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Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreThousands of farmers are set to head to London for the latest in a series of protests as the ‘Pancake Day Rally’ against Labour changes to inheritance tax gets underway.Farmers and their allies will begin to gather from midday on Tuesday for speeches outside Parliament. Industry leaders say the plan put forward by chancellor Rachel Reeves during her first Budget last October, is “marching the UK into a food crisis”.Police have warned attendees that they face arrest if they bring unauthorised tractors to Whitehall, as has been seen at previous events. This marks the first time such a warning has been put in place, with several tractors hitting the streets on central London in recent months.Farmers and their tractors protest in Whitehall, London, February 2025 (Gareth Fuller/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreDonald Trump is set to become the first US president to receive a second state visit to the UK, but calls are growing for it to be scrapped in the wake of his Oval Office clash with Volodymyr Zelensky.Critics – including SNP leader John Swinney and senior Conservative MP Alicia Kearns – say Britain should not reward a president who has undermined a key ally. Kearns, who is shadow minister for foreign affairs, warned that no visit should proceed unless America’s commitment to its allies is assured, adding: “State visits should be conferred to the most honourable of allies, not to curry favour.”However, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed demands to withdraw the invitation, insisting he won’t be “diverted” by those ramping up rhetoric.Lib Dem leader Ed Davey agreed, adding that the visit should be used to secure stronger commitments from Trump on Ukraine.With Trump’s recent behaviour and stance on Ukraine raising concerns, we want to know what you think. Is rolling out the red carpet the right move, or should Britain take a stand?Share your thoughts in the comments – we’ll feature the most compelling responses.All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWatch live as Sir Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs today (26 February) ahead of crunch US talks with Donald Trump.Sir Keir faces the Tory leader a day after his shock announcement to increase the UK’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent and just hours before he travels to Washington DC to meet with the US President.Defence secretary John Healey has insisted that the US president’s demands are not the sole reason for the increase.He pointed out that this promise was made in Labour’s election manifesto. but is being delivered three years early as the “world has changed”.It comes after Sir Keir said Britain would hike defence spending by 2027 with a further “ambition” to hit 3 per cent by the early 2030s.European countries including France and Germany have signalled a need to increase defence spending, but details of how and when this will happen have been vague.Sir Keir acknowledged his plans were accelerated by US president Donald Trump’s criticism of Ukraine and threats to withdraw security guarantees from Europe. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWatch as Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch stressed the importance of putting Britain first in a major foreign policy speech on Tuesday (25 February).Ms Badenoch also warned that there will be “painful decisions on government spending” when it comes to funding defence.In the address on Tuesday, she also spoke of the “need to disengage” from international bodies if they are “taken over by activists or by autocratic regimes like China or Russia”.The Conservative leader said that “our foreign policy should seek to support our national interest” and “sovereignty must be at the core of our foreign policy”.She added: “Our national interest is first and foremost to protect our country, to strengthen our country, and to look after ourselves. That means a strong military and a strong economy.“That is not a selfish objective, it is realism – because you cannot help others if you cannot help yourself. Strengthening Britain must be the principal objective at the heart of everything we do.”The speech – delivered a day after the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – also touched on defence, as Ms Badenoch said “we must do what it takes to protect Britain”. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreLabour’s planned benefit spending cuts have reportedly ballooned to as much as £5 billion as Rachel Reeves grapples with ministers over her upcoming spending review.Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Liz Kendall is understood to be pushing for more funding for initiatives on back-to-work programmes for the long-term sick. The minister has argued that measures to give claimants better help now will ultimately fund themselves in the future.But chancellor Rachel Reeves remains under pressure to find substantial departmental cuts, The Times reports. And while government sources indicate that a £5 billion cut is the most likely option to be selected, packages in excess of £10 billion have been floated.It comes as the Treasury faces renewed calls to boost defence spending in the wake of Donald Trump’s drastic approach to the conflict in Ukraine. The US president has demanded all European nations increase their target to five per cent of GDP, with the UK currently spending around 2.3 per cent.Last year, Labour pledged match the previous Conservative government’s spending target and shave £3 billion from the welfare bill. It now appears that this could be a minimum, and the actual amount possibly much higher.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreDepictions of older people as hoarding wealth and working against the young are “ageist stereotypes” a cross-party group of MPs has said.The Women and Equalities Committee writes that the “boomers” trope, referring to those born between the mid-1940s and mid-1960s, is a “significant contributory factor to the normalisation of ageist attitudes” in the UK.A report from the group – entitled ‘The rights of older people’ – says this age group are stereotyped as a group “who hoard wealth to the disadvantage of younger people,” creating “unnecessary and unhelpful division” between generations.The Committee notes that many older people are depicted as “living comfortable lives in homes they own while younger generations struggle on low incomes, unable to afford to enter the housing market and struggling with high rents.”This is described as an “othering” narrative by the authors, and a “unique form of discrimination, as younger people essentially discriminate against their future selves.”There are 1.9 million pensioners living in poverty in the UK (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA huge gas field has been found under Lincolnshire that could reportedly fuel the UK for a decade.However, there are fears the discovery near the town of Gainsborough could spark a row as the gas would need to be extracted via fracking, with critics arguing the practice distracts from net zero goals.The energy company behind the findings, which is set to officially announce the discovery at a conference this month, claimed the Gainsborough Trough field will boost the British economy by more than £100 billion and lead to less reliance on energy imports. Egdon Resources added that it will lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.Consultants Deloitte, who analysed the test drilling results on behalf of Egdon, argued that using gas from the field rather than from abroad would have significantly less environmental impact.The newly found field has around 480 billion cubic metres of gas – roughly seven times what the country consumes each year – which it is suggested could cover the UK’s gas needs for the next 10 years, due to declining consumption, reported LBC.Energy secretary Ed Miliband is among the many Labour MPs as well as others across the UK who are opposed to fracking, the technique that would need to be used to extract the gas More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreThe government has toughened up guidance for refugees, making it more difficult for those who arrive here in small boats across the Channel to obtain citizenship.The Home Office’s good character guidance now states that an applicant will “normally” be refused citizenship if they entered the UK illegally – no matter how long they have lived in the UK.It makes particular reference to those who arrived “having made a dangerous journey”, including those “travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle”.The changes come after the government released footage of migrants being escorted onto planes and deported on Monday. Home secretary Yvette Cooper warned it will be “governments and not gangs” deciding who gets to enter the country.Some 18,987 people, including foreign criminals and those not eligible for asylum, have been returned to countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America since Labour took power in July.According to the Home Office, 5,074 were forced returns of people with no legal right to remain in the UK, up 24 per cent between 5 July last year and 31 January, compared with 4,089 forced returns in the previous 12-month period.Here, The Independent takes a look at how many illegal migrants the UK is hosting, and why calculating the exact number is a complicated process.How does someone become an unauthorised/illegal migrant?There are four main ways for a person to become an unauthorised migrant in the UK. Firstly, by entering the country on a visa and overstaying the conditions of the visa; Secondly, entering the UK without authorisation or through deception, such as using forged documents. Thirdly, by not leaving the country after an asylum application has been rejected and fourthly, being born in the UK to parents who are unauthorised migrants because the UK does not have birthright citizenship.It is difficult to calculate exactly how many illegal or unauthorised migrants there are in the UK. Those trying to do so face the challenge of attempting to count individuals who don’t want to be found.How are illegal migrants entering the UK?Small boats are the main way irregular migrants are entering the country since 2020, according to the Home Office. The government saw a decline in other methods such as inadequately documented air arrivals and detections at ports due to the Covid pandemic making air or ferry entry less viable.Between 2020 and the end of September 2024, around 175,000 unauthorised arrivals were recorded by the authorities. Of these, 78 per cent arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in a small boat.Small boat arrivals typically peak during the summer months (Q3 of each year), however, this is not always the case. The government does not make comparisons between shorter periods where arrival numbers may fluctuate considerably.The most common small vessels detected making these types of crossings are rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs), dinghies and kayaks.Since the beginning of 2025, 1292 migrants have arrived on small boats into the UK.Where are they coming from? Around 70 per cent of irregular migrants arriving into the UK since 2018 have been adult men and just under one-fifth (19 per cent) of detected irregular arrivals have been children aged 17 and under, according to the Home Office.Just under one-sixth, 15 per cent, of detected irregular arrivals in the year ending September 2024 were Afghans, the nationality in the top 5 for all 4 entry methods. The number of Afghan nationals arriving by small boats have almost halved, 46 per cent, in the year ending September 2024.Albanians were the top nationality detected arriving by small boat in the year ending September 2022 (12,024 arrivals), but their numbers have since declined to only 559 small boat arrivals in the year ending September 2024. The large number of 2022 arrivals was in part influenced by an agreement between the UK and Albania to deter and disrupt irregular migration and criminal networks, according to the Home Office.Government statistics show arrivals by Vietnamese nationals in January to September 2024 (3,132 arrivals) were almost 3 times higher than in the same period of 2023 (1,131 arrivals). In April 2024, the UK signed an agreement with Vietnam to increase cooperation on dealing with irregular migration.How does the UK’s illegal immigration numbers compare to countries in Europe?A study by Measuring Irregular Migration found the UK had the second highest number of unauthorised migrants in Europe after Germany.Another two previous studies conducted across the EU in 2008 and 2017 also showed the UK had more unauthorised migrants than most other European countries.Along with Italy and France, the four countries make up 70 per cent of all Europe’s unauthorised migrants.Labour’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which scraps the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, passed its first hurdle in the Commons on Monday.It will also introduce new criminal offences and hand counter terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people smuggling gangs bringing migrants across the English Channel. More