All passengers thought to have been taken to Boulogne after large air and sea rescue operation by France and UK
A dinghy carrying 173 people has capsized after its engine caught fire as it attempted to cross the Channel from France.
The people onboard were rescued from the water after a large air and sea operation was launched using UK border security and French vessels along with an RNLI boat.
Continue reading...Migration commissioner says scheme regularising undocumented people ‘not a good signal’ for Europe
The EU’s top official on migration has criticised Spain’s plan to regularise undocumented migrants as “not a good signal” for Europe, after an emergency meeting intended to draw a line under divisions on the Ceuta crisis.
Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for migration, said that while the EU could not currently see a direct link between events in Ceuta and Spain’s regularisation plan, the policy was “definitely not a good signal for the rest of Europe”.
Continue reading...Some in Dover say their town is being exploited by content creators and politicians, but others claim there is a genuine problem
If you believe rightwing influencers and politicians, Dover and the wider Kent coast has been the site of an “invasion” for years now. And, for an online audience of millions, they and their camera crews have been the vanguard in the nation’s defence.
Indeed, if you believe all you see on the algorithms of amateur Channel watchers, the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, braved a hail of French gunfire as he took to the water in a fishing boat this week; an attempt by the French authorities, he suggested, to deter him in his mission of highlighting the small boats crisis.
Continue reading...CRS officers funded by UK tried to stop boarding of boat, on day four asylum seekers died trying to cross Channel
French riot police funded by UK taxpayers used teargas on asylum seekers in an attempt to stop them from boarding a boat in which three women were later found dead, a charity has claimed.
Footage and photographs seen by the Guardian show CS gas canisters being fired towards groups of people on Plage du Braek near Dunkirk at 4am on Thursday. At 6am, three women were found dead in a boat near the same beach.
Continue reading...Shadow minister says there was no warning and ‘it looked and sounded like deliberate intimidation’
It is not just the Russians firing on Brits in the English Channel; Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused a French warship of firing “warning shots” near him while he was on a boat in the Channel monitoring small boat crossings.
In a post on social media, he says:
On the channel today monitoring illegal migrant crossings … as I was being interviewed by the BBC just now a French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us. There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation
On the crisis in prison places, this has been a long time coming. We did some things, as I said [see 10.11am], it wasn’t enough, and I’m sorry about that.
But I can’t fix the past, but what I can do is come up with solutions for now, and for tomorrow.
This was something which we were doing in government. We had plans to rent prison places, just like Sweden has done with Estonia, so that we didn’t have to just release these sorts of violent criminals early. We could have put them in other countries.
If everybody says ‘no prison near me’, we won’t get these [prison places] built, so this is something the public can help with … We cannot say ‘no’ to every potential site for a prison.
Continue reading...Chris Philp says shots were ‘deliberate intimidation’ while he filmed interview on small boats crisis but France says it was training exercise
When Chris Philp heard a volley of shots on the high seas and spun round to see a French gunship, he believed he was the victim of naval aggression – and updated his social media feed accordingly.
The reality appears to be more mundane: it was, the French authorities said, a routine Channel training exercise by officers who had no idea that the shadow home affairs spokesperson was present, or who he was in the first place.
Continue reading...Refugee family reunions in limbo, despite Foreign Office saying it is ready get people out of war-torn territory
The Home Office is blocking the evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza, despite the Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of the war-torn region.
Last September, the Home Office announced it was suspending refugee family reunion applications and that new, more restrictive rules would be announced in the spring. So far there has been no announcement and the process remains suspended.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Andy Burnham thought to be considering waiving stricter right to remain rules for people already working in the sector
Hundreds of thousands of care workers could be exempted from the home secretary’s plans to toughen up the immigration system under proposals being considered by Andy Burnham as he looks for ways to relieve pressure on the social care sector.
The prime minister will give a speech next week spelling out his determination to start creating a National Care Service before the next general election as he looks to accelerate the process set up by his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
Continue reading...Andy Burnham expected to vote in favour of home secretary’s changes to legal loophole and asylum system
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, will amend the immigration bill to allow the deportation of the Rochdale grooming gang, the first step in removing Shabir Ahmed from the UK.
At present, Ahmed cannot be deported because of a 1971 law applying to Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago.
Continue reading...Suspension of family reunion route has left many stuck in conflict zones or using people smugglers to reach safety
More than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with families in the UK, leaving them either stuck in conflict zones or resorting to using people-smugglers to reach safety, according to the Refugee Council.
The government suspended the refugee family reunion route last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to bring immediate family members such as a spouse and their children under 18 to reunite with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year.
Continue reading...Asylum seekers win ruling against home secretary’s reduction of safeguards for potential victims of trafficking
The British home secretary’s decision to reduce protections for potential trafficking victims to allow the “one in, one out” asylum returns deal to proceed was unlawful, a high court judge has ruled.
The legal challenge was brought by five small boat asylum seekers earmarked for return to France – four from Eritrea and one from Sudan. It related to a change in guidance on the one in, one out scheme, which meant that those denied trafficking protections no longer had the right to ask for it to be reconsidered.
Continue reading...Critics call proposed limits on asylum claims a ‘quick fix that will create long-term chaos’
More than half of the people whose asylum and visa claims will be rejected under tightened human rights laws will continue to live in the UK, according to the Home Office’s own assessment.
Documents released on Tuesday show that plans to set new limits on article 8 of the European convention on human rights are expected to result in another 11,700 people having their claims rejected annually.
Continue reading...Means-tested scheme included in immigration and asylum bill condemned by charities for placing tax on refugees
Asylum seekers will be ordered to pay about £10,000 to cover their state-funded living costs or be denied settled status in the UK under a new law to be considered by MPs on Tuesday.
The means-tested scheme, compared by officials to student loans and included in the immigration and asylum bill, has been condemned by charities for placing a tax on refugees fleeing war, torture and famine.
Continue reading...Home secretary speeds up major part of bill governing asylum and refugees as new prime minister set to take over
Shabana Mahmood will seek to shore up support for her controversial immigration bill on the progressive left of Labour, as she sets out plans to speed up the opening of new safe and legal routes that will permit thousands of refugees to come to the UK.
The home secretary, who is the leading contender to stay in her job if Andy Burnham becomes prime minister, will next week introduce the legislation, which will also set new limits on immigration claims on human rights grounds and under modern slavery law.
Removing modern slavery protections for any foreign national who has committed a crime and received a sentence, scrapping the previous 12-month threshold.
Rejecting last-minute modern slavery claims where an objection could have been raised earlier or where there is evidence of false documentation.
Allowing immigration claims to be brought under the right to a family life only if the family member is a parent, spouse or child under 18 except in exceptional circumstances.
A new test to make clear that deporting foreign national offenders is in the public interest and should only be blocked in the most exceptional circumstances.
Applications for family reunion under the right to a family life will in future have to be brought by a UK-based sponsor, not the overseas family member.
Giving every trafficked and exploited child a dedicated independent guardian to support their safeguarding and recovery.
Continue reading...Row between Shabana Mahmood and Mike Tapp broke out after he wrote unauthorised article about migration
The migration minister, Mike Tapp, is to be denied access to sensitive documents and meetings without approval from the home secretary, as she called for the prime minister to sack him.
Shabana Mahmood has demanded that Tapp be fired for writing an unauthorised article in the Times calling for overseas care workers to be exempt from changes to the immigration rules.
Continue reading...Planning permission has been sought for three additional military sites
Home Office plans to use three more former military sites to house thousands of asylum seekers have been condemned as “arrogant”, “costly” and “a political fix” by refugee charities and local stakeholders.
Planning permission is being sought to build “basic” accommodation at MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, a statement said. These new sites could house 3,750 claimants, the government has claimed.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rights group says Nigel Farage’s party is reneging on promises made during the Brexit referendum campaign
EU nationals based permanently in the UK have expressed alarm over a Reform UK plan to target their rights to accommodation and employment, saying the policy is a betrayal of promises made in the Brexit referendum 10 years ago.
Under updated migration policies, Nigel Farage’s party would evict all overseas nationals from social housing and make it notably more expensive for companies to employ them, with both policies also affecting EU nationals who have settled status.
Continue reading...Refugee charities fear controversial changes, including on forced removals and age checks, are being rushed through
Shabana Mahmood’s controversial plans to increase the forced removal of people refused asylum, introduce stringent age checks for people claiming to be children and limit applications under human rights laws are scheduled to be placed before MPs within days.
The immigration and asylum bill is expected to be put before parliament next Tuesday and will face opposition from some Labour, Lib Dem and independent MPs. Andy Burnham’s team, widely expected to be in No 10 within weeks, is understood to be aware of the bill and its contents.
Continue reading...Liz Kendall also wants Ofcom to report to parliament every year on how effectively social media firms are keeping under-16s off their platforms
Starmer acknowledges some teenagers will get round these restrictons. But that does not make the rules pointless, he says.
Will it mean that no child ever looks at social media again? No.
But look, this might shock you, but it doesn’t shock parents of teenagers; they get around other laws too.
Some technology companies want us to think that social media is unchangeable, part of an almost natural order.
But we have to resist that kind of learned helplessness. We have agency, we can change it, and we will.
Continue reading...Leadership hopeful to also say tax revenues from new North Sea oil and gasfields should be used to cut energy bills
Wes Streeting’s pitch to be the next Labour leader will include a plan to increase high-skilled immigration to the UK, arguing that Donald Trump is telling scientists and AI experts they are not welcome in the US.
In a speech this coming week, the former health secretary will also say that tax revenues from new North Sea oil and gasfields should be used to cut energy bills.
Continue reading...