Latest news with #Farrer&Co
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UK plans to double permanent settlement wait for some migrants already in the country
By Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - The British government is planning to make some immigrants living in the country wait up to five years longer to qualify for permanent settlement under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to cut immigration numbers. The government announced migration reforms on Monday which would, among other measures, double the amount of time required before a person automatically qualifies for the right to stay in Britain or can apply for citizenship, from five to 10 years. It had not been immediately clear whether the rule change would apply to those already living in Britain, or for people just moving to the country and due to start the process. Government officials said on Thursday that while those who arrived on a family visa or as a dependent would retain the five-year route, interior minister Yvette Cooper wanted the longer timeframe to apply to everyone else. One law firm, Farrer&Co, said the change may also not apply to migrants from the European Union who applied for settled status after Brexit, because their treatment was agreed as part of Britain's departure from the bloc in 2020. A spokesman for Starmer said that the migration plans would be consulted on before any changes are introduced. Immigration has long been one of the most important issues for voters in Britain. Controlling the number of arrivals was a key factor in the 2016 vote to leave the EU, yet net arrivals hit record levels after it left the bloc, helping to boost Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party. Starmer, in setting out proposals to reduce immigration, has been heavily criticised by some in his own party and beyond after he warned that Britain risked becoming "an island of strangers" and said immigration had run out of control. His language has drawn parallels to a former right-wing politician Enoch Powell who warned in a now-infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech that Britons would find themselves "strangers in their own country" - a speech that is widely regarded as one of the most divisive in modern British politics. Starmer's spokesperson said he completely rejected the comparison, adding that migrants had made a massive contribution to Britain but that numbers needed to be controlled. Some Labour members of parliament have also raised concerns about the possibility of longer qualifying periods applying to people already in Britain. Florence Eshalomi, a Labour member of parliament who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, said she had been contacted by several constituents, who were working towards getting permanent settlement in Britain. She said one was now considering leaving.
Reuters
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
UK plans to double permanent settlement wait for some migrants already in the country
LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - The British government is planning to make some immigrants living in the country wait up to five years longer to qualify for permanent settlement under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to cut immigration numbers. The government announced migration reforms on Monday which would, among other measures, double the amount of time required before a person automatically qualifies for the right to stay in Britain or can apply for citizenship, from five to 10 years. It had not been immediately clear whether the rule change would apply to those already living in Britain, or for people just moving to the country and due to start the process. Government officials said on Thursday that while those who arrived on a family visa or as a dependent would retain the five-year route, interior minister Yvette Cooper wanted the longer timeframe to apply to everyone else. One law firm, Farrer&Co, said the change may also not apply to migrants from the European Union who applied for settled status after Brexit, because their treatment was agreed as part of Britain's departure from the bloc in 2020. A spokesman for Starmer said that the migration plans would be consulted on before any changes are introduced. Immigration has long been one of the most important issues for voters in Britain. Controlling the number of arrivals was a key factor in the 2016 vote to leave the EU, yet net arrivals hit record levels after it left the bloc, helping to boost Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party. Starmer, in setting out proposals to reduce immigration, has been heavily criticised by some in his own party and beyond after he warned that Britain risked becoming "an island of strangers" and said immigration had run out of control. His language has drawn parallels to a former right-wing politician Enoch Powell who warned in a now-infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech that Britons would find themselves "strangers in their own country" - a speech that is widely regarded as one of the most divisive in modern British politics. Starmer's spokesperson said he completely rejected the comparison, adding that migrants had made a massive contribution to Britain but that numbers needed to be controlled. Some Labour members of parliament have also raised concerns about the possibility of longer qualifying periods applying to people already in Britain. Florence Eshalomi, a Labour member of parliament who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, said she had been contacted by several constituents, who were working towards getting permanent settlement in Britain. She said one was now considering leaving.
Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
UK plans to double permanent settlement wait for some migrants already in the country
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers remarks at a press conference on migration, in London, Britain May 12, 2025. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS UK plans to double permanent settlement wait for some migrants already in the country LONDON - The British government is planning to make some immigrants living in the country wait up to five years longer to qualify for permanent settlement under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to cut immigration numbers. The government announced migration reforms on Monday which would, among other measures, double the amount of time required before a person automatically qualifies for the right to stay in Britain or can apply for citizenship, from five to 10 years. It had not been immediately clear whether the rule change would apply to those already living in Britain, or for people just moving to the country and due to start the process. Government officials said on Thursday that while those who arrived on a family visa or as a dependent would retain the five-year route, interior minister Yvette Cooper wanted the longer timeframe to apply to everyone else. One law firm, Farrer&Co, said the change may also not apply to migrants from the European Union who applied for settled status after Brexit, because their treatment was agreed as part of Britain's departure from the bloc in 2020. A spokesman for Starmer said that the migration plans would be consulted on before any changes are introduced. Immigration has long been one of the most important issues for voters in Britain. Controlling the number of arrivals was a key factor in the 2016 vote to leave the EU, yet net arrivals hit record levels after it left the bloc, helping to boost Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party. Starmer, in setting out proposals to reduce immigration, has been heavily criticised by some in his own party and beyond after he warned that Britain risked becoming "an island of strangers" and said immigration had run out of control. His language has drawn parallels to a former right-wing politician Enoch Powell who warned in a now-infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech that Britons would find themselves "strangers in their own country" - a speech that is widely regarded as one of the most divisive in modern British politics. Starmer's spokesperson said he completely rejected the comparison, adding that migrants had made a massive contribution to Britain but that numbers needed to be controlled. Some Labour members of parliament have also raised concerns about the possibility of longer qualifying periods applying to people already in Britain. Florence Eshalomi, a Labour member of parliament who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, said she had been contacted by several constituents, who were working towards getting permanent settlement in Britain. She said one was now considering leaving. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Arab News
18-04-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Queen Elizabeth's former solicitor linked to wealth management of alleged war criminal Rifaat Assad
LONDON: The private solicitor to the late Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain also helped manage the wealth of an alleged Syrian war criminal known as 'the Butcher of Hama,' according to a report in The Guardian newspaper. Mark Bridges, who was knighted for his services to the Queen in 2019, acted as a legal adviser to Rifaat Assad, the uncle of former Syrian president Bashar Assad. Bridges served as the Queen's solicitor between 2002 and 2019 and was a trustee of financial trusts linked to Rifaat or his relatives, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported. Assad, now 87, commanded an elite Syrian force accused of massacring up to 40,000 civilians during the brutal suppression of an uprising in the city of Hama in 1982. After leading a failed coup in 1984, he was exiled from Syria and went on to invest heavily in the UK, France, and Spain. Bridges' prestigious London law firm, Farrer & Co, said his work for Assad complied with regulatory standards and that he had received 'credible information' at the time that cast doubt on the war crimes allegations. Bridges served as a trustee for Assad between 1999 and 2008, and continued to provide 'ad-hoc and limited' legal advice until 2015. The Crown Prosecution Service began efforts to freeze Assad's British assets in 2017, obtaining a court order preventing the sale of a £4.7 million (SAR 23.39 million) Mayfair home. However, it came too late to block the £3.72 million sale of a seven-bedroom property in Leatherhead, Surrey. Assad's £16 million townhouse in Mayfair had already been sold. A 2018 ruling by a court in Gibraltar noted that Bridges had been a trustee of two financial trusts connected to Assad, the English Palomino Trust and the Oryx Trust. In 2020, Assad was convicted in France of embezzling Syrian state funds to build a French property empire valued at £80 million. Bashar Assad and his British-born wife Asma fled to Moscow after his regime collapsed late last year. Responding to the revelations, Farrer & Co. told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: 'Whether the same decision (to act for Rifaat) would be made today in light of further information now available and, arguably, the more stringent demands of the regulatory environment, is a point on which one might speculate.'
