Rishi Sunak says he is ‘crystal clear’ that he wants to reduce immigration – UK politics live | Conservatives

The BBC Board has commissioned a review of the broadcaster’s coverage of migration, including small boats crossing the Channel, to “consider whether due impartiality is being delivered”, the corporation has said.

The review would be jointly chaired by Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory based at Oxford University, and Samir Shah, the chief executive of the independent television and radio production company Juniper, PA Media reported.

It will also assess the coverage of topics such as the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda, the impact of migration on communities in the UK, and the admission of refugees from Ukraine.

The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, said:

Madeleine Sumption and Samir Shah are well-known for their expert understanding of the issues involved in delivering impartial coverage of migration, which is an important and often intensely contested subject.

Their combination of evidence-based academic research and working knowledge of impartiality in broadcasting make them highly qualified to lead the thematic review into BBC migration output. Their findings will ensure the BBC continues to have the correct approach to producing coverage that audiences can trust.

The review’s work would begin “in the coming days”, the broadcaster said, as it committed to publishing its findings.

Rory Carroll

More than 200 BBC journalists in Northern Ireland are on a 24-hour strike to protest cuts to jobs and programming.

The National Union of Journalists’ strike, which started at 00.15am on Friday, resulted in BBC Radio Ulster replacing its usual Friday fare – Good Morning Ulster, Nolan Show, TalkBack – with content from Radio 5 Live. The station still broadcast hourly news bulletins.

The action coincided with the counting of votes from the local government election held on Thursday.

“The decision to strike on such a significant news day has not been taken lightly and reflects frustration on the part of NUJ members,” said Seamus Dooley, the NUJ assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley. “They want to report the news rather than make their own headlines, it is regrettable that they find themselves in this situation.

The BBC journalists are protesting the axing of Radio Foyle’s flagship two-hour morning show – it has been replaced with a 30-minute news programme – and a reorganisation of services in Northern Ireland which shifts funds to digital services.

The corporation said it needs to make savings in some sectors while investing in online services. “The BBC’s region-wide programming from Foyle has been increased and its net staffing levels will be maintained,” said a spokesperson. “Our engagement with staff and the trade unions will continue.”

Aletha Adu

Rishi Sunak has seen his personal family fortune fall by more than £200m over the last year.

Sunak, a former hedge fund manager and reputedly the UK’s wealthiest ever prime minister, and his heiress wife, Akshata Murty, have an estimated worth of about £529m in the latest Sunday Times rich list, a fall from £730m in 2022.

Murty owns a small stake in Infosys, a $64bn (£52bn) Indian IT firm co-founded by her billionaire father. The value of that stake has fallen, driving the drop in the couple’s fortunes.

Murty owns just under 1% of the business. The company’s shares have lost about a fifth of their value in the last year as investors have worried about the future of the Indian technology sector.

Rishi Sunak praises Ben Wallace after defence secretary confirms interest in Nato secretary general job

Rowena Mason

Rishi Sunak has talked up Ben Wallace in his effort to be the next Nato secretary general, after the defence secretary confirmed his interest in the job.

The prime minister praised Wallace as “widely respected” among his international counterparts when asked about his cabinet minister touting himself to succeed Jens Stoltenberg next year.

Wallace has long been tipped as a contender owing to his role in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, despite the secretary general job often going to more senior politicians such as former prime ministers.

The defence secretary has never previously said outright that he would like the job, but told the German news agency dpa on Thursday: “I’ve always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now.”

He added that secretary general of the transatlantic alliance “is a fantastic job and Nato is an incredibly important part of all our securities”.

He added: “But it’s not for me to decide. It’s for all the other allies.”

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that Rishi Sunak has set a new goal of bringing migration down below the level he “inherited”, which was about 500,000 net arrivals a year when he became prime minister.

He redefined his target on immigration after earlier in the week backing away from the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promise to reduce it below the level then of about 220,000.

Sunak said he would not put a number on the level of net immigration he would like to see but he wanted it to come down below what it was when he took over. Figures released in November show net immigration was 500,000 for the year to June 2022.

Experts believe net immigration figures for this year could come in at between 600,000 and 1 million, prompting a backlash among Conservative backbenchers.

Speaking to broadcasters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunak said he was “crystal clear” he wanted to reduce immigration, but when pressed on how far, he said:

I’m not going to put a precise figure on it but I do want to bring them down.

He said:

The numbers are too high and we want to bring them down. Now, the numbers last year were impacted by the fact that we welcomed Ukrainian refugees to the UK. Again, that’s something I think we are proud of.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is expected to join the summit in person as Sunak and allies seek to turn up the pressure on Russia. But more on that later.