Government’s deal with Iraq to return illegal migrants will ‘deter small boat arrivals’, says Starmer – UK politics live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Labour councillor Carol Dean, leader of Tamworth borough council, said the council did explore similar legal avenues when the Home Office first started using the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth to house asylum seekers, but did not end up pursuing them.

She said:

I want to be transparent with our community – when the Home Office first began using the hotel in 2022, we did explore similar legal avenues. However, we did not pursue this route at the time because temporary injunctions, while initially granted in other cases nationally, were not ultimately upheld by the courts.

The situation at Epping Forest represents a potentially important legal precedent, and we are carefully assessing what this might mean for our circumstances here in Tamworth.

We fully recognise the UK government has a statutory duty to accommodate people seeking asylum. However, we have consistently maintained that the prolonged use of hotel accommodation may not represent the best approach – either for our local community or for the asylum seekers themselves.

We will continue to work constructively with government departments and all relevant agencies while making sure the voice of our community is heard at the highest levels of government. We will keep residents informed of any developments and will make further announcements as our legal review progresses.

Our priority remains ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all people in Tamworth, while working towards a sustainable long-term solution that serves everyone’s interests.

Missiles including fireworks, a petrol bomb, bricks, chunks of concrete and lamp-posts were hurled at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth and Staffordshire police officers by rioters during scenes of disorder after the Southport stabbings in August last year.

Dean said she understands the “strong feelings within our community regarding the use of the Holiday Inn to house those seeking asylum”.

She said:

I want to reassure residents that we are listening to their concerns and taking them seriously.

ly Labour came to power just over a year ago. The use of hotels has halved from 402 at their peak to 210 now, with a national pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.

However, following the temporary high court injunction granted to Epping Forest district council, we are closely monitoring developments and reviewing our legal position in light of this significant ruling.

The government has lined up special managers to run Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire operations if it is put into administration, according to a dramatic revelation at London’s high court, report Jasper Jolly and Priya Bharadia.

London’s high court heard on Wednesday that creditors to Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), part of Liberty Steel, were seeking a compulsory winding up order. The company asked to adjourn the hearing in order to try to agree a “pre-pack” administration that would allow its owner, metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, to keep control of the insolvent company.

Counsel representing the creditors showed the judge a letter from the Department of Business and Trade detailing that the government had said its official receiver was ready to carry out a sales process if the company entered administration.

The insolvency and companies court judge Sally Barber said she was minded to give two weeks of extra time to decide what the consequences of each course would be. However, after a short pause, the creditors’ counsel then disclosed that lawyers for the government were present in the court. The barrister said he had just been informed that an application for the appointment of a special manager to carry out the administration had already been prepared in draft form.

The existence of a draft application suggests that the government is ready to step in immediately to secure the continued operations of SSUK. SSUK employs 1,450 people at the group’s operations at an electric arc furnace in Rotherham and another plant in Stocksbridge, both in South Yorkshire.

The court is expected to grant a short adjournment of a to give the parties time to provide evidence to the court of what will happen in either case.

Conservative former Home Office minister Damian Green has said the government should “go back to the idea of camps” for housing asylum seekers, reports the PA news agency.

Green, who lost his seat in the general election last year, told the World At One:

What they should now do is actually toughen up the accommodation that we offer people to make it clear that it’s a deterrent as much as anything.

So, go back to the idea of camps, whether purpose-built Nightingale hospital-style buildings on parts of the land that the government owns, or using existing military camps, all those sorts of things, so that is not seen as offensively luxurious by the people who have watched this happen in their communities over the past few years.

When he was asked about the “difficulties” that have been run into when this has been attempted before, for example at Napier barracks, RAF Scampton, Wethersfield and the Penally camp, he said:

Some of them were genuine, some of them weren’t. A lot of the problems are indeed legal problems, where the courts say you can’t keep people there. And I do think the government is going to have to confront the legal issue if they want to be effective in having a deterrent.

Met police’s facial recognition plans fall foul of European law, says watchdog

Scotland Yard’s plan to widen the use of controversial live facial recognition technology is unlawful because it is incompatible with European laws, the equalities regulator has claimed.

As the UK’s biggest force prepares to use instant face-matching cameras at this weekend’s Notting Hill carnival, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said its use was intrusive and could have a “chilling effect” on individuals’ rights.

The development will be a blow to Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, who has backed the use of the technology at mass events such as this weekend’s carnival, when 2 million people are expected to descend upon west London.

The EHRC has been given permission to intervene in an upcoming judicial review launched last month by the anti-knife campaigner Shaun Thompson. Thompson, a Black British man, was wrongly identified by live facial recognition (LFR) as a criminal, held by police, then faced demands from officers for his fingerprints.

Data seen by the EHRC shows that the number of black men triggering an “alert” while using the technology is higher than would be expected proportionally, when compared with the population of London, it said.

A letter last week from 11 anti-racist and civil liberty organisations, disclosed in the Guardian, urged the Met to scrap the use of the technology over concerns of racial bias and the impending legal challenge.

The EHRC said that the claim brought forward by Thompson “raises issues of significant public importance” and will provide submissions “on the intrusive nature of LFR technology” which focus on the way in which the technology has been used by the police.

The Met’s policy on LFR technology is unlawful because it is incompatible with articles 8 (right to privacy), 10 (freedom of expression), and 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European convention on human rights, the watchdog says.

The Scottish Greens will seek to change the law to give councils new powers to charge the owners of derelict land and buildings, reports the PA news agency.

MSP Ross Greer said the move will help tackle “landbanking”, a practice which can see companies buy vacant plots in a bid to prevent rival firms from developing them.

With the owners of unused sites having previously benefited from reduced rates bills, the west Scotland MSP said this had resulted in “greedy companies and wealthy individuals sitting on derelict land and treating it as a personal cash cow”. Greer argued:

These sites could be used for the benefit of local people, for example as housing, rather than feathering the nests of people who are already very wealthy.

Far too many town and city centres are being held to ransom by land owners who are more interested in maximising their own profits than creating thriving high streets and local environments.

It’s time to bring abandoned and neglected land and properties back into community use. That would be good for local businesses and for communities.

Greer said he will put forward amendments to the land reform (Scotland) bill going through Holyrood to make the change.

If backed, his proposals could give councils the power to apply an extra charge on derelict sites instead, raising money for local services and pushing the owners to either use the land or sell it. The Green MSP, running to be his party’s co-leader, said:

I hope that MSPs will back my proposals, which would be a crucial step towards improving our town centres, freeing up land for affordable housing, supporting community regeneration and taking power back from the super-rich who are hoarding land and wealth.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has told Yvette Cooper that flats are “sorely needed by young people”, as he called for assurances asylum seekers will not be moved from Epping’s Bell Hotel into apartments.

In his letter to the home secretary, the Conservative MP wrote:

Up and down the country people are furious about the number of illegal migrants being housed in hotels - which rose in the nine months following the election under Labour.

People are also concerned that you are now moving people from hotels into apartments and other accommodation which is sorely needed by young people here who are struggling under this Labour government.

Philp also claimed that “illegal immigrants housed in hotels have been charged with hundreds of crimes”.

Scotland’s justice secretary has said she wants a consultation on the parole process to help make the system “fair, transparent and trusted”. Angela Constance spoke as the Scottish government launched a consultation on possible changes to how the current system works, reports the PA news agency.

The consultation, which will last for 12 weeks, is specifically focused on improving the transparency of the system and communicating better with victims and their families. It comes as ministers are also considering a plea from the families of Suzanne Pilley and Arlene Fraser that in cases where killers have refused to reveal the location of their victims’ remains, this must be taken into account when parole is being considered.

Constance reiterated her “firm commitment to this change” when she met the women’s families earlier this month. The justice secretary said that the new consultation is aimed at delivering a system that “puts people first while ensuring decisions are based on public safety”.

As part of the consultation, people are being asked for their views on whether parole boards should publish minutes in full from meetings where they make decisions about prisoners’ parole, and if information published should be anonymised.

The consultation considers if victims and survivors who have registered to be informed about a prisoner’s releases should have an automatic right to attend and observe oral hearings by the Parole Board for their case – and if other people, such as the media or the public, should be able to attend. In addition, people are being asked to have a say on whether victims should have the right to make oral representations to the Parole Board ahead of cases being considered,

Speaking as the consultation got under way, Constance said:

The parole system must command the confidence of everyone it affects and work well for victims, their families, justice partners, and those seeking rehabilitation.

We know it could be improved so we want to make further reforms based on the views of those it affects.

The justice secretary continued:

This consultation is an opportunity to gather all perspectives to deliver a parole process that is fair, transparent, and trusted. We want a system that puts people first while ensuring decisions are focused on public safety.

I encourage everyone with experience of the parole process to share their views. These insights are essential to shaping a system that reflects our shared values of justice, safety, and dignity.

The shadow home secretary has called for an emergency Cabinet meeting “to establish plans for the deportation of all illegal immigrants upon arrival”.

In a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper, Chris Philp wrote:

This migration crisis has happened because you made the catastrophic decision to cancel the Rwanda deterrent just before it was due to start, with no replacement plan.

The Rwanda scheme would have seen every illegal immigrant deported upon arrival and made it impossible to claim asylum if you entered the UK illegally.

The Conservative politician added:

Given this crisis unfolding on your watch and the concern about where the Epping migrants will go, will you:

Hold an emergency cabinet meeting to establish plans for the deportation of all illegal immigrants upon arrival and to resolve the migrant crisis you have created - just as the government recently held an emergency cabinet meeting on recognising Palestine.

Commit that none of the illegal immigrants currently in the Bell Hotel will be moved into hotels, HMOs (houses in multiple occupation), apartments, or social housing which are much needed for British people.

The previous government established alternative accommodation on current or former military sites and an accommodation barge, which are all alternative options while deportation plans are put in place.

Yvette Cooper, thanks to Tuesday’s high court ruling, is facing potentially explosive decisions over where to house asylum seekers if courts rule that they must leave hotels.

The Home Office, usually under Conservative ministers, has been struggling for five years to find an alternative to hotels so they can house a growing number of asylum seekers reaching these shores.

Labour has said that it expects to empty the 200-odd hotels housing asylum seekers by 2029. Ministers may be forced to rip up that plan and move at a rapid pace because of the ruling’s implications.

If councils take to the high court to complain about the use of a hotel for housing asylum seekers – and many will be under immense political pressure from the public to do so – it could force officials to find alternative housing for thousands of people.

Legal sources believe that there will be similar grounds to launch applications for interim injunctions from a number of councils. This case has centred on an alleged breach of planning laws by owners of the Bell hotel, who it was claimed did not get permission to switch use from a hotel to hostel-style accommodation.

Other hotel owners are thought to be in similar positions to Somani Hotels Limited, which originally housed families in the Bell, but faced a legal challenge after the asylum seekers were switched to single men.

Ominously for the government, the Reform UK deputy leader, Richard Tice, said his party would look at pursuing similar cases regarding hotels within the 10 council areas it controls, which include both North and West Northamptonshire councils, Doncaster, and Kent and Staffordshire county councils.

And the high court rulings can require a rapid response. Epping’s application for an interim was launched on 12 August. By 4pm on 12 September, all asylum seekers will have to be removed from the Bell hotel.

There may yet be a lifeline for the government. They could convince the court of appeal to overturn the decision. The fact that the Home Office was not allowed to intervene in a case that was directly related to the home secretary’s duties to house asylum seekers could well be seized upon by government lawyers.

The government is looking at a “range of appropriate accommodation” in which to house asylum seekers in England, the Home Office minister Dan Jarvis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday.

He refused to specify what kind of accommodation was under consideration, although he acknowledged that “nobody really thinks that hotels are a suitable location” after this week’s high court ruling. But the options are limited, writes Harriet Sherwood in this explainer:

Government's deal with Iraq to return illegal migrants 'will deter small boat arrivals' and 'secure our borders', says Starmer

Commenting on the government’s deal with Iraq to return illegal migrants, the prime minister said on X:

I am determined to smash the business model used by people smugglers, and I’m taking joint action with our allies to make it happen.

Building on our deal with France and renewed international cooperation, our strengthened partnership with Iraq will deter small boat arrivals and secure our borders.