Latest news with #RobertJenrick
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The secrecy on migrant crime statistics must end
There is nothing more emblematic of Broken Britain than our porous borders. If an island nation can't secure its borders, what can it do for God's sake? Middle England is in revolt at the persistent failure to stop the boats (yes, under multiple governments – as I would be the first to admit). They have been made to endure the costs of illegal migration for far too long and their patience snapped long ago. When I've been in quiet towns this past week, I've heard their worries about asylum hotels. It's the talk at the school gates, at the hairdresser's, in the pub. 'I know you're a father, Mr Jenrick,' a woman said to me, walking her dog beside the harbour in Fareham. 'Would you want an asylum hotel on your street?' I don't want my young daughters to share a neighbourhood with men who broke into this country illegally, about whom we know next to nothing. And I don't want anyone else's family to have it forced upon them either. First and foremost, because they have no right to be here, having entered in flagrant breach of our laws. But it's not just that. They impose economic costs on cash-strapped councils, diverting resources away from Brits in need. They totally change the character of areas. And there's another, darker reason, one that few will confront: small boats are fuelling crime and making everyone less safe. The press reports only seem to get worse: drug dealers, rapists, murderers and even terror suspects are arriving on small boats. If you're unlucky enough to have an asylum hotel in your area, you are almost certain to have been impacted by the petty crime that accompanies them. Somehow it's still a taboo for the Government to admit it publicly. The furthest the Home Office has gone to acknowledge the problem is issuing guidance to migrants in hotels explaining what sexual abuse is and that it's illegal. But sensible countries do not bury their heads in the sand. When I visited the notorious Eagle Pass checkpoint on the US-Mexican border in 2023, America's border force openly displayed the data on the criminal pasts of those they intercepted. In that small section of the border 113 convicted sex offenders had been intercepted that year; across the whole of the southern border they had stopped 15,267 convicted criminals in total. The lesson is that when the unfiltered truth about illegal migration is out there, the authorities have no choice but to respond. This issue propelled Trump to the Presidency with a mandate to end the disorder. Just as in America, the border crisis here is a national security emergency. But instead of trusting the public with the truth, this Labour Government has force-fed the public the lie that the majority of people arriving are women and children. Fact check: 75 per cent have been adult men. In our topsy-turvy world, the British public are asked to deny reality. The facts about crime are covered up because of a toxic combination of bureaucratic inertia and weak leaders who pussyfoot around the truth. It's flat out wrong. I tabled an amendment to lift the veil of secrecy over migrant crime under the last Government and I have just done so again under Keir Starmer. I won't stop until the Ministry of Justice publishes the background of criminals by their nationality, country of birth, visa status, asylum status and their method of entry to the UK. Our membership of outdated international treaties like the ECHR will look trivial when it's clear the safety of our communities – of our children and loved ones – is at stake. We have enough problems with law and order already without making it worse. When the British state finally acknowledges that, they might just be shamed into stopping the boats.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Call it the Kemi Badenoch conundrum: it's why the Tories are going nowhere fast
Kemi Badenoch's reshuffle of the shadow cabinet this week fell between two stools. It was not a de minimis reorganisation to account for the departure of Edward Argar from the health portfolio as a result of illness, but nor was it the sort of 'big bang' restructure that might have lent her leadership a sense of renewed momentum. I have heard few serious complaints about the appointments she did make, though a few – such as the removal of Jack Rankin, a close ally of Robert Jenrick, from his justice brief and his replacement with the Badenoch supporter Ben Obese-Jecty – have prompted some eye-rolls. You can detect similar tactics at work in the return to the frontbench of James Cleverly, who will now square off against Angela Rayner as shadow housing secretary. It's by no means an unwise appointment; Kevin Hollinrake, his predecessor, was not impressing in the role, and Cleverly is a strong media and Commons performer. But it can also be read as a bit of a balancing act. It is obviously destabilising for Badenoch's leadership to have Jenrick, the man almost universally regarded as her likely successor, as the highest-profile and best-performing member of the shadow cabinet. Elevating Cleverly, a potential rival, to a position where he can build a profile makes sense, in a divide-and-rule sort of way. The more serious sins, however, are sins of omission. By making changes to several major portfolios, such as appointing Richard Holden to transport, Badenoch has made all the changes she didn't make look like actual decisions. As such, her decision to retain the services of Priti Patel – whose only big moment since the general election has been a rash of well-deserved bad publicity when she asked to be thanked for the post-Brexit immigration 'Boriswave' – inevitably looks like an actual endorsement. Not helpful, if you're a leader trying to establish your own credibility on immigration. Ditto her not making space for rising stars of the 2024 intake, such as Katie Lam. In government, such a delay might make sense – but one of the urgent tasks facing the Tories is to present a fresh face to the electorate after 14 years in power, and Badenoch has missed an opportunity to do so. Politically, we might say that in the eyes of the party Badenoch had one mulligan on the shadow cabinet. Most people accept that it takes time for a new leader to find their feet, and that a leader's assessment of a colleague might be sharpened by actually working with them in opposition. Now she's had that mulligan, but at the same time hasn't really used it. More important, perhaps, is the departure of Lee Rowley as her chief of staff. Backroom appointments get less attention than ministerial changes, but they can be more significant. Rowley was one of Badenoch's few really close allies in politics, and such people play a critical role in any leadership. Theresa May might have survived the departure of Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill after the 2017 election, but it marked the point when she lost control of her own destiny. So what is going on? The semi-reshuffle illustrates a number of deep, structural problems facing Badenoch. Some of these are not her fault, others are. First, there is the simple fact that there are barely enough Conservative MPs to adequately staff the opposition frontbench. As such, any leader would need to give jobs to far more people than they didn't, which limits their ability to craft a shadow cabinet in their image – a problem compounded by the fact that the parliamentary Conservative party is deeply divided on the critical questions of what mistakes the party made in office and what it should do next. Any leader would face those problems. Badenoch has, however, made them more difficult for herself, most obviously by the way she won last year's leadership contest. Badenoch stood as a unifier, and has tried to make a virtue of party unity since becoming leader. But that unity was bought at a heavy price: not taking any policy positions. She summed up her pitch at her launch event as: 'I don't pretend I have all the answers, but I'm an engineer – and I know how to find them.' Tactically, this worked. But it did so by letting lots of people project their own hopes and preferences on to her. As a result, she can't build the shadow cabinet around a policy agenda because she doesn't have one yet; worse, agreeing one will be more difficult because nobody who backed her leadership committed themselves to any controversial policy changes by so doing. Further compounding all this is Badenoch's rapidly deteriorating position as leader. One plausible reason for not tapping up the 2024 intake is that bringing new people into the shadow cabinet team means kicking people out – and she cannot afford to create new enemies in the parliamentary party if she can possibly help it. In many ways, Badenoch's position is actually very similar to Rishi Sunak's during the dying days of the last government: trapped in an ever-weakening position and lacking the strength, the allies or the vision to make the sort of bold manoeuvre that alone might offer a way out. Henry Hill is deputy editor of ConservativeHome
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Asylum seekers to lose housing and support if they refuse to move out of hotels
Asylum seekers who refuse to move out of hotels into new accommodation will have financial and housing support removed from them, the government has warned. The new crackdown has been ordered by Keir Starmer's government as it attempts to demonstrate it is taking action amid fears of a repeat of last year's summer riots, with violence already seen in Epping in Essex after the far right fuelled protests at an asylum hotel. But the move also appears to be an attempt to get to grips with the continuing small boats crisis on the Channel, with fears of record crossings this summer. The issue has been seen as a key reason why Nigel Farage's Reform UK is leading in the polls and taking votes away from Labour in their traditional heartlands. The announcement also comes amid a row over the language being used by senior Tory figures, which some fear is 'stoking division' and 'inciting violence'. The latest rant on social media came from shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who many believe is positioning himself to be a rightwing candidate in a new leadership bid to replace Kemi Badenoch. In an inflammatory post on X, the former immigration minister took the side of protesters in Epping, saying: 'I don't want my young daughters to share a neighbourhood with men who broke into this country illegally and about whom we know next to nothing. 'And I don't want anyone else's family to have this forced on them either. 'When I see mothers and fathers peacefully protesting in Epping, I see decent, fair-minded people being pushed to breaking point.' The violence and protests in Epping, which have seen 16 arrested, broke out after accusations were made about asylum seekers sexually abusing local women. Mr Jenrick accused Sir Keir of 'being oblivious' to men pretending to be children to game the system, or migrants carrying guns and knives and, he claimed, security briefings suggesting that they pose a terrorist threat. 'It's high time Starmer took his head out the sand and listened to what communities are saying and experiencing. It's time he went and spoke to the law-abiding citizens who are being made to suffer the consequences of the failure to control our borders. Communities like Epping.' It came just 24 hours after it emerged that asylum seekers may be using payment cards intended for buying essentials for gambling. A Freedom of Information request made by PoliticsHome revealed more than 6,500 payments in gambling settings were attempted by asylum seekers in the past year, with shadow home secretary Chris Philp saying 'this madness has to end'. Meanwhile, fellow Tory MP Louie French took to X saying: 'Deport the migrants.' Mr Jenrick's outburst provoked a furious response from Labour. A Labour source said: 'Robert Jenrick was at the heart of a Conservative government that let the asylum system spiral into chaos. He had the power to act - and didn't. How dare he talk about a 'gutless elite' when for years he sat around the cabinet table and in the Home Office doing nothing? 'This Labour government is taking decisive action to regain control of our borders - cracking down on criminal gangs, clearing the asylum backlog, and ending the costly hotel use left behind by the Tories.' Among the measures to tackle the crisis is the government's new failure to travel policy which will be published today and is designed to tackle non-compliance by asylum seekers. It will ensure individuals who are moved from hotels to suitable alternative accommodation must take it. Those who refuse to move without a valid reason will now risk losing their housing and support. It is a firm but fair approach, aimed to end abuse of asylum support and contribute towards the closure of costly hotel accommodation. While the government has a duty to support all asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute in appropriate accommodation, the new policy establishes clear consequences for those who game the system whilst protecting the vulnerable. At the peak of the crisis under the previous administration, 400 hotels were being used to accommodate asylum seekers, costing £9 million per day. The government made a clear commitment to end that practice, and is delivering. In the first three months of 2025 the number of asylum seekers in hotels fell by almost 6,000, a 15 per cent reduction since December. The number of hotels in use has now halved from its peak in 2023. Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: 'We inherited an asylum system on the brink of collapse - mismanaged, under strain, and costing the public a fortune. We are getting a grip. 'We are working to close hotels, restore order, and put fairness and value for money at the heart of our asylum system. This government is making those necessary decisions to protect the taxpayer and uphold the integrity of our borders. 'These reforms to the Failure to Travel policy are another example of this government's action to transform the asylum accommodation system and crack down on those who abuse our system, so it operates fairly and saves the taxpayer money.'
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Asylum seeker shoplifting gangs target designer stores
Thousands of pounds worth of designer goods are being stolen by asylum seekers across London. Security bosses say they are 'helpless' to stop the thefts, which are carried out using tin foil-lined bags which don't set off shop alarms. The 'brazen' thieves were seen stealing from Liberty London, Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton, before returning to taxpayer-funded hotels. Concerns were raised by a whistleblower, who told The Sun that 70 per cent of shoplifters in the 'verging on lawless' West End were asylum seekers. ' The police rarely attend and the maximum we can hold them for is four hours – after that we just have to let them go,' he said. 'We see the same faces again and again.' The private security worker said that when detained, the migrants show ID cards, and little can be done after revealing they are asylum seekers. He added that the thieves work in pairs or groups, with one person distracting or keeping watch while the other swipes items. 'The situation is getting out of control,' he continued. 'We are helpless and cannot tackle the sheer numbers flooding the streets. 'For me and my team, the men are easy to spot because they constantly reoffend. 'Once we do detain them, that just means their mates are even busier. They are often violent as well. 'Sometimes they won't have any ID but they tell us they came over on the boats and their address is the Holiday Inn or the Barbican.' 'Slap in the face to British people' It is thought that the stolen goods are used to pay off debts to the gangs who organise crossings over the Channel. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told The Sun: 'It is a slap in the face to British people for illegal migrants to break into the UK then engage in brazen criminality. They need to be deported immediately. 'The small boats are fuelling crime and making the public less safe. It's a national security emergency and Keir Starmer should treat it as one.' Sir John Hayes, a former Tory security minister, said it showed Britain was importing criminals 'in droves' and called on the Home Office to immediately investigate.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
'Asylum seekers staying in taxpayer funded hotels' are caught shoplifting thousands of pounds worth of designer gear from West End stores
Asylum seekers have been caught shoplifting thousands of pounds worth of designer gear from West End stores, according to reports. The organised gangs were allegedly seen raiding stores including Ralph Lauren, John Lewis and Liberty before heading back to their taxpayer-funded Holiday Inn. A private security guard who blew the whistle on the racket complained police failure to tackle the issue had left the area 'verging on lawlessness'. Two migrants were watched by a reporter meeting up at a Holiday Inn in Wembley last Thursday. The pair - who reportedly had bags lined with tin foil to confuse security systems - jumped Tube ticket barriers before leaving Bond Street station. They are then said to have stolen goods from 15 shops, including Reiss, Hollister and Lilywhites, before handing them to a middleman. The whistleblower claimed that, if caught, the migrants would show their ID and admit to being asylum seekers - aware they would face no serious action. The men are believed to use the money to pay off their debts to the people smugglers The organised gangs were seen raiding stores near Bond Street (pictured) The security professional told The Sun, which made the claims: 'The police only turn up in two out of every ten men we detain. 'They don't have the resources, and when they do, the most they do is give them a Community Resolution Order. 'For me and my team, the men are easy to spot because they constantly reoffend.' The Holiday Inn in Wembley is home to around 700 migrants and one of more than 200 asylum hotels around Britain. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: 'It is a slap in the face to British people for illegal migrants to break into the UK then engage in brazen criminality. They need to be deported immediately. 'The small boats are fuelling crime and making the public less safe. It's a national security emergency and Keir Starmer should treat it as one.' Liberty - the famous department store - was one of the outlets targeted Your browser does not support iframes. New figures published yesterday showed shoplifting has risen by 20 per cent to hit another record. Police recorded 530,643 offences in England and Wales in the year to March 2025 - the highest figure since records begun and up from 444,022 in the previous year. Shoplifting has become an increasing nightmare for High Street shops, with only a tiny minority of offenders ever charged. While some shoplifting may be fuelled by cost of living pressures, police believe organised gangs targeting expensive goods like steak, wine and high-end electronics are largely to blame. Last year, a national police unit set up to tackle the scourge of shoplifting across Britain identified more than 20 gangs and 200 criminals driving the epidemic. A Home Office spokeswoman said: 'No one claiming asylum should be breaking our laws and we will take robust action to remove anyone found to be doing so. 'Since July 2024, we have removed over 5,000 foreign national offenders – a 14% increase on the previous year. Your browser does not support iframes. 'We are also cracking down on shoplifting across the country with 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs to keep our communities safe, and introducing tough new laws to tackle retail crime in our landmark Crime and Policing Bill.' A spokesman for the Met said: 'Across the Met we're focused on tackling the most prolific shoplifters as we know the fear they cause retail workers and the negative impact their offending has on communities. 'We know shoplifting has a huge impact on businesses and also fuels other crime and anti-social behaviour. Through proactive patrols and activity the Met has solved 163 per cent more cases this year than in the same period last year. 'We're working with retailers to understand their concerns and we continue to encourage them to report offences to us as it helps us take a targeted approach to tackling offending.'
