Foreign visa holders are far tougher on illegal migrants than the Brits who answered the Home Office’s earned settlement consultation. And the charities…
Data tables published alongside today’s consultation response show 77% of current visa holders back a settlement penalty for people who arrive illegally, versus only 45% of British respondents.
Half of visa holders picked the toughest option they could – a 20-year wait – against 29% of Brits. Only 7% of visa holders say illegal arrivals should face no penalty at all. Among British respondents it is 48%…
Mahmood has gone for an extra 10 years. The Home Office points out that “a clear majority of respondents” backed longer waits for illegal arrivals…
It is the same story on benefits. 55% of British respondents want no penalty for migrants who claim public funds, against 21% of visa holders. The British respondents happen to look nothing like the country either. 62% work in professional or managerial jobs and 27% live in London. Even the Home Office concedes the results “should not be treated as representative of the general public”. A cross-section of Islington dinner parties and the charity sector…
66% of the 560 third sector groups (charities) that responded say illegal arrivals should face no penalty, with just 20% backing any penalty at all. Among private firms, 70% back one…
Campaign groups spent the run-up to the deadline coaching people on how to respond. One guide from migrant charity Praxis told fans: “We reject the concept of ‘earned settlement’ entirely and urge the Government to change course.” The enemy within…
Hilariously 41% of charities that use volunteers said counting volunteering towards settlement would harm their organisation. Responses mentioned the extra paperwork, volunteers who would vanish once they had their papers, and forged references with the charity’s name on them. The Home Office duly dropped its proposal to count volunteering. For avoidance of doubt this sector knows full well about people gaming the rules…
Care workers: U-turn by Mahmood. They can still apply for settlement after 5 years if they earn at least £25,000, rather than facing the 15-year wait proposed in the consultation.
3 years: top-rate taxpayers on more than £125,141, plus Global Talent and Innovator Founder visa holders.
5 years: higher-rate taxpayers on more than £50,271, public sector professionals such as doctors, nurses and teachers, and refugees who came on safe and legal routes.
10 years: the new default for everyone else, including refugees who go into work or study. They must prove a steady record of contribution.
20 years: anyone who claims certain benefits or breaks visa rules.
A curious intro to the energy Secretary’s monthly constituency report. Apart from reflecting on how impressive it is that she is “part of the first gender-balanced Cabinet as a Black woman”, Miatta Fahnbulleh said:
“As a mother, I think often about that future. It means confronting the reality of climate change and accelerating our transition to clean energy. It also means being honest about the challenges we face today, including the need for secure and affordable energy for working families and businesses.
This month, that has meant making difficult decisions and I know many of you will have questions over my decision on Jackdaw. I am very clear about what needs to be done to achieve net zero by 2050. We are investing billions in renewables and nuclear to reach our end destination. But as we make this transition, we are going to need oil and gas. I believe it is better to use homegrown gas to bolster our energy security than importing oil from abroad. And by using the money raised from the North Sea to invest in low carbon industries we can help speed up the transition.”
There is reference to Net Zero 2050 there. What’s missing is Labour’s Clean Power 2030 pledge…
Healey has been slowly strangling the goal of 95% clean electricity by the end of the decade – Miliband’s baby – in order to promote talk of lower bills. Which is currently a subsidy to be swallowed four times over by energy price cap hikes…
Even Fahnbulleh is keeping quiet on the Labour pledge, which has caused enough harm already. Self-preservation…
The Caribbean PM warning of repeat “atrocities” unless Britain pays reparations over slavery declared assets of over $11 million when he took office. Hmmm…
Antigua’s Gaston Browne, host of this week’s CHOGM, told ITV yesterday:
“I understand the politics in the UK, in which it may be a difficult proposition for him to agree to any form of reparations, but that just does not negate the need for reparations… If there’s no compensation, there’s likely to be a repeat of those atrocities sometime in the future, and you can see what is happening globally already.”
Browne, who spent time in banking after studying at City Banking College and the University of Manchester, declared assets of over EC$30 million (US$11.1 million) when he became PM in 2014. Including real estate, heavy equipment, and car hire businesses…
In 2016 local news reported: “He said he was now in the process of transferring most of his interests to his family members and since coming to office has acquired only one new property.”
In September this year Browne said his family could build luxury villas on land his son owns. The government is dumping sand from its own dredging works right next to the plot, building a brand new beach on the doorstep. Browne said: “I guarantee that my son can actually sell those at least maybe four million US apiece.” Uh huh…
Browne is also a self-declared republican who wants the King removed as head of state for Antigua and Barbuda.
Antigua and Barbuda left the OECD list of aid recipients on 1 January 2022 because it became too rich, with income per head of $21,150 in 2024. Browne also scrapped personal income tax entirely in April 2016, and the country sells passports instead…
Before it got too rich, Antigua was one of the first two countries to draw grants from Cameron’s £350 million UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund. Any fresh “investment” cannot come from the aid budget, so it would be new taxpayer cash on top. This is what Burnham says he is open to…
When asked what his favourite purchase from Poundland is, Tice said “I’d rather keep that to myself”…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”