Staff may take industrial action over Priti Patel’s ‘reprehensible’ plan to turn back refugees, says PCS unionBorder Force officials could strike over Priti Patel’s “morally reprehensible” plans to turn back dinghies in the Channel, a union has said.Th…
After rightwing attacks on rescues, UK lifeboat charity has record fundraising year
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has had ‘significant’ increase in annual donations after it went to the aid of asylum seekersThe Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is on course for the highest annual fundraising total in its near 200-ye…
The big picture: last call for Commonwealth arrivals, 1962
Striding hopefully towards a new future, a couple from the Caribbean arrive in Britain, the day before a crackdown on immigration beginsThis picture of a young couple arriving at Gatwick airport from the Caribbean on 30 June 1962 was taken on the eveni…
Tagging UK asylum seekers: another Patel idea destined to fail?
Despite a string of measures intended to cut numbers, more than 27,000 crossed the Channel in small boats this yearThe home secretary, Priti Patel, has repeatedly promised to curb the number of people arriving on UK shores in small boats by making this…
UK to ease immigration rules for care workers as shortage worsens
Loss of more than 40,000 staff over past six months prompts move to recruit overseas Thousands of additional care workers are to be recruited from abroad to fill chronic gaps in the workforce, the government has announced, after figures showed more tha…
Priti Patel’s plan to offshore refugees is costly, wrong and doomed to fail | David Davis
The home secretary’s proposal won’t stop asylum seekers trying to reach the UK. Creating safe legal routes is the solutionHow do we put a stop to the Channel crossings? There is no doubt that our relationship with France is pivotal. I’m not naive about…
Home Office borders bill could ‘create a British Guantánamo Bay,’ says Tory MP
Former Brexit secretary David Davis says Priti Patel’s plans could foster a situation similar to notorious US detention campA former Conservative cabinet minister has warned that the Home Office’s controversial borders bill risks creating a “British Gu…
Hostile asylum policies made tragedy inevitable | Letters
After at least 27 people lost their lives in a Channel boat crossing, readers discuss the government’s culpability in closing off safe routes for refugeesBoris Johnson describes himself as appalled at Wednesday’s Channel tragedy (Tragedy at sea claims …
Twenty-seven dead in the icy Channel. This must be the spur for change | Gaby Hinsliff
No one would attempt a crossing in the flimsiest of boats if they had a better option. Now our job is to provide them with oneIt was the kind of boat, a French politician said, that you blow up like a paddling pool.Not much more than a toy, of the kind…
Stopping dangerous Channel crossings: what experts and campaigners say
Analysis: From overhauling the asylum system to simply taking what refugees say seriously, some ideas to stop the small boatsAmid a rising number of small boats crossing the Channel, culminating in tragedy on Wednesday, campaigners and experts have pro…