Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, whose case triggered summer protests in Essex, detained again and faces deportation
A former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error is back in custody and faces deportation.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and was made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Continue reading...Prime minister praises Scottish band Orange Juice and shares details about his family life in Radio 3 interview
Keir Starmer has said he is a fan of the Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice and northern soul, in a deep dive of his musical tastes and personal life.
On BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions, Starmer chose a selection of his favourite music including works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Elgar, and reflected on his own musical journey, which included learning to play violin alongside Norman Cook, AKA Fatboy Slim, at school.
Continue reading...Health secretary hardens Labour line after Sarah Pochin said advertising ‘doesn’t reflect our society’
Wes Streeting has accused the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin of making racist remarks after she said seeing adverts full of black and Asian people “drives her mad”.
The health secretary said Pochin was “only sorry she’s been caught and called out”, adding she had “said the quiet bit loud”, as he warned of a return to “1970s, 1980s-style racism”.
Continue reading...Airline says singer’s defiant interview breached its policy on politically sensitive or controversial subjects
British Airways has halted its sponsorship of Louis Theroux’s podcast over an interview with the frontman of Bob Vylan.
The airline has withdrawn its adverts from the journalist’s podcast after he interviewed Bobby Vylan – whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster.
Continue reading...Former asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu has been missing since being released from prison in error
Police searching in London for a former asylum seeker and convicted sex offender who was released from prison in error have urged him to hand himself in.
The Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
Continue reading...Another man in critical condition after railing reportedly breaks off in Costa Teguise
A British tourist has died after a 20ft fall from a hotel balcony in the Canary Islands.
Another Briton was left with serious injuries after the balcony railing reportedly broke off in the Lanzarote resort town of Costa Teguise.
Continue reading...Anna Turley says legally settled people threatened by Katie Lam’s proposals deserve urgent clarification
Labour has called on the Conservatives to clarify their plan to strip the right to remain permanently in the UK from thousands of people, saying those affected had a right to know what was being proposed.
Anna Turley MP, the Labour chair, has written to Katie Lam, the shadow Home Office minister whose interview about the plans last weekend sparked renewed interest in the policy of retrospectively revoking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status for large numbers of people.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read our full report here
The accidental release of the asylum seeker was a “mind-blowing” blunder, says the MP for Chelmsford.
The Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said on Saturday: “My mind has blown. How this could possibly happen?”
He came out of the airlock, and kept saying to the officers there, ‘Where am I going? What am I doing? I don’t know where I’m going and what I’m doing.’
He was holding a pack of paperwork in his arms, and his bag of bits …
He knew he’d been deported. He came over to me and said, ‘I need you to help me.’
Continue reading...Treasury committee says move in November budget could push up mortgage rates instead
Cutting the annual cash Isa allowance will not encourage many savers to switch to shares but could push up mortgage costs, MPs have warned the chancellor.
Adults can put up to £20,000 a year in a tax-free Isa and spread the money between cash and stock market investments as they choose. In the 2023-24 tax year, 66% of all contributions went into cash savings.
Continue reading...Buckingham Palace trying to increase pressure on prince to give up home for which he pays ‘peppercorn’ rent
Prince Andrew is reportedly in advanced talks with King Charles’s senior aides about moving out of his Royal Lodge home after a week in which his “peppercorn” rent tenancy has come under scrutiny.
Pressure has mounted on the royal family for Andrew to vacate the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park amid the continuing controversy over his links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the posthumous publication of the memoirs of the prince’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Continue reading...Ukrainian leader joined ‘coalition of the willing’ in London to discuss how to ramp up pressure on Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants the US to stay involved in efforts to end the war after a meeting of western allies in London that took place without Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian leader chose not to overtly lobby for the supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles at a meeting of more than 20 mainly European leaders from the “coalition of the willing” but instead emphasised the need for the west to work together.
Continue reading...Former Paralympics champion says inaccessible charging points show government ‘has forgotten about us’
Campaigners including Tanni Grey-Thompson have warned that disabled drivers are at risk of being locked out of the electric car transition because of inaccessible chargers.
The former Paralympics champion and the Electric Vehicle Association England are pushing for the government to introduce standards to ensure chargers are easy to reach.
Continue reading...Film and TV stars are selling tickets, but director says reliance on famous names is ‘killing audiences’ intellects’
From Ncuti Gatwa in Born With Teeth to Alicia Vikander in The Lady From the Sea and Susan Sarandon in Mary Page Marlowe, there is no shortage of starry celebrities being cast for the West End right now.
It is a phenomenon happening in subsidised theatre too: Indhu Rubasingham’s inaugural season at the National Theatre features the likes of screen favourites Paul Mescal and Nicola Coughlan.
Continue reading...Statement from security adviser, sent to then prime minister, did not describe China as enemy
Rishi Sunak was the only politician to be sent a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of a controversy about the collapse of a case against two British men accused of spying for China.
According to letters sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, the statement from Matthew Collins in December 2023, which was sent to the then prime minister and his advisers, did not describe China as an enemy, another key element of the case.
Continue reading...CEO says fiscal discipline should be balanced with ‘policies that create stability, consistency and support growth’
NatWest Group’s chief executive has warned the government against increasing taxes on banks in the autumn budget as the high street lender reported a 30% jump in profits.
Paul Thwaite said he understood the “difficult choices” that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had to make in order to help close a potential £30bn shortfall in the public finances but argued she needed to “balance fiscal discipline” with “policies that create stability, consistency and support growth”.
Continue reading...Dundee firefighters request return of donated appliance to avoid Nablus officials having to pay £16,000 Ashdod holding fees
A fully equipped fire engine donated by Dundee firefighters to their counterparts in the West Bank city of Nablus could be sent back to Scotland after being impounded for more than a year by Israeli authorities.
Firefighters in Dundee, which is twinned with Nablus, have regularly donated kit, equipment and medical supplies to the West Bank over the past 15 years, as well as bringing Palestinian firefighters to Scotland for training.
Continue reading...Prime minister says the identification would never be needed to access hospitals amid fears over civil liberties
Keir Starmer has set out his vision for digital IDs as he fights to win back public support for the scheme.
The prime minister’s plan for digital IDs was met with criticism when it was announced last month, and was described as a symptom of his “reverse Midas touch”.
Continue reading...In finding F not guilty of murder on Bloody Sunday, judge said evidence fell well short of the standard required
It is undisputed that members of the Parachute regiment shot dead 13 unarmed civil rights protesters in Derry on Bloody Sunday. But, more than 53 years later, it is not surprising that Soldier F, the only man put on trial for murder, was found not guilty.
Though four of the Paras who entered Glenfada Park North had “lost all sense of military discipline”, according to Mr Justice Lynch, direct evidence against Soldier F fell well short of “the high standard of proof required in a criminal case”.
Continue reading...Highly unusual court application alleges more than 10 individuals breached foreign enlistment laws
A human rights group has launched an attempt to mount a private prosecution alleging British citizens unlawfully went to fight for Israel.
An application to a magistrates court for a summons against a named individual was lodged on Monday.
Continue reading...Splits grow over its remit as survivors angered by effort to recruit chairs from professions that failed to protect them
Deep divisions surrounding Keir Starmer’s inquiry into grooming gangs were first disclosed by the Guardian last week. But for one of the survivors now refusing to take part, splits first emerged in July, a month after the inquiry was announced.
Fiona Goddard, who was abused by a gang while a teenager in a Bradford children’s home, said she and other grooming gang survivors were told in June that the inquiry would centre on group-based child sexual exploitation of girls by grooming gangs.
Continue reading...