Month: November 2022

The entire US House of Representatives, about a third of the Senate and key state governorships are up for grabs.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and ex-President Donald Trump, a Republican, made their closing arguments in duelling rallies.

Mr Biden’s ability to pass laws will be stymied if Republicans take the House, as most projections expect.

Democrats currently control the White House and – by razor-thin margins – both chambers of Congress.

The party in power typically sheds an average of two dozen or so seats in the midterms, which fall midway through a president’s four years in office.

While Mr Biden himself is not up for re-election on Tuesday, midterms are often seen as a referendum on a president’s leadership.

Despite delivering on promises to lower prescription drug prices, expand clean energy and revamp US infrastructure, Mr Biden has seen his popularity suffer from the worst inflation in four decades, record illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border, and voter concerns about crime.

A political thumping for Democrats on Tuesday could embolden murmurs within the party about whether Mr Biden, who turns 80 this month, should run for re-election in 2024.

He went to Maryland on Monday night to campaign for Wes Moore, who is expected to make history as the third black governor ever elected in the US.

“Today we face an inflection point,” Mr Biden told a cheering crowd at a historically black university outside Washington.

“We know in our bones that our democracy’s at risk and we know that this is your moment to defend it.”

According to a tally by the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, more than half of Republican midterms candidates have raised doubts about the integrity of the 2020 White House election, echoing Mr Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread fraud.

Mr Trump spent the eve of election day holding a final rally in Ohio alongside Republican Senate candidate JD Vance.

The former president, who has been teasing a 2024 White House comeback bid, said he would make a “very big announcement” at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago on 15 November.

He told the crowd: “If you support the decline and fall of America, then you must, you absolutely must vote for the radical left, crazy people.

“If you want to stop the destruction of our country, then tomorrow you must vote Republican in a giant red wave.”

Mr Trump’s party needs to net only five seats to flip the House and a single seat to take over the evenly divided Senate.

Non-partisan election observers project the Republicans will pick up roughly 15-25 seats in the 435-seat House.

But the battle for the upper chamber of Congress could go either way, according to most political forecasts, and is expected to come down to hotly fought races in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

Should Republicans win the House, they have vowed to shut down the Democratic-led inquiry into last year’s Capitol riot and launch investigations into the Biden administration.

Kevin McCarthy, who would probably become Republican speaker of the House – placing him second in line to the presidency – has refused to rule out impeachment proceedings.

Mr Biden’s power to appoint judges or administrative posts for the next two years would be severely curtailed if Republicans win the Senate.

More than 43.5m early votes have already been cast, according to the US Elections Project.

But it might be days or weeks before the outcome of the midterms is clear if races are close, as some states allow ballots to be posted on election day, and there could be recounts.

According to the Guardian, the Cabinet Office minister told a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” and “jump out of the window” when he was defence secretary.

The unnamed official claimed Sir Gavin “deliberately demeaned and intimidated” them.

Sir Gavin said he “strongly” rejected allegations of bullying.

The newspaper said the official raised concerns to the Ministry of Defence’s human resources department but made no formal complaint.

In a statement, Sir Gavin said: “I strongly reject this allegation and have enjoyed good working relationships with the many brilliant officials I have worked with across government. No specific allegations have ever been brought to my attention.”

Mr Williamson does not deny using the language.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office, where Mr Williamson now serves as a minister, said the department had “not received notice of any formal complaints about Gavin Williamson’s behaviour from his time at the Ministry of Defence or any other department.”

Labour’s party chair Anneliese Dodds said the allegations were “extremely serious” adding they “speak to the toxic culture at the top of the Conservative Party”.

This fresh claim puts further pressure on Sir Gavin who is already facing an investigation for allegedly bullying Wendy Morton when she was chief whip.

Ms Morton complained to the Conservative Party after reportedly receiving a series of expletive-laden WhatsApp messages from Sir Gavin in which he accused the government of excluding certain MPs from the Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

In the texts, published by the Sunday Times, Sir Gavin is said to have warned Ms Morton “not to push him about” and that “there is a price for everything”.

Sir Gavin told the paper: “I of course regret getting frustrated about the way colleagues and I felt we were being treated.”

Speaking from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the language was not acceptable.

Asked if it amounted to bullying, he said “an independent complaints process” was under way and it would be “right to let that process conclude”.

Downing Street has said the prime minister has “full confidence” in Sir Gavin, who was first elected to Parliament as MP for South Staffordshire in 2010.

The former architectural design firm director, 46, had served as defence secretary under Theresa May and education secretary under Boris Johnson, and was sacked from both roles.

Mr Sunak, who replaced Liz Truss as prime minister last month, brought Sir Gavin back into government.

The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Daisy Cooper, has said his return raised “yet more serious questions about Rishi Sunak’s judgement”.

“If the prime minister was serious about restoring integrity he would sack Gavin Williamson.”

The comment came as Rishi Sunak had his first meeting as prime minister with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Following the meeting, Mr Sunak said there was “not one simple solution” to tackling the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.

But he said there was an opportunity to work closely with European countries on illegal migration.

More details would be set out in the coming weeks, he added.

The Elysee Palace said the two leaders agreed “to advance coordination to face the challenge of irregular migration”.

The meeting with Mr Macron took place on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

Mr Sunak said he had also been talking to other European leaders, and was leaving with “renewed confidence and optimism that working together with our European partners, we can make a difference, grip this challenge of illegal immigration and stop people coming illegally”.

However, he told broadcasters this was a “complex issue and it’s not one simple solution that’s going to solve it overnight”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the UK needed to work “upstream” with France to stop people-smuggling across the Channel.

So far this year, almost 40,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats – the highest number since figures began to be collected in 2018.

A number of Conservative MPs raised concerns about the issue during an urgent question in the Commons.

Lee Anderson, who represents Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, said sourcing accommodation for “illegal immigrants” left a “bitter taste” when so many of his constituents could not get council housing.

Instead of blaming France and “lefty lawyers”, he asked: “When are we going to go back and do the right thing and send them straight back the same day?”

Several other Tories also raised concerns about the suitability of hotels in their constituencies for accommodating migrants.

The government has blamed an increase in the number of crossings for overcrowding at an asylum processing centre in Manston, Kent.

At one point at the end of last month there were believed to be around 4,000 migrants at Manston – despite the centre being designed to accommodate only 1,600 people on a temporary basis.

On Monday, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the numbers at Manston were now below 1,600 again.

Mr Jenrick also said the government wanted to stop using hotels to home migrants, telling MPs it was “not sustainable for the country to be spending billions of pounds a year on hotels”.

He suggested “luxurious” accommodation could be a pull factor for those considering crossing the Channel and the government may instead use “some larger sites to provide decent but basic accommodation”.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy hit back at the minister’s use of the word “luxurious”. She said the hotels she had visited were “dire” with families living in “cramped conditions” and suffering from an infestation of bedbugs.

Last month, MPs on the Home Affairs Committee were told that the UK was spending £7m a day on hotels for asylum seekers, including groups such as Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban.

Suella Braverman, who was reappointed home secretary by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month, has denied ignoring legal advice or blocking the use of hotels to ease the pressure at Manston.

Asked whether Ms Braverman had made the situation at Manston worse, Mr Sunak said she was making sure the numbers at the site were reduced “and we’re making very good progress on that”.

Earlier Grant Shapps said Manston was “tipping into becoming an unofficial detention centre” when he briefly served as home secretary last month.

He told BBC Breakfast he received “very clear advice” during his six days at the Home Office, after the resignation of Ms Braverman over data breaches in the final days of Liz Truss’s premiership.

He said there were concerns people were “unintentionally being detained”, which would not be legal.

Mr Shapps, who is now business secretary, said he was keen to ensure the government remained within the law and made changes to the operation of the site “to ensure that it wasn’t a detention centre”, while also moving people out.

He added: “Those are decisions that I very quickly made. Actually, the home secretary subsequently has continued to make the same changes to make sure that those numbers are brought down.”

The big question Suella Braverman faces is whether she did enough to ensure the government was complying with the law at Manston.

Several people close to the process have said she did not take the action required to make sure people were moved on from the temporary facility quickly.

Ms Braverman has denied blocking the procurement of hotels. But Grant Shapps has just potentially opened a can of worms.

He says he got very clear advice about Manston, and that there were concerns about people being unintentionally kept for too long, thus acting outside the law.

Mr Shapps also talked about having to “rectify” the situation when he took over.

This raises more questions for the home secretary about whether she took all the action she needed to.

Of the 43 people on board there were 24 survivors, according to operator Precision Air.

The two pilots initially survived and managed to speak to local officials from the cockpit but the prime minister says they may have since died.

The plane crashed near the shore at the end of the Bukoba airport runway.

Rescuers were able to wade through the water to bring some of those still inside the plane to safety.

Abdul Nuri was at the airport waiting for the return flight to Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam, when he saw the plane plunge into Africa’s largest lake.

“We were really shocked. People panicked and some started crying and shouting,” he told the BBC.

“At the arrivals gate people panicked as well – most of them were waiting to welcome their relatives.”

He has spoken to the fishermen who were first on the scene. They told him they managed to get into the plane to rescue people after a flight attendant opened the rear door after the plane had crashed.

The tragedy, which occurred around 08:50 local time (05:50 GMT), has been blamed on bad weather.

Emergency workers have used ropes to pull the ATR-42 aircraft even closer to the shore, and some of the plane’s body is now above the water.

Immediately after the crash, the plane was almost completely submerged with only the brown and green tail fin visible.

Richard Komba, a survivor of the crash, told the BBC that when the plane was about to land, the weather had deteriorated, forcing the pilot to reroute the aircraft.

“We were then informed that we would be landing shortly, but there was heavy turbulence. We later found ourselves in the lake,” Mr Komba said.

“Water then entered the plane and those sitting near the front were covered by it. I was in the back seat and most of us in the back of the plane struggled to get out.”

He said one cabin crew member was struggling to open the aircraft’s door, but he was eventually able to be freed.

“When we got out, no boat was there – it took quite long to get rescued but the boat that came was not so good, it was a canoe.”

He said the survivors were “scared” because of the number of people trying to fit in the one vessel, but he said other rescue boats arrived minutes later.

Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the rescued passengers were in hospital and were not seriously injured, “but they are shocked and worried”.

Earlier, Mr Majaliwa went to the scene and said an extensive investigation would be carried out to determine the full causes of the crash.

“We are still identifying the bodies, but it is highly likely that the pilots might have perished,” he said.

The airport has been closed until further notice.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has expressed her condolences to those affected and called for calm as the rescue operation continues.

The plane was flying from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba via Mwanza.

Precision Air is Tanzania’s largest private airline and is partly owned by Kenya Airways. It was founded in 1993 and operates domestic and regional flights.

Mr Biden and Mr Trump made their last-minute pleas to voters in New York and Florida respectively.

Momentum has shifted recently towards Republicans, who are trying to wrestle both chambers from Democratic control.

They are favourites to win control of the House of Representatives but the Senate is a toss-up, polling suggests.

Winning one chamber would severely hinder President Biden’s legislative agenda.

With the campaign in its final day on Monday, his party is braced for losses even in parts of the country where Democrats usually do well.

He spoke at a rally in New York on Sunday to support Governor Kathy Hochul, who is fending off an unexpectedly stiff challenge from Trump-backed Republican candidate Lee Zeldin.

She has received last-minute help from some Democratic star names – former President Bill Clinton, Vice-President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.In his speech, Mr Biden called the election “an inflection point” that will determine the next 20 years. He told voters at Sarah Lawrence College that they are choosing between two “fundamentally different visions of America”.

Meanwhile his predecessor in the White House, Mr Trump, was in Miami where he spoke for over an hour, hammering Democrats for leading the country towards “communism”.

“Democrats want to turn America into communist Cuba or socialist Venezuela,” Mr Trump told the audience members.

“To every Hispanic American in Florida and across the land, we welcome you with open open open arms to our [Republican] party,” he continued.

Mr Trump also continued to hint that he may run for president again in 2024, telling voters to “stay tuned” for his rally on Monday in Ohio.

Polls suggest that Democrats are likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives.

Control of the Senate will probably rely on the results of extremely tight races in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.

Over 40 million votes have already been cast during the early-voting period so far, experts say, overtaking the total number of early votes in 2018.

Mail-in ballots normally take longer to tally than votes taken in person, leading to a high likelihood that several races will be too close to call on Tuesday night.

Several key battleground states, like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, ban election officials from beginning the count until election day.

The lack of a financial safety net means many have to borrow money to cover any extra costs, creating greater anxiety about their plight.

One mother told the BBC she was scared of being judged so did not seek help.

The Money and Pensions Service, which conducted the research, said such fears could be overcome with family help.

Debt advisors are expecting a sharp increase in enquiries over the winter as people struggle to fund higher food and energy bills, with little to fall back on.

This latest survey of 3,000 people found that 17% – or one in six – of those asked held nothing in savings. Another 5% had less than £50 and a further 4% had between £50 and £100 set aside.

If those figures reflect the UK as a whole, then millions of people will have little or nothing as a savings buffer.

Among them is Kylie, a mother-of-six who faced difficulties that left her failing to pay critical, and priority, bills. She just about managed to pay her rent, to keep a roof over her family’s head, but was behind on many other payments.

The 31-year-old said some of the more aggressive debt collection left her children frightened, and her finances were in a mess.

Her energy provider told her to seek help from a debt charity, but she said she was scared to do so.

“I felt like I would be judged and looked down on,” she said.

When she did eventually seek help, the advisors were kind and helpful, she said, and crucially told her about the various hardships funds and grants that were available to her.

“But I would have been in a better position if I had done it earlier,” she said.

She came to an arrangement with her creditors, so she pays back a more affordable amount each month. She recently managed to save £40 – for the first time in years.

The idea of saving money will be alien to many people struggling with the rising cost of living. A recent survey by the Building Societies Association (BSA) found 35% of those questioned had stopped saving as a result of the rising cost of living.

Meanwhile, 36% of those asked said they were relying on their savings to get through a period of rising bills and prices. Some credit unions are offering ways to help families save for expensive times of year, such as Christmas.

The Money and Pensions Service runs the Moneyhelper website, which includes a free debt advice locator.

It is running a week-long Talk Money campaign urging people to open up about their finances and is encouraging people to plan for their financial future and take free debt advice as soon as they realise they could be facing difficulties.

“Millions of people find it a challenge to save, and this leaves them vulnerable when sudden expenditure items arise. When you add in the anxiety that they feel with their credit commitments, the weight of that worry can quickly become overwhelming,” said Caroline Siarkiewicz, chief executive of the government-backed organisation.

“We want everyone to start the conversation with family or friends and share the burden of any money worries. By dealing with the problem head on, people can discover just how helpful free debt advice can be and see the importance of talking to their creditors early. They can also begin to find a way forward, no matter how difficult their situation might feel.”

Kylie, meanwhile, is looking forward to Christmas, but with some trepidation. She said her food bill shot up when her children were on school holidays.

“I am trying to do my best, and save for Christmas,” she said. “At the moment, we are just living week by week.”

The prime minister will also say it is essential nations stick to commitments made at COP26 in Glasgow a year ago.

The UN’s climate change chief said a key aim to limit global temperature rises is “still within reach”.

Mr Sunak is making his first outing on the international stage in Egypt after becoming UK PM last month.

He arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday night and will join other world leaders at UN summit, including US President Joe Biden and France’s Emmanuel Macron.

Mr Sunak will unveil more than £200m funding to protect forests and for green technologies in developing nations.

He reversed a decision not to attend COP27 earlier this week after a backlash from opposition MPs and campaigners. He initially declined the invite as he said he was too busy preparing the November budget.

In his opening address on Monday, Mr Sunak will urge global leaders to “move further and faster” to avoid the worst impact of climate change by limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

He will say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “reinforced” the importance of ending dependence on fossil fuels, but will argue the move can give a boost to new green industries.

“The world came together in Glasgow with one last chance to create a plan that would limit global temperature rises to 1.5C. The question today is: can we summon the collective will to deliver on those promises?” he will say.

“By honouring the pledges we made in Glasgow, we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth. And we can bequeath our children a greener planet and a more prosperous future.”

Mr Sunak will also meet French President Mr Macron at the conference, where the topic of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats is likely to be raised. The prime minister has said reducing the number of crossings is a “key priority”.

Downing Street said Mr Sunak will announce a further £65.5m for the clean energy innovation facility which provides grants to researchers and scientists in developing countries working on clean technologies – from biomass-powered refrigeration in India to lithium-ion batteries in Nigeria.

It said the UK will also commit £90m for conservation in the Congo Basin rainforest, and £65m to support indigenous and local communities.

But Labour’s Ed Miliband said Mr Sunak “had to be dragged kicking and screaming” to go to the summit and it was “implausible for him to claim the mantle of climate leadership”.

The shadow climate change secretary said the government should drop plans to issue more licences for North Sea exploration and end its opposition to onshore wind.

As COP27 got under way, the UN itself warned that meeting the critical target of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C would take an “extraordinary effort”.

“The science tells us that is it still within reach,” said the UN’s new climate chief, Simon Stiell. “We cannot lift the pressure.”

Speaking to the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme, Mr Stiell said just 29 states had strengthened their climate pledges since last year, which was “not enough”.

His remarks came after the UN’s weather and climate body released a report showing that the rate at which sea levels are rising has doubled since 1993.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the report as a “chronicle of climate chaos” and urged governments at COP27 to answer the planet’s “distress signal” with “ambitious, credible climate action”.

Global temperatures have risen 1.1C and are heading towards 1.5C, according to the UN’s climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

If temperatures rise 1.7 to 1.8C above 1850s levels, the IPCC estimates that half the word’s population could be exposed to life-threatening heat and humidity.

Rich countries are also falling short in providing the finance needed to help developing nations adapt to a changing climate and develop cleanly, the UN has warned.

But Mr Stiell said the conference was off to a “hopeful start” after developing nations successfully lobbied to put on the agenda the thorny issue of “loss and damage”.

This debate revolves around compensation money paid by wealthy countries to the states worst affected by climate change.

Speaking to the BBC, David Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, said bigger nations needed to “come good with their nationally-determined contributions”.

Highlighting China, India, Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil, Mr Panuelo said there are “many countries that need to come forward with… commitments to help meet this challenge that global communities are facing now”.