UK and France order more Storm Shadow missiles and step up military co-operation
The joint development will help to sustain more than 1,300 jobs in the UK, according to the Government.
On the third day of Mr Macron's UK state visit, he and Sir Keir Starmer will also agree to deepen nuclear ties.
Britain and France, the only two nuclear powers in Europe, will state in a declaration that their nuclear deterrents – while independent – can be co-ordinated, with the aim of deterring threats like Russia from attacking Europe.
The declaration comes at a time when Donald Trump's US administration is calling on European Nato powers to take on a larger role in the alliance.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: 'From war in Europe, to new nuclear risks and daily cyber-attacks – the threats we face are multiplying.
'As close partners and Nato allies, the UK and France have a deep history of defence collaboration and today's agreements take our partnership to the next level.
'We stand ready to use our shared might to advance our joint capabilities – equipping us for the decades to come while supporting thousands of UK jobs and keeping our people safe.'
Defence Secretary John Healey said: 'The UK and France are stepping up together to meet today's threats and tomorrow's challenges. We are committed to driving defence as an engine for growth, delivering better fighting capabilities faster, and ensuring our armed forces can operate side by side – from the High North to the Black Sea.
'This partnership strengthens our leadership in Europe, ensures continued support for Ukraine, and sends a clear signal to our adversaries that we stand stronger, together.'
Building on the 2010 Lancaster House treaties between France and the UK, the two countries will also bolster a shared military venture, known as the Combined Joint Force.
They also plan to forge closer military industrial ties, including in AI and direct energy weapons, as part of a programme dubbed the 'Entente Industrielle' by the UK Government.
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The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Is Labour really failing on immigration and asylum hotels?
Councils across England are weighing up legal challenges after the High Court's decision to block a hotel in Epping from accommodating asylum seekers. The ruling blocks asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town, and current residents must be removed by September 12. On Wednesday, several local authorities, including some run by the Labour Party, said they were considering their options to take similar action. The ruling has resulted in another wave of criticism directed at Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour government over immigration, with opposition parties repeatedly accusing the government of failing to adequately tackle the issue. Yet amid backlash and local council tensions, the figures show that Labour has already made significant steps to move away from the use of hotels. The multi-billion cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels has dropped markedly from its peak in 2023. Last year (2024/5), the cost for hotel bills was at £2.1bn, down by a third from £3.1bn in the previous year. The smaller bill is a result of multiple factors, most notably the reduction in the asylum backlog. The average daily cost for housing each asylum seeker in a hotel has gone down from £176 to £170 per person. This still remains higher than previous years. The government has also made efforts to reduce the proportion of asylum seekers housed in hotels, moving them towards other types of accommodation. Figures from March show 32,345 asylum seekers out of over 100,000 were being accommodated in hotels, with the remainder housed in temporary accommodation including council-owned homes and a former airfield. Just 30 per cent are staying in hotels, which is meant as a contingency - or temporary - measure. Government accounts show that costs are likely to remain similar this year, with £2.2bn requested by the Home Office to asylum housing costs; suggesting that the number of asylum seekers is unlikely to fall significantly. In February, Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft said the department was aiming to 'get to zero' asylum hotels by the end of this parliament in 2029. In 2022, the government began plans to use 'large sites' like cruise ships and ex-military bases to accommodate asylum seekers. Among these are the Bibby Stockholm barge, which was shut down last year, and former RAF airfield Wethersfield which now houses 588 people as of early 2025. But a review last year found that these sites cost more than hotels as a way to house asylum seekers. Nonetheless, hotels cost around six times more on average than other types of accommodation, according to analysis by the Migration Observatory; at £170 a day compared to £27 a day. Yet most of the time, the government is forced to place people in hotels due to a lack of capacity, with a shortage of accommodation and a substantial –albeit decreasing – asylum backlog. The asylum backlog stood at 78,745 cases at the end of March – a 13 per cent drop from December, and down 41 per cent from the mid-2023 peak. Yet the sizeable backlog, which is still higher than pre-2022 levels, represents a host of ongoing costs for the government as people wait for a decision on their asylum claims. Most asylum seekers are still waiting over six months for an initial decision on their claim, although waiting times have improved compared to the same time last year. The majority of people in the backlog are Afghan, Pakistani and Iranian nationals, according to the Migration Observatory. The UK's asylum backlog is the fifth largest in Europe. Where are asylum seekers staying in the UK? Now, over 8 in 10 local authorities host some asylum seekers, Home Office figures show. This is a significant rise over the last decade. Accommodation for asylum seekers varies by region. In the North East of England, just 5 per cent are housed in hotels, while in London hotels make up the majority of accommodation (65 per cent). Epping Forest council is within the East of England region, which has 41 per cent of migrants housed in hotels. However, being in Essex, the council is on the edge of London which has a higher concentration of asylum seekers than the rest of the UK. Around 140 migrants were being housed in The Bell Hotel in Epping, according to BBC reports, all of whom must now leave by September. Though the hotel has provided accommodation for the Home Office for several years, occupancy has fluctuated, with figures in March showing just 28 asylum seekers housed across Epping Forest hotels. Reform leader Nigel Farage has called on other councils to seek 'Epping-style injunctions' against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, adding: 'It is high time that the outrageously expensive asylum hotel scheme, which nobody in Britain ever voted for, was brought down by popular demand.' The recent pushback has come amid record levels of small boat crossings to the UK. Labour's education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith has admitted that the high numbers are 'a problem that, up until this point, we haven't managed to tackle'. People coming on small boats make up an increasing proportion of asylum applications. Last year, a third of the UK's asylum claims came from small boat migrants. In 2025 so far, over 26,000 migrants have already crossed the English Channel, higher than summer levels in any year to date. In fact, figures at mid-August have nearly exceeded the entirety of 2023 (29,437). Meanwhile arrests of people smugglers who enable the crossings were down last year, according to National Crime Agency data obtained by The Independent. The shadow home secretary called Labour's failure to 'smash the gangs' an 'abject failure'. This suggests that small boats migration could be the highest on record over 2025, bringing with it a slew of new asylum claims; since almost all irregular migrants apply for asylum.
Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Netanyahu: If terrorists butchered 15,000 in Britain, would Starmer reward them?
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Sir Keir Starmer of rewarding Hamas with his plans to recognise a Palestinian state. The Israeli prime minister took aim at the Government appeared on a podcast on Wednesday evening over its decision to recognise Palestine in September unless Israel meets certain conditions. He told the Triggernometry hosts: 'They [Hamas] commit the greatest savagery against Jews since the Holocaust, and the Prime Minister of Britain says we will reward you with a de facto state which is committed openly to repeating the October 7 massacre over and over and over again.' In July, Sir Keir announced that the UK would formally recognise Palestine as a result of the 'increasingly intolerable' situation in Gaza unless Israel took steps to end the suffering, reach a ceasefire, refrain from annexing the West Bank and commit to a peace process. Mr Netanyahu said: 'Let's imagine, what would be the response of Britain if about 15,000 people would be butchered in one day, and you'd have, I don't know, 2,500 hostages taken. Would you say, 'oh, well, we should give our attackers a state right next to London?' Of course not. 'The standard that is being applied is not merely wrong, it's just downright dangerous. Because you're really rewarding these monstrous terrorists with the greatest prize and that's because of weakness. 'And they say we recognise Israel's right to defend itself… as long as Israel doesn't exercise that right,' Mr Netanyahu added. Sir Keir's move followed a pledge by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, that he would recognise a Palestinian state in September. Canada and Australia have said they would follow suit, leading to accusations of anti-Semitism by Israeli politicians, which the governments have strongly denied. The podcast was released as Israel began the first steps of its invasion of Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces 'controls the outskirts of the city', according to Brigadier General Effie Defrin, its spokesman. Protesters in the UK have taken to the streets throughout the war, with demonstrators and activists calling for an end to the conflict and an unconditional recognition of Palestine. Mr Netanyahu said: 'What do these protesters say about Britain? What do they say about Britain? Well, Britain should go down. And the same for the protesters in the US. They burn Israeli flags, they burn American flags and they burn the UK flag. So they're basically a hostile minority supporting monstrosities. 'And I think that it's shameful the way that the Western leaders in Britain, in France, in Canada and New Zealand, the way they buckle. They attack the Jewish state, and they give a prize for those who would destroy the one and only Jewish state. Shameful.' Mr Netanyahu was interviewed by Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster on the 'free speech' podcast, which has previously had guests including Nigel Farage, Jordan Peterson and Stephen Fry. He dismissed accusations that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza, calling the claims 'starvation fraud'. Between March and June, an estimated 56,000 tonnes of food entered the territory – less than a quarter of Gaza's minimum needs and equivalent to around 810 calories per person per day. Mr Netanyahu also said the conflict was not becoming a 'forever war', although Israel is preparing to increase its military presence in the Strip. On Wednesday Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, approved plans to begin a new phase of operations in some of Gaza's most densely populated areas, with a call for up to 60,000 reservists and to extend the service of others. 'I think if we leave them [Hamas] there and they're committed to our destruction, then you'll have a forever war. But what is happening on the ground is actually the opposite,' said Mr Netanyahu. He acknowledged earlier in August that 'we've not been winning [the propaganda war], to put it mildly… There are vast forces arrayed against us.' Mr Netanyahu was previously interviewed on the Canadian-American YouTube channel The Nelk Boys.
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
How many asylum seekers are in UK hotels and why are they being housed there?
The subject of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has come into sharp focus after a High Court ruling. On Tuesday, Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the latest overall data. – How many asylum seekers are in hotels across the UK? The most recent Home Office data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March. This was down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079. New figures – published among the usual quarterly immigration data release – are expected on Thursday, showing numbers in hotels at the end of June. Figures for hotels published by the Home Office date back to December 2022 and showed numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023 when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels. – How many hotels are in use for asylum seekers? It is thought there were more than 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023. Labour said this has since been reduced to fewer than 210. – Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels? Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation, known as contingency accommodation, if they are awaiting assessment of their claim or have had a claim approved and there is not enough longer-term accommodation available. The Home Office provides accommodation to asylum seekers who have no other way of supporting themselves on a 'no choice' basis, so they cannot choose where they live. When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to accommodation such as hotels and large sites, like former military bases. In May, the National Audit Office said those temporarily living in hotels accounted for 35% of all people in asylum accommodation. – Is this likely to be a permanent arrangement? Labour has pledged to end the 'costly use of hotels to house asylum seekers in this Parliament' – which would be 2029, if not earlier. Campaigners and charities have long argued that hotels are not suitable environments to house asylum seekers. The Refugee Council said they 'cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo and are flashpoints in communities' and urged the Government to 'partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities'. – What is the Government saying since the legal ruling? Ministers are 'looking at a range of different contingency options' following Tuesday's ruling, according to security minister Dan Jarvis In the immediate aftermath of the judgment, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle repeated criticism of the previous Conservative government, saying Labour had 'inherited a broken asylum system'. She said the Government would 'continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns' around asylum hotels. – What options does the Home Office have now? Last month, amid protests outside the Bell Hotel and more migrants crossing the Channel, an extra 400 spaces were being prepared to house male asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield in Essex. The former military site, which has a usual capacity of 800 beds, is expected to house more adult men on a short-term basis. The Labour Government scrapped the large site of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, earlier this year, while Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, is also due to end housing asylum seekers and be returned to the Ministry of Defence in September. – Why were there protests outside the Bell Hotel? The hotel in Epping has been at the centre of a series of protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl – something he has denied and he is due to stand trial later in August. After the High Court's ruling, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote in the Telegraph calling for Epping protests to inspire further action wherever there are concerns about the 'threat posed by young undocumented males' living in hotels. But on Tuesday more than 100 women's organisations wrote to ministers warning that vital conversations about violence against women and girls are being 'hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda' that fuels divisions and harms survivors. The joint statement, including from Rape Crisis England & Wales and Refuge, said: 'We have been alarmed in recent weeks by an increase in unfounded claims made by people in power, and repeated in the media, that hold particular groups as primarily responsible for sexual violence. 'This not only undermines genuine concerns about women's safety, but also reinforces the damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers.'
