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Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said on Thursday, 11 August, that there are “no immediate plans” to change interest levels on student loan repayments.BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt asked Ms Phillipson whether it was fair to make students pay 9 per cent interest on top of existing student loan debt.“We are looking at the student finance system; it is complicated,” the education secretary said. “However, I do think that it is right that students make a contribution to their education.”She reiterated that there were more opportunities for young people receiving their A-level results on Thursday to pursue other than university, including apprenticeships. More

Disinformation could still spread regarding suspects arrested under new guidance for police, the policing minister has said.Police forces have been told to consider disclosing suspects’ ethnicity and nationality to the public when they are charged in high-profile and sensitive cases.It comes after authorities were accused of covering up offences carried out by asylum seekers, and in the wake of riots following the Southport murders, which were partly fuelled by social media disinformation.Asked whether withholding a suspect’s nationality and ethnicity until they are charged, rather than when they are arrested, means disinformation could still spread as it did following the Southport murders, Dame Diana Johnson agreed.The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidance reaffirms that it is not the role or responsibility of the police to verify a suspect’s immigration status, and the Home Office should decide if it is appropriate in all the circumstances to confirm immigration status. More

Kemi Badenoch has suggested placing asylum seekers currently housed in hotels into “camps”, as new Home Office figures reveal that almost 50,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Sir Keir Starmer took office.Speaking about immigration to members of the public in Epping, Essex on Monday (11 August), the leader of the opposition said: “We’ve got to turn things around very quickly. We cannot use rules from 1995, or 2005, or even 2015 for 2025.”She pondered: “Is it possible for us to set up camps and police that, rather than bringing all of this hassle into communities?”In recent weeks, protesters have gathered across Epping to oppose the decision to house asylum seekers in local hotels. More

Nicola Sturgeon says transgender rapists “probably forfeit the right to be the gender of their choice”, as she conceded she “should have been much more straightforward” on the issue of double rapist Isla Bryson’s gender.Reforms which would have allowed transgender people to self-identify as their preferred gender were passed by Holyrood in 2022 but were blocked by Westminster the following year.Afterwards, Bryson was sent to a women’s only jail after being convicted of raping two women, before being transferred to a male prison.In an interview with ITV News on Monday (11 August), the former SNP leader said that anyone who commits the “most heinous male crime against women probably forfeits the right to be the gender of their choice” before going on to admit “that probably was not the best phrase to use”. More

Video shows the first migrants detained under the UK’s new “one in, one out” deal with Emmanuel Macron, who could be sent back to France within weeks.People who were detained were among those who risked the Channel crossing on Wednesday, the day the pilot scheme began operating.Around 155 people were detected making the crossing on Wednesday in two boats.Sir Keir Starmer wrote on X: “I said that if you enter this country on a small boat, you will face detention and return. I meant it.”Under the pilot scheme, UK officials aim to make referrals for returns to France within three days of a migrant’s arrival by small boat, while French authorities will respond within 14 days. More

Kemi Badenoch has said she no longer identifies as Nigerian and has not renewed her Nigerian passport since the early 2000s.Speaking to Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, the Conservative leader, who was born in London and raised in Lagos and the United States, said: “I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really.”Ms Badenoch explained she felt “home is where my now family is”.The Tory politician was born in Wimbledon in 1980 before her parents took her home to Nigeria.She was one of the last people to receive birthright citizenship because she was born in the UK before these rules were abolished by Margaret Thatcher the following year. More

Watch as Donald Trump explains how the US ended inheritance tax on farmers whilst sitting next to a silent Sir Keir Starmer on Monday (27 July).During a press conference held as part of the US president’s four-day trip to Scotland, the pair were questioned on how important farmers are to a country.While Mr Trump did not comment on the UK’s ‘tractor tax’ plans, which will make farms valued at £1m or more liable for 20 per cent inheritance tax, he stated that the US had ended its federal levy on farmers.“There’s no estate tax on farmers, so when a parent leaves their farm, because a lot of these farms, they don’t make a lot of money, but it’s a way of life and they love that way of life.” More

Donald Trump hit out at London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, describing him as a “nasty person” before Sir Keir Starmer jumped in to defend his friend.During a press conference in Scotland on Monday (28 July), the US president said when asked if he would be visiting the capital during his state visit later this year: “I’m not a fan of your mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job, the Mayor of London… a nasty person.”Jumping to the Labour mayor’s defence, the prime minister intervened to say: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”Mr Trump added that he would “certainly visit London.” More