Latest news with #MillieCooke
Gulf Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Keir Starmer braced for fresh rebellion over reforms
Millie Cooke, The Independent Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly facing another rebellion from his backbenchers over reforms to support for children with special needs in England, just days after he was forced into a humiliating climbdown on welfare cuts. On Sunday, education secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted that ministers are committed to reforming support for children with learning difficulties or disabilities, which currently costs £12bn a year. But she refused to rule out scrapping key documents that families rely on to guarantee specialist help. Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are statutory documents which outline the support needed to help children with special needs and disabilities achieve key life outcomes. Many seeing them as the only way to get schools to provide the support children need. Asked whether she could rule out getting rid of EHCPs, Ms Phillipson described it as a "complex and sensitive area". Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, she added: "What I can say very clearly is that we will strengthen and put in place better support for children." "I've been spending a lot of time listening to parents, to disability rights groups, to campaigners and to others and to colleagues across Parliament as well, because it's important to get this right," she added, but said it is "tough". But now senior Labour figures have told The Times that the plans risk becoming "welfare mark two", claiming that dozens of MPs are prepared to rebel over the issue. One Labour MP urged the government to "think again now or they'll be repeating the same mistake they made with welfare reform." "We're all in favour of reforming the system but that cannot be driven by saving money and taking support away from children", they added. A second Labour MP said: "If they thought taking money away from disabled adults was bad, watch what happens when they try the same with disabled kids." It comes after Sir Keir was forced to abandon a key plank of his controversial benefit cuts in order to get them through parliament following a major revolt from his backbenchers. In a letter shared with The Guardian, campaigners have said that without EHCP documents in mainstream schools, "many thousands of children risk being denied vital provision, or losing access to education altogether". They said: "For more than 40 years, children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities have had a statutory right to an education that meets their needs. "Set alongside catastrophic plans to cut benefits for disabled people, this raises the question of who we are as a country and the kind of society in which we want to live. "Whatever the Send system's problems, the answer is not to remove the rights of children and young people. Families cannot afford to lose these precious legal protections." Signatories to the letter include the heads of charities, professors, Send parents including actor Sally Phillips, and campaigners including broadcaster Chris Packham. The government has said it "inherited a Send (special educational needs and disabilities) system left on its knees" and it is "looking at changes" to improve support for children and parents. Data from the Department for Education released in June indicated that the number of EHCPs has increased. In total, there were 638,745 EHCPs in place in January 2025, up 10.8 per cent on the same point last year. The number of new plans that started during 2024 also grew by 15.8 per cent on the previous year, to 97,747. Requests for children to be assessed for EHCPs rose by 11.8 per cent to 154,489 in 2024. A Department for Education spokesperson said: "The evidence is clear that this government inherited a Send system left on its knees — which is why we are looking at changes to improve support for children and stop parents having to fight for help. We have been clear that there are no plans to abolish Send tribunals, or to remove funding or support from children, families and schools. "This government is actively working with parents and experts on the solutions, including more early intervention to prevent needs from escalating and £740 million to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools.
Gulf Today
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Home Office has no idea how many migrants overstayed
Millie Cooke, The Independent The government has failed to gather basic information such as whether people leave the UK after their visas expire or how many might have stayed to work illegally, the chairman of a cross-party committee of MPs said. The Public Accounts Committee (Pac), which examines the value for money of government projects, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced by the Tories in 2020. Some 1.18 million people applied to come to the UK on this route — designed to attract skilled workers in the wake of Brexit — between its launch in December of that year and the end of 2024. Around 630,000 of those were dependents of the main visa applicant. But the Pac said there is both a lack of knowledge around what people do when their visas expire and that the expansion of the route in 2022 to attract staff for the struggling social care sector led to the exploitation of some migrant workers. Its report said there was "widespread evidence of workers suffering debt bondage, working excessive hours and exploitative conditions", but added there is "no reliable data on the extent of abuses". It noted that the fact that a person's right to remain in the UK is dependent on their employer under the sponsorship model means migrant workers are "vulnerable to exploitation". While the problems began under the previous Conservative government, the revelations will come as a major headache for Yvette Cooper, who is trying to persuade voters she can get a grip on illegal migration. It comes just days after new figures showed that a record number of people have crossed the Channel in small boats in the first six months of this year, despite Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to "smash" the smuggling gangs. Provisional Home Office data showed that a total of 19,982 people have arrived in the UK since the start of 2025 — the highest total for the halfway point of the year since data was first collected on migrant crossings in 2018. Meanwhile, figures published earlier this year suggested thousands of care workers have come to the UK in recent years under sponsors whose licences were later revoked, in estimates suggesting the scale of exploitation in the system. The Home Office said more than 470 sponsor licences in the care sector had been revoked between July 2022 and December 2024 in a crackdown on abuse and exploitation. More than 39,000 workers were associated with those sponsors since October 2020, the department said. In its report, published on Friday, the Pac said: "The cross-government response to tackling the exploitation of migrant workers has been insufficient and, within this, the Home Office's response has been slow and ineffective." It also noted a lack of information around what happens to people when their visas expire, stating that the Home Office had said the only way it can tell if people are still in the country is to match its own data with airline passenger information. The report said: "The Home Office has not analysed exit checks since the route was introduced and does not know what proportion of people return to their home country after their visa has expired, and how many may be working illegally in the United Kingdom." Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said while the former Tory government had "moved swiftly to open up the visa system to help the social care system cope during the pandemic", the speed and volume of applications "came at a painfully high cost - to the safety of workers from the depredations of labour market abuses, and the integrity of the system from people not following the rules". He added: "There has long been mounting evidence of serious issues with the system, laid bare once again in our inquiry. "And yet basic information, such as how many people on skilled worker visas have been modern slavery victims, and whether people leave the UK after their visas expire, seems to still not have been gathered by the government." Earlier this week legislation to end the recruitment of care workers from abroad was introduced to parliament as part of a raft of immigration reforms. The move has sparked concerns from the adult social care sector, with the GMB union describing the decision as "potentially catastrophic" due to the reliance on migrant workers, with some 130,000 vacancies across England. The Home Office believes there are 40,000 potential members of staff originally brought over by "rogue" providers who could work in the sector while UK staff are trained up. Sir Geoffrey warned that unless there is "effective cross-government working, there is a risk that these changes will exacerbate challenges for the care sector". He said the government must "develop a deeper understanding of the role that immigration plays in sector workforce strategies, as well as how domestic workforce plans will help address skills shortages", warning that it "no longer has the excuse of the global crisis caused by the pandemic if it operates this system on the fly, and without due care". Adis Sehic, policy manager at charity the Work Rights Centre, said the report "unequivocally finds that the sponsorship system is making migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation because it ties workers to employers" and that the Home Office had "simply relied on sponsors' goodwill to comply with immigration rules". He added: "This report is yet more damning evidence that the principle of sponsorship, which ties migrant workers in the UK to their employer, is inherently unsafe for workers and, in our view, breaches their human rights.
Gulf Today
20-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
Key takeaways from Starmer's Brexit reset deal with EU
Millie Cooke, The Independent A landmark deal has been agreed between Britain and the European Union after a last-minute breakthrough in Sir Keir Starmer's reset talks. Sir Keir — who has made the Brexit reset a centrepiece of his administration — said Monday's summit marks a 'new era' of relations with the bloc, adding that it is about 'moving on from stale old debates' and 'looking forward, not backwards'. Some issues have proven thornier than others, with the topic of fishing rights understood to have been a key stumbling block for negotiators that was only solved in the early hours of the morning. Meanwhile, talks surrounding a youth mobility scheme appear to have ended in a deadlock. As the prime minister faces judgement on how successful his mission to reset relations with the EU has really been, The Independent takes a look at exactly what has been agreed. After months of speculation over what a youth mobility scheme would look like, it is understood that no such deal has been agreed. While there was mounting pressure on the UK from the EU to agree a scheme — which would let under-30s study, live and work between Britain and the continent for a number of years — negotiators appear to have failed to reach an agreement, instead simply leaving the door open for further discussion. 'The European Commission and the United Kingdom should work towards a balanced youth experience scheme on terms to be mutually agreed,' the agreement states, adding that any deal should allow young people to work, study, travel or volunteer abroad for a limited period of time. A possible deal should also ensure that the 'overall number of participants is acceptable to both sides', the text says. Alongside this, the UK and EU have agreed to 'work towards' Britain rejoining Erasmus — an EU programme which provides funding for students, teachers, and staff to study, train, gain experience, and volunteer abroad. The scheme was seen as a major loss to British students after Brexit. Defence and security: A UK-EU security and defence partnership has long been sought by the UK government and has been seen as the centrepiece of Britain's new relationship with the European Union. However, today's agreement appears to be thin on detail, with the document saying the partnership provides a 'framework for dialogue and cooperation on security and defence'. The UK and EU have agreed to 'boost cooperation' in a number of areas, including supporting Ukraine, the mobility of military personnel, space security, cybersecurity and maritime security. They have also agreed to explore further cooperation on health security, including the 'detection of, preparedness for, and response to emerging health threats to prevent and mitigate against future pandemics and health crises'. Alongside this, it has been announced that the UK will enter talks about access to EU facial image data for the first time, which will make it easier to catch criminals across borders. Fishing rights: Fishing rights have been a key obstacle in negotiations with the European Union, with negotiators hashing out details on the issue until the early hours of the morning on Monday. But after a major breakthrough, Britain has now agreed to open its fishing waters for 12 more years to EU boats — significantly more than the five years that were initially offered by the UK. Passport e-gates: Negotiators agreed to 'continue their exchanges on smooth border management for the benefit of their citizens', with the agreement saying there will be no legal barriers to e-gate use for British nationals traveling to and from EU countries after the introduction of the European Union entry-exit system — an automated IT system for registering non-EU nationals travelling for a short stay each time they cross the external borders. Trade: As part of the deal, a new sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) agreement will make it easier for food and drink to be imported and exported by reducing the red tape that placed burdens on businesses and led to lengthy lorry queues at the border. This agreement has no limit, which the government has said will provide 'vital certainty to business'. Meanwhile, some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely, allowing goods to flow more freely between the UK and the EU. UK officials said this could 'lower food prices and increase choice on supermarket shelves — meaning more money in people's pockets'. The deal also brings an end to the EU ban on UK exports of sausages, mince and other chilled meats, which has been in place since January 2021. Alongside this, British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules and restrictive tariffs in an arrangement the government estimates will save British steel £25m per year. Emissions: The UK and EU have agreed to cooperate more closely on emissions by linking their emissions trading systems — a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions which works by setting a limit on the total amount of emissions that can be released by a group of polluters. The closer cooperation will allow UK businesses to avoid being hit by the EU's carbon tax, which is due to come in next year and risk British businesses being forced to pay up to £800m. Ministers argue that the SPS agreement and the emissions trading systems linking measures combined will add nearly £9bn to the UK economy by 2040.
