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New asylum seekers are being locked up in order to be deported to Rwanda even after court challenges raised questions about whether the controversial removal flights would ever be able to begin.Campaigners accused ministers of being “untethered from any sense of morality or legality” after it emerged that people seeking refuge in Britain have been placed in detention centres following the grounding of last week’s planned flight.The Rwanda policy will be subject to a judicial review hearing on 18 July, where a High Court judge will assess whether it is lawful.On Wednesday, the most senior civil servant in the Home Office admitted that the policy may even fail in its stated aim of deterring migrants from attempting the dangerous journey across the Channel by small boat.It comes as Boris Johnson flew to Rwanda to attend a commonwealth summit. He is set to meet Prince Charles in Kigali for the first time since it was revealed that the heir to the throne had described the deportation plan as “appalling” in private remarks.The first planned flight in support of the policy, under which the government hopes to “relocate” asylum seekers to the central African country in a bid to deter them from using small boats to cross the Channel, was thwarted last week following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).A total of 979 people have crossed the Channel since the flight was cancelled at the last minute, according to Home Office data.The government had detained around 130 asylum seekers ahead of the flight, but only issued removal tickets to 47 of them. The majority of the 130 are thought to remain in detention, and detainees are only being released upon submitting a successful bail application to the court.Despite no further flights being scheduled at this stage, new asylum seekers have continued to be detained and informed that they may be removed to Rwanda. The Independent is aware of at least 18 such cases.Clare Mosely, founder of Care4Calais, said the charity was in touch with a number of people in this situation. She said: “[The government is] ploughing ahead with this plan while totally ignoring the human consequences.“I imagine it just wants to deport some people as soon as possible. They don’t care how they do it, but they want the headline. I think they’re just hedging their bets.”Steve Crawshaw, director of policy and advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said it was “deeply disturbing” that the government was continuing to detain refugees and threaten them with removal to Rwanda.“We know from our work with torture survivors how traumatising the experience of detention can be. Given the ECHR’s ruling blocked removals until outstanding legal challenges can be heard, this seems to be a cruel attempt to intimidate vulnerable people by a government untethered from any sense of morality or legality,” he added. More

Retirees are set to see pensions rise by 10 per cent next year – despite the government insisting public sector workers receive below-inflation pay rises.The government confirmed the state pension triple lock will return next year, meaning it will rise by inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest.Pensioners will see double-digit payments increases in April next year as the state pension will be determined based on September’s CPI inflation – which is expected to be 10 per cent.This could bring a boost of almost £1,000 a year to retirees.The triple lock was introduced by the coalition government in 2010 help give pensioners a decent minimum level of income which would keep pace with growth in workers’ earnings.The wages measure within the triple lock was temporarily suspended for a year during the Covid-19 pandemic but it is now being reinstated.Downing Street has defended restoring the pensions triple lock, which will see the benefit rise in line with inflation, at a time when the government is arguing against wages keeping pace with rising prices.Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab on Wednesday told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They (pensioners) are particularly vulnerable and they are disproportionately affected by the increase in energy costs which we know everyone is facing.”The government had committed £37bn to help people cope with rising costs, he said, but “at the same time we have got to stop making the problem worse by fuelling pay demands that will only see inflation stay higher for longer and that only hurts the poorest the worst”.Asked why state pensions will rise with inflation but not public sector pay, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Pensioners, particularly those who receive state pensions, are disproportionately impacted by high energy costs.“They can’t always increase their incomes through work and they are more vulnerable to cost-of-living pressures”. More

Britain’s children are suffering a mental health emergency, with rising numbers self-harming and having suicidal thoughts because of the cost of living crisis, a report claims.Researchers found millions of youngsters are “at breaking point”, with stress and anxiety among children reaching “alarming” levels because of the effect of rising bills.Children are so worried that nearly one in 10 (9 per cent) has started self-harming, and 8 per cent have shown suicidal tendencies, according to the study.At least half (53 per cent) of people questioned by researchers said they knew someone who had taken their own lives, had attempted it or had thought about it.A nine-year-old girl told the study team: “Your emotions just drown you and the only emotion that’s left is sad.”A seven-year-old said: “When I feel hungry, I ask my mother if we have any food and then she’ll tell me if there’s enough money or not. If there isn’t, I just go in the cupboards and see if there’s something and if there’s a snack, then I’ll just eat it and try to go to bed. Tomorrow she might have some more money.”The Childhood Trust, a London child poverty charity, said the persistent anxiety for both their own and their parents’ wellbeing, as well as a lack of basics such as food and toiletries, was taking a “highly emotional toll” on children and had long-term impacts on their mental health.The trust collected data from a national survey, other London charities, and interviews with parents and children living in poverty to compile the report. In all, 2,002 adults were interviewed, of whom 1,468 were parents.Nearly half of the parents questioned – 47 per cent – said their children were stressed out about the cost of living.A third said their children had raised concerns about it and a quarter said they needed to sacrifice fun activities to afford essentials.One in five parents – 21 per cent – said their children smile less now.Children already in poverty before the Covid pandemic feel unable to further burden their already stressed parents with their own worries, the trust said.Nine out of 10 London charities questioned said the financial situation of their most vulnerable clients had worsened in the past six months.Some 85 per cent of charities predicted more demand for their services due to food poverty over the next six months.Laurence Guinness, chief executive of the Childhood Trust, said: “Ever-increasing numbers of children are going hungry and can’t sleep at night because they’re worried and anxious about their futures.“It’s only thanks to the generosity of donors and the thousands of charities supporting children that we aren’t facing a humanitarian crisis on our own doorsteps.”The government says eight million of the most vulnerable UK households will benefit from a new £15bn package of targeted support, worth at least £1,200 this year, including a new one-off £650 cost-of-living payment.The October discount on energy bills has been doubled as part of a £37bn support package, and universal credit claimants are being allowed to keep £1,000 more of what they earn, the Treasury says.Last month chancellor Rishi Sunak also announced a £500m increase in the Household Support Fund, extending it from October until March next year.If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. More

Experts have warned the government that next week’s rail strikes could devastate Britain’s post-Covid recovery and cost key industries over a billion pounds.The tourism and leisure industry has already been severely impacted after pandemic lockdowns and would take a “big hit”, said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry group UK Hospitality.It comes after the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) confirmed industrial action would go ahead on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, although disruption is possible for the rest of the week.According to the RMT, next week’s planned strike action will be “the biggest dispute on the network since 1989” and will involve 40,000 workers.Speaking to Times Radio, Ms Nicholls said: “At the best, we think it’s going to take a hit to hospitality revenues of over half a billion pounds.“But that presupposes that many people will travel on those shoulder days when the trains and the Tubes will still be disrupted – it could be more significant than that.“And if you look across the whole tourism, and leisure and theatre industries as a whole, you are definitely looking at an economic hit of over a billion pounds.”Strikes on Network Rail and 13 other train operators are expected on three days next week, while London Underground workers will walk out on Tuesday.During the strikes, only 22 per cent of passenger train services will run, with most of them on key links to and from London.Coach services have seen a spike in bookings as a result of the planned strike. Stagecoach, the country’s biggest bus and coach operator said that next week’s bookings for its Megabus service rose by 85 per cent.Ms Nicholls said tourism and hospitality businesses had already been damaged by the cost of living crisis and urged the government, rail networks and the RMT to reach an agreement.“Next week’s strikes are so devastating because… we were starting to get back on our feet, starting to rebuild those cash reserves,” she said.“This is a big hit next week where we will lose the best part of a week’s income for many of those town centre, and particularly central London, businesses.“We would urge all sides in this dispute to try and come together to resolve this issue so that we don’t put commuters, visitors, tourists at a disadvantage and we don’t damage our businesses.”Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “With the upcoming train strikes fast approaching, many people will be wondering what to do if they bought a ticket and have now had their train cancelled.“If you can’t travel and you have an unused ticket, you should be able to cancel and get a fee-free refund.“A full refund also applies if you have started your journey but are unable to complete it due to delay or cancellations, and so have returned to your departure point.” More

Boris Johnson has defended “draconian” Home Office plans to use electronic tags on asylum seekers arriving in Britain across the Channel on small boats or in lorries. Despite campaigners warning that the policy would see people who have fled conflict treated as “criminals”, the prime minister said it was essential that people could not simply “vanish” after arriving in the UK.Mr Johnson also insisted that the government would press ahead with its contentious policy of deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda, after ministers were forced to abandon the scheme’s inaugural flight on Tuesday evening when last-minute legal injunctions were issued following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.The Home Office said that the 12-month tagging pilot – which will apply to adults who have travelled to the UK via “unnecessary and dangerous routes” – will test whether the scheme helps to maintain regular contact with asylum claimants, and whether it results in their claims being processed more efficiently. It will also collect data on how many people abscond. If the conditions are breached, asylum seekers may be considered for detention and removal, become subject to administrative arrest, or be prosecuted. Those tagged will have to report in person to the authorities on a regular basis, and may be subject to other conditions, such as a curfew or an “inclusion or exclusion zone”, meaning they are banned from leaving or entering specified areas. Failure to comply could see them returned to detention or prosecuted.Defending the plans on Saturday, Mr Johnson said: “This is a very, very generous, welcoming country. Quite right, too. I am proud of it, but when people come here illegally, when they break the law, it is important that we make that distinction.“That is what we are doing with our Rwanda policy. That is what we are doing with making sure that asylum seekers can’t just vanish into the rest of the country.”He spoke after it was revealed that the pilot scheme – branded “draconian and punitive” by critics – had begun to be implemented on Thursday.On a visit to Wakefield, ahead of next week’s crucial by-election, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of “chasing headlines” with the policy.“What I want is a serious response, because nobody wants these journeys across the Channel to be made, these perilous journeys,” he said.“Everybody wants to clamp down on the gangs. That requires grown-up work with the French authorities, and upstream work to actually tackle these gangs. You don’t do that if you’re a government that is asking the National Crime Agency to make cuts.”Speaking to reporters at RAF Brize Norton after returning from an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Mr Johnson also said that ministers remain confident that the policy of deporting aslyum seekers is lawful.Earlier this week, the government was forced to abandon the first £500,000 taxpayer-funded flight to Rwanda just minutes before it was scheduled to depart, after a handful of migrants were granted a legal reprieve. Fewer than ten asylum seekers were due to board the aircraft.Mr Johnson said: “Every single court in this country said that there was no obstacle that they could see. No court in this country ruled the policy unlawful – which was very, very encouraging.“There was this weird last-minute hiccup we had with Strasbourg. Let’s see where we get with that. I have read some interesting legal commentary about that. But we are very confident in the lawfulness of what we are doing, and we are going to pursue the policy.”On Wednesday, Priti Patel, the home secretary, said officials at the Home Office were already working on plans for the next flight, but the government has declined to give a time frame. More

Refugees who cross the Channel in small boats to reach the UK are set to be electronically tagged – and prosecuted if they fail to comply – under Home Office plans.Campaigners and experts have accused ministers of adopting a “draconian and punitive” approach that will see people who have fled conflict and danger treated as “criminals”, and of pushing through the plan despite having “no concrete evidence” that it will improve levels of compliance.A 12-month pilot will see some of those who travel to Britain via what the government terms “unnecessary and dangerous routes” fitted with tags, potentially including those recognised as victims of torture and trafficking, according to new Home Office guidance.If tagging conditions are breached, asylum seekers may be considered for detention and removal, subject to administrative arrest, or prosecuted, the document states.Earlier this week, the government was criticised over its controversial Rwanda deportation plan, with a flight scheduled to deport asylum seekers to central Africa being grounded at the last minute after European judges intervened on human rights grounds.It is understood that some of the 130 asylum seekers who were detained for removal on the flight will be among the first to be fitted with electronic tags, if and when they are released from detention.Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “It’s appalling that this government is intent on treating men, women and children who have fled war, bloodshed and persecution as criminals.“This draconian and punitive approach not only shows no compassion for very vulnerable people; it will also do nothing to deter those who are desperately seeking safety in the UK.”A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will keep as many people in detention as the law allows, but where a court orders that an individual due to be on Tuesday’s flight should be released, we will tag them where appropriate.”The guidance states that those who are tagged will be required to cooperate with any arrangements the Home Office specifies for “detecting and recording by electronic means” their presence at “a location at specified times, during specified periods of time”.It goes on to state that the tag may be accompanied by one or more further conditions, including a curfew or an “inclusion or exclusion zone (requirement to remain within, or not to enter, a specified area)”.Caseworkers will be required to consider a number of factors when deciding whether it is appropriate to tag an individual, including medical evidence suggesting it would cause serious harm to their health, if a claim of torture has been accepted by the Home Office or a court, or if the individual has been recognised as a victim of modern slavery.But the guidance goes on to state that these factors do “not in [themselves] prohibit imposing such a condition”, adding: “In many cases, even where there is some evidence in favour of removing electronic monitoring, on balance it may still be appropriate to maintain electronic monitoring due to other relevant factors.”Dr Monish Bhatia, a lecturer in criminology at Birkbeck University of London who has carried out research into the use of electronic tags on asylum claimants, described the Home Office plan as an “extreme measure”. More

Downing Street has urged employers to allow staff to work from home during next week’s rail strikes as the transport secretary warned strikers they were risking their jobs because the railway was now competing against remote working and other forms of public and private transport.Half of Britain’s rail lines will be closed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday when members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Unite walk out over pay, jobs and conditions.A No 10 spokesperson said it was for individuals to decide whether they could get to their workplaces but there were some jobs where home working would not be suitable.“As during the pandemic, it obviously remains sensible for public- and private-sector organisations to offer flexible working arrangements for some jobs,” the spokesperson said.He insisted the government was not “standing by” while the strikes loomed.“I wouldn’t accept that: ministers remain close to the situation and will remain close to the negotiations and discussions,” he said.“Industry is offering daily talks with the unions and that’s what we want the unions to engage with and get back round the table.”He insisted ministers could not intervene in the negotiations, adding: “But what you have seen is us consistently call on the unions to call off the strikes, given the impact it’s going to have on people being able to get to work, kids being able to get to school – some of which will be doing exams – and we think that they will be damaging for the railways.”Transport secretary Grant Shapps issued a plea to those embarking on the three days of walkouts, warning they risked striking themselves out of a job.He said the government planned to introduce legislation to enable the use of agency workers during industrial action “if the strike drags on”.Transport for London (TfL) has strongly encouraged people not to travel on London Underground on Tuesday.Mr Shapps said: “These strikes are not only a bid to derail reforms that are critical to the network’s future, and designed to inflict damage at the worst possible time, they are also an incredible act of self-harm by the union leadership.”“We’re going to endanger the jobs of thousands of rail workers,” he claimed. “It’s alienating its passengers and the freight customers with long and damaging strikes.”In response, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Instead of playing to the gallery for his own personal political ambitions, Mr Shapps needs to act like a pragmatic transport secretary who is willing to meet with the union and help us reach a negotiated settlement.”Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association leader Manuel Cortes said: “Bullyboy tactics will not wash with our union when the truth is our members are fighting for their jobs, pay and for a safe railway fit for the future.”Mr Shapps said season-ticket holders would be paid full compensation on strike days, and he had “moved to help make that an automatic process”. More

Four people have had their applications to be removed from the Home Office’s deportation flight to Rwanda rejected by the High Court. The four asylum seekers brought legal challenges to their scheduled flight on Tuesday. Two legal bids to stop the plan failed in the Court of Appeal and the High Court yesterday but individuals could still appeal the decision to put them on the flight. The individuals included one Iranian father, whose son is the UK, a Vietnamese national, an Iranian Kurd whose sister is living in the UK, and another Iranian national. In the first application, an Iranian Kurd – who had suffered PTSD in Turkey while travelling to the UK – asked not to be put on the upcoming flight due to his mental health and his relationship with his sister in the UK.However, in a short ruling on Tuesday morning, Mr Justice Swift refused to grant interim relief.He said: “The Secretary of State was entitled to reach the decisions she did.”The Vietnamese individual also had his application to stop his deportation refused.His lawyers argued that he was told about the decision to deport him to Rwanda in a letter which he could not read. The claimant can only speak Vietnamese and did not understand English. His lawyers said that there was not a translator present when he was given the letter.Goverment lawyers presented witness testimony that said that the individual was given an interpreter to aid him. The judge sided with the government’s evidence and said that the Vietnamese individual had been fairly notified of his deportation.Another asylum seeker applying to be removed from the flight was a Christian convert from Iran.The Iranian and his son are both in the UK but only the father has been scheduled to go to Rwanda.He said that he had during his travels to the UK he was threatened with a knife, constantly abused and witnessed people stabbing each other. He detailed being abused in Greece and said that he received no help from the Greek authorities when he appealed for help.“They made our lives hell, we tried to report it but nobody helped us,” he said.In mental health assessments read out to court, the man was described as “middle-aged man, tearful intermittently and severely anxious.”He was described as “suffering from depression disorder which is of a moderate degree and post traumatic stress disorder.”His son said in a statement that he speaks to his father “in any period that he gets” and “this is the longest period I have been away from him.”His father is currently being held in Colnbrook detention centre.In the final application for removal, the High Court heard that the claimant, an Iranian man who spoke Sorani Kurdish, should not be deported to Rwanda because there would be no one there who spoke his language. A mental health assessment of the man, read out to court, found that he experiences “voices, apparently psychotic symptoms, voices calling his name.”A psychiatrist found that the man had “profound symptoms indicating of anxiety and depressive disorder” and was “at increased risk of self half due to his isolation and potential impulsivity.”Home Office laywers testified however that he could get access to health services in Rwanda and that he would be provided with a phone and access to the internet. This, they said, would allow him to access the translation services Big Word if he needed help communicating. Justice Swift rejected the man’s application to be removed from the flight, saying: “I accept that the fact of removal to Rwanda will be distressing for this claimant, it will be a further step in a long journey that this claimant has already undertaken.”Foreign secretary Liz Truss vowed on Tuesday morning that anyone pulled from the flight would be “on the next flight”. She defended the government’s decision, saying: “Our policy is completely legal, it’s completely moral.” More