BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg marked the occasion traditionally and politically with a glorious rendition of Silent Night by the German baritone Benjamin Appl, and an interview with the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, about Labour’s plans to “smash” the people smuggling gangs.
Kuenssberg travelled to Rome for her interview with Cooper, Italy being one of the few countries that has managed to cut the number of crossings. Trevor Phillips, meanwhile, had to make do with a chat in the Sky News’ studio with Angela Eagle, the Minister for Border Security.
The rush trip to Rome arrived at the end of a week in which Kuenssberg won interviewer of the year at the British Journalism Awards. The former BBC political editor took the top spot for two Sunday show sit-downs – one with Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, the other with Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor.
The Mone interview took place around this time last year. In it, the Glasgow-born entrepreneur admitted lying to the media about her links to Medpro, the firm awarded contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers.
At the time, Kuenssberg was criticised by some on social media for giving Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman a “platform” when the matter was the subject of a National Crime Agency investigation, and a civil case brought by the Department of Health and Social Care.
In general, however, the interview was seen as a coup for Kuenssberg and disastrous for Mone. On the same BBC1 show was Wes Streeting, then shadow health secretary, who spoke for many when he said: “I don’t know who thought it was a good idea for her [Mone] to do that interview, but I don’t think anyone watching will be shedding any tears.”
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The award to Kuenssberg came at the end of a year in which she had mistakenly sent her briefing notes for an interview with Boris Johnson to the former PM. The sit-down to publicise his autobiography was cancelled by the Scot, who called the episode “embarrassing and disappointing”.
I doubt the interview with Cooper will be an awards contender for next year, largely because the Minister gave little away while appearing to say a lot. Kuenssberg wanted to know when the public could expect to see Labour’s policy paying off and the number of small boat crossings decline. Timelines and targets were expected, but none was forthcoming.
At least three times the presenter asked Cooper for a number or a date. While not quite Paxman and Howard territory, it looked to be heading that way. Cooper countered that there was a history of home secretaries and prime ministers making grand promises when it came to migration, but never actually having a “proper plan”.
“We’re already reducing the (asylum) backlog,” said Cooper. “We expect to continue making progress on that through the winter.”
On the same show, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives would introduce a “hard, low cap on legal migration” but he too could not give a specific figure. “We’re working on that at the moment,” he added.
Philp told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that Labour was “foolish” to scrap the Rwanda deterrent scheme for migrants, blaming it for the rise in the number of small boat crossings this autumn. Illegal crossings of the English Channel have gone up by 18% since the general election compared with the same period last year, he said.
Speaking in the Commons last week, Cooper said the Rwanda scheme had cost the taxpayer £700 million and sent just four volunteers.
Cooper’s Labour colleague Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, was a panellist on Kuenssberg’s show. He praised the Home Secretary as “one of the best politicians of our era”.
Before saying cheerio to 2024 there were looks back to the year just gone, and some predictions for what might follow. On Kuenssberg’s panel, James Reed, chairman and CEO of the Reid Group of recruitment agencies, did not have glad tidings for a Chancellor already grappling with the news that the economy shrank by 0.1% in October. A continuance of that trend would tip the economy into recession – not where any government wants to be, far less one that has only been in office for a matter of months. “We’re like the crows nest on a ship,” said Reed. “We get the vacancies coming into our website early so we see what’s happening with the labour market. The economy is cooling, and it’s been cooling for several months since the summer.
“Most recently our data for November showed job vacancies falling 13% month on month. That’s 26% down year on year, a very significant decline. That worries me because when I’ve seen that in the past it’s been an indication that recession is around the corner. We might see a dip and unemployment will rise.”
The Budget had “spooked” business” said Reed. “This big black hole of £22 billion we’ve heard so much about has become a million black holes in company balance sheets up and down the country.”
Businesses were looking at what they were going to do about this and the answers – including cutting hiring, making people redundant, offshoring jobs – were “not good”.
He urged a rethink on the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions. “There are better things to tax – fuel, gambling, high-value property, imports, but not jobs, please.”
BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show saw a return to goodwill when Neil Gray, the health minister, got through an entire interview without being asked about ministerial cars and football matches. It was a long way from the outbreak of peace on earth, but it will have to do for now.