Key events
As we mentioned in the opening summary, over the next six months, Labour has said it aims to achieve “the highest rate of removals of those with no right to be here” since Theresa May’s premiership in 2018.
Staff are being redeployed to increase the removal of refused asylum seekers, which has dropped by 40% since 2010, the Home Office said.
In reaction to the announcement, Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
If we look at enforced removals, last year there were 6,000 and in 2018 there were 9,000 – so this would require 3,000 more, a 50% increase, which sounds achieveable.
The other thing to point out is that 2018 is not a particularly high bar, apart from the pandemic that was the lowest number of enforced removals in 20 years.
The Refugee Council has said that 36,000 asylum seekers are still living in unsuitable hotel rooms, at a cost of £5.3m each day.
On Monday, more than 200 people came to the UK via small boats – taking the total for the year to just under 20,000.
Enver Solomon, of the Refugee Council, called for ministers to “look at state of the detention system” and said the Home Office should treat people with respect and humanity when supporting them to return to their home countries (if possible).
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “security matters to stop the boats and no-one wants the people smugglers to profit”.
Describing those who come as “families” and “ men, women and children”, he added:
They come here because they are refugees, seeking safety. Unless the government also provide safe routes, it won’t succeed in stopping the boats. Detention is costly. It results in people harming themselves. It results in huge damage to people’s mental health. The government shouldn’t be investing in detention.
Labour’s approach to immigration in the wake of the far-right protests earlier this month will be a hugely delicate issue for Cooper, with many figures on the party’s left wary of adopting a position that appears to toughen its rhetoric.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome back to our rolling coverage of UK politics.
Yvette Cooper has indicated she will press ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in an attempt to achieve the highest rate of removals since Theresa May’s premiership.
The home secretary announced the Border Security Command “is gearing up” after the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats exceeded 19,000 this year so far. The plans include 100 more new intelligence officers to target people smuggling gangs.
The Labour government has pledged “290 added immigration removals” beds at Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire – centres which had previously closed down in 2019 and 2015.
Cooper said she plans to achieve the highest rate of deportations since 2018 for refused asylum seekers, and said the Home Office will launch a new intelligence-driven illegal working programme to target employers who hire people with no right to be in the UK.
So far there have been nine returns flights in the last six weeks, including the largest-ever chartered return flight, the Home Office said. The Conservatives said Labour were “not serious about tackling the people smugglers or stopping the boats”.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, meanwhile, has urged the government to support failed asylum seekers to return voluntarily, and said that the government needs to provide safe routes as a way to stop the boats. You can read more on this story here from the Guardian’s home affairs editor, Rajeev Syal.
Here are some of the other main headlines today:
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Strong spending on public services and welfare pushed government borrowing to £3.1bn last month, more than double its level in the same month a year earlier, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. You can follow our business liveblog for the reaction to the latest public finances data here.
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Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%. The temporary move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.
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Carer support payment, the replacement for carer’s allowance, is now available in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Fife, Moray and North, East and South Ayrshire.
It comes after it was piloted in Perth and Kinross, Dundee City, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Angus and North and South Lanarkshire, and will be available across all of Scotland from November 4. Unlike carer’s allowance, which is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions, carer support payment is available to some carers in full-time education, including full-time students aged 20 or over and students under 20 who are in advanced or higher education.
It is Yohannes Lowe here with you today. Please do email me on yohannes.lowe@theguardian.com if you spot any typos or omissions.