Latest news with #HomeSecretary
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Free movement by the back door? EU citizens will be able to work in UK for up to three years as Starmer bows to Brussels ‘youth mobility' demands
European Union citizens could be allowed to work in Britain for up to three years under a reciprocal 'youth mobility scheme', a senior minister has indicated. Nick Thomas-Symonds said he aimed to model the scheme on those the UK already has with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. These allow those aged 18-30 to live and work her for two years, with a possible year extension, but have a cap on the number allowed it. The EU Relations Minister had been battling Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who reportedly wanted the scheme to have a 12-month limit, as those here for longer feature in migration statistics. The length of the scheme Mr Thomas-Symonds is looking to confirm with Brussels is likely to raise fears that it is a way of re-introducing freedom of movement for thousands of foreign workers. The UK's mobility agreement with Australia is capped at 45,00, although only 9,750 visas were issued in 2024. But the EU has pushed for a much higher cap. Speaking to the Times Mr Thomas-Symonds said he planned to 'deliver the smart, controlled, balanced scheme that I agreed on in the common understanding', which would be longer than 12 months. 'There's 13 of them that already exist, and it's in that context that we will be negotiating with the EU but the idea or suggestion that this is somehow freedom of movement is completely wrong,' he said. 'Nobody says we have freedom of movement with Andorra or Uruguay, with whom we already have youth mobility schemes.' In May EU official last night suggested it would want the scheme to be similar in scale to the one Britain has with Australia. However, given the EU's population is 450million, compared to Australia's 26million, it raises the prospect of allowing in 500,000 from the continent. The Brussels official told the Times at the time: 'Are Australians better than Europeans? If the same model applies, then the numbers would have to be much higher or it would be hurtful. 'What is the British problem with our young people, our children?' D owning Street has insisted there are a series of 'red lines' for those continuing discussions. These include EU migrants not being able to bring dependents or claim benefits under the proposed scheme, while they must pay to use the NHS. No10 also stressed there would be a cap on the number of youth visas that would be issued to EU nationals.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Criminals plotting mass killings to be detained earlier under new law
Police and courts are to be given powers to deal with suspects believed to be planning mass killings, the Home Secretary has confirmed. Yvette Cooper said the new tools will enable the criminal justice system to "close the gap" between terror suspects, who face life imprisonment for planning attacks, and non-ideological individuals. Police will be empowered to apprehend them before attacks are carried out. In an interview, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's State of Terror series: 'There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious (as terrorism) in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime. 'We will tighten legislation so that that is taken as seriously as terrorism.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said police would be given powers to apprehend suspects before they carry out attacks (PA Wire) She said legislation would be similar to that which allows police to arrest terror suspects for steps taken to prepare for an attack, such as research, which is not currently available without links to an ideological cause. Ms Cooper added: 'We've seen cases of growing numbers of teenagers potentially radicalising themselves online and seeing all kinds of extremist material online in their bedrooms. 'We have to make sure that the systems can respond while not taking our eye off the ball of the more long-standing ideological threats.' Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class, is among the individuals who could have been covered by the legislation. Axel Rudakubana was given a life sentence in January, with a minimum term of 52 years – one of the highest minimum terms on record – for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year. The 18-year-old also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Home Secretary says ‘gap in law' on violent attackers will be closed
Police and courts will be given powers to deal with suspects believed to be planning mass killings, according to the Home Secretary. Yvette Cooper said the new tools will enable the criminal justice system to 'close the gap' between terror suspects, who can be jailed for life for planning attacks, and individuals not driven by a particular ideology. Police would be given powers to apprehend them before they carry out attacks. Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4's State of Terror series: 'There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious (as terrorism) in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime. 'We will tighten legislation so that that is taken as seriously as terrorism.' She said legislation would be similar to that which allows police to arrest terror suspects for steps taken to prepare for an attack, such as research, which is not currently available without links to an ideological cause. 'We've seen cases of growing numbers of teenagers potentially radicalising themselves online and seeing all kinds of extremist material online in their bedrooms,' she said. 'We have to make sure that the systems can respond while not taking our eye off the ball of the more long-standing ideological threats.' Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who killed three girls at a dance class, is among the individuals who could have been covered by the legislation.
The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Dozens of protesters arrested in Palestine Action protest
& Athena Stavrou The Metropolitan Police arrested 55 demonstrators in central London for holding placards expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed group. This marks the third consecutive weekend of mass arrests in the capital related to protests against the proscription of Palestine Action as a terror group. The arrests were made under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000, with eight people also arrested for similar offences in Truro, Cornwall. The arrests precede a High Court hearing where Palestine Action's co-founder will seek to challenge the Home Secretary 's decision to ban the group. Police warned protesters that expressing support for Palestine Action is an offence and highlighted the serious long-term implications of arrests under the Terrorism Act.
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ban on Palestine Action to take effect after legal challenge fails
Being a member of, or showing support for, Palestine Action will be a criminal offence from Saturday after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group's proscription under anti-terrorism laws failed. A ban on Palestine Action, which uses direct action to mainly target Israeli weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was voted through by parliament this week but lawyers acting for its co-founder Huda Ammori had sought to prevent it taking effect. After a hearing at the high court on Friday, however, Mr Justice Chamberlain declined to grant her application for interim relief. Ammori said: 'The home secretary is rushing through the implementation of the proscription at midnight tonight despite the fact that our legal challenge is ongoing and that she has been completely unclear about how it will be enforced, leaving the public in the dark about their rights to free speech and expression after midnight tonight when this proscription comes into effect.' Chamberlain said: 'I have concluded that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is refused but the claim later succeeds is insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in maintaining the order in force.' Ammori sought permission to appeal against Chamberlain's decision in an 8pm hearing that lasted approximately one hour at the court of appeal on Friday night, in an attempt to prevent the ban coming into force. But at about 10.25pm – less than two hours before it was due to take effect – the three judges, led by the lady chief justice, Sue Carr, refused permission. It means Palestine Action will become the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, placing it in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the far-right group National Action. Raza Husain KC, representing Ammori, described the proscription decision in the hearing before Chamberlain, as 'an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power'. He said it was 'absurd' to label a civil disobedience direct action protest group that does not advocate violence as a terrorist organisation. 'The main target has been stopping Elbit Systems … which markets itself as the backbone of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces],' said Husain. 'As my client says: 'The aim of terrorism is to take lives and hurt people, that's the opposite of what we do.'' He said before making the decision the government had engaged with the Israeli government, Elbit Systems and pro-Israeli lobby groups, while Palestine Action and other pro-Palestine groups were not consulted. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, also representing Ammori, said what was going on in Gaza was 'an annihilation, it is a genocide' and Palestine Action was 'seeking to disrupt and prevent' UK complicity in it. Ben Watson KC, representing the home secretary, focused on the proscription procedure in his submissions. 'All of these issues, all of that evidence is supposed to go to the secretaries of state… it's only after that process, after the secretary of state has had a chance to consider … then the matter goes before Poac [the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission].' He said only then could the case go to the court of appeal and then, potentially, the supreme court. Watson said Palestine Action's activities met the statutory test for proscription and that if the ban took effect but the group subsequently won a judicial review against proscription it would not cause 'irreparable harm' to it. He told the court that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a 'serious disfigurement of the statutory regime'. The protest group Defend Our Juries wrote to the Met police commissioner, Mark Rowley, on Friday to tell him that it 'may be committing offences under the Terrorism Act' in Parliament Square from 1pm on Saturday. It said non-violent protesters would hold signs saying: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.' The letter said that they 'refuse to be bystanders to what's happening to the people of Palestine, who are bombed, starved and gunned down as they queue for food'. Several hundred protesters gathered, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying 'Free Palestine' and 'We are all Palestine Action' outside the Royal Courts of Justice. UN experts, civil liberties groups, cultural figures and hundreds of lawyers have condemned the ban as draconian and said it sets a dangerous precedent by conflating protest with terrorism. Another hearing is scheduled for 21 July when Palestine Action will apply for permission for a judicial review to quash the order. In the meantime, and unless the judicial review is successful, membership of, or inviting support for, the group will carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
