Refugee charities say the numbers revealed in freedom of information data are ‘shocking’

Lone children were held at UK-run detention centres in France on nearly 300 occasions last year, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Data obtained by the Guardian shows they are part of about 900 instances when unaccompanied minors have been detained at British short-term facilities near Calais and Dunkirk over the last four years.

Exclusive: Police data shows 21% of the 949 people detained in England and Northern Ireland were later accused of violence against intimate partner

One out of every five people arrested after their participation in the 2024 summer riots has since been reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose.

Police data released under freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that 21% of 949 people arrested for taking part in the violent disorder have been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence since August 2024.

All 46 Council of Europe members sign agreement ‘deplored’ by human rights organisations

The UK and 45 other European countries have signed an agreement that explicitly endorses plans to send unwanted asylum seekers to third country hubs.

A political declaration from the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the body that oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR), said states had an “undeniable sovereign right” to control their borders.

Exclusive: Council of Europe to meet in Moldova on Friday, with human rights body expected to stress countries’ right to control borders

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European ministers will this week discuss plans to send thousands of rejected asylum seekers to third-country hubs, the head of the continent’s human rights body has told the Guardian.

Alain Berset, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, said discussions about the removal of people who arrived in Europe by irregular routes would take place “at a multilateral level” at a meeting in Moldova on Friday.

Plans to be included in king’s speech will allow tougher action against proxies for foreign powers such as Iran

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Offenders who commit antisemitic attacks backed by foreign powers such as Iran will face 14 years in prison under legislation to be included in the king’s speech next week.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will be given the power under the National Security Act to designate proxy groups, such as those thought to be behind the recent attacks on the Jewish community, as a foreign intelligence service.

Home secretary indicates Whitehall talks about returns programme, a move that would shock humanitarian groups

Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the Taliban-controlled country.

The home secretary said she is “monitoring very closely” talks between Kabul and EU countries about a returns programme for refused claimants. She also indicated that “additional conversations” about Afghan returns were happening inside Whitehall.

Removal site in Dunkirk will hold people of 10 nationalities trying to reach UK in small boats under new £660m deal with French

The UK will pay for 200 French officers to detain and deport people seeking asylum from some of the world’s most oppressive and war-ravaged regimes under a new UK-France deal to try to reduce Channel crossings.

In what is being billed as the first time the French government has agreed to target those heading to the UK in small boats, a removal site in Dunkirk will be used to hold people from 10 countries: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen. The Home Office said they were the top 10 nationalities who crossed the Channel by small boat last year.

Three-year deal includes funding for a riot squad to ‘disperse’ people trying to board small boats

The UK government has agreed to pay France another £660m to curb the number of asylum seekers travelling across the Channel, including plans to fund a riot squad to “contain and disperse” people trying to board small boats.

Under a three-year deal to be signed on Thursday by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, 1,100 enforcement, intelligence and military officers – an increase of 40% – will be employed to track down smuggling gangs and people seeking refuge.

Five new police units, including a riot squad of 50 officers who will be trained in the use of crowd control.

An additional 20 maritime officers to target and intercept small boats that pick up asylum seekers in shallow waters. In the past two months, French officials have stopped six “taxi boats”, sentencing smugglers to prison and deportation, the Home Office said.

An expansion of the 18-strong intelligence unit to 30 specialists to ramp up the arrest and prosecution of people smugglers.

Two new helicopters and a camera system to track down and intercept people smugglers and people seeking to cross to the UK.

Demographic also overrepresented when police officers use force such as handcuffs, firearms or Tasers, says children’s commissioner

Black children across England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched by police than their white counterparts, a report has disclosed.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said Black children are also overrepresented when officers use force and were more likely to have their “size, gender or build” cited as justification.

Exclusive: Home secretary understood to have withdrawn authorisation for speaker at Unite the Kingdom rally in May

A US-based anti-Islam influencer who had been authorised to attend a far-right rally in London has been blocked from entering the UK by the home secretary.

Valentina Gomez, a self-styled Maga influencer, was given permission last week to enter via a UK electronic travel authorisation (ETA).

Judge in case of two families housed for years in single hotel rooms says they should have been moved within three months

The Home Office could face legal action from hundreds of asylum-seeking families stuck in single rooms in hotels after a judge criticised the “extraordinarily stressful” conditions in which they are expected to live.

In a ruling, the deputy high court judge Alan Bates questioned why two families had been forced to live in single rooms for more than three years. He said they should have been moved to alternative accommodation within three months.

Chief inspector for England and Wales says prison remains in ‘precarious state’ more than year after urgent notification

The Prison Service has made “very little progress” in enforcing a formal demand to stop drones from delivering drugs into one of its worst performing jails, a watchdog has concluded.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales, said HMP Manchester remained in a “precarious state” after a failure to fix broken windows and install security to stop contraband being delivered to gangs.

Rapper had been booked to play at festival in London, prompting outcry over his past antisemitic remarks

The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.

West, legally known as Ye, was due to headline all three days of the festival in July and made an application to travel to the UK via an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) on Monday, but this was blocked by officials.

Figures suggest if £500,000 limit set for Great Britain 30 years ago was adjusted for inflation the maximum would be more than £1m

A 30-year freeze on compensation for victims of crime should be lifted, campaigners have said, adding that the maximum of £500,000 is insufficient to plan for a lifetime.

The current highest rate, set in April 1996 by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), is paid to victims of crime in England, Scotland and Wales who have suffered severe life-changing injuries, including brain damage and paralysis.

Two-month arrangement aimed at preventing small-boat crossings comes as existing deal expires

The UK will pay France an extra £16.2m to keep police patrolling Channel beaches and prevent a surge in small-boat crossings after negotiators failed to agree a permanent deal before a midnight deadline.

The stopgap arrangement, which will last for two months, comes after French negotiators refused to agree to UK demands for further interventions and patrols to stop asylum seekers from reaching the UK via the Channel.

Madeleine Sumption says politicians make big claims about things they only partially control to appeal to voters

Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” profiting from small boat crossings has followed a pattern set by Conservative-led governments of employing “bullish rhetoric” with little evidence that it can be delivered, an expert has claimed.

Madeleine Sumption, the director of the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, says the prime minister has repeated the mistakes of Rishi Sunak and David Cameron by making “bold claims with great certainty about things governments only partially control” .

Negotiations deadlocked as No 10 wants more action on beach patrols but France has concerns over safety

The UK’s agreement with France to pay for beach patrols is on the verge of collapse amid wrangling over the number of small boat interceptions and the safety of asylum seekers in French waters.

Negotiations over plans to revamp the three-year, £480m deal remain deadlocked, despite the involvement of ministers including Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary. The deal expires at midnight on Tuesday.

Longer sentences, overcrowding and inexperienced staff cited as factors in ‘rising tensions’ in prisons

Notorious prisoners such as the Soham killer Ian Huntley are facing increasingly violent attacks from inmates with “nothing to lose”, the head of the Prison Governors’ Association has said.

Tom Wheatley, the president of the PGA, which represents governors in England and Wales, said those serving lengthy sentences or whole-life tariffs in high-security institutions had “no fear” of being given additional time in prison, and could earn status by singling out famous child murderers and paedophiles.

Last week, a 20-year-old sex offender who had recently moved to my son’s prison was ‘kettled’. In prison, that means boiling water, mixed with a bit of sugar, was thrown into his face. He has been scarred for life.

This is the kind of threat that my son and every sex offender has to live with every day when they are in prison.

More than 200 applicants fear they will lose places after home secretary suspends study visas from four countries

Sudanese scientists who have been promised research posts at leading UK universities have spoken of their “shock” and “sadness” that their hopes have been dashed after Shabana Mahmood’s decision to end study visas for people from their country.

More than 200 Sudanese postgraduates and undergraduates fear they will no longer be permitted to take up places at 46 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, with some claiming that their lives have been torn apart by the home secretary’s “blunt” intervention.

Shabana Mahmood hopes to reduce number of claimants in hotels by enabling them to support themselves

Up to 21,000 asylum seekers who have waited for a year for their claims to be processed could be allowed to enter the jobs market so they can support themselves, the Home Office has said, as part of a package of measures to be announced on Thursday.

As the government seeks to empty asylum hotels, claimants who break the law, work illegally or are found to have enough assets to live without support will from June be ejected and lose their support payments.