MADRID – Almost a month after tens of thousands of migrants crossed the border with Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, experts warn that such a crisis is likely to happen again.
Images of 72,000 migrants streaming into the tiny Spanish territory in north Africa in late July sparked an international row. Of the 27 European Union states, 22 signed a letter condemning Spain, claiming its recent migration amnesty had acted as a “pull factor” destabilising the bloc’s borders.
Most of the migrants left Ceuta within 24 hours but about 8,000 are still in the territory of around 83,000, creating not only a problem for Spain but concern across Europe about what comes next.
Reform wants to change social housing priorities – what to know
Reform UK unveiled plans to change the way social housing is allocated if it enters government.
It pledged to prioritise British-born workers under 35, veterans and married couple with children.
What does Reform say it will do?
Deputy leader Richard Tice said this morning the party would build 50,000 affordable social homes every year for a decade to fix the “broken” housing situation.
This would be funded through a new Right to Buy scheme which would allow tenants to purchase their council homes for a 30 per cent discount after five years, or 40 per cent after ten years. Two would be built for every one sold.
Who would get to live in the housing?
- People with jobs, veterans and those married with children would be prioritised, Reform said.
- Foreign nationals would be evicted and the unemployed deprioritised.
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The flaws in Reform’s plan
Rules are already tight
Most migrants are not eligible for social housing, meaning the vast majority of social tenants are UK citizens.
Homelessness risk
The current rules allocate to those with most urgent need first, so these people would be at risk from a change.
Low-income renters
The plan wouldn’t help those being pushed out of the private market by rising rents.
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Will this week’s rain end the drought?
While the UK will see some wetter weather this week, experts say it won’t be enough to undo the effects of the successive heatwaves.
Weeks or months of rainfall will likely be needed before hosepipe bans can be lifted.
Where will it rain this week?
Whilst Monday remains dry for most, showers will start arriving across southern England and Wales Tuesday.
By Wednesday, there will be rain across much of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland remaining largely dry.
Thunderstorms and hail are forecast from Wednesday evening into Friday, mostly in the south.
The hard ground means flooding could be a risk in these areas.
Why won’t the drought end?
- A drought is officially over when reservoir levels return to normal.
- This usually takes several months of above-average rainfall.
- Reservoirs are currently 13.8 per cent below where they should be.
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When will hosepipe bans be lifted?
Hosepipe bans are the responsibility of water companies, while droughts are declared by the Environment Agency or its equivalent in devolved areas.
The Met Office has said a wet winter, which is looking likely, will replenish water resources.
Last year, despite a wet winter, some regions were in drought until January, and some hosepipe bans remained in place until February.
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Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ ball fetches £2.5m in auction
The football used by Argentina’s Diego Maradona to score his “hand of God” against England in the 1986 World Cup has sold for £2.5m at an auction in the US.
The ball was used in both goals in the quarter-final match to beat England 2-1.
Two iconic goals
The first goal saw Maradona punch the ball past goalkeeper Peter Shilton. As the referee and linesman didn’t see his hand touch the ball, the goal was allowed.
Maradona described it as scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”.
He got past five England players to score the second goal.
How did the ball get sold?
- Referee Ali Ben Nasser collected it after the game and sold it for £1.7m in 2022.
- It was expected to fetch closer to £7.3m when it was resold this time.
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Snooker champion Graeme Dott found guilty of child sex abuse
Graeme Dott,49, was found guilty of lewd and libidinous behaviour towards a girl and a boy between 1993 and 2010 at the High Court in Glasgow.
Former world champion convicted
Dott, who won the 2006 snooker world championship, was found guilty today of sexually abusing a girl between 1993 and 1996 and a boy between 2006 and 2010.
Jurors heard from both of the victims during the trial that Dott told them not to tell anyone about the abuse.
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Adjourned for sentence
- A judge in Glasgow adjourned sentence until 29 September.
- The offences took place in the Glasgow area.
- Dott maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
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Burnham makes first overseas trip as PM to Ukraine – what to know
The Prime Minister arrived in Kyiv this morning to mark Ukraine’s independence day.
He is promising to share with Ukraine classified information to help build long-range missiles.
Burnham pledges support
- Burnham said UK support “will not waver” and Russia should be “in no doubt of our resolve”.
- He chaired his first meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, the group that would send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
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What is Burnham giving Ukraine?
Burnham will allow defence firm MBDA to release classified information on UK components for the British-French SCALP long-range missile, also known as Storm Shadow.
The missile has already been supplied to Ukrainian forces, but releasing the secret technical information will allow Ukraine – with French support – to manufacture locally.
How has Russia responded?
Earlier this month, Russia’s Embassy in the UK warned of “consequences” following confirmation that British-made drones were used in Ukrainian strikes on Russia.
The embassy said the “deeper [the UK’s] involvement in the conflict… the higher price it will pay”.
President Vladimir Putin has also threatened Britain over seizing Russian “shadow fleet” tankers.
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What to know about the head-on A66 crash that killed seven
Seven people died over the weekend after a police car crashed into another vehicle that was travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway near Middlesbrough.
Families paid tribute to the victims, as police urged the public not to speculate on the crash. Here’s what we know.
No survivors
Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak, both 23, died when the Volkswagan Passat they were in collided with the police vehicle.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were also pronounced dead at the scene.
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Families pay tribute
The wife of PC Blades (R) said: “He gave his life in the line of duty, protecting and serving others with courage, dedication and selflessness.”
The family of PC Clough (L) described him as “our hero” who was “always on public duty throughout his short life”.
On Monday morning, a fundraiser set up to support the two families had raised over £300,000.
How did the crash happen?
- Cleveland Police launched a chase after the Passat, believed to be using cloned plates, activated an ANPR camera.
- PC Blades and PC Clough were not involved in the chase but were called to the area.
- The pursuit took just under seven minutes and was called off seconds before the crash when the Passat began travelling the wrong way.
- Blades and Clough’s car was driving the right way.
Don’t speculate, police say
These were brave officers protecting our communities and serving our residents who didn’t return home to their families at the end of their shift.
Whilst this investigation is ongoing… I would strongly urge people to avoid speculation and respect the privacy of the families.”
Cleveland Police Chief Constable Victoria Fuller
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A daily pill to treat diabetes that helps with weight loss is on sale from today.
The UK is the first country in Europe to approve this medicine.
Who can get the pills?
- Pharmacies across the UK will stock Foundayo, made by Eli Lilly.
- It is only available privately, though it is being assessed for a potential NHS rollout.
- It is for type 2 diabetes patients and those with a BMI of above 30, or 27 with a weight-related condition.
- The pill is taken at various dosage levels once a day, at any time.
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Counterfeit warning
Pharmacists welcomed the launch as a step forward for people who are eligible but can’t use weight-loss injections.
They warned people against fake weight-loss pills and reminded them only to buy from licensed pharmacies.
The approval of Wegovy, the UK’s first weight-loss pill, sparked a spate of counterfeit pills.
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Italy has suspended the Schengen agreement for travellers from Spain, leading Madrid to introduce reciprocal measures for travellers from Italy.
Seven EU countries have now signed up to a pact under which asylum seekers will be returned to their first country of entry, putting pressure on Italy, which had the highest number of unauthorised boat arrivals of any European country in 2025, at around 66,000.
Italy’s opposition has blamed its hard-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, for the move by other EU nations, claiming her suspension of the Schengen agreement “created a dangerous precedent for Europe”.
Eleven bodies were recovered by Tunisia’s coastguard this weekend after a boat carrying Tunisian migrants to Italy sank, the African country’s National Guard said on Sunday. The central Mediterranean route for migrants crossing the sea from the North African coast is one of the world’s deadliest.
Italy is also locked in a row with Germany over responsibility for migrants. Rome claimed German aid organisations had brought around 22,500 migrants to Italian ports. The Italian government is now demanding financial compensation from Berlin.
Greece is also facing challenges as a major European entry point. Its conservative Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has introduced tough rules to deport those who’ve been denied asylum in the country. On Sunday, migrants clashed with police at a detention centre in northern Greece, with 35 escaping before police recaptured about half of them, authorities said.
Athens has faced criticism from the UN and human rights groups for what the Greek government claims are Europe’s strictest border controls, and for entering talks with Uganda and Libya to establish offshore migrant processing centres, similar to the UK’s aborted Rwanda deal.
Between 1 January and 19 August, 15,897 people crossed the English Channel from France by small boat, a 43 per cent drop compared with the same period the previous year. But thousands more migrants have evaded checks in France.
In late July, a record 165 migrants reached the UK in a single boat, with Border Security Command pictured towing a “mega dinghy” – estimated to be the same size as a standard bus at 13 metres (42ft) – after it arrived at Dover.
States such as Morocco, Libya, Turkey and Belarus have previously been accused of using migration to gain concessions from the EU. Since 2021, Belarus, a Russian ally, has flown in migrants from the Middle East and sent them into Poland and neighbouring states. The EU has responded with tough sanctions on Belarus. The most recent were strengthened in December last year.
Politicians and analysts have warned that more unauthorised crossings into European countries are likely from Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and through Belarus.
María Belén Zanzuchi, of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, said there had been cases of “engineered migration” in which states had played a role in organising large-scale crossings.
“I think that from history, migration can be instrumentalised and has been instrumentalised for many years,” she added. “In some countries, which perceive themselves as having less power, they use migration to try to negotiate something with other countries.”
Turkey has extracted billions of pounds of EU cash in return for keeping Syrian migrants from leaving its country.
But Zanzuchi said she did not believe the rush into Ceuta, during which 141 migrants died, was an episode of “engineered migration” by Morocco, adding that the triggers were “not clear”.
She said factors may have included social media hype over a Spanish court ruling in June that found migrants entering Ceuta or Melilla – Spain’s other north African enclave – by sea could not be expelled immediately. Smuggling gangs and lax policing by Morocco and Spain may also have played a role.
One million migrants were granted legal status in Spain’s migrant amnesty this year, which was criticised by the opposition centre-right People’s Party and far-right Vox. Countries including Italy and Denmark claimed the amnesty and lax migration policy were to blame for the Ceuta incursion.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, hit back at EU criticism, saying it was motivated by “prejudice, fake news, ignorance or political interest”.
Myriam Cherti, a senior researcher at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford, said she feared there could be more incursions in Ceuta and Melilla while high unemployment and poverty persisted in Morocco and other migration “feeder” countries.
“Looking at the data for the past two decades, I think this is likely to happen [again],” said Cherti, who is based in Rabat. “We are talking about two populations. There are migrants and refugee populations who can claim asylum. Then there is the Moroccan population. There is high unemployment in Morocco and climate change is affecting the rural population, who are moving to the cities as agriculture has been affected.”
Cherti said she believed that in the future, border security might prevent crossings on the scale of Ceuta in July but “different combinations of these mass crossings will happen”.
Similar factors are at play in other African countries, with high levels of youth unemployment in Tunisia, Mauritania and Senegal.
Spain recently struck political and economic deals with Senegal and Mauritania in return for a migration crackdown, reducing the numbers reaching the Canary Islands this year by 59.5 per cent, according to government data from January to 15 August.
For now, Spain has insisted no migrants will get to the mainland without checks on their documents. However, Madrid has said it is planning to bring 500 migrant children, mainly girls, from Ceuta to mainland Spain after reports of sex attacks on underage migrant girls in the enclave. Spain’s largest police union said 15 sexual assaults had been reported in Ceuta since 30 July.
Opposition politicians said the girls should be returned to the countries they came from.
Most of the 8,000 migrants in Ceuta are living in makeshift camps on beaches and in parks. Spain said last week that it would house 1,500 migrants in spaces including a car park and a sports field.