Ministers urged to keep care plans for children with special needs
An EHCP is a legally binding document which ensures a child or young person with special or educational needs gets the right support from a local authority.Full details of the proposed changes are due in October, but ministers have not ruled out scrapping the education plans, insisting no decisions have been taken.In a letter to the Guardian newspaper, campaigners have said that without the documents in mainstream schools, "many thousands of children risk being denied vital provision, or losing access to education altogether"."Whatever the Send system's problems, the answer is not to remove the rights of children and young people. Families cannot afford to lose these precious legal protections," they added.Signatories to the letter include the heads of charities, professors, Send parents including actor Sally Phillips, and campaigners including broadcaster Chris Packham.Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Phillipson saidL"What I can say very clearly is that we will strengthen and put in place better support for children."I've been spending a lot of time listening to parents, to disability rights groups, to campaigners and to others and to colleagues across Parliament as well, because it's important to get this right," she added, but said it is "tough".Mr O'Brien, the shadow minister, said the government had "no credibility left"."This is a government defined by broken promises and u-turns. They said they would employ more teachers and they have fewer. They said they would not raise tax on working people but did," Mr O'Brien said.Data from the Department for Education released in June showed that the number of EHCPs has increased.In total, there were 638,745 EHCPs in place in January 2025, up 10.8% on the same point last year.The number of new plans which started during 2024 also grew by 15.8% on the previous year, to 97,747.Requests for children to be assessed for EHCPs rose by 11.8% to 154,489 in 2023.A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have been clear that there are no plans to abolish Send tribunals, or to remove funding or support from children, families and schools."The spokesperson added that it would be "totally inaccurate to suggest that children, families and schools might experience any loss of funding or support".
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Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Small boat migrant 'gives step-by-step guide on how to cross the Channel' on TikTok from his four-star hotel - then urges others to 'risk their life and spend their money' on the illegal journey
An illegal migrant has shared a 'step-by-step guide' on how to cross the Channel on a small boat before telling others to 'spend their' money making the illegal journey. The man shared videos of his journey on TikTok, gaining nearly one million views, as he boasted about entering the UK illegally. Known as Alexandra420, he shared videos of himself on the small boat before live streaming in an asylum hotel. There, he told followers he was in 'the best place' while broadcasting from his free accommodation near Heathrow Airport. Alexandra left Calais at around 4am on Saturday, The Sun reported. He first shared a 13-second clip from the middle of the Channel, which showed a French lifeboat alonsgide which was also full of migrants making the dangerous crossing. In a second clip, he shared a video of himself grinning in an orange jacket and pointing to the sky. He then showed the boat as it was surrounded by huge freight ships, set to the theme tune of US drama Prison Break. It comes as the number of small-boat migrants reaching Britain under Labour passed 50,000. Keir Starmer was slammed for 'incompetence' over the handling of the Channel crisis, with the soaring figure a clear indication of the lack of a plan since he axed the Tories' Rwanda deportation scheme on his first day in power. Former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith blamed the Tories, claiming: 'What is happening is the result of the last government.' Yesterday, Reform Leader Nigel Farage criticised the Prime Minister on social media. He wrote: 'As I predicted 5 years ago, unless we deport illegal migrants the invasion will be huge. 50,000 since our weak Prime Minister took office and there is no sign of it stopping.' Alexandra was one of more than 400 arrivals on Saturday and was taken in by Border Force officials to be processed in Kent. He was then taken to the four-star Crowne Plaza Hotel near Heathrow, where he started live streaming to his followers. In the stream, he gave viewers a tour of his room, with two single beds and an en suite bathroom. He said: 'This is dedicated to those haters who were happy thinking we either drowned or ended up dead.' Alexandra later claimed the boat he illegally travelled on began to deflate halfway through the journey and would have sank if Border Force officials had not rescued them. He said: 'It was dangerous. Our boat sank. It was punctured. The water came from the inside of the boat. 'On the other side, three people pumped the water. If the British boats hadn't come in an hour, we would have been in trouble.' Despite nearly facing serious danger, he encouraged others to pay the people-smugglers to risk the dangerous crossing. He said: 'I risked my life, I spent my money, I came. Your country is not your mother. 'Those who want to come, this is the best place. Don't be stingy. Your country is not your father, that you are so stingy. Live your life. 'Tell your four friends to come. Why are you so stingy? Being stingy is not good for God. You see, I risked my life! Why don't you come? My wish was to come to this hotel and live. I came here just for this.' He claimed that after being told about the risk of deportation, he told officials 'I will commit suicide. Alexandra finished his video by spinning on his chair and shouting 'welcome to London'. The Government's 'returns deal' with France appears to have done little to deter those determined to get to Britain, with the latest total including more than 1,500 arrivals in the seven days since the 'one in, one out' scheme launched. Official figures revealed there were 474 arrivals on Monday alone, bringing the total since the general election on July 4 last year to 50,271, despite the Prime Minister's promise to 'smash the gangs' behind the trafficking trade. The milestone was passed seven months earlier than under his Conservative predecessor, Rishi Sunak. Baroness Smith – who is now an education, women and equalities minister under Sir Keir – said: 'It is a completely legitimate claim to say that what is happening is the result of the last government that chose to focus on gimmicks with the Rwanda scheme.' Asked if the crossings were not Labour's fault, she insisted that the Government was taking responsibility now, but added: 'I don't believe it is our fault that it was enabled to take root in the way in which it has done by a government who failed to do what was necessary at that point. 'The last government enabled this hideous criminal activity to really get its roots into Europe. There was a lengthy period at the time in which the criminal gangs... behind this had the opportunity to have this operation set up and really embedded. 'And that's the task that this Government now has – to deconstruct that.' However, her attempt to evade responsibility was met with incredulity. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'The Government has confirmed 50,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel in Labour's short time in power – the worst crisis in our history. 'Labour has surrendered our borders, and the consequences are being felt in our communities, from rising crime to shocking cases of rape and sexual assault by recent arrivals. Labour has scrapped Conservative deterrents and created the conditions for chaos, leaving the British people to foot the bill.' Labour scrapped the Tories' Rwanda asylum deal – designed to deter migrants from crossing – as one of its first acts, pledging instead to 'smash the gangs' by boosting law enforcement. However, small boat numbers are soaring, with 27,029 arrivals this year, up by 47 per cent on the same point last year and 67 per cent on the same point in 2023. Since the start of the crisis in 2018, 178,167 migrants have reached Britain, with only about four per cent of them removed. A Home Office spokesperson told The Sun it is unacceptable 'to promote the criminal services of people-traffickers or for social media companies to allow it'. The Home Office has been contacted for further comment.
Daily Mail
19 minutes ago
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'Group sex talk, a lust for married men and cancer': Blow-by-blow, read the astonishing accusations Mark Latham is making about his ex in court
Mark Latham's ex-girlfriend told acquaintances her husband had died of bowel cancer and that she was a grieving widow - when nothing of the sort happened, the politician claims in an explosive court document. In a sworn affidavit, filed in local court as part of restraining order proceedings Nathalie Matthews is bringing against Latham, the politician also claims Ms Matthews told him in a conversation in London in June 2023 that she had an interest in group sex and had a 'fetish' for married men. 'In f***ng me, it shows how much they value it, risking their marriage,' she told him, Latham alleges in his affidavit. During that same alleged conversation, held during a six-week trip to London, he also learned Ms Matthews ran an OnlyFans account under the name 'BondiC**S**t', Latham claimed in the court document. Latham, who had recently left a 22-year marriage, said in the affidavit that the conversation in London was 'a lot to take in', adding it was 'wild and beyond my experience in life'. That night, Latham decided to pursue what he called a 'situationship' with Ms Matthews because, he said, he wanted to embrace a 'modern approach of not being judgmental about a woman's morality' and to 'enjoy' himself before he passed away. 'At my age (62 when we met on 3 March 2023) my father had already dropped dead, and if that was going to happen to me one day, at least I was going to enjoy myself beforehand,' he wrote. 'So, I decided to see how it went for those six weeks, if our time together was compatible and happy, comforted by the fact that Nathalie spent a lot of time in Dubai, meaning if I needed a break from her intensity, I had that back in Sydney. 'I saw 90 per cent benefit in our situation and ten per cent downside. 90 beat ten, as I rationalised it at 3-4am in Putney that night and eventually fell asleep.' Elsewhere in the affidavit, Latham accused Ms Matthews of telling people her ex-husband had died of bowel cancer despite being alive to this day. 'When she went to Dubai in 2022, following a break in her time with (her husband), she told people there her husband had died of bowel cancer and she was in Dubai as a grieving widow,' he wrote. Ms Matthew's ex-husband, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Mail he was not aware of the alleged claims, and that he had never suffered from bowel cancer. Ms Matthews declined to comment. The affidavit was filed on July 31 in response to Ms Matthews' AVO application with the NSW Local Court. Ms Matthews, 37, alleged that Latham, 64, inflicted 'a sustained pattern' of psychological, financial and emotional abuse against her for almost three years. The former federal opposition leader has denied all abuse claims made by Ms Matthews, alleging the pair's relationship was consensual. The relationship, which Latham said was founded on 'sexual pleasure', would devolve within the next nearly two years. Also in the court document, Latham accused Ms Matthews of planning to meet a senior corporate figure for sex in May 2024. 'She called me on my mobile that day. I remember it well because she rarely called (preferring to message) and the Parliament was sitting. 'I took her call as I was walking down a corridor back towards my office.' Daily Mail does not suggest Ms Matthews is dishonest nor that Latham's claims are true, simply that they have been made in an affidavit sworn by Latham. Latham has denied all abuse accusations, claiming that he had 'scores of documents' which would vindicate him, and enjoyed a 'fantastic' sex life with Ms Matthews. In the affidavit, Mr Latham also rebuffed the idea relationships should be entirely equal, claiming Ms Matthews enjoyed elements of 'consensual subservience'. 'A feature of today's politics is the woke feminist idealisation of the notion of Equality. This is a political theory, popularised by the #MeToo movement, that every aspect of every relationship must have equal power relations and practices. 'But as a colleague said to me last week, "It's not uncommon for relationships to be internally unequal, in fact there are plenty of them in private, it's just the way some people like it by choice". 'Nathalie was one of those people, enjoying elements of consensual subservience.' Ms Matthews describes herself as the managing director of Skynet Global Logistics, a company involved in freight forwarding which has a presence in Sydney, Perth and Dubai. Latham and Ms Matthews began dating in 2023 and ended their relationship earlier this year. The matter will return to court next month.
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Epping council goes to High Court to remove migrants from hotel
Epping Forest district council has applied to the High Court to stop asylum seekers being housed at a hotel that has been at the centre of protests. The local authority has asked for an interim injunction to prohibit the use of the Bell Hotel as asylum seeker accommodation for a fortnight. The leader of the council said it had taken the action because ' the current situation cannot go on', adding that the Home Office 'continues not to listen'. Protests have been taking place outside the hotel since last month, after an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl days after arriving in Britain. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denied the charge when he appeared at Chelmsford magistrates' court, and has been remanded in custody. In a statement on Tuesday, Cllr Chris Whitbread said: 'The current situation cannot go on. If the Bell Hotel was a nightclub, we could have closed it down long ago. 'So far as the council is aware, there is no criminal record checking of individuals who might only have been in the country a matter of days before being housed at the hotel. 'There are five schools and a residential care home within the vicinity of the hotel. 'The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community. We are frustrated that the Home Office continues not to listen.' The Conservative-led council is claiming that placing asylum seekers in the Bell Hotel is a 'clear breach of planning permission' because it is not being used as a hotel. Cllr Whitbread said he hoped that, should an interim injunction be granted, it would be a 'catalyst to the prohibition of the use of the Bell Hotel' to house migrants. At the end of last month, Essex Police said 14 people had been charged in connection with protests outside the hotel, and there had been 23 arrests. Protesters opposing the use of the hotel to house migrants have also been faced by counter-protests, at times leading to hundreds of demonstrators in the area. Since the demonstrations began in Epping, there have been other migrant protests cropping up in other parts of the country, including at Heathrow and the financial area of Canary Wharf. Cllr Holly Whitbread, responsible for Epping Forest district council's finances, told PA: 'In terms of the community impact and the pressure on local infrastructure, it's just completely unsustainable, particularly also in light of the amount of police resource which has been required around some of the protests which I know have been largely peaceful.' 'In theory, the Home Office are supposed to foot the bill for those within the hotel, but I think the reality is often different'. Meanwhile, Ricard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, claimed migrants were 'leering and jeering' at mothers taking their children to school. He told Times Radio: 'We are seeing an increase in numbers of sexual assaults, leering and jeering, coincidentally around asylum seeker hotels. When I campaign up and down the country, I hear this from concerned residents close to these hotels time and time again. Around primary schools, as mums take their youngsters to school.' Other local authorities have previously sought injunctions against the use of hotels as asylum accommodation. Councils including Ipswich borough council, East Riding of Yorkshire council, Fenland district council and Stoke-on-Trent city council had interim injunctions granted but not continued. In January 2023, the High Court decided to continue an injunction from the previous in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where a seafront hotel had been lined up to house asylum seekers. The court noted that the area's local plan had a policy to protect the seafront, and that hostels were not permitted there. Matt Vickers, the shadow policing minister, said Epping Forest district council 'is absolutely right to take a stand'. He added: 'Communities like Epping should not be forced to carry the burden of Labour's broken asylum policy. Local residents have every right to feel safe in their own streets and every right to object to this accommodation in their community. 'This is the direct result of Labour's decision to throw open Britain's borders and tear up the deterrents the Conservatives put in place. The Conservatives will remove all illegal arrivals immediately and put a proper deterrent in place so that towns like Epping are never put in this position again.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.'
