With the Sunday Politics off-air until next week, and Peston off-air until the Autumn, it was a slimmed down day for the Sunday Shows.
Here’s your round-up.
Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid committed an awful lot of, what we call in the trade, ‘news’ this morning.
His interview with Andrew Marr ranged from police funding to Windrush, visas for doctors to Islamophobia.
The main takeaway from his appearance is that is not afraid to take on legacy left by his predecessor-but-one in the job, Theresa May.
On policing…
Sajid Javid confirmed that the Government plans to recruit 2,000 extra officers into the security services to fight the “severe terrorist threat”.
He also reiterated his pledge – first made in a speech to the Police Federation in May – to seek extra funding for police in the next spending review.
He said: “That is part of the announcement making sure we have all the resources we need to fight this severe terrorist threat.
“The terrorist threat is top of my mind, something I think of every single day, what more we can do.”
On Windrush…
Javid said he would “like to think I’m on top of it”, but wasn’t sure on the final numbers of people who were illegally or wrongly deported. He believes 63 from the Windrush generation were deported, but 32 of those are foreign national offenders.
He revealed the Home Office had so far only been able to contact seven of the other 31 deportees.
On immigration…
Javid repeatedly refused to explicitly defend the net migration target of below 100,000, simply saying it was in the Tories’ 2017 manifesto, and that’s what he stands by.
He took aim at two of Theresa May’s key levers to reduce net migration, saying he will look at lifting the cap on the number of non-EU doctors who can come to the UK, and whether overseas students should be taken out of the immigration figures. There’s a full write-up here.
Javid also hit back at claims the Tories have a problem with Islamophobia, saying the Muslim Council of Britain – which has demanded an investigation – has members who support extremism. There’s a full write up here.
Northern Ireland abortion
An interview with DUP leader Arlene Foster underlined her position on abortion law reform in the wake of the vote in the Republic last month.
She claimed some Sinn Fein supporters had emailed her saying they would now be voting for the DUP as “they believe we are the only party that supports the unborn.”
Labour MP Stella Creasy, who is leading the charge for reform to the law in Northern Ireland appeared on Marr and Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday to explain her tactics.
She told Marr: “The Offences against the Person Act passed in 1861 puts abortion in the same category as rape, child stealing and using gun powder to blow people up.
“What that means is that right now in Northern Ireland, where there are no exemptions to this law, if you are raped and you become pregnant as a result of that rape, and you seek a termination, you would face a longer prison sentence than the person who attacked you.”
Here she is on Ridge:
Brexit
On Ridge, Labour’s Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner was asked whether his party would support higher levels of immigration to get trade deals after Brexit. His said Labour would base its policies on what “the economy needs”, as opposed to an “arbitrary” target which the Tories support.
Statute of Limitations
On Radio 5Live, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood told John Pienaar he would like the Government to consider a statute of limitations for future investigations into crimes committed during the Northern Ireland troubles in its consultation into legacy issues.
He said:
“It does make sense to draw a line at some point to say that investigations have taken place to their conclusion, and unless there’s compelling evidence put forward to a very high court that you, that we, then close the books on that particular matter. However, there is a consultation taking place, these arguments I think will be put into that consultation and I hope common sense will then prevail because at the moment you are hearing of the historic allegations team, this Northern Ireland operation, knocking on doors of people who are now in their 80s asking questions, that cannot be how we should look after our veterans.”