News
Feb 10, 2021 - High Court judge threatens Priti Patel with contempt of court proceedings
A High Court judge has raised the prospect of contempt of court proceedings against the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, after her department breached a mandatory injunction. Mr Justice Chamberlain made the ominous comments in the case of Mohammad v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 240 (Admin).
The case concerns an Iranian citizen with a sex offence conviction. He was released on immigration bail in 2018 but by October 2020 had nowhere to live and applied for government accommodation under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The Home Office agreed in principle ...
Feb 10, 2021 - Important report on reform of immigration enforcement
The hostile environment should be reformed by selective repeal of key provisions, addressing Home Office culture and improved routes to regularisation, an influential think tank has found. Beyond the hostile environment, a report released yesterday by the Institute for Public Policy Research, follows up on a previous look at the negative impacts of policies designed to make life intolerable for undocumented migrants. The IPPR has now turned to solutions, canvassing a range of options from straight repeal through to ID cards.
Of the various options suggested, the report recommends three main ar...
Feb 10, 2021 - Home Office given 48 hours to release immigration detainee despite coronavirus
In an interim relief decision the High Court has ordered the release of an immigration detainee within 48 hours, indicating that judges will not allow the Home Office to use the pandemic as cover to justify long “grace period” delays in releasing detainees. Those delays were common even before the pandemic.
The court case is R (SH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 177.
The case concerned an Egyptian national who had been detained since 13 May 2019. An internal Case Progression Panel had decided that SH should be released as long ago as November 2019 because of delays ge...
Feb 09, 2021 - Can I get a cold weather payment and how much are they?
Temperatures are freezing in many parts of the UK and are set to drop even lower as the week goes on. Fuel use and bills are likely to rise, and with more people at home under lockdown, those bills could grow very steeply.
However, there is help on hand for people receiving benefits, in the form of Cold Weather Payments from the government.
Cold Weather Payments are a government benefit top-up to help with fuel bills during times of exceptional cold weather.
These payments are not age-related. To qualify, you must already be eligible for one of five benefits:
- Pension Credit
- Income Sup...
Feb 09, 2021 - Covid-19: Travellers face £1,750 cost for England quarantine hotels
Travellers having to stay in quarantine hotels in England will be charged £1,750 for their stay, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
The measures, which come into force on Monday, apply to UK and Irish residents returning from 33 red list countries.
Those who fail to quarantine in a government-sanctioned hotel for 10 days face fines of up to £10,000.
Meanwhile, all travellers arriving into Scotland from abroad by air will have to go into quarantine hotels.
New, stricter travel measures are also being looked at in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Delivering a statement in the Commons, Mr Ha...
Feb 09, 2021 - Government unlawfully denied refugee status to Egyptian dissident on national security grounds
In the latest round of the legal saga involving Egyptian dissident Yasser Al-Siri, the Court of Appeal has ruled that the Home Office acted unlawfully in only granting him restricted leave to remain after an earlier First-tier Tribunal decision that he is a refugee. There was, the court found, no fresh evidence allowing the Home Office to get around the First-tier Tribunal’s decision. The case is Al-Siri v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 113.
Background
The political background to Mr Al-Siri’s case is well documented but, in brief, in 1994 he was convicted by a milit...
Feb 08, 2021 - Exports from UK to EU down 68% since Brexit trade deal, say hauliers
Exports from Britain to the European Union fell by 68% in January as trade was disrupted after the end of a transition period following Britain’s departure from the European Union, according to a new survey of international hauliers.
Since the start of the year, businesses and hauliers have had to adapt to new trading arrangements, including new systems for companies and officials in Northern Ireland.
The government did not confirm the data and said disruption at the border had been minimal since Britain completed its journey out of the EU’s orbit at the of 2020 following an agreement on tradi...
Feb 08, 2021 - Unauthorised migrants can get coronavirus vaccine, government confirms
“Illegal migrants’ vaccine amnesty” is the front page of today’s Daily Mail. The paper reports that, in an “unprecedented” move, migrants will be vaccinated against coronavirus irrespective of their immigration status in the UK.
In fact this is nothing new: coronavirus diagnosis and treatment, including “routine vaccinations”, have been exempt from NHS England charges and status checks since January 2020. (Separate but similar provisions are in place for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
The Home Office statement on this, circulated by press release overnight, says in full:
Coronavirus ...
Feb 05, 2021 - The UK Chancellor offers more help to 1.4m firms repaying Covid loans
Businesses struggling during the pandemic are to be given more time to make the first repayment on government support loans.
The changes include giving companies an option to extend the length of the loan from six to ten years under a "pay-as-you-grow" initiative.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the move was to give companies "breathing space to get back on their feet".
About £45bn has been borrowed by more than 1.4 million small firms under the Bounce Back Loan scheme, which offers cheap loans of up to £50,000.
Under the existing scheme, firms get interest-free loans for the first year. But many ...
Feb 05, 2021 - Covid-19: New UK hotel quarantine plan
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly has defended the government's plan to quarantine travellers in hotels, which begins on 15 February.
Arrivals from Covid variant hotspots will have to stay in a hotel for 10 nights.
Mr Cleverly said he did not know how many hotels had signed up yet.
Labour said the scheme should be extended to all international travellers - not just some countries.
The hotel quarantine requirements are being introduced in an effort to...
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