The truth is that England has a toxic relationship with its national flag
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Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Government issues urgent appeal for 5,000 homes to house 20,000 migrants
The Home Office has issued an urgent appeal for 5,000 properties to house up to 20,000 migrants amid an accommodation crisis caused by a landmark High Court ruling. Asylum accommodation contractors working for the Home Office 'reached out' to property specialists earlier in August, seeking 5,000 residential units. Insiders suggested each flat would have two bedrooms on average, with space to house four migrants. The move emerged on Wednesday, a day after Epping Forest district council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court to shut down the Bell Hotel in Essex over alleged planning breaches after it became a focus for anti-immigration protests. The hunt for alternative accommodation is part of Labour's pledge to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the close of this Parliament in 2029. However, some 200 hotels are still being used by the Home Office to house more than 32,000 asylum seekers, a similar number to summer 2024 – after Labour was forced to find accommodation for the record 27,997 migrants to have crossed the Channel so far in 2025. The Epping council ruling threatens to spark similar legal challenges by other councils seeking to shut asylum hotels in their areas. Two dozen have already signalled that they will consider following suit which, if successful, could worsen the asylum accommodation crisis. Ministers are seeking to partner councils to buy, lease or rent houses and vacant properties in which to place asylum seekers as an alternative to hotels. Officials are also targeting disused tower blocks, student accommodation and old teacher-training colleges for use as 'medium-sized' accommodation sites. The new appeal is understood to have been seeking shorter-term leases or rents, where migrants would be accommodated for 90 days with an additional 30 days' notice. Similar 'contingency' accommodation has also been commissioned at the former Wethersfield RAF base near Braintree, Essex, where the Home Office has raised the cap of 800 migrants to allow 1,225 to live on the site. Residents were told at a meeting on Tuesday that the numbers had already risen to 890, with two intakes of 50 more asylum seekers scheduled every week. Wethersfield is the only 'large' site that Labour inherited from the Tories and kept open, despite Sir Keir Starmer saying before the election that it 'needs to close'. The two other major sites identified by the Tories – the Bibby Stockholm barge and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire – have both been abandoned by Labour. On Wednesday, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, called on the Government to guarantee that none of the asylum seekers removed from the Bell Hotel would be transferred to hotels or any other accommodation 'much needed for British people'. He also urged Sir Keir to call an emergency Cabinet meeting to draw up plans to deport all illegal migrants on arrival. '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,' he said. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has launched the campaign Lawyers for Borders, which has already attracted top-flight barristers to advise councils on legal challenges to close asylum hotels. 'Every patriotic council, whether Conservative, Reform, whatever, should follow Epping's lead and seek an injunction. And if you are a council or a community group and you need our help, contact my office. If you're a lawyer and you want to join the fight, contact me,' he said in a video on X. 'Let's create a new movement, Lawyers for Borders… We need to put as much pressure as possible on Keir Starmer to change the law, to deport every single illegal migrant who's here, and to close all the hotels.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government has consistently said the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is neither sustainable nor suitable as a long-term approach. 'We remain committed to working with our partners to identify more suitable and cost-effective alternatives.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Starmer will give 16-year-olds the vote – but they aren't studying politics
Children are uninterested in studying politics at GCSE, despite Labour announcing that it will lower the voting age to 16. Analysis by The Telegraph shows that the take-up of politics-related subjects at GCSE has remained significantly lower than others, such as religious studies, over the past five years. Around three per cent of teenagers are thought to have taken a politics-related GCSE this summer, according to provisional entry data from the Department for Education (DfE). Separate figures obtained by The Telegraph show that teaching staff are ill-equipped to provide lessons on the subject to 16-year-olds. Just nine teachers across the whole of England who offered lessons on government and politics to GCSE pupils last year had a relevant post A-level qualification in the subject, according to official data released through Freedom of Information laws. Last month, ministers confirmed that they would lower the voting age in Britain by two years. Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, said Labour would make its manifesto pledge law by the end of this Parliament, meaning 16-year-olds would be able to vote at the next general election. Experts have called for that to be matched with better politics teaching in schools amid concerns over a lack of political engagement among young people and an over-reliance on social media content. The DfE does not publish specific participation data for the government and politics GCSE because entries are so low that it is categorised along with other social sciences. Citizenship studies Pupils can also take a separate GCSE in citizenship studies, which is a mandatory part of the national curriculum and is taught in the same vein as personal, social, health and economic education. Take-up of overall social sciences has grown by a quarter since 2021, with 50,025 pupils sitting GCSEs this summer in one or more of those subjects – which also include psychology and law. But individual figures for politics are thought to make up a very small portion of those numbers. The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), a Northern Irish exam board that is one of the only ones to offer the government and politics GCSE, has recorded just a handful of students taking the subject over the past few years. Data provided to The Telegraph showed that 205 pupils sat the CCEA's government and politics GCSE in 2021, with the figure rising to 313 last year. The figures are eclipsed by the popularity of other optional subjects at GCSE, with nearly 292,000 students studying geography and more than 240,000 taking religious studies. Entries for citizenship studies GCSE have remained similarly low, having barely moved over the past five years despite an increase in the 16-year-old population. Around three per cent of students sat an exam in the subject last year, with the figure expected to stay roughly the same this summer. The Government is facing calls to make politics a more fundamental part of the national curriculum in England to better equip children with the skills they need for adult life. Last year, Labour appointed Prof Becky Francis, an education expert, to lead an independent review into the current curriculum and assessment model, which will publish its findings in the autumn. An interim report by Prof Francis, published earlier this year, said the review had 'heard consistently from children and young people and their parents that they want more focus' on subjects such as 'financial education, careers knowledge and politics and governance'. However, a Government source told The Telegraph there were no plans to make politics a compulsory GCSE subject or to broaden teaching on the topic, even with 16-year-olds set to get the vote. They instead pointed to the existing citizenship part of the national curriculum, which includes teaching on the UK's political system and democracy, as well as modules on the justice system, police and public money. Schools are required to offer citizenship lessons, but there is no minimum number of hours mandated for the subject and many schools stop teaching it by Year Nine. By contrast, schools must teach a minimum of two hours of physical education each week. Rollout has also been criticised as patchy, with just 42 per cent of teachers in England saying their schools provided regular citizenship lessons in 2023, according to a poll by the Institute For Public Policy Research think tank. Data from the school workforce census, obtained by The Telegraph through freedom of information requests, also showed a dearth in qualified politics teachers at GCSE level – they are instead concentrated on A-level pupils. There were 17 teachers across the whole of England offering politics lessons to pupils in Years Seven to Nine last year who had a post-A-level qualification in the subject, with the figure dropping to just nine for pupils in Years 10 and 11. The number of qualified teachers then swelled to 1,342 for pupils in Years 12 and 13, with politics generally taken more seriously as a subject at A-level. The DfE did not provide similar data for qualified teachers offering GCSE lessons on citizenship studies, but figures show that fewer than a fifth of those teaching all age groups had a degree in a relevant subject last year. Overall GCSE results this summer are expected to be broadly similar to those seen last year, when more than a fifth – or 21.8 per cent – of all entries were awarded the top grades. However, pupils could face tougher competition for sixth form places this year after the Government hit private school fees with VAT for the first time from Jan 1, 2025. It is expected to spark a scramble for places at top state-funded schools, with a rise in the 16-year-old population set to add to pressure. Prof Lee Elliot Major, a social mobility expert at the University of Exeter, told the PA news agency: 'Competition for the most selective sixth forms will be fiercer than ever, with fears over VAT on private schools likely driving more families to seek out places in the state sector.'
Edinburgh Reporter
an hour ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Former council leader Cammy Day represents Edinburgh at international event
Sending former council leader Cammy Day to represent Edinburgh to an international delegation earlier this month 'made perfect sense, ' according to the city's leader. Along with fellow Labour councillor James Dalgleish and other city figures, Cllr Day met with 26 visiting councillors from Kaohsiung, Taiwan in Edinburgh. The news came at the city's Policy and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday, where council leader Jane Meagher said she put his name forward due to her being unable to attend. Cllr Day resigned his role as council leader in December last year over allegations he had sent sexual messages to Ukrainian refugees living in the Capital. He was also suspended by the Labour Party, but recently was readmitted to the party and their council group after he was cleared of any criminal behaviour by police in May. SNP councillor Kate Campbell raised questions over why Cllr Day was in attendance, given the 'widespread acknowledgement' that he had carried out inappropriate behaviour. Councillor Meagher said: 'I wasn't available for this, and it seemed to me to be a matter of common sense to include Councillor Day given his historical involvement and knowledge of our friendship agreement with [Kaohsiung]. 'For that reason, it made perfect sense for him to be there, to help smooth the path between Cllr Dalgleish and the delegation, which I gather was extremely powerful and helpful. 'It made perfect sense not to exclude somebody who had done a considerable amount of work in developing this friendship agreement with Taiwan.' Cllr Campbell had also asked about two Edinburgh University representatives in the delegation who had been unable to attend at the last minute due to ill health. She said that she did not doubt that they were unwell, but asked whether a policy of notifying city partners of what councillors may be present at an event would be wise. Council officer Chris Adams, who covers international relationships, said that the two representatives had been unwell, but that he did not have any more information about them. Cllr Meagher added: 'As far as Edinburgh University attendance is concerned, I don't think we can draw any conclusions around their motives for not being able to attend. 'If we think about global politics, it might be that you draw conclusions related to that, rather than to any individuals who might be present.' A large portion of Edinburgh University's student body is from China, which does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country. Mr Adams said Cllr Dalgleish was in attendance at the meeting in his civic duty as a Bailie, a representative of the Lord Provost. And standing in for the Lord Provost, who was unable to attend, was another Bailie, James Douglas. He said the university attendees had been set to discuss the research connections between Edinburgh University and universities in Asia. He also said James McVeigh from Festivals Edinburgh was also in attendance, and that much of the conversation in the meeting was around how Edinburgh handles the festivals. Cllr Meagher said she understood that the discussions were 'extremely powerful and helpful'. Edinburgh has a range of sister city and friendship agreements with cities around the globe, including Krakow, Dunedin, Kyiv and San Diego. By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related
