'Finest hour'

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View in browser May 03, 2022 Matt Mathers Hello there, I'm Matt Mathers, and welcome to The Independent's Inside Politics newsletter.    Ronnie O'Sullivan cemented his status as the greatest ever snooker player last night with a win over Judd Trump in the World Championship final. The Rocket has now equalled Stephen Hendry's modern-era record of seven wins at the hallowed Crucible theatre in Sheffield. Early indications suggest the government remains snookered in its efforts to deter people from crossing the Channel. As crossings resume following a recent patch of bad weather, a poll finds most asylum seekers and migrants aren't determined by the threat of being deported to Rwanda. Later today, Boris Johnson will become the first western leader to address Ukraine's parliament as he pledges more military aid. Inside the bubble Parliament is not sitting.   Coming up: – Labour leader Keir Starmer on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.10am – Prime minister Boris Johnson on ITV GMB at 8.15am Daily Briefing 'FINEST HOUR': Boris Johnson will later today become the first western leader to address Ukraine's parliament as the war enters its 69th day. In a video message, the prime minister will attempt to channel WWII leader Winston Churchill, telling MPs in Kyiv that Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion is its "finest hour". He will say that the UK is "proud to be among Ukraine's friends" and will announce a new £300m package of defensive military aid, including electronic warfare kit, a counter-battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night-vision devices. The Liberal Democrats have welcomed the aid for Ukraine but questioned the timing of the announcement, which comes just two days before polls open for the local elections.   ON THE GROUND:  Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, said in his latest video message last night that Putin's troops had killed some 220 children since Russian tanks rolled over the border on 24 February. Meanwhile, up to 200 civilians remain trapped inside bunkers in the Azovstal steelworks, despite an evacuation operation led by the UN to save civilians from the site, a Ukrainian fighter in Mariupol has said. Evacuation efforts will continue today. We'll have all the latest updates on our liveblog.   RWANDA PLAN LATEST: Is the government's controversial Rwanda plan likely to put off asylum seekers and migrants considering the treacherous journey across the Channel into the UK? Some of the early indications suggest not. On Sunday around 250 people arrived in Dover after an 11-day hiatus in crossings (bad weather has been blamed for the pause). Now a poll by the Care4Calais charity found that three-quarters of those waiting in camps in France said they still planned to make the trip, despite having heard about the Rwanda policy and the threat of being deported there.  Care4Calais said the Rwanda plan is just the latest in a long list of deterrence policies that have "all failed".   GIVE US THE INFOSYS: With just two days to go until voters head to the polls facing the biggest squeeze on their living standards since post-war period, Labour is seeking to keep up the pressure on Rishi Sunak and the sources of his household wealth.  Tulip Siddiq, shadow economic secretary, has written to the chancellor demanding to know whether he or his family benefit from the continued presence of a company in Russia in which his wife holds a £400m stake. Reports on Monday suggested that Indian-based IT giant Infosys – founded by the father of Mr Sunak's wife Akshata Murty – is still operating in Moscow despite promising a month ago it was leaving.   TORY CANDIDATES ROW: Tories are pushing back against chairman Oliver Dowden's pledge to ensure half of the party's candidates for the Commons are women. Amid a wave of sexual misconduct, misogyny and bullying claims to rock the party and parliament more broadly in recent days, Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, joined Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, in voicing opposition to all-female lists, saying yesterday they are "demeaning to women". Tory MP Caroline Nokes, who chairs the Commons women and equalities committee, had said the party must pick a female candidate to replace Nigel Parish, in order to show "real evidence of change". But Donelan said it was better to encourage female candidates to get into parliament "on merit".   BACKING OUT OF BEDLAM: Tory MP Crispin Blunt, who sparked fury by coming to the defence of a colleague found guilty of child sex assault, has announced he will stand down from parliament at the next election. Blunt was forced to apologise and resign as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on global LGBT+ rights after condemning the conviction of Imran Ahmad Khan as an "international scandal".     The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. . . Today's cartoon See all of The Independent's daily cartoons here On the record "We must wake up and recognise we've entered a new era of instability where our current peacetime defence budget is simply inadequate to ensure our military is expanded and trained and equipped, to allow Britain not just to defend our interests, but play a lead role on the international stage — as we've done in the past. Other Nato states are now moving to 3 per cent GDP defence spend. So should we."   Senior Tory Tobias Ellwood on defence spending. From the Twitterati "Mass tactical voting at the next general election could be deadly for the Tories. It's a key reason they won fewer than 200 seats from 1997 to 2010."   New Statesman senior editor George Eaton. Essential reading John Rentoul, The Independent: Twenty-five years on, we can now see that Blairite truths are eternal Sean O'Grady, The Independent: Conservatives beware – Boris Johnson is a disaster for the union William Hague, The Times: Ignore Putin's threats and expand Nato now Anoosh Chakelian, The New Statesman: From the red wall to outer London, are the Tories doomed in the 2022 local elections? Sign up here to receive this free briefing in your email inbox each weekday Other newsletters you might like Brexit and beyond Every Thursday, 7am (UK time) Written by Adam Forrest Sign up Climate Warrior Every Wednesday, 8am (UK time) Written by climate activists Sign up News you can trust The Independent has a 100% NewsGuard trust rating Find out more . If you can spare a minute we'd love your feedback on our newsletters Join the conversation or follow us Please do not reply directly to this email.   You are currently registered to receive The Independent's Inside Politics email. 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