'What is the point of her?'

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [The Independent]( May 26, 2023 [View online](   [Morning Headlines]( 1 /[Home secretary nowhere to be seen as migration hits record high]( Home secretary [Suella Braverman]( has been accused of “going to ground” after figures revealed that net [migration]( had hit a record high of 606,000 with around 1.2 million people arriving to live in the UK in 2022. The new figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday, have fuelled accusations that the government has “lost control” of [immigration]( despite a 2019 manifesto pledge to bring overall numbers down. Senior Tories told The Independent that Ms Braverman had become a “liability” – warning [Rishi Sunak]( that he may have to sack his “damaged” home secretary if she fails to tackle net migration levels. Despite immigration being one of the home secretary’s key policy areas, Ms Braverman did not comment on the figures or attend an urgent question in the House of Commons on Thursday. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper asked “what is the point” of Ms Braverman. She said: “Where is the home secretary, who is in charge of these policies? She has gone to ground. What is the point of her?” The backlash extended to the Tory benches. Aaron Bell MP warned Mr Sunak that voters “will expect to see [net migration] fall” given the party’s previous pledges on the issue, while fellow backbencher Martin Vickers said voters’ “anger and frustration will grow” when they become aware of the new record high.   2 / [Car crashes into Downing Street gates]( Man arrested as police establish circumstances of crash outside prime minister’s residence 3 / [Boris camp in panic mode over claims he hosted friends and family]( Ex-PM ‘furious’ and ‘in despair’ over new scrutiny on events at his grace-and-favour country house during pandemic, friends say 4 / [Child died at mental health hospital ‘while staff were meant to be watching her’]( Exclusive: 14 year old girl died in mental health hospital while staff were supposed to be watching her 5 /[Man planned to kill the Queen by dropping object on her from Golden Gate Bridge, FBI file reveals]( An IRA member reportedly plotted to kill Queen Elizabeth II by dropping an object onto the royal yacht THE BIG QUESTION [The energy price cap: what is it and what does it mean for my bills?]( Despite falling wholesale energy prices making their way through to bills, [households are still facing eye-watering costs]( that remain well above pre-pandemic levels. What is Ofgem’s price cap, how does the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee affect it, and what does it all mean for household bills? What is Ofgem’s price cap? The energy price cap was introduced by the [Government]( in January 2019 and sets a maximum price that energy suppliers can charge consumers in England, [Scotland]( and [Wales]( for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy they use. It aims to ensure that prices for customers on default energy tariffs are a fair reflection of the cost paid by suppliers for wholesale energy, and that the profit firms make is capped. 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