Thales to open third facility in NI
Thales, the French-owned arms company, is to open a third facility in Northern Ireland, MLAs have been told.On Sunday Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Thales would supply 5,000 of its lightweight multirole missiles (LMMs) to Ukraine in a deal worth up to £1.6bnThe company currently has a factory in east Belfast and a test facility in County Down.Thales managing director Nigel MacVean said the company was investing £100m in NI which would include opening at a third site.
The company is also planning to recruit 200 additional staff over the next two years.Speaking to a Stormont committee Mr MacVean said the LMMs were keeping Russian helicopters out of Ukraine and another Thales weapon, the Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (the NLAW), had kept Russian tanks out of Kyiv.Thales began delivering LMMs to Ukraine at the end of 2024 as part of an initial £162m contract for 650 of the missiles. The new order is in addition to that.The contract has been placed by the MoD's procurement arm Defence Equipment & Support on behalf of the Ukrainian Government.It will be funded by a loan underwritten by United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) after a deal signed last year to allow Ukraine to draw on £3.5bn worth of support from UKEF to spend with UK industry.
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Daily Mirror
39 minutes ago
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Freedom Flotilla tracker live as Greta Thunberg aims to break Israel's aid seige
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The National
an hour ago
- The National
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an hour ago
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EXCLUSIVE Revealed: Labour-run councils are housing 3 times as many asylum seekers as Reform-controlled areas - so how many are in YOUR authority?
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Basking in Reform's extraordinary dominance in May's local elections, Mr Farage vowed to reject migrants across his party's 10 newly-gained councils. Zia Yusuf, the party chair and a major donor, later promised to use 'every instrument of power' to do so, including the threat of court action. MailOnline analysis, based on Home Office figures, show there are nine asylum seekers for 10,000 residents across those Reform-held councils, including Lincolnshire and County Durham. For comparison, the UK-wide average is 16. The figure for councils under Tory rule is 11.5. Twenty-one of the 218 upper-tier local authorities in MailOnline's audit supported no asylum seekers. The Labour-run councils housing the most asylum seekers, in relation to their population, are Hounslow (72 per 10,000) Halton (70) and Coventry (59). The council housing the most, Hillingdon (94), is run by Tories. Chris Hopkins, political research director at polling firm Savanta, believes immigration is a major hurdle for Sir Keir's Government. He said: 'Immigration and asylum is increasing in salience among the British public, probably is reaching the highs now of sort of 2015/2016 to be honest, having taken a bit of a drop off during the pandemic. 'I'm not going to say the next election is going to be about immigration but it definitely does feel like the hot topic of the moment. 'It presents a problem – not just for the Labour Party – but for any government of any colour because there is a sense in the country that numbers are too high.' Mr Hopkins added: 'There is a sense that Labour's opposition now is Reform UK, not the Conservatives. 'Obviously Reform UK are known, to some extent, as a single issue, anti-immigration party. So Labour have to navigate that ultimately, and need to be seen acting on that. 'I think that there's a danger of them trying to "out Reform" Reform, which isn't going to work for them as it didn't work for Rishi Sunak. 'And I think that Labour potentially risk alienating some of their more Left-wing liberal voters to the Liberal Democrats or Greens if they go down that route. 'A lot could change at the next General Election (to be held no later than August 2029) but the direction of travel at the minute is Reform UK making humongous strides.' Polls suggest that Labour's failure to address sky high immigration could spell further disaster for the party at the ballot box. A recent survey by IPSOS found 68 per cent of the public deem the numbers coming to the UK to seek refugee status or asylum too high. And 33 per cent think they are doing a worse job on immigration than the Tories. Just 17 per cent feel Labour is handling it better. Labour's highest-profile defeat in May's locals was in the Runcorn by-election, where Reform narrowly beat them by six votes. In the run-up to polling day, both parties promised to close a 425-bed hotel in the constituency that was being used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers. Locals in the Cheshire town claimed crime had increased in the area since it started housing asylum seekers in 2020. On a national level, Downing Street's sweeping new plan will increase efforts to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels. It comes as a series of investigations by MailOnline have revealed the 'absurd' reality of asylum claims in Britain, with critics saying that it was proof we've become a 'soft touch'. Fuelled by the small boats crisis plaguing the Channel, a record 108,000 applications were lodged in 2024. Claims from dozens of countries, including Afghanistan and Iran, have doubled over the last 20 years. Last month we revealed that citizens in the US, Australia and even Scandinavia are trying to claim asylum here – despite already residing in wealthy Western countries that are free of major human rights abuses. And a fortnight ago we exposed how Northumberland council in Britain is housing 600 times more asylum seekers now than a decade ago. Home Office policy is to disperse asylum seekers around the country. Officials insist they are not given a choice as to location and the accommodation. Local authorities also do not get a say in how many are housed in their areas, insiders insist. They are given £1,200 for each asylum seeker being housed in their boundaries. A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: 'We are keen to continue to work with government on a more equitable approach across asylum and resettlement. 'One that takes into account wider housing, homelessness and cohesion challenges, with sufficient lead in time for engagement with councils on any new sites.' The Home Office says value for money, community cohesion and the wellbeing of those working and living in asylum accommodation will continue to be at the 'forefront of decision-making'. Although authorities can object, they have little formal power to actually stop asylum seekers being housed in their areas. Newly-elected Reform politicians have vowed to stand up for their communities and fight against their dispersal. Mr Farage said he was opposed to the government 'plonking scores of young men' in counties where his party now has control. He has vowed to 'resist' asylum seekers being housed in the counties where Reform was in control, claiming they were being 'dumped into the north of England, getting everything for free'. 'People hate them,' he told The Telegraph. 'They see a sense of total unfairness that they are working themselves to bits to pay tax for young men who can illegally come into the country and be given everything for free.' Newly-elected County Durham councillor and ex-GB News presenter Darren Grimes said Reform would not 'allow our communities to be a dumping ground for illegal migrants'. And in her victory speech, Reform's new mayor for Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns proposed housing them in tents instead, saying 'tents are good enough for France; they should be good enough for you in Britain.' Her comments prompted some rival candidates to walk off the stage in outrage. As well as getting free accomodation, asylum seekers are also entitled to UK taxpayer-funded NHS healthcare, prescriptions, dental care and children under 18 are required to go to school (where they may be able to get free meals). If their accommodation provides meals each person gets £8.86 per week, this rises to £49.18 per week if no meals are provided. Extra money is also provided to pregnant mothers and young children. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We are working to fairly disperse asylum seekers across the country, consulting closely with local authorities to further reduce our reliance on hotels and deliver better value for money for taxpayers, while giving control back to communities through our Plan for Change. 'We've taken immediate action to fix the broken asylum system this government inherited, by increasing asylum decision making by 52 per cent and removing nearly 30,000 people with no right to be here. 'By restoring grip on the system and speeding up decision making, we will end the use of hotels and are forecast to save the taxpayer £4 billion by the end of 2026.'
