Rishi Sunak argued the government’s approach to dealing with people crossing the Channel was fairer for the taxpayer than putting asylum seekers up in hotels, as he defended the government’s decision to accommodate migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge. He said: “What has happened here is it is right that we go through all the checks and procedures to ensure the wellbeing and health of the people being housed on the barge. But taking a step back, what is this about? This is about fairness. It is about the unfairness, in fact, of British taxpayers forking out £5m or £6m a day to house illegal migrants in hotels up and down the country, with all the pressure that puts on local communities. We’ve got to find alternatives to that.” Health minister Will Quince said asylum seekers could return to the Bibby Stockholm barge within days, describing the discovery of legionella bacteria on the vessel as “a teething issue”. The mayor of Portland has said the Home Office should accept responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from the barge after the detection of dangerous bacteria. The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels. A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”. The shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the government of offering the NHS a “sticking plaster”, with the announcement that £250m was to be set aside to boost capacity before winter. Streeting said the NHS had “huge backlogs, unacceptable waiting times and an annual winter crisis”, adding “Now Rishi Sunak is offering a sticking plaster, which comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds the Conservatives have cut over the last 13 years.” On a visit to a hospital in Milton Keynes, Sunak blamed striking workers for halting progress on reducing waiting lists, saying: “Unfortunately, the progress that we were making has stalled because of the industrial action.” He added that he wanted junior doctors to accept the pay deal on offer so “we can all get back to treating patients and getting those waiting lists down”. The government earlier ruled out any further discussion on pay with junior doctors. The Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, was also critical of the government’s plans, pointing out there were more than 40,000 vacant nursing posts in England. Quince told Sky News that cancer targets would be merged, not scrapped, insisting: “This is an announcement due to be made following a consultation, this is not something that the government has led on, but it’s NHS England, oncologists, clinicians and, indeed, cancer charities have called for this change.” Keir Starmer has attacked the UK government’s decision to block Scotland’s gender recognition reforms, accusing ministers in London of misusing their powers under devolution. The UK Labour leader said the power used by Westminster, which stopped Holyrood from enacting a law to allow people to change gender without medical tests, was designed to promote collaboration, not conflict, between the two parliaments. Starmer said Labour would set up a powerful new UK-level council of the nations where leaders of the UK’s four governments would negotiate. The UK and Scottish Labour parties remain divided on how best to reform gender recognition legislation – a division the Scottish National party will exploit during the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection. Starmer’s new stance suggests he now accepts Scottish Labour has the right to pursue different policies and that Holyrood can diverge from the rest of the UK on this issue. The Conservative party chair, Greg Hands, has been urged to launch an internal investigation into the Welsh secretary, David TC Davies, over “unacceptable” and “racist” comments against the Traveller community. The Labour peer Janet Whitaker, and Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for Durham City, who are the co-chairs of the all-party parliamentary group for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma, have urged Hands to work with them to ensure that “whipping up concern and opposition” about the GRT community does not happen again. A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high. Next year’s rise in English rail fares will be below inflation, the government has announced. The personal data of more than 1,000 people, including victims of crime, was included in FoI responses issued by Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies, the forces have said. The data included personal identifiable information on victims, witnesses and suspects relating to a range of offences including sexual offences, domestic incidents, assaults, hate crime and thefts. The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said the PSNI data leak in Northern Ireland could undermine the ability of the police and security services to keep tabs on dissident republicans, while the Alliance party leader, Naomi Long, expressed concern about its long-term impact on retention and recruitment into roles that “already face an extraordinary level of threat”. That is it from me today, we will be closing the blog shortly. Thank you for all your comments. I will be back with you tomorrow.