The Home Office’s handling of the UK’s skyrocketing modern slavery cases has been branded a “shambles” after MPs heard a new group set up to tackle the scourge has yet to meet. Safeguarding minister Sarah Dines faced a fiery backlash from the Home Affairs Select Committee after revealing stakeholders involved in the government’s new modern…
Home Office Handling of Modern Slavery a ‘Shambles,’ Tory MP Tells Minister
Home Office Booking ‘Large Number of Empty Beds’ in Hotels, MPs Told
The Home Office is booking thousands of empty hotel beds for illegal immigrants to avoid any overcrowding at processing centres, MPs have been told. Home Office Second Permanent Secretary Simon Ridley told the public accounts committee on Monday they were trying to keep a “buffer” of 5,000 beds at hotels around the country in case…
Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Rwanda Policy
A union representing Home Office workers has threatened to strike over the government’s plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has already been involved in a legal challenge against the policy. The union’s head of bargaining Paul O’Connor said some civil servants fear they would be forced to carry…
13,000 Albanians Breach Bail Conditions
Over 12,800 Albanians who entered the UK illegally have breached strict immigration bail conditions, Home Office data has revealed. The figures—released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)—make up a quarter of all bail breaches by illegal migrants from January 2022 to April this year. According to government figures, a total of 44,957 people were…
Home Office Under Pressure as Trial Highlights How Easy It Is to Get a Bogus Passport
The UK Passport Office has set up a new unit to tackle organised crime after a gang used a flaw in the system to obtain passports for several international fugitives, which allowed them to keep one step ahead of the law. Three men—Christopher Zietek, Anthony Beard, and Alan Thompson—were jailed at Reading Crown Court on…
Judges in Rwanda Deportations Case Showed ‘Excessive Deference’ to Home Office, Court of Appeal Told
Two High Court judges who dismissed a series of legal challenges against the government’s planned deportations to Rwanda showed “excessive deference” to the Home Office and the guarantees it had received from the Rwandan government, the Court of Appeal has heard. In December, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr. Justice Swift ruled the policy of deporting asylum…
Zombie Knives and Machetes Used by ‘Thugs’ to Be Banned by Home Office
The government is planning to outlaw zombie knives and some types of machete in England and Wales and says those buying or selling them could face up to two years in jail. The Home Office has opened to public consultation the plan to outlaw blades that are “designed to look menacing” and “with the intention…
UK Neurologist Says Nitrous Oxide Abuse ‘Getting Worse’ and Calls for Outright ban
One of Britain’s leading neurologists has urged the government to make nitrous oxide—sometimes known as “laughing gas”—a banned substance, but has warned of the danger of “criminalising” teenagers. In 2021 the Home Office asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to consider whether to make possession of nitrous oxide a crime, but they…
UK Could Introduce Knee Scans and Dental Tests for Illegal Immigrants Who Claim to Be Children
Scientific advisers have recommended the Home Office introduce MRI scans and X-rays of teeth and bones to check the biological age of illegal immigrants who claim to be children, but the advisers say the tests should be voluntary. In January 2022 former Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The practice of single grown adult men, masquerading…
Braverman Promises to Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Stop Flow of Illegal Immigrants
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has promised to do “whatever it takes” to stop the endless flow of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel and landing in Kent, where they claim asylum or seek protection under modern slavery laws. In a foreword to a report (pdf) by the Centre for Policy Studies think tank she said…
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