Labour promoting "age-old message of fear and hostility", charity says after ministers pledge to return more illegal migrants Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights programme director at Amnesty International UK, has responded to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, vowing to increase removals to levels not seen since Theresa May’s government (see earlier post at 10.12 for more details). Plans include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs and reopening immigration removal centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire. Valdez-Symonds said Labour is simply “reheating” the previous government’s rhetoric and should instead focus on establishing safe routes to reduce the dangers of border crossings and reduce the risk of vulnerable people being exploited by criminal gangs. He said the government is “promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people”. While the vast majority of people come to the UK legally, it is dangerous Channel crossings in small boats that have become politically central. This was notably the case for the former prime minister Rishi Sunak who made “stop the boats” his flagship immigration policy. Valdez-Symonds said: It’s dismaying to see the new government reheating the last government’s rhetoric over ‘border security’ and ‘smashing gangs’ even while neglecting the pressing need to provide safe asylum routes and a clear guarantee of asylum to refugees arriving here. People in urgent need - including those fleeing war and persecution in places like Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran - will keep coming to the UK and other countries, and the government needs to establish safe routes that reduce the perils of dangerous border crossings and the risk of exploitation by ruthless smuggling gangs. This ‘securitised’ approach to asylum and immigration will simply deter and punish many of the people most in need of crossing borders, people who are therefore often most vulnerable to criminal exploitation. Increasing immigration powers - including to detain people - rather than making sure existing powers are only used where that is necessary and fair has for decades rewarded Home Office inefficiency and injustice. A new set of ministers promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people who may ever arrive in the UK, means that smuggling gangs and racist and Islamophobic hate-mongers at home are likely to feed off this to everyone’s detriment. Closing summary First minister John Swinney said that Scotland has a “deep problem” with drugs and the government will “consider attentively” action to address an increase in deaths. He was speaking the day after national statistics revealed a 12% rise in drug deaths during 2023, claiming a total of 1,172 lives. Social housing rents will rise by more than inflation over the next decade as part of UK government plans to boost affordable housebuilding and shore up the finances of struggling landlords. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is working on plans to introduce a 10-year formula to calculate social rent on homes that will result in rents increasing every year by the rate of the consumer prices index – which is now 2.2% – plus 1%, removing an existing cap on rises. Reeves is facing further challenges ahead of her first Budget in October after official figures revealed government borrowing jumped by far more than expected in July. The ONS said public sector net borrowing stood at £3.1 billion last month - £1.8 billion more than a year ago and the highest July borrowing since 2021. Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones said the unexpected increase in government borrowing means abolishing the two-child benefit cap is unaffordable. Yvette Cooper indicated she will press ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in an attempt to achieve the highest rate of removals since Theresa May’s premiership. The plans include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs. Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International’s refugee and migrant rights programme director, described Cooper’s new package as “dismaying”, and warned a “securitised” approach could put off genuine asylum seekers from crossing borders if they needed to. The Green party’s co-leader, Carla Denyer, described Labour’s plans to reopen immigration removal centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire as “shocking”. The chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, said that staffing levels and excessive caseloads could cause problems for the overstretched and under-resourced probation service when thousands of prisoners are released early next month. Green party co-leader says it is "shocking" that Labour plans to reopen detention centres The Green party’s co-leader, Carla Denyer, has reacted to Labour’s announcement that it will reopen immigration removal centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire (which will add 290 beds). The MP for Bristol Central posted on X: Shocking that government is planning to reopen detention centres, one of which was closed after it was found to be “damaging to detainees”. Labour must end the cruel widespread use of immigration detention centres, and open safe routes to sanctuary. The Green party’s manifesto pledges included ending immigration detention and allowing asylum seekers to work while their applications were being processed by the Home Office. Scotland has a "deep problem" with drugs, John Swinney says as deaths rise 12% First minister John Swinney has said that Scotland has a “deep problem” with drugs and the government will “consider attentively” action to address an increase in deaths. He was speaking the day after national statistics revealed a 12% rise in drug deaths during 2023, claiming a total of 1,172 lives. It means Scotland’s rate of recorded drug deaths remain higher than other parts of the UK and European nations. Swinney’s comments come as the opening date was announced for the UK’s first facility allowing the safe consumption of illegal drugs. Glasgow city council said it expects the facility on Hunter Street to open on 21 October. On Wednesday, Swinney visited the Edinburgh Cancer Centre at the western general hospital. The Scottish first minister told reporters that his government is working to “strengthen our response to the drug deaths crisis”. He said: “The level of drug deaths is wholly unacceptable and I’m very sorry for the heartache it has caused to families who lose loved ones.” Swinney added: There’s a huge amount of work going on to do that, but we do have a deep problem in Scotland with drugs deaths and I would reassure members of the public that tackling that issue is fundamentally at the heart of the government’s agenda and we will sustain the measures that we’re taking forward to deliver better outcomes. Swinney highlighted investment in rehabilitation services and the rollout of naloxone kits. But in its own evaluation of treatment available across the country, the Scottish Drugs Forum published asked why targets to improve services and increase the number of people in treatment had not been met three years after the former first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced a “national mission” to tackle the country’s chronic and epidemic fatality rates. Up to a quarter of the UK population are worried they might have to turn off their heating and hot water this winter due to an expected rise in household energy bills, according to a survey by Citizens Advice. The survey found that 31% of households with children and 39% of people on low-incomes expect to take such action. The survey comes after forecasts predicted that energy bills across Great Britain could rise by 9% from October to an average of £1,714 a year for the typical household’s gas and electricity. Winter energy bills will likely remain well above the levels paid before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a global energy market shock. The energy regulator, Ofgem, is expected to set out the next price cap for October until the end of December by Friday. ITV boss Kevin Lygo has defended Reform UK leader Nigel Farage competing on the channel’s reality series I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! The MP for Clacton has been accused of making a “deeply irresponsible and dangerous” intervention on the riots in recent weeks. Farage made remarks on a social media video in which he questioned “whether the truth is being withheld from us” following the killings of three girls in a knife attack at a dance class in Southport last month. Lygo told the Edinburgh TV Festival: I think it’s a very industry-focused judgmental attitude... it’s a very broad show... and people can make up their own minds, audiences are sophisticated now, they’re clever. They can see what’s going on most of the time. Lygo added that they will see if it is “a good idea” to have others politicians on the show. He also said he is “an elected MP”, when asked about his views on the riots. “The audience is smart enough to make up their own mind,” he added. “Honestly, it wasn’t meant to offend anyone.” Social housing rents to rise as part of UK push to build affordable homes Social housing rents will rise by more than inflation over the next decade as part of UK government plans to boost affordable housebuilding and shore up the finances of struggling landlords. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is working on plans to introduce a 10-year formula to calculate social rent on homes that will result in rents increasing every year by the rate of the consumer prices index – which is now 2.2% – plus 1%, removing an existing cap on rises. Reeves is expected to announce the plan at her first budget, on 30 October, alongside measures to raise taxes and cut spending. The plan for social rent homes – those rented usually at 50% of market rate – will be welcomed by the councils and housing associations who are now facing a squeeze on their finances, which has put the brakes on housebuilding. Bodies such as the National Housing Federation, which represents England’s housing associations, and the Local Government Association, the national membership body for local authorities in England and Wales, have lobbied for a 10-year rent settlement to give landlords more certainty over cashflows, and the confidence to invest in new stock. The changes were designed to provide long-term certainty to landlords, a government source told the Financial Times, which first reported Reeves’s rent plan. Higher borrowing makes scrapping two-child benefit cap unaffordable, minister suggests Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones has said an unexpected increase in government borrowing means abolishing the two-child benefit cap is unaffordable. His comments come after official figures – release by the Office for National Statistics – showed the rising cost of public services and benefits pushed government borrowing to higher levels than expected last month. Analysts warned that the disappointing borrowing figures would result in a tough budget from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, on 30 October (you can follow our business live blog for the latest reaction to the newly released public finances data). Asked about the prospects of abolishing the two-child benefit cap at the Budget, Jones told the BBC’s World At One programme: “You have to just look at the economic statistics that we’re talking about today to understand why we just can’t afford to do that right now.” He said abolishing the cap would cost £2 billion to £3 billion per year, while borrowing for the first four months of the financial year was already £4.7 billion more than expected. Saying the public expected the government to get public spending “back under control”, he added: “That means that we have to make very difficult decisions that in our hearts we wouldn’t want to have to make, and that includes on the two-child cap as well.” Introduced by the Conservatives in April 2017, the two-child benefit limit prevents households from claiming universal credit or child tax credit for a third or any subsequent child born after this date. There are an estimated 450,000 households and 1.6 million children affected by the two-child cap when they claim universal credit and child tax credit. Campaigners, charities and MPs across the political spectrum have said the policy has become the UK’s biggest single driver of child poverty. Resistance to abolishing the limit brought the government’s first rebellion, with seven MPs voting in favour of an opposition amendment to the King’s Speech calling for an end to the policy. Those MPs - including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey - had the Labour whip suspended after their rebellion. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has reportedly described some of his party colleagues as “calculating bastards” and said there were people in the Scottish Conservatives who never wanted him in charge. The Highlands and Islands MSP, who will step down as leader next month, accused some of his MSPs of regularly briefing against him to the press. During the general election campaign, Ross announced his surprise resignation amid growing internal pressure over his multiple roles in the party. He had faced sustained criticism for his decision to serve as an MP at Westminster and as an MSP at Holyrood in north-east constituencies while retaining his part-time role as a match official for the Scottish FA. Ross has said he would have been ousted as Scottish Tory leader even if he did not stand for a Westminster seat. Five candidates are in the race to replace him, but the leadership contest has been marred by infighting. According to reports, Ross was asked at the Edinburgh fringe festival if the leader of the Scottish Conservatives had to be a “calculating bastard”. He replied: “I was going to say some of the ones that won’t be leader of the Scottish Tories are calculating bastards. But look, all politics is rough and tumble at times.” “You’ve got to be aware of what you’re getting yourself into. And I think maybe even I was not quite as aware of the full intensity of being a party leader,” he said. Share Updated at 14.19 BST 10h ago 13.49 BST Resigning Ulster Unionist party leader Doug Beattie has ruled out standing again for the vacant leadership, the PA news agency reports. In a statement, Beattie addressed speculation that he might put his name forward as a candidate amid an acrimonious dispute with party officers that prompted his resignation on Monday. "Resigning as leader of the Ulster Unionist party was one of the hardest decisions I have made. However, for the good of the party I had no choice but to step down," he said. "Throughout my time as the leader I have always been honest and open. I have not always got things right, but I have accepted responsibility for my failings and I expect others to do similar. "It would simply not be credible, or right, for me to put my name forward to be re-elected as the party leader. I must accept that while a large number would like me to stay as leader there is an equal number that may not. "Going forward, I hope that the new leader can continue to modernise the party. They must promote a moderate, inclusive and positive pro-union message, and ensure the Ulster Unionist party is seen as a forward thinking and progressive party. "Such a new leader will be guaranteed my full support and loyalty." The government has pledged a £3.1m package to tackle mpox that will “ultimately benefit us all”, the Africa minister has said. PA Media reports than on a visit to the Institute National de Recherche Biomedical in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lord Collins of Highbury pledged money to prevent the spread of the disease, which was previously known as monkeypox. Lord Collins said on his visit to Kinshasa: “Working together with our partners and using the expertise and dedication of Congolese scientists, including those at the world-leading research centre I have visited in DRC, our support will play an important role in ensuring global health security for all. “By protecting the health and wellbeing of communities across DRC, and by helping contain these outbreaks, we reduce the risk of diseases spreading further afield. This will ultimately benefit us all.” According to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the cash package will benefit more than 4.4 million people in already-affected communities, as part of a partnership with Unicef. We reported earlier that the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has committed to open 290 beds at immigration removals centres which had closed down between 2015 and 2019 - at Campsfield near Oxford and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire. The PA news agency is reporting that this is the first phase of a long-term plan to open a total of 1,000 beds across the two sites, a scheme which began under the previous Conservative administration. Earlier this month, the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, warned that the safety of immigration removal centres across the country was deteriorating and that the government’s use of them is potentially traumatising vulnerable people. A scheme which cut rail fares for travellers in Scotland at peak times could return in the future, the Scottish transport secretary, Fiona Hyslop, has indicated. The government has spent £40m on the year-long scheme, which sees all travellers pay off-peak charges on ScotRail services regardless of the time they travel. Ministers were criticised after it was announced on Tuesday that the trial will come to an end on 27 September 2024 – with a report saying it had only achieved a “limited increase” in rail passenger numbers and did not result in a “significant modal shift” away from the car. Trade unions and opposition parties condemned the decision, and accused the Scottish government of presiding over a shambolic rail service and of failing to adequately tackle the climate crisis (you can read more on this here). On Wednesday, Hyslop suggested the scheme could return at some point in the future - if finances permit. She said she is “prepared to go back to this” as she conceded it will “take years” to shift commuters from cars to public transport. The transport secretary told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “At this present time we cannot afford the level of public investment, subsidy, call it what you will, to put into the sector at this time.” She said ministers had twice extended the trial, which was initially only due to run for six months, in a bid to give it the “best chance of success”. She added: If we are using public funding and public subsidy to cut prices, we need to demonstrate it is having the impact that the pilot was meant to achieve, which was to try to shift more people to rail, to choose to use rail, not their car. Now that hasn’t shown evidence to the level that would justify that level of investment and we are living in tough financial times. Clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey has written an opinion piece for the Guardian about the ways in which privatised water firms have polluted English rivers and beaches with sewage, causing significant damage to public health. Today’s episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast focuses on the UK government continuing to grant arms export licences to British companies selling arms to Israel. On Friday, the British diplomat Mark Smith resigned from the Foreign Office over the UK government’s arms sales to Israel, saying they “may be complicit in war crimes”. On today’s podcast, my colleague, Lucy Hough, is joined by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, to discuss the significance of Smith’s resignation. Labour promoting "age-old message of fear and hostility", charity says after ministers pledge to return more illegal migrants Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights programme director at Amnesty International UK, has responded to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, vowing to increase removals to levels not seen since Theresa May’s government (see earlier post at 10.12 for more details). Plans include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs and reopening immigration removal centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire. Valdez-Symonds said Labour is simply “reheating” the previous government’s rhetoric and should instead focus on establishing safe routes to reduce the dangers of border crossings and reduce the risk of vulnerable people being exploited by criminal gangs. He said the government is “promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people”. While the vast majority of people come to the UK legally, it is dangerous Channel crossings in small boats that have become politically central. This was notably the case for the former prime minister Rishi Sunak who made “stop the boats” his flagship immigration policy. Valdez-Symonds said: It’s dismaying to see the new government reheating the last government’s rhetoric over ‘border security’ and ‘smashing gangs’ even while neglecting the pressing need to provide safe asylum routes and a clear guarantee of asylum to refugees arriving here. People in urgent need - including those fleeing war and persecution in places like Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran - will keep coming to the UK and other countries, and the government needs to establish safe routes that reduce the perils of dangerous border crossings and the risk of exploitation by ruthless smuggling gangs. This ‘securitised’ approach to asylum and immigration will simply deter and punish many of the people most in need of crossing borders, people who are therefore often most vulnerable to criminal exploitation. Increasing immigration powers - including to detain people - rather than making sure existing powers are only used where that is necessary and fair has for decades rewarded Home Office inefficiency and injustice. A new set of ministers promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people who may ever arrive in the UK, means that smuggling gangs and racist and Islamophobic hate-mongers at home are likely to feed off this to everyone’s detriment. Moves are being planned in an attempt to avert a strike by officers at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the PA news agency reports. Members of the Nautilus International union will take action on 3 September 2024 to coincide with merchant navy day. The strike follows a walkout last week – the first by officers in the history of the service. Officers have also been undertaking a continuous period of action short of strike since June 2024. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The Royal Fleet Auxiliary are highly valued, and we are committed to listening to their concerns and keeping a continued dialogue with them to address the issues they have raised.” Ministers have met with the RFA twice in the first few weeks of the government and further negotiations are planned. Ministers are under pressure to end the “postcode lottery” on water by introducing a single social tariff for households on low incomes, amid fresh signs consumers are struggling to keep up with bill payments. Water companies in England and Wales offer their own social tariffs, providing discounts to consumers on low incomes. However, some of the schemes are more generous than others, creating vast disparities in how much consumers pay in different regions. Campaigners have argued that a central funding pot into which all water companies pay would help more people. In a letter to the minister for water and flooding, Emma Hardy, seen by the Guardian, 14 charities said the new government had a “huge opportunity” to help people in poverty with their water costs. The charities, including Independent Age, Money Advice Trust, Parkinson’s UK and Age UK, said such an initiative would “make a tangible positive difference to the lives of people of all ages living on low incomes”. Angela Rayner, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, and Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, announced on Monday that ministers had approved London City airport’s application to expand. The airport submitted a proposal to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers a year by putting on more weekend and early morning flights. Greenpeace said the approval “undermines the UK’s climate leadership” and would “mostly benefit an elite of wealthy frequent fliers”. The i reports that ministers are open to more applications for airport expansions. The outlet reports: i understands that the government is willing to listen to any approach from airports to expand, but they will have to meet a set of “clear tests” on air quality, noise pollution and providing wider economic benefit... Any expansion will also have to ensure that the UK still meets its climate change obligations. The government’s stance has raised fresh questions over the expansion of Heathrow and its plans to build a third runway. It is likely to encourage Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, and has plans to spend £2bn to expand passenger numbers across its sites over the next five years. Gatwick is also hoping to double its capacity to 78m passengers. Probation service doesn"t have enough staff to meet caseload demands, chief inspector says ahead of prisoners’ early releases There have been warnings that ministers will struggle to prepare for next month’s early release of thousands of prisoners. Up to 2,000 prisoners are expected to be released in the second week of September as part of an early release scheme, called SDS40, which will allow many prisoners to walk from prison after serving 40% of their sentences. A second tranche of up to 1,700 prisoners, all jailed for more than five years, are expected to be freed in late October to relieve pressure on overcrowded prisons. While successive governments have invested into recruiting new staff to the probation service, there is not much sign of this activity paying off, with the latest Ministry of Justice data showing there were 178 fewer probation officers over the last quarter. Speaking this morning to the Today programme, the chief inspector of probation, Martin Jones, said that staffing levels and excessive caseloads could cause problems for the overstretched and under-resourced probation service. “We know that good probation practice keeps communities safe and reduces reoffending, but they need the staff and the resources to do that,” Jones said. “At the moment, I fear that the caseload is too high to do that well enough in all cases and that is something I think will require urgent attention going forward.” He also said: The probation service doesn’t have the probation officers it needs to deliver its core caseload and therefore what you see is probation officers with excessive caseloads. There is a limit therefore as to what you can properly do as a result of that. If you are looking to release somebody from prison, a most important thing is to understand the risk that person represents. Are they a high risk offender or are they a low risk offender? What are their needs? Do they have mental health difficulty? Do they have drug addiction problems? If you do not understand that at the point that person is released, it’s a recipe for failure and quite often will result in recall to prison or increased reoffending. The Conservative party headquarters is offering free conference passes to former Tory MPs who lost their seats at the general election, in a break from the usual practice, PoliticsHome reports. The annual gathering is due to be held in Birmingham from 29 September to 2 October. It will be the first major Conservative party event since the Labour landslide in July. The conference will cost a regular Tory member either £66 or £242 to attend, depending on when they apply for their passes. Attendees who aren’t parliamentarians are usually charged an entrance fee, but PoliticsHome is reporting that former Conservative MPs who lost their seats at the general election will be allowed to go for free this time. A Conservative party spokesperson said: We are committed to drawing on the expertise and talent in our party in helping us rebuild – and that includes our former MPs. We look forward welcoming them alongside other party members at our conference in Birmingham this year, as we continue to build a party ready for the future. Kemi Badenoch, the shadow housing and communities secretary, is the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Rishi Sunak as party leader and leader of the opposition. She entered the Conservative leadership race last month with a pledge to get the Tories back into government by 2030. Tory MPs will reduce the candidate list to four in time for keynote speeches at the October party conference. Then members will decide between the final two contenders. As we mentioned in the opening summary, over the next six months, Labour has said it aims to achieve “the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here” since Theresa May’s premiership in 2018. Staff are being redeployed to increase the removal of refused asylum seekers, which has dropped by 40% since 2010, the Home Office said. In reaction to the announcement, Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: If we look at enforced removals, last year there were 6,000 and in 2018 there were 9,000 - so this would require 3,000 more, a 50% increase, which sounds achieveable. The other thing to point out is that 2018 is not a particularly high bar, apart from the pandemic that was the lowest number of enforced removals in 20 years. The Refugee Council has said that 36,000 asylum seekers are still living in unsuitable hotel rooms, at a cost of £5.3m each day. On Monday, more than 200 people came to the UK via small boats – taking the total for the year to just under 20,000. Enver Solomon, of the Refugee Council, called for ministers to “look at state of the detention system” and said the Home Office should treat people with respect and humanity when supporting them to return to their home countries (if possible). He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “security matters to stop the boats and no-one wants the people smugglers to profit”. Describing those who come as “families” and “ men, women and children”, he added: They come here because they are refugees, seeking safety. Unless the government also provide safe routes, it won’t succeed in stopping the boats. Detention is costly. It results in people harming themselves. It results in huge damage to people’s mental health. The government shouldn’t be investing in detention. Labour’s approach to immigration in the wake of the far-right protests earlier this month will be a politically delicate issue for Cooper, with many on the party’s left wary of embracing a position that appears to toughen its rhetoric. Opening summary Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics. Yvette Cooper has indicated she will press ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in an attempt to achieve the highest rate of removals since Theresa May’s premiership. The home secretary announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats exceeded 19,000 this year so far. The plans include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs. The Labour government has pledged “290 added immigration removals” beds at Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire - centres which had previously closed down in 2019 and 2015. Cooper said she plans to achieve the highest rate of deportations since 2018 for refused asylum seekers, and said the Home Office will launch a new intelligence-driven illegal working programme to target employers who hire people with no right to be in the UK. So far there have been nine returns flights in the last six weeks, including the largest-ever chartered return fl