priti-patel

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UK news
www.independent.co.uk
2 months ago
UK news

Asylum base condemned by home secretary moves torture victims' into hotels

Nearly 100 asylum seekers have been moved out of RAF Wethersfield after the Home Office deemed it unsuitable for them to stay.
The former airbase has been described as an open prison camp, with reports of suicide attempts and hunger strikes from asylum seekers inside.
Priti Patel and James Cleverly have both condemned the site, with Patel calling it not fit for purpose and lacking infrastructure and amenities.
www.independent.co.uk
9 months ago
UK news

Revealed: Full extent of boozing, debauchery and rule-breaking inside Boris's No 10

A former Downing Street official who worked throughout the Covid crisis has revealed the true scale of the drunken debauchery under Boris Johnson with No 10 parties so wild that staff passed out on the stairway.Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the whistleblower said the details in the Partygate report were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the raucous drinking culture and blatant rule-breaking throughout the pandemic.
www.independent.co.uk
9 months ago
UK news

Patel and Rees-Mogg should not be given honours, David Lammy says

Former Cabinet ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel should not be rewarded with honours, a senior Labour politician has said.Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said comments made by Mr Rees-Mogg in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire make him unfit for a knighthood.Mr Rees-Mogg is tipped for the title in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list alongside Ms Patel, who will receive a damehood.
www.independent.co.uk
9 months ago
UK news

Boris Johnson quits as MP and claims he's victim of Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt'

Boris Johnson has sensationally announced he is quitting as an MP, claiming he is the victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.The former prime minister's resignation came as he faced a damning verdict following a parliamentary inquiry into his conduct during the Covid pandemic.Amid growing speculation that the conclusions of the Commons privileges committee could lead to his being kicked out as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he announced his decision to stand down.
www.independent.co.uk
9 months ago
UK news

Boris Johnson rewards allies, and a hairdresser, with honors as critics cry foul

Several dozen allies of former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson received honors from King Charles III on Friday, a list that drew cries of cronyism from opponents of the ousted leader.Resignation honors, bestowed by the monarch but chosen by the government, are an established but contentious way for departing leaders to reward loyal lieutenants.
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

Only handful' of Afghans refugees brought to UK under flagship scheme

Only a handful of Afghans have been brought to safety in the UK under schemes set up to help vulnerable refugees from the war-torn country.Just 54 people have been resettled under the government's flagship scheme designed to help those who were not supported during the initial evacuation after the fall of Kabul in August 2021.
moreUK news
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www.independent.co.uk
9 months ago
UK news

Revealed: Full extent of boozing, debauchery and rule-breaking inside Boris's No 10

A former Downing Street official who worked throughout the Covid crisis has revealed the true scale of the drunken debauchery under Boris Johnson with No 10 parties so wild that staff passed out on the stairway.Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the whistleblower said the details in the Partygate report were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the raucous drinking culture and blatant rule-breaking throughout the pandemic.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Expert banned from UK government event for tweets that criticised Tories

A chemical weapons expert has been disinvited from giving a keynote speech at a UK-run expert conference after civil servants discovered social media posts he wrote criticising Conservative ministers and government migration policy.Dan Kaszeta is one of at least eight speakers banned from government events by an opaque vetting scheme introduced by Jacob Rees-Mogg in 2022, a policy that the banned expert described as an attack on free speech.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

One in five police officers plan to quit' amid anger over pay

One in five police officers plan to quit amid rising anger over pay, working conditions and treatment by the government, a survey suggests.Polling of almost 37,000 officers in England and Wales showed forces to be at crisis point and the police service is on its knees, the Police Federation said.The findings place Boris Johnson's pledge to recruit 20,000 extra constables by the end of March in fresh doubt, with voluntary resignations already at a record high.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

French authorities told drowning migrants they were in British waters and to call 999

French authorities told drowning migrants they were in British waters and to call 999 during the worst disaster of its kind in the English Channel, documents have revealed.A dossier of evidence compiled by lawyers acting for the families of 32 people who died when their dinghy sank last November shows passengers made desperate calls for help for over two hours.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Suella Braverman aboard a Chinook: proof that in politics, standards can always get worse | Marina Hyde

A rival emerges to Priti Patel's personalised HOME SECRETARY flak jacket, now believed to form part of the memorabilia collection of a future chain of anti-immigration-themed family restaurants that will quickly become Britain's only post-Brexit growth sector.(They will, ironically, be staffed by immigrants.)
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Only 0.3% of migrants arrested for crossing Channel under cruel and pointless' law

Only 0.3 per cent of migrants have been arrested for English Channel crossings after the government created a pointless and cruel law making them illegal, The Independent can reveal.Being intercepted at sea while journeying to make an asylum claim was not a crime until June, when it became an offence to arrive in British waters without permission.
morespokesperson
UK politics
www.theguardian.com
9 months ago
UK politics

Dame Priti and Sir party Marty': the aides and allies in Boris Johnson's honours list

Priti Patel, who was home secretary in Johnson's cabinet and widely seen as a fierce ally of the former prime minister, has been made a dame commander.Keen Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg has received a knighthood alongside Michael Fabricant who often went on the airwaves to defend Johnson during Partygate.
www.theguardian.com
9 months ago
UK politics

It's Boris Johnson's disheartening, shoddy honours list and it becomes him | Hugh Muir

If nothing became Boris Johnson more than the manner of his leaving No 10, nothing says more about the political rot he accelerated than the honours list that trails behind him.To scan the list is to relive the era of cronyism and maladministration that he inflicted on the country.It redefined the very idea of honours as a reward for public service, replacing it with the sort of cheap favour you bestow on friends by buying them a seaside hat or a round in the pub.
www.theguardian.com
9 months ago
UK politics

Sunak approves Boris Johnson honours list including aides linked to Partygate

Rishi Sunak has approved Boris Johnson's resignation honours list of peerages and other awards for his allies, despite continuing police and parliamentary inquiries into the former prime minister over Partygate.Johnson's list gave honours to some of his aides who were most closely associated with the Partygate scandal, including an Order of the Bath for his former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, who oversaw a garden party during Covid restrictions in 2020.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Civil servants have to fact-check' Suella Braverman's claims to cabinet

Suella Braverman is facing fresh controversy after it was claimed civil servants in her department were forced to fact-check the home secretary's statements to cabinet on up to six occasions.Concerns have been raised about the under-fire minister's competence, as Downing Street denied Rishi Sunak was dithering about whether to launch an investigation into a potential breach of the ministerial code over her bid to avoid a speeding fine.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Tories demanding grassroots voice deny being a Johnson revivalist group'

At the inaugural conference of a group promising to restore grassroots control to the Conservatives and ensure that the party's MPs can never again impose their own leader, one pivotal figure is notable by his absence: Boris Johnson.The Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), which is gathering in Bournemouth on Saturday, insists it is not a Johnson-revivalist group, and that its only purpose is to make the party more accountable to the rank and file.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

The Guardian view on policing dissent: more politicised than ever | Editorial

It does the police no good if officers are thought to be at the beck and call of politicians.Such a system, relying on policing by consent, would quickly lose the trust of the public.That is why Lord Denning, the most celebrated English judge of the 20th century, argued that the responsibility for law enforcement ought to lie solely with the police.
moreUK politics
www.standard.co.uk
9 months ago
London

Former Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey awarded peerage by Boris Johnson

Mr Bailey, who stood against Sadiq Khan in 2021 and currently serves on the London Assembly, was one of seven peerages approved by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.Neil Garratt, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said: "Shaun is a respected colleague, a valued Assembly Member, and an important voice for Londoners.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
London

Misogyny hidden in plain uniformed sight but Braverman pulls her punches over the Met

Let's think this one through.We all know that the Metropolitan police has a culture of misogyny and racism.That's accepted by almost everyone.Even the Met.Now imagine someone who is so far above the abusive norm that he is given the nickname of Bastard Dave by his fellow officers.A man beyond the pale even for certified wrong'uns.
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

How much extra income tax you'll pay by 2027 due to frozen thresholds

New research published by a think tank says that one in five workers will be paying the higher rate of income tax of 40 per cent or above by 2027.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates 7.8 million workers will be dragged into the higher band due to frozen thresholds, with middle-income earners paying a rate aimed at the wealthy.
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak clashed very early on', says ex-spin doctor

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak clashed very early on during their time at Downing Street, according to the former prime minister's ex-spin doctor.Guto Harri said there was continual tension between the pair claiming Mr Sunak forced through the windfall tax on oil and gas giants against Mr Johnson's will.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Boris Johnson's disciples gathered to sing the old hymns. But are they a real threat to Sunak?

It was billed as the launch of a campaign to hand more power to Tory members.It was not, its organisers repeatedly insisted, a group aiming to reinstall Boris Johnson as party leader or cause trouble for Rishi Sunak.It was about taking back control of the Conservative party for the grassroots.Yet as the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) met for its inaugural gathering in a sunny Bournemouth on Saturday, it was less than 15 minutes after Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns had belted out the national anthem that Johnson's name was first uttered on stage.
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

Patel warns Home Secretary clock is ticking' to stop the boats

Priti Patel appeared to rebuke her successor Suella Braverman, as she warned the Home Secretary that the clock is ticking to stop small boat crossings in the Channel.The former home secretary also added her voice to the concerns of Tory Brexiteers, who have been angered by the ditching of the Government's promise to complete a post-Brexit bonfire of remaining EU-era laws by the end of the year.
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

Patel's tribute to Johnson as she blames party's leadership for election results

Priti Patel has paid tribute to Boris Johnson for delivering on the people's priorities during his time in Downing Street as she blamed the centre of the party for the Conservatives' poor local election results.The former home secretary was one of the keynote speakers at the launch of a new grassroots movement the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO).
www.independent.co.uk
10 months ago
UK news

Priti Patel attacks Rishi Sunak for 'managed decline' of Tory party

Priti Patel has accused Rishi Sunak of overseeing a managed decline of the Conservative party following a wipe-out at the local elections which saw the Tories lose more than 1,000 councillors.The former home secretary will be the keynote speaker at Saturday's conference Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), where she is set to admonish those in power and control in our party.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Priti Patel to blame local election losses on Tory leadership in speech

Priti Patel will attack the Conservative party leadership, blaming heavy local election losses on those in power and control, in a speech on Saturday.The former home secretary is expected to accuse the Tory leadership of having done a better job at damaging our party over the past year than Keir Starmer's Labour party or leftwing campaign groups.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
UK politics

Tories misjudged mood on culture wars, says Starmer, after strong local election

The local election results show Labour has banished the demons of Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn's time as leader, while the Conservatives have badly misjudged the mood of voters by focusing on culture war issues, according to the party leader, Keir Starmer.In a bullish assessment he is due to give the shadow cabinet, the Labour leader will accuse the Tories of ignoring voters' real concerns.
www.theguardian.com
10 months ago
London

Met accused of siding' with far-right group in anti-drag act protest

Police have been accused of siding with a rightwing group during violent protests over a drag act's performance at a south London pub.A formal complaint has been lodged over the behaviour of Metropolitan police officers during a demonstration organised by Turning Point UK (TPUK) against a storytelling session by drag queen That Girl at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Dominic Raab will be toast at end of bullying probe'

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab will have no choice but to resign at the end of independent inquiry into bullying allegations, it has been claimed.A senior Cabinet Office official told colleagues that Mr Raab is toast when the process concludes later this month, according to the Sunday Times.Officials close to Adam Tolley KC's probe are said to have been shocked by some of the claims including staff being sick before meetings with Mr Raab and regularly left in tears.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Sunak should have suspended Raab during bullying investigation, says union

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should suspend Dominic Raab from the Cabinet while investigations into alleged bullying are ongoing, according to the leader of the largest trade union in the civil service.Failing that, Mr Raab should step down, said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Sunak urged to consult ethics adviser over Raab bullying claims

Rishi Sunak must ask his ethics adviser to help decide whether Dominic Raab is a serial bully or risk losing the public's trust, a union leader has said.The prime minister alone will decide whether his deputy and justice secretary has broken the ministerial code after eight separate complaints across three ministerial departments.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Dominic Raab: inquiry into conduct expanded to include third complaint

Downing Street has expanded the inquiry into alleged bullying by Dominic Raab to include a third formal complaint, relating to claims about his behaviour in a third ministerial role.The investigation, by the senior employment barrister Adam Tolley KC, who was appointed by Rishi Sunak on Wednesday to look into allegations about the deputy prime minister, will now examine a complaint relating to his four-month stint as Brexit secretary in 2018.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Rishi Sunak appoints lawyer to examine Dominic Raab bullying allegations

Rishi Sunak has appointed a top employment barrister to investigate formal complaints into his deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, who has been accused by multiple civil servants of bullying behaviour across several government departments.The lawyer, Adam Tolley KC, has been tasked with investigating the claims, which are understood to go back several years, and drawing up a report for the prime minister, who will then decide whether Raab should face sanction.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Boris Johnson allies to hold conference aiming to take back control'

Boris Johnson allies will hold a conference this spring aimed at taking back control of the Conservative party.The Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), the group set up after Mr Johnson was kicked out of No 10 by his own party, is to hold its first convention in Bournemouth on 13 May.Johnson supporters Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and Priti Patel will make speeches or join debates at the first national gathering of the CDO.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Sue Gray not involved' with Partygate evidence while in Labour talks

Sue Gray was not involved with handing over Partygate evidence to the privileges committee inquiry into Boris Johnson while she was in talks with Labour about a job, multiple sources have said.Allies of Johnson are furious that Gray is off to work for Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, as chief of staff, after the senior civil servant was in charge of the report on Partygate published last May.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Suella Braverman's stop the boats' plan would bar 45,000 children from UK

Suella Braverman's plan to stop the Channel crossings would see as many as 45,000 children effectively barred from refugee status in the UK, the Observer has been told.The claims are made in a forthcoming Refugee Council report analysing the overall impact of the illegal migration bill, which reveals the possible extent of children who could have their asylum claims deemed inadmissible under the new laws.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Braverman claims Rwanda policy is humane' but can't give start date

Suella Braverman has claimed that being forcibly deported to Rwanda is not a punishment for crossing the English Channel, as asylum seekers told The Independent they would prefer to die than undergo removal.The home secretary said the policy would deter more people despite small boat arrivals rocketing to new records since it was announced in April.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

The Rwanda deportation scheme might be legal, but it remains deeply shameful | Michela Wrong

So the game is on, once again.Six months after a last-minute intervention by the European court of human rights prevented a flight carrying seven migrants from taking off for Kigali, the Home Office's Rwanda asylum-processing deal is back in play, thanks to today's ruling in favour of the scheme by Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift.
www.npr.org
1 year ago
Europe news

U.K. top court upholds a controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda

A pilot gestures from the grounded EC-LZO Boeing 767 flight, initially meant to deport Rwandan asylum-seekers, at Boscombe Down Air Base in Boscombe Down, England, on June 14.The flight taking asylum-seekers from the U.K. to Rwanda was grounded at the last minute, after the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Channel tragedy shows hardline policies will not deter those desperate to reach UK

After the screeching rhetoric of Tuesday afternoon  when Conservative MPs cheered Rishi Sunak's plans to deport illegals who arrive in the UK without any formal hearing  on Wednesday came the gut-wrenching reality.Four people died risking everything to reach the UK from France.Grainy footage obtained by Sky News showed more than 40 desperate people, illuminated by a helicopter's beam, struggling to clamber out of a twisted black dinghy on to a boat in freezing temperatures.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

MP Christian Wakeford to apologise for asylum seeker comments

Christian Wakeford will apologise on Wednesday for previously claiming asylum seekers have a shopping trolley as to what they want as economic migrants when he was a Conservative MP.The MP for Bury South crossed the floor to Labour earlier this year, criticising the Tory government's policies for only worsening his constituents' struggles .
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

What the papers say March 19

Suella Braverman's plans to deport migrants to Rwanda feature on several of Sunday's newspaper front pages.No migrants have been relocated to the country since the deal was signed last April by Ms Braverman's predecessor, Priti Patel, but the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Express report that the Home Secretary plans to get flights running by summer.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Braverman takes taxpayer-funded trip to Rwanda as asylum agreement remains stalled

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Suella Braverman is to visit Rwanda as Britain's 140m deal to send asylum seekers to the country remains mired in legal challenges.The home secretary is to reaffirm her commitment to the agreement struck in April 2022 by her predecessor Priti Patel, which has so far failed to achieve the government's aim of deterring small boat crossings.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Corporation tax hike will hammer' economy, say Tory rebels

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Jeremy Hunt faces a backbench Tory rebellion over the rise in corporation tax set to be confirmed at Wednesday's Budget.Influential MPs on the right including Priti Patel and Simon Clarke have warned that raising the rate from 19 to 25 per cent would hammer businesses and curb growth.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Ministers' behaviour to staff deeply corrosive', says Dominic Raab's former adviser

Unfair behaviour from ministers is damaging government policymaking, meaning civil servants may feel afraid to give frank advice, a former senior adviser to Dominic Raab has said.Raab is under investigation over eight separate complaints across three ministerial departments.The inquiry into his behaviour by the independent investigator Adam Tolley KC is likely to be complete within the next month.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
France news

Sunak and Macron must navigate boat issues to reset Anglo-French relations

The attempt by Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron to reset the Anglo-French relationship on Friday is not just important bilaterally, but also in terms of Britain's relationship with the EU.The French president, a gatekeeper to improved relations, sees the British prime minister's efforts to resolve the Northern Ireland trade issues as a signal Britain is in the hands of a fellow technocratic nationalist, and that its brush with populism may be over.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
France news

What does the UK's small boats plan mean for relations with France?

Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak meet in Paris on Friday for the first bilateral summit between France and Britain since 2018.High on the agenda will be the longstanding row over small boats crossing the Channel, given new impetus by the plan to tackle the issue announced by the UK on Tuesday.Strained by years of ill-tempered Brexit negotiations and a series of heated cross-Channel disagreements, relations have improved markedly since the departure of Boris Johnson, viewed by Paris as fundamentally untrustworthy.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Family fearful over nonsensical' prison release of pilot who killed his wife

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The mother of a woman killed by her husband has said her family is fearful about the prospect of his release, and is calling on the Justice Secretary to look at the case.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Lack of consultation over new migrant Bill shows arrogance, minister told

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails The Home Office has been accused of arrogance after a minister said there was no need for extensive engagement with refugee organisations before announcing controversial proposals to curb Channel crossings.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

UK anti-slavery post left unfilled by Home Office since April 2022

The role of the independent watchdog overseeing government anti-slavery policy has been left vacant for more than 10 months at the same time as cases of suspected trafficking have hit an all-time high, it has emerged.Dame Sara Thornton, the previous anti-slavery commissioner, resigned on 30 April last year, but has not been replaced by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, despite a legal requirement for the post to be filled.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Tory MPs trying to score points over Sue Gray hiring only net own goals

Tories take their pleasures where they can find them in Westminster these days.Which is why the government benches were surprisingly full for an urgent question on Keir Starmer offering Sue Gray a job as chief of staff.It's not often Conservative MPs get to occupy the moral bump in the road, so at least 50 or so took to the Commons to vent confected hypocritical outrage.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Bernard Ingham, press secretary to Margaret Thatcher, dies aged 90

Margaret Thatcher's former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham has died at the age of 90 after a short illness, his family has said.Ingham was a journalist with the Guardian in the 1970s before going into communications for the government.He served as press secretary for Thatcher for almost her entire time as prime minister.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Nicola Sturgeon's resignation proves more work to be done to keep women in politics'

Nicola Sturgeon's decision to step down as Scottish first minister highlights the pressures women politicians endure and the need to do more to keep them in their roles, campaigners say.Ms Sturgeon, the first female first minister of Scotland, announced she was resigning at a news conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday after more than eight years in the job.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

How Priti Patel was schooled on the death penalty by Ian Hislop live on air

A viral clip of Ian Hislop shutting down Priti Patel's public endorsement of the death penalty has resurfaced following backlash to the new Conservative party deputy chair's comments on the same issue.A clip from BBC's Question Time, recorded in 2011, depicts Private Eye editor and Have I Got News For You host Ian Hislop dissecting fellow guest Ms Patel's argument in favour of the death penalty.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

How many divers will Rishi Sunak need to plumb the murky depths of Nadhim Zahawi's tax affairs? | Marina Hyde

Further inspirational developments in British public life, as yet another inquiry is launched into a serving member of the government.Having spent last week claiming that party chair and former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi had addressed the murky matter of his taxes in full, prime minister Rishi Sunak declared yesterday: I have asked our independent adviser to get to the bottom of everything.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

UK ban on laughing gas sale or possession poised to go ahead

The Home Office is preparing to introduce a long-expected ban on the sale or possession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular recreational drugs among young people, as part of a wider crackdown on antisocial behaviour.The plan is being pushed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, according to officials, and would lead to people found with laughing gas, which is usually inhaled from balloons filled through small metal cylinders, facing prosecution.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Tech bosses face jail if children not kept safe online after UK parliament deal

Tech executives whose platforms persistently fail to protect children from online harm will face criminal charges after ministers reached a deal with Conservative backbenchers.Rishi Sunak was facing the prospect of defeat in a Commons vote on Tuesday after a rebel amendment to the online safety bill won opposition support.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Government will not create specific spiking offence, minister says

The Government said it will not create a specific offence for spiking despite committing last year to look at new legislation.Home Office minister Sarah Dines said a new law is unnecessary because there are already several offences which cover incidents of spiking and the Government has not found any gap in the law that a new spiking offence would fill.
BBC News
1 year ago
UK politics

What does Rishi Sunak's promise to stop the boats mean?

BBC News home affairs correspondent In his first major speech of 2023, prime minister Rishi Sunak twice pledged to "stop the boats".Listing five key promises at the beginning and the end of the speech, he said both times: "We will halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats."
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Sunak rejects Tory calls to ignore human rights court rulings over Rwanda deportations

Rishi Sunak has rejected calls by dozens of Conservative MPs to toughen up his asylum plans further by ignoring rulings from the European court of human rights over the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda.The prime minister sidestepped questions in the Commons over whether he would be willing to withdraw from the European convention on human rights, saying he was delivering legislation allowing people who had arrived illegally to be removed from the UK.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel pressure PM to ignore ECHR rulings on Rwanda

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are reportedly backing a forthcoming bill attempting to force Rishi Sunak to ignore rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda.The Asylum Seekers (Removal to Safe Countries) Bill is to be introduced by Tory MP Jonathan Gullis on Wednesday.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Read Nadhim Zahawi's response to The Independent over tax allegations in full

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to sack Nadhim Zahawi from Cabinet after it was claimed the former chancellor paid a penalty of more than 1m to settle a probe into his tax affairs.The Conservative Party chairman has faced mounting questions over his personal payments to HMRC, but the prime minister has so far stood by him.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Revealed: Nadhim Zahawi's legal threat to The Independent to stop tax revelations

The Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi tried to stop The Independent exposing that he was being investigated over his tax affairs by threatening to sue if we published.Mr Zahawi, who was chancellor at the time, repeatedly said he had paid all due taxes and would take legal action if we reported that he had been investigated.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Court of Appeal to reconsider ruling that Rwanda policy is lawful

Asylum seekers and a charity have been granted permission to appeal the High Court's finding that the Rwanda asylum deal is lawful.In December, judges found that the overall policy was legal but quashed the Home Office's decisions to deport eight people selected for transfer to Kigali.Suella Braverman hailed the ruling as a victory, claiming it thoroughly vindicates the Rwanda partnership and restating her commitment to starting flights to Kigali.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Black Britons and MPs condemn cruel' plan to dump Windrush pledges

The government has been criticised by several public figures after the news of the home secretary's plans to abandon several key commitments made after the Windrush scandal in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of the ship's arrival in the UK.On Friday, the Guardian reported that Suella Braverman was planning to abandon several of the key commitments made since the Windrush scandal, including dropping the pledge to create a migrants' commissioner and a U-turn on the promise to increase the powers of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Age-check X-rays risk harming child asylum seekers, government warned

Plans to use X-rays to check the age of children seeking asylum could put them at risk of harm from radiation and cause distress, official government advisers have warned.The scientific advisory committee tasked with considering proposed changes to the assessment of people who have crossed the Channel and are suspected of lying about their age, also told ministers and officials no checks would be able to predict a person's age with precision.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

X-rays to check child asylum seekers' age risk harm and are unreliable'

X-rays to check child asylum seekers' age risk radiation harm and are unreliable, the government has been warned.An expert committee commissioned by the Home Office concluded that no method proves a person's exact age, and that tests proposed by ministers are only able to say if migrants' claimed age is possible, rather than be used to answer the specific question of whether they are under or over 18.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Government refuses to disclose whether Prevent strategy will be redacted

No 10 has refused to say if its review of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy will be redacted, amid reports it has been delayed by a row between Michael Gove and the Home Office over whether to reveal the names of suspected Islamist extremists.The Prevent review was handed over to the Home Office by William Shawcross, a former head of the Charity Commission, in the summer.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Charities vow to fight grotesque' Rwanda deal after High Court ruling

Charities have vowed to fight on against plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda as they consider appealing a High Court ruling that the policy is lawful.Groups who brought the challenge said they were looking at whether there were grounds for appealing Monday's judgment, which quashed the individual decisions to remove eight asylum seekers but found the government's plans legal overall.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Cruel' asylum plan by Rishi Sunak violates international law, says UN

Rishi Sunak's plan to deny asylum to migrants arriving in small boats violates international law and undermines Britain's humanitarian tradition, the United Nations has said.The prime minister on Tuesday promised to return thousands of Albanians to their home country, speed up asylum processing, make it harder to claim modern slavery, open reception centres to get 10,000 migrants out of hotels and prosecute more people for steering dinghies.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Home Office adviser Nimco Ali appears to quit by criticising Suella Braverman

A government adviser on violence against women appears to have effectively resigned from her role on live radio after saying she is on a completely different planet to the home secretary, Suella Braverman.Nimco Ali, a social activist who was appointed to the independent role by the then home secretary, Priti Patel, in 2020, used an interview to criticise Braverman's stance on the issue and announce her intention to relinquish her role.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Albanian children bullied in UK schools' amid small boats row

Albania's ambassador to the UK has called for a campaign of discrimination to stop amid a political row over small boat crossings.The home secretary is considering new measures to reduce the number of Albanians crossing the English Channel, after they became the largest nationality arriving on dinghies.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Just Stop Oil's message to Suella Braverman: threaten us all you like we're not listening | Indigo Rumbelow

It's a strange paradox.The tougher that Tory home secretaries talk, the faster law and order seems to break down.Whoever's in the role  Grant Shapps, Priti Patel, Suella Braverman  the same rhetoric grinds on, day after day: cracking down, clamping down, demanding tougher action.Now the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has joined in, reportedly launching Operation Get Tough and demanding the police use all the new powers available to them through the latest sweep of anti-protest laws.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Gove offers curbs on holiday lets in talks with Tory housing target rebels

Michael Gove is resisting efforts from Tory planning rebels to abolish all housing targets but the levelling up department is offering other far-reaching concessions including restrictions on holiday lets such as Airbnb.A government source said some progress had been made in talks with at least 60 MPs who had signed an amendment that would scrap mandatory local housing targets and make them advisory only.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Government putting more lives at risk' a year after Channel disaster

The government has been accused of putting more lives at risk in the English Channel as crossings continue a year after at least 27 people, including children and a pregnant woman, drowned.Suella Braverman admitted ministers had lost control of Britain's borders on Wednesday, while the Home Office's top official said there was no proof the Rwanda scheme will be effective as a deterrent.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Braverman refuses to answer questions as she says we have failed to control borders'

The home secretary has repeatedly refused to answer questions on the legal advice she was given over the Manston migrant processing facility, as she accepted the Home Office has failed to control our borders'.Appearing before parliament's Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Suella Braverman was asked seven times about when she was told the Home Office was breaching the law by detaining people there for too long.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Dominic Raab facing formal complaints over bullying allegations from MoJ staff

Dominic Raab is facing multiple formal complaints from Ministry of Justice (MoJ) civil servants over allegations of bullying behaviour during his previous stint running the department, the Guardian has been told.The justice secretary has vowed to thoroughly rebut and refute the two official complaints he is already facing, one from the MoJ and one from his time as foreign secretary, but further formal allegations will be a blow to his attempts to clear his name.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Rishi Sunak faces MPs rebellion over housebuilding targets

Rishi Sunak is facing a rebellion of about 50 MPs who are demanding an end to housebuilding targets for councils, via an amendment which campaigners say would further hinder affordable homes.The amendment, led by the former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, has backing from 46 MPs who have signed the bid to scrap mandatory local housing targets and make them advisory only.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Minister behaving badly? Whitehall ponders its murky complaints process

Politics is a rough and tumble profession where clashes between headstrong ministers and more cautious officials are not uncommon.But when claims surface of a politician's behaviour verging on bullying, how fit are the current systems to deal with the strain and what compels civil servants to make allegations anonymously to journalists?
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Priti Patel threatens action over unfounded' asylum seeker hotel claims

Priti Patel is threatening to launch a formal complaint after Home Office sources made a categorically untrue claim that she oversaw a two-month summer pause in finding hotel rooms for asylum seekers.The former home secretary said she was considering writing to the department's top official after unfounded briefings seeking to blame her for decisions made under her successor, Suella Braverman.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Sunak faces rebellion on housebuilding targets

Rishi Sunak faces a significant rebellion on Wednesday as Conservative MPs push for an end to mandatory housebuilding targets.More than 40 backbenchers have signed an amendment to the flagship Levelling Up Bill that would ban councils from taking housebuilding targets into account when deciding on planning applications.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Top Whitehall official had to apologise over alleged bad behaviour by Raab

Dominic Raab behaved so badly in a meeting with the Home Office during his first stint as justice secretary that his department's top official had to personally apologise to counterparts afterwards, the Guardian has been told.Whitehall sources said the deputy prime minister, who is facing two official complaints over alleged bullying, had acted so badly and inappropriately at a high-level meeting earlier this year that the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was forced to call senior officials of the then home secretary, Priti Patel, to express regret.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Half of public think Home Secretary is doing a bad job, poll suggests

Half of the public think Suella Braverman is doing a bad job as Home Secretary, a new poll suggests.The survey by Ipsos found that 11% of people thought Ms Braverman was doing a good job while 50% disapproved of her performance.Even among those who voted Conservative in 2019, support for the Home Secretary was limited.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Perfectly legitimate' for England players to take knee at World Cup, says minister

A senior UK cabinet minister has said it is perfectly legitimate for England players to take the knee at the World Cup to protest against inequality, emphasising the apparent change in attitude towards the stance by some Conservative politicians.England will take the knee before their match against Iran on Monday, although it is unclear whether Harry Kane will also wear the OneLove rainbow captain's armband in support of LGBTQ+ rights, over concerns this could bring an instant yellow card.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

MPs' alleged bullying of staff likely to continue under scrappy complaints system

Like the Westminster sex pest stories and the sleaze rows over lobbying, allegations of bullying just seem to keep on coming out of SW1.From Priti Patel  who was said by the ministerial ethics adviser to have bullied civil servants but was let off by Boris Johnson  to John Bercow  found to have bullied Commons clerks  and Gavin Williamson  accused of telling a civil servant to slit his throat and jump out of a window  the common thread is that they were targeting those they considered beneath them.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Housing migrants in motels is grim' irrespective of quality, inspector says

The chief inspector of borders and immigration has called on the Government to give some certainty to asylum seekers by speeding up approvals instead of housing them in motels  arguing that irrespective of the number of stars it may have, temporary accommodation is grim.David Neal, a retired Royal Military Police officer, called the current backlog of cases inexcusably high and said it was in the interests of everyone in this country to get people out of the contingency asylum accommodation.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Suella Braverman was warned hate speech' could inspire far right

The home secretary, Suella Braverman, who last week caused outrage by referring to asylum seekers entering the UK as an invasion, had been warned by government lawyers that inflammatory immigration rhetoric risked inspiring a far-right terror attack.Braverman's comments came just one day after a man with links to the far right threw firebombs at a Dover immigration centre.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Tory disquiet over Channel crossings shakes projection of unity under Sunak

Behind the carefully constructed impression of unity around Rishi Sunak, some Conservative MPs are starting to betray their unhappiness about his government's response to a seemingly unsolvable problem.The prime minister may be content to let the home secretary, Suella Braverman, act as a lightning rod  as one source put it  for hostile briefings and intense media scrutiny over her controversial reappointment, but doing so is also drawing attention to her failure to tackle the number of migrants and asylum seekers being smuggled across the Channel.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Suella Braverman challenges critics to try to get rid' of her - follow live

Close Suella Braverman calls 'broken' immigration system an 'invasion on southern coast' Home secretary Suella Braverman challenged her critics to "get rid" of her after she rejected calls to resign over her response to the migrant crisis.Ms Braverman yesterday defended at the House of Commons overcrowding at a Kent asylum facility and denied ignoring legal advice to procure more lodging amid warnings the temporary holding centre was dangerously overcrowded.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Leaky Sue emerges from hiding with blame guns blazing

She speaks!At last.For the last week or so, Suella Braverman has been rather kept under wraps.Not let out of the Home Office.Both for her own good and Rishi Sunak's.It's been left to ministerial colleagues Robert Jenrick and Jeremy Quin to answer urgent questions that were meant for the home secretary.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Priti Patel blames Braverman for failure to prevent Kent asylum crisis

Priti Patel is blaming her successor Suella Braverman for the failure to take steps to prevent the Kent asylum centre crisis, piling further pressure on the home secretary.The Home Office has been accused by a Tory MP of a deliberate decision to allow dangerous overcrowding at the Manston site, possibly to send a harsh message to would-be refugees.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Home Secretary facing questions over deepening migrant crisis

The Home Secretary and the immigration minister could be summoned to face MPs to explain the car crash decisions behind the chaos at a migrant holding centre.Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said he has put forward an urgent question in the Commons to be answered by Suella Braverman or Robert Jenrick.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Rishi Sunak tells Emmanuel Macron he wants to make Channel crossings unviable'

Rishi Sunak has told Emmanuel Macron that he wants Britain and France to make Channel migrant crossings completely unviable.The same pledge was made by Priti Patel in August 2020 and came back to haunt the former home secretary as numbers surged to record levels.Mr Sunak has been making warm overtures to the French government since becoming prime minister, following bitter rows over the Channel that worsened when Liz Truss was asked whether Mr Macron was friend or foe and replied: The jury's out.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Priti Patel and Michael Gove both back Rishi Sunak for PM

Priti Patel and Michael Gove have come out in support of Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader, as the former chancellor hopes to be declared the next prime minister within hours.
www.theguardian.com
1 year ago
UK politics

Who are the Tory big beasts backing in the leadership race?

As Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson work hard to pass the Tory leadership threshold of 100 Tory MPs it is not only raw numbers that are important.Tom Tugendhat, a former leadership candidate who backed Truss, said: We need economic stability.Boris Johnson will always be a hero for delivering Brexit.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Who is backing who in the Tory leadership race?

Rishi Sunak's public backers have put him beyond the threshold of 100 nominations from MPs required to be on the ballot for the Tory leadership race, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
www.independent.co.uk
1 year ago
UK news

Thousands of protesters rally in London to call for UK to rejoin EU

Thousands of protesters have marched through central London calling for the UK to rejoin the EU.
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