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Leader Live
2 days ago
- Politics
- Leader Live
Wrexham MP addresses concerns around asylum seekers
MP for Wrexham I receive communication from constituents about a wide range of issues. One of the concerns expressed is around asylum seekers. This is also a topic which sees substantial disinformation and misinformation across media and social media. Language and terminology is really important and I want to address some of the common questions that I receive on this subject. 'Asylum' means 'protection given by a country to someone fleeing from persecution in their own country' (House of Commons Library). A person seeking asylum is often awaiting refugee status. If they do not qualify for refugee status, they may still be granted leave to remain in the UK for humanitarian or other reasons. 'Why are hotels and luxury apartments being used to house immigrants when there is a housing crisis in the UK?' This is an example of a question I have received from a constituent recently. It is worth noting that there are 3,253 asylum seekers in Wales and 107 in Wrexham according to figures as of March this year. Where hotels are used, the accommodation is dormitory style, all facilities are closed and not available, food is provided but not choice of menu. To be clear, there are no asylum hotels in Wrexham and those seeking asylum are in dispersed accommodation. This means the Home Office gives contracts to the private sector not councils to find accommodation. This accommodation is a flat or room in an HMO for example. Asylum seekers do not have access to the welfare system or any benefits. They receive a weekly subsistence payment rate of £49.18 per person for people living in self-catered accommodation or £8.86 a week for those in full-board accommodation like a hotel. The weekly amount is credited to a pre-paid debit card which can use be to pay for goods or withdraw cash. According to the House of Commons Library, in 2024, asylum seekers and refugees made up around 16% of immigrants to the UK. It is important to understand that most people who migrate to the UK do so legally for work or family reasons. There is a shortage of skilled workers in the UK, as we have seen in the NHS. Work is ongoing to address this. The small boat crossings must be addressed along with the problems in the asylum system where the backlog is unacceptable. The UK Government has recently made an agreement with France and this new pilot scheme will see small boat arrivals being detained and returned to France. An equal number of migrants will then be able to come to the UK from France through a new legal route. Those coming into the UK must be fully documented and go through a stringent security check as opposed to uncontrolled entry such as small boats. In addition to the asylum process, the UK has operated various routes for people seeking humanitarian protection in the past. The three recent examples of this are the Afghan, Syrian and Ukrainian resettlement programmes. Like other countries, the UK follows the 1951 Refugee Convention that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom and that there are minimum standards for how refugees should be treated including a right to housing, work and education. As ever, if you have any queries or concerns or you have an issue that you would like me to try and assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01978 788854 or
Spectator
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
How could Britain deport more foreign offenders?
Barely a week passes without headlines about the UK's ongoing issues deporting foreign national offenders (FNOs). Foreign offenders are estimated to make up around 12 per cent of the UK prison population and many are not deported upon release. While some stories may be exaggerated or misrepresented – such as the well-known case of an Albanian offender who initially avoided deportation due to his son's aversion to foreign chicken nuggets (a decision later overturned on appeal) – there's little doubt that the current system is both inefficient and somewhat unpredictable. Despite claims that the deportation of FNOs is a government priority, recent statistics paint a concerning picture. According to data released in May, there are now 18,982 foreign offenders subject to deportation living 'in the community' after serving a prison sentence, up from 14,640 in 2022. Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Secretary must issue a deportation order for any foreign national sentenced to 12 months or more in prison. But there are a number of exceptions – particularly when deportation would violate the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the UN Refugee Convention, or the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Immigration Act 1971 also allows for the deportation of offenders with shorter sentences. Prisons should refer foreign nationals receiving a custodial sentence to the Home Office for deportation consideration. But in practice deportation orders are often delayed until all appeal routes have been exhausted. Human rights appeals, especially under Article 8 of the ECHR (the right to family life), are one of the most common methods of contesting deportation. According to the House of Commons Library, from 2008 to 2021, there were 21,500 appeals against deportation and 6,000 succeeded. Of the successful appeals, around 11 per cent were granted on human rights grounds, with most involving Article 8 (the right to family life). Critics suggest that rather too many cases are currently being treated as 'exceptional' by tribunal judges to prevent deportations. Earlier this year, an Independent Sentencing Review by former Lord Chancellor David Gauke recommended that one solution to the question of FNOs (and our increasingly overcrowded prisons) would be to speed up deportations for those serving sentences of up to three years by initiating removal proceedings earlier – rather than waiting until half the offender's sentence had been served. Given the high rate of appeals, these proposals have been met with some scepticism. The government has acknowledged the problem. In a June speech to European ambassadors, Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood committed to clarifying the legal framework surrounding Article 8, which she said is: 'Too often used in ways that frustrate deportation, even where there are serious concerns about credibility, fairness, and risk to the public.' I have previously argued that we need clear, robust, statutory rules to fix these issues; however the precise details of the government's proposed reforms to the treatment of Article 8 of the ECHR remain vague. Unsurprisingly, the failure to deport FNOs has been seized upon by some as yet another argument for the UK to leave the ECHR. But it's not clear that such a drastic step would solve what is, fundamentally, a problem of practical inefficiency as much as legal complexity. One alternative worth exploring is changing how deportation orders are issued. Gauke noted that deportation can be seen as part of the punishment for criminality. If so, why not allow criminal courts to make deportation orders at the time of sentencing? A judicial role was originally envisioned under the Immigration Act 1971 – judges could recommend deportation when sentencing an offender – but has largely been superseded by the current system. If FNOs were subject to deportation orders as part of their sentence, these decisions could be made as a judicial determination. The Home Office would not have to conduct its own investigation and it would be possible to exclude the immigration tribunal system entirely – potentially eliminating the drawn-out appeal process. There's no legal or practical reason why criminal court judges couldn't make these determinations. Sentencing judges already weigh family life and personal circumstances when deciding on imprisonment. With robust statutory guidelines, automatic deportation should still apply to serious offenders, while allowing judges to consider any alleged exceptional circumstances at the time of sentencing. Any appeals could be handled within the normal criminal appeals process, potentially reducing both the volume and duration of challenges. Judicial decisions made at sentencing should carry more weight and attract far fewer appeals. Yes, the criminal justice system is underfunded and slow. But removing thousands of deportation appeals from the immigration tribunal system could free up significant resources to support this new approach. At a time when the government is considering proposals for simpler, speedier justice (such as the removal of jury trials for certain offences), the same principles should be applied to the deportation of foreign offenders.
Scotsman
11-07-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Why Keir Starmer's fate depends on cutting our energy bills
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... If the cost-of-living crisis feels like it's never really gone away, the reason is simple. According to a House of Commons Library briefing, typical household energy bills, despite some falls, are still 43 per cent above the level at the start of 2022, before Putin's invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring. That crisis was beyond the UK's control, but we were hit particularly hard with domestic electricity prices in the last six months of 2024 higher than those in all but three European Union countries. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile, according to the International Energy Agency, UK industrial electricity prices in 2023 were 46 per cent higher than the average of its 32 members. Our firms paid an average of £258 per megawatt-hour, compared to £218 in Italy, £177 in Germany and just £65 in the US. Reducing energy bills must be a top priority for Keir Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband (Picture: Christopher Furlong) | Getty Images Holy Grail So reducing energy bills must be a top priority for government, given the dramatic effect this would have on people's quality of life and the economy. It might even be the Holy Grail the country needs to find to restore economic growth to good health after years of stagnation. One suggested way to do this was zonal pricing of electricity, which supporters claimed would make the National Grid more efficient and lead to lower prices – particularly in Scotland. However, amid concerns it might also push up bills for those in south-east England and discourage investors, the government has ruled this out, with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband concluding 'a reformed system of national pricing is the best way to deliver an electricity system that is fairer, more affordable, and more secure'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At the heart of Labour's plan is a massive increase in the amount of renewable energy which, according to government and industry figures, is a cheaper source of electricity than the gas-fired power stations that almost always set the price.
The Independent
09-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Mapped: Worst areas for GP appointment waits revealed
Patients are facing a 'postcode lottery' for GP appointments with one in 10 people waiting more than a month to be seen in some areas, new research shows. The number of month-long waits hit a record high last year and in almost 95 per cent of areas there was an increase in people waiting 28 days or more. The figures, compiled by the House of Commons Library, demonstrate the uphill battle facing Labour as it ramps up recruitment of family doctors in a bid to cut waiting times and ease pressure on the NHS. Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced on Tuesday that an extra 1,503 GPs have been recruited since October, with the health secretary prioritising services closer to patients' homes. But the number of general practitioners per patient has fallen drastically in the past decade, leaving the system under significant strain. Below, The Independent has mapped the regions where most patients are facing waits of a month or more for appointments: The House of Commons Library research showed that 100 out of 106 sub-Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) saw the number of 28-day or longer waits for GP appointments jump in 2024 compared with a year earlier. The starkest rise was in Sunderland, where there was a 51 per cent increase in month-long waits, followed by North East Lincolnshire with a 46 per cent jump and North Cumbria which saw a 38 per cent spike. The research, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found Kent and Medway was the area with the most month-long waits in the country, with 781,000, rising by more than a fifth from 2023's level. Derby and Derbyshire had the second highest number of month-long waits, with 722,000, up 14 per cent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, more than one in 10 patients was forced to wait more than a month to see a GP in areas including Gloucestershire, Chorley and South Ribble, Derby and Derbyshire and Dorset last year. Regionally, the south west had the highest portion of patients waiting 28 days or more for an appointment, with 7.7 per cent. Second worst was the north east and Yorkshire, followed by the east of England and the south east. The Liberal Democrats said the figures revealed a 'reveal a stark postcode lottery that is leaving people in vast swathes of the country without the care they deserve'. They called for patients to have a legal right to see their GP within seven days or 24 hours if in urgent need. The party said this could be done by recruiting 8,000 additional GPs. The party's health and social care spokesman Helen Morgan said: 'Many already in pain are being forced into anxiety-inducing waits that only add to their suffering and leave them at risk of not getting the treatment they need in time.' Ms Morgan attacked the Conservatives over 'broken promises' on the health service, accusing the Tories of 'running our local health services into the ground'. But she said: 'It is now the Labour government not showing nearly enough ambition to break this cycle of misery. 'If we are going to give communities the local health care that they need, we have to go further and faster. 'That means giving patients a legal right to see their GP within a week by ensuring there are 8,000 more GPs. Only then will we be able to rebuild our NHS and get patients the care they deserve.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'This data does not show waiting times for GP appointments – it shows the length of time between appointments being booked and taking place. 'This government inherited GP services buckling after years of neglect but we have already taken urgent action to to fix the front door of the NHS. 'By cutting red tape and boosting funding, we have already put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments. The extra investment and reforms we have made will allow patients to book appointments more easily, help bring back the family doctor and end the 8am scramble.'
The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘People have been pushed to the brink': welfare cuts spark fear in Blackpool
'It's not very helpful really,' says Owen Sandford, 27, of the government's spring statement. 'I understand they've got a tough job, but we've got a tougher job trying to survive.' Sandford is in receipt of universal credit and has been applying for work – but he is struggling. 'A lot of us have got kids,' he says outside the jobcentre just behind Blackpool's famous tower. 'There's so many families that live in poverty, that can't pay the bills and are getting into debt.' And the government's financial plans, he adds, don't help people like him. 'Energy keeps going up, council tax keeps going up, food shop is rising every week. The only thing not going up is my money.' Rachel Reeves's statement included sweeping welfare cuts, with the health element of universal credit to be frozen or reduced alongside a review of personal independence payments (Pips). Lindsay Barlow, the chief executive of Blackpool charity Disability First, says many disabled people in the city are 'terrified' by the changes. 'We've received lots of emails and terrified phone calls,' she says. 'We had a couple who had learning disabilities pop in last week, and they just didn't have a clue how this change was going to affect them.' 'We get people who are in mental health crisis on the phone,' she adds. 'We have had to have suicide awareness training to help people who have been pushed to the brink, because it's people with mental health conditions that are really feeling the impact of these changes, because they're frightened.' Blackpool has one of the highest proportions of people claiming disability benefit – 17% of the population, according to House of Commons Library data. Health outcomes are also poor. People in Blackpool are more likely to have a diagnosis of depression and the town has the highest proportion in the country of people with mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In Blackpool mortality rates are higher, while life expectancy is lower. Men and women have the lowest life expectancy from birth of any local authority in England, with the gap between the town and the rest of the country continuing to grow. At Layton Methodist church, volunteers see about 600 people each week coming through their doors looking for everything from a free breakfast to budget cookery lessons. On a Thursday, for £8 people can do a food shop that would cost about £40 in a normal supermarket – but some struggle to manage even that. 'People buy it the first couple of weeks after they get the benefit,' says Jakki Garner. 'But by week three or week four, they can't, their benefits have gone.' Diane Halstead, the church minister's wife, adds: 'It brings them down. Because at the end of the day, they feel they're failing as parents … they'll feed the children, then they'll end up not eating themselves.' They have noticed demand increasing and expect things to get worse as the government's safety net disappears further. 'The way things are progressing will be to church groups, to community centres, to more volunteer-led things,' Garner says. And the welfare changes are 'going to affect us drastically,' she adds, 'because obviously, they're going to end up relying more on coming to food banks'. Their food truck is supplied by The Big Food Project, which last year gave out more than 850,000 meals. This year, they expect this figure will surpass 1m, says its chief executive, Victoria Blakeman. 'I think the issue that we've got is that people are already making decisions around food and heating at that lower end of where the benefits are going to [be] cut,' she says. 'In this particular area, there are a lot of people that have been dependent on the government for their support, and as we see those cuts, we've got rising costs across food anyway, it's going to make it so much more difficult for people to be able to eat properly.' In this Lancashire town, poverty is an issue seen across demographics – young people here share the same worries as pensioners about putting food on the table. At a drop-in centre run by Streetlife, one 23-year-old man explains his universal credit payments 'just about cover food but don't get me a roof over my head'. He sleeps 'here and there and everywhere, in the street'. He is the father of a seven-week-old baby, and with any spare money, he says: 'I do try and get my child stuff and the child's mum stuff, like it's coming up to Mother's Day in four days, things like that.' Another 23-year-old man says: 'The government is taking money away from people who have the least money in society. I live on the street.' With any less support, he claims: 'I'd probably end up dead.' In the town centre, Ken Rollinson, 50, runs Affordable Mobility, which supplies aids such as electric scooters. Some of his customers come into the shop in tears and he ends up letting them pay in instalments when they can't afford to buy upfront. Life here can be 'very difficult', Rollinson says. 'I mean, I've had people in here crying their eyes out or saying they can't afford this, they can't afford that.' A single father to a young son, he has a bad back and mental health issues himself, he says, but has already been denied benefits. 'He's only four. I even said to them: 'how do you expect me to feed my son and pay a mortgage?'' 'I have to work seven days a week, just trying to make a living,' he adds. 'It's very, very hard.' In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
