Since Rishi Sunak obviously has nothing left to do but campaign, he should call a general election In the weeks immediately preceding an election, government resources are not meant to be deployed for party political campaigns. The convention – commonly called “purdah” but officially described as the “pre-election period of sensitivity” – is not an enforceable prohibition. It relies on deference to democratic protocol and an intuitive sense of what constitutes fair play in the electoral arena. The Conservative party has abandoned those qualities. The period running up to Thursday’s local, mayo ..read more

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer faced each other ahead of Thursday’s elections in England and Wales Labour has accused Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, of championing single-sex spaces as part of a “culture war”. Speaking about the initiative announced by Badenoch this morning (see 10.10am), Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secreary, told Times Radio this morning: [Badenoch] does love nothing more than a culture war. And it is so transparent what she is doing. She is pitching to Conservative members for the leadership contest to come in the Conservative party. And frankly, our count ..read more

Guardian understands dozens of detentions have taken place across the UK this week, prompting demonstrations UK politics – latest updates UK ministers have acknowledged for the first time that they are detaining asylum seekers to be removed to Rwanda, sparking demonstrations outside Home Office buildings. Nationwide operations began this week to detain people, a statement said, with more activity due to be carried out over the next 11 weeks leading up to a one-way flight to east Africa ..read more

Refugee Council sounds warning after children wrongly issued with notices of intent by Home office UK politics – latest updates Lone child asylum seekers are at risk of being sent to Rwanda because the Home Office has wrongly classified some as adults, it has been claimed. The Refugee Council, which works with these children, has warned of the risk after more than a dozen of the children it works with were wrongly issued with notices of intent for Rwanda ..read more

Sudanese man being held in Croydon after arriving for routine sign-in believed to be first potential deportation under new law An asylum seeker who turned up for a routine Home Office appointment on Monday was detained and told that he was being sent to Rwanda, an NGO has said. In what is believed to be the first potential deportation case under the Rwanda scheme since Rishi Sunak’s bill received royal assent, the Sudanese man was held in Croydon, south London, the organisation Soas Detainee Support (SDS) told the Guardian ..read more

Asylum seekers are our neighbours, not political pawns for failing politicians. If MPs cannot resist the Rwanda plan, activists will Laws that are unjust will inevitably be broken. Here is a basic reading of our history, and indeed how numerous rights and freedoms were secured in the first place. Ruled as we are by a desperate man lacking a moral compass, our sinking government has brought forward plans to detain asylum seekers across the UK in preparation for their deportation to Rwanda. After both the European court of human rights and the supreme court declared the government’s scheme unlaw ..read more

Minister says ‘officers are used to this’, as figures suggest Home Office is in contact with only 38% of people it wants to remove The Home Office is “used to” losing contact with asylum seekers, a UK government minister has said, after official figures suggested thousands of people it hoped to deport to Rwanda had stopped reporting. The impact assessment on the Home Office’s website on Monday suggests the department is in contact with 38% of those it intends to remove to Rwanda. Only 2,145 “continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention”, the impact assessment says, of ..read more

Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza says her banning shows Rwandan government does not adhere to international law A Rwandan opposition leader who has been banned from standing for election has cast doubt on whether her government will stick to the terms of the deportation deal agreed with Rishi Sunak. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza told the Guardian that the Rwandan government’s refusal to allow her to stand or leave the country to see her ill husband showed that the government under Paul Kagame did not adhere to international law ..read more

Rishi Sunak’s rightward journey on asylum is turning the UK into a darker place The prospect of people who have come to the UK seeking asylum being deported to Rwanda has moved a step closer, one week after the Safety of Rwanda Act was voted into law. On Monday the Home Office began an operation to detain people in dedicated centres, sooner than most had anticipated. A statement described the rounding-up of potential deportees as “the final phase of operationalising this landmark policy”. The plan is for the first flights to take off in 10 to 12 weeks. Arrangements in Rwanda, including the 50 ..read more

For the Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege, who has treated more than 80,000 survivors of sexual violence by armed groups, the west displays double standards over the ‘stain on our humanity’ Walking around a camp for displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo this year, the Nobel peace laureate Dr Denis Mukwege was filled with shame. Around him were women, many of them survivors of rape, living in destitution with no access to clean water or to any protection. The women had left their homes after fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group resumed in North Kivu prov ..read more