The UK government is desperate to show it is preventing small boat crossings, but its PR-heavy approach may cause more problems with voters than it solves
Continue reading...Category Archives: Home Office
France plans to begin intercepting small boats at sea, says UK Home Office
Officials have agreed to begin offshore interceptions, it is claimed, in change of policy that NGOs say will risk lives
The French government plans to begin intercepting small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea, a Home Office source has said.
In a move that NGOs claim will endanger lives, it was claimed that French officials agreed this week to draw up plans to begin intervening in waters close to beaches and inland canals.
Continue reading...Home Office accused of ‘racist crackdown’ on Nigerians after denial of visit visa
Officials refused entry to man who runs top security firm in Nigeria and his family to spend holiday with his sister
The Home Office has been accused of a “racist crackdown on Nigerians” after refusing a visa to a man who runs one of the west African country’s top security firms for a holiday to see his family.
Samuel Onyekachi Ibeawuchi runs BKay Security Ltd, which provides close protection for high-profile people in Nigeria and abroad. He and his wife, a successful businesswoman, had applied to come to the UK with their 18-month-old child for three weeks in the summer so they could spend time with his sister, Hope Ibeawuchi-Beales, and her husband, Nick Beales, who is head of campaigning at Ramfel, which supports vulnerable migrants.
Continue reading...Manston staff asked to work overtime amid record number of small boat arrivals
More than 1,100 migrants arrived on Saturday, the highest number on a single day so far this year
Staff at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent have been asked to work overtime to deal with the record number of small boat arrivals, the Guardian has learned.
The 11th-hour appeal to staff on Saturday evening to work was circulated by Management And Training Corporation (MTC), one of the Home Office’s contractors on the site near Ramsgate, due to concerns about not having enough staff on duty.
Continue reading...Net migration to UK down by half in 2024 compared with year before
Office for National Statistics estimate shows fall from 860,000 in 2023 to 431,000 last year
Net migration to the UK has nearly halved over the year to 431,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, publishing figures that will bring some relief to Keir Starmer.
The drop from 860,000 in the year to December 2024 follows a series of policies implemented by the last Conservative government that have been continued by the present Labour government.
Continue reading...UK agrees to fly home wrongly deported Windrush generation man from Jamaica
Exclusive: Winston Knight’s deportation order revoked by Home Office after a decade living on streets in Kingston
The Home Office has agreed to fly home a member of the Windrush generation who lived in the UK for 47 years before being wrongly deported and forced to live on the streets of Jamaica in horrific conditions for more than a decade.
In a highly unusual move and after protracted legal action, Home Office officials have accepted that Winston Knight, 64, is a member of the Windrush generation and have agreed to revoke his deportation order.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is at 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...UK to time limit visas for roles below graduate level under new migration plan
Yvette Cooper to announce proposals to reduce net migration as government reacts to growing pressure from Reform UK
Visas for skilled overseas workers will be time-limited for those not taking a graduate-level job, the Home Office has announced.
The measure comes as part of a preview of wider plans being unveiled this week that are designed to reduce net migration to the UK.
Continue reading...Plan to fast-track appeals of some UK asylum seekers could face legal backlash
Move to speed up appeals of people in government-funded hotels could be challenged on discrimination grounds, officials warn
A plan to fast-track the appeals of asylum seekers living in government-funded hotels could face multiple legal challenges on the grounds of discrimination, the government has said.
A 24-week legal deadline on appeal decisions for those staying in hotel rooms is being introduced in an attempt to fulfil a Labour manifesto promise to end a practice that costs the taxpayer billions of pounds a year.
Continue reading...Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans face UK student visa crackdown
Applicants will be targeted by Home Office due to suspicions they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed.
The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.
Continue reading...Dying Syrian grandmother allowed to come to UK in Home Office U-turn
Soaad Al Shawa had been barred from spending final days with her family, who fled Damascus to settle in Glasgow
A Syrian grandmother who is dying of cancer has been given permission to come to the UK to spend her final days with the grandchildren she has never met, after a Home Office U-turn.
The government had wanted to bar Soaad Al Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, from travelling to spend her last days with her daughter Ola Al Hamwi, son-in-law Mostafa Amonajid and their three children aged seven, five and one. Al Shawa has only been able to communicate with her grandchildren on video calls.
Continue reading...Prince Harry loses legal challenge over police protection in UK
Duke of Sussex’s team had argued he was ‘singled out’ for ‘inferior treatment’ when security was downgraded in 2020
The Duke of Sussex has lost a legal challenge over the level of taxpayer-funded security he is entitled to while in the UK, allowing the government to proceed with a “bespoke”, and cheaper, level of protection for his family.
Three senior judges at the court of appeal rejected Prince Harry’s claim that he had been “singled out” for “inferior treatment” and that his safety and life were “at stake” after a change in security arrangements that occurred when he stepped down as a working royal and moved abroad.
Continue reading...Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal
Exclusive: There were 380 safeguarding referrals of victims of hate crimes from January 2023 to August 2024
The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.
Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Polish woman, 80, can stay in UK after Home Office U-turn
Elzbieta Olszewska had previously been told she faced deportation after mistakenly filling in form online
A Polish woman who had her application to remain in the UK rejected because she mistakenly filled in a form online instead of on paper has been granted permission to stay in Britain after a change of mind by the Home Office.
Elzbieta Olszewska, 80, had been living alone in her flat in Warsaw before arriving in the UK last September. Her only child, Michal Olszewski, 52, an aeronautical engineer and dual British-Polish citizen, who lives in Lincoln with his wife, had been travelling regularly to the Polish capital to support his mother.
Continue reading...Hundreds of asylum seekers to be removed from hotels in England
Exclusive: Government source confirms action at nine establishments including one near Windsor Castle
Hundreds of people seeking asylum are to be removed from nine hotels across England within weeks as the Home Office attempts to show it has got to grips with the issue.
The crackdown will remove asylum seekers from a hotel in a village near Windsor Castle after claims of community tensions and racism, and hotels in the West Midlands and Cheshire that have been targeted by far-right activists.
Continue reading...Thousands on axed Rwanda scheme list to have asylum claims processed in UK
Home Office issues guidance hours before legal challenge on behalf of asylum seekers who were left in limbo
Thousands of people left in limbo since plans to deport them to Rwanda were axed will now have their asylum claims processed in the UK, Labour has confirmed.
More than 5,000 asylum seekers were on an initial list drawn up by the previous government to be sent to Rwanda under a deal between the two countries.
Continue reading...Kenyan man who spent decade on death row sues London police for role in wrongful conviction
New emails reveal ‘panic’ inside the Home Office at the case of Ali Kololo, who was wrongly imprisoned for the 2011 murder of British tourist David Tebbutt
A Kenyan man who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death over an attack on British tourists is suing the Metropolitan police over its role in the case.
Ali Kololo was imprisoned for more than a decade in what his lawyers called “appalling conditions” before being released when his conviction was quashed in 2023.
Continue reading...Police to block ‘intimidating’ protests near places of worship, says Home Office
Yvette Cooper says change needed in England and Wales after concerns over marches near synagogues and mosques
The government plans to give police in England and Wales powers to change the route or timing of protest marches planned outside places of worship in order to give greater protection against intimidation.
The government is to include the powers in an amendment to the crime and policing bill after concerns were raised about protests near synagogues and mosques.
Continue reading...Essex couple’s £1,500 fine for reporting Channel stowaway is cancelled
Adrian and Joanne Fenton hit with penalty after calling police when they found a boy hiding inside bike-rack cover
A couple who were fined £1,500 after reporting a boy who had stowed away on the back of their motorhome for their journey from France to Essex have had the penalty cancelled.
Adrian and Joanne Fenton from Heybridge were fined by the Home Office for “failing to check that no clandestine entrant was concealed” when they returned to their home across the Channel.
Continue reading...Apple’s UK encryption legal challenge heard behind closed doors
Media organisations including the Guardian and the BBC fail to gain entry to proceedings
A hearing in Apple’s legal battle with the UK government over access to customer data was held behind closed doors on Friday after the press failed to gain entry to proceedings.
The US tech firm has launched an appeal with the investigatory powers tribunal after the Home Office demanded access to encrypted data stored remotely in Apple’s cloud servers.
Continue reading...Decision not to classify Southport killer as a terrorist was right, says UK watchdog
Review concluded extending definition to cover extreme violence by ‘loners’ such as Axel Rudakubana is unhelpful
The decision not to classify Axel Rudakubana as a terrorist following the Southport murders was right because it would be unhelpful to stretch the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence, the UK’s terror watchdog has concluded.
Jonathan Hall KC wrote that the “legal definition of terrorism is already wide and should not be changed any further” in his post-Southport review of how extreme violence is legally classified. Expanding the definition would “increase the possibility of inaccurate use and, in theory, abuse”, he said.
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