Latest news with #MigrationWatchUK
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Shadow home secretary says the immigration status of suspects MUST be made public in court to stop misinformation spreading online
The immigration status of suspects should be made public to end harmful misinformation, the Shadow Home Secretary has said. Courts and prosecutors should reveal how a defendant entered Britain to stop lies spreading online, according to Chris Philp. His intervention comes amid heated protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which houses migrants, and the false claim that the Southport killer was an asylum seeker, which sparked race riots last summer. Mr Philp said: 'The Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service should not be refusing to release details on the immigration status of dangerous perpetrators – the public deserve to know the truth and they need to be protected from foreign criminals.' Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, added: 'The courts should be required by law to publish, in real time, the nationality and immigration status of those who come before them. 'Speculation and distortion would stop, preventing sensitive situations from getting out of control.' The Ministry of Justice has now confirmed the potential release of further information about foreign national offenders (FNOs) will be considered as part of a review. Online misinformation about the Southport triple-murderer Axel Rudakubana, 18, being a Muslim asylum seeker ignited nationwide rioting last summer. It was later revealed that Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to Christian parents who migrated to the UK from Rwanda. An MoJ spokesman said: 'The Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has asked civil servants to review what can be published on FNOs to increase transparency on this important issue.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'It is our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases. FNOs who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes will face the full force of the law, including deportation.' Earlier this month, a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed that more than 300 asylum seekers living at 70 hotels had been charged with 708 criminal offences, as serious as rape, over the past three years. While the nationality of the accused is sometimes shown in court documents when they ask for an interpreter, the immigration status is not disclosed. Violent protests broke out at The Bell Hotel this month after an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault, which he denies.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
TikTok cashes in as gangs post videos of dangerous crossings
Traffickers launching migrants across the Channel on small boats were promoting the crossings on TikTok – and being paid by the tech giant. The smugglers offered a 'subscription' service. They paid £5.39 a month through TikTok, which takes a cut of up to 50 per cent. Migrants subscribed to live video calls with the smuggler. One account had 3,550 followers and another 22,300, so traffickers could be earning thousands of pounds. The subscription service is a widely used feature for TikTok which makes clear on its website that after app store fees, 'TikTok splits the revenue up to 50/50 with you'.The Mail on Sunday contacted two subscription service users who promoted a new life in Britain on their profile. One revealed dates of crossings. A clip showed a Border Force vessel beside a small boat heading to Britain. One person replied: 'I spent eight hours in the sea, it was really hard. Thank goodness we all arrived.' We asked if the user could get us to Britain and received a love heart emoji in reply. Another user replied with a thumbs-up emoji when asked if he could arrange a crossing on a boat to Britain Another user replied with a thumbs-up emoji when asked if he could arrange a crossing on a boat to Britain. Videos posted on his TikTok profile showed him in migrant camps in northern France. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 'This is a scandal. TikTok tells us it is doing all it can to stop these videos but now we learn they are profiting from them.' TikTok confirmed that both accounts had now been closed. A spokesman said: 'We have zero tolerance for content that promotes human smuggling and will remove accounts that break our rules. 'We work closely with the UK National Crime Agency to help to identify and to combat organised immigration crime online and we respond to evolving threats.'
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The NHS recoups just £29million for treating European patients... while forking out £1billion in return
The Government is failing to recoup what could amount to millions of pounds each year from European countries for treating their citizens on the NHS, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The Department of Health and Social Care charged European nations just £29.5million last year to pay for their citizens to be treated in Britain's hospitals. Yet the UK's bill for the healthcare costs of British pensioners and holidaymakers treated in European hospitals came to nearly £1billion in the same period. Critics say it raises concerns that the Government is allowing the NHS to be 'taken for a ride' by Europe on healthcare costs. While European nations bill the Government for care provided to Britons based on hospital invoices, the MoS has learned UK officials compile bills for countries based on 'estimates' of costs incurred by the NHS to treat their citizens. Campaigners say the true figure is likely to be significantly higher. And while the NHS is failing to get the best deal possible for taxpayers – Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing a £30billion boost to the health service at the expense of the police and councils. The revelations come after the MoS revealed in April that hospitals in England had written off £256.4million owed by overseas visitors for NHS procedures. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 'The problem lies in our total inability to monitor non-UK nationals' use of the NHS, a scandalous failure to secure payments due, and naivety when dealing with the EU which has so often taken us for a ride.' Tory MP Joe Robertson, a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said: 'It beggars belief that the NHS has no record of the cost of care it provides to foreign nationals. 'Our NHS is not supposed to be a subsidised health service for the rest of Europe but plainly that's what it is becoming.' There is a 'reciprocal agreement' for healthcare in Europe, which means all citizens in the European Economic Area (EEA) are entitled to some, or all, of their healthcare needs to be paid for by their home nation when abroad. While European health systems, which usually charge upfront, are good at logging such details, the NHS is not – hence the rough estimates. The figures, which come from a Freedom of Information request by the MoS, reveal the NHS billed Spain £6.7million during 2023/24 and paid back around £441million. Some £225million went to Ireland and £186million to France – but the NHS billed just £17million and £11million in return. Germany received £10.9million and paid back £3.5million to the UK. And there are also more British visitors to Europe (63million) every year than European visitors to the UK (26million). But the gap between what the UK pays, and what it bills back, has worsened over the last decade. In 2014/15, the UK claimed back £49.7million from Europe but in 2023/24, it was £20.2million less, a drop of 40 per cent. And bills for Britons treated abroad have risen by 40 per cent, from £674.4million in 2014/15 to £948.9million last year. Mr Robertson said he had written to the Public Accounts Committee to look at this subject and 'force the Government's hand'. A Department of Health spokesman said the UK charges EU nations when their citizens use the NHS as part of a deal which ensures Britains 'can also get healthcare when visiting Europe'.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Keir Starmer is criticised for making 'deeply dishonest' claims about Labour's record on small boats after PM's boast that 'almost 30,000 people' had been removed from Britain
For once Sir Keir Starmer was in tune with the mood of the country when he said he was 'angry' after more than 1,000 Channel migrants arrived over the weekend. But the Prime Minister was made to look foolish after being criticised for making 'deeply dishonest' claims about Labour's record on small boats. Sir Keir boasted in an online post that 'almost 30,000 people' had been removed from the UK. However, this figure refers to all types of foreign nationals who have no right to live in the UK rather than those who arrive by crossing the Channel. The number of small boat migrants removed in the 12 months to March fell three per cent year-on-year to 2,240. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'This is deeply dishonest. 'The number of removals of small boat arrivals has actually gone down under Labour.' Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir's claims were 'rubbish'. Some 1,195 Channel migrants arrived in the UK from northern France on Saturday – the fifth-highest daily total since the crisis began in 2018. The Prime Minister scrapped the Tories' Rwanda scheme, which was designed to deter migrants from crossing, as one of his first acts in office. Since Labour came to power 38,053 migrants have reached Britain, up a third on the same period in 2023-24, when the figure was 28,452. Officials have privately admitted that internal Home Office assessments indicate Labour is on course to preside over the worst year for Channel crossings. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, accused Sir Keir of attempting to 'intentionally mislead the public'. He added: 'The PM's suggestion that 30,000 Channel migrants have been removed is simply not true.' Tory Justice spokesman Robert Jenrick said: 'His fantasy statistics take the public for fools. 'They can see through his smoke and mirrors. Starmer has lost control of our borders.' It comes as Home Office insiders have urged France to 'step up' and fulfil a promise to intercept dinghies at sea. There is frustration within Labour at slow French progress in amending its rules so boats can be stopped once they are in the water, the Mail understands. France first pledged the change earlier this year but has still not completed a legal review, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs on Monday. A Home Office source said: 'The French committed to intervene in the water in February, it's about time they stepped up and did what they've told us they're going to do.' Ms Cooper said in the Commons: 'A French maritime review is looking at what new operational tactics they will use, and we are urging France to complete this review and implement the changes as swiftly as possible.' Ministers have blamed fine weather for the increase in arrivals, with officials saying there have been twice as many days when the Channel is able to be crossed by dinghies compared with last year.
