Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirms HS2 delay, after Philp and Rayner clash on small boat crossings

Summary

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has confirmed the delay in the HS2 railway project, which was due to open in 2033
She says there has been a "litany of failure" in the project, but confirms phase one, from London to Birmingham will go ahead
She calls the project an "appalling mess" but says the government is "turning the page on infrastructure failures"
Alexander says she sees "no route" to meeting the 2033 target, but doesn't set a new date: "It gives me no pleasure to deliver news like this," she says
Alexander's statement comes after shadow home secretary Chris Philp pressed deputy prime minister Angela Rayner on grooming gangs and migrant crossings
Philp and Rayner were standing in at Prime Minister's Questions, as Keir Starmer is on his way back from the G7 in Canada

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'No route by which trains can be running by 2033' on HS2 - Alexander

Live Reporting

Edited by Emily McGarvey and Neha Gohil

Rayner accuses Tories of losing 'control of our borders'published at 12:19 British Summer Time

Image source, UK Parliament
Philp is up again and is now addressing small boat crossings across the English Channel.
He says a "significant number" of grooming gang perpetrators were non-UK nationals or were asylum seekers. He asks Rayner if she accepts the "small boat crisis" is an issue of public safety as well as immigration.
Rayner says her government has overseen major arrests to tackle people smuggling gangs. In the past month alone, she says, a ringleader who smuggled 4,000 migrants had been jailed for 25 years.
She then points directly across the aisle at Philp.
"He was the man at the heart of the Home Office when immigration soared, we lost control of our borders," she says.
Philp asks if PM will apologise for accusing Tories of 'jumping on a far-right bandwagon'published at 12:16 British Summer Time

Shadow home secretary Philp gets back to his feet for a second time and presses the government on grooming gangs.
"I do have to raise the language the prime minister used in January," Philp says, noting that Starmer accused the Tories of "jumping on a far-right bandwagon".
Philp asks Rayner if she will apologise for what the prime minister said.
Rayner says Starmer acted and brought actions in 2012, and says the data from the previous Conservative government was "inaccurate" and "not complete".
Inquiry into grooming gangs will have statutory powers - Raynerpublished at 12:14 British Summer Time

Rayner thanks Philp for his "tone", adding it is right to look at what happened over the last few decades regarding the grooming gangs, to restore the confidence people need in the inquiry.
We will take that forward "at speed," she says.
She adds the inquiry, led by Baroness Casey, will be "independent, have statutory powers" and will implement the Jay report - an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.
Philp questions Rayner on grooming gangspublished at 12:11 British Summer Time

Shadow home secretary Philp begins by saying that yesterday he and his party leader met with survivors of the "rape gang scandal".
He says the survivors told them that authorities "deliberately covered up the systematic rape of young girls and some boys by gangs of predominantly Pakistani-heritage men".
He says the survivors said they would only have confidence in an inquiry that is independently led and has full statutory powers, and he asks Rayner if she can give those assurances.
Philp is on his feetpublished at 12:10 British Summer Time
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay asks for a free Commons vote on any military deployments to the Middle East. And Labour’s Olivia Bailey asks a friendly question about social housing.Now Philp is on his feet. His first question is about grooming gangs. He wants assurances on the upcoming inquiry.
Philp looks nervous ahead of moment in the spotlightpublished at 12:04 British Summer Time
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Chris Philp straightens his tie and checks his notes. He’s looking a bit nervous ahead of his big moment.
Shadow home secretary just arrivedpublished at 12:01 British Summer Time
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has just arrived - cutting it a bit fine!
Angela Rayner is in positionpublished at 12:00 British Summer Time
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Angela Rayner has already taken a seat on the government frontbench as her colleagues take women and equality questions.
The Labour benches are filling up ahead of the main event but there are still a lot of gaps on the Tory side.
Oliver Dowden - who used to regularly clash with Rayner when he was Rishi Sunak's deputy PM has taken his seat.
What is Labour doing to tackle small boat crossings?published at 11:49 British Summer Time

Image source, PA Media
The number of Channel migrant crossings is likely to be a point of discussion at PMQs.
Official figures show, external more than 1,700 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats from 10-16 June, pushing the total for the year to over 16,000, 42% higher than at the same point last year.
Labour campaigned on a promise to "smash the criminal boat gangs" bringing migrants to the UK, and Starmer has made tackling illegal immigration and "restoring order" to the asylum system a priority for the government.
Ministers have been pushing for the French government to implement new rules to make it easier to intercept boats.
Meeting on the side-lines of the G7 summit in Canada, Starner and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to "work closely" to tackle crossings, a No 10 spokesman said.
Starmer is now considering whether British visas could be issued based on how well countries co-operate with the UK on issues such as taking back failed asylum seekers.
Inflation and rising food pricespublished at 11:37 British Summer Time

Another topic likely to come up today is inflation.
This morning, we learned the main rate of inflation remained at 3.4% in the year to May - the highest for more than a year.
Looking more closely, this includes a jump in the overall cost of food - rising to 4.4% in May - and within that, chocolate prices rose at a record rate.
The rising cost of essentials like food puts the household budgets of those on lower incomes under particular pressure.
And how to solve that is likely to be among questions fired at Angela Rayner in a few hours.
A new face in the PMQs spotlightpublished at 11:22 British Summer Time
Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Image source, PA Media
With Keir Starmer travelling back from the G7 summit in Canada, it’s deputy Prime Minister's Questions at midday.
Angela Rayner is an old hand at this now but she will be facing a new adversary across the dispatch box.
Last time she stood in for Starmer, she crossed swords with shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart. Today, shadow home secretary Chris Philp gets his turn in the spotlight, in place of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
This suggests the focus will be on home affairs – the worsening small boats situation, perhaps, or Starmer’s U-turn on an inquiry into grooming gangs.
Philp is a seasoned frontbencher, having served as a Treasury minister under Liz Truss and shadow Commons leader under Rishi Sunak. He has been the MP for Croydon South since 2015, where he managed to hang on in last year’s general election with a much-reduced majority of 2,300.
The 48-year-old father of two was an entrepreneur and co-founder of a delivery firm before becoming an MP.
Where is Keir Starmer today and what has he been up to?published at 11:14 British Summer Time

Image source, PA Media
Image caption,
Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada
It's been a busy couple of days for the prime minister, who has been in Canada for the G7 summit.
He is on his way back from the Rocky Mountains today. Here's a quick recap of what he's been doing:
On Monday, he and US President Donald Trump finalised a deal removing some trade barriers between the UK and US.
The new arrangement removes tariffs - or import taxes - on the aerospace sector and cuts the levy on cars exported from the UK to the US to 10%.
Starmer also spoke about ongoing tensions between Israel, Iran and Gaza, which overshadowed the G7 summit.
Sitting down with the BBC yesterday, Starmer said his "absolute focus" is on de-escalating the hostility in the Middle East, and he fears there will be a potential economic impact on the cost of living in the UK caused by war in the region.
The prime minister also said more RAF jets will be sent to the Middle East amid the intense fighting between Israel and Iran.
Welcome to a slightly different Prime Minister's Questionspublished at 11:08 British Summer Time
Emily McGarvey
Live page editor

This week, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner steps in to take questions as Prime Minister Keir Starmer travels back from the G7 leaders' summit in Canada.
Stepping in for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will be shadow home secretary Chris Philp, as per convention when this situation arises.
We won't know what MPs will debate until they take the floor in the House of Commons, but they could touch on inflation figures, small boat crossings, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East or Starmer's decision to hold a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
We’ll bring you live updates on the key lines and analysis as it unfolds, so stick with us.
You can follow the debate on this week's political headlines from 12:00 BST by pressing watch live at the top of this page.