Category Archives: Immigration and asylum

Sent home: how Kenyan’s dream of life as a UK care worker turned sour

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Anthony Mbare found his tied visa put him at mercy of his bosses. He is one of thousands who have come to plug shortages in adult social care

It is a bitter November night and Anthony Mbare is shivering in a car in rural Wiltshire, south-west England, waiting to see his next client.

It’s 3C and he has been here for almost two hours but he cannot turn on the heater because the car battery might die. A petrol-station coffee to warm him up is £3 he cannot afford. He blows on his hands, wriggles his toes and huddles under a blanket.

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Suella Braverman says ‘we will do whatever it takes’ if Strasbourg thwarts Rwanda plan

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Home secretary confirms government considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags

Suella Braverman has said the government will “do whatever it takes” if its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is “thwarted in Strasbourg”, and confirmed the government is considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags.

In an interview with the BBC, the home secretary stepped up her attack on the European court of human rights (ECHR), calling it politicised and interventionist.

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Children reaching UK in small boats sent to jail for adult sex offenders

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Human rights group finds growing number of cases of minors held among prisoners

Vulnerable children who arrive in Britain by small boat are being placed in an adult prison that holds significant numbers of sex offenders.

A growing number of cases have been identified where unaccompanied children, many of whom appear to be trafficked, have been sent to HMP Elmley, Kent, and placed among foreign adult prisoners.

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Trade deal with Indian could be a double-edged sword for Sunak

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The position of the PM’s wife as a shareholder in a company that could benefit from an agreement is a major headache for No 10

• Read more: Rishi Sunak faces fresh conflict of interest row of India trade talks

With a general election not far away and the economy still struggling, Rishi Sunak is on the hunt for good news. Next month he will be in New Delhi for the G20 summit – a visit that will be unusually rich with picture opportunities and chances to strike deals. Sunak’s parents are of Indian Punjabi descent and his wife, Akshata Murthy, is a hugely wealthy Indian businesswoman, fashion designer and venture capitalist. In many ways it will be a homecoming for the first Asian couple ever to occupy No 10.

Sunak’s business and trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has been in India over the past few days, laying the ground for a string of announcements with her G20 counterparts. Inevitably, much of the talk in UK and Indian diplomatic, business and trade circles has been about the possibility of a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and India. The two governments had hoped to conclude one last autumn but negotiations have dragged on.

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Record asylum backlog deals another blow to Sunak’s immigration pledges

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Pressure to reduce backlog remains acute as arrivals continue and accommodation problems mount

In a landmark speech on immigration last December, Rishi Sunak made a series of bold and apparently undeliverable commitments. He promised to stop the flow of small boats to the UK, increase the amount of non-hotel accommodation for asylum seekers and abolish the backlog of unprocessed asylum cases by the end of 2023.

The government’s spiralling difficulties in addressing the first and second pledges have been evident throughout the summer, with footage of new boat arrivals broadcast nightly, and complications with the opening of the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge mounting up. The failure to address the asylum backlog was starkly exposed in Thursday’s release of the quarterly immigration statistics.

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Charities watchdog criticises Care4Calais for administrative misconduct

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Inquiry finds, however, that charity acted lawfully in challenging government’s asylum policy through courts

Care4Calais, a refugee charity providing humanitarian aid to thousands of migrants living in appalling conditions in northern France, has been criticised by the charities watchdog over what it called administrative misconduct.

The three-year Charity Commission inquiry criticised the former chief executive and board of the charity and highlighted examples of lax internal financial controls, governance failings, poor record keeping and complaints handling.

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Home Office considered using overseas workers in case of disease on Bibby Stockholm

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Ministers had planned to issue visa waivers to cover staff absences on barge housing asylum seekers

The Home Office considered drafting in workers from overseas using a visa waiver scheme in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

The barge is moored in Portland, Dorset. It was opened to asylum seekers on 7 August as a key part of the government’s “small boats week” to signal that it was implementing its undertakings to move asylum seekers out of hotels. However, in a blow to this policy the barge was evacuated just four days later after legionella bacteria was found in the barge’s water pipes.

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Starmer challenges Sunak to force Nadine Dorries out of Commons as Tory website explains how it could happen – as it happened

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Article says Commons could bypass the parliamentary standards machinery after Labour leader says MP should be forced out. This live blog is closed

Starmer says there is a massive mismatch between what the government is saying about how things are going well with the economy, and the lived experience of people.

O’Brien suggests the two teenagers Starmer met today would have been happier if Starmer was still committed to getting rid of tuition fees.

I do think the current scheme is unfair and ineffective and that is why we will change it, so the current scheme will be changed by the incoming Labour government and we will set out our plans.

I am not going to pretend that there isn’t huge damage to the economy and that has meant that some of the things that an incoming Labour government would want to do we are not going to be able to do in the way we would want in the way that we would want.

We are working up our proposals on that and I will fully come back and talk them through when we got them.

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Home Office criticised over immigration detainee medicine removals

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Watchdog says policy on prescribed drugs could lead to a medical emergency and endanger lives

A watchdog has condemned the Home Office for confiscating life-saving prescription drugs from people it detains.

Rules requiring guards to take away prescribed medicines from people at short-term holding facilities (STFHs), where migrants can be detained for up to 24 hours, could lead to a medical emergency and endanger their lives, says the annual report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) for the North East, Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber STHF published on Tuesday.

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Sunak suggests plan to stop small boats won’t fully succeed before general election but claims it is working – politics live updates

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Prime minister says he is ‘not complacent’ and figures showing fall in crossings compared with 2022 show his approach is working

Rishi Sunak and Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, were both given a chance to show off their painting skills when they visited a nursery in Harrogate this morning. According to PA Media, they were both painting bees. Keegan’s bee would merit a gold star. Sunak’s looks more like a parrot with a squint.

In his pooled TV interview, Rishi Sunak also stressed the government’s commitment to extending access to free childcare. He said:

It is really important to me that young families have access to high quality affordably childcare. That is why the government is expanding its offer of free childcare.

Currently working families can access 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds. As part of our big reforms we are extending that all the way down to little ones as young as nine months.

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EU denies reports it has rejected UK deal to return people who cross Channel

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Ursula von der Leyen aide reported to have ruled out ‘returns agreement’ in leaked copy of memo

The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels.

A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, was reported to have included mention of an aide to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement”.

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Bibby Stockholm: Home Office ‘should accept blame’ for delay in removing people

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Mayor of Portland says ‘buck stops with Suella Braverman’ after it took three days to inform ministers about outbreak

The Home Office should accept responsibility for failing to immediately remove asylum seekers from a giant barge after the detection of a dangerous bacteria, the mayor of Portland has said.

Carralyn Parkes said the “the buck stops with Suella [Braverman]” after Whitehall briefings over the weekend claimed that contractors on the Bibby Stockholm were to blame for delays as it took three days to inform ministers about the outbreak of legionella.

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Legionella on the Bibby Stockholm barge: five questions for Home Office

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Many issues remain to be resolved after asylum seekers were evacuated on Friday because of a potentially deadly bacteria

The Home Office’s decision to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers generated controversy long before the first person set foot onboard.

But issues with its use came to a head on Friday when the government confirmed the asylum seekers were being evacuated just days after moving in because of legionella, a potentially deadly bacteria, being found in its water system. While officials have provided a plan to use an RAF base instead, many questions remain.

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Keir Starmer urged to defend lawyers after Tories’ ‘targeted campaign’

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Exclusive: Martin Forde KC says fellow professionals are ‘bewildered’ at silence over case of Jacqueline McKenzie

Keir Starmer is facing calls to defend the legal profession against government attacks on “lefty lawyers”, amid further concerns for the safety of an immigration solicitor subjected to a “targeted campaign” by the Conservative party.

Martin Forde KC, the senior lawyer commissioned by Starmer to investigate the Labour party’s culture, said legal professionals from across the political spectrum had expressed their bewilderment that the Labour leader had not said anything after such personal attacks, even after former Conservative law officers criticised the political rhetoric aimed at “lefty lawyers” on Friday.

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French coastguards mobilise six boats and a helicopter after Channel deaths

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Improving weather and sea conditions have raised fears of further attempts to reach the UK on small boats

French coastguards have mobilised six patrol boats in the Channel and a helicopter in anticipation of further attempts by migrants to cross as weather and sea conditions improve.

The high alert comes as prosecutors opened an investigation for manslaughter after at least six people died as a result of a small boat capsizing and sinking in the early hours of Saturday. Rescuers are still searching for at least one other missing person presumed drowned.

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We risk being seen as the ‘nasty party’ again, warn senior Conservatives

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Moderate Tories fear the party’s attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK’s global standing

The Conservatives risk being seen once again as the “nasty party” by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.

Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark.

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Channel boat deaths prompt fresh anger over asylum policy

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Hunt is on for survivors after at least six people die, while activists call for more safe and legal routes

The government’s controversial asylum policy faced renewed criticism on Saturday when at least six people died after a small boat crossing the Channel capsized and sank.

Another two people are still believed to be missing after the sinking, prompting fresh calls for the government to urgently introduce safe routes for asylum seekers to prevent further tragedies.

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Calls for safe routes for refugees mount after six more Channel drownings

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Lack of safe passage described as ‘moral disgrace’ as helpers say legal routes would end dangerous crossings

Calls are mounting in the UK and France for the introduction of safe routes for refugees crossing the Channel after a French organisation said it had received multiple distress calls from people making the crossing in recent days.

At least six people lost their lives early on Saturday trying to cross the Channel in a small boat and the organisation issued warnings that more lives would be lost in future unless there were significant government policy changes.

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Suella Braverman under pressure to scrap refugee barge plan after legionella found

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Asylum seekers removed from Bibby Stockholm after bacteria which can cause serious lung infection found in water

Suella Braverman is under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system.

Ministers said they were concerned contractors knew there were traces of legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm on Monday, when the first asylum seekers boarded the vessel in Portland, Dorset. Officials have insisted the Home Office was not told about the detection until Wednesday when further tests were ordered.

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Government attacks on lawyers degrading, say former Tory law officers

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Dominic Grieve and Edward Garnier denounce ‘lefty lawyer’ rhetoric as dossier target fears abuse will turn physical

Two former Conservative law officers have criticised the political rhetoric against “lefty lawyers” as damaging and wrong as the head of the Law Society warned it could lead to physical attacks on immigration solicitors.

Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general, and Edward Garnier, a Conservative peer and former solicitor general, said lawyers should not be attacked for doing their jobs, regardless of who they represent or their personal views.

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