Theresa May and Tim Loughton among more than a dozen backbench Tories criticising bill
Rishi Sunak’s immigration bill was heavily criticised by senior Conservative MPs as the government overturned amendments made by the House of Lords.
Theresa May and Tim Loughton were among more than a dozen backbench Tories seeking further changes to the illegal migration bill, which the prime minister says is crucial to stopping small boats from crossing the Channel.
Continue reading...NGOs behind report suggest minimal savings for Home Office if Bibby Stockholm barge used in place of £5.6m-a-day hotels
Controversial plans to house asylum seekers on a barge to reduce reliance on expensive hotels will save less than £10 a person a day, according to a report.
The report, Bibby Stockholm – At What Cost? from the NGOs Reclaim The Seas and One Life To Live, provides the first detailed estimated costings of the Bibby Stockholm, the barge the Home Office is planning to use in Dorset to accommodate asylum seekers.
Continue reading...Fearing defeats, government expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women arriving on small boats
Ministers are offering rebel Conservative MPs concessions on key anti-asylum legislation amid growing concern it could face defeats in the Commons.
The government is expected to limit plans to detain children and pregnant women who arrive in the UK by small boats and drop some of the retrospective applications of the illegal migration bill’s measures, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...Radically different outlooks of four parties on immigration ‘unbridgeable’, says four-time prime minister
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has presented his government’s written resignation to King Willem-Alexander, who returned from holiday to receive it.
It was Rutte’s fourth government – a fragile, four-party coalition of his People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the liberal democratic Democrats 66, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and centrist ChristenUnie. It took 10 months to agree its formation and it lasted less than 18 months.
Continue reading...Rose Hudson-Wilkin, bishop of Dover, calls for ‘compassionate’ treatment of those seeking asylum in UK
A senior Church of England bishop has accused the British government of planning to engage in “trafficking” of people to Rwanda, as part of its efforts to tackle people smugglers.
The bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who was the first black woman to serve as chaplain to the speaker in the House of Commons, told Sky news on Thursday: “We have to deal with them compassionately, we have to deal with them justly,” when asked about the backlog of asylum seekers’ claims
Continue reading...West Lindsey council votes down proposal to relocate dog, named after a racial slur, to Norfolk airbase
Councillors have rejected proposals to exhume and relocate a dog buried at the former base of the Dambusters put forward amid concerns about the suitability of the grave’s location once the site is repurposed as accommodation for asylum seekers.
During an extraordinary planning meeting on Wednesday evening, West Lindsey district councillors unanimously voted down an application by RAF Heritage to relocate the dog to an airbase in Norfolk.
Continue reading...Purpose of the bill is now ‘dead’, says crossbench peer Alex Carlile after yesterday’s vote in House of Lords
Rishi Sunak has posted a message on Twitter saying that he looks forward to continuing working with Jens Stoltenberg, who has had his term as Nato’s secretary general extended.
According to the Sun’s Harry Cole, at cabinet Sunak praised Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, as the only other credible candidate for the job who was not a former prime minister. Stoltenberg is a former Norwegian PM.
Continue reading...Peers voted against government-proposed measures on detention and deportation of asylum seekers
The government’s small boats bill has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords, as Channel crossings in June by people seeking asylum set a new record.
Peers voted on Monday to limit the time that children and pregnant women who claim asylum after arriving by irregular means can be detained, and backed preventing LGBTQ+ people from being deported to a country where they would have a well-founded fear of persecution.
Continue reading...Home Office sent 24,083 letters of intent warning refugees they were being considered for forcible removal
More than 24,000 asylum seekers from about one-third of the world’s countries could face removal to Rwanda by the UK Home Office in the future, even though the scheme was found to be unlawful in the court of appeal on Thursday.
Home Office data obtained under a freedom of information request shows that, between January 2021 and March 2023, 24,083 asylum seekers were issued with letters warning them that they were being considered for forcible removal to Rwanda.
Continue reading...Sunak insists Rwanda is safe country to be sent to after court rules in favour of charities and 10 asylum seekers
The bitter legal battle over the government’s flagship immigration policy is set to reach new heights after Downing Street insisted it would fight to overturn a ruling that sending refugees to Rwanda was unlawful.
Charities and others were jubilant on Thursday after judges at the court of appeal ruled in favour of campaign groups and 10 affected asylum seekers, while the opposition claimed the policy at heart of Rishi Sunak’s “Stop the Boats” pledge was now unravelling.
Continue reading...Council of Europe team raised a wide range of concerns based on visit to Kent detention centre last year
Many asylum seekers may have been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment at Manston holding facility in Kent, according to a report.
A seven-strong delegation from the Council of Europe’s prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committee carried out a “rapid reaction” visit to Manston over 25-28 November due to concerns about conditions there, a visit that officials described as “relatively rare” in these circumstances.
Some people absconded from Manston.
One-sixth of those who arrived in small boats were lone children.
Some people were detained at Manston for up to 15 days after being granted bail.
Three different Home Office databases did not communicate well with each other.
There were two documented cases of migrants trying to strangle themselves with seatbelts while segregated in a cell van on the site. The delegation invoked human rights legislation to ensure that the cell van was removed from the site, a stipulation that the Home Office has complied with.
There were cases of people being detained for up to 43 days at Manston.
Continue reading...Labour leader presses prime minister to admit his party will not meet promised targets over house building
PMQs is coming up soon.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
We remain seriously concerned about the potential implications of the illegal migration bill on human rights and the safety of individuals.
Careful consideration should continue to be given to the impact of the bill on different groups with protected characteristics – including children, pregnant women, disabled people, torture survivors, and victims of trafficking.
Continue reading...Children are being left in limbo so long that they are at risk of harm, social workers warn
Lone child asylum seekers are facing fivefold increases in delays in having their claims processed by the Home Office, with devastating consequences, according to a new report.
Social workers, legal professionals and the children themselves have warned that the impact of being left in limbo about their future for so long includes the risk of suicide, self-harm and persistent insomnia.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.
Continue reading...‘Impact assessment’ of the illegal migration bill reignites bitter rows over the controversial scheme
The cost of sending a single person seeking asylum to Rwanda could be nearly £170,000, according to government analysis, which has immediately reignited bitter rows over the controversial scheme.
A long-awaited “impact assessment” of the illegal migration bill has conceded that ministers do not know the overall costs of implementing plans to detain and deport anyone who arrives in the UK by irregular means.
Continue reading...Dozens of people at Harmondsworth site in west London are complaining about overheated cells and lack of healthcare
Guards at an immigration detention centre close to Heathrow airport are trying to end a protest involving dozens of detainees at the facility.
Those held at Harmondsworth say they are protesting about conditions including poor access to healthcare services and soaring temperatures in cells.
Continue reading...The site, set up as a standard asylum seeker hotel, has no care workers or nurses there as part of the contract
The Home Office has been accused of abandoning 55 asylum seekers with a range of severe disabilities and life-limiting conditions at a former care home in an Essex seaside town.
The asylum seekers, who fled various conflict zones including Sudan and Afghanistan, are struggling with a range of health conditions they have suffered from since childhood or life-changing injuries suffered in war zones.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The special unit meant to reform the Home Office is to be closed – leaving many to wonder what comes next
Good morning. In late 2017, the Guardian started publishing a series of stories that highlighted numerous cases of mistreatment from the Home Office towards Caribbean-born UK residents who had migrated during the Windrush era, between 1948 and 1971. For six months the investigation quietly rumbled on, revealing how people’s lives were destroyed after they were incorrectly classified as illegal immigrants, rendering them unable to stay employed, or to access housing or other public services. Many were deported to countries they had not lived in since they were children – 24 of those people died before the government could contact them to apologise for its error.
By the time of that apology, the issue had become a political scandal that resulted in the resignation of the home secretary, Amber Rudd. An independent review found uncovered “profound institutional failure” that had destroyed hundreds of people’s lives.
Titanic | Search and rescue teams have been in a race against time to find a tourist sub that went missing in the north Atlantic while on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. One of those on board is Hamish Harding, a British explorer. US and Canadian ships and planes have been conducting an intensive search. The five-person craft has 96 hours of oxygen on board and can dive to depths of 4km.
Politics | Boris Johnson faces being blocked from obtaining special access to parliament after only seven MPs voted against the damning Partygate report, dwarfed by the 354 who voted for it.
Environment | Scientists have warned that an “unheard of” marine heatwave off the coasts of the UK and Ireland poses a serious threat to species. Data shows that sea temperatures are several degrees above normal, smashing records for late spring and early summer.
Housing | Rishi Sunak has ruled out extra help for UK homeowners struggling to pay soaring mortgage costs, as the average two-year fixed-rate loan rose above 6%. The prime minister said the government should “stick to the plan” to halve inflation in its attempts to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Health | David Cameron has admitted failures in his government’s preparations for a pandemic but defended the austerity drive that he and his chancellor, George Osborne, imposed, saying “your health system is only as strong as your economy”.
Continue reading...Student who took part in anti-Beijing protests is in legal limbo after withdrawing her asylum claim to make a visa application that was then rejected
A Hongkonger who fled to the UK after being targeted by Chinese security officials has been left fearing deportation after appearing to be wrongly advised by the Home Office.
Olivia (not her real name) left Hong Kong in July 2022 after someone claiming to be from the new national security department – created two years earlier when the Chinese Communist party (CCP) imposed a draconian security law on the city – approached her in the street and accused her of supporting Hong Kong independence.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Staff say ‘there’s a lot still to do’ and worry decision signals ‘rolling back’ on promises of change
The Home Office unit responsible for reforming the department after the Windrush crisis has been quietly disbanded, after the UK home secretary, Suella Braverman, let it be known that she believes it is time to “move on”, the Guardian has learned.
Staff working in the transformation directorate, the unit handling changes meant to prevent a repeat of the scandal, were told in an online meeting that it would be closing at the end of this month.
Continue reading...Husband, Chris Jagger, uses 1972 album cover to support settlement application for Moller, who has lived in UK for 74 years
As a result of Brexit, Norwegians living in the UK were required to apply to the EU settlement scheme – despite Norway not being a member state – to remain living in Britain.
But after former model turned yoga teacher Kari-Ann Moller was stopped by British immigration officials earlier this year and told she was not allowed to remain because of her Norwegian passport, her husband, Chris Jagger – brother of Rolling Stone Sir Mick – got involved.
Continue reading...