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.

Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe

• ‘That resentment is real’: Mahmood’s Denmark visit aims to hammer home tough line on immigration

Shabana Mahmood has ripped up the government’s asylum rules so that from Monday every refugee will be told that their status is temporary and will last just 30 months.

In a move that has concerned a refugee charity, the home secretary said that claimants whose countries are deemed to be safe by the UK government will from now on be expected to return.

On tour of returns centre, home secretary says ‘legitimate grievances’ have to be acknowledged as part of ‘responsible’ politics

• Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum

The UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and Danish immigration officials strode through the bleak and chilly Sjælsmark returns centre, a former military barracks used to house men and women who have no right to remain in the country. Followed by photographers, reporters and civil servants, Mahmood was told of the strict conditions in which hundreds of people live after asylum and right to remain appeals are rejected and before many are sent to other countries.

Sjælsmark, about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, is at the sharp end of an asylum system set up by Denmark’s left-leaning Social Democrat government to deter claimants. As well as those facing swift deportations, refugees are given temporary permission to stay and will later be told to leave if their countries of origin are deemed safe.

Home secretary will defy ‘plain wrong’ calls from unions and leftwing MPs that she is alienating Muslim voters

Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party’s byelection victory.

Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as “plain wrong” claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.

Zia Yusuf sets out proposals and calls migration an ‘invasion’, as rights groups decry ‘grotesque’ measures

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Reform UK’s plan to create an ICE-style deportation agency has been condemned as “sadistic”, after the party’s home affairs spokesperson vowed to face down “progressive outrage”.

Zia Yusuf, introduced as “the shadow home secretary” at a press conference in Dover, said mass deportations carried out by a planned UK Deportation Command would not trigger the same kind of violent showdowns seen in the US because “policing is done by consent” in the UK. He also described the number of migrants arriving in the country as an “invasion”.

Mountbatten-Windsor, a UK trade envoy between 2001 and 2011, was taken into custody as police searched addresses

Detectives who arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are examining his conduct as trade envoy for the UK after the disclosure of emails from the late disgraced banker Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew was released under investigation on Thursday evening, Thames Valley police said.

Former prince released under investigation as searches continue at the Royal Lodge in Windsor

King Charles has insisted “the law must take its course” after detectives took the unprecedented step of arresting his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Police took him to Aylsham police station in Norfolk on Thursday morning for questioning about allegations he shared confidential material with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Exclusive: Labour peer, who came to UK as a refugee, says some ministers try to show they won’t ‘just do things because of their background’

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, whose parents migrated to the UK from Pakistan, is facing the suggestion from a veteran Labour peer that she is “pulling up the drawbridge once inside” when considering the plight of refugee children trapped abroad.

Alf Dubs, who came to the UK aged six in 1939 fleeing the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, said the home secretary and other ministers had “kowtowed” to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by preventing unaccompanied children from seeking refuge with UK-based family members.

Shabana Mahmood insists deportations will rise, as Labour government is accused of promoting ‘harmful stereotypes’ of migrants

Nearly 60,000 unauthorised migrants and convicted criminals have been removed or deported from the UK since Labour took office, the Home Office has said.

The announcement came amid claims that the government was promoting “harmful stereotypes” by equating migration with criminality.

David Lammy also tells MPs he will draw up legislation to stop prisoners using human rights laws to challenge tougher conditions

The most dangerous extremist prisoners in England and Wales will be held in “supermax-style units” similar to those used in US jails, David Lammy has told MPs.

The deputy prime minister also said he would consider drawing up legislation to stop prisoners from using human rights laws to challenge tougher conditions in jail.

Killings involving knives or sharp implements dropped by 23% year on year, ONS figures show

The total number of homicides in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level since records began after a dramatic drop in killings involving a knife or sharp implement.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show 499 homicides were recorded by police in the 12 months to September 2025, a drop of 7% year on year from 539. These are the lowest overall homicide figures since records were first recorded in 2003.

Exclusive: Union claims some offenders are deliberately breaking probation terms in order to deal drugs in jail

Record numbers of offenders are being recalled to prison in England and Wales with union officials claiming that some are deliberately breaking the terms of their probation in order to deal drugs in prison.

Prison sources said that after the implementation of early release schemes, as many as 5,000 men were recalled in December alone – more than a third of the total number released in the year to June 2025.

Home Office will set out changes to policing on Monday that it claims are biggest overhaul in two centuries

Police forces in England and Wales will be told to respond to emergency calls within strict time limits as part of plans to be announced on Monday.

Officers will be expected to arrive at crime scenes within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in the countryside while attending serious crimes, the Home Office said.

A reduction in the number of police forces.

Local policing areas to deal with everyday crimes such as shoplifting.

Home secretaries to be given the power to sack chief constables.

An FBI-style National Police Service to lead on terrorism, fraud and organised crime.

Every police officer in England and Wales to hold a licence to serve.

A fast track for professionals and experts so they can take senior police roles.

A new police commander to lead on violent disorder and rioting.

A new national forensics team to help catch rapists and murderers.

Minister says use of former army barracks at Crowborough is part of plan to move people out of hotels

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A first group of asylum seekers has been moved into a former military camp in East Sussex, the Home Office has said, amid expectations of further protests and legal challenges.

Crowborough training camp received 27 men in the early hours of Thursday morning, a statement said, which will be scaled up to 500 over several months.

IFG says proposed plans, which will slash the number of jury trials, will produce ‘marginal gains’ of less than 2% time saved

David Lammy’s plans to introduce judge-only criminal trials in England and Wales will save less than 2% of time in crown courts, the Institute for Government (IFG) has said.

In a report that casts doubt on the ability of the changes, which will slash the number of jury trials to achieve their goal of wiping out the courts’ backlog, the thinktank described the gains from judge-only trials as “marginal”.

Jonathan Hall calls for police forces to clamp down on racial hatred based on nationality

Israelis are being demonised as a “vehicle for hatred of Jews”, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said.

Jonathan Hall said police forces should be held responsible for failing to clamp down on the targeting of “Israeli citizens as well as Jews living among them”.

Exclusive: US vice-president ‘sympathetic’ to concerns over Grok-generated pornography, says deputy PM

JD Vance, the US vice-president, has agreed that it is “entirely unacceptable” for platforms such as X to allow the proliferation of AI-generated sexualised images of women and children, David Lammy has told the Guardian.

The deputy prime minister said Vance, usually known as an AI enthusiast, expressed concern about how the technology was being used to fuel “hyper-pornographied slop” online when they met in Washington on Thursday.

MPs criticise 10-year deal struck in ‘blind panic’ to rent Dartmoor prison, where high levels of radon had been detected

A “catastrophic” decision by the Ministry of Justice to sign a 10-year lease on a prison where high levels of a poisonous gas had been detected is expected to cost the UK taxpayer more than £100m, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.

The public accounts committee said the 2022 deal to rent HMP Dartmoor from the Duchy of Cornwall was signed “in a blind panic” by senior civil servants looking to guarantee prison places.