News
Good morning and welcome to another week - the topics we are covering this morning in your Unbound Daily Briefing include:
- Burnham Devolution Plans
- Home Secretary Outlines Asylum and Refugee Policy Amendments
- Further Royal Navy Capacity Concerns
Burnham Devolution Plans
The former Manchester Mayor and now heir-apparent to the role of Prime Minister of the UK, Andy Burnham, is to make a speech later today in which he will lay out in broad brush strokes some of his policy intentions once given the job formally on 20th July. The press briefings in advance of the speech have trailed some of the key areas he will discuss, the main one being the notion of further devolution of governing powers from Westminster to regions and city mayors.
This idea of decentralising government powers and providing it to the areas it affects, is of course the opposite of EU membership - where power is further centralised away from the people affected and into the systems and bureaucracy of Brussels. So we will be watching with interest how this policy choice is explained, and whether or not this apparent contradiction is called out during any press questions. It will also be interesting to see the track record of devolution for example in Scotland and Wales used as a comparison as to whether or not these previous devolutions of power can be demonstrated as having been successful, and if there are lessons to be learnt.
We also think it interesting that the first speech of a man heading for the top seat of power in the UK, will be around how to give away the power that he is about to command. We appear to live in interesting times.
Home Secretary Outlines Asylum and Refugee Policy Amendments
Two major changes to UK refugee and asylum seeker policies have been released to the press over the weekend, ahead of their formal announcement in Parliament which is expected to be done later today. The first of these is the launch of new so-called "safe routes" to gaining refugee status in the UK, with organisations and communities able to offer their sponsorship and support for individual claimants to enter the country. The second is to remove the review of denied asylum claim appeals from the hands of judges and train up hundreds of new adjudicators from the general public.
The immigration topic is a very contentious issue, especially within the governing Labour party, so the Britain Unbound team will be watching the rollout of these policies and their progression through Parliament very closely - as they will also give more visibility on the aims and intentions of the new Government front benches once they have been announced in the coming weeks.
Further Royal Navy Capacity Concerns
Finally and again a feature of press reports over the weekend, it has been reported that the assembly and launch of up to five new Royal Navy frigates and up to eight destroyers will be cancelled, and replaced with the ordering of mixed purpose support ships that can be used to deploy drones.
It is of course right that the Government continually look at the modern day threats that exist and how best to address them, and that this may mean difficult choices in terms of what equipment and infrastructure to prioritise - however recent events requiring Royal Navy intervention have required frigates and destroyers to be operational, so this story is one of concern. More will be published on this as the story unfolds and the details released, which are expected ahead of the July 7th NATO summit.
