Government accused of ‘shocking complacency’ over awards to seven Putin cronies
Seven Russians now under sanctions were awarded controversial “golden visas” by the UK after Vladimir Putin’s regime first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the government has admitted.
The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February amid the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as it prepared to broaden its occupation beyond Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Continue reading...UK home secretary attacks critics of plan to give unauthorised asylum seekers one-way tickets to African country
Priti Patel has defended plans to send unauthorised asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda, saying critics of the scheme have failed to offer any alternative solution to the migration crisis.
The proposal, announced last week, has been widely condemned as inhumane, illegal, unworkable and prohibitively expensive. Critics have included Conservative MPs and peers, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and a former and the current archbishop of Canterbury, who said, in his Easter Sunday sermon, that the scheme “does not stand the judgment of God”.
Continue reading...Questions raised over home secretary’s claim that new law would allow ‘safe and legal route’
Priti Patel is under pressure to apologise after being accused of misleading parliament over a central claim relating to her deeply controversial proposals to change immigration law.
The home secretary told MPs that the widely criticised nationality and borders bill would create new safe and legal routes to the UK for asylum seekers, suggesting that new routes would ensure that people no longer need to risk their lives trying to reach the UK.
Continue reading...Unions say civil servants could stage mass walkouts after home secretary overruled their concerns
Priti Patel could face a Home Office mutiny over plans to process migrants 5,000 miles away in Rwanda after overruling officials to push through the scheme.
The home secretary issued a rare ministerial direction to overrule concerns of civil servants about whether the scheme would deliver value for money.
Continue reading...Claim about long-term benefits disputed by MP Andrew Mitchell who describes reported cost of £30,000 a person as ‘eye-watering’
Britain will save money in the “longer term” by sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, a minister has said after the reported cost of about £30,000 a person was described as “eye-watering”.
Defending the decision to fly out many of those who arrive on the Kent coast to a country more than 4,000 miles away, the Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said it would “crush” the business model of people smugglers.
Continue reading...People fleeing persecution to be taken to stripped-back Hope guest house in Kigali, which has only 50 rooms
Asylum seekers flown to Rwanda by the British government will be put up in a no-frills hostel a mile away from Kigali city centre.
People fleeing war and persecution will be taken to a guest house, built in 2014, which only has 50 rooms available, although there are plans to expand the facility.
Continue reading...Analysis: Tories keen to shore up support with tough immigration policy but there are concerns about the detail
When Boris Johnson’s position was at its most precarious two months ago, he had to convince Conservative MPs sticking by his side was worth it.
A plan was devised – dubbed “Operation Red Meat” – to give those losing faith in his administration some belief that there was a higher purpose than just defending their leader through scandal after scandal.
Continue reading...PM insists east African country is safe and scheme will prove ‘very considerable deterrent’
Tens of thousands of unauthorised migrants who seek sanctuary in the UK will be flown more than 4,000 miles to Rwanda under a new set of immigration policies, Boris Johnson has said.
The prime minister insisted at a press conference that the African state, criticised last year by the UK for its human rights record, was one of the safest countries in the world. He also announced that the Royal Navy would take over patrolling the Channel to intercept small boats from France.
Continue reading...Investigation launched after whistleblowers said colleagues regularly paid sex workers for 10 years
An investigation has been launched after claims that Home Office contractors paid for sex while deporting people abroad, the Guardian has learned.
Five whistleblowers have said some colleagues regularly paid sex workers on overnight stopovers over a period of 10 years after accompanying migrants on flights from the UK.
Continue reading...Analysis: Windrush scandal wrongly categorised people as illegal immigrants, while most Ukrainian refugees have documentation
Why has Britain, unlike every other country in Europe, insisted on requiring all Ukrainian refugees to obtain visas before travelling here?
In justifying the decision, Priti Patel has again pointed to the Windrush scandal as a key factor in the government’s refusal to waive visas for people fleeing Ukraine. But it is a reasoning that has left immigration experts baffled.
Continue reading...Government polling finds a high fear of crime and little confidence anything will be done about it
The public do not believe ministers’ promises to tackle crime, official documents seen by the Guardian show.
The Home Office documents reveals polling carried out for the government found a high fear of crime, and low confidence much will be done about it.
Continue reading...Shadow home secretary says tens of thousands of desperate people still stuck in system
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said refugees in Ukraine are facing “Kafkaesque” bureaucracy as they try to navigate Home Office visa requirements.
Cooper had tabled an urgent question over the government’s two visa schemes, with MPs from both sides of the house rounding on the government.
Continue reading...Government wins string of votes to restore elements of controversial borders and nationality bill removed by Lords
The UK appears set to criminalise illicit refugee crossings and could ship asylum seekers for processing in other countries after ministers easily saw off a potential rebellion in the Commons over the controversial borders and nationality bill.
Despite a number of Conservative backbenchers expressing concerns about aspects of the bill, the government convincingly won a string of votes to restore elements changed in the House of Lords, including the idea of Australian-style third country processing.
Continue reading...People who have applied to join relatives in the UK face long waits for visa approvals
Ukrainian refugees waiting to travel to join relatives in Britain have voiced frustration at the length of time the Home Office is taking to process UK visas, despite government promises to streamline the system.
As the Homes for Ukraine scheme launched on Friday, allowing UK residents to sponsor visas for non-family members, Ukrainians who had already applied to join relatives in Britain under an earlier scheme expressed dismay at the long waits for visa approvals.
Continue reading...Government says 5,500 visas granted and 20,000 applications submitted
Thousands of Ukrainians are expected to arrive in the UK next week following criticisms of the slow progress of government schemes.
The refugees minister, Richard Harrington, told a parliamentary committee that sponsors who had identified someone who wished to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme would be able to apply from 18 March.
Continue reading...Abu Zubaydah, tortured at CIA ‘black sites’ in six different countries, has right to sue UK government
UK intelligence services who allegedly asked the CIA to put questions to a detainee who was being tortured in “black sites” were subject to the law of England and Wales and not that of the countries in which he was being held, the court of appeal has ruled.
The three appeal judges were asked to decide whether Abu Zubaydah, who was subjected to extreme mistreatment and torture at secret CIA “black sites” in six different countries, has the right to sue the UK government in England.
Zubaydah had no control whatever over his location and in all probability no knowledge of it either.
His location was irrelevant to the UK intelligence services and may have been unknown to them.
The claimant was undoubtedly rendered to the six countries in question precisely because this would enable him to be detained and tortured outside the laws and legal systems of those countries.
Continue reading...An airport building is turned into one-stop shop for life essentials and legal support
“Thank you very much Ireland,” said Kate Kolva, waving a little blue and yellow flag in the arrivals hall at Dublin Airport.
As she waited to collect her best friend’s mother, Ukrainians with no family connections with the country were all too easy to identify.
Continue reading...Evacuees queue for hours but still can’t get past bureaucratic chaos – and flights to Britain leave with empty seats
Inside the cavernous confines of the airport in Iași, Romania, volunteers were offering food, drink and translation services to the continuous influx of Ukrainians fleeing war.
Those arriving knew that bagging a place on a flight required patience, tenacity and no little luck. Routes to Italy, Austria, Poland and Ireland were all fully booked. Yet one destination stood out.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Critical defence select committee report to come amid growing Tory unease over No 10’s plan
The credibility of the government’s plan to put the Royal Navy in charge of coordinating efforts to control small boats in the Channel is expected to be questioned by an influential parliamentary committee.
A report by the defence select committee, to be delivered shortly, will raise doubts over whether plans to put the Royal Navy in charge have been rigorously tested.
Continue reading...Border official insisted Slovakian national was using an alias after Home Office misspelled name
The Home Office has agreed to pay nearly £6,000 in a settlement to an EU citizen it detained at the border in a post-Brexit crackdown on Europeans entering the country last year.
Miro Matos, a Slovakian who has lived in the UK for 18 years, was so furious at his treatment in Calais that he sued after officials detained him for 10 hours alleging he was using a false name and had not declared a driving offence when he applied for EU settled status.
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