A Cabinet minister has played down any suggestions of a split between Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly over the Rwanda asylum plan, after the Home Secretary said it was not the “be all and end all”.

The remarks, which came amid a separate row within the Tory party about record levels of net migration to the UK, raised eyebrows among some in the party. 

But Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott, a recently promoted ally of Mr Sunak, insisted the pair were on the same page.

Mr Cleverly insisted, in an interview with The Times, that the initiative is not the “be all and end all” to stopping Channel crossings.

“My frustration is that we have allowed the narrative to be created that this was the be all and end all,” he said.

Mr Sunak, in contrast, used an interview with The Mail On Sunday to stress the importance of the scheme, after the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful earlier this month.

Speaking to the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News, Ms Trott said: “They’re both actually saying the same thing, which is that Rwanda is part of our plan.

“Both saying it is part of the plan, it is not all of the plan.”

Mr Sunak has pledged not to let a “foreign court” stop flights to Rwanda, with plans for a new treaty and emergency legislation to ensure the plan is legally watertight. 

It was the UK Supreme Court, rather than “a foreign court”, that dealt the latest blow to the Government’s hopes of sending asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

But Tories are keen to ensure that the ECHR and the Strasbourg court that rules on it will not prevent the policy, first announced in 2020, from being implemented.

Ms Trott said: “We have successfully in the last year bought the numbers of people coming over here illegally down by a third.

“That is at a time when the numbers coming into Europe are up by 80%.

“This was not a foregone conclusion.”

The Cabinet minister declined to spell out any new steps the Government might take to reduce overall net migration, another preoccupation of Tory MPs.

The figure peaked at 745,000 in the year to December 2022, according to revised estimates published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday. 

The data places migration levels at three times higher than before Brexit.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is understood to have worked up a plan designed to appease calls from right-wing Tories for the Government to take action.

He is pushing for a ban on foreign social care workers from bringing in any dependants and a cap on the total number of NHS and social care visas.

His plan would also scrap the shortage occupation list, a programme that allows foreign workers to be paid 20% below the going rate in roles that suffer from a lack of skilled staff.

But Ms Trott, who said immigration levels are “too high”, declined to shed any light on what potential measures could be introduced.

“This year we brought forward a £600 million plan to train more people to do social care in this country.

“So we are taking concrete steps, I’m not just saying here I want it to come down, I’m saying that we are taking concrete steps to bring it down,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme. By Dominic McGrath, The Telegraph

BBC boss Tim Davie is facing a “test of leadership” after Gary Lineker appeared to endorse a claim that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza, insiders said.

BBC staff expressed anger after the BBC’s highest-paid star shared an interview with academic Raz Segal, who said of Israel’s actions in Gaza: “What we’re seeing in front of our eyes is a ‘textbook case’ of genocide.” 

Lineker told his 8.7 million followers on Twitter/X that the full video was “worth 13 minutes of anyone’s time”.

A BBC newsroom source said: “It’s an inflammatory video for someone of Gary’s prominence to share at a time when Jewish people are feeling threatened.”

A senior news insider said: “This is now a test of leadership for Tim (Davie, director-general). Gary believes he can say whatever he wants because the executives are too weak to rein him in.”

Another senior journalist said: “It’s frustrating for the rest of us and incredibly unhelpful for Tim Davie. He should be told to cut it out.”

The issue could be raised at next month’s BBC Board meeting, due to be attended by Davie, i understands.

It comes as bosses are believed to be discussing an extension of Lineker’s £1.35m Match of the Day deal, with the broadcaster set to secure Premiership highlights for a further four years.

Lineker, briefly suspended over a tweet likening the Government’s language around asylum seekers to 30s Germany, which the BBC said breached impartiality rules, believes he has done nothing wrong.

Under new social media rules, he is allowed to tweet political opinions, provided he does not attack political parties and respects “standards of civility in public discourse.”

However, the rules also require BBC figures to “take particular care when commenting on the issues that provoke the greatest debate.”

An ally of Lineker’s said the presenter was preparing for Saturday’s Match of the Day as usual.

He does not expect any further discussion within the BBC over the post, since he believes it was within the impartiality guidelines.

Whilst Lineker’s freelancing on current affairs annoys BBC journalists who operate under stringent impartiality rules, he is still seen as an important asset by executives. 

Barbara Slater, the BBC’s director of sport, this week told MPs: “Gary knows the guidelines… we love Gary and Gary loves the BBC.”

Lineker shared an interview with Israeli-American historian Segal, originally posted by Guardian columnist Owen Jones.

Segal criticised senior Israelis who have likened the Hamas attacks on October 7, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, to the Holocaust.

He set out what constituted genocide according to a United Nations definition, and said he believed Israel’s actions matched that definition.

Stephen Pollard, editor-at-large of The Jewish Chronicle, accused Lineker of showing “universe-bending ignorance.”

He wrote: “Lineker said not a word when 1,200 Jews were murdered by Hamas, when women were raped, babies burned and some 240 hostages taken.”

The BBC has rejected complaints over a Lineker post on November 3 which read: “Marching and calling for a ceasefire and peace so that more innocent children don’t get killed is not really the definition of a hate march.” 

Presenters are “free to express opinions about the issues that matter to them”, including issues of public debate, the BBC said.

The BBC declined to comment on Lineker’s latest post or say whether any action will follow. Representatives of Lineker were approached for comment.  By Adam Sherwin, The I

Responding to a vote at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) today in favour of internationalizing cooperation on tax and working towards a tax treaty, Amnesty International's Advisor on Taxation and Human Rights, Riva Jalipa, said: 

"Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost annually to aggressive tax avoidance and evasion by companies and individuals, hampering the ability of states to maximize their resources to fulfil their human rights obligations, and disproportionately harming the poorest and most vulnerable in societies. 

"This vote is a critical step towards much-needed reform of the international tax system and paves the way for an international treaty which is urgently needed to address the estimated US$500 billion every year lost globally to tax abuse. 

"A treaty should ultimately generate more resources for development and climate finance, for recovering and returning stolen assets, and for improving public institutions. Without it, tax evasion and avoidance will continue to have a corrosive effect on societies, eroding trust, undermining financial integrity, the rule of law and sustainable development. 

"Amnesty International reiterates its call to place human rights at the heart of any international tax reform process and eventual treaty. This will ensure that states' existing human rights obligations both guide and inform the negotiations and the outcome."  

Background 

The resolution passed by states at the UNGA second committee calls for a two-step process to negotiate a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. It was proposed by Nigeria, and backed overwhelmingly, despite opposition from some higher income states including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Firstly, a committee will agree terms of reference for negotiating a convention, which will be finalized by autumn 2024. In the second stage, a treaty text will be negotiated. The resolution agreed to take into account the needs, priorities and capacities of all countries, in particular developing countries and countries in special situations. 

Although a tax agreement was secured through the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2021, both the process and outcomes have been insufficiently inclusive and fair, especially with respect to non-OECD member countries.