Law Society says home secretary’s review of refugee status after 30 months is in tension with UK’s legal obligations
Shabana Mahmood’s decision to tell every person applying for asylum from Monday that their status is temporary could undermine the refugee convention, the Law Society has said.
The body representing solicitors in England and Wales said the home secretary’s move to review every refugee’s status after 30 months was “in tension” with the UK’s legal obligations.
Continue reading...Deadliest start to a year in more than a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration
A least 606 people trying to reach Europe in search of refugee have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026, marking the “deadliest start to a year” in more than a decade, the UN’s migration agency said on Monday.
The figure includes at least 30 people who are feared dead or missing after their boat capsized in severe weather off the coast of Greece on Saturday. Authorities rescued 20 people, including four minors, and recovered the bodies of three men and one woman, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said.
Continue reading...Only two survivors rescued after boat overturned off Libyan coast, UN migration agency says
Fifty-three people are dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the UN migration agency said on Monday. Only two survivors were rescued.
The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned north of Zuwara on Friday, in the latest disaster involving people attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in the hope of reaching Europe.
Continue reading...Human rights monitors say it is not safe to return, citing reports of ‘serious crimes in the run-up to elections’
Myanmar’s junta applauded the Trump administration on Wednesday for halting a scheme that protected its citizens from deportation from the US back to their war-racked homeland.
About 4,000 Myanmar citizens are living in the US with temporary protected status (TPS), which shields foreign nationals from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work.
Continue reading...Health secretary says he is not comfortable with some elements of policy but that it is the right thing to do for the country
Wes Streeting has admitted he is not comfortable with forcibly deporting families under the home secretary’s migration plans, while maintaining it is still the right thing to do.
The health secretary said he thought the number of forced removals would be low under the proposed model, which is similar to Denmark’s, because there would be an increased financial incentive for people entering the UK illegally to return to their country of origin.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Shabana Mahmood is pitching radical new limits on whether asylum seekers can ever gain settled status – but it may come with political consequences
Good morning. In September, Nigel Farage floated a Reform UK policy of ending indefinite leave to remain that critics said would eject hundreds of thousands of people from the country. In October, the Conservatives began talking about deporting large numbers of people previously considered legally settled. Now, the Labour government is preparing to impose radical new limits on whether asylum seekers can ever gain settled status. The Overton window on immigration keeps marching implacably rightwards.
In a document published by the government yesterday afternoon, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, described the plans as “the most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times”. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said that having an asylum system at all depends on “social confidence” that it is “fair, effective and humane”. A lot of Labour MPs look set to disagree with the approach, causing yet another political headache for No 10.
Society | More than two in five sexually active under-18s in the UK have either been strangled or strangled someone during sex, research has found, despite the serious dangers of the practice.
Jeffrey Epstein | The Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers said he would step back from public life after documents released by the House oversight committee revealed email exchanges between him and Jeffrey Epstein, who called himself Summers’ “wing man”.
Cop30 | Jamaica has led calls from vulnerable nations at the Cop30 climate summit to urge immediate action on climate breakdown as the conference entered its second week.
Gaza | The UN security council has endorsed proposals put forward by Donald Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state.
Poland | Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has described an explosion along a section of railway line used for deliveries to Ukraine as an “unprecedented act of sabotage” that could have led to disaster.
Continue reading...Labour MP calls government’s asylum plans ‘dystopian’ as home secretary announces measures in Commons
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:
The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.
Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.
Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.
The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.
Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:
Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers.
Continue reading...Home secretary will also consult on ending financial support for those with children if refused asylum, document shows
The government has failed to show the “necessary toughness” to enforce the removal of families whose asylum claims have been refused, Shabana Mahmood has claimed.
In a policy document published on Monday as the government sets out plans for the biggest shake-up of asylum laws in 40 years, the home secretary also set out plans to consult on measures to allow the removal of financial support for families with children under the age of 18 if they have been refused asylum.
Continue reading...Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
Refugees who have established lives with homes and families in the UK – including Ukrainians – will still face having to return if their home countries become safe, the home secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood said the asylum system was “out of control and putting huge pressure on communities” as she announced plans to end the permanent status of refugees, who would need to reapply to remain in Britain every two and a half years.
Continue reading...Shabana Mahmood’s proposals draw scorn from some Labour MPs, while others want government to go further
• Why does the UK want to copy Denmark?
Shabana Mahmood is to announce changes to the UK’s immigration rules modelled on the Danish system, largely seen as among the most stringent in Europe, the Guardian understands.
Last month, the home secretary dispatched officials to Denmark to study its border control and asylum policies. Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunions and restricting some refugees to a temporary stay are among the policies being looked at.
Continue reading...Accusations of violent interceptions and human rights violations levelled at EU-funded Libyan services by NGOs
More than a dozen NGO rescue vessels operating in the Mediterranean have suspended communication with the Libyan coastguard, citing escalating incidents of asylum seekers being violently intercepted at sea and taken to camps rife with torture, rape and forced labour.
The 13 search-and-rescue organisations described their decision as a rejection of mounting pressure by the EU, and Italy in particular, to share information with the Libyan coastguard, which receives training, equipment and funding from the EU.
Continue reading...South Sudanese people with temporary protected status now have 60 days to leave
The US is ending temporary deportation protection for South Sudanese nationals, which for more than a decade allowed people from the east African country to stay in the US after escaping conflict.
In a notice published on Wednesday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said conditions in South Sudan no longer met the statutory requirements for temporary protected status. The agency said South Sudanese nationals with status through the programme had 60 days to leave the US or face deportation.
Continue reading...Chancellor suggests deportations could begin ‘in the near future’ as government seeks to counter rise of AfD
Syrians no longer have reason to be granted asylum in Germany after the end of their country’s civil war, according to Friedrich Merz, who said they will instead be encouraged to return to help with the reconstruction of their homeland.
During Syria’s 14-year civil war, Germany took in more refugees than any other country in the EU, but the chancellor and others in his coalition cabinet argue that the situation has changed since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government 11 months ago.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sources say a Sudanese national and another man were chartered to the former regional processing centre last week, joining one other person
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Another two men from the NZYQ-affected cohort have been deported to Nauru in a process human rights advocates say is shrouded in secrecy.
Sources told Guardian Australia a Sudanese national, who was detained in the Yongah Hill centre just outside of Perth, and another man held in a different centre were chartered to Nauru last week.
Continue reading...Deal between federal government and Nauru expected to last 30 years and apply to around 350 people released under high court’s NZYQ ruling
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Australia has commenced its $2.5bn deal with Nauru to offload more than 350 people from the NZYQ cohort after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the first arrival had landed on the tiny Pacific island last week.
Burke said Nauruan authorities had confirmed the arrival on Friday, as reported by the ABC, triggering the first yearly instalment of $408m.
Continue reading...As pontiff prepares for visit of King Charles, the contours of his papacy are slowly becoming apparent
When King Charles meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican this week, the two leaders are likely to discuss pressing global issues as well as sharing a historic moment of prayer.
In the face of volatility and rising nationalism, Leo, the first North American chosen to lead the Roman Catholic church, has begun to outline the contours of his papacy after a low-key start to his five-month-old papacy.
Continue reading...The move, welcomed by UN, will allow thousands of people living in camps to support themselves and their families
Thailand is setting a global precedent this month by giving refugees permission to work in the country in an effort to tackle aid cuts and its own labour shortages.
More than 87,000 refugees living in nine refugee camps along Thailand’s border with Myanmar have been totally reliant on handouts of food and foreign aid.
Continue reading...Kosovo is an outlier in the region, whose other leaders say ‘looking for places to dump immigrants’ is evidence the UK is in ‘a very dark place’
Kosovo has become the first country to indicate it will accept Britain’s refused asylum seekers as part of government plans to set up “return hubs” in third countries.
Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, said he “wants to help the UK” and confirmed discussions were taking place with officials from the UK, the Times reports. The plans would seek to send people whose asylum claims had been turned down to foreign detention centres once they had exhausted all avenues of appeal.
Continue reading...Home secretary to tell meeting of interior ministers that international cooperation is way to curb irregular migration
The failure to bring order to European borders is eroding trust in politicians and the concept of nation states, Shabana Mahmood will warn.
As she hosts a meeting of fellow interior ministers to discuss migration routes through the western Balkans on Tuesday, the home secretary will say that international cooperation is the way to curb irregular migration.
Continue reading...Party leader uses conference speech to outline proposal for UK to exit ECHR as part of wider bonfire of protections
A future Tory government would be open to dismantling more treaties as a means to deport people from the UK, Kemi Badenoch has said at the start of a Conservative party conference focused almost exclusively on immigration policy.
Making the first of two addresses to the gathering in Manchester, the Tory leader formally set out her proposal for the UK to quit the European convention on human rights (ECHR) as part of a wider bonfire of protections including an end to legal aid in immigration and asylum cases and the right to take migration decisions to tribunals or judicial review.
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