A change in political weather can let the sun shine in
The same message is put more plainly by an exiled member of the SNP's royal family. Fergus Ewing, unencumbered by office or even party membership, says flatly that the SNP should lay independence aside for a decade and concentrate on sorting out the country they are supposed to be running.
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Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Poland to send troops to German border to block failed asylum seekers
Poland will deploy 5,000 soldiers to its borders to stop Germany from sending back failed asylum seekers. Poland's general staff said the units would be stationed at the borders of Germany and Lithuania from Monday to check vehicles for refugees. Surveillance drones operated by the Polish air force may also monitor the area. Tensions have flared between the two countries over how to deal with refugees trying to cross from Poland to Germany amid wider frustrations over migration. Germany says refugees cannot be granted asylum if they have also made applications to other countries, but Poland says the pushbacks are unjust. 'We consider the temporary restoration of controls at the Polish-German border necessary to limit and reduce to a minimum the uncontrolled flows of migrants back and forth,' said Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister. The German interior minister responded to Poland's announcement by suggesting the two countries could collaborate on joint border control. But this was swiftly rejected by Warsaw. 'The minister from Germany will not tell us what to do in Poland. With sympathy, with respect, but we will protect Polish borders ourselves,' the defence minister, Waldemar Kosiniak-Kamysz, told broadcaster TVN24. Poland and Germany are among a growing number of countries in Europe who are bringing back border controls to quell a public backlash over undocumented migration, which has strained the EU's Schengen passport-free travel zone. Mr Tusk's liberal government has been accused by nationalist and far-right opposition parties of accepting numerous illegal migrants being sent back from Germany. The government had argued that the numbers were limited. Germany first started border controls with Poland in October 2023, but when Friedrich Merz became chancellor earlier this year, he made reducing immigration a top priority. As well as ending the family reunification policy for refugees, Germany has started the so-called pushbacks. The move has apparently proved effective, with the number of refugees arriving in Germany falling by 60 per cent in a year, the lowest since the Covid-19 lockdowns. Mr Tusk, who has previously called on Berlin to do more to help its neighbours protect the EU's external border, criticised Germany's approach to migrants at its own frontier, saying it placed excessive pressure on Poland. 'Poland's patient position after Germany formally introduced unilateral border controls is wearing out,' he said. That impatience has been reflected in border towns where protesters aligned with hard-right groups have formed 'citizen patrols' to forcibly stop refugees from being returned from Germany. In one case, protesters from the 'Movement for the Protection of the Borders' group forced an Afghan male, 18, back across the border to Germany twice after he was ejected by German border police, with Polish border police refusing to intervene. The young man was taken to another border crossing where no vigilantes were present and able to cross. In Poland, protesters aligned with hard-right groups have carried out protests at the border while self-styled 'citizen patrols' have forcibly stopped refugees from being returned. The protesters were condemned by Tusk, who told them their actions were illegal and they should go home. 'The more the Polish state regains control at the borders, the more strongly it is attacked by [right-wing opposition parties] Law and Justice, the Confederation and their militias,' said the Polish PM. 'They are trying to paralyse our border guard. We will not allow this.' Mr Tusk's own government was thrown into turmoil after their candidate for president was narrowly defeated by the Law & Justice party-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki in May. Mr Nawrocki has thanked one of the leaders of the border patrols for what he called a 'citizen-led control of the borders', blaming Tusk for conflict between the groups and border guards.
The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Met Police chief says football clubs should pay for their own policing
Football clubs should contribute more of their own money to the £70 million cost of policing their matches, Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has said. A 'polluter pays approach' should be adopted for policing football games, Sir Mark said, as he questioned why organisers of events which require policing do not pay for it. It comes after Sir Mark expressed disappointment in a Sunday Times article at Chancellor Rachel Reeves' decision to increase police funding by 2.3 per cent above inflation each year in the recent spending review. Appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Mark was pushed on how the Met plans on cutting costs. He cited heavy job losses in the Met police force, but also pointed at other opportunities to cut expenditure. 'It also falls elsewhere. Policing of football matches across the country, mainly Premier League, cost policing £70 million it doesn't get back from football clubs. In London, it's more than a third of that,' he told the BBC. There should be a 'polluter pays approach', he said, adding: 'If you're running a profit making event that because of the nature of it, requires security, requires policing to support your security because of the criminality that is going to be experienced, why isn't the organiser paying for that, rather than local communities who lose their resources to go to football matches?' Sir Mark has also called for an uphaul of the UK's current 43-force policing system to help streamline costs. The creation of 12 to 15 bigger police forces would allow authorities to better utilise modern technology and would reduce 'expensive' governance and support functions. 'The 43-force model was designed in the 1960s and hasn't been fit for purpose for at least two decades,' Sir Mark wrote in The Sunday Times. 'It hinders the effective confrontation of today's threats and stops us fully reaping the benefits of technology. 'We need to reduce the number of forces by two-thirds, with the new bigger and fully capable regional forces supported by the best of modern technology and making better use of the limited funding available.' Asked about the cuts he plans to make to policing, Sir Mark said: 'So we've cut 1,600 over the last couple of years… 1,700 officers and staff this year, that 3,300 out of an organisation just over 40,000 is a big hit.' The Met has not got all of the details on the spending settlement but Sir Mark is 'nervous about whether we'll be able to make ends meet with that', he said, which is why he is calling for police reform. Put to him that he had warned he would have to de-prioritise some crimes, and asked what the force will not investigate, Sir Mark said: 'So I don't want policing activity to fall off the list, and I know that the mayor and the Home Secretary have pushed hard for the most police funding that we can get. 'We are determined to improve day in and day out experiences of Londoners on the streets. We can only do that if we focus ruthlessly on police work. 'When new recruits join they expect they're going to spend most of their time protecting the public, enforcing the law, catching criminals. Within a couple of years 80% of them are saying 'I spend most of my time safeguarding the vulnerable, that's critical work, but that's not the core work of policing'. 'So we need help to cut away some of these areas where other pressed public services have effectively pushed work to the police. There are 80,000 missing children from children's home a year in the country. That is really problematic.' Sir Mark said the police reforms are 'essential', adding: 'If we look at the spending on policing and public safety from the 80s through to the noughties, it was a much higher level than it is today. Over the last decade or more, the proportion that governments are prepared to put to policing is much lower. I don't see that changing dramatically. 'So we've got to make the best use of every pound that governments can give to us.'
The Independent
35 minutes ago
- The Independent
Conservatives will look to amend Government welfare Bill
The Conservatives will try to change the Government's welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit. Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are 'now the only party committed to serious welfare reform' after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week. Ministers have warned there will be costs to their backtracking on the plans, as Downing Street and the Treasury will be looking to cover the spending shortfall left by the decision. The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the Universal Credit Bill – and party leader Mrs Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday. Among the amendments the Conservatives will propose is a requirement for eligibility for Pip to be determined by a face-to-face meeting, rather than virtually. As part of the Government's reforms, the Department for Work and Pensions has proposed a new 'severe conditions criteria' for universal credit. Claimants in this category will be entitled to a higher rate of the benefit, and will not be routinely reassessed to receive money. Another of the Conservatives' amendments would prevent somebody from being classed as having a severe condition for the purpose of universal credit only by having anxiety, mild depression, or ADHD. The third amendment would block the increase in universal credit and restrict Pip for some people who are not British citizens. In her welfare speech, Mrs Badenoch is expected to say that the Conservatives are 'the only party that is prepared to take the tough decisions to get spending under control'. 'I have no doubt that, emboldened by their success in forcing Starmer to U-turn last week, Labour's backbench MPs will now be eyeing up more concessions,' she will say. The original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected would save up to £5 billion a year, and economists are now warning that tax rises are likely to plug the gap left by the concessions to rebels. On Friday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves admitted that the fallout over the Government's welfare Bill had been 'damaging' and did not rule out tax rises in the autumn budget. It came after images of the Chancellor crying during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday spooked the financial markets and led to questions about her future, although a spokesman said she was upset by a personal matter. In an interview with The Guardian, Ms Reeves said it would be 'irresponsible' to rule out the idea of tax rises and warned 'there are costs to what happened' with the welfare Bill. The Sunday Times reported that the two-child benefit cap could be unlikely to be scrapped – as many Labour backbenchers want – as ministers look to balance the finances.
