Image source, House of Commons

Lammy begins with a reference to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which found that there is famine in Gaza City and other neighbourhoods, which is "now spreading the across wider territory".

Unchecked, he warns, it will "spiral". Since 1 July, over 300 people have died of malnutrition, including 119 children, he tells MPs.

He says he is outraged by the Israeli government's refusal to allow in sufficient aid.

The UN and aid organisations have reported significant impediments and obstructions in being able to collect and distribute aid in Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly denied starvation is taking place in Gaza and has said that where there is hunger, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas.

Yvette Cooper has finished her statement. Foreign Secretary David Lammy is now making an address on Middle East policy.

We'll bring you the key lines. Tap watch live above to follow along.

Cooper's announcement misses key details on two big measurespublished at 17:56 BST 1 September

17:56 BST 1 September

Dominic Casciani
Home and legal correspondent

Yvette Cooper’s announcement was long on what was going to happen in the coming months - which means that we’re waiting for an awful lot of detail about how the government thinks it can get a better grip on managing the numbers.

The two most concrete policy announcements were the plan to suspend family reunion visas - and the confirmation that the UK aims to send the first batch of channel migrants back to France (in exchange for others) this month.

But we are going to have to wait a lot longer for two bigger measures.

First, it’s clear the government’s plan to redesign asylum appeals, to cut backlogs by taking faster decisions, is still in the works.

And we’ve had no detail at all of the home secretary’s legal plan to narrow how the right to family life, part of the European Convention on Human Rights, can be used.

That latter measure may have limited impact on cases - claims over that this right is “abused” in immigration cases are regularly exaggerations - but given the prevailing political mood, it may have a bigger presentational impact.

As the home secretary continues to take MPs' questions on reforms to the asylum system, here's what you need to know:

• Yvette Cooper has announced that new applications to the refugee family reunion visa route will be temporarily suspended
• Refugees will instead be covered by the same rules on family migration "as everyone else", until a new framework is introduced. A separate system for Ukrainian refugees will be maintained, she adds
• Cooper blames the last Conservative government for "chaos" and a loss of confidence in the asylum process, saying Labour will set out radical reforms to modernise a "broken" system

• This will include a "complete overhaul" of the appeals system, introducing a new independent assessment body
• Cooper also suggests there could be changes to the way Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights - the right to respect for private and family life - is interpreted
• Shadow home secretary Chris Philp says the situation is worse after a year of Labour being in charge, saying "little tweaks" to the system will not be enough and that the government should not have cancelled the Tories' Rwanda plan

• "These changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers" warns Enver Solomon of the Refugee Council, adding that the family reunion scheme overwhelmingly supports women and children

Yvette Cooper is still answering questions about her reforms to the asylum system, but we're expecting to hear from other ministers when she's finished.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy is due to give a statement on the Middle East, followed by Defence Secretary John Healey, who will speak about Ukraine.

We'll bring you all the key lines from their announcements here.

Independent MP Rachael Maskell - who was suspended from Labour in July - says the "dehumanising and stigmatising" directed at asylum seekers has "stirred up race hate" among a small number of people.

She says she has been disturbed to learn that violent protests have been planned outside asylum hotels across the country, and asks Cooper if she can set out what policing operation will be in place to protect the people, including children, who live in these hotels.

Cooper says Maskell is right to point out the dangers of such "divisive" language, that she says ends up "escalating tensions and promoting hatred and violence".

People should be able to have disagreements about the way a system works without resorting to such language, she says.

Suspending family reunion route will push more into smugglers' arms - Refugee Councilpublished at 17:05 BST 1 September

17:05 BST 1 September

Dominic Casciani
Home and legal correspondent

The Refugee Council has predicted that Yvette Cooper’s suspension of the family reunion route for refugees will lead to more people turning to smugglers - driving the business the government is seeking to end.

Enver Solomon, the charity’s chief executive says that the policy has been “one of the only safe and legal routes available” to family members, bringing parents and children together.

The scheme, he says, overwhelmingly supports women and children who made up 90% of last year’s 20,000 visas.

“Far from stopping people taking dangerous journeys to cross the Channel, these changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers,” he says. “This is not who we are as a country.”

In 2021, the then Conservative government cancelled another scheme that reunited child refugees with family in the UK.

Yvette Cooper was then the chair of the Home Affairs Committee. She told MPs: “If there are not safe legal routes for family reunion, we end up with more people driven into the hands of dangerous criminal gangs.”

The Green Party's Carla Denyer says that if Cooper lifted the ban on asylum seekers working, she would give them a better start and avoid homelessness support if they are later granted asylum.

Instead of keeping families apart, why doesn't she support families to help themselves, she asks.

The home secretary replies that criminal gangs tell migrants that it is easy to work in the UK, and therefore exploits people into parting with their money.

Cooper says this is why we need to address the issue of illegal working.

Liberal Democrat Tim Farron criticises Cooper's decision to restrict family reunion visas. He says it is a "cruel madness" and one of few safe routes that currently exists.

He suggests the move could increase the number of people at "the mercy" of traffickers, and put more lives at risk.

Cooper says people are applying for the family reunion route too early - for example, while still in asylum hotels and unable to work. Gangs are exploiting the system, too, she says.

The government is "temporarily pausing" this route while it consults on new arrangements, she adds.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson asks Cooper if she agrees the only way to stop small boats crossings is to "detain, deport and never allow these illegal migrants to claim asylum in this country".

The home secretary says the pilot scheme agreed with France allows the government to detain people on arrival in Dover and return them to France for the first time.

This is something that previous governments were unable to do, she says. She points out that Anderson himself, before he defected to Reform, was part of a previous Conservative government that was unable to do this.

Since the election, the government has increased returns of failed asylum seekers by nearly 30%, she adds.

She says Reform UK is "rehashing the same chaotic promises", made by previous Tory governments, that "totally failed".

The SNP's Pete Wishart asks Cooper if she realises that every time she moves onto Reform UK's "ground", she encourages them.

He instead suggests that Cooper say something positive about migrants, and show compassion for asylum seekers.

Cooper replies that she has spoken positively about both Ukrainian mothers and students in Gaza, but says that it is also crucial that the UK has a system that is properly controlled and managed.

We need to have stronger border security, so that it is "government and not gangs" that chooses who comes to our country, she adds.

Image source, House of Commons

Labour MP Graham Stringer says he doubts the measures Cooper is putting before MPs "will be as successful as she and I would wish them to be".

He says they "don't really deal with the fact that many migrants are not coming from war-torn countries, they are coming from France".

The measures do not address the pull factors, he says, adding people believe they will have a better time in the UK than in other European countries.

Cooper reiterates that the government has established a pilot programme to return some people who cross the Channel in small boats to France.

But she says there is a need to address pull factors including around illegal working, saying there has been a "50% increase in illegal raids and arrests", and links the issue to the changes to family reunion applications.

Labour MP Stella Creasy asks if the temporary suspension of family reunion routes will apply to Ukrainian children.

Cooper says there is a separate system for Ukrainian refugees, which will be maintained.

She has spoken to mothers from Ukraine, who described how they fled from their home villages in the first weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"We should remember always what it is that people can be fleeing from, and the importance of countries working together to support them," she says.

Image source, House of Commons

Dr Neil Hudson, the Conservative MP for Epping Forest, tells MPs his community is "in distress" and the situation is "untenable".

• For context: Thousands of people have attended anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel in Epping since July. Last week, a temporary injunction that blocked asylum seekers being housed there was overturned at the Court of Appeal

Hudson says that the hotel is near a school, and he has been contacted by "many concerned parents".

Will the government close the hotel immediately, he asks.

Cooper replies that all asylum hotels need to be closed as quickly as possible. This needs to be done in an "ordered way" so that they are closed for good, she adds.

Image source, House of Commons

The Conservatives "trashed" the asylum system, says Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrat's spokesperson for home affairs - how will Labour avoid repeating those "mistakes"?

She says cutting family reunion routes seems "counterproductive", saying that more than half of those granted family reunion visas in the year to June 2025 were children under 18.

She asks if today's announcement risks making the small boat crisis worse.

Cooper responds by repeating her previous criticism of the family reunion routes system. She says that many people are applying before they have secured a job, house or any way of supporting their families.

This is increasing pressure on homelessness support systems in local communities, she adds.

Philp then turns to changes to family visa rules Cooper referenced in her statement.

He says the Tories believe that if someone enters the UK illegally, they should not be allowed to bring in any family members.

Everyone entering illegally should be removed either to their country of origin if possible, or to a safe third country "such as Rwanda", he says, referencing a policy of the last Tory government since cancelled by Labour.

Hundreds of people "having crossed, living in those hotels" have been charged with criminal offences including sexual assaults, Philp says, adding "this is not just a border security crisis, it is a public safety crisis as well".

Little tweaks to the asylum system are not going to be enough, he says, saying the only way to stop crossings is for people who attempt them to know that they will be returned.

Image source, House of Commons

Philp turns to asylum hotels, asking Cooper if she will confirm that she will not reduce hotel usage by moving asylum seekers to flats and other accommodation needed by others.

He raises the case of the Bell Hotel in Epping, which will continue housing asylum seekers after Cooper won a Court of Appeal ruling keeping it open last week.

This example shows that the government "appears to care more about the rights of illegal immigrants than our own citizens", Philp says.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp is on his feet to deliver the Tory response.

He starts by saying that Labour has been in government for over a year now, and "not even their kindest friends" would say it has gone well.

Philp says it is "rather conspicuous" that Cooper didn't mention number of migrants crossing the channel, which he says is up 38% on the last year.

"Things are not getting any better, they are getting worse," Philp says, adding that this is why protests are taking place around the country.

Image source, House of Commons

Cooper turns to the action the government is taking to ensure "that every asylum hotel will be closed for good under this government".

This will be done "not just by shifting individuals from hotels to other sites, but by driving down the numbers in supported accommodation," she says.

She says that within the asylum estate, the government is reconfiguring sites, increasing room-sharing, tightening the test for accommodation and working at pace to identify alternative cheaper and more appropriate accommodation.

The government is also increasing standards and security, working to ensure that laws and rules are enforced, she says.

Cooper then says she understands and agrees with local councils and communities that want asylum hotels closed, but says it must be done in a "controlled and orderly manner".

The government will bring forward new immigration rules this week to temporarily suspend new applications under the existing dedicated refugee family reunion route, Cooper says.

Refugees will be covered by "the same family migration rules and conditions as everyone else" until a new framework is introduced, she adds.