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Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailThe UK’s population grew by 685,000 people in 2023, a drop from record high net migration in 2022, official estimates show. The latest figures, published a day after Rishi Sunak called a surprise general election on July 4th, will feed the debate about immigration – a key campaign battleground. The Office for National Statistics said that it was too early to tell if the 10 per cent drop in net migration year-on-year was the start of a permanent trend, but pointed to signs that fewer people are applying to come to the UK on health care worker and student visas. Net migration to the UK hit a record 764,000 in 2022. Despite the provisional 2023 figures representing a 10 per cent drop year-on-year, they are still historically high.The 2023 figures mark the third year running that overall net migration has exceeded the pre-Brexit, pre-Covid levels of roughly 200,000 to 300,000. Migration experts at the University of Oxford said that the small drop from 2022 was fuelled by lower immigration on humanitarian visas, such as Ukrainians and Hong Kongers, and fewer non-EU students. Rishi Sunak has pledged to bring down net migration to the UK More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailA Ukrainian refugee couple who fled to the UK have been refused permission for their two-year-old daughter to join them after the government suddenly changed its sponsorship rules, The Independent can reveal.Oleksandra and Yaroslav were offered shelter from Russia’s war under the Homes for Ukraine scheme in April 2022, leaving newborn Anna with her grandparents in Kyiv until they were settled in the UK with work and their own home.But after finally overcoming the hurdles of finding accommodation and setting up their own marketing business in the UK, the couple’s submission in April for the toddler to join them was refused by the Home Office, after rules for the schemes allowing Ukrainians to do so were tightened overnight in February.“Now it seems like it’s impossible to bring Anna,” Oleksandra told The Independent. “I was almost there – and I wasn’t expecting [the legislation] to change. I’m very sad and frustrated, I don’t know what to do and how to react. If I am not able to bring Anna, we will be forced to leave everything and go somewhere else. “I spent a lot of time building up the business, finding proper accommodation, and when we came here we didn’t have anything – our business in Ukraine was closed and we didn’t have any money. So it’s not a good situation.”Despite the Home Office insisting that the new rules do not prevent children joining their parents, charities warn the changes have created “unintended consequences” which could leave hundreds – if not thousands – of Ukrainians separated from their loved ones.The “deeply shocking” failure “betrays our commitment to Ukrainians”, warned Labour peer Lord Dubs, who himself arrived in the UK as a six-year-old fleeing the Nazis.“We pay lip service to how much we want to help Ukraine and the Ukrainians, then in practice we don’t do it,” he told The Independent. “The most fundamental thing is parents should be allowed to have their children with them – absolutely fundamental – and I think the government should be ashamed of itself.”The Refugee Council has also urged the government to amend its new policy More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailMore than 80 charities and civil society bodies have called on Rishi Sunak to reverse a decision to block a UK visit by the UN inspector on food poverty until after the election. Mr Sunak’s government has told the UN special rapporteur on the right to food that he cannot visit the UK until next year. Professor Michael Fakhri, who uses his role to study hunger and food insecurity in countries around the world, asked to make a formal visit to the UK more than 20 months ago. His request was denied in April by the minister for food, farming and fisheries, Sir Mark Spencer, who said a visit would not be feasible this year, denying the UN inspector the chance to conduct his research during the current parliament. Food and human rights charities and civil society organisations have now written to Mr Sunak to ask that the decision be reversed. In a letter signed by 85 groups, including Amnesty International, Just Fair, and the Food Foundation, the charities wrote: “We believe now is an opportune time for a country visit by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food due to the increasing levels of poverty, food bank use, and reports of hunger that have remained persistent for a number of years and became more pronounced during the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis”. A volunteer at Bonny Downs Community Association food club during a March visit as part of Sainsbury’s and Comic Relief’s campaign to raise awareness of food poverty in the UK More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailBoris Johnson fell foul of legislation he introduced himself as prime minister when he was reportedly turned away from a polling station after failing to take photographic identification.Mr Johnson, who quit as PM after three years in 2022, had been trying to cast his vote in the local elections in South Oxfordshire, according to Sky News.But polling station staff had to turn the former Conservative Party leader away because he could not produce any ID, Sky said. Showing a document with a photo identifying the voter has been compulsory since the Elections Act 2022 took effect a year ago.For live coverage of the local elections, and the results, follow our live blog by clicking hereElections are taking place in 107 local authorities across the country, with 2,636 seats up for grabs.A spokesperson for Mr Johnson did not deny he had failed to bring ID, adding he did manage to vote on Thursday.In 2021, the then prime minister and Tory leader said: “What we want to do is protect democracy, the transparency and the integrity of the electoral process. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask first-time voters to produce some evidence of identity.”In 2019, Johnson did not need ID to vote but this time he apparently forgot about his own law More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailRishi Sunak has pledged to get flights to Rwanda in the air by July, despite the threat of legal challenges and delays even if he does manage to force the controversial asylum bill through parliament overnight. The prime minister insisted asylum seekers will be sent to the east African nation in 10 to 12 weeks “come what may” and that regular trips will take place over the summer.But he faced an agonising final hurdle of ping-pong between MPs and the House of Lords, and the upper house will spend the evening trying to exact two key amendments. MPs and campaigners warned that Mr Sunak’s flagship policy, if successfully passed, could still be set back by legal challenges from individuals, as well as the civil service union which is concerned about breaching international law.Labour condemned the hundreds of millions of pounds already spent on the scheme as an “extortionate gimmick”, while former home secretary Suella Braverman said so few people would actually end up in Rwanda that it would not work as an efficient deterrent.Kicking off a long day of political wrangling, Mr Sunak threw down the gauntlet to peers in a surprise press conference on Monday, saying: “Parliament will sit there tonight and vote, no matter how late it goes; no ifs, no buts, these flights are going to Rwanda.”Lords have been trying to force the government to exempt Afghans who supported British troops overseas from being deported to Rwanda. They had also pushed an amendment that would make sure a monitoring committee assesses Rwanda to be safe before flights take off. The government has so far refused to cave to pressure and include the changes to the bill. MPs rejected both amendments in their first vote on Monday evening. Labour peers will rally this evening in support of the suggested amendments, leaving the cross-bench peers with the power to further delay the bill or let it pass. Sunak threw down the gauntlet to peers in a surprise press conference More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailThe husband of Scottish former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been charged in connection with embezzlement of funds from the SNP following a Police Scotland investigation into the party’s finances.It is understood that Peter Murrell, who was chief executive of the party for more than 20 years, has resigned his SNP membership.The 59-year-old, who was taken into custody on Thursday morning, had been previously arrested on 5 April last year at the couple’s home in Uddingston near Glasgow.The couple’s home was searched last year (Andrew Milligan/PA) More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailA defiant House of Lords has refused to cave to ministers and sent Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda plan back to the Commons – with two key demands. Peers voted on Wednesday night in favour of an amendment to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill that would exempt Afghan heroes who supported UK troops overseas from being deported.They also insisted on a monitoring committee to assess whether Rwanda is safe before the government sends asylum seekers there. MPs have refused to make concessions to their plan to deport asylum seekers to the east African country, with Downing Street insisting the bill is “the right way forward”.But members of the Lords refused to back down, meaning that the bill will return to the Commons again – most likely on Monday. MPs are expected to vote down the changes again, forcing it back to the Lords. Rishi Sunak has promised to send asylum seekers to Rwanda this spring More

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailTory MPs have again rejected a plan to stop Afghan heroes who supported British troops from being deported to Rwanda. Parliamentarians on Monday night overturned multiple amendments to the Safety of Rwanda Bill by the House of Lords, including one that would have exempted anyone who supported British armed forces in a meaningful way from being deported to Rwanda. MPs voted 312 to 253, majority 59, to reject Lords amendment 10B, which sought to exempt agents, allies and employees of the UK overseas from being removed to Rwanda. The exemption included people eligible for entry to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).The Bill will return to the Lords on Tuesday for further scrutiny.The Lords and the Commons have been debating the Rwanda Bill, with the legislation going back and forth between the houses as peers try and force the government to make changes to the proposed legislation. Mr Sunak’s government is using the Safety of Rwanda Bill to try and prevent any legal challenges by asylum seekers to their deportation. More