A man is set to appear in court following a knife attack in Belfast that sparked race-based riots. SDLP leader Claire Hanna described the violence as a 'pogrom' targeting asylum seekers.
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Good morning. Soon after becoming PM in 2024, Keir Starmer had to deal with a period of rioting in England, prompted by the Southport murders and mostly targeted at asylum seekers. Last night, in Northern Ireland, there were similar race riots, triggered by a knife attack involving a Sudanese suspect. Here is our overnight story about the rioting.
And this is what Claire Hanna, the SDLP leader and MP for Belfast South and Mid Down, said about the attacks on Newsnight last night.
double quotation markWhat you’re seeing is a race-based pogrom. We are seeing men going door to door asking to get the foreigners out based exclusively on the colour of their skin. It’s not based on what they’re contributing to society, what their status here is and it’s terrifying for people in Belfast who want this sort of politics to be far beyond them.
Starmer is taking PMQs at noon and the Belfast disorder is likely to be the main talking point.
There are two issues that Starmer will be expected to address.
1) What is he going to do about the common travel area asylum “loophole”? The Belfast knife attack suspect was an asylum seeker who had been granted leave to remain in the UK three years ago, but he did not arrive on a small boat. He arrived in Belfast from Dublin, having flown to Ireland from Paris, and then – because of the common travel area – he was able to cross the border into Northern Ireland without facing any checks. Starmer is under pressure to close this “loophole”, as the Telegraph calls it, although a version of the common travel area has been in force for more than a century and so it has hard to see how it can be closed without colossal upheaval.
2) What is he going to do about rightwingers using social media to incite people in Northern Ireland to riot? Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, played a key role last night in amplifying calls for protests after the Belfast knife attack. He has been at it again overnight. Again, it is not obvious what Starmer can do about this, but he is bound to be asked whether this is tolerable.
The race riots in Belfast were triggered by a knife attack involving a Sudanese suspect.
Claire Hanna is the SDLP leader and MP for Belfast South and Mid Down, who described the attacks as a race-based pogrom targeting foreigners.
Keir Starmer is expected to address the Belfast disorder as a key talking point during PMQs.
The Belfast riots are part of a troubling trend of violence against asylum seekers in the UK, similar to rioting that occurred in England after the Southport murders.
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Anna Turley, the Labour party chair and Cabinet Office minister, has been giving interviews this morning. Speaking to Sky News, she said the common travel area should not be used as “a back route for people to come here and exploit our asylum system”. She also said “conversations are happening” in government about what could be done to stop this.
She said:
double quotation markIf people are exploiting the common travel agreement in this way, that’s not acceptable. That’s not what it’s there for.
It’s been in existence for over 100 years and it’s absolutely right that people can travel between the island and Northern Ireland freely.
But it’s really important we make sure that we have a fair system that is led by data and intelligence, and we make sure that people are not able to exploit the asylum system.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.15am: Sarah Jones, the policing minister, speaks at the launch of the new national policing AI centre PoliceAI.
10am: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, holds a press conference, which is meant to be about the party’s plans to deal with fly-tipping.
Morning: A man will appear at Belfast magistrates’ court charged with attempted murder after the knife attack on Monday night.
Morning: Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, is in Belfast meeting the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Jon Boutcher.
11am: Jim Mackey, the NHS England chief executive, speaks at the NHS ConfedExpo 2026 in Manchester.
Noon: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs
5pm: John Healey, the defence secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, are due to speak at press conference in London with their Australian counterparts, after the annual UK-Australia defence/security summit.
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