UK anti-slavery commissioner condemns Shabana Mahmood’s asylum comments
The anti-slavery commissioner has criticised the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, for accusing asylum seekers of making “vexatious last-minute claims” relating to modern slavery.The commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, said the comments were “deeply concerning” and would have “a real-life impact” on trafficking victims.The home secretary is to lodge an appeal against a high court injunction that prevented a 25-year-old Eritrean man from being forcibly removed to France on Wednesday as part of the government’s “one in, one out” deal to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats.After the injunction gave the man 14 days to gather evidence to support his claim to be a victim of trafficking, Mahmood accused asylum seekers of making “vexatious, last-minute” applications to avoid removal to France as the Home Office said it would review modern slavery laws.The appeal is asking for the man to be given less time to gather evidence.
Mahmood said she would stop claimants “suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal”, adding that it made a “mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity”.She said: “Last-minute attempts to frustrate a removal are intolerable, and I will fight them at every step.Migrants suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal, having never made such a claim before, make a mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity.“I will fight to end vexatious, last-minute claims.I will robustly defend the British public’s priorities in any court.
And I will do whatever it takes to secure our border,”Lyons told the BBC on Thursday: “There is no substantive evidence to suggest this system is being misused,The home secretary’s words have real-life impact on real victims,It is deeply concerning to suggest the system is being misused,Not enough is being done to prosecute those behind these crimes.
”She said victims of trafficking could not “self-declare to be a victim of modern slavery, it is the Home Office who are the ‘deciders’”.She added that the House of Commons and House of Lords had found no misuse of the system.Speaking to the Guardian, Lyons said it was often difficult for victims to disclose a trafficking experience.The Eritrean asylum seeker has been in the UK for a few weeks and only secured legal representation days before the high court challenge.Lyons said: “Victims of modern slavery have endured horrific exploitation at the hands of criminals.
Many victims are fearful of their traffickers and speaking about their experiences.Often they do not recognise themselves as ‘victims’ and have been told by their exploiters that the authorities cannot be trusted or they fear violence or reprisals against their families.“That is why trained professionals, such as police, immigration officers and NGOs, are tasked with identifying potential victims of modern slavery, not the victims themselves.It often takes time for victims to disclose their exploitation because trauma, fear and control by traffickers run deep.”Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionThe injunction preventing the Eritrean man from being removed was granted after an email arrived partway through the court proceedings confirming that trafficking authorities would not be able to accept evidence the man might send from France.
Commercial Air France flights were due to start removing small numbers of asylum seekers to Paris from Monday of this week,In return, France agreed to send the same number of asylum seekers to the UK legally,So far, nobody has been returned to France after tickets for asylum seekers due to fly on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled, often following individual legal challenges raising concerns about vulnerabilities such as being a victim of torture or trafficking or a suicide risk,The Guardian has been told that some asylum seekers with tickets to France for Thursday and Monday have had them cancelled,The Home Office still plans to send some failed asylum seekers to France this week.
Ahmed Aydeed, a solicitor at Deighton Pierce Glynn with expertise in trafficking law, said: “There is no abuse of the system as confirmed by parliament,There are, however, systemic government failings in following their own guidance on taking basic relevant information from victims of trafficking,This then leads to lawyers being duty-bound to take that information and putting it before decision makers,These government failings further harm victims, benefit trafficking gangs and waste significant public funds,”
Bank of England governor says UK ‘not out of the woods’ on inflation, after leaving interest rates on hold – as it happened
The Bank governor, Andrew Bailey, has warned that the UK is ‘not out of the woods’ in the cost of living squeeze.Announcing today’s decision to leave interest rates on hold, Bailey said:“Although we expect inflation to return to our 2% target, we’re not out of the woods yet so any future cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully.”Food prices have been a key factor pushing up inflation, and there are forecasts that food inflation will rise towards 5.5% by the end of the year.Time to wrap up…The Bank of England has left interest rates on hold at 4% and will slow the pace of its “quantitative tightening” programme in the year ahead to avoid distorting jittery government bond markets
Novo Nordisk shares climb after positive results for anti-obesity pill
The value of the drugmaker Novo Nordisk jumped by about £9bn on Thursday after research showed that taking its new anti-obesity pill can result in almost as much weight loss as its Wegovy jab.The Danish company is racing against its US rival Eli Lilly to get a tablet treatment to market. Shares in Novo Nordisk climbed by more than 6% on hopes that it can claw back market share lost to Eli Lilly and cheaper generic versions of GLP-1 drugs.The shares had fallen by nearly 60% in the past year as sales slowed and Novo issued several profit warnings, prompting its new chief executive, Mike Doustdar, to plan 9,000 layoffs.Novo said on Thursday that a once-daily pill version of Wegovy helped people achieve “significant weight” loss in a clinical trial, with close to one in three participants losing 20% or more weight
What is new in UK-US tech deal and what will it mean for the British economy?
Donald Trump’s arrival in the UK on Tuesday night was accompanied by a multibillion-dollar transatlantic tech agreement.The announcement features some of the biggest names from Silicon Valley: the chipmaker Nvidia; the ChatGPT developer, OpenAI; and Microsoft. Big numbers were involved, with Microsoft hailing its $30bn (£22bn) investment as a major commitment to the UK – and adding, in an apparent swipe at its rivals, that it was not making “empty tech promises”.Here is a breakdown of the announcements in the UK-US “tech prosperity deal”, spelling out what is explicitly new in them.Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, hailed the “single biggest announcement” in the pact and insisted it was not an empty promise
UK is going to be ‘AI superpower’, says Nvidia boss as he invests £500m
Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of the US AI chipmaker Nvidia, has predicted “the UK is going to be an AI superpower” as he announced a new £500m investment in a British firm.Huang, who is due to join Donald Trump at Wednesday night’s state banquet with the king, said he was taking an equity stake in NScale, a UK cloud computing company, and predicted it would earn revenues of up to £50bn over the next six years.“We’re here to announce that the UK is going to be an AI superpower,” he told a press conference in London.Huang cited as evidence of Britain’s potential its universities and several companies founded in the UK, ranging from the AI giant DeepMind to the driverless car startup Wayve. “You just don’t appreciate it
Piastri and Norris ‘in control of own destiny’ in F1 world championship battle
Oscar Piastri has insisted that he and his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, are in control of their own destiny as they fight for the Formula One world championship after the pair were involved in a highly controversial swap imposed by the team at the Italian Grand Prix.Given the pair are in a two-horse race for the title, the question of team orders playing a potentially decisive role loomed large after Monza. Max Verstappen won the race but McLaren’s decision to have Piastri return second place to Norris, after the British driver lost the position due to a slow pit stop caused by a faulty wheel gun, was contentious.With Norris claiming second place he gained three points on his teammate in the championship standings, narrowing the gap to 31 points. Many fans were aggrieved at the perceived manipulation of the result and the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, warned that the team’s use of team orders in an effort to be as fair as possible to both drivers risked setting precedents that would become increasingly hard to manage in the title run-in
Salt’s fine form adds flavour to question of who opens for England at T20 World Cup | Taha Hashim
Phil Salt’s opening remarks in his post-match press conference were a slight surprise. He had just hit 89 to win England’s series opener against Ireland, following on from his unbeaten 141 last Friday. But his mind was still on the missed opportunity in between. “I was quite disappointed at Trent Bridge to not get out there and have a chance to win a series against South Africa,” he said.Rain ruined that decider on Sunday, denying a man who had found form – three consecutive single-figure scores preceded his hundred – and wanted more
Intersex people in Europe face ‘alarming’ rise in violence, EU finds
Scrap policy that gives refugees with leave to remain 28 days to find housing, say UK groups
Privately educated still have ‘vice-like grip’ on most powerful UK jobs
One in three GPs in England do not work in NHS, says BMJ study
An image of sport for girls that lacks diversity | Letter
‘Broken’ after the deaths of three women, Ballarat embarks on an Australian-first trial to combat gender-based violence