Category Archives: Home Office

Home Office removing asylum seekers from Manston as fears rise for their health

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Young girl in overcrowded Kent processing centre throws note over fence pleading for help and comparing facilities to prison

The Home Office is removing 600 people every day from a controversial processing centre in Kent amid growing concerns over the mental health of people detained for weeks in cramped and unhygienic conditions.

After an outcry at the treatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre, the local MP, Roger Gale, has been told by ministers that the total number held within the facility will be cut from 4,100 on Monday to 1,500 by the weekend.

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Britain is targeting Albanians to excuse policy failures, says country’s PM

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Edi Rama urges ministers to ‘stop discriminating’ after Suella Braverman’s ‘Albanian criminals’ comments in Commons

The Albanian prime minister has accused Rishi Sunak’s government of using his country’s citizens as scapegoats for failed immigration policies after critical comments by Suella Braverman about Albanian asylum seekers.

Edi Rama wrote that the UK was falsely targeting Albanians “as the cause of Britain’s crime and border problems”. In a series of tweets, he called for the UK to “fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating [against] Albanians”.

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Child asylum seekers say UK officials pressed them to lie about their age

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Boy recorded telling guard he was told he could move from Manston holding centre more quickly if he said he was over 18

Child asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the UK on small boats say screening officials have put pressure on them to say they are adults, the Guardian has been told.

In some cases, the children say they were told that if they said they were over 18 they would be able to leave the troubled asylum processing site of Manston in Kent more quickly.

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Home Office is putting 2.6m EU citizens at risk of removal, court hears

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Implementation of Brexit withdrawal agreement threatens rights of those with ‘pre-settled status’, watchdog argues

The government is putting 2.6 million EU citizens at risk of detention or removal from the country by the Home Office, the high court has heard.

The claim was made at a judicial review of the Home Office’s implementation of the part of the withdrawal agreement guaranteeing the rights of about 6 million EU citizens living in the country before Brexit.

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Rishi Sunak reportedly seeking deal with France to curb Channel crossings

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Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UK

Rishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.

Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times.

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Doubts arise over Braverman’s claim to have come forward about code breach

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Former intelligence select committee chief warns issue threatens to undermine confidence in sharing sensitive information

Suella Braverman is under pressure to answer fresh questions about alleged “security breaches”, as a former head of parliament’s intelligence and security committee warned the row threatened to undermine officials’ confidence in sharing sensitive information with her.

The account given by the home secretary and backed up by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, when he defended reappointing her just six days after she was found to have broken the ministerial code were challenged by government insiders and a senior Conservative MP.

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Court rules abandoned wives should be allowed to return to UK

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Judge finds woman unlawfully discriminated against in case of transnational marriage abandonment

A woman who was abandoned in Pakistan by her British husband and forcibly separated from her two-year-old daughter has won a high court case against such practice.

In a landmark ruling, a judge found that women in her situation have been unlawfully discriminated against and should be allowed to return to the UK.

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Barrister says she became legal expert while in Home Office immigration detention

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Aderonke Apata says she has Home Office to thank for career as she fought removal to Nigeria

A refugee who has just been called to the bar says she has the Home Office to thank for her career after she became an amateur legal expert while locked up in a detention centre.

Aderonke Apata, 55, from Nigeria, said she was proud to take part in a ceremony last week where she, along with dozens of other newly qualified barristers, were formally called to the bar.

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Airline hired for UK’s Rwanda deportations pulls out of scheme

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Exclusive: Privilege Style causes problem for Home Office as it bows to pressure from campaigners

A charter airline hired to remove people seeking refuge in the UK to Rwanda has pulled out of the scheme after pressure from campaigners.

A plane operated by Privilege Style first attempted to fly asylum seekers to the east African country in June but was grounded by an 11th hour ruling by the European court of human rights.

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Suella Braverman replaced by Grant Shapps; Labour motion calling for fracking ban fails – live

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Home secretary departs after sending an official document by personal email but uses resignation letter to criticise PM

Plans to create Great British Railways, a public sector body to oversee Britain’s railways, have been delayed, MPs have been told.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the transport secretary, told the Commons transport committee that the transport bill, which would have set up the new body, has been delayed because legislation to deal with the energy crisis is being prioritised. She said:

The challenges of things like the energy legislation we’ve got to bring in and various others has meant that we have lost the opportunity to have that [bill] in this third session.

What we are continuing to pitch for will be what I would call a narrow bill around the future of transport technologies, the legislation around things like e-scooters.

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What will new UK home secretary Grant Shapps bring to the role?

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Johnson’s former transport secretary, an aviator with multiple names, has been parachuted in to replace Suella Braverman

Answering the question “who is Grant Shapps?” is more complicated than it would be for most MPs.

The new home secretary has had a varied political career, with rapid rises and precipitous falls – serving as transport secretary, international development secretary, Conservative party chairman, housing minister and now home secretary.

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Home Office apologises over threat to send pregnant rape survivor to Rwanda

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Government withdraws letter to woman, who is 37 weeks pregnant, saying that it was sent by mistake

The Home Office has apologised to a pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea who was sent a letter threatening her with forced removal to Rwanda, saying it was sent by mistake.

Guardian and ITV News revealed on Thursday that the woman was distraught after receiving the Home Office letter, which has now been withdrawn.

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Home Office threatens to send heavily pregnant rape survivor to Rwanda

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Eritrean woman, 28, in acute distress having spent most of her life in search of safety

A heavily pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea has been threatened with forced removal to Rwanda by the Home Office.

Human rights campaigners say it is the “most egregious” case they have come across so far in the government’s scheme to outsource the processing of UK asylum claims to the east African country.

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Refugee wrongly labelled child murderer says decades of his life wasted

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Mayooran Thangaratnam fled Sri Lanka for the UK in 2003 after brutal murder of his father but was repeatedly refused asylum

A refugee who was wrongly recorded as being a child murderer by the Home Office says delays in his case have led to him wasting almost two decades of his life.

Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka, fled to the UK in 2003 at the age of 23 and claimed asylum. He provided evidence to the Home Office from media reports that his father, a journalist who passed information to the UN about the Sri Lankan government’s persecution of Tamils, was murdered by Sri Lankan forces and that his life was also in danger.

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Home Office U-turn over deportation of Albanian asylum seekers

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Letter undermines Priti Patel’s claim that Albanians arriving with ‘spurious’ claims could be removed quickly

The Home Office has conceded that it does not have the right to fast-track the deportation of Albanian asylum seekers after their arrival in the UK, in an abrupt policy U-turn.

Priti Patel, the former home secretary, signed a deal with the Albanian government in August to return those who arrive illegally. She claimed it meant the UK could quickly return asylum seekers who arrived in the UK and made “spurious” claims.

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Cut ‘symbolic gestures’, Braverman tells police in England and Wales

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Home secretary directs police chiefs to focus on ‘common-sense’ policing over diversity and inclusion initiatives

Suella Braverman has ordered police chiefs to spend less time on “symbolic gestures” and more time on policing.

In an open letter to police leaders in England and Wales, in which she set out her policing agenda, the new home secretary said diversity and inclusion initiatives “should not take precedence” over tackling crime.

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Services for county lines victims in England and Wales get funding boost

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Up to £5m allocated to help young people escape drug gangs, with money also going to helpline

Up to £5m has been allocated by the Home Office to support victims of county lines exploitation over the next three years.

Hundreds of victims will be helped to escape drug gangs following the expansion of support services in London, the West Midlands, Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

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Revealed: Suella Braverman sets Home Office ‘No boats crossing the Channel’ target

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UK’s new home secretary upsets civil servants with speech on migrants, trashy TV and back-to-office call

The new home secretary has already prompted consternation among Home Office officials after telling them she wants to ban all small boats crossing the Channel, the Observer has learned.

During her inaugural address to departmental staff last Wednesday, Suella Braverman said a top priority would be stopping all Channel crossings. She has also asked all staff to watch “trashy TV” to help their “mental wellbeing”, a source said, specifically citing Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and First Dates as well as Love Island.

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UK ministers ignored evidence Rwanda violated human rights, court told

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African country went back on list of destinations for ‘migration partnership’ after civil servants had ruled it out, judges hear

The UK’s plan to deport people seeking asylum to Rwanda has been challenged in the high court, with claims that ministers deliberately ignored evidence that the east African country had violated human rights, including the right to live free from torture.

Rwanda was put back on to a list of potential destinations for a “migration partnership” after previously being ruled out by civil servants, the court was told.

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Priti Patel meets Albanian police over fast-track removal plan

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Home Office aims to crack down on people from ‘safe and prosperous country’ arriving via Channel

Plans to fast-track the removal of Albanian nationals entering the UK via small boat crossings have moved closer after Priti Patel met Albanian police.

Monday’s meeting was part of two days of talks on the sharing of forensics and biometrics to clamp down on anyone entering who has a criminal record in Albania, the Home Office said.

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