Shabana Mahmood has signalled she is going to water down her hardline migrant settlement reforms following growing Labour and trade union pressure.
In an interview with The i Paper, the boss of Unison accused the Home Secretary of “dehumanising” migrants and fuelling the far right.
Angela Rayner also broke ranks to criticise Mahmood’s reforms on the eve of Labour conference in Liverpool, warning they would unfairly “move the goalposts” for foreign workers already in the UK.
The northern pub chain offering £3 pints in London
Amber Taverns is adding a boozer in Bromley, a southeastern suburb of London, to its repertoire of 175 pubs, mainly based in the North West and North East of England.
It comes as pubs get increasingly expensive in the capital, where almost two pubs are closing every day.
Bromley’s new local
The Blackpool-based chain pours pints as cheap as £2.50 – a stark difference for Londoners accustomed to an average £6.50 per pint.
It keeps costs down by buying “unloved” former pubs and sticking to the basics. No hot food means no kitchen and no extra costs.
The Saving Grace will open on the former site of the Barrel and Horn on Bromley High Street.
It follows a spate of new openings in the south of England, including The Erasmus Wolfe in Gosport, Hampshire.
The future of pubs
James Baer, chairman of Amber Taverns, said: “People do still want to very much go to the pub, it’s just a matter of offering good value and a warm welcome. Amber remains a testament to the validity of thriving community pubs.”
He added he thinks there will be more opportunity for the chain to expand in the south of England in the future.
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Angela Scanlon takes over Sara Cox’s Radio 2 drivetime slot
Angela Scanlon will take over the 4pm to 7pm slot on BBC Radio 2 every weekday from November.
Scanlon emerged victorious from a raft of presenters who covered the show over the summer, and will replace DJ Sara Cox.
What you need to know
Since Cox took up the mantle of BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show, the drivetime slot has been up for grabs.
Scanlon, who has previously hosted a Sunday morning programme on the station, has been appointed her successor.
She is also known for presenting The One Show, This Morning, the Get a Grip podcast and for starring in cing in 2023.
‘Every weekday, I’ll be in your ears’
Scanlon said it was “properly exciting” to host the show, adding: “Every weekday, I’ll be in your ears, your cars and your kitchens – on the school run, on the way home, or standing at the hob wondering what on earth to feed a small but hungry mob.”
BBC Radio 2 controller Helen Thomas said she was chosen because she is “incredibly warm and quick witted”.
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Putin’s drone threat to France should be a wake-up call
Russian affairs commentator
Russia has a wide range of choices if it continues stepping up its campaign against Europe.
It could develop its more furtive programme of attacks targeting countries including France, Italy and Britain with actions that are akin to low-grade state terrorism.
The shadow fleet threat
Spanish newspaper described Russian plans to mount attack drones in containers on its shadow fleet, to launch them against France, Spain and Italy.
The plot was disclosed following what’s been widely described as a warning to those countries from the CIA, although both France and Italy denied receiving any specific warning from the US.
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The weakest parts
- This month, Emmanuel Macron called leaders into the country’s crisis centre for a briefing on Russian threats.
- Many previously imagined that lying at the far end of Europe from Russia, France was not in immediate danger.
- But that overlooked Russia’s long-term investment in delivering damage at enormous distances through cyber and proxy attacks.
- That means Putin can strike not just at those parts of Nato that it can drive to, but at the weakest parts of the alliance.
Putin’s grey war
- A Russian “attack” can mean everything from a full-blown invasion of a Nato country, to what is already happening, like sponsoring more and bigger proxy and cyber attacks far behind the front lines.
Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service has said there are no signs Russia is preparing for an “invasion” of another neighbour, but that the risk of some other form of military attack is “low but growing”.
Sunday morning’s arrests in a small village near RAF Fairford, with the involvement of counter-terrorism police, show the threat of hostile action in the UK is real.
Avanti West Coast trains to be nationalised
The Transport Secretary said the operator has been underperforming “for years” as it becomes the latest service to be brought back into public ownership.
Andy Burnham said the service had failed people “time and time again” with cancellations and overcrowding.
What you need to know
- Avanti West Coast train services will be nationalised from March 2027, when its contract ends.
- Its London hub is Euston station, with services running to Wales, Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Scotland.
- All train services under Department for Transport contracts, including Avanti, are in the process of being transferred to public ownership.
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Reactions from the sector
“For years, we’ve heard stories of Avanti underperforming, with passengers left paying the price. Enough is enough,” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.
Conversely, Andy Mellors, managing director at Avanti West Coast, said: “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved over the last six years – from refurbishing our Pendolino fleet and introducing our new Evero trains to running more services than ever before.”
The results for customers
- Labour claims nationalisation will mean fewer delays and cancellations.
- This is thanks to a £10m investment in power and signalling maintenance, faster and more reliable services, upgraded facilities at Euston, and more stable internet connection on board trains.
Several rail firms around the country are already publicly owned, including Great Anglia and South Western Railway.
Chess prodigy, 11, becomes youngest woman grandmaster
A London schoolgirl has made history while representing England at the 46th Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan.
Former chancellor, Rachel Reeves, called the young player “a chess superstar”.
Play by play account
Bodhana Sivanandan scored eight points across 11 games, qualifying for the title of woman grandmaster.
The International Chess Federation confirmed this performance made her the youngest person to gain the lifelong title.
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What makes a champion?
Neither of Sivanandan’s parents are good at chess. She taught herself to play during lockdown using YouTube tutorials.
She entered her first tournament at Harrow Chess Club in 2021.
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After she won the British Women’s Championship earlier this year, she said: “I want to become a [full] grandmaster as soon as possible.”
- She now has two of the three “norms” required to become an International Master, the next rank up on the path to becoming a grandmaster.
Women and child die attempting to cross Channel
A 10-year-old child and two women in their 30s have died just off the coast of France, near Calais.
Andy Burnham’s spokesman said the tragedy was a “stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs”.
What you need to know
- French authorities rescued 102 people from a dinghy which had left Bleriot Plage.
- At least 17 people, including children, have now died attempting to cross the Channel this year.
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The timeline of events
What happened this morning and when:
- The dinghy pushed off from Bleriot Plage, near Calais, on Monday morning.
- French maritime police received a distress call after the boat got into trouble in the water.
- A rescue ship and Navy helicopter were sent to the scene with a medical team.
- The emergency responders were unable to save the child and two women.
- French officials said the deaths were likely due to crushing rather than drowning, due to overcrowding on the boat.
The official response
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “We’re deeply saddened to hear about the deaths in France today.
“It is a stark reminder of the dangers posed by the criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people for profit, and we will continue to work relentlessly.”
An investigation has been opened into the incident.
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The Housing Secretary’s remarks further fuelled a growing Labour revolt over Mahmood’s plan to double the default wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to 10 years for immigrant workers.
Labour MPs are particularly concerned about a proposal to apply the changes to migrants who are already living in the UK and previously believed they were on a five-year path to settlement – a move Rayner has described as “un-British”.
In her Labour conference speech on Monday, Mahmood signalled she was likely to water down this aspect of the reforms.
She said her proposals were designed to ensure “settled status is earned, by those who have shown a consistent commitment to this country”. She added: “I know that, throughout our consultation process, some have said elements of these reforms are not fair.
“To that, let me say this: we will come to a position that balances fairness for those who came here legally, and fairness to British citizens across this country.”
Mahmood has been facing pressure to exempt migrant care workers from the changes to avoid worsening staff shortages in the industry, and because of the contribution they make to Britain.
Her remarks about “fairness” to migrants who arrived in the country legally, and her acknowledgement of the concerns raised, will be viewed as a signal to her critics that she is willing to make concessions.
Mahmood’s tough reforms have been widely viewed as an attempt by Labour to neutralise the political threat from Reform UK by demonstrating a harder line on migration.
Earlier, Andy Burnham rejected suggestions he would need to choose between “team Mahmood” and “team Rayner”. He told : “I’m both of them. I’m Team Angela and Shabana.
“But it just reflects that there’s a consultation and there’s different not just opinions from politicians, but obviously there’s a range of views that have gone into that consultation. We’re in the process now of looking at that.”
However, he disagreed with Rayner’s description of the reforms as “un-British”, saying: “I wouldn’t put it that way. I think what we’ve got to do is strike the right balance and that’s what the end result of the consultation will be”.
Later, Mahmood insisted that “no final decisions” had been made on the policy, with details still due to be set out later in autumn.
She also suggested that she could not abandon the reforms entirely, as it was important to deal with the so-called “Boriswave” of record immigration which could mean hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived from 2021 will soon get the right to settle in the UK.
Amid calls to exempt care workers from the changes, Mahmood stressed that the Conservative government that introduced the health and care visa during the Covid crisis expected 40,000 people to come to Britain, and instead there were 600,000.
“On any measure, that is a big change,” the Home Secretary told a Tony Blair Institute/New Statesman fringe event at conference.
“And in fact, as a result of the Tory government’s policies, it is the case today that one in 30 people who are presently in the United Kingdom arrived in the last four years.
“That is a scale of change that this country has not seen ever in its history.”