Category Archives: Home Office

Suella Braverman’s ‘divisive politics’ make her unfit to be leader, says Tory mayor

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Opposition among senior Tories grows after ex-home secretary derides Progress Pride flag being flown over Home Office

Suella Braverman’s “divisive rightwing politics” make her unsuitable to lead the Conservative party, Ben Houchen, the Tory Tees Valley mayor, has said, amid a backlash after the former home secretary said her party had been too liberal.

A series of other Conservative figures attacked Braverman after she used a speech in the US to describe the Progress Pride flag as a “monstrous thing”, saying she was angered when it was flown over the Home Office against her will.

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More than £320m spent on Rwanda policy will be lost if Tories lose election

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Costs of trying to deport asylum seekers cannot be recovered if Labour wins and disbands policy

More than £320m spent by the government on the controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is likely to be lost if the Conservatives are voted out of power at Thursday’s general election.

The sum has been spent on economic development money for Rwanda, along with set-up costs for the scheme, which cannot be recovered if it does not go ahead.

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African and Asian artists condemn ‘humiliating’ UK and EU visa refusals

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‘Unfair’ rejection rates of up to 70% harm cultural diversity and create a ‘global apartheid’, say promoters and musicians

Musicians, authors, producers and festival managers have hit out at “humiliating” and costly visa-rejection rates for African and Asian artists visiting Britain and European Union countries, saying it is having a chilling impact on cultural diversity.

Analysis shows the UK last year raised £44m in fees for visa applications that were then rejected, mainly coming from low- and middle-income countries. The EU made €130m (£110m).

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‘Rushed’ deadline for UK digital visas puts millions at risk of losing legal rights

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FOI reveals non EU migrants could be caught in ‘Windrush style scandal' at end of 2024 as Home Office struggles to contact them

More than 4 million non-EU migrants living in Britain will need to switch to digital “eVisas” by the end of this year or risk being unable to prove their legal rights, according to figures seen by the Observer.

Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) – given to all foreign nationals with permission to live in the UK for at least six months – demonstrate proof of an individual’s right to study, access public services and claim benefits. But they are being replaced under the Home Office’s digitisation programme.

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Children trapped in war zones because of UK refusal to ease refugee visa rules

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‘Abject failure’ of family reunion scheme to provide legal route is leaving children at risk of trafficking or even death

Children are being trapped in war zones as a result of “impossible” bureaucratic requirements imposed on one of the few legal routes for asylum seekers, a charity has found.

The government has championed family reunion processes as a means for refugees to safely reunite with loved ones in Britain, but according to a new report by Ramfel, a charity that supports vulnerable migrants, the scheme is “not fit for purpose” and applicants have been abandoned, leaving them at risk of trafficking or even death.

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Prince Harry wins right to appeal against security ruling

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Duke of Sussex allowed to challenge high court decision that upheld Ravec’s finding on protection

The Duke of Sussex has been granted permission to appeal against the dismissal of his high court challenge over a change to his level of personal security when he visits the UK.

Prince Harry took legal action against the Home Office over the decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.

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Labour pledges to investigate treatment of migrant workers in care sector

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Exclusive: Yvette Cooper says a Labour government would instruct new enforcement body to act over alleged exploitation of workers

Labour will launch an investigation into the treatment of migrant workers in the British social care sector if it wins the election, the party has announced, after dozens of cases of alleged exploitation were uncovered.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, called the allegations revealed by the Guardian “a disgrace”, accusing the government of turning a blind eye to the problem.

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Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda admission sparks legal action from detained asylum seekers

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Migrants seek redress for ‘immense distress’ from deportations now thrown into chaos by election announcement

Asylum seekers detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation to Rwanda are set to take legal action against the government after Rishi Sunak admitted that no flights will take place before the general election.

The Home Office started raiding accommodation and detaining people who arrived at routine immigration-reporting appointments on 29 April in a nationwide push codenamed Operation Vector.

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Home Office made mistakes in rush to set up asylum housing, MPs say

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Committee says department pressed ahead with plans without adequate understanding of what would be required

The Home Office has made “unacceptable and avoidable mistakes” in its haste to use disused barracks and a giant barge to house asylum seekers, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.

The public accounts committee said the department “does not have a credible plan” to send asylum seekers to Rwanda and has little to show for hundreds of millions of pounds spent so far on the policy or its accommodation plans.

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Family of man who died after being deported blame Home Office delays

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Appeal allowed Sudharsan Ithayachandran to return to UK to be with his family, but he died in Sri Lanka while awaiting visa

The family of a man who died abroad after being wrongly deported by the UK Home Office have blamed the department for causing delays that stopped him being reunited with his children.

Sudharsan Ithayachandran, 41, was deported from the UK to Sri Lanka on 24 December 2019 – his wedding anniversary – after admitting to working illegally at Tesco and using false documents.

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Home Office in threat to deport disabled man to Nigeria after 38 years in UK

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Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, has been refused leave to remain despite living most of his adult life in Britain

A disabled man who has lived in the UK for 38 years has been threatened with removal from the UK by the Home Office.

Anthony Olubunmi George, 61, came to the UK at the age of 24 in 1986 from Nigeria. He has not left the UK since and has no criminal convictions. In 2019, he had two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility.

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Braverman plan to criminalise rough sleeping dropped after Tory criticism

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Proposal, condemned by homelessness charities as dehumanising, had provoked threats of revolt among MPs

Ministers will drop plans to criminalise rough sleepers for being deemed a nuisance or having an excessive smell after Conservative MPs threatened a revolt over the proposals.

The plans, originally announced by the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, had been condemned by homeless charities as dehumanising.

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Rwandans arrive in Australia after perilous journey to claim asylum

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Hunters reportedly find five Rwandan men in mangroves on Saibai Island, a known crocodile habitat

As the UK government continues its push to forcibly remove asylum seekers to Rwanda, a group of Rwandan nationals has claimed asylum in Australia after arriving by boat on a remote island.

The five men arrived in Australia by an unconventional route, reportedly flying into the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to be granted visas on arrival, before travelling thousands of kilometres east to Indonesia’s Papua province, where they crossed the land border it shares with Papua New Guinea (PNG).

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UK to expel Russian defence attache as sanctions escalate

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Home secretary announces closure of Russian diplomatic premises after pattern of ‘malign activity’ in Britain and Europe

Russia’s defence attache is an “undeclared military intelligence officer” who will be expelled from the UK amid an escalation of sanctions, the home secretary has said.

James Cleverly also announced on Wednesday the removal of diplomatic status for several Russian-owned premises and told MPs the moves followed a pattern of “malign activity” across Britain and Europe.

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Asylum seekers ‘hide or flee to Ireland’ to avoid UK Rwanda detentions

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Charities fear ‘increasing risks of destitution and exploitation’ of refugees as they go into hiding

The Home Office is dealing with growing fallout from the high-profile round-ups of asylum seekers it wants to send to Rwanda, as some have gone into hiding while others have fled across the border to Ireland.

Officials began rounding up asylum seekers to detain them for the Rwanda scheme a week ago, with at least one now on hunger strike and another threatening suicide.

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‘Alarming’ number of lone children held in UK-run facilities in France

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Charities say FoI disclosure that 369 such children were held over 21-month period is ‘hugely concerning’

More than 350 lone children were held in UK-run detention facilities in northern France over a 21-month period, according to documents disclosed under freedom of information laws.

The Home Office has admitted that it failed to keep data on how many properly trained staff looked after the children held in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023.

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Detained asylum seekers given Home Office booklet saying Rwanda is ‘generally safe’

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Glossy promotional leaflet handed out to asylum seekers detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy

Asylum seekers who have been detained under Rishi Sunak’s deportation policy are being handed a colourful promotional document entitled: “I’m being relocated to Rwanda. What does it mean to me?”

The news came as the government faced a second legal challenge over the prime minister’s £500m policy and it emerged that dozens of asylum seekers were being forcibly taken to detention centres.

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Swinney expected to become Scotland’s first minister next week after Kate Forbes rules herself out – UK politics live

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Former finance secretary who was narrowly beaten by Humza Yousaf in last year’s SNP leadership contest, has announced that she will not standing this time

Swinney has confirmed he is standing for SNP leader.

John Swinney is about to speak at his press conference in Edinburgh.

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London protesters block coach taking asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm

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Dozens of demonstrators in Peckham surround coach before it can take people to barge in Dorset

A standoff was under way in London on Thursday after a coach sent to collect asylum seekers and take them to the Bibby Stockholm barge was surrounded by protesters.

Dozens of demonstrators blocked the coach before it was able to pick up passengers, surrounding it on all sides. Hours later, the bus was still at the scene while protestors were also sitting in front of a number of police vans carrying a number of people who were arrested.

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Lone children at risk of deportation to Rwanda after being classified as adults, says charity

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Refugee Council sounds warning after children wrongly issued with notices of intent by Home Office

Lone child asylum seekers are at risk of being sent to Rwanda because the Home Office has wrongly classified some as adults, it has been claimed.

The Refugee Council, which works with these children, has warned of the risk after more than a dozen of the children it works with were wrongly issued with notices of intent for Rwanda.

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