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Telegraph
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
President Starmer? PM to beef up Downing Street to get a grip on chaos
Sir Keir Starmer is looking at creating a new 'Department for Downing Street' in an attempt to stop dysfunction at the centre of government. The shake-up would see a senior civil servant appointed to a lead role and scores of other officials drafted in, strengthening the Prime Minister's ability to drive through change in Whitehall. Interest in the idea reflects both disillusionment in Number 10 about the existing government machine and recent high-profile setbacks such as the welfare cuts U-turn. The idea opens up Sir Keir – who has nothing like the staff support enjoyed by the US president – to the charge of a 'presidential' land grab. Boris Johnson launched a similar move with his own attempted ' reset ' as Tory MPs tried to oust him in 2022, but the changes were killed off when he was forced from office. A Whitehall organisational shake-up forms part of a wider 'reset' being mulled over in Downing Street after a year in office and a bruising welfare cuts rebellion. When and how to reshuffle ministers in an attempt to better deliver on Sir Keir's priorities, and potential personnel changes in Number 10 are also believed to be under consideration. Work being done by a think tank closely aligned with Downing Street has become a point of interest among Sir Keir's allies as they consider how to improve things before the autumn. The Future Governance Forum was founded by Nathan Yeowell, a friend of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir's chief of staff who will play a key role in deciding any overhaul. The think tank, while non-partisan, has done work which informed Labour on the transition into power and how to deliver 'mission-driven government' – the approach Sir Keir has vowed to adopt in office. In recent weeks there is understood to have been particular interest from Downing Street insiders in a months-long series of work being run by the foundation called 'in power'. It is being headed up by Helen MacNamara, a former civil servant who rose to deputy cabinet secretary before leaving government in 2021 after tensions on how to tackle Covid in Mr Johnson's team. Hundreds of former government figures of all political stripes and none have been interviewed for the project, the outcomes of which will be published later in the summer. Its core recommendation is expected to be that a Department for Downing Street is established, a proposal that sources say is being actively considered inside Sir Keir's close team. 'There is a deafening consensus that the PM will be better served with a department,' said one source familiar with the foundation's work. 'It is quite hard to find someone who has worked in No10 who thinks it is set up brilliantly.' Complaints that Downing Street is ill-equipped to support the demands of a 21st century prime minister have been voiced for many years from Tories and Labour figures alike. The White House brings together hundreds of officials, including two standalone bodies advising on economic policy and national security, to help the US president make decisions. By comparison, Number 10 brings together a collection of a few dozen political advisers and a civil service team that is less senior than is found in other great offices of state. Much of the influence of the prime minister is wielded through the Cabinet Office, a department whose exact role is reshaped by every incumbent and can often be left ill-defined. Creating a 'Department of Downing Street' would likely see the appointment, as with other departments, of a senior civil servant to the role of permanent secretary. How Sir Chris Wormald, the recently appointed Cabinet Secretary – the country's most senior civil servant – would fit in this new system would be closely watched. He has been the source of some critical anonymous briefings from inside Number 10 that have made the newspapers – mutterings waved away by many in Downing Street. Mr Johnson announced a new 'Office of the Prime Minister' in January 2022 as he was attempting to stabilise his premiership after revelations of Covid lockdown breaches dubbed 'partygate'. Samantha Jones, a health official who had helped counter the Covid pandemic from inside the government, was announced the following month as the unit's new permanent secretary. But five months later Mr Johnson was forced from office by his own MPs and the restructuring of Downing Street was quietly dropped. If the Prime Minister does end up adopting and announcing a Downing Street Department, the idea could well be panned as window-dressing by his political opponents. A Reform source said: 'This sounds like an attempt by Starmer to become more presidential, but he has no real power left after multiple U-turns. Beefing up Downing Street won't solve his problems.'
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Tackle small boats crossings by letting migrants apply for UK asylum from France, think tank suggests
Britain could reduce the number of people making perilous journeys across the Channel by allowing migrants to apply for asylum from management centres in France, a think tank has proposed. New centres set up outside Calais could allow people to apply for UK asylum or to be reunited with family in Britain. The number of asylum seekers granted sanctuary to the UK would be on a rolling monthly cap, a new report from the Future Governance Forum (FGF) think tank has said, and in return France would take back the equivalent number of migrants who have arrived on UK shores in small boats. The proposals mirror policies enacted by the Biden administration in the US, which allowed people on the Southern border to access pre-arrival processing. Offices were set up in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador to allow migrants to apply to resettle in the US through legal pathways, including by pursuing refugee status. The programme aimed to decrease the number of people making the dangerous crossings at the US-Mexico border. The UK is already in discussions with France on a scheme to return migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats. In return, UK government officials have reportedly floated the idea of accepting migrants seeking reunion with family members already in Britain. The French interior ministry said in April that the pilot scheme would be based on a 'one-for-one principle'. This would mean that 'for each legal admission under family reunification, there would be a corresponding readmission of undocumented migrants who managed to cross [the Channel]'. Author of the report from the progressive think tank FGF, Beth Gardiner-Smith, said: 'Setting up new 'asylum management centres' in France would enable the government to restore control to the UK's asylum system and cut the growing number of people attempting to come to the UK via dangerous Channel crossings in small boats. 'Asylum management centres, working alongside a future readmissions agreement, would provide the realistic deterrent and incentive needed to prevent people getting into boats.' The report said that refugees are likely to delay crossing the Channel if they could get a decision on an asylum claim while in France. They argue: 'Full asylum processing allows the UK to admit only those with a valid asylum claim, thus removing the challenge of returning those who arrive without a valid claim, many of whom cannot be returned because we have no returns agreement or the country of origin is unsafe'. Publication of the report comes ahead of a UK-EU reset summit on Monday, where ministers are hoping to sign a joint pact on security. The European Council has said that migration and youth mobility will also be on the agenda. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said that the UK government have recently persuaded France to change their rules to allow police to stop migrants boarding boats from the water. Ms Cooper said that smugglers have been picking up migrants from the water rather than the beach, as French police currently don't intervene once migrants are in the water. The home secretary said that French ministers have now approved a change to the rules, which will be put into effect 'over the next few months'.
Daily Mirror
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Radical asylum change could send small boat crossings plummeting, report claims
A former advisor to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on the UK and French governments to copy measures Joe Biden brought in to tackle dangerous migration Asylum centres should be set up in France so people can apply to come to the UK without getting in small boats, a former advisor to Yvette Cooper said last night. A new study calls on the Government to copy the Joe Biden administration's co-operation with Mexico, which drove down unauthorised crossings by 90% for some nationalities. A report published today by the Future Governance Forum (FGF) calls for Britain and France to set up new centres far away from Calais. Beth Gardiner-Smith, a former advisor to the now-Home Secretary, said: 'Currently, there is no way to apply for asylum if you're outside the UK, leading thousands to take irregular and dangerous journeys by small boats instead. Asylum Management Centres, working alongside a future readmissions agreement, would provide the realistic deterrent and incentive needed to prevent people getting into boats.' The report also proposes a cap on numbers, with the UK seeking an agreement with France to return failed asylum seekers on a one-in-one-out basis. It suggests that as relations with Europe are reset, French President Emmanuel Macron might seize the opportunity to stop Calais being a "fortress". Ms Gardiner-Smith continued: 'In its final months in office, the Biden administration demonstrated that this approach could reduce irregular border crossings by some nationalities by over 90%... "The UK-EU reset Summit is an opportunity to seek a similar approach to the Channel.' The FGF argues that processing applications before asylum seekers arrive would give the UK more say in who is allowed in. Its report states: " Keir Starmer may have been more careful to manage public expectations on the Channel than his immediate predecessor, but ultimately the government's performance will be judged on delivery not words. "The question is whether the government is prepared to level with the public on what that means, providing a clear vision for a safer, more controlled system that maintains Britain's commitment to provide asylum to those in need." A Home Office spokesman said: 'To stop the criminal smuggling gangs from undermining our border security, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have said the UK and France must work closely together to prevent dangerous channel crossings, particularly on vital law enforcement cooperation. 'The French have deployed a new elite unit of officers at the coast and a new specialist intelligence unit. "The Home Secretary has worked with her French counterpart to change their maritime posture allowing them to intervene in shallow waters, and this change should be coming.'
