It comes as Britain aims to reposition itself post-Brexit and Switzerland seeks to shake off the reputational hit to its financial services sector following the collapse of Credit Suisse in March.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak initially launched talks with Switzerland in 2020, when he was finance minister, claiming that the accord would demonstrate the countries’ shared vision of an “open, global and free” economy.

The current Conservative government in Britain has long positioned signing new trade deals as a key benefit of Brexit. In June, Britain signed a deal to join an 11-nation Asia-Pacific free trade bloc that includes Australia, Singapore, Japan and Canada, marking its third new trade deal since formally exiting the bloc on Jan. 31, 2020.

ALSO READ-UK, Switzerland ink deal to secure healthcare access

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UK Immigration System Grants Excessive Power to Employers

Citing the case of an Indian nurse, the Guardian reported that she is currently stranded in the UK with her partner and young child after paying 20,000 pounds to an agent in her home country…reports Asian Lite News

With most work visas tied to sponsors, the UK’s post-Brexit Points Based Immigration System severely limits migrant workers’ abilities to change jobs, putting employers in a position of great power, which remains unchecked, according to a new report.

Thousands of migrant workers face risk of exploitation because of multiple failures in the Home Office’s employer sponsorship scheme, said the report titled, ‘Systematic Drivers of Migrant Worker Exploitation in the UK’ by Work Rights Centre.

The risk of exploitation is exacerbated by the issues ingrained in the UK’s labour enforcement system, the research said after drawing on 39 case studies with migrant workers, including those under the Health and Care Visa and Seasonal Worker Visa.

“Divided between numerous agencies with unclear remits, poorly resourced, and reliant on businesses to self-regulate, the labour enforcement system remains ill-equipped to identify, respond to, and prevent the exploitation of migrant workers,” the report said.

“From the perspective of migrant workers, sponsorship is akin to bonded labour. It hands employers the power to exploit migrants, knowing that it will be very hard for them to leave,” Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, told the Guardian.

“We have seen many tragic cases where people come to accept exploitation. The work-sponsorship system needs urgent reform to prevent even more migrant workers being exploited,” she said.

Citing the case of an Indian nurse, the Guardian reported that she is currently stranded in the UK with her partner and young child after paying 20,000 pounds to an agent in her home country.

He promised to secure a UK work visa for her and find secure employment in the country, but upon her arrival, the sponsor employer told her there was no work for her.

To avoid being deported along with her family, the nurse now has to find another sponsor employer within 60 days.

She told the UK-based daily that “she cannot sleep at night” and feels that she has been “mentally harrassed”.

“I was given a dismissal letter because the employer said I was not talking to them in a good way,” she told the Guardian.

“I was simply asking when I could start work. The situation is so stressful and I feel completely hopeless and cheated. I know there are hundreds of people in the same situation.”

The report called on the government to end employer-sponsorship of visas, and give migrants the freedom to change employers, and institute a Single Enforcement Body, where labour exploitation can be reported securely.

It also urged the government to set up an independent Migrants’ Commissioner, tasked with drafting a Migrant Worker Welfare Strategy, to prevent migrant labour exploitation in the long term.

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UK to ease post-Brexit travel rules for French school trips

Daryl Taylor, the managing director of Linguastay, a UK homestay accommodation provider, said the initiative would help restore the UK’s position as a top destination for European youth groups but urged the government to move quickly…reports Asian Lite News

The government is to sharply reduce post-Brexit border bureaucracy for French school trips as part of plans to revamp educational exchanges with Europe, which have plummeted since Britain left the EU.

Government insiders confirmed rules to be introduced in the coming months will allow children coming on school trips from France to use national identity cards, while rules requiring non-EU citizens to obtain a visa to travel with their classmates will be dropped.

The revised rules, which could be extended to other EU member states if successfully trialled, emerged after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, president of France, pledged to “ease the travel” of school groups at a summit in March.

The educational travel industry has lobbied intensively for the changes after surveys showed school trips to the UK from the EU had fallen by up to two-thirds in the year after new post-Brexit border controls were introduced.

Emma English, the executive director of the British Educational Travel Association, said the industry — which BETA estimates is worth at least £1.5bn a year to the UK economy — would be pushing for implementation of the new rules as quickly as possible.

“This would be greatly, greatly welcomed from all sides of the industry,” she said. “It can’t come soon enough, and the sooner it can be rolled out to include other EU countries, the better for everyone.”

Daryl Taylor, the managing director of Linguastay, a UK homestay accommodation provider, said the initiative would help restore the UK’s position as a top destination for European youth groups but urged the government to move quickly.

“It is a move that will enrich our country financially and culturally. It does, however, need to be rolled out urgently before the mindset of the organisers of such groups is fixed on the alternative destinations they have chosen over the past two years. We hope it’s not too late.”

Before Brexit, EU-based children on school trips were able to travel to the UK on a group visa using the bloc’s “list of travellers” scheme, with some using national ID cards instead of a passport.

After Brexit, the British government left the scheme and required all EU children to travel with a passport and all non-EU children living in the bloc to apply for a visa — a process that led to some children being left behind, and many schools to cancel their trips.

Schools reported “Kafkaesque” experiences at the hands of the UK Home Office, where children on fixed-price trips were denied visas for having insufficient funds or not having parental consent, despite appearing at interviews with their parents.

Edward Hisbergues, the director of PG Trips, a travel company with clients who suffered under the post-Brexit regime, said the changes would help to rehabilitate the UK’s reputation in the EU as a place of welcome.

“I am happy to know that no more children will be sidelined because of their nationality,” he said, “and I am happy to know that France and the United Kingdom are getting closer again. This will inevitably change the image of the country.”

The rules are expected to be introduced in the coming months and will require changes to existing legislation. They were drawn up after nine months of protracted negotiations in Whitehall, according to two insiders with knowledge of the discussion, while a third person said the outline of the deal could be agreed by year-end.

Under the changes French children will be able to use ID cards while non-EU children resident in France will require a passport, but not a visa, so long as they are travelling as part of an official school trip.

The Home Office said the rules enacted the pledge at the March summit to ease the travel of school groups to the UK by making changes to documentary requirements for school children on organised trips from France.

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Labour will re-write Brexit deal, says Starmer  

Labour leader says he would seek closer trading ties with Brussels when the pact negotiated by Boris Johnson comes up for review in 2025…reports Asian Lite News

Keir Starmer has committed to pursuing a major rewrite of the Brexit deal with the EU if Labour is elected, citing his responsibility to his children and future generations.

As the Labour leader begins to unveil his blueprint for power if the party wins the next general election, he told the Financial Times he would seek a closer trading relationship with Brussels when the agreement negotiated by then-prime minister Boris Johnson comes up for review in 2025.

“Almost everyone recognises the deal Johnson struck is not a good deal – it’s far too thin,” Starmer said. “As we go into 2025 we will attempt to get a much better deal for the UK.”

Starmer made the comments in Canada at a conference of centre-left leaders, the Global Progress Action Summit, in Montreal, where he had a bilateral meeting with the country’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The trip is part of a wider tour of the international stage: Starmer visited The Hague last week and will arrive in Paris to see the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday.

The Labour leader said there is “more that can be achieved across the board” between the UK and EU in a revised deal – on business, veterinary compliance, professional services, security, innovation, research and other areas. He ruled out rejoining the EU, the customs union and the single market.

Johnson’s deal is up for review in 2025 but the process is seen more by Brussels as an ironing-out procedure. European appetite for renegotiating a deal that commenced in 2021 is uncertain.

“We have to make it work,” Starmer told the paper. “That’s not a question of going back in. But I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work. I think about those future generations when I say that.

“I say that as a dad. I’ve got a 15-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. I’m not going to let them grow up in a world where all I’ve got to say to them about their future is, it’s going to be worse than it might otherwise have been. I’ve got an utter determination to make this work.”

His comments join other recent interventions in which the leader – who has frustrated some for being tight-lipped – has started to outline what Starmer’s Britain might look like, as Labour begins to plan for power.

The party is consistently polling above the Conservatives. Last week Starmer sat down to dinner with union leaders gathered for the Trades Union Congress, with one official present summing up Starmer’s message as “eyes on the prize”.

In Paris on Tuesday, Macron and Starmer are expected to discuss post-Brexit relations, as well as a potential returns agreement with the EU to stop people travelling across the Channel in dangerously small boats.

“We have to make it work. That’s not a question of going back in, but I refuse to accept that we can’t make it work,” he said, adding that he was thinking about “future generations”.

The Labour leader spent the weekend meeting fellow centre-left leaders in Canada, including the country’s prime minister Justin Trudeau.

He is also expected to travel to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron later this week, where post-Brexit relations are expected to feature heavily in talks.

He also travelled to the Hague, the Netherlands, last week to meet with the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol, seeking a deal to try and stop smuggling gangs bringing people across the channel in small boats.

Meanwhile, Starmer is on course to clinch a landslide majority of 140 for Labour at the next UK general election, the first modelling based on a mega poll of new constituency boundaries suggests.

With the Conservatives still suffering from a large polling deficit, Labour’s support was found to be at about 35 per cent to 12 per cent ahead of Rishi Sunak’s party, The Guardian reported.

The results were revealed in an analysis of polling known as multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP), and will boost Starmer’s hopes of victory as the long campaign in the run-up to the next election progresses.

John Curtice, a political commentator, said that since the sleaze scandals that engulfed Boris Johnson and Liz Truss’s mini-budget, there had been a “very substantial” drop in support for the Tories. Though Sunak had sought to steady the party, Curtice said there had been only “a bit of a narrowing” of Labour’s lead, The Guardian reported.

The general election poses a headache to pollsters and campaign strategists, as constituency boundaries are being redrawn for the first time in several election cycles.

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