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Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Police quickly gave details on Liverpool car ramming, aiming to prevent rumors
The decision to disclose the driver's race and nationality so quickly appeared calculated to defuse the rumors and misinformation that have spread after other recent violent episodes in Britain. Last summer, after a British-born man with parents from Rwanda fatally stabbed three young girls at a dance studio in Southport, a town north of Liverpool, false reports that the assailant was an undocumented Muslim migrant spread rapidly online. The next day, a riot broke out in Southport, the first of several in cities and towns across England. By the time police announced that the assailant, Axel Rudakubana, had been born in Britain, the erroneous reports had reached millions of people. A false name, 'Ali Al-Shakati,' circulated online for a day before the clarification from the authorities. Advertisement In that case, police were legally barred from disclosing the suspect's identity and received 'inconsistent advice' from prosecutors about whether they could confirm that he was not Muslim. Afterward, a parliamentary committee report into the riots, which far-right figures had fomented online, concluded that restrictions on what the police can say in criminal cases were 'not fit for the social media age.' Advertisement On Monday, the Merseyside Police, who also responded to the attack at the Southport dance studio, seemed keenly aware of that history. Shortly before 8 p.m., less than two hours after the first reports that a vehicle had hit pedestrians on the crowded street in central Liverpool, police issued a statement saying, 'We can confirm the man arrested is a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area.' The timing of the announcement was not by itself unusual, but the level of detail about the person arrested was. At a news conference about 2 1/2 hours later, the assistant chief constable of the Merseyside Police, Jenny Sims, described the episode as an 'isolated incident' and said it was not being treated as a terrorist attack. She urged people 'not to speculate on the circumstances' or to share harrowing footage of the car plowing through a street filled with fans who had gathered to celebrate the Liverpool soccer club's Premier League championship. That did not stop people from posting the images, and a smaller number from circulating unsubstantiated theories. 'You cannot hate them enough,' Laurence Fox, an actor and far-right political agitator, posted on the social site X soon after the reports of the episode broke. In a follow-up post, he wrote, 'what is coming next is inevitable.' Other right-wing political figures were more cautious. Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, posted that he was 'horrified to see the scenes in Liverpool,' though he described it as a 'disturbing attack.' The police have yet to disclose a motive or further details about the driver. While they are not treating it as terrorism, they have not speculated about why he plowed into pedestrians. Other law enforcement officials described the disclosure of the man's race and nationality as highly unusual. Advertisement Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Service, told BBC 5 Live on Tuesday he believed the decision was made 'to dampen down some of the speculation on the far right, that continues on X even as we speak, that this was a Muslim extremist.' Babu said police had to balance a responsibility not to prejudice a future trial 'against the potential of public disorder.' There were no reports of fatalities, though 27 people were being treated in hospitals. Firefighters lifted the vehicle to free four people trapped underneath it. Nearly 50 people were injured, the police said. Four of those were children, the North West Ambulance Service said. Two people -- an adult and a child -- sustained serious injuries. By late Monday night, the online speculation had shifted to theories that it was a horrifying case of road rage. Images from moments before the driver accelerated into the crowd showed a crowd banging on the windows of his car as he reversed abruptly and then lurched forward on a crowded street. It is the third incident of high-profile violence in the Liverpool area in four years. In 2021, a man carried an explosive device that exploded outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, killing himself and injuring a taxi driver. This article originally appeared in
The Hindu
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
U.K. may set up migrant 'return hubs' in other nations: PM Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday (May 15, 2025) said the U.K. would begin talks with other countries on "return hubs" for failed asylum seekers. "What now we want to do and are having discussions of... is return hubs, which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned... and we'll do that, if we can, through return hubs," Starmer told GB News television from Albania, where he is on an official visit. Mr. Starmer is under pressure to cut the number of irregular migrants arriving on U.K. shores, many in small boats, amid the rising popularity of the hard-right and anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party. Under Starmer's Labour government, Britain last July abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda. Cracking down on irregular migrants had been set to top the agenda for Starmer's two-day visit to the southeast European nation. Earlier this week Mr. Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies that include cutting overseas care workers, doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement in the country and new powers to deport foreign criminals. The speech was widely seen as an attempt to fend off rising support for anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform U.K. party, which made gains in local elections this month. Labour vowed in its general election manifesto last year to significantly reduce net migration, which stood at 728,000 in the 12 months to last June. It had peaked at 906,000 in 2023 after averaging 200,000 for most of the 2010s. In addition to high levels of legal migration, the U.K. has also seen unprecedented numbers of irregular migrants. More than 12,500 migrants have made the perilous Channel crossing so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the U.K.'s interior ministry.
The Hindu
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Starmer announces tightening up of U.K. migration
Warning that the U.K. was at risk of becoming an 'island of strangers', the country's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced a tightening up of migration policy on Monday (May 12, 2025), as his Labour Party released a White Paper on migration to be tabled in parliament. The new rules, if enacted into law, would in some cases double the time to permanent residence from five to ten years, raise the English language standard for migrants and close the social care visa route. The rules will impact Indians living and working in the U.K., many of whom are on visas which are the focus of the White Paper. 'Every area of the immigration system — work, family, and study — will be tightened up so we have more control,'' Mr. Starmer said, as he promised a 'selective and fair' migration system. Also read: How is the U.K. cracking down on immigration? | Explained The White Paper said the Government would end the recruitment of overseas workers for social care jobs, keeping extensions of visas for individuals already here open until 2028 and permitting in-country switching for those already here. The Government also intends to increase the threshold for skilled-worker visas to the graduate level and tighten English language requirements for all migrants and their dependents. The proposal also suggested increasing the availability of visas for high-talent routes. The announcement comes some two weeks after the nativist Reform U.K. party of Nigel Farage saw significant gains in local elections across England. The electoral verdict is being read, in part, as an indictment of the Conservative and Labour parties on the cost and standard of living as well as migration. Mr. Starmer said his Government would 'take back control', using the rallying cry of those who championed Brexit (Britain's departure from the E.U.) as a means to end the free movement of people across internal EU borders. 'Because what followed from the previous Government, starting with the people who used that slogan, was the complete opposite between 2019 and 2023,' Mr. Starmer said, referring to record-high immigration under the former Conservative Government. Net migration was over 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, some four times the level it was in June 2019. Mr. Starmer committed on Monday (May 12, 2025) to 'significantly' lowering the numbers by the next election (2029) but did not provide a specific target. Mr. Starmer also denied that the immigration controls were a political strategy. 'People who like politics will try to make this all about politics,' he said. 'When will Keir Starmer learn that no matter how good his Nigel Farage impression gets, it won't save him from wipeout at the hands of Reform?' Green Party co-founder Carla Denyer said on X. 'This is a crushing blow to an already fragile sector. The Government is kicking us while we're already down,' said Martin Green, Chief Executive of industry body Care England, in a statement in which he accused the Government of sacrificing social care for political points.
New York Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
After 100 Years, Britain's Two-Party Political System May Be Crumbling
A dramatic victory in a parliamentary special election. Hundreds of seats won in English municipalities. A first taste of power in the lower tiers of government. By making extensive gains in a set of local elections held in England on Thursday, Nigel Farage, one of Britain's best known supporters of President Trump and the leader of the anti-immigration Reform U.K. party, consolidated his reputation as the country's foremost political disrupter. But he may have done something bigger still: blown a hole in the country's two-party political system. For nearly all of the past century, power in Britain has alternated between the governing Labour Party, now led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the opposition Conservatives, who last year selected a new leader, Kemi Badenoch. Yet with surging support for Reform and gains for other small parties, that duopoly has rarely looked more shaky. 'The two main parties have been served notice of a potential eviction from their 100-year tenures of Downing Street,' said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Japan Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Trump backlash helps Australia's leader to historic re-election
For the second time in a week, voters in a prominent U.S. ally angered by President Donald Trump punished conservatives and re-elected a left-leaning incumbent. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was poised to win the largest victory for his center-left Labor Party since 1946, both in terms of two-party preferred and overall seat count. He's the first Australian leader to win consecutive elections in more than two decades, and the only one to increase his party's vote share after one term since World War II. "We do not need to beg, or borrow, or copy from anywhere else,' Albanese said in his victory speech on Saturday night. "We do not seek our inspiration overseas. We find it right here, in our values and in our people.' Similar to Canada's election last week, the outcome in Australia would've been hard to predict just months earlier. Both ruling parties were on the ropes, with conservatives in both countries seeking to capitalize on the momentum of Trump's solid election win in November. Yet stunning turnarounds over the past few months led to big election wins for incumbents in both countries. Those results are set to reverberate across the world, as governments from Asia to Europe to Latin America grapple with how much to stand up against Trump's tariffs and other threats. It particularly poses a dilemma for conservatives, who must decide whether to embrace Trump or run from him. While Nigel Farage's Reform U.K. is riding a wave of support, suggesting that Trump-style populism is still attractive in some places, conservatives in Australia were feeling wounded after the election loss. "It would be dangerous for my party, and I speak as Ronald Reagan Republican and a George Bush Republican, speaking to Donald Trump's positions,' James McGrath, a senator from Peter Dutton's Liberal Party, said on Australia's ABC network on Saturday night. "We are a free-trade party and pro-Ukraine and we should continue to be center-right,' he added. "We must resist that path.' Peter Dutton, Australia's opposition leader, arrives at his party's election night event in Brisbane on Saturday. | Bloomberg Trump loomed over Australia's campaign, with his decision to impose 10% "reciprocal' tariffs in early April coming just as the nation's major political parties began canvassing for votes. Albanese's party persistently accused opposition leader Dutton of copying Trump's policies, prompting him to distance himself from the U.S. president in recent weeks. On Saturday night, Dutton followed Canadian conservative leader Pierre Poilievre out the door, losing his seat of Dickson to Labor. 'Big thinker' Dutton made the mistake of trying to paint himself as closer to Trump in the early stages of the campaign. He complimented the U.S. president as "shrewd' and a "big thinker,' while promoting Trump-like policies such as cutting the size of government, return to work for federal employees and ending progressive social policies. Dutton's choice of MAGA-style policies, a broader pushback against conservatives and a swing toward stability by voters were all evidence of how Trump influenced Australia's election, according to Steven Hamilton, assistant professor of economics at George Washington University. "Without the Trump factor, I think Labor still would've got a majority, but I think Trump contributed to the vast margin that Albanese has secured,' Hamilton said. "It made things worse.' Trump was deeply unpopular in Australia even before he placed broad tariffs on the nation's exports. A poll by Redbridge in March found that 59% of voters surveyed had an unfavorable view of the U.S. president. But it wasn't simply comparisons between Trump and Dutton that prompted voters to embrace Albanese for a second term. For Australians, chaotic international events often spark a swing back toward incumbents, including in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. This time around, voters were unnerved by unsettling swings in global markets in the wake of Trump's tariff announcements. Trade uncertainty One major question now is whether the solid win will change the way Albanese deals with Trump. The Australian leader who came from public housing faces a tightrope in dealing with a U.S. president who embraces opulence: While his citizens don't like Trump, they also want to maintain the U.S. security alliance. Peter Dutton, Australia's opposition leader, arrives at his party's election night event in Brisbane on Saturday. | Bloomberg When it comes to trade, Albanese now has a stronger hand when he sits across the negotiating table with Trump — a meeting expected to happen soon. The emboldened Australian leader has already ruled out giving in to American demands on biosecurity or pharmaceuticals. As they haggle over tariffs, Trump and Albanese are also set to negotiate the future of the Aukus submarine agreement, with the first U.S. nuclear subs expected to begin rotating through Australia by 2027. China ties One potential sticking point is China. Albanese's pivot to repair relations with Beijing is now here to stay, with his government frequently touting its efforts to stabilize ties with Australia's largest trading partner. But the juggling act will be difficult in Albanese's second term in government, as both the U.S. and China try to woo him to take a tougher line on the other. Either way, Albanese will be happy he's back in an even better position, along with other incumbent parties around the world. On the same night, Singapore's People's Action Party extended its six-decade rule with a stronger performance. The latest election results show that the trend in 2024 of a backlash against sitting governments was now over, according to Jill Sheppard, a political expert at Australian National University. "We had votes for incumbents during COVID, votes against incumbents coming out of COVID,' Sheppard said. "And now votes for incumbents in the trade war era.'
