Move follows vote in Commons where MPs voted down four amendments inserted by Lords yesterday
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
PMQs is starting soon.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Migration
Sunak says ‘all sides should show restraint’ after Iranian attack on Israel – as it happened
British PM says he will speak to Netanyahu to express solidarity and discuss how further escalation can be avoided
UK general election opinion poll tracker: Labour leading as election looms
David Cameron ruled out trying to become PM again in an interview this morning. (See 9.30am.) But Liz Truss has not done so. In an interview with LBC’s Iain Dale, being broadcast tonight, she did not entirely dismiss the possibility. This is from LBC’s Henry Riley.
Truss is giving interviews to publicise her memoir which is out this week. According to extracts sent out in advance, she also confirmed in her LBC interview that she wanted to see Donald Trump win the US presidential election. She said:
I don’t think [Joe] Biden has been particularly supportive to the United Kingdom. I think he’s often on the side of the EU. And I certainly think I would like to see a new president in the White House …
The thing I would say about Donald Trump is, because I served as secretary of state under both Trump and Biden, and Trump’s policies were actually very effective. If you look at his economic policies, and I met his regulatory czar, I travelled around the United States looking at what he’d done. He cut regulation, he cut taxes, he liberated the US energy supply. And this is why the US has had significantly higher economic growth than Britain.
Continue reading...Palestinians were refused Australian visitor visas due to concerns they would not ‘stay temporarily’
Senators label refusing 150 people, with Palestinian citizenship, visas into Australia during first months of conflict as ‘cold-blooded’ and ‘cruel’
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About 160 Palestinians were refused visitor visas to come to Australia in the first three months of the Israel-Gaza conflict, mostly due to concerns they would not stay temporarily.
According to answers to questions on notice, 150 people with Palestinian citizenship were refused because they “did not demonstrate a genuine intention to stay temporarily in Australia” – a justification labelled “cold-blooded” and “cruel” by crossbench senators. Ten people who applied during the same period were rejected for other reasons.
Continue reading...Nine people including baby die after boat capsizes off Lampedusa
Italian coastguard rescues 22 survivors trying to cross Mediterranean and searches for missing
Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy’s coastguard has said.
The coastguard said on Thursday it had received a cooperation request from Maltese search and rescue officials after the boat capsized about 30 miles (50km) south-east of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday.
Continue reading...EU asylum and migration pact has passed despite far right and left’s objections
Long-awaited package of measures marks victory for Europe’s centre albeit with ‘doubts and concerns’ over implementation
Almost a decade in the making, the EU’s new migration and asylum pact suffered so many setbacks, stalemates and rewrites that when member states finally announced a deal last year, its passage through parliament seemed assured.
That was, however, to ignore the objections of Europe’s resurgent far-right parties, who felt it was not tough enough (and, perhaps, hoped to profit at the ballot box from allowing the current chaos around migration to continue).
Continue reading...‘History made’ as EU parliament passes major migration and asylum reforms – as it happened
This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Malin Björk from the Swedish Left Party said the vote will not resolve problems, and that the Left group will not be supporting it.
There is no real solidarity, and there will be more of what is not working, she said. There will be detention, dehumanisation, violence, humiliation, she added.
Continue reading...EU passes asylum and migration pact after eight years of deadlock
European parliament president says ‘history made’ with vote to pass changes, which have been criticised by NGOs
Sweeping changes to the EU’s migration laws have been passed in a knife-edge series of votes in the European parliament, with supporters of the new laws calling the move historic but NGOs saying they are a step back for human rights.
The vote on Wednesday, which is now expected to be rubber-stamped by the member states, ends eight years of deadlock over repeated efforts to tighten up border management and asylum processes in the 27-member bloc.
Continue reading...New Zealand tightens visa rules after migration hits ‘unsustainable’ levels
Net migration to New Zealand hit a near record high in 2023 after a new temporary work visa was introduced after the pandemic
New Zealand will tighten its visa rules for some migrants as the coalition government moves to overhaul the immigration system it says has led to “unsustainable” levels of migration.
Last year, annual net migration to New Zealand hit a near record high of more than 173,000 non-New Zealand citizens in the year to December, Stats NZ reported.
Continue reading...Refugees risk being stripped of protection under ‘draconian’ Labor deportation bill, opponents say
Greens immigration spokesperson says bill expands ministerial power to reverse protection findings and deport people previously granted asylum
Labor’s “draconian” deportation bill expands ministerial powers to reverse protection findings, meaning refugees could be stripped of their status and deported, the Greens and lawyers have warned.
The controversial provision in the legislation delayed by the Senate this week could see a grandmother who fled Chile under Gen Augusto Pinochet’s bloody dictatorship forced to cooperate with deportation, Human Rights for All director Alison Battisson said.
Continue reading...Labour has 99% chance of forming next government, says elections expert – UK politics live
Prof Sir John Curtice, the psephologist and lead election analyst for the BBC, said the chances of a Tory revival were small
In the House of Lords peers have just started debating the second reading of the leasehold and freehold reform bill. The bill has already passed through the Commons.
Normally, at this stage of the process, the content of a government bill is all but finalised. But, as No 10 admitted on Monday, the government has still not decided how far it will go in terms of cutting ground rents for existing leaseholders.
Continue reading...‘Pushed to the limit’: the tiny Greek island in people smugglers’ sights
Fears of a new migration route grow as more than 800 people land on Gavdos, population fewer than 70, in a few months
Even by the standards of small Greek islands, Gavdos is tiny. In a population of fewer than 70 people, there are just two families with four children. The rest “are all old people mostly living alone”, its mayor, Lilian Stefanaki, explains.
It is a micro-world that in the depths of winter is served by a single school, a bakery, two mini-markets and four kafeneia cum tavernas. The remote island – separated from the coast of Crete by frequently unpredictable waters in the Libyan Sea – is watched over by Efsevios Daskalakis, who for much of the year is its sole police officer.
Continue reading...Tory MP Robert Halfon quits as minister and James Heappey confirms resignation, paving way for mini reshuffle – as it happened
Robert Halfon quits as skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister as James Heappey confirms decision to step down
In interviews this morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, admitted that special educational needs provision was in crisis, Ben Quinn reports.
Universities in England could be told to terminate their arrangements with foreign countries if freedom of speech and academic freedom is undermined, the government’s free speech tsar has said. As PA Media reports, Prof Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the Office for Students (OfS), said many universities and colleges in England have “international arrangements” – including admitting overseas students on scholarships and hosting institutes partly funded by foreign governments. PA says:
The higher education regulator launched a consultation on guidance about freedom of speech, ahead of universities, colleges and student unions taking on new free speech duties.
The guidance includes examples to illustrate what higher education institutions may have to do to fulfil their new duties – due to come into effect in August – to secure freedom of speech within the law.
University A accepts international students on visiting scholarships funded by the government of country B. Scholars must accept the principles of the ruling party of country B, and direction from country B’s government via consular staff. Depending on the circumstances, these arrangements may undermine free speech and academic freedom at University A. If so, that university is likely to have to terminate or amend the scholarship agreement.
If it means that there are people who are employed by an institute who are preventing legitimate protests or shutting down lecturers from covering certain kinds of content regarding that country for instance, or that country’s foreign policy … If that behaviour amounts to a restriction of freedom of speech within the law, and someone brings a complaint to us, then we may find that the complaint is justified and then we make recommendations …
If there are problems, universities will have to do everything they can to act compatibly with their freedom-of-speech duties. Insofar as that means a rethinking of their relationship with other countries, obviously that’s something that would be a good idea for them to start thinking about now.
Continue reading...Rushed bill forcing hundreds of non-citizens to facilitate own deportation passes lower house
Human Rights Law Centre says bill ‘deliberately separates families’ and risks non-compliance with obligations under refugee convention
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Legislation that would force hundreds of non-citizens to facilitate their own deportation or face imprisonment has been rushed through the lower house, despite warnings it breaches human rights obligations.
The Labor government combined with Peter Dutton’s opposition shortly before question time on Tuesday to approve the new powers for the immigration minister despite howls of dissent from independents and minor parties about lack of due process.
Continue reading...Revealed: UK-funded French forces putting migrants’ lives at risk with small-boat tactics
Exclusive: newly obtained footage and leaked documents show how a ‘mass casualty event’ could arise from aggressive tactics employed by border forces
French police funded by the UK government have endangered the lives of vulnerable migrants by intercepting small boats in the Channel, using tactics that search and rescue experts say could cause a “mass casualty event”.
Shocking new evidence obtained by the Observer, Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde and Der Spiegel reveals for the first time that the French maritime police have tried physically to force small boats to turn around – manoeuvres known as “pullbacks” – in an attempt to prevent them reaching British shores.
Continue reading...Mass grave of at least 65 people found in Libya, UN migration agency says
International Organization for Migration believes those discovered ‘died in process of being smuggled through the desert’
A mass grave containing at least 65 bodies has been discovered in south-west Libya this week, the UN migration agency said on Friday.
A spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the mass grave was uncovered by Libyan security forces.
Continue reading...Government suffers seven defeats on Rwanda bill as peers vote to tighten safeguards – UK politics live
Lords back amendments saying bill must comply with international law, on classifying Rwanda as a safe country and independent monitoring
Yesterday I covered quite a lot of comment on the Rachel Reeves’ Mais lecture based on a three-page press release sent out by Labour with advance extracts. The full speech runs to 8,000 words and it is certainly worth a read. Here is some commentary published after the full text was made public.
Paul Mason, the former economics journalist who is now an active Labour supporter, says in a blog for the Spectator that Reeves is proposing an approach that should make it easier for the government to justify capital investment. He explains:
Reeves effectively offered markets a trade-off. She set out the same broad fiscal rule as the government: debt falling at the end of five years and a deficit moving towards primary balance. She will make it law that any fiscal decision by government will be subject to an independent forecast of its effects by the OBR. But, she said: “I will also ask the OBR to report on the long-term impact of capital spending decisions. And as Chancellor I will report on wider measures of public sector assets and liabilities at fiscal events, showing how the health of the public balance sheet is bolstered by good investment decisions.”
Why is this so big? Because the OBR does not currently model the ‘long-term impact of capital spending decisions’. It believes that £1 billion of new capital investment produces £1 billion of growth in the first year, tapering to nothing by year five. Furthermore, since 2019 it has repeatedly expressed scepticism that a sustained programme of public investment can produce a permanent uplift in the UK’s output potential.
George Eaton at the New Statesman says the Reeves speech contained Reeves’ “most explicit repudiation yet of the model pursued by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments”. He says:
In her 8,000-word Mais Lecture, delivered last night at City University, the shadow chancellor offered her most explicit repudiation yet of the model pursued by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s governments. Though she praised New Labour’s record on public service investment and poverty reduction, Reeves warned that the project failed to recognise that “globalisation and new technologies could widen as well as diminish inequality, disempower people as much as liberate them, displace as well as create good work”.
She added that the labour market “remained characterised by too much insecurity” and that “key weaknesses on productivity and regional inequality” persisted. This is not merely an abstract critique – it leads Reeves and Keir Starmer to embrace radically different economic prescriptions.
Mais lecture is the most intellectually wide-ranging speech Rachel Reeves has given. Worth reading for takes on Lawson, austerity, New Labour, link between dynamism & worker-security, and how geo-politics changes our national growth story (& more besides)
Continue reading...Mexico: report challenges official story of migrant facility fire in which 40 died
Investigation asserts that detention centre staff had key to cell in which men were being held but did not open door to let them out
A new report has challenged the official version of events during a fire in a Mexican migrant detention facility that killed dozens, alleging that staff could have let the men out of their cell, but instead decided – or were told – not to.
The fire in Ciudad Juárez broke out on 27 March 2023, when detainees started a fire to protest conditions at the facility. But as the flames spread, the men were left in a locked cell as smoke filled the building, until firemen arrived. Forty men were killed, and another 27 survived, with life-altering injuries.
Continue reading...Missing migrants’ families say they were asked to pay hundreds for information on relatives
Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in Spain
Families of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.
In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part of their searches for missing relatives that had gone on for years, they had made contact with people they believed to be connected to an NGO in southern Spain who said they were able to help them.
Continue reading...It’s too late to replace Sunak so Tories must ‘march towards the sound of the guns’, Ben Wallace says – as it happened
Former defence secretary tells colleagues there is no alternative to Rishi Sunak and to ‘get on with’ preparing for an election. This live blog is closed
Ofcom has ruled today that GB News broke impartiality rules on five occasions by using Tory MPs as news presenters.
But it has not imposed sanctions on the broadaster. It says these count as first offence, and that there may be sanctions if it happens again.
Under the Broadcasting Code, news, in whatever form, must be presented with due impartiality. Additionally, a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification.
In line with the right to freedom of expression, broadcasters have editorial freedom to offer audiences a wide range of programme formats, including using politicians to present current affairs or other non-news programmes. Politicians may also appear in broadcast news content as an interviewee or any other type of guest.
These are the first breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 recorded against GB News. Since opening these investigations, there has only been one further programme which has raised issues warranting investigation under these rules. We are clear, however, that GB News is put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction.
Continue reading...Libya coastguard accused of hampering attempt to save more than 170 people
Médecins Sans Frontières says ‘dangerous manoeuvres’ by coastguard put refugees at even greater risk
An NGO performing search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean has accused the Libyan coastguard of hampering an attempt to save more than 170 people making the perilous journey across the sea to Europe.
In a statement, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its ship had come to the rescue of two boats in international waters on Saturday: a small fibreglass boat carrying 28 people and a double-deck wooden vessel with 143 people onboard, which appeared to be in distress.
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