‘Chaos’ – Aviation industry slams EU border checks as millions face summer holiday misery Aviation New EU rules have left Brits facing summer holiday chaos on an unprecedented scale, with five hour waits at passport control and thousands missing flights altogether. Now, a cluster of aviation industry groups has called on the trading bloc’s most senior official to suspend its new biometric border system, EES, whose botched rollout threatens to [...]
Mahmood unveils refugee sponsorship route as asylum bill faces Labour test Politics Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has unveiled plans for businesses and universities to sponsor refugees to come to Britain, as she seeks to shore up support for a wider asylum overhaul expected to face resistance from parts of Labour. The Home Office said it would introduce new “capped safe and legal” routes from later this year, [...]
Serco hits back after Zia Yusuf accuses FTSE 250 firm of being ‘hostile to Reform’ Politics One of the UK government’s biggest private sector contractors has denied being hostile to Reform UK after the party’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf after accused it taking “political positions” against his immigration policy. Citing a report in the Telegraph that suggested FTSE 250 firm Serco would refuse to support Reform’s deportation plans if it [...]
World Cup: Third of fan visas from non-European countries are being rejected June 11, 2026 A third of World Cup fan visas from non-European countries are being rejected with Iran and Senegal hit the hardest, research has found. The United States, which is hosting 78 of the World Cup’s 104 matches, has refused 74 per cent of visas from Senegalese applicants and 61 per cent of Iranian submissions. These are [...]
Brent Hoberman: We need a ‘British dream’ – and more talented immigrants May 7, 2026 The UK needs to welcome many more business founders from abroad to rejuvenate the economy, one of Britain’s best-known entrepreneurs has said, as he issued a rallying cry to renew faith in the future of the country. In a wide-ranging speech at the City AM Awards ceremony at the Guildhall last night, Brent Hoberman, who [...]
Mahmood agenda bites: Migrant worker applications nearly halve in a year April 9, 2026 The number of applications for skilled worker visas has nearly halved in a year after home secretary Shabana Mahmood raised the barriers to entry for migrants. Official data released by the Home Office showed that there were 34,700 skilled worker visa applications in the year to March. This was a 44 per cent decrease from [...]
‘Cracks are showing’: Asylum contract deadline pushed back as pressure on Labour grows April 7, 2026 The Home Office has pushed back a crucial deadline for private sector companies to bid for a key asylum accommodation contract, piling pressure on the government to see through its effort to reform the wider immigration system. A deadline for businesses to engage the Home Office on a new contract for managing asylum accommodation has [...]
Family visas plummet as Mahmood targets migrant dependants February 26, 2026 The number of family-related visas plummeted over 2025 as the government clamped down on dependants joining migrant workers and students. In fresh data published by the Home Office on Thursday, it was revealed that just 67,000 visas were offered to spouses, children and other dependants of migrants. It represented a sharp 22 per cent drop [...]
Politicians and voters must wake up to reality of a zero growth economy February 25, 2026 The past six years have been the worst period for growth in normal peace time since the start of the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago, says Paul Ormerod The latest estimates from the Office of National Statistics show virtually no growth in the size of the economy in the period October to December 2025. [...]
Robert Jenrick defects to Reform after sacking from ‘rotten’ Tories January 15, 2026 Robert Jenrick has announced his defection to Reform UK after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch sacked him for plotting to switch over “in secret”. Hours after Badenoch announced Jenrick’s suspension from the Conservative Party, the former shadow justice secretary appeared in a press conference alongside Nigel Farage promoting the transfer. In a press conference he arrived [...]