PETER VAN ONSELEN: Labor has lied to us about the NDIS. For years, they told us black is white and up is down. Now, the s*** has hit the fan. And nobody wants to say what it's REALLY going to mean for Aussies
If a Coalition minister so much as whispered 'tighten eligibility' Labor would shout 'cruelty!' and roll out a Medicare-style scare campaign.
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Rhyl Journal
14 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
People have ‘every right' to protest asylum hotels
Chris Philp named three Conservative-led councils which are considering taking legal action against hoteliers whose property is being used to house asylum seekers. His party's leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Conservative council leaders 'encouraging' them to follow Epping Forest District Council's footsteps by launching bids to shut these hotels, if their 'legal advice supports it'. Epping Forest District Council in Essex secured a High Court temporary injunction this week, blocking the use of Epping's Bell Hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers on planning grounds. Mr Philp told BBC Breakfast that Borough of Broxbourne Council in Hertfordshire, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council in Surrey, and Hillingdon Council in London were each considering taking similar legal action. 'So, I think there are many up and down the country who are looking at this following the Epping ruling,' he said. Mr Philp added: 'I think these councils are, you know, sick and tired of having these asylum hotels housing predominantly young men who entered the country illegally in their communities. 'They want to see them closing down and that is why I think they're rightly looking at legal action.' Asked whether there was a 'risk' the High Court's decision 'will encourage more protests and problems in communities outside these hotels', Mr Philp told BBC Breakfast: 'People are understandably angry about the Government, the Labour Government's failings, the border crisis they're presiding over. 'They do have the right to peacefully protest – I do stress the word 'peacefully'. Peaceful protest is lawful, it is every citizen's right to do that. 'Of course, if it isn't peaceful, that is wrong and that should be dealt with by the police, but where protest is peaceful, people have every right to engage in protest.' He had earlier claimed that 'reporting says hundreds of charges have been laid against illegal immigrants being accommodated in these hotels'. At the High Court this week, lawyers for the Home Office warned that a temporary injunction in Epping 'runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests' elsewhere, after several demonstrations outside the Bell Hotel. Edward Brown KC, for the Government, also warned the move would 'substantially interfere' with the Home Office's statutory duty in potentially avoiding a breach of the asylum seekers' human rights. Speaking on Thursday, minister Catherine McKinnell said Labour had 'inherited a terrible mess from the last government when it comes to the immigration system and particularly the processing of asylum claims – massive backlog'. The education minister told Sky News: '(I) absolutely recognise the concerns that local communities have and we want to work with local communities to find solutions.' Pressed on the speed of Government efforts to close asylum hotels, Ms McKinnell said: 'What we've done is doubled the number of asylum claims that have been processed. 'So, that is reducing the number of people who are requiring this accommodation, but also returning people that shouldn't be here. 'We're also committed to ending the use of asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament. 'So, it will take some time to clean up the situation that we've inherited, but, you know, it's really important that we continue to both manage the accommodation that people are currently in and also speed up the process.' A Labour spokesperson described Mrs Badenoch's letter as being a 'pathetic stunt' and 'desperate and hypocritical nonsense from the architects of the broken asylum system', and added there were now '20,000 fewer asylum seekers in hotels than at their peak under the Tories'. The Conservative leader told her party's town hall leaders that whether or not to block a hotel from housing asylum seekers 'will depend on individual circumstances of the case' and continued: 'But it is the Labour Government which is trying to ram through such asylum hotels without consultation and without proper process.' Richard Biggs, Conservative leader of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, told the PA news agency: 'We are studying the judgment with our lawyers to understand it and if a similar action would work for us. 'We have had some impact and we had a protest outside our hotel in August which was local people having a peaceful protest to express their concerns.' He added that 'wider infrastructure has to be considered when determining planning'. Broxbourne leader Corina Gander previously told PA the decision in nearby Epping appeared to set a 'massive precedent' and the borough council is now seeking advice. Leaders at Labour-led authorities in Tamworth and Wirral have said they are considering the High Court's decision in relation to hotels in their areas. Reform UK leaders in Staffordshire and West Northamptonshire are also considering further action.
The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump touts his peace deal between ‘Aberbaijan and Albania' – getting both countries' names wrong
President Trump was caught tongue-tied as he touted brokering a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 'For the Aberbaijan – that was a big one going on for 34, 35 years, er Albania, I mean, think of that, going on for years, and I got to know the heads and I got to know them through trade. I was dealing with them a little bit and saying, 'Why are you guys fighting?'' Trump said during The Mark Levin Show on Tuesday, where he also repeated claims that he had ended 'seven wars.' Earlier this month, Trump announced a peace deal, ending decades of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, two nations who have been in a state of tension since the 1980s. 'And I said, 'I'm not going to do a trade deal if you guys are going to fight – it's crazy. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I got that one settled,' the commander-in-chief added. 'At the end of an hour, they were hugging and congratulating each other. It was beautiful to see, actually,' he said. Negotiations initially kicked off in March, when the two governments said they were prepared to end the nearly forty-year conflict. However, it wasn't until the Trump administration hosted the leaders of the two nations at the White House on August 8 that they agreed to a peace deal. The agreement includes a joint declaration of peace, a joint request to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group, and a provision granting the United States sole development rights over a transit route from the Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia to Azerbaijan, referred to as the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,' according to the Council of Foreign Relations. The president's opponents on social media were quick to jump on this latest faux pas, with the account Republicans Against Trump branding him as 'Dementia Don.' Other users slammed him for double standards after he spent months lambasting former President Joe Biden for his cognitive issues. 'Dementia Don strikes again. Trump claims he solved the conflict between 'Aber-baijan and Albania. (He meant Armenia and Azerbaijan, but close enough, right?),' the account wrote Wednesday. One X user said, 'It's so unfair to Trump that so many countries choose to have names beginning with the same letter. But of course, with just 26 letters in the alphabet, it's tricky. But that's probably Biden's fault.' Another said, 'If Biden had said this, MAGA would scream dementia Joe Trump's mistake, they stay silent #Hypocrisy.' Azerbaijan and Armenia sparred over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in the 1980s and 1990s. The first Karabakh war, from 1988 to 1994, resulted in roughly thirty thousand casualties and created hundreds of thousands of refugees. Upon brokering the peace deal this month, Trump said Armenia and Azerbaijan had promised to stop all fighting "forever" as well as open up travel, business, and diplomatic relations. "We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus," Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said. "We lost a lot of years being preoccupied with wars and occupation and bloodshed."
BBC News
18 minutes ago
- BBC News
Number of asylum seekers in hotels up 8% in past year, but falls slightly since March
Update: Date: 10:42 BST Title: We are restoring order, says home secretary Content: We've just had reaction from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper: She says: "We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous government left in chaos. "Since coming to office we have strengthened Britain's visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today's figures show. "The action we have taken in the last 12 months - increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30%, cutting asylum costs by 11%, reducing the backlog by 18% and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system - are crucial steps to restoring order, and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government." Update: Date: 10:32 BST Title: Who are the people arriving on small boats? Content: There's some more detail in today's data that helps paint a picture of who is arriving in the UK on small boats: Update: Date: 10:18 BST Title: Backlog of asylum seekers waiting for a decision down 24% in a year Content: Rob EnglandBBC Verify senior data journalist Let's bring you more now on the backlog of asylum claims, which Dominic Casciani just mentioned. As of June 2025, 90,812 people were awaiting an initial decision, down 17% on March and down almost 24% compared with the end of June 2024, just before the general election. The government has pledged to clear the asylum backlog by the end of the current parliament,in 2029. Update: Date: 10:12 BST Title: Record asylum applications - but government is processing them faster Content: Dominic CascianiHome and Legal Correspondent As we just reported, the latest statistics show the UK has hit a new record for the number of asylum applications - but there are clear signs the government is processing them faster. The Home Office figures show there were 111,000 asylum applications in the year ending June 2025 - up by 2,000 on the previous rolling quarter. The previous record was 103,000 in 2002. Officials are however processing more cases than before the general election - meaning that over the long term there may be fewer people in the system needing housing support. According to the statistics, there were 71,000 cases awaiting an initial decision, relating to 91,000 people. That backlog is almost half the peak of 134,000 cases at the end of June 2023 - and means that there are 18,536 fewer people waiting for a decision today than there were in March. Figures for accommodation show the numbers in hotels has dropped very slightly to 32,059, compared to the previous quarter. That is still higher than when Labour came to power but well below a peak of 56,000 in September 2023. If new arrivals (including small boat migrants) do not out-run how quickly the Home Office is reaching decisions on existing cases, ministers hope to be able to reduce the use of hotels over the long term – however the success of that also depends on how quickly they can remove people who have no case to be in the UK. In the year ending June 2025, the Home Office forcibly removed 9,100 people – up a quarter on the previous year. More than half were foreign national offenders who were being deported at the end of sentences. Update: Date: 09:57 BST Title: Most common nationality to arrive in small boats was Afghan Content: The new government data shows there were 49,000 "irregular" arrivals in the year to June 2025 – an increase of 27% on the previous year. Most of those (88%) came on small boats, an increase of 38%. The most common nationality among people arriving on small boats in that period was Afghan, accouting for 15% of arrivals (6,400). Update: Date: 09:49 BST Title: 111,000 people claimed asylum in past year - above the 2002 peak Content: We're poring over the data drop from the Home Office. According to the figures, 111,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending in June 2025. It marks a 14% increase from the previous year, and it is higher than the previous recorded peak of 103,000 in 2002, the Home Office says. It says that the number of people claiming asylum has "almost doubled" since 2021 and half of those seeking asylum "arrived through irregular routes". In the year ending in March 2025, the Home Office adds, the UK received "the fifth largest number of asylum seekers in the EU+, after Germany, Spain, Italy and France". Update: Date: 09:39 BST Title: Number of asylum seekers in hotels up 8% in a year Content: According to the new Home Office statistics, there were 32,059 asylum seekers being housed in hotels at the end of June. That's an 8% increase since the end of June 2024, but a 43% drop compared to the 56,042 peak recorded at the end of September 2023. It's also a slight decrease on the total at the end of March, which was 32,345. Update: Date: 09:33 BST Title: Home Office publishes latest immigration figures Content: The Home Office has just released its latest quarterly statistics on immigration, with data up to the end of June. We're combing through the figures now - so stick with us as we bring you the latest. Update: Date: 09:29 BST Title: Tories made 'mistakes' housing asylum seekers in hotels - shadow home secretary Content: Shadow home secretary Chris Philp says his party - in office until July 2024 - made a "mistake" when it allowed asylum seekers to be housed in hotels around the country. In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Philp was asked whether using hotels to house people seeking asylum was an error, to which he replied: "Yes it was, and we wanted to get it down and we did it get it down." The shadow home secretary says that, in the last nine months of the Conservative government, they "halved the number of asylum hotels". Under the last Conservative government, in June 2023, the number of asylum seekers living in hotels reached a record 58,636. However, in June 2024, a month before Labour took office, the number of asylum seekers in hotels was 29,585. Philp adds: "Mistakes were made by the last government. Kemi Badenoch and I have said that, we gave a speech on that topic referring in particular to legal migration that was far too high. "We've openly acknowledged it was a mistake and we've set out credible plans to fix that." Update: Date: 09:22 BST Title: What the figures showed last time Content: The Home Office releases a range of immigration statistics quarterly. Today we'll get the data for April to June - but before that, let's take a quick look back at what the data showed last time. In total, 109,000 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, the Home Office said in its last quarterly update. That was a 17% increase on the year before. About a third of those claiming asylum in the UK arrived in small boats. In the year to March, 44,000 irregular arrivals were detected - an increase of 14% on the previous year. Of those, 38,000 (86%) came on small boats - that was 22% more small boat arrivals than the previous year, but fewer than in 2022. There were 32,345 asylum seekers living in taxpayer-funded hotels in March, a 9% increase since Labour came to power, but down from 38,079 in December 2024, and lower than the peak under the Conservative government. The figures also showed there were 109,536 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of March. Update: Date: 09:06 BST Title: Labour needs results to show gangs can be smashed Content: Joshua NevettPolitical reporter Labour has pledged to crack down on Channel crossings and "smash" people-smuggling gangs About a third of those who claim asylum in the UK arrive in small boats launched by people smugglers off the coast of France. Labour's main policy to crack down on those crossings - and reduce asylum cases as a result - is to "smash" the people-smuggling gangs. But what has that slogan meant in practice since Labour took office - and has it worked? One of the Labour government's first steps was to create a Border Security Command, tasked with co-ordinating efforts to target people-smuggling gangs. Then came a new law designed to give UK authorities expanded powers to strengthen border security. That's making its way through Parliament. More recently, the government has been working on migrant-return deals with international partners (such as Iraq) and signed a "one in, one out" agreement with France in July. The plan proposes that for each migrant the UK returns to France, another person with a strong case for asylum in Britain will be allowed to stay. So the government has been busy - but so too have the people smugglers. As of 30 July, more than 25,000 people had crossed the Channel in small boats in 2025 - about 49% higher than at the same point in 2024. And earlier this month, the number of migrants to cross the Channel in small boats since Labour came to power last summer surpassed 50,000. Update: Date: 08:46 BST Title: New data on asylum seekers being released this morning Content: The government has been given a deadline of 12 September to remove the asylum seekers from The Bell Hotel in Epping, following the local council's legal chhalenge At 09:30 BST, the Home Office will release quarterly statistics on immigration, with data up to the end of June. The numbers will include asylum applications, the backlog of unprocessed asylum cases, and how many asylum seekers are being accomodated in hotels. The data will be closely watched in Westminster as the row over hotels for asylum seekers grows. This week, the High Court said an ex-hotel in Epping being used as asylum seeker accomodation should close, after a challenge from the local council. Other councils are now considering their own challenges - which would give the government a major headache on where to house people claiming asylum. Our experts will be combing through the data from 09:30, so stay with us.
