UK politics live: Asylum seekers to be moved from hotels to barracks as Starmer toughens immigration plans

Reform UK’s head of policy has denied claims that migrants will be housed in shipping containers, insisting the party would use “purpose-built modular steel structures”.

Speaking on Sky News, Zia Yusuf defended proposals for rapid-build detention facilities, citing international examples.

“We can look around the world at where things have worked and worked well,” he said.

“President Trump stood up 3,000 detention beds in eight days. That was this year in the state of Florida – using steel modular structures.”

When presenter Trevor Phillips asked: “Shipping containers?”, Mr Yusuf replied: “They’re not shipping containers, they’re purpose-built modular steel structures.”

John Healey said “any government is stronger with Angela Rayner” but she is “not a victim”.

He rejected suggestions by Labour Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham that she had been treated unfairly.

After being shown a clip of Mr Burnham’s remarks, he said: “I dispute that. Our focus has been on the public that elected us, the delivery that we’re charged to change their lives. It’s a big part of the job we all do.

“Our Government will miss Angela Rayner. She’s not been a victim. She’s been under a lot of pressure and Andy Burnham’s right about that.

“But she’s been an inspiration to many, particularly working-class women.

“She’s been a very effective minister leading the overhaul… of employment rights… and also starting planning reform that will lead to us building a lot more homes.

“Any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we’ve got a good new team in place and that’s our job.”

Boris Johnson is not welcome in Reform UK, Nigel Farage has said.

The Reform leader said he likes the former prime minister, adding that he is “a very entertaining bloke”.

But he said: “I think that the Boris wave was felt by millions of people.

“Millions of people are being allowed into Britain, most of whom, by the way, don’t even work and are costing us a fortune. That’s something for which this audience will never, ever forgive him,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Andy Burnham has called for the Labour deputy leadership contest to be used as a discussion about the management of the Labour Party.

The Greater Manchester mayor said “it is right to have a discussion about the internal management of the Labour Party”.

In a warning to Sir Keir Starmer, he said: “Labour MPs need to be they need to listen to them more and respect them more.

“They were the ones who caused the change in terms of winter fuel and disability benefits, but they shouldn’t be punished for that.

“I see good people, good MPs, losing the whip, people like Rachel Maskell, that doesn’t seem fair to me. It didn’t happen in the governments I was in, in Gordon Brown’s government or Tony Blair’s government.”

“Clear, swift, fair action” was taken over Angela Rayner’s tax affairs, John Healey said as he defended the Government’s record in office.

Asked whether people had a right to feel let down by Labour, who promised to clean up politics when in power, the Defence Secretary told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “These sort of things are part and parcel of government.

“It isn’t whether they happen, it’s how a prime minister and a government deals with them.

“And I think we’ve seen this week clear, swift, fair action.”

Andy Burnham has said Angela Rayner was done for “the crime of being a northern working class woman”.Following her resignation, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg:

“She’s just had something of a much higher level, and it’s for the crime of being a northern working class woman, it says something really troubling, I think, Laura about the political culture in this country and the way Westminster, Westminster works.”

Dame Emily Thornberry has said Labour has restored the UK’s standing on the world stage but warned that “domestically, things don’t seem to be working”.

The senior Labour MP said there have been domestic achievements such as workers’ rights upgrades and the party’s bid to boost housebuilding.

“But nobody seems to be hearing about that. They hear about the mistakes. And the question is, why are we making these mistakes?” she told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

“We can’t afford to keep doing this,” she warned, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK rising in the polls.

John Healey said Angela Rayner would be a “loss” to Government but did not say whether there would be any changes to Labour’s flagship workers’ rights Bill following her resignation.

Asked whether the sacking of employment rights minister Justin Madders and the departure of Ms Rayner meant the legislation would be watered down, the Defence Secretary said: “No, I think the plan to upgrade what will be the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights for a generation, led by Angela Rayner as one of the marks of how effective she’s been as minister and what a loss she’ll be to Government.”

Asked whether that meant people could expect no changes to the legislation, he said: “I’m really confident that we’ll deliver what we promised in the manifesto, the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights for a generation.

“The Bill’s been set out.”

He said the new team would take up the work already done by Ms Rayner and Mr Madders.

The defence secretary has placed military planners into the Home Office to scout out military facilities to be used to house small boat migrants.

John Healey was asked about reports that the new home secretary Shabana Mahmood is planning to shut asylum hotels by housing migrants in army barracks.

He told Sky News: “With the home office, I have been putting military planners into their border command and into their planning for the future, and we are looking at the potential use of military and non military use sites for temporary accommodation for the people who come across these small boats that may not have a right to be here or need to be processed rapidly before we can decide whether or not they should stay or whether or not we deport them.”

John Healey has said Labour spent its first year in power “fixing the mess” left behind by the Conservatives.

And the defence secretary added that the coming years will now be focused on “renewing and rebuilding”.Following the prime minister’s reshuffle over the weekend, Mr Healey told Sky News: “What Keir Starmer has done is put a new team in place and said to us all, you’ve got to go up a gear.

“You’ve got to go up a gear to demonstrate that government can deliver for people.

“And what that means is that we’ve got to start to show that we can help change people’s lives, make them better off and make them more secure.”