UK Politics

HMRC is reviewing decisions to strip child benefit payments from 23,500 people after using individuals’ travel data to conclude that they had emigrated from the UK. The benefit is normally stopped if someone spends more than eight weeks living outside the UK, but many of the people affected complained the tax body stopped their payments after they went abroad for a holiday. It comes after the government began a new crackdown on child benefit fraud as part of an attempt to save £350m over the next five years. The system, which was being piloted, allows HMRC to use Home Office international travel data to assess whether people are still living in the UK. But all the affected cases are now being reviewed after a growing number of complaints from people who briefly left the UK and returned to find their payments had been stopped. The problem was first identified in Northern Ireland after some families had flown out of the UK from Belfast and then returned to Dublin, in the EU, before driving home over the border.According to the Guardian, almost half of the families initially flagged as having emigrated were still living in the UK. The newspaper reported that the scheme saved HMRC £17m but left 46 per cent of the families targeted incorrectly suspected of fraud. In Northern Ireland, 78 per cent were incorrectly identified as not having returned from trips abroad. Some 129 families were flagged during the pilot as having left the country when only 28 had actually done so.HMRC told The Guardian it will no longer use data on travel through Dublin airport to assess fraud because it is part of the common travel area, and will not stop benefits before cross-checking with the person concerned and looking at PAYE records. The decision to review the system comes after MPs on the Treasury Select Committee demanded answers from the tax authority.A spokesperson for HMRC said: “We’re very sorry to those whose payments have been suspended incorrectly. We have taken immediate action to update the process, giving customers one month to respond before payments are suspended.“We remain committed to protecting taxpayers’ money and are confident that the majority of suspensions are accurate.” More

The home secretary is gearing up to set out a major shakeup of the asylum system in the coming weeks, which is expected to be modelled on Denmark. The country has one of the toughest immigration systems in Europe, and senior officials are hoping that taking lessons from the Scandinavian nation could help bring down the growing numbers of people arriving in the UK via small boat. A delegation of senior officials was sent to Copenhagen last month to learn about their interventions and draw lessons that could be applied to the UK. Why is the government looking to Denmark? The plan to copy Denmark comes as the government ramps up its efforts to bring down migration in the UK, amid growing public anger over the issue.It has been a difficult few months for the government, with Britain seeing rising numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel and a migrant, who was deported under the UK’s returns deal with France, re-entering the country.At Labour’s party conference in September, Shabana Mahmood pledged to “do whatever it takes” to regain control of Britain’s borders – but the government is yet to get a grip on the number of people making the dangerous crossing, with the total who have arrived in the UK by small boat this year reaching 37,575 on 6 November.The decision to look at the Danish system comes as part of an attempt to slash the “pull factors” that draw people to the UK, as well as making it easier to remove those with no right to stay.Last year, the Danish government said it had approved a “historically” low number of asylum applications – something that is said to have impressed the home secretary.Their approach to migration and integration policy has reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years in 2024, while they have also successfully removed 95 per cent of rejected asylum seekers..What policies could they implement? While the Home Office is yet to comment on specific policies, officials are thought to be looking at Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunion, as well as considering restricting most asylum seekers to a temporary stay in the country.While refugees who have been targeted by a foreign regime are likely to be provided protection in Denmark, most people who have been granted asylum are only allowed to stay in the country temporarily.When a country is deemed safe, the Danish government has the power to withdraw or refuse renewal of protection, even where the individual has been resident for several years.Denmark also imposes conditions, such as being in full-time employment, that are applied to people seeking settlement rights. Home Office officials are also said to be looking at the country’s tighter rules for family reunions, which include a minimum age of 24 for refugees applying for their partners to join them, which the country says is to protect against forced marriages.A person who has been granted residency in Denmark must not have claimed benefits for three years and they must put up a financial guarantee, while both partners must also pass a Danish language test.Denmark also takes a tough approach to integration, with a law that allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas where at least half of the residents have a “non-Western” background – a law that was found to be discriminatory on the basis of ethnic origin by a senior adviser to the EU’s top court.Refugees who live in these housing estates would not be eligible for family reunion.While the UK government is not expected to go so far as this in its imitation of Denmark’s immigration system, the government is likely to take some lessons from this aspect of the system as part of an attempt to boost integration in Britain. How have Labour MPs responded? Labour MPs are split on the move, with some in so-called red wall seats – seen as vulnerable to challenge from Reform UK – wanting ministers to go further in the Danish direction, while others believe the policies will estrange progressive voters and push the party too far to the right.Left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who is a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group caucus, urged against emulating the Danish model, suggesting it was “far-right”.“I think this is a dead end – morally, politically and electorally… I think these are policies of the far-right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.Meanwhile, Clive Lewis accused the government of “adopting the logic of its opponents” in its attempt to crack down on migration.“When a progressive party adopts the logic of its opponents – that migrants are a threat, that order must come before rights, that the state’s job is to manage people rather than empower them – it doesn’t neutralise the authoritarian right. It normalises it”, he said. “The outcome isn’t a strong or fair society – it’s an increasingly authoritarian one – with government strong enough to punish, but too weak to care. “Secure the borders, open safe-routes, democratise immigration, operate an efficient asylum system and invest in well-funded, universal, public services/housing.” But Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Gareth Snell said that any change bringing “fairness” to an asylum system that his constituents “don’t trust” is “worth exploring”.He said it was “worth looking at what best practice we can find from our sister parties around the world where they have managed to find practical solutions” to managing immigration. More

A government minister has admitted that accidental prison releases have gone up under the Labour government, but insisted that the government is “gripping” the crisis. Ministers are facing mounting pressure over a series of high-profile manhunts, with justice secretary David Lammy admitting on Friday there is a “mountain to climb” to tackle the crisis in the prison system.It comes after it was revealed on Saturday that two prisoners are still at large after being mistakenly released last year, and another two, who are understood to have been freed in error in June this year, also remain missing.Asked if she knows how many prisoners are still on the run in total, culture secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I haven’t had any discussions with the justice secretary about that this morning. What I can tell you is that under the last government, for quite some time, there were, on average, 17 wrong releases. “Under this government that has risen. It’s 22. That is completely unacceptable. It was unacceptable before, it’s unacceptable now.” She added: “Even one is too many, and the justice secretary is gripping this by appointing Dame Lynne Owens, who is the former director of the National Crime Agency, to make sure that we really grip this, starting with the antiquated paper-based system that was developed in the 1980s that is still being used, building new prisons and making sure that we have additional checks so that people aren’t wrongly released.” Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said she doesn’t know how many prisoners are still on the run More

The BBC is set to apologise for editing a speech made by US president Donald Trump in a Panorama episode after facing a backlash – as a government minister said decisions at the broadcaster are “not always well thought through”. The corporation was accused of misleading viewers in a Panorama episode by selectively editing a speech made by Mr Trump ahead of the Capitol riots in 2021, according to a leaked memo. The spliced footage showed Mr Trump urging his supporters to “fight like hell” before the riots, but omitted a section where he told the crowd “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”.BBC chair Samir Shah is expected to apologise for the editing choice, in response to a request from parliament’s culture, media and sport committee, which said that there were “serious questions to answer”. A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC chairman will provide a full response to the culture, media and sport committee on Monday.”The leaked extract of the memo read: “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.”A speech by Trump in 2021 was edited in a way that was ‘completely misleading’, according to a leaked memo More

A former minister has called on the government to pay people who reach state pension age for at least five years, even if they die.Sir Steve Webb, who was pensions minister when the triple lock was introduced, said the state pension age should rise, but urged chancellor Rachel Reeves to implement a “minimum guaranteed payout” of five years, which would protect those who are expected to live for less long. Then, if someone died within those five years, their heirs would receive the payout instead.Writing in a report for pensions consultancy LCP, where he now works, Sir Steve argued that the pension age should rise by one year every decade to account for increasing life expectancies, with people ending up with the state pension for 20 years on average.He added that those who die before reaching state pension age but have paid into the system should also get a similar guaranteed payout, such as through the working-age bereavement benefits system.The calls come as Ms Reeves is under increasing pressure to plug a hole in the country’s finances at the upcoming Budget this month.It comes as chancellor Rachel Reeves is under increasing pressure to plug a hole in the country’s finances at the upcoming Budget this month More

A minister has accused British Medical Association (BMA) leaders of being “determined to turn their organisation into a farce” after a motion was passed for GPs to refuse to comply with new online access requirements for surgeries.While Stephen Kinnock claimed the government wants “to work constructively with the BMA”, he said the motion “will put patient safety at risk at a critical time ahead of winter.”From October 1, GP surgeries in England have been required to keep their online consultation platform open for the duration of their working hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries and admin requests.But a motion was passed that demanded the requirements’ removal and insisted online consultations should be curtailed once safe working limits have been reached, during Friday’s England LMC (local medical committee) conference.Health and care minister Stephen Kinnock has hit out at the BMA’s leadership More

Tens of thousands of people in Lisbon took to the streets Saturday to protest a package of labor reforms proposed by Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s government. Demonstrators carried posters that read “No to the labor package” and called for a monthly minimum wage of 1,050 euros ($1,214) in 2026. The protest was organized by the country’s main labor union in opposition to an overhaul the government says aims to improve productivity and flexibility in the job market. Opponents want the package withdrawn and say it threatens workers’ rights.Among the controversial elements are a limit on how long breastfeeding women can claim a flexible work schedule and reduced miscarriage bereavement leave. The reforms would also make worker dismissals easier.Portugal’s current minimum wage stands at 870 euros (about $1,007) per month.Montenegro, who leads the center-right Democratic Alliance, heads a minority government in the European Union nation of 10.6 million people. If approved, the bill will be sent to parliament where it’s expected to pass with the votes of far-right Chega, the largest opposition party. Organizers of Saturday’s protest announced a general strike on Dec. 11. More