Politics latest: Badenoch says she 'respects' Israel's decision to deny entry to Labour MPs

That's it from us for today.

Join us back here tomorrow from 7am for all the political news.

The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (Map) said they organised the delegation MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were part of - plus their two aides - when they were denied entry to Israel.

The organisations said they had been doing the trips for "over a decade" to enable British MPs from all parties to learn about the humanitarian and health situation in the occupied West Bank and to meet Palestinian communities.

They said they had "informed the UK consul general in Jerusalem of their visit" and were planning to meet them.

The two MPs and their aides were "clear, open and transparent about the aims and objectives of the visit" when questioned at Ben Gurion Airport upon their arrival, they said.

That included visiting a range of projects run by humanitarian and development organisations operating in the West Bank, they added.

Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed have been accused by the Israeli government of promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers and supporting campaigns aimed at boycotting Israel.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said it is "unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning" to turn MPs visiting with a parliamentary delegation away.

You can read more about who the two MPs are here.

What have the two MPs said on Israel and Gaza?

Yuan Yang

Since entering the Commons for the first time in July last year, former Financial Times journalist Yang has only spoken on Israel-Gaza once.

On 16 January, after a ceasefire deal was declared, she called on the government to ensure journalists could continue to work safely in Gaza.

"The ceasefire deal gives families in Israel and Palestine, as well as their relatives in my constituency, hope for longer-lasting peace and security," she said.

"However, there can be no security without accountability, and there is no accountability without scrutiny. This war has been the deadliest on record for journalists, so what can the Government do to ensure that all journalists in Palestine, including my former colleagues, can do their job without fear for their lives?"

On 28 February, she tweeted on the same issue, claiming "many" of her former colleagues have been "repeatedly denied entry into the region".

Yang said: "Palestinian journalists stuck in Gaza have been working in deadly conditions and fear being targeted while working. Media freedom and access is a core part of democracy, and reporters must be allowed into Gaza to be able to accurately report on the continued humanitarian situation."

She welcomed culture secretary Lisa Nandy's intervention on the issue.

In December, she met commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on his visit to Parliament.

Abtisam Mohamed

Despite also only being in the Commons since July, Ms Mohamed has spoken on Israel-Gaza five times.

Most recently, she gave a short speech on events in Gaza on Eid al-Fitr on 30 March.

She described Israel's actions there as "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" and urged ministers to condemn them.

Mohamed said the world is witnessing "forced displacement", "ethnic cleansing", "the complete destruction of Gaza", and "permanent occupation of Gaza and the West Bank".

Israel denies ethnic cleansing and says evacuation orders in Gaza are designed to protect civilians from its operations against Hamas.

On 17 February, Mohamed posted on X she had spearheaded a cross-party call from 61 MPs for a UK ban on Israeli goods.

She said: "The ICJ's [International Court of Justice] advisory opinion has said that third party states shouldn't aid or assist Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

"Importing goods from settlements gives them legitimacy and further entrenches the occupation."

She compared the situation with the UK's ban on imports from Crimea.

Responding to Donald Trump's plans for a "Gaza Riviera" in February, Mohamed tweeted a clip of the president with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying: "What kind of world do we live in when the war crime of forcible displacement/ethnic cleansing is so openly discussed."

In January, she retweeted a news article about Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha who "questioned why the media, celebrities and influencers worldwide have not responded to events in Gaza with the same urgency as they have to the LA fires".

She spoke again in the Commons in January to say "ethnic cleansing is taking place before our very eyes, and the world remains silent" - and to call on the government to urge Israel to allow evacuated Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

In November last year, she praised the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s decision to pursue South Africa's case against Israel for crimes against humanity, describing it as a "crucial step". Israel denies all the accusations.

On 15 October last year, she stood up in the Commons to speak on Gaza for the first time, condemning the "totally inexcusable" actions of Israel - blocking food deliveries into northern Gaza and "using starvation as a weapon of war".

Israel has said Hamas militants use aid deliveries, hospitals, and other civilian targets to hide.

Earlier today, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips she thought Israel had the right to turn two Labour MPs away from the country.

You can see the exchange here:

Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were both denied entry to Israel yesterday and deported back to the UK, where they landed this morning.

Israel says they have supported sanctioning some Israeli ministers and supported boycotts of Israel but the UK's foreign secretary said it is "unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning".

What do we know about the two MPs?

Yuan Yang

The 34-year-old became the first Chinese-born Briton to be elected to parliament when she won Berkshire's Earley and Woodley seat at last summer's election with an 848 majority (1.9%).

She was born in Ningbo, China and lived with her grandparents in a "work unit" before moving to the UK with her parents aged four, living in Manchester and Leeds.

A passionate writer as a child, she received a scholarship to private Bradford Grammar School, then went to Balliol College, Oxford, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics, graduating with a first.

She co-founded Rethinking Economics, a non-profit campaign to promote students being able to choose different schools of thought on economics.

Yang also did a masters in economics at the London School of Economics and studied abroad at Peking University as part of a Chinese government-sponsored programme.

She intended to become a poet but became a journalist after doing an internship at the Economist magazine before becoming an economics correspondent for the Financial Times in China, where she then served as deputy bureau chief.

In May 2024, her book, Private Revolutions, was published about four women born in China in the '80s and '90s coming of age in a society changed beyond recognition.

In December 2023, she announced she was the Labour Party candidate for Earley and Woodley, where her family had lived for 14 years before.

She said her motivation for standing was from witnessing "the damage austerity has done to our community"

A Quaker, Yang has been critical of the Chinese government's 2020 Hong Kong national security law and backed the rights of Hong Kongers in the UK.

Abtisam Mohamed

The 44-year-old was first elected to her Sheffield Central seat last summer, with a 26.1% majority, becoming the area's first ethnic minority MP.

Born in Yemen, she is also the first Yemeni woman to be elected as a British MP.

Mohamed is the second oldest of eight children and moved to the UK when she was two to join her father and grandfather, who were working in the steel industry in Sheffield.

Her family was a traditional, conservative Muslim-Yemeni family where women and girls had little influence but she rebelled against this in her teenage years.

She only gained four GCSEs but after finishing school she went back to Yemen and received the qualifications to study further, qualifying as a teacher from the University of Sheffield, then a lawyer.

She initially became a community worker then a solicitor, establishing her own human rights and immigration practice working.

In 2016 Mohamed became a local councillor and was selected as the Sheffield Central Labour candidate over comedian Eddie Izzard and former BBC Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason.

Before being elected, she called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages on both sides.

Mohamed is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, where she has repeatedly called out violence against Palestinian civilians in the Israel-Hamas war.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have been hitting out at each other about the two Labour MPs denied entry to Israel.

This morning, Ms Badenoch said she respected Israel's decision.

"It's really important that we respect other countries enforcing their borders," she told Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

Mr Lammy said it was "disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs.

"Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?" he asked.

"This government will continue to stand up for the rights of our MPs to speak their mind, whatever their party."

Ms Badenoch has now reacted, accusing Labour MPs of failing to put the UK's national interest first.

"Unlike China, Israel is our ally and a democracy," she posted on X.

"A good Foreign Sec would be able to make that distinction. Perhaps Labour MPs could put UK national interest first and do their jobs instead of campaigning for airports in Kashmir or promoting Hamas propaganda in parliament."

 The row over two Labour MPs being denied entry to Israel is escalating as more reaction comes in.

The Israeli government has said Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed had promoted sanctions against Israeli ministers and have supported campaigns aimed at boycotting Israel, so they were entitled to deny them entry and deport them.

Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the powerful Foreign Affairs Select Committee in parliament, tells Sky News she thinks Israel - a UK ally - was "really badly advised" and she is "so angry".

"These are two young women who have huge clout; they are really well respected in parliament," she says. 

"They're very well informed, highly intelligent young women and frankly, they speak on behalf of a lot of people and a lot of people listen to what it is that they have to say. 

"So instead of alienating them, I really think that Israel should try to engage them rather than humiliate them in this fashion."

She says Israel should "stop being so thin-skinned and actually listen to the criticism that is being made of Israel around the world, because  a lot of it is legitimate".

Ms Thornberry says she has been on one of the trips organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), which is what the two MPs were on, and many MPs over 20 years have also done so.

She says the group takes MPs to the region so they can see what is going on the ground "as opposed to listening to propaganda".

"That's important, we've got a place on the Security Council, we have a leadership role internationally, and all parliamentarians need to know what's going on," she says.

Ms Thornberry adds Israelis shouldn't be surprised that "many of us, and I include myself, believe there should be sanctions against particular government ministers" - namely Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, who have spoken about "trying to snatch the West Bank and bringing it into Greater Israel".

Sir Crawford Falconer, who was the UK's chief trade negotiator until recently, tells Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips the UK needs to figure out if it can negotiate with the US through traditional means or not.

He says he would be looking at parts of the tariffs and saying "we don't actually have to put up with the whole thing".

Sir Crawford says he would see if the US will section some sectors off so Donald Trump can "satisfy his power base, and a do a less than perfect deal".

But, he says that is not how the UK should enter into the negotiations.

He thinks the UK's role is now to advance free trade with other countries to show Mr Trump it is not reliant on the US, with no reason why that cannot include the EU.

"The government said it's never going to do a customs union or be part of the single market, but you could work with the EU, and encourage the EU to work with us to actually liberalise with other countries collectively," he says.

The UK should be trying to accelerate trade deals with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and encouraging the EU to think about how it could "associate with that kind of agreement".

He says the UK "got stiffed" with tariffs, but so did everybody else.

"I don't think you should be working on the assumption that we have some kind of absolutely favoured position", he added.

The 20% tariffs placed on EU exports to the US are "the biggest assault since the end of the Second World War on global trade", Germany's ambassador to the UK tells Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

Miguel Berger says the tariffs are "really devastating" but the bloc will "have to find a way to deal with it".

He says European trade ministers are talking this weekend and will meet on Monday to decide how to react.

But he says they want to have "some time" for negotiations and revealed they are "working out a list of possible reactions".

Mr Berger said the EU might look at reacting with services and "other measures" but "the end objective is to get into negotiations" with the US.

"We are prepared to retaliate," he confirmed as he said the EU is a market of 450 million people and the US' largest place of investment, with the biggest trade relation in the world.

"We have a lot to bring to the table," he added.

"We want to avoid this trade war."

Mr Berger said BMW is the biggest car exporter in the US and warned if the EU retaliated "we would hurt our automotive industry twice" - because Mr Trump has already placed 25% tariffs on cars.

"What is very important is that people don't only look at the tariffs, but also at the secondary effects," he said.

He said the EU and the UK do not want to see "dumping", where, for example, Chinese goods that can't go to the US now get sent to the UK and EU.

Mr Berger said retaliation measures could focus on big American tech firms, but they would have to take into account how that could hurt EU economies and consumers.

He said he was "pretty sure" the British government and the EU would "try everything to avoid" having chlorinated chicken and genetically manipulated food.