Reform UK leader accused of making unsubstantiated claims
His remarks followed an incident where protesters reportedly attempted to enter a hotel housing asylum seekers in Canary Wharf.
Charities like Care4Calais and Hope Not Hate criticised Farage, accusing him of spreading "unevidenced fears" and divisive "populist politics".
Care4Calais stated Farage's rhetoric sows division and endangers people seeking sanctuary, drawing parallels to past race riots.
Farage also alleged a "cover-up" regarding an alleged rape in Nuneaton and made unsubstantiated claims about safety in London, which were refuted by the Mayor's office.
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The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘We're the party of ambition': Plaid Cymru sets out to topple Labour
It is fair to say that Rhun ap Iorwerth, the leader of Plaid Cymru, was on safe ground at the national Eisteddfod in Wrexham this week. More than once, festivalgoers interrupted his interview with the Guardian to shake his hand or take a selfie. Ap Iorwerth has just embarked on a nationwide 'listening tour' during which he will visit every Welsh constituency, beginning in Wrexham, before the Senedd elections next May. On Tuesday, the Welsh nationalist party celebrates its 100th anniversary, and ap Iorwerth believes he is on the verge of delivering the best present the party could ever ask for: ending Labour's long reign to win power in Wales for the first time. 'Wales gave Keir Starmer his big majority but I don't think [voters] expected this barrage of bad policy, passing on the cost of the failures of successive governments to the most vulnerable,' the 52-year-old said of the UK Labour government's refusal to lift the two-child benefit cap and attempts to cut the winter fuel payment and disability benefits. 'There is an appetite for breaking that cycle like never before and Plaid Cymru is ready to deliver.' Plaid Cymru recorded its highest ever vote share in last summer's general election, returning four MPs and eating into Labour's support in heartlands such as the south Wales valleys and Cardiff. Recent polls suggest that after 102 years of straight election wins in Wales, Labour's base has collapsed, and the party will come third next May under a new proportional voting system and an increase in the size of the parliament. Plaid Cymru and Reform UK are neck and neck – but since Labour and Plaid have said they will not go into coalition with Nigel Farage's outfit, it is only the Welsh nationalist party that has a shot at forming a government. Plaid Cymru has finished its candidate selection process, and ap Iorwerth is already out knocking on doors; Labour and Reform UK have barely begun putting together their lists. A century after its founding, ap Iorwerth said Plaid Cymru had a proven track record at the local level, and was ready to step up. He said the first minister, Eluned Morgan, was 'encouraging people to continue voting Labour because they're the only party with experience of being in government. That is profoundly undemocratic … They consider themselves the ruling class.' 'Twenty-six years of Labour ever since devolution is an unusual and unhealthy situation. We use the words 'fresh start' for a reason.' Ap Iorwerth said he was not concerned about the rapid growth of support for Reform UK in Wales, or why his own party had not pulled ahead in the polls. 'We asked strategists how to attract hardcore Reform voters, and the answer, basically, was 'Don't be Plaid Cymru,'' he said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'I'm quite sure Reform will fizzle out, but Plaid Cymru won't. We are here to stay, and Wales is our focus. Reform has made it clear Wales is important to them, but only because it is a stepping stone to the next general election.' Instead, Plaid Cymru is attracting disillusioned Labour voters – including a trickle of defecting Labour councillors – and is overwhelmingly popular with younger people. YouGov polling from May suggested Plaid holds the support of 46% of 16- to 24-year-old voters, far ahead of the Greens on 21% and Labour on 16%, and a clear lead among 25- to 49-year-olds, with 36% of the vote. Under the new voting system, every single seat in Wales will be newly competitive, including a three-way battle between Labour, Plaid and Reform for the Welsh valleys. The stakes are high. Like the Scottish National party before its 2007 breakthrough, Plaid Cymru must overcome the perception that it is a party of grievance; and the prospect of Reform becoming the biggest party in the next Senedd would be a humiliating setback for Plaid, the party that promises to put Wales first. Although independence is his party's raison d'etre, ap Iorwerth has already ruled out holding a Welsh independence referendum even if the party enters government in the next four-year Senedd term – in part to sway more cautious traditionally Labour voters. 'We have to get to grips with the issues first and make the most of the powers that we already do have in Wales. But every day I'll be making the case for our potential, which I think won't be realised until we're an independent nation. It's my job to persuade people to come with us on that journey,' he said. 'Ultimately it's about giving people hope that what we have now is not as good as it gets for Wales. We are the party of ambition.'
Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Some travelers to US could face enormous fee under new Trump proposal
The U.S. could require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourist and business visas under a pilot program launching in two weeks. It comes after the Trump administration secured another victory in restricting visas for transgender athletes to come to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. A government notice made the announcement on Monday, an effort that aims to crack down on visitors who overstay their visas. The program gives foreign service officers at American embassies the discretion to impose bonds on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, according to a Federal Register notice. Bonds could also be applied to people coming from countries where screening and vetting information is deemed insufficient, the notice said. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment. Donald Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a focus of his presidency, boosting resources to secure the border and arresting people in the U.S. illegally. He issued a travel ban in June that fully or partially blocks citizens of 19 nations from entering the U.S. on national security grounds. Trump's immigration policies have led some visitors to skip travel to the United States. Transatlantic airfares dropped to rates last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic in May and travel from Canada and Mexico to the U.S. fell by 20% year-over-year. Effective August 20, the new visa program will last for approximately a year, the government notice said. Consular officers will have three options for visa applicants subjected to the bonds: $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, but will generally be expected to require at least $10,000, it said. The funds will be returned to travelers if they depart in accordance with the terms of their visas, the notice said. A similar pilot program was launched in November 2020 during the last months of Trump's first term in office, but it was not fully implemented due to the drop in global travel associated with the pandemic, the notice said. A State Department spokesperson listed the criteria that will be used to identify the countries that will be affected, adding that the country list may be updated. 'Countries will be identified based on high overstay rates, screening and vetting deficiencies, concerns regarding acquisition of citizenship by investment without a residency requirement, and foreign policy considerations,' the spokesperson said. The State Department was unable to estimate the number of visa applicants who could be affected by the change. Many of the countries targeted by Trump's travel ban also have high rates of visa overstays, including Chad, Eritrea, Haiti, Myanmar and Yemen. U.S. Travel Association, which represents major tourism-related companies, estimated the 'scope of the visa bond pilot program appears to be limited, with an estimated 2,000 applicants affected, most likely from only a few countries with relatively low travel volume to the United States.' Numerous countries in Africa, including Burundi, Djibouti and Togo also had high overstay rates, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from fiscal year 2023. A provision in a sweeping spending package passed in the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in July also created a $250 'visa integrity fee' for anyone approved for a non-immigrant visa that could potentially be reimbursable for those who comply with visa rules. The $250 fee goes into effect on October 1. U.S. Travel said that fee could hinder travel and said 'if implemented, the U.S. will have one of, if not the highest, visitor visa fees in the world.' Earlier Monday, Citizenship and Immigration Services stepped in line with Trump's wider efforts to ban transgender athletes from women's sports. The USCIS announced it has updated its immigration policy to restrict visa eligibility for transgender women seeking to compete in women's sports. Under the policy update, USCIS will consider 'the fact that a male athlete has been competing against women' as a negative factor when evaluating visa petitions in categories such as O-1A for extraordinary ability, EB-1 and EB-2 green cards for highly skilled workers, and national interest waivers. 'USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women,' said USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser. 'It's a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women's sports.'
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Prison system was days from collapse three times under Sunak, review finds
The criminal justice system was within days of collapse on three occasions before being bailed out by 'last-minute emergency measures', an independent review by a former prisons watchdog has found. Dame Anne Owers said the prison system, under pressure from overcrowding, was 'in crisis' between autumn 2023 and the summer of 2024, but No 10 under Rishi Sunak refused to cut the numbers in jail until 'the next predictable cliff edge'. Former ministers and officials interviewed by Owers 'expressed frustration and sometimes anger' at the failure to endorse a plan to avert crises and suspected that this was a deliberate move by Downing Street, she said. 'Many believed that the default position was to do as little as possible as late as possible, with the consequence that the system repeatedly reached the brink of collapse,' she said. The 25-page report into the teetering Prison Service, which remains at nearly 97.5% capacity, comes as the criminal justice system is expected to come under renewed pressure this weekend. Police have warned that they could arrest hundreds of people who plan to express support for Palestine Action on Saturday. Forces fear more incidents among people protesting outside hotels housing asylum seekers across Greater London, the north-east of England and East Anglia. The review, commissioned by the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in February, detailed claims that Sunak's office waited until prisons were days from collapsing before acting – to the dismay of some ministers. 'Although departmental ministers were convinced by mid-2023 that some form of early release was both necessary and urgent, this required prime ministerial agreement, which was not forthcoming until the system was within three days of potential collapse, and only in incremental stages,' she wrote. She said Alex Chalk, the then justice secretary, called for an early release scheme from mid-2023 for prisoners who had received standard determinate sentences, but received no backing. Chalk had made clear, she said, that he 'was advocating, without success, a version of the SDS early release scheme in order to get ahead of the crisis, rather than the minimal salami-slicing approach that was eventually taken'. 'Without exception, all those the review spoke to expressed frustration and sometimes anger at the reluctance to accept and then act on the well-documented and imminent crisis, or to agree any coherent plan to avert it,' she wrote. After the general election was called in May 2024, Sunak called emergency Cobra meetings to discuss 'invoking emergency powers' to release prisoners early if the criminal justice system collapsed. 'This might be necessary to avert the risk of public disorder if the criminal justice system collapsed during the election campaign,' the report disclosed. On three occasions, the Sunak government used early release schemes, employing powers designed to allow release on compassionate grounds, the report said. Civil servants were concerned that there would be an investigation into the mismanagement of prisons, the report said. 'Senior officials were so concerned about a potential breakdown in the criminal justice system that an audit was kept of all decision-making and documents, in case there was a public or parliamentary inquiry,' the report found. In October 2023, Chalk announced plans to free prisoners 18 days early under the end of custody supervised licence, which was later extended to 35 days and then 70 days. More than 13,000 were released under the scheme. One of Labour's first acts after forming a government last year was to announce a plan to release offenders with standard determinate sentences after they had served 40% of their term. Recommendations from David Gauke's sentencing review, which proposed less jail time for thousands of offenders, including some violent criminals and domestic abusers, are in the process of being implemented. Commenting on the Owers report, Mahmood said it 'lays bare the disgraceful way the last Conservative government ran our prisons. They added less than 500 cells to the prison estate over 14 years, released over 10,000 prisoners early under a veil of secrecy, and brought our jails close to total collapse on countless occasions.' The Conservatives and Sunak have been approached for comment. Andrew Neilson, the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: 'This review into prison capacity spells out in forensic detail how the government has found itself facing the prospect of running out of cells. It is a crisis, or more accurately a series of crises, that has been brewing over several decades and across successive governments.'
