Action to tackle number of asylum seekers coming to UK is important step to ‘restoring order’, says Cooper – as it happened | Politics

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• The variety of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has risen by 8% to 32,059 in a year, in line with Home Office knowledge. The figures come amid growing clamour from councils to dam inns getting used to deal with asylum seekers by authorized motion, after a courtroom dominated that greater than 100 applicants staying in Essex should be removed. The newest Dwelling Workplace figures, printed on Thursday as a part of the same old quarterly immigration statistics, cowl Labour’s first 12 months in workplace.

• For the primary time in 4 years, the asylum functions backlog has fallen beneath 100,000 individuals. It’s now simply over 70,000 instances, referring to nearly 91,000 individuals – down by 18% from a 12 months earlier and its lowest since September 2021. The Refugee Council stated it welcomed “preliminary progress” in lowering the asylum backlog however stated there have been nonetheless “far too many individuals in inns. Everybody agrees that inns are the fallacious reply – they price the taxpayer billions, lure individuals in limbo and are flashpoints in communities”.

• Within the 12 months ending June 2025, the Dwelling Workplace forcibly eliminated 9,100 individuals – up 1 / 4 on the earlier 12 months. Greater than half had been international nationwide offenders who had been being deported on the finish of sentences.

• The house secretary stated the federal government’s motion to deal with the variety of asylum seekers coming to the UK had been an necessary step to “restoring order”. Responding to the brand new immigration statistics, Yvette Cooper stated Labour had overseen elevated numbers of returns of asylum seekers not granted asylum and pointed to the decreased spending on asylum.

• Kemi Badenoch has written to Conservative council leaders “encouraging” them to observe Epping Forest district council’s footsteps by launching bids to close these inns, if their “authorized recommendation helps it”. Labour dismissed Badenoch’s letter as “determined and hypocritical nonsense”, however a number of of its own local authorities have already suggested they too, could mount legal action towards inns of their areas.

• Charles Falconer, a Labour peer who served as justice secretary below Tony Blair and was beforehand Keir Starmer’s shadow legal professional normal, urged ministers to attraction towards the courtroom resolution to shut the Bell lodge in Epping. He informed the BBC Radio 4 At present programme the judgment “causes nice issues” as a result of it “offers rise to the expectation that some asylum inns may be closed” however with out indicating which of them.

• There was an 80% drop within the variety of visas granted for nurses over the previous 12 months, in line with Dwelling Workplace figures. For work-related visas, 182,553 visas had been granted within the 12 months to June, which represents a 36% drop on the earlier 12 months. The federal government stated the 80% fall in visas for nurses could also be as a result of “the top of the centrally supported nurse worldwide recruitment programme and modifications in demand for worldwide employees”.

• Responding to Thursday’s immigration figures displaying an increase over the previous 12 months within the variety of asylum seekers housed in inns, Liberal Democrat residence affairs spokesperson Lisa Sensible stated the Conservatives had “trashed our immigration system and let numbers spiral”, however now “this Labour authorities is failing to get a grip on the disaster”. Nigel Farage responded to the Dwelling Workplace figures by saying the general public was proper to be indignant with the federal government and their predecessors over the rise in asylum seekers being housed in inns by the federal government.

• Individuals have “each proper to interact in protest”, the shadow residence secretary has stated, amid considerations a excessive courtroom ruling may set off a wave of demonstrations outdoors asylum inns. Chris Philp named three Conservative-led councils that are contemplating taking authorized motion towards hoteliers whose property is getting used to deal with asylum seekers.

• Philp stated that the Conservatives had been fallacious to have used so many inns to deal with asylum seekers whereas they had been in authorities. Requested whether or not the variety of inns in use had been a mistake, Philp informed the BBC Radio 4 At present programme: “Sure it was. We wished to get it down. And we did get it down. Within the final 9 months we halved the variety of asylum inns and had that pattern continued by now there could be no asylum inns.”

• The UK’s “damaged” immigration system is spilling over into tensions in communities in Northern Eire, a Stormont minister has stated. Schooling minister Paul Givan made the feedback as unionist politicians have requested for additional investigations into the authorized planning standing of inns within the area housing asylum seekers.

• The charity Safe Passage International has described the federal government as “working to close down household reunion even additional” as a result of its new scheme from France, a part of the current “one in, one out” deal, excluding unaccompanied youngsters. Responding to Thursday’s Dwelling Workplace figures, Donna Covey, chief government at Secure Passage Worldwide stated: “Over 5000 youngsters have crossed the Channel within the 12 months ending June 2025, over half of these youngsters have needed to make this harmful journey alone.”

• The UK government borrowed less than expected in July, official figures present, in a lift to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as she faces stress forward of her autumn price range. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed public sector web borrowing – the distinction between public spending and earnings – fell to £1.1bn, down by £2.3bn from the identical month a 12 months earlier.

• Talking on GCSE outcomes day for England, Wales and Northern Eire, schooling minister Catherine McKinnell stated the federal government is “tackling” the limitations to raised grades after she was requested why white working-class youngsters are “doing so badly”. McKinnell stated the query was a “actually profound” one and that underachievement in that demographic “has continued over a few years”. There was an general rise in grades amongst 16-year-olds taking GCSEs and the hole between girls and boys has narrowed to its smallest degree since 2016.

• Labour greater than doubled their donations in 2024, in line with newly printed figures, however nonetheless made a loss after spending a file quantity on the overall election marketing campaign. The social gathering’s annual accounts for final 12 months, which had been printed alongside these of each vital UK political social gathering, present it managed to draw almost £40m in donations final 12 months, up from £16.5m within the earlier 12 months. However the social gathering’s large election spending sapped it of cash, resulting in an general deficit of £3.8m. The Electoral Fee has beforehand reported Labour spent a file £30m on preventing the overall election – forward of the Conservatives, who spent £24m.

• The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, has been hit with a legal challenge after she overruled a local council to approve a hyperscale datacentre on green belt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire. Campaigners bringing the motion are complaining that no environmental affect evaluation was made for the 90MW datacentre, which was accredited as a part of the Labour authorities’s push to turn the UK into an AI powerhouse by trebling computing capacity to satisfy rising demand amid what it phrases “a worldwide race” as AI utilization takes off.

• England will sell off more than eight times as many council homes in 2025-26 as were constructed the previous year, analysis has discovered. Proper to purchase is depleting council housing inventory extra shortly than public housing may be changed, forcing individuals to spend extra money on non-public market rents and acquire much less safe tenancies, a report from the thinktank Frequent Wealth finds.

• Stella Creasy and Richard Tice are pushing for Labour to allow a Brexit scrutiny committee to be formed in parliament, after the Guardian revealed environmental protections had been eroded for the reason that UK left the EU. The Labour and Reform UK MPs argue that there isn’t any scrutiny or accountability over how Brexit is being carried out. Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow and chair of the Labour Motion for Europe, stated the UK wanted a “salvage operation” to clear up the environmental and regulatory havoc attributable to Brexit.

• The UK’s enterprise exercise posted its greatest progress in a 12 months this month, led by a stable upturn within the service sector, in line with a carefully watched survey. The ‘flash’ studying from the S&P International PMI survey confirmed enchancment throughout the non-public sector, regardless of employment remaining a weak spot, with firms slicing hiring for an eleventh month.

• The variety of younger individuals not in schooling, employment or coaching (referred to as Neets) has elevated, figures present. The Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) stated there was a rise within the variety of Neets aged 16 to 24 within the three months to June to 948,000, up from 923,000 in January to March.

• Eire’s premier and deputy premier have welcomed readability on the EU-US commerce deal, which sees the US decide to capping tariffs on pharma items at 15%. Taoiseach Micheál Martin stated the commerce settlement represented a “vital win” for the EU whereas Tanaiste Simon Harris stated it provided an “necessary protect” for Irish exporters.

• Development work has begun on a “landmark” windfarm within the south of Scotland that may generate sufficient electrical energy to energy about 335,000 properties. The Sanquhar II neighborhood windfarm will change into the UK’s fourth largest onshore windfarm when it turns into operational in August 2026, in line with builders CWP Vitality.

• The SNP authorities has been accused of a “nationwide scandal” after it was revealed that a whole lot of NHS buildings are greater than 70 years outdated. A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of knowledge request to all of Scotland’s well being boards discovered the NHS nonetheless depends on 597 buildings that had been constructed seven a long time in the past. In December, it was reported that NHS Scotland’s upkeep backlog was greater than £1.3bn.

• Retired girls successfully go greater than 4 months yearly with out getting a pension due to a gender hole, in line with analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). It estimated girls had been shedding the equal of £7,600 a 12 months on common. The union organisation stated in contrast with males, retired girls successfully cease receiving pension earnings from right now. The federal government has revived the pension fee, which is able to carry collectively unions, employer and impartial specialists to look into the causes of the hole.