Markus Andrews

Just 5,000 Afghans fleeing the Taliban are to be welcomed to the UK in the year ahead, as Boris Johnson’s government unveiled a new settlement scheme for those most at risk of persecution.Fears are building for those who worked against the Taliban since the fall of Kabul, with ministers under pressure to step up efforts to rescue those desperately trying to flee the country.The government has promised that up to 5,000 Afghans will be given refuge under the Afghanistan citizens’ resettlement scheme in the coming year – with an ambition to provide sanctuary to a total of 20,000 Afghans over the “long term”.The prime minister, set to address parliament on the crisis on Wednesday, said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last 20 years.”Mr Johnson added: “Many of them, particularly women, are now in urgent need of our help. I am proud that the UK has been able to put in place this route to help them and their families live safely in the UK.”But the Liberal Democrats criticised the “vague” promise to help 20,000 Afghans in the longer term – saying the higher figure should be the government’s immediate target, while Labour said the plan “does not meet the scale of the challenge”.Layla Moran MP, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, said: “We need these vulnerable people out of the country as soon as possible, instead of the government’s vague promise of the long-term. There is no time to waste. The Taliban are knocking on doors right now and making lists of those they plan to kill.”Ms Moran added: “The government have kicked this into the long grass when Afghans need help now – today. Twenty thousand should be the starting point of this scheme, not the target.”Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said: “Britain has an obligation to people in Afghanistan – it is right we have a scheme in place to help them rebuild their lives here.“The government’s incompetence in failing to plan for this has left huge numbers of Afghans’ lives in danger today, especially those who served alongside the British and women and girls. After such catastrophic errors, the Government must step up with a more urgent plan of action.“This proposal does not meet the scale of the challenge. Not only does that risk leaving people in Afghanistan in deadly danger, it will also undermine the leadership role Britain must play in persuading international partners to live up to their responsibilities.” The government said the new scheme was modelled on the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme, which relocated 20,000 Syrian refugees over a seven-year period from 2014 to 2021.The new route for Afghan asylum seekers will target women, children, and others who have been forced to flee their home or face threats of persecution from the Taliban.It follows calls from leading Tory MPs for Mr Johnson’s government to let in tens of thousands of Afghans following the Taliban takeover. Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the defence select committee, said earlier on Tuesday that the number offered refuge should be “at least in the tens of thousands”.On Tuesday evening home secretary Priti Patel chaired a meeting of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US – to identify safe and legal routes for those who need to leave Afghanistan.“I want to ensure that as a nation we do everything possible to provide support to the most vulnerable fleeing Afghanistan so they can start a new life in safety in the UK, away from the tyranny and oppression they now face,” said Ms Patel.However, a group of leading charities and MPs have urged the home secretary to make sure those forced to flee Afghanistan are not criminalised for their method of travel – as set out in the Nationality and Borders Bill going through parliament.Amid the crackdown on migrant boat crossings in the English Channel, a joint letter from 85 organisations and 14 MPs warned that for many refugees “regulated travel is not a viable option – many people need to flee urgently and by any means necessary”.Satbir Singh, chief executive for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “It’s clear that the British government must shift gear swiftly to protect Afghan refugees.”He added: “It must guarantee people’s protection based on need, not on method of flight – it must grant immediate asylum to the several thousand Afghans waiting for status.”Ministers said they would keep the scheme under review in coming years, and would work with devolved nations and local councils to deliver support for those fleeing to the UK.The government said the settlement scheme was in addition to the 5,000 Afghans already expected to move to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), which is designed to offer local allies such as interpreters priority relocation to the UK.In its first press conference since seizing control, the Taliban said on Tuesday that it would guarantee safety for those who had previously opposed the group and uphold women’s rights – albeit within the constraints of sharia law.But experts have expressed scepticism and warned that the country could again become a hotbed for terrorist groups.Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the home secretary, Priti Patel, called on other nations to help take in Afghan refugees. “The UK is also doing all it can to encourage other countries to help. Not only do we want to lead by example, we cannot do this alone,” she wrote. More

Labour chiefs have been mocked for using impenetrable management jargon while revealing plans for a major restructure, as Sir Keir Starmer’s party looks to cut around 90 jobs.Labour’s general secretary David Evans unveiled the grand plan to staff on Tuesday, with around a quarter of those on the payroll facing the axe.Employees were asked to start working in an “agile” and “multi-disciplinary” way as the party attempts to repair its shattered finances following legal pay-outs and cuts in contributions from unions.Staff were also told to “adopt a product-mindset using agile ceremonies, be empowered to make decisions and encouraged to focus on rapid prototyping, deployment and iteration”.Online commentators suggested the torturous corporate language resembled Stewart Pearson – the Tory spin doctor from political satire The Thick of It.South London Labour councillor Richard Livingstone tweeted: “I mean, what the **** are ‘agile ceremonies’? Has a certain The Wicker Man energy to it?”“Agile ceremonies” is a management term for organising a series of flexible meetings, while “rapid prototyping” is a computer aided design concept referring to the fast part of the development process.Criticising the “jargon-filled” presentation, a Labour employee told the PoliticsHome website: “David Evans keeps talking about the party being closer to the ground but he never says what that actually means, or how we’ll do it with so few staff and fewer people in the regions.”Labour staff were told last month of the planned job cuts, which the party said was “not an easy decision” but was required to get “fighting fit for upcoming campaigns and the next general election”.On Tuesday Mr Evans told staff that the key driver of the restructure was the need to achieve a “substantial cost reduction”.The party is hoping to attract enough volunteers for redundancy – rather than enforce a compulsory process – after agreeing to four weeks’ pay for every year served rather than three, according to the Labour List website. Mr Evans is also said to have told staff Labour would have to become more an “voter-centric”, rather than “telling voters what they should think or do or asking questions on our terms”.Last month the party was accused of using underhanded “fire and rehire” practices condemned by Sir Keir a few months previously.Despite planned lay-offs, The Independent revealed that the party had posted on a recruitment website offering potential workers a temporary, six-month contract for work done from home.A Labour source said: “This is unrelated to the announcement about the voluntary severance scheme. It was agreed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) several weeks ago as a necessary and temporary measure to help us clear the backlog of complaints as quickly as possible.” More

The EU must talk to the Taliban since they have “won the war” in Afghanistan, the bloc’s foreign policy chief has said.Josep Borrell said Brussels had decided it was necessary to engage with the country’s new ruling power after an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the crisis.“We have to get in touch with authorities in Kabul. The Taliban have won the war and we have to talk to them,” said Mr Borrell at a news conference on Tuesday.But the foreign policy chief insisted that the EU will only cooperate with the Taliban if it respects women’s rights and prevents the use of Afghanistan’s territory by terrorist groups.“I haven’t said that we are going to recognise the Taliban,” he said. “I just said that we have to talk with them for everything – even to try to protect women and girls. Even for that, you have to get in touch with them.”Mr Borrell added: “We will put conditions for continual support, and we are going to use our leverage … to make the human rights to be respected. I know that when I’m saying that it looks a little bit wishful thinking. But we will use all our leverage.”The Taliban claimed animosities with foreign powers were over at a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday afternoon. The militant group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told journalists: “We do not have any grudges against anybody. We have pardoned … all those who have fought against us.”The spokesman also claimed that women’s rights were “very important” and would be respected “within the framework of Sharia”.Mr Mujahid added: “Our sisters … have the same rights, will be able to benefit from their rights. The international community – if they have concerns – we would like to assure them that there is not going to be any discrimination against women, but of course within the frameworks that we have.”Although Germany has decide to temporarily halt development aid to Afghanistan, the EU will continue to provide assistance to the Afghan people to address the “worsening humanitarian situation”, Mr Borrell announced.UK foreign minister Dominic Raab suggested on Tuesday that aid spending to Afghanistan could be increased by 10 per cent, despite millions already being removed from the budget due to government cuts.Mr Borrell called on the Taliban to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to Afghan women, men and children in need, including internal refugees.“The EU calls on the Taliban to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances. The EU will also support Afghanistan’s neighbours in coping with negative spillovers, which are to be expected from an increasing flow of refugees and migrants,” he added.Mr Borrell also said that while the fight against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan succeeded, the process of nation-building failed, despite the enormous amount of resources directed to the country.The foreign policy chief said the immediate priority was to evacuate remaining EU staff, their interpreters and others working with the bloc’s officials in Kabul.“The first objective, the priority, is to ensure the evacuation in the best conditions of security of the European nationals still present in the country, and also of the Afghan citizens who worked with us for more than 20 years, if they want to leave the country,” he said.Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan praised the Taliban’s conduct, saying that the group – still designated a terrorist organisation in Russia – made Kabul “better” than it had been under the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani. More

Senior Tories have urged Boris Johnson to let in tens of thousands of fleeing Afghans when he unveils what is promised to be a “world-leading” resettlement scheme. Two former ministers said the UK had “a duty” to be as generous as nations such as Canada, ahead of an expected announcement at an emergency Commons debate on Wednesday.But Priti Patel vowed to maintain “vital national security checks” to counter the terror threat posed by the chaos in Afghanistan, the home secretary adding: “We will not compromise on security.”The prime minister is expected to set up a legal immigration route separate from the standard asylum system, targeted particularly at women and girls and modelled on the help given to Syrians.The current Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme only applies to “current or former locally employed staff assessed to be at serious risk of threat to life”.Canada has announced the country will resettle 20,000 vulnerable Afghans, including human rights workers, journalists and female leaders, with Germany expected to admit up to 10,000.Caroline Nokes, the former immigration minister, said Afghans are “rightly scared” and that the UK’s role in and after the 2001 invasion meant it had “a duty to them to help now”.“For 20 years, we have sought to help the people of Afghanistan, to liberate them from a terrible oppressive regime,” she told BBC Radio 4.“We have worked alongside them, we have encouraged them to take up elected office, to play roles in society that they would not previously have done so.”Asked if that meant letting in “20,000, 30,000, 50,000”, Ms Nokes pointed to the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) for Syria – through which 20,000 refugees have arrived.Tobias Ellwood, the former defence minister, told the PoliticsHome website, the number should be “at least in the tens of thousands”.“All the countries that were involved have a duty and an obligation to provide safe haven, given where we’ve left the country”, the chair of the Commons defence committee said.The Liberal Democrats said they backed resettling at least 20,000 Afghans, while Keir Starmer said it was up to the prime minister to “answer that question” in parliament.“Before we get to a number, the first question is getting our international partners round a table, including neighbouring countries to Afghanistan, to draw up an urgent plan for the safe and legal exit of refugees that inevitably will flow from this,” the Labour leader said.He added: “I don’t think a question of numbers at this stage is a helpful discussion. The first discussion has to be: is there a plan, is there a strategy?”Sir Keir also attacked both Mr Johnson and Dominic Raab being on holiday during the fall of Kabul, saying: “For the prime minister and the foreign secretary to be missing in action at this vital time is something that everybody thinks is wrong.”The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils “stand ready” to “ensure new arrivals get the support they need to settle into their new communities”. More

Conservatives have reacted with anger at Joe Biden’s speech justifying his decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan while placing blame on the country’s political leaders, with one MP describing it as “grotesque”.It comes after the US president used a national address the day after the Afghan capital, Kabul, was seized by the Taliban, and chaos erupted at the airport, saying he stood “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw troops from the region.Admitting the takeover of Afghanistan unfolded “more quickly than we had anticipated”, he also argued the country’s political leaders “gave up and fled the country” — rather than resisting the insurgents.“The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,” he said. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves”Claiming the military in the country “were well equipped” with “every tool” they would need, he went on: “We gave them every chance to determine their own future. We could not provide them with the will to fight for their future.”However, the speech provoked anger among some quarters of the Conservative Party, with the MP Simon Clarke posting on social media: “The more you reflect, the more you realise the speech POTUS gave last night was grotesque.“An utter repudiation of the America so many of us have admired so deeply all our lives — the champion of liberty and democracy and the guardian of what’s right in the world.”The former Tory MP Rory Stewart, who ran for the leadership of the party in 2019, also described the speech to The Independent as “hollowed, devoid of empathy, and naively pessimistic”.Tom Tugendhat — the chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee — also told The Independent: “Blame shifting in the fact of the predicted disaster that is Afghanistan today is extraordinary.”“We need to take responsibility for our actions and recognise the consequence of political decisions,” he said.Gavin Barwell, who was chief-of-staff to former prime minister Theresa May, posted on Twitter: “After POTUS speech last night, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.“The US will remain a key ally where its vital interests are involved, but neither the Democrats nor Republicans any longer believe the US should be the world’s policeman.”He added: “The lesson for Europe is clear: whoever is president, the US is unlikely to offer the same support that it used to in parts of the world where its vital interests are not involved”.Elsewhere, Labour’s Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “We were critical when the UK government blindly followed the United States during the Trump years.“We won’t shy away from that same criticism now. Abandoning the Afghan people is wrong. The UK government should have the courage to say so.”Her frontbench colleague Wes Streeting added after Mr Biden’s speech on Monday evening: “Listening to the presidents of two of our closest allies in the United States and France you would think that the nativists won the elections. Around the world, all the wrong people are cheering”.Speaking to Times Radio, Hugo Llorens, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan between 2016 and 2017, said that while the president was a “good man”, he “completely” disagreed with the decision to withdraw the American military from the region.“I think that to a significant degree, the president realises this was a mistake,” he said. “This is now the issue of the moment. It’s clearly been a disastrous result.He went on: “They clearly didn’t expect it. The president accepted that, they did not see the deterioration as rapidly as it occurred. But I think there’s a little bit of, you know, politicians trying to protect and defend themselves. And I think there’s a little bit of rewriting of history.”Addressing the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, suggested the situation at Kabul international airport was “stabilising” as the UK continued attempts to evacuate British citizens and some Afghans granted visas.The cabinet minister revealed around 2,000 UK nationals had contacted the Foreign Office from Afghanistan, but also echoed comments from the defence secretary Ben Wallace, saying there was “always a risk” some people could be left if the situation deteriorates.However, the foreign secretary, who arrived back in London on Monday after being on holiday in Greece, attempted to claim the no one saw the swift Taliban takeover in the country “coming” as the government faced criticism over its strategy.“We’ve monitored this very carefully, but the truth is across the world people were caught by surprise,” he told Sky News. More

The unemployment rate for Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers has risen at three times the speed of the unemployment rate for white workers, new figures reveal.Fresh latest employment figures published by the Office for National Statistics have shown that over the last year the percentage of people from these communities who are out of work has risen from from 6.1 to 8 per cent, compared with 3.6 to 4 per cent among white people.Frances O’Grady, the General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, said: “BME workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic. They’ve been more likely to be in low-paid, insecure work and have been put at greater risk from the virus. They’ve also been more likely to work in industries that have been hit hard by unemployment, like hospitality and retail.“As we emerge from the pandemic, we can’t allow these inequalities in our jobs market to continue. Ministers must take decisive action to hold down unemployment, create good new jobs and challenge the discrimination that holds BME workers back.“And our recovery is still fragile, with more than a million workers on furlough. Instead of pulling the rug out from under the feet of businesses and workers, the chancellor must extend the furlough scheme for as long as is needed to protect jobs and livelihoods – and work towards setting up a permanent short-time work scheme to deal with future crises.”ONS figures also published on Tuesday show the number of people on zero-hours contracts has fallen slightly from 1.08 million in April-June 2020 to 917,000 in April-June 2021. Ethnic minority women are twice as likely to be on these low-paid, insecure contracts than white men.To combat this disparity, the TUC is now calling on the government to extend furlough and ban zero-hours contracts.The number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 182,000 between June and July, although at 28.9 million it is still 201,000 lower than before the pandemic struck, while the overall rate of unemployment had dipped to 4.7 per cent for the three-month period to the end of June.Analysts had predicted that the unemployment rate would stay flat at 4.8 per cent for the quarter.The ONS also reported a further surge in job vacancies as firms seek to fill roles following the reopening of the economy, rising by more than 290,000 against the previous quarter.It added that, at 953,000, the number of vacancies was the highest estimated figure since records were started in 2001. Arts, leisure and food service firms particularly contributed to the surge in job openings, it added.This comes after research earlier this year revealed that young Black people have been the hardest hit by the rise in unemployment during the pandemic.The Resolution Foundation (RF) said before the pandemic, the unemployment rate among young people with a black background was 25 per cent, compared with 21 per cent for those from an Asian background, and 10 per cent for those from a white background.However, during the crisis that rose by more than a third to 35 per cent for young black people, as against 24 per cent for those with an Asian background and 13 per cent for those who are white. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under pressure to commit to a huge increase in the state pension next year, as the latest government figures show soaring wage growth in the UK.The government has promised to protect the “triple lock” to push up pension payments – but Mr Sunak hinted last month it could be scrapped because voters would not consider it to be “fair”.The triple lock guarantee now looks set to push up pensions by around 8 per cent – costing taxpayers between £3bn and £4bn – because wages have bounced back so sharply from the Covid crisis.Average total earnings rose 8.8 per cent over the last quarter compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.Former pensions minister Steve Webb said such growth would increase the state pension from £9,340 to over £10,000 a year.“These figures pile pressure on the chancellor, as he will want to stick to his triple lock policy, but not pay a huge increase to pensioners,” said the pensions expert.Speculation has been rife that the chancellor may abandon the triple lock, the promise to raise state pension by the highest of three measures – the annual rise in average earnings, the annual rise in Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or 2.5 per cent.Julian Jessop, economics fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: “The 8.8 per cent jump in average pay in the three months to June provides more ammunition for those arguing that the ‘triple lock’ on the state pension needs to be unpicked.”The triple lock has long been criticised for shielding the elderly from any of the post-financial crash pain felt by younger generations.Asked last month if it was “fair” that pensions could leap by 8 per cent while universal credit payments are cut, Mr Sunak said: “I think they are completely legitimate and fair concerns to raise.”Mr Webb, pensions minister under David Cameron’s coalition government, now a partner at LCP financial consultants, said the most likely option for the chancellor was to look for a measure of earnings growth which “strips out” the effect of the pandemic.He suggested using a measure of “underlying” earnings growth, knocking between 2.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent off the headline figures.“This could save the chancellor several billion pounds a year whilst still allowing him to claim he had kept to the ‘spirit’ of the triple lock promise,” said Mr Webb.However, some experts have warned about the plight of pensioners struggling on low incomes if the chancellor ditches the triple lock promise.Even the state pension were to increase by 8 per cent it would still leave a £730-a-year income gap compared to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “minimum income standard” of £10,816, according to new analysis by the financial services firm Just Group.“While to many an 8 per cent increase in the state pension will seem extraordinarily generous, our analysis shows even this level of uplift would still not give single pensioners an income the public thinks provides an acceptable minimum standard of living,” said Stephen Lowe, a director at Just Group.Twice as many women as men aged over 65 are either single, widowed or divorced in England – 2.77 million women compared to 1.41 million men. And OECD figures estimate that women in the UK are likely, on average, to be receiving between 34 per cent and 43 per cent less in retirement than men.Mr Lowe said: “There is already a substantial retirement income gender gap in the UK – removing some of the protections around the state pension sends a message from government that it is happy to risk damaging financial outcomes for women in later-life even further.” More

The Foreign Office is accused of having no “grasp” of the crisis in Afghanistan and of quickly evacuating its diplomats while leaving young soldiers in charge.Labour is demanding answers on claims that Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has predicted “a reckoning” for Dominic Raab’s department when the immediate emergency is over.Mr Wallace is reported to have protested that diplomats had been “on the first plane out”, while “18-year-old squaddies” were left to process visa applications in Kabul.Mr Raab admitted a “rapid deployment team” was yet to arrive in Kabul and that staff had been withdrawn for their own safety, telling Times Radio: “I want to get them back in today.”Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chair of the Commons defence committee, turned his fire on the Foreign Office, after it said its aim is to exert a “positive and moderating influence” on the new Taliban government.“I regret having to say this but a grasp of understanding of what is going on in Afghanistan seems to be eluding the Foreign Office at the moment,” Mr Ellwood said.“The only language the Taliban understood was military might – and we removed that upper hand that we had, or that we gave to the Afghans.”Earlier, Mr Raab, the under-fire foreign secretary, announced a likely 10 per cent aid increase to Afghanistan – months after a 78 per cent cut, as part of the £4bn-a-year overseas aid reductions.But there are doubts about the money can be channelled, given Taliban control and the expected withdrawal of aid agencies if the country descends into full-blown civil war.Mr Elwood, speaking to the BBC, ridiculed the idea that decisions about aid, or sanctions, could now somehow “improve the Taliban”.Hopes for a peaceful transition in Kabul were dead, Mr Ellwood said, but he insisted there was “still is a window of opportunity” to ease the chaos.The Guardian reported Mr Wallace’s frustration that Ministry of Defence officials had had to replace Foreign Office officials and process resettlement claims for people trying to flee Kabul.Up to 4,000 Afghans thought to be eligible for resettlement in the UK, amid frightening scenes at the capital’s international airport, but a much bigger scheme is promised.Mr Wallace admitted that “some people will not get back”, with the US thought to have given Western allies just two weeks to facilitate departures.Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, said Mr Raab had “serious questions to answer about his department’s lack of preparedness for the tragic situation now unfolding”.“The failure to prepare for the safe and swift evacuation of British nationals, support staff and the Afghans who worked alongside us is catastrophic”“Days after evacuations began, there is still no clear strategy in place. This effort demands tight cross-government coordination, but unbelievably key departments are now at loggerheads.” More